Long before there was Katrina there was awareness. Today George Walker Bush stated, "I don't know what causes these storms." Lies and deceptions roll out of his mouth like water off a duck's back. He's president? It shows !
Global Warming Is Expected To Raise Hurricane Intensity
By ANDREW C. REVKIN (NYT) 651 words
Published: September 30, 2004
Global warming is likely to produce a significant increase in the intensity and rainfall of hurricanes in coming decades, according to the most comprehensive computer analysis done so far.
By the 2080's, seas warmed by rising atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases could cause a typical hurricane to intensify about an extra half step on the five-step scale of destructive power, says the study, done on supercomputers at the Commerce Department's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. And rainfall up to 60 miles from the core would be nearly 20 percent more intense.
Other computer modeling efforts have also predicted that hurricanes will grow stronger and wetter as a result of global warming. But this study is particularly significant, independent experts said, because it used half a dozen computer simulations of global climate, devised by separate groups at institutions around the world. The long-term trends it identifies are independent of the normal lulls and surges in hurricane activity that have been on display in recent decades.
The study was published online on Tuesday by The Journal of Climate and can be found at
www.gfdl.noaa.gov/reference/bibliography/2004/tk0401.pdf.
The new study of hurricanes and warming ''is by far and away the most comprehensive effort'' to assess the question using powerful computer simulations, said Dr. Kerry A. Emanuel, a hurricane expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has seen the paper but did not work on it. About the link between the warming of tropical oceans and storm intensity, he said, ''This clinches the issue.''
Dr. Emanuel and the study's authors cautioned that it was too soon to know whether hurricanes would form more or less frequently in a warmer world. Even as seas warm, for example, accelerating high-level winds can shred the towering cloud formations of a tropical storm.
But the authors said that even if the number of storms simply stayed the same, the increased intensity would substantially increase their potential for destruction.
Experts also said that rising sea levels caused by global warming would lead to more flooding from hurricanes -- a point underlined at the United Nations this week by leaders of several small island nations, who pleaded for more attention to the potential for devastation from tidal surges.
The new study used four climate centers' mathematical approximations of the physics by which ocean heat fuels tropical storms.
With almost every combination of greenhouse-warmed oceans and atmosphere and formulas for storm dynamics, the results were the same: more powerful storms and more rainfall, said Robert Tuleya, one of the paper's two authors. He is a hurricane expert who recently retired after 31 years at the fluid dynamics laboratory and teaches at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. The other author was Dr. Thomas R. Knutson of the Princeton laboratory.
Altogether, the researchers spawned around 1,300 virtual hurricanes using a more powerful version of the same supercomputer simulations that generates Commerce Department forecasts of the tracks and behavior of real hurricanes.
Dr. James B. Elsner, a hurricane expert at Florida State University who was among the first to predict the recent surge in Atlantic storm activity, said the new study was a significant step in examining the impacts of a warmer future.
But like Dr. Emanuel, he also emphasized that the extraordinary complexity of the oceans and atmosphere made any scientific progress ''baby steps toward a final answer.''
http://query.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F50711F83E5C0C738FDDA00894DC404482
Bush allies secure post-Katrina rebuilding contracts
Companies with ties to the White House and the former head of FEMA have clinched some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group and the other is Halliburton-subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR). Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1457680.htm
The wind at Hillary's back
William Rees-Mogg
After the chaos of Katrina, the Clinton advance on the White House is looking unstoppable
HAS KATRINA made Hillary Clinton the next President of the United States? No, because her campaign was already rolling ahead in the month before the hurricane. But Katrina, and the slow response, may have been the final blow to Republican prospects for the election of 2008.
First of all Hillary will have to win the Democratic nomination. Here one can only quote from the jingoist song: “She’s got the ships, she’s got the men, she’s got the money, too.” Hillary has the Clinton organisation behind her — the only powerful presidential machine the Democrats have created since Ted Kennedy folded his tent in 1982. As the Bush family has shown, it takes a presidential machine to win presidential elections. That is why political dynasties become so powerful in the United States.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1052-1775942,00.html
Australia to deport anti-Halliburton peace activist
CANBERRA, Australia A Houston man who participated in a recent protest against Halliburton has been labeled a national security threat and is set to be deported from Australia.
Scott Parkin was interviewed on national television as one of the leaders of a street protest in Sydney. It was against Halliburton's commercial interests in war-torn Iraq.
Attorney General Philip Ruddock said today that Parkin's tourist visa was canceled because of security concerns.
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3834280
Enterprise Management World: IT standards matter, says Bechtel exec
'We're looking for plug and play within our organization,' says Fred Wettling
News Story by Patrick Thibodeau
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SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - BETHESDA, Md. -- IT vendors that don't meet technology standards have little chance of getting Bechtel Corp.'s business.
"We're looking for plug and play within our organization," Fred Wettling, technology strategy manager at San Francisco-based Bechtel, said at the Enterprise Management World conference here. And one that the company is particularly interested in is the Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) standard.
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,104575,00.html
New Orleans contracts mired in cronyism claims
By Torcuil Crichton
Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration’s first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W Bush’s former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc and the other is Halliburton Co subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice president Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp, has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel’s CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
http://www.sundayherald.com/51690
Sharon Bush wins court battle
A judge dismisses a slander lawsuit against the president's former sister-in-law
By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
A Houston judge has dismissed a slander lawsuit accusing the ex-wife of one of President Bush's brothers of spreading rumors that he fathered a child by another woman while he was married.
The ruling by state District Judge Randy Wilson on Friday was a victory for Sharon Bush, former wife of Neil Bush. It ended a bitter, two-year battle over a lawsuit filed by the former husband of Bush's then-mistress.
"Mrs. Bush obviously feels vindicated and feels as though the entire matter was in bad faith," her attorney, David Berg, said Monday.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3351284
Protesters express anger, sadness
DOUG DENISON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Viewers walk through a mock graveyard, an exhibit at Sunday's protest.
By MARIA MASTERS
Staff Writer
September 13, 2005
Hundreds of people gathered on Flagstaff Hill Sunday to honor the victims of September 11, 2001, and to support a national campaign to bring the troops home from Iraq.
Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, said that she mourned with all those who lost their loved ones four years ago.
"Mourn for the dead, but fight like hell for the living," Lessin said.
Almost two weeks after Cindy Sheehan gained national attention for camping outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, three buses left the state en route to Washington, D.C., to try to convince more people to speak out against the war.
http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/13/43265e8fb3979
Fallen soldier's mother makes tour
DOUG DENISON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Cindy Sheehan addresses a crowd of anti-war protesters Sunday on Flagstaff Hill.
By GWEN KEHR
For The Pitt News
September 13, 2005
Cindy Sheehan, the mother of U.S. soldier Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq, and prominent leader of the "Bring Them Home Now" tour, visited Pittsburgh as part of the "Camp Neil" Memorial and Rally Sunday.
Sheehan continued her message of peace and her strong desire to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, a message that she began sending last month while camped outside of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/13/43265df2c6741
Mr. Bush, How on Earth you Can Call Yourself a Problem-Solver
9/12/2005
Last week, at a press conference, President Bush had the gall to say, “We’re problem-solvers.” Nonsense, No president has made and worsened problems than GW Bush. He has solved no problems, and has created problems that will dog our nation for decades.
What has GW Bush done?
1. He has destroyed some of the world’s most important environmental protections through his corrupt “clean air act.” What it did was to allow polluters more freedom and fewer penalties in order to allow them to pollute more in America.
2. He destroyed the progress that had been made on the Kyoto Treaty to help clean up the world’s pollution problems. He also bullied other nations not to sign the Kyoto Treaty; this helped kill it as a world-wide policy.
3. He antagonized the entire Arab and Muslim worlds through his rhetoric, his brutality in Iraq and his continued calling Muslims (without proof or evidence), “terrorists.” He also allowed the fundamentalist John Ashcroft to penalize Muslim charities in America and in the world—all without evidence or probative proof—merely by assertion. No lawyer in the world could get away with using allegation as proof!
http://iqna.ir/NewsBodyDesc_en.asp?lang=en&ProdID=28322
Black college decline puts heat on Bush's policy
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE -- New figures show fewer black students are attending Florida universities than in the past seven years -- ammunition for critics of Gov Jeb Bush's 5-year-old policy excluding race in admissions.
The decline comes despite continued growth in the overall student population -- a 3.1 percent increase to nearly 282,000 students, according to Friday's figures.
"We need to find out what's going on," said David Griffin, a trustee for the historically black Florida A&M University.
Bush has celebrated freshmen enrollment numbers to rebuff criticism of his One Florida plan, which barred universities from using race in admission decisions. In its place, the state installed the Talented 20 program, which guarantees a spot at a state university to those in the top 20 percent of their senior classes.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050912/NEWS/509120595/1006/SPORTS
Bush Cronies Tapped For Katrina Reconstruction Contracts…
Reuters Posted September 12, 2005 11:55 AM
Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2005/09/12/bush-cronies-tapped-for-k_n_7221.html
A Very, Very Good Idea___“Go fuck yourself Mr. Cheney
Ben Marble, a Gulfport resident who says he’s a doctor, had the guts to wade int
by DOUG THOMPSON
“Go fuck yourself Mr. Cheney,” Marble screamed just off camera as the event played out live on CNN. “Go fuck yourself you asshole!”
Secret Service agents subdued Marble and CNN yanked the video off its web site but copies of it float around the Internet and Marble, who’s homeless after Katrina destroyed his Gulfport home, is offering a copy for sale on EBay.
Republicans, of course, jumped in with carefully-crafted indignation over Marble’s “inappropriate remarks” to Cheney, forgetting the Vice President used the same words to tell off a Senator just last year.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_doug_tho_050912_a_very__very_good_id.htm
Cheney fundraiser for Talent canceled
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A major St. Louis fundraiser for Missouri Sen. Jim Talent that was set for Sept. 19 has been postponed because of Hurricane Katrina.
The event, which was to feature Vice President Dick Cheney, will be rescheduled, Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer said Monday.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12626556.htm
THE BUZZ: Cheney buying home?
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The Kansas City Star
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St. Michaels, Md., is abuzz that Vice President Dick Cheney might buy a $2.9 million waterfront home not far from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s home. The purchase couldn’t officially be confirmed, but Police Chief Ed Henry even referred to the property as “Cheney’s house.”
It’s a 9-acre estate with ornamental pools and extensive gardens. Real estate company owner Charles Mangold told The Washington Post: “It’s under contract, but he hasn’t settled yet.”
The home was built in about 1930, possibly by one of Thomas Edison’s daughters.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/news/politics/12621269.htm
Nora Ephron: The Curious Incident of the Veep in the Summertime
Nora Ephron Mon Sep 12, 3:41 AM ET
For some time I've been wondering whether anyone is going to explain the true mystery of what happened after Hurricane Katrina struck. I read thousands of words on the subject in this morning’s New York Times, and I still don’t get it. Where was the President? And more to the point, where was the Vice President? And don’t tell me Crawford Texas and on a ranch in Wyoming. For days there was an absolute vacuum at the top. Why? What was going on?
ADVERTISEMENT
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You’ll be happy to hear that I have a theory. Is it possible that the President and the Vice President have fallen out? I mean, I’m just asking. But if you remember September 11, 2001 -- and I’m sure you do -- the President had no idea what to do, but the Vice President did. The Vice President took over. He didn’t even consult with the President. He put the President on Air Force One and the President spent the day flying from one airport to another, which was something that even the President eventually understood made him look as if he wasn’t in charge.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20050912/cm_huffpost/007189
Congress probes hurricane clean-up contracts
Oliver Morgan, industrial editor
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
A powerful investigative agency of the US Congress is to investigate the award of contracts by the Bush administration for emergency and reconstruction work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The Government Accounting Office, which monitors public spending, is to audit the contracts won by the US firms. Already contracts have been given for repairing New Orleans' flood levees, rebuilding naval facilities, providing temporary housing and removing debris.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567081,00.html
King George II and queen mum
Monday, Sep 12, 2005
By John Brummett
Hurricane Katrina advanced an apparent American political truism. It is that a president might be able to hide for a term, but will be revealed inevitably if he gets to a second.
Nixon's darkness met its fate in the second term. Reagan's simplistic superficiality was laid bare in his second go-round. Iran-contra happened and he was able to contend credibly that he lacked a clue what was going on in the White House basement. Clinton's radiator actually overheated in the first term, but we didn't find out until the second.
Now we see plainly in his fifth presidential year that George W. Bush is incompetent and insensitive.
This fortunate son of privilege didn't get it, never got it, probably doesn't even really get it now - that a Third World America washed up in New Orleans, and that poor people, mostly black, felt abandoned in their own bountiful land, because, in fact, they were, as they so often are.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/09/12/JohnBrummett/328260.html
Roberts' record shows business savvy
Nominee often argued for companies in court
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By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:00 AM ET Sept. 11, 2005
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- John Roberts' record as a corporate lawyer shows the nominee for chief justice of the United States to have substantial experience arguing for business interests, representing clients from a major automobile maker to an HMO.
With only two years' experience on the federal bench, legal observers contend that the appellate judge's sparse record makes it hard to know his personal judicial beliefs. But it's clear that Roberts is well-versed in business issues and has aligned himself with commercial concerns when representing clients.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/archivedStory.asp?archive=true&dist=ArchiveSplash&siteid=google&guid=%7B560448E8%2DA2A8%2D4779%2DB456%2DAC36DC2C16B5%7D&returnURL=%2Fnews%2Fstory%2Easp%3Fguid%3D%7B560448E8%2DA2A8%2D4779%2DB456%2DAC36DC2C16B5%7D%26siteid%3Dgoogle%26dist%3D%26archive%3Dtrue%26param%3Darchive%26garden%3D%26minisite%3D
Pelosi Supports Anti-Fraud Commission on Katrina
1 comment(s).
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For Immediate Release Sept. 11, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announced today that she supports forming an anti-fraud commission to oversee government contracts issued in response to Hurricane Katrina:
"Congress is rightly spending billions of dollars to help the people and businesses of the Gulf Coast who have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. To ensure taxpayers’ money goes to those in need, not to fraudulent contractors, we must establish an independent commission to oversee government contracts for hurricane relief.
"Already we have seen despicable stories of those trying to profit off desperate Gulf Coast residents. To ensure accountability and that taxpayer money is spent efficiently and effectively, this ’anti-fraud commission’ would investigate waste and fraud in government contracting, as soon as the contracts are awarded.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8216
`Dabhol asset transfer shortly`
Crisil Marketwire / Mumbai September 12, 2005
The transfer of assets of Dabhol Power Company will be completed by the end of September, said J Balakrishnan, executive director, Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd (IDBI).
"The transfer of the assets into the Ratnagiri Gas and Power (Pvt) Ltd is the second phase of the revival of the project," Balakrishnan said.
Details of the transfer are being worked out with the sponsors of the special purpose vehicle (SPV), GAIL and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
The issues relating to GE, Bechtel and other foreign lenders have been settled recently. "We have taken over the loans of those banks (that financed the project) and GE, Bechtel have already been paid off," Balakrishnan said.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=199828
Hundreds join Sheehan in rally against Iraq war
Monday, September 12, 2005
By Nate Guidry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Shielded from the sun by a large tarpaulin, Cindy Sheehan walked to the microphone dressed in blue denim shorts and no shoes, then blasted the policies of President Bush.
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Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette
Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan prepares to speak to a crowd gathered on Flagstaff Hill in Oakland last evening as part of her "Bring Them Home Now" tour.
Click photo for larger image.
"Every time Bush talks he should be removed from office," Sheehan screamed into the microphone. "None of the chicken hawks have served our country the way our children have," she continued, referring to Bush and members of his administration who support the Iraq war but did not fight in previous conflicts.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05255/569972.stm
SHOULD S.C. DRILL OFFSHORE?
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Here’s what South Carolina’s congressional delegation says about whether the state should be able to allow drilling for gas off its coastline:
Yes
States should have the option to allow drilling
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R
U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-Hanahan, whose district includes coastal Charleston, Georgetown and Myrtle Beach
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, whose district includes coastal Hilton Head
No
Drilling should remain banned
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, whose district includes Colleton and part of Charleston counties on the coast
Maybe
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R, says inventory should be taken but has concerns about drilling
U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, R-Travelers Rest, is leaning toward yes but would like to know more about the risks
U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-York, is undecided
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/12614854.htm
Hurricane Halliburton
Having finished the search for a luxury vacation home on the eastern shore of Maryland – which preoccupied him during the critical initial days of what is being called the worst natural disaster in American history – Vice President Dick Cheney jetted south late last week to inspect the damage.
With the wheels rolling for the purchase of his own $2.9 million home on the east coast, the Cheney was more or less ready to commiserate with the folks who had lost their homes on the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, not all of the locals were prepared to thank the vice president for finally showing up.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=21497
Bonanza for Bush allies
Washington
12sep05
COMPANIES with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of the Federal Emergency Agency are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of FEMA, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group and the other is Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice-President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National, a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp, has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane.
President Bush has named Bechtel's CEO on his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16566183^954,00.html
DeLay to evacuees: 'Is this kind of fun?'
U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's visit to Reliant Park this morning offered him a glimpse of what it's like to be living in shelter.
While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.
The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"
They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.
http://blogs.chron.com/domeblog/archives/2005/09/delay_to_evacue.html
Cheney quip adds fuel to Katrina politics
RAW STORY
On Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney became the latest high profile official to offer a soundbite about Hurricane Katrina, saying all evacuees he's met have been 'thankful,' adding to a spate of comments raising eyebrows regarding the Katrina disaster, RAW STORY has found.
According to Reuters, Cheney's words were in response to reporters' questions about what evacuees had had to say to the Vice President as he toured the Austin convention centre in the wake of the demotion of FEMA director Michael D. Brown, who initially had been in charge of the federal relief efforts:
"Not one of them mentioned any of it. They're all very thankful where they find themselves right now."
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/They_just_dont_get_it_do_t_0910.html
Roberts may be sidelined in some cases
GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - John Roberts is an appeals court judge with a multimillion-dollar portfolio, a spouse who is a successful lawyer and a broad roster of clients from his days in private practice.
Those all mean he probably will have to disqualify himself from dozens of Supreme Court cases should he become chief justice. It is an situation that, while not unusual, would leave the nine-member court with a potential for tie votes.
Roberts, whose confirmation hearings are to begin Monday, can minimize his problems. For example, he could put his money in mutual funds or other types of investments. But ethics experts say his early years on the Supreme Court will require diligence to avoid conflicts.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/12612252.htm
Roberts shouldn't get nod
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Last week the president dragged his feet in getting aid to the hurricane-stricken Gulf states, yet he lost no time in nominating John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States. Up until now, Roberts seemed to be an impartial jurist. Now I'm not so sure. His nomination to be chief justice came incredibly fast.
Roberts for the court is OK, but chief justice? No. That office should go to either Justice Anthony Kennedy or Justice Stephen Breyer. Either of these would better handle the American philosophical divide in the years to come.
NANCY CHARLTON
http://www.oregonlive.com/letters/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1126349947113670.xml&coll=7
Spiritual Perspective
Will John Roberts judge faithfully?
Editor's Note: Ron Polinder, the executive director of Rehoboth Christian School, was the scheduled writer for this week's Spiritual Perspective column. However, he requested that another writer's work replace his column today.
Here is his introduction to the guest column, written by Steve Monsma and originally published as a "Capital Commentary" by The Center for Public Justice:
One of the most vexing issues in all of human history is finding a proper relationship between issues of religion and politics. Wars have been fought, churches burned, and kings excommunicated over the subject. Even now as the politicians of Iraq draft a new constitution, the issue of religion's role is central to their discussion.
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/sept/091005spwrjdg.html
Poll: Bush approval at 39 percent
Saturday, September 10, 2005; Posted: 10:46 a.m. EDT (14:46 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina.
Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/10/bush.poll.ap/index.html
Court rules Bush can detain citizen as enemy soldier
By Neil Lewis
The New York Times
Published: Saturday, September 10, 2005
WASHINGTON - A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously on Friday that President Bush had the authority to detain as an enemy combatant a U.S. citizen who fought U.S. forces on foreign soil.
The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Va., threw out a ruling by a trial judge in South Carolina that Bush had overstepped his bounds by detaining for nearly three years Jose Padilla, a Chicago native.
The military has asserted that Padilla was an al-Qaeda operative who fought in Afghanistan, was trained by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, and was considering various terrorist plots in the United States. Law enforcement authorities also have identified Padilla as a former gang member in Chicago who converted to Islam.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/09/10/a3.nat.detain.0910.p1.php?section=nation_world
All eyes on Halliburton as contacts turn into contracts
Reconstruction work after Katrina is going to be costly - and highly lucrative. Oliver Morgan reports
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
With the floodwaters still high in New Orleans last week, with 25,000 body bags on their way to the city, with the Gulf of Mexico oil industry crippled - 160 platforms and 16 rigs still evacuated, oil refineries shut down - there was one group of people who, nevertheless, could see some good coming out of the wreckage. Who? Halliburton shareholders.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567102,00.html
Katrina Clean-Up: And the Winner Is . . . Halliburton
Posted by Suzanne Nossel
Last week, I warned that while we were all fretting over the fate of hurricane victims, firms with close ties to the Administration would be lining up for the reconstruction gravy train. I pointed out that such firms, including principally Halliburton and its subsidiaries, had been accused of massive fraud, mismanagement and waste in relation to their roles roles in post-war Iraq.
http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2005/09/katrina_cleanup.html
Has Bechtel shot its bolt in Britain?
The Channel link could be the undoing of the firm that could do no wrong, writes Nick Mathiason
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
Bechtel, the secretive family-owned construction giant, has been dubbed 'the working arm of the CIA', since a stint in the intelligence arm of the US government has seemed a prerequisite for a senior position.
Its contacts with senior government decision-makers are legendary. And access has paid off. Bechtel, headed by Riley Bechtel - the fourth generation to lead the group - was the first firm the US government turned to when it awarded contracts to reconstruct Iraq, even pipping Halliburton to a $1 billion job. A subsequent Iraqi contract win has doubled that potential revenue stream.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567103,00.html
Dabhol project will get financial sops: Govt
NEW DELHI: Government will grant a host of fiscal concessions, including mega power project status and duty free import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the $2.94-billion Dabhol power project to restart the troubled plant by 2006-end.
The empowered group of ministers (eGOM), headed by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Thursday decided to grant mega power project status to the Dabhol project and waive capital gains tax on transfer of assets from Dabhol Power Co to the newly formed SPV, Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd.
RGPPL is a company promoted by gas firm Gail India and power utility National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC), who have been tasked to complete the unfinished portion of the power plant and restart the project by 2006-end.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1226408.cms
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