The Philadelphia Inquirer
More homes in Pa. facing this winter with no heat
Report suggests the new law on shutoffs could leave many households without service.By Jeff GellesInquirer Staff Writer
About 100,000 households in Pennsylvania - 50 percent more than at the same time last year - are likely to lack utility service on Nov. 1, on the eve of a heating season in which consumers will face record oil and natural-gas prices, according to a report by a former member of the state Public Utility Commission.
If past patterns hold, that means more than 20,000 households could still be without heat by mid-December. But if Pennsylvania utilities exercise their new rights under a 2004 law easing limits on cold-weather shutoffs, the number could be much larger and "there could be catastrophic consequences for the Commonwealth," says the report by the former commissioner, Joseph Rhodes Jr.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12657640.htm
Rendell targets tax relief
The governor is expected to call a rare, special session today.By Mario F. Cattabiani, Amy Worden and Angela CouloumbisInquirer Staff Writers
HARRISBURG - Gov. Rendell is expected today to call for a special legislative session to find a way to deliver property-tax relief, a problem that has plagued homeowners and confounded politicians for decades.
At a news conference at the Drexel Hill house of an elderly couple, Rendell is expected to push for fixes needed to make his signature property-tax plan, which is tied to slot machine revenue, workable.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12657670.htm
Editorial Flight 93 MemorialThe critics are off base
Conservative blogs have been blistering the memorial design chosen to commemorate Flight 93, the fourth hijacked plane courageously diverted from its Washington target to crash in a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001.
Critics have honed in on the crescent shape of one part of the memorial, declaring it a radical Islamic symbol honoring the terrorists instead of the heroes who gave their lives to save the U.S. Capitol or White House.
That's preposterous.
They're obviously overlooking what the Flight 93 families and memorial selection juries saw when they picked Los Angeles architect Paul Murdoch's design over 1,000 others submitted:
The tower with 40 wind chimes, commemorating the whispered cell-phone good-byes;
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/12657697.htm
Michael Moore Today
A Bright Spot in Bush World
Amid the Miserable Failures on the Same PlanetA Message from Cindy Sheehan
It has been one month and one week since I sat in a ditch in Crawford, Tx. I can hardly believe it when I think of it myself. So much has happened in that time, and really, so little.
I got to Camp Casey III in Covington, La today, after getting up at 3am to head for the airport. Now it is 3am the next day and we are driving in a car to try and find a hotel to sleep anywhere around Jackson, Miss. I was prepared to be shocked by what I saw in Louisiana, but I guess one can never really fully prepare for such devastation and tragedy. After living in a country your entire life it is so difficult to see such callous indifference on an immense scale. When I reflect on how the mother of the imbecile who is running our country said that the people who are in the Astrodome are happy to be there, it angers me beyond comparison. The people in LA who were displaced have nice, if modest homes that are perfectly fine. I wonder why the government made them leave at great expense and uproot families who have been living in their communities for generations.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=503
G.O.P. Split Over Big Plans for Storm Spending
By Carl Hulse / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Sept. 15 - The drive to pour tens of billions of federal dollars into rebuilding the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast is widening a fissure among Republicans over fiscal policy, with more of them expressing worry about unbridled spending.
On Thursday, before President Bush's speech about his vision of the post-storm recovery, fiscal conservatives from the House and Senate joined budget watchdog groups in demanding that the administration offer ways to offset the money being provided for the region and be more judicious in asking for taxpayer dollars. In his address from New Orleans, besides laying out a sweeping federal role in the recovery, the president emphasized the importance of private entrepreneurship to create jobs "and help break the cycle of poverty."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4117
Deaconess, 73, Jailed for Alleged Looting
By Kevin McGill and John Solomon / Associated Press
KENNER, La. - Merlene Maten undoubtedly stands out in the prison where she has been held since Hurricane Katrina. The 73-year-old church deaconess, never before in trouble with the law, now sleeps among hardened criminals. Her bail is a stiff $50,000.
Her offense?
Police say the grandmother from New Orleans took $63.50 in goods from a looted deli the day after Katrina struck.
Family and eyewitnesses have a different story. They say Maten is an innocent woman who had gone to her car to get some sausage to eat but was wrongly handcuffed by tired, frustrated officers who couldn't catch younger looters at a nearby store.
Not even the deli owner wants her charged.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4112
Dispute over CIA reform leads to departures
By Bill Gertz
WASHINGTON -- A senior official in the CIA's espionage branch will leave earlier than announced because of a dispute with CIA Director Porter J. Goss on reforms within the agency's spying branch, Bush administration officials said yesterday.
Robert Richer, the associate deputy director of operations, the No. 2 official in the CIA's clandestine service, had planned to retire from the agency effective November, according to a recent announcement to agency employees by Mr. Goss.
However, Mr. Richer now will enter the agency's retirement transition program within two weeks, said officials, who declined to be named.
A CIA spokesman refused to comment.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4111
World Leaders Shake Heads as Reforms to Check Nuclear Arms Spread Dumped
Agence France Presse
Kofi Annan has called it a disgrace and Australian Prime Minister John Howard termed it a major disappointment.
After months of wrangling, world leaders were shaking their heads over the dumping of proposed UN reforms to check nuclear weapons proliferation and disarmament.
Despite increasing concerns over illicit nuclear weapon networks and terrorists seeking weapons of mass destruction, negotiators working for months on a reform package to beef up the United Nations failed to agree on how to revamp global non-proliferation rules.
They adopted a watered-down package of reforms to be endorsed by the leaders of the world attending the 60th anniversary meeting of the global body.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4108
At U.N., Bush Links War on Terrorism to Anti-Poverty Efforts
President Tells World Leaders That U.S. Shares 'a Moral Duty' to Combat Root Causes of Resentment, Violence
By Peter Baker and Colum Lynch
UNITED NATIONS -- President Bush, reaching out to an audience he has antagonized in the past, told the assembled leaders of the world Wednesday that the United States shared "a moral duty" to combat not only terrorism but also the poverty, oppression and hopelessness that give rise to it.
Addressing the United Nations, Bush linked his campaign against terrorism to the anti-poverty agenda advanced by other nations, although he shied away from adopting some of the specific commitments sought by allies. He later took the U.S. seat at the Security Council for the first time in his presidency to emphasize his solidarity with other countries in the struggle against terrorism.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4102
New Zealand Herald
New Orleans centre and French Quarter to reopen
16.09.05 1.00pmBy Kieran Murray
NEW ORLEANS - The New Orleans central business district and the historic French Quarter will reopen over the weekend, nearly three weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, mayor Ray Nagin has said. He said business operators in the French Quarter tourist district, the central business district, and from the uptown and Algiers neighbourhoods would be allowed to return on Saturday and Sunday. Residents of those areas would be allowed to return in the following days in a phased process.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345846
Man used stockwhip on boys who ran over his dog
16.09.05 1.00pm
A Whangarei man has been jailed for using a stockwhip to teach two teenage brothers a lesson after they ran over his dog. Frank Kaire, 35, of Kamo, pleaded guilty in Whangarei District Court yesterday to two charges of assault with a weapon after admitting hitting one teen with a whip and narrowly missing the other. He was sentenced to six months' jail. The court was told the brothers, aged 14 and 15, were driving past Kaire's Pipiwai Rd home on November 29 when their vehicle hit Kaire's dog.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10345860
Gaza chaos triggers Palestinian political crisis
16.09.05 1.00pmBy Wafa Amr
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas faces a brewing political crisis as he scrambles to quell chaos in Gaza following Israel's withdrawal from the territory. Lawmakers submitted a request for a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and his cabinet, all Abbas appointees, in protest at the failure of security forces to control lawlessness after 38 years of Israeli occupation. Abbas can ill afford further political instability as he struggles to impose order in the Gaza Strip, which is seen as a proving ground for Palestinian aspirations of statehood.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345844
Nigeria leader to sue magazine for libel over FBI raid
16.09.05 1.00pm
ABUJA - Nigeria's vice president has ordered his lawyers to sue a leading news magazine for libel over a story it published about an FBI raid on his house in the United States. Atiku Abubakar accused Newswatch Magazine of publishing "specious and spurious allegations of wrongdoing and malfeasance" against him in its September 12 edition, which carried extensive coverage of the FBI raid. "The vice president ... has instructed his lawyers to, forthwith, institute proceedings against Newswatch Magazine, its publishers and promoters, for substantial damages for severely libellous and defamatory statements," his office said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345845
Time Warner, Microsoft in talks on AOL
16.09.05 1.00pmBy Kenneth Li
Time Warner and Microsoft Corp are discussing co-operation between their internet search and advertising networks, a source revealed today. "There have been talks on ways Microsoft and AOL assets can be better leveraged and they've taken place over the normal course of business ...," the source said, calling reports of a joint venture "way overblown." Although talks, which have taken place over several months, could advance, nothing was imminent, the source added.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10345827
Record price for Jag
14.09.05By Alastair Sloane
The XK140 Jaguar SE roadster that recently appeared in Superwheels was sold at a classic car auction in Australia for a record A$105,000 ($115,076). The price was A$30,000 ($32,879) more than auction house Shannons' price guide. The bidding began quietly before two enthusiasts turned it into a spirited contest around the A$90,000 ($98,652) mark, competing with A$1000 ($1096) bids until the hammer fell. A similar bidding war erupted for a 1931 Bentley roadster replica built in Australia on an Austin Sheerline chassis. It sold for A$60,000 ($65,763).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/9/story.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10345382
Mexico firework blasts lasted two hours
16.09.05 9.15am
A series of explosions ripped through a Mexican fireworks market today, sending a huge column of smoke into the air and scaring residents but a large-scale tragedy was avoided. The blasts, lasting for two hours, reduced the market in the town of Tultepec, west of the capital, to a charred ruin. "It just got bigger and bigger, fireworks, fireworks," sobbed a man on the scene, interviewed on the radio while searching for two missing brothers. Civil protection workers said around 100 people fought sporadic fires.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10345836
US and North Korea clash at nuclear talks
16.09.05 12.20pmBy Brian Rhoads and Teruaki Ueno
BEIJING - The United States and North Korea clashed over a Pyongyang demand for light-water nuclear reactors for power generation at six-nation talks designed to end the communist country's atomic arms programmes. On the eve of a fourth day of talks on Friday, Washington said the North's stand was holding up an end to a three-year crisis that would allow aid and security guarantees for the impoverished state if it abandoned all nuclear programmes. "We are at a bit of a stand-off at this point. We have to see how this plays out," chief US negotiator Christopher Hill told reporters in Beijing where North and South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China are meeting.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345853
Darfur peace talks resume
16.09.05 16.20pmBy Estelle Shirbon
ABUJA - Negotiators for Sudan's government and for two Darfur rebel movements have launched a new round of peace talks in Nigeria. However, there are concerns that disunity among rebels could hinder progress. The sixth round of negotiations in a year started with a plenary session at which the top African Union (AU) mediator told the parties they had to make a much greater effort than previously to achieve peace. "While it is true that peace negotiations by their very nature are complicated and time consuming, the inter-Sudanese talks have been extremely difficult and at times seem to have been conducted with complete disregard to the imperatives of the situation on the ground in Darfur," said Baba Gana Kingibe.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345867
Australia, the shaky continent
16.09.05By Greg Ansley
CANBERRA - Australians may call New Zealand the Shaky Isles, but an earthquake that rumbled beneath the Northern Territory Outback this week has given new pause for thought. The quake, 4.4 on the Richter scale, was powerful enough to have been felt or heard up to 100km from its epicentre, about 27km southwest of Tennant Creek. The tremor was in fact nothing new. There have been 14 others around the Tennant Creek area this year, and in 1988 three much bigger quakes that, Geoscience Australia duty seismologist David Jepsen said, each released 1000 times more energy than this week's tremor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345754
Canada's PM blasts Musharraf rape comments
16.09.05 1.20pm
OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has condemned reported remarks by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in which he said many people in Pakistan felt that one way of making money or moving to Canada was to "get yourself raped". Pakistan is under fire for what human rights groups say is rampant violence against women. In one recent high-profile case, a woman who said she had been gang-raped fled to Britain and then sought permission to move to Canada. Martin said he had raised the matter with Musharraf during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations. "I stated unequivocally that comments such as that are not acceptable and that violence against women is also a blight that besmirches all humanity," Martin told a news conference at the United Nations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345866
Child torturers jailed
16.09.05 9.20am
FLORIDA - A couple were sentenced to 15 years each in prison for torturing and starving five of their seven adopted children, including yanking out their toenails with pliers. John and Linda Dollar pleaded no contest to five counts of aggravated abuse of the children, who were so severely underfed that twin 14-year-old brothers weighed just 16kg and 17kg each - 36kg below normal. The couple also tortured the children with an electric cattle prod and bondage equipment.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345769
Pirates free UN crew with tsunami relief food
16.09.05 6.20am
Somali gunmen who hijacked a UN vessel with a 10-man crew carrying tsunami relief food have released the ship after nearly 11 weeks. Pirates hijacked the Kenyan MV Semlow on June 27 near the Harardheere area on its way to Bosasso port with 850 tonnes of rice donated by Germany and Japan. Negotiators had agreed to send the rice to the capital Mogadishu early on in talks but the pirates pressed more demands.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345771
Bin Laden 'allowed to flee'
16.09.05
KABUL - Osama bin Laden was provided safe passage to Pakistan in 2001 by Afghan commanders paid by al Qaeda and sympathetic to its cause, a senior Afghan has said. Lutfullah Mashal, Afghanistan's Interior Ministry spokesman, said commanders helped the al Qaeda leader escape Tora Bora as US aircraft and Afghan forces attacked his hideout near the border in late 2001. "The help was provided because of monetary aid availed by al Qaeda and also partly because of ideological issues," Mashal said. "Osama along with other al Qaeda people managed to go to Parachinar [in Pakistan]." He said commanders loyal to Maulvi Yunus Khalis had helped the al Qaeda leader escape. The whereabouts of Khalis, a top mujahideen leader, is unknown.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345758
Mum's milk richer after one year
16.09.05By Anne Harding
NEW YORK - Milk from mothers who have been breastfeeding their infants for more than a year is richer in fat and energy than milk from those who have been breastfeeding for just a few months, a study shows. Dr Dror Mandel of Tel Aviv University in Israel said the study was the first to look at the nutritional value of breast milk after prolonged breastfeeding. "It might be that because the infant is breastfed fewer times a day, the milk is more concentrated," he noted in an email interview.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345723
Breakfast cereal eaters found to weigh less
16.09.05
Women who favour cereal for breakfast tend to weigh less than their peers who opt for other breakfast foods or who skip the meal altogether, according to a new study. Whether cereal directly lends a hand in weight control is unclear, but the study authors speculate that the fibre, vitamins and minerals in many boxed cereals may play a role. Also unknown is why the potential benefit was limited to women. Among men, neither breakfast cereal nor breakfast consumption in general had an impact on weight.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10345741
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