The Washington Post
With Quake Aid Scarce, Survivors Left Out in Cold
By John Lancaster
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page A01
RAWALAKOT, Pakistan, Oct. 11 -- In a cold and driving rain, a dozen young men stood by the side of the road Tuesday afternoon, flagging down any vehicle that passed. A truck pulled over and they ran to the driver's window, pleading in vain for tents and blankets to shelter their families.
"My house has collapsed," said Wagar Ahmed, 21, waiting along the road for the second day after walking an hour and a half from his remote mountain village. "We have all grouped together to ask for help."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101466.html?nav=hcmodule
Survey Says: A 2nd Term for Hillary
The beat goes on for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) with a new independent poll showing her with large leads over potential Republican opponents.
Clinton leads former Westchester County district attorney Jeanine Pirro 59 percent to 31 percent; she holds a 60 percent to 30 percent lead over attorney -- and Richard Nixon son-in-law -- Ed Cox.
The survey, released by the Siena Research Institute, shows Hillary Clinton leading even the two titans of Empire State GOP politics -- former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki. Clinton holds a 48 percent to 43 percent lead over Giuliani and a larger 53 percent to 35 percent edge over Pataki. Both men have already said they will not run for Senate, instead choosing to focus their energies on potential presidential bids.
Although the N.Y. Senate race is likely to tighten somewhat in 2006, Clinton is a prohibitive favorite for a second term. The question now is how big her margin will be and how much momentum that will create for a potential presidential race.
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/thefix/
SRI Survey Archives
June 2005
Siena New York Poll – June 14, 2005
New York State Consumer Confidence for May - Released 6/3/05
May 2005
Siena New York Poll – May 11, 2005
New York State Consumer Confidence for April - Released 5/6/05
April 2005
New York State Consumer Confidence for March - Released 4/15/05
The Siena New York Poll - Released 4/11/05
First Quarter Consumer Confidence for Major New York State Cities - Released 4/4/05
http://www.siena.edu/sri/surveys.asp
French Official Detained in Oil-For-Food Probe
By Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 11, 2005; 6:24 PM
UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 11 -- France's former U.N. ambassador, Jean-Bernard Merimee, was detained for questioning in Paris in connection with an investigation into corruption in the $64 billion United Nations oil-for-food program, French officials said Tuesday.
A French investigative magistrate, Philippe Courroye, took Merimee into custody Monday to determine why former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's regime granted him rights to purchase about 4.5 million of barrels of Iraqi oil at a discounted price. Merimee, 68, is the most senior former French official to be detained by Courroye during a three-year probe into possible corruption by French officials and companies in Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101384.html
National Zoo's Panda Cub Has First Teeth
By D'Vera Cohn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; 2:30 PM
The National Zoo's giant panda cub had another medical examination this morning, which showed that he now has teeth.
The cub weighs 12.7 pounds and measures 25.5 inches from nose to tail, according to zoo spokeswoman Peper Long.
Suzan Murray, chief veterinarian, performs the panda cub's eighth examination. All four canine teeth and all 12 incisors have erupted through the panda's gums. (Jessie Cohen - National Zoo/AP)
Long said all four canine teeth and all 12 incisors have erupted through the male panda's gums, although not all of them are fully grown in. Keepers and veterinarians had been able to feel the teeth erupting for about a week. Unlike many human babies who cry when they are teething, the cub does not appear to be uncomfortable, she said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/AR2005101201112.html
Va. Violent Deaths Are Mostly Suicides
Study Finds High Rate for Older Men
By Jamie Stockwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page B01
Suicides accounted for more than half of all violent deaths in Virginia in 2003, with the majority committed by white men with marital troubles and a history of depression, according to a state study to be published today.
The suicide rate was highest among men older than 65, the study found, and one in four of the nearly 800 suicide victims in the state was a veteran of the armed forces.
"We had an idea how [it] would fall out because we have insider information, so to speak," said Virginia Powell, the project's manager for the Department of Health's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. "But we were taken aback by those numbers."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101780.html
Schroeder's Seven Years in Power Ending
By MELISSA EDDY
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; 3:17 PM
BERLIN -- Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday he will not participate in Germany's new coalition government, ending seven years in power marked by a newly assertive foreign policy and efforts to prune welfare benefits that were a drag on Europe's biggest economy.
In a speech to a trade union conference in his hometown of Hanover, Schroeder also took swipes at President Bush and Tony Blair, opponents in the debate over the Iraq war.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/12/AR2005101200374.html
For President Under Duress, Body Language Speaks Volumes
By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; A07
It's only 6:17 a.m. Central time, and President Bush is already facing his second question of the day about Karl Rove's legal troubles.
"Does it worry you," NBC's Matt Lauer is asking him at a construction-site interview in Louisiana, that prosecutors "seem to have such an interest in Mr. Rove?"
Bush blinks twice. He touches his tongue to his lips. He blinks twice more. He starts to answer, but he stops himself.
"I'm not going to talk about the case," Bush finally says after a three-second pause that, in television time, feels like a commercial break.
Only the president's closest friends and family know (if anybody does) what he's really thinking these days, during Katrina woes, Iraq violence, conservative anger over Harriet Miers, and legal trouble for Bush's top political aide and two congressional GOP leaders. Bush has not been viewed up close; as he took his eighth post-Katrina trip to the Gulf Coast yesterday, the press corps has accompanied him only once, because the White House says logistics won't permit it. Even the interview on the "Today" show was labeled "closed press."
But this much could be seen watching the tape of NBC's broadcast during Bush's 14-minute pre-sunrise interview, in which he stood unprotected by the usual lectern. The president was a blur of blinks, taps, jiggles, pivots and shifts. Bush has always been an active man, but standing with Lauer and the serene, steady first lady, he had the body language of a man wishing urgently to be elsewhere.
The fidgeting clearly corresponded to the questioning. When Lauer asked if Bush, after a slow response to Katrina, was "trying to get a second chance to make a good first impression," Bush blinked 24 times in his answer. When asked why Gulf Coast residents would have to pay back funds but Iraqis would not, Bush blinked 23 times and hitched his trousers up by the belt.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101577_pf.html
A Harvest of Generosity
Jews Observe High Holidays by Giving Food to Those in Need
By Debbi Wilgoren
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 12, 2005; Page B01
The big white truck from the Capital Area Food Bank will be parked outside a Silver Spring high school tonight and tomorrow, slowly filling with bags of groceries brought by Jewish worshipers on their holiest day of the year.
On Sunday, the truck was at Temple Sinai in Northwest Washington, where hundreds of Jewish families offered piles of pasta, peanut butter and other nonperishables to stock the shelves of those in need. Later this month, the truck will head to B'nai Shalom of Olney, to pick up another 1,700 or so pounds of donated goods.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/11/AR2005101101676.html
Scandals Take Toll On Bush's 2nd Term
By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A01
A series of scandals involving some of the most powerful Republicans in Washington have converged to disrupt President Bush's agenda, distract aides and allies, and exacerbate political problems for an already weakened administration, according to party strategists and White House advisers.
With Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove returning to a grand jury as early as today, associates said the architect of Bush's presidency has been preoccupied with his legal troubles, a diversion that some say contributed to the troubled handling of Harriet Miers's nomination to the Supreme Court. White House officials are privately bracing for the possibility that Rove or other officials could be indicted in the next two weeks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101301955.html
DeLay's Telephone Records Subpoenaed
By Suzanne Gamboa
Associated Press Writer
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page A20
AUSTIN, Oct. 13 -- A Texas prosecutor subpoenaed telephone records for the home phone of former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and the phone of his political campaign Thursday.
Also subpoenaed by prosecutor Ronnie Earle were records for two phone numbers of DeLay's daughter, Dani DeLay Ferro.
DeLay is facing charges of money laundering and conspiracy in a Texas campaign finance case.
The subpoenas list telephone numbers but not their owners. They ask for information about calls, voice-mail service, and long-distance calls made from or charged to the numbers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101301689.html?nav=hcmodule
Farrakhan Offers Anniversary Message of Defiance, Unity
Leader Urges Blacks to Share Strength
By Robert E. Pierre Hamil R. Harris
and
Friday, October 14, 2005; Page B01
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said yesterday that America remains rife with racism that keeps too many blacks poor, uneducated and out of work and that to overcome it, black Americans must unite and draw strength from one another.
Farrakhan, in Washington for events to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March, including a rally tomorrow on the Mall, blasted federal anti-poverty efforts over the last 30 years as hypocritical attempts to either win votes or temporarily pacify the downtrodden. But, in keeping with his self-help message, Farrakhan said that before any progress can be made, black people must spend less and produce more rather than immediately seek government help.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/13/AR2005101301369.html
AN INTERVIEW WITH LOUIS FARRAKHAN - I HAPPEN TO THINK HE IS COMPLETELY CORRECT. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A CONSPIRACY THEORY SO MUCH AS DISPROVING IT AND REAIZING THE COMPLETE TRUTH.
FOREMAN: It was a radical idea that first played out here in Washington ten years ago. African American men gathered on the National Mall for what was known as the Million Man March, an efforts to showcase a positive image of black menace as responsible and contributing members to the community.
Now, a decade later, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan wants to broaden that movement, and he's renamed the march the Millions More Movement. Minister Louis Farrakhan joins us now in "The Situation Room."
Thanks for coming here.
LOUIS FARRAKHAN, NATION OF ISLAM: Thank you for having me.
FOREMAN: Why revive this, why push this forward now?
FARRAKHAN: Well, certainly, we can never repeat the Million Man March. But those who were responsible for producing the Million Man March, the Million Woman March, the Million Youth March, the Million Family March, and the Million Worker March, all of us have come together along with civil rights, nationalists, pan-Africanists, young people, to look at the condition of our people.
And we realize that no one leader, no one organization, can solve the many problems of our people. But we, as a unified group, believe that we have the will, the skill, and the finance to be able to help our people out of the condition that we find ourselves in.
FOREMAN: Certainly, a lot of people throughout the American community paid attention when the Million Man March happened, but I want to quote something. Reverend Jeremiah Wright from the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago said, "The Million Man March was a wonderful moment spiritually, but I feel like, what did we do with it? And what are we going to do that's different this time around?" In a practical sense, you've worried about these problems forever. Did anything get any better after the first march?
FARRAKHAN: Well, we can say that 25,000 orphans found a home, 1.7 million black men voted in the next election. The crime rate, the murder rate went down in the inner cities at that time. But what has happened to America in the last ten years is greatly reflected in the poor of this country.
FOREMAN: Has that been good or bad?
FARRAKHAN: It's not good because when you cede manufacturing to overseas cheap labor markets, when factories close in the inner cities, this leaves the black, the brown, the poor white in the lurch. When we don't have a lot of choices, if we join the armed forces, maybe there's a chance there.
If we become entrepreneurs, there's a chance there. But it seems like young black and brown men are being herded into criminal behavior, drugs and guns and gangs, and the killing goes on and we're filling the jails of America.
FOREMAN: You had to be very disturbed by what you saw out of New Orleans, as a great many Americans were disturbed by what they saw out of New Orleans. When you watched what happened there, the flooding, which happened largely in very poor neighborhoods, substantial numbers of people there who are black people, what did you think?
FARRAKHAN: Well, first, many of us saw race raise its ugly face again. The ugly specter of poverty and want in the midst of plenty was shown, not only to the American people, but to America's hurt. In foreign capitals, the news was negative against America.
FOREMAN: I want to interrupt you on this question of negative news here, because there has been the suggestion out there, people have written about this notion, that they say that you said at some point, you believe the levees were bombed or purposely breached to flood black neighborhoods. Is that true?
FARRAKHAN: Well, yes, I did say that, but I didn't say it in a vacuum.
FOREMAN: What do you mean? Explain it.
FARRAKHAN: I spoke along with members of the executive committee of the Millions More Movement to Mayor Nagin after he told us many things that he felt we could do to help. He did mention that there was a 25-foot crater under the levee.
Then we heard from the Hal Turner Show that someone under the rubric of anonymity said to Mr. Turner that he was a member of the Army Corps of Engineers, went down in his diving suit, and he saw burn marks on the concrete, and he spirited some of it away and sent it to his friend in the Army forensic laboratory. And they sent back to him saying that there were two types of explosives that they named, I can't recall, but let me just say this. Whether it is a rumor or truth, whenever there's a rumor that is believed by many, it becomes the duty and the obligation to take that rumor to those who have the knowledge to search the truth of it out.
FOREMAN: Do you believe this rumor? Do you believe the levees were bombed down there, or do you not believe that?
FARRAKHAN: I would like to know the truth of it. In John Barry's book "The Rising Tide," he said that in 1927, whites in New Orleans purposely bombed that levee. If it happened once, could it happen again? You know, we need to know the truth. The American people need to note truth.
And there are those who can search out the truth of this to either dispel it as nothing more than a rumor, or show that it is the truth, if it is, and then let's find the persons who are guilty, not only of destroying billions of dollars of property, but the mass murder of thousands of American citizens.
FOREMAN: If I'm not mistaken, this is 50 years since you joined the Nation of Islam. Is that correct, this year?
FARRAKHAN: That is correct.
FOREMAN: You were a very young man at that time.
FARRAKHAN: Yes, sir.
FOREMAN: You spent a lot of years working on this. How do you -- you mentioned earlier the opportunities for young black people in this country, many of whom find it in the military. How do you square in your head, now, your experience with the Nation of Islam, young black Americans, fighting in the military service for opportunity, being attacked by Islamic radicals? How do you square this away?
FARRAKHAN: Well, what we're looking at, sir, is an effect. What you don't see, and what America does not wish to deal with, is the cause. Now, what is the cause of Islamic radicalism? Why is there anger in the Islamic world against the United States of America? What has happened to the courts of redress of grievance that people are almost so almost imbalanced to the point where they would kill themselves and kill innocent people for political purposes?
FOREMAN: But do you feel any need to speak out more strongly and either condemn the Islamic radical for doing this and saying this is not Islam, or to say to the young black Americans, "You shouldn't be going there." How do you come out of this thing?
FARRAKHAN: Well, we, as followers of the Honorable Elijah Mohammed, have in our general orders, you know, these words: We allow no one to make a nuisance on or near our post.
We believe that our post is 3,000 by 2,000 miles called the United States of America. And none of us would allow anybody to plant a bomb or do something to harm innocent people for some political purpose. We would fight that. We would oppose that.
FOREMAN: So you're squarely against the Islamic radicals doing this in the name of Islam?
FARRAKHAN: I am squarely against anyone taking the lives of innocent people for political purposes. But I would hope that, when we see this happening all over the world that we would realize that we're looking at an effect and we would come back and re-examine our policies toward that part of the world.
And if we can make a correction, then America can regain the respect, admiration and friendship of the Arab and Muslim world.
FOREMAN: Minister Farrakhan, thanks for coming by.
You had some of that fire of all those many years you've spent on this for a moment.
I appreciate it very much.
FARRAKHAN: I'm honored, sir. Thank you.
FOREMAN: Up next, will John Kerry make another run for the White House?
No decision on that yet, but if he does decide to run, he already has a key supporter. That story on our political radar. Plus, an election a key supporter. That story on our political radar.
Plus, an election a little closer to home. Do the Democrats have a chance to win back Congress next year? We'll break down the numbers. Stay with us.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0510/13/sitroom.02.html
The Times of India
It's festival time in India
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IANS
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2005 01:06:46 PM ]
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Citibank NRI Offer
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An Indian priest gives the finishing touches to the Hindu Goddess Durga at a makeshift place of worship in New Delhi. Photos: AFP
It's that time of the year again when Indians, irrespective of their denomination or persuasion, are taken over by a festive mood and the entire country appears to be celebrating a religious or cultural occasion with prayers, food, songs and dance.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1260436.cms
Death toll 1300: Troops reach remote areas
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SRINAGAR: Army troops on Wednesday reached hitherto inaccessible areas in quake-battered Jammu and Kashmir and volunteers and NGOs chipped in to help the state government in providing succors to the victims even as deaths count in weekend's monster quake mounted to over 1300.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited worst-hit Tangdhar and Uri sectors and announced an additional Rs 500 crore relief to the state to cope with the devastation wreaked by the temblor.
Describing the tragedy as a national calamity, he said 1300 people had perished and 4,500 were injured in the quake that flattened or damaged 32,000 houses.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1260429.cms
'No truth in terrorists' threat to MNCs'
HYDERABAD: Police on Wednesday said there was no truth in reports regarding "possible terrorists" threat perception to several multi-national companies belonging to the US here.
"Such information was given to the police and information was given to the police and to the US consulate by a motivated and undependable source," Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) Swaranjit Sen told reporters here.
Howerver, Sen said the US representatives were in constant touch with the state police and all necessary action is being taken to ensured full protection of all MNCs operating from Hyderabad.
City Police Commissioner A K Mohanty said no U S company had approached the police for any security cover." We will take action depending on the need, if required," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1260621.cms
Did quake kill/hurt Osama?
WASHINGTON: Did Osama bin Laden's secret lair crumble in the earthquake that devastated northwest Pakistan?
So far, US government officials and terrorism experts caution against too much speculation about whether the al-Qaeda chief may have been killed, injured or forced from hiding.
"There's a lot of people who know that that's an obvious question" was the most Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita would say on Tuesday about US thinking on Bin Laden's fate.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1260732.cms
Is the window closing?
NEW DELHI: Though India might be on the cusp of a demographic bonus - we’re geared to have a higher proportion of working age people than ever before - the state of women in the country might prevent it from capitalising on that opportunity. This was the message from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) while presenting the State of World population report 2005.
India stands on the verge of a one-time window of opportunity. India’s high fertility rates - at 2.92 in 2005 - mean that we have one of the youngest populations in the world. However, despite having such a young population, we’re unable to reap the economic benefits because there are always many more mouths to feed than hands working. However, with fertility rates declining steadily, sometime in the near future, India will have a one-off situation where the proportion of the population working will peak.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1260796.cms
10 Sexiest Movie Moments
What is the best thing about great sex? It is always memorable, on screen or off. Most Hollywood films have varying degrees of skin show and with the plethora of moans, grunts and groans emanating from the big screen, it is actually surprising that things still turn us on any more. But somehow there are some sex scenes which are embedded in our collective psyche and which are still capable of well...turning on the heat!
10. Nine and Half Weeks (1986)
This is one film that those of us who 'came of age' in the 80s simply can't forget!Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke pushed the limits of explicit sex in mainstream cinema in this film about a divorced art gallery manager who becomes involved in a game of sexual control with a hot young commodities broker.The scene in which Rourke feeds a blindfolded Basinger in front of her fridge singlehandedly made food sexy.
(Information on movie scene surveys from EOnline Features and 100 Greatest Sexy Moments:Channel 4 Film)
http://people.indiatimes.com/specialquickiearticleshow/1259545.cms
The New York Times
In a Scripted TV Scene, Soldiers Reassure Bush
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: October 14, 2005
By The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 - In a videoconference linking him by satellite to a group of soldiers in Iraq, President Bush sought and won their assurances on Thursday that Iraqi forces are up to the job of helping American troops provide security for the voting there this weekend.
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Video Transcript
The event, stage-managed for television, came across as carefully scripted and a bit awkward, despite attempts to prepare the soldiers for what they would be asked and to give them time to think through their answers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/politics/14prexy.html
Sunni Leaders Offer Mixed Views of Deal on Constitution
By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: October 12, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 12 - Sunni Arab leaders offered a mixed reaction today to a last-minute deal aimed at bolstering the prospects of Iraq's constitution, which is to set to go before Iraqi voters in a nationwide referendum on Saturday.
A suicide bomber killed at least 20 Iraqis and wounded 30 others at an army recruiting center near Tal Afar today.
A number of Sunni religious and political leaders, whose community forms the backbone of the guerilla insurgency, said they would continue to oppose the draft charter, despite the agreement Tuesday of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni Arab political party. Among the rejectionists was the Association of Muslim Scholars, which represents hundreds of Sunni clerics from across the country.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/international/middleeast/12cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1129176000&en=16c22a849cbbd9ae&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Syria Says Minister in Lebanon Inquiry Committed Suicide
By HASSAN M. FATTAH
Published: October 12, 2005
JEDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 12 - Ghazi Kanaan, Syria's powerful interior minister and former head of military intelligence in Lebanon, was found dead in his Damascus office today, adding a dramatic new twist to the ongoing investigation into the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. Syria's official news agency, SANA, reported that Mr. Kanaan had died in his office this morning of an apparent gunshot wound to the head, and declared his death a suicide.
Mohamed Azakir/Reuters
Syria's interior minister, Ghazi Kanaan, in Beirut in 2003.
Mr. Kanaan, 57, was one of the key security figures interrogated by United Nations investigators last month in the probe into the murder of Mr. Hariri and 20 others last Feb. 14. As interior minister and a key figure in the Syrian regime, he was widely regarded as a powerful force with much knowledge of the regime's inner workings, and would likely have been a key witness in any further investigation of the incident.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/international/middleeast/12cnd-syria.html?hp&ex=1129176000&en=8d36c248f078c6a8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
F.D.A. Seizes Medicine-Dispensing Pumps
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
Published: October 14, 2005
Baxter International Inc. said yesterday that the Food and Drug Administration had seized 6,000 company-owned Colleague infusion pumps that were linked to deaths and 850 Syndeo syringe pumps used to administer pain medication.
United States marshals took the devices from two company facilities in northern Illinois where they were being held, an F.D.A. spokeswoman said. Baxter, based in Deerfield, Ill., halted shipment of pumps to hospitals and acute medical care facilities earlier this year because of defects.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/national/14pump.html
Break in Weather Aids Stream of Aid Into Pakistan Quake Zone
By CARLOTTA GALL and DAVID ROHDE
Published: October 12, 2005
BALAKOT, Pakistan, Oct. 12 -- Improved weather and the arrival of 10 additional helicopters increased the flow of aid into earthquake-ravaged northern Pakistan today, but United Nations officials estimated that one million people remained homeless, hungry and threatened by disease in shattered mountain hamlets.
Volunteers buried the bodies of earthquake victims in a mass grave in front of collapsed houses at Nisar camp near Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani controlled Kashmir.
Journeying for miles on foot, desperate survivors from high-altitude villages streamed into major towns where Pakistani, American, United Nations and Afghan helicopters landed on makeshift helipads to evacuate the injured. Some people said they had carried injured relatives for miles in a desperate search for medial care.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/international/asia/12cnd-quake.html?hp&ex=1129176000&en=a89faec32d7ea8d2&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Prosecutor Subpoenas Phone Data of DeLay
By PHILIP SHENON
Published: October 14, 2005
WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 - A state prosecutor subpoenaed the phone records of Representative Tom DeLay and his daughter on Thursday as part of an investigation that has already produced two conspiracy indictments against Mr. DeLay.
The subpoenas, issued by the district attorney in Travis County, Tex., which includes Austin, the state capital, sought records for Mr. DeLay's home telephone number and for his campaign office, as well as for two phone numbers used by his daughter, a key political aide. The subpoenas sought information on long-distance calls made from or charged to the numbers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/national/14delay.html
Indian Company to Make Generic Version of Flu Drug Tamiflu
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: October 14, 2005
A major Indian drug company announced yesterday that it would start making a generic version of Tamiflu, the anti-influenza drug that is in critically short supply in the face of a possible epidemic of avian flu.
"Right or wrong, we're going to commercialize and make oseltamivir," said Dr. Yusuf K. Hamied, chairman of Cipla of Bombay, using the drug's generic name and acknowledging that he might face a fight in the Indian courts with Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant that holds the patent.
Although generic manufacturers cannot legally sell the patented drug in the West, all national patent laws, including those of the United States, allow governments to cancel patents during emergencies and either buy generics or force patent holders to license their formulas to rivals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/14/health/14virus.html
5 Aid Workers Killed by Taliban Insurgents in Afghanistan
By RUHULLAH KHAPALWAK
Published: October 12, 2005
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct.12 - Suspected Taliban gunmen ambushed a medical team on their way to a refugee camp in southern Afghanistan today, killing five people and wounding four others, Afghan officials said. The brutal killing, by two men on a motorbike, follows two large-scale ambushes against local police in the last two days, also in southern Afghanistan, representing some of the worst violence against Afghan personnel since the Taliban was defeated in 2001.
The nine medical personnel attacked this morning made up a mobile medical team from the Afghan non-governmental organization Afghan Health Development Services. The team was on its way to work in a refugee camp in Panjwai district of Kandahar province. Two gunmen shot at their car and then threw a grenade into the vehicle, killing five instantly and injuring four, Yosouf Stanizai, a spokesman at the Ministry of Interior, said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/international/asia/12cnd-afghan.html
Now Arguing Near You: The Evolution Drama
By STEVEN McELROY
Published: October 12, 2005
In Harrisburg, Pa., lawyers are in court today arguing whether intelligent design should be taught in biology class alongside evolution. As Richard Thompson, the lawyer representing the school board members who favor teaching intelligent design, said, "There are two worldviews that are in conflict.
From left, Edward Asner (Bryan), Kevin Kilner (Attorney General) and John de Lancie (Darrow) rehearse "The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial."
Last night, in Arcata, Calif., in another trial involving evolution's place in the school curriculum, a lawyer told a jury, "The contest between evolution and Christianity is a duel to the death, between the unbelief that attempts to speak through so-called science, and the defenders of the Christian faith."
The difference is that the Pennsylvania trial, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, is real, while the one taking place on the other side of the country is a play performed by L.A. Theater Works and drawn from the transcripts of the famed Scopes "monkey trial" of 1925, when a high school teacher in Tennessee was indicted for teaching evolution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/12/theater/12monk.html
Michael Moore Today
I Have Arrived, I Am Home
...a message from Cindy Sheehan
I was honored and humbled to be in the presence of holy man, Thich Nhat Hahn, today at MacArthur Park in a very Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles.
Tha^y, (teacher) as he is known, is a Buddhist monk who was active during the Vietnam War years bringing peace and reconciliation to the countries of North and South Vietnam. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. He walks with an aura of peace and acceptance radiating from him.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=514
PERFECT TIMING
A MichaelMoore.com Reader Contribution by Ethan Oringel
Americans were hurting, paying almost $2.50 per gallon of gasoline at the pumps. And that was before Katrina and Rita blew into the Gulf. Gas shot over $3 in early September 2005 and has remained high into October. But as the two Louisiana Senators were busy fighting over hurricane aid (and Camp Casey-Covington volunteers were busy churning out food, water and baby wipes), the Republican Party saw the storms as offering the perfect chance to get busy on their own top priority: a round of cash and benefits to add to the already-record profits of the oil and gas industry. With the passage of the GAS Act on October 7, the United States and the world were forced to watch as the Republican oil agenda blew yet another huge opportunity to move the country forward on energy and global warming.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"If you want to impress me, go to Baghdad."
Dear Michael Moore:
I must say that you are always on point. I am a soldier serving in Iraq and till this day we still don’t know why we are here.
I sit and watch television and the bull shit that our leaders are feeding to the people on a daily basis. How can you be a President and spend over 800 billions of dollars destroying and rebuilding another country when we need help in our own country? How do you live with yourself knowing that innocent soldiers are dying every day just for you?
Majority of the troops here don’t even have missions, all they do is check people identification cards going into the PX or Hajji Bazaars or cooks working in airports or laundry room because they have civilian caterers to work in the dinning facilities. We are separated from our family, kids, husbands, wives and friends for a year just for the white house to look good. So our leaders can say “Yes we were the ones that destroyed and rebuild this country spending over 800 billions of dollars and we have veterans that have served their country, lost their legs, arms and their lives to be homeless, eating in shelters and no one gives a dam.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/willtheyevertrustusagain/index.php?id=35
Focus of CIA Leak Probe Appears to Widen
By John D. McKinnon, Joe Hagan and Annie Marie Squeo / Wall Street Journal
The New York Times reporter who went to jail to avoid testifying in the CIA leak case was quizzed by the special prosecutor again yesterday and has agreed to return to the grand jury today.
Judith Miller's additional testimony comes as the endgame is intensifying in the legal chess match that threatens to damage the Bush administration.
There are signs that prosecutors now are looking into contacts between administration officials and journalists that took place much earlier than previously thought. Earlier conversations are potentially significant, because that suggests the special prosecutor leading the investigation is exploring whether there was an effort within the administration at an early stage to develop and disseminate confidential information to the press that could undercut former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife, Central Intelligence Agency official Valerie Plame.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4490
Sexist Rantings
Fifteen years ago George H. W. Bush nominated a little known judge to the Supreme Court. Conservatives rallied behind him on the President's good word and they've been kicking themselves ever since. They were expecting a Great Right Hope -- someone who would swing the Court away from activist moderation and send the country back in time a couple decades -- but David Souter turned out to be just another Justice. Conservatives felt betrayed and as you know, an elephant never forgets.
When George W. Bush nominated John Roberts, his conservative base was ecstatic. Roberts had a tried and true conservative background and the vast majority of his real political views were sealed behind a selective wall of executive privilege. He also had an impressive judicial resume, an unflappable demeanor, and an adorable son.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=515
CIA review faults prewar plans
By John Diamond / USA Today
WASHINGTON — A newly released report published by the CIA rebukes the Bush administration for not paying enough attention to prewar intelligence that predicted the factional rivalries now threatening to split Iraq. Policymakers worried more about making the case for the war, particularly the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, than planning for the aftermath, the report says. The report was written by a team of four former CIA analysts led by former deputy CIA director Richard Kerr.
"In an ironic twist, the policy community was receptive to technical intelligence (the weapons program), where the analysis was wrong, but apparently paid little attention to intelligence on cultural and political issues (post-Saddam Iraq), where the analysis was right," they write.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4497
Family Feuds Over Soldier's Remains
By Dean E. Murphy and Carolyn Marshall / New York Times
It has been 14 years since Russell Hendrix and Renee Amick divorced, a hostile parting that dragged on for three years in the courts. They clashed over their three children, domestic abuse accusations, alcoholism and money problems.
Now the fallout from that divorce is spilling well beyond their broken family into national military policy. Their eyes rarely meeting across a tense courtroom here, Mr. Hendrix and Ms. Amick cannot agree on what is best for their eldest son, Staff Sgt. Jason R. Hendrix of the Army, this time not in life but in death.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4499
Do They Understand Video Technology
Big Easy Cops Deny Using Excessive Force
By Ross Sneyd / Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS - A 64-year-old retired teacher whose beating by city police was caught on videotape pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of being drunk and resisting arrest as the officers involved denied using excessive force.
A lawyer for Robert Davis said charges of public intoxication, resisting arrest, battery on a police officer and public intimidation were groundless and that they should be dropped. Joseph Bruno met briefly with city officials to discuss having the charges dismissed, and they agreed to continue their talks.
Davis was released on bond and a trial was set for Jan. 18 — a week after the scheduled start of the trial for the officers accused of beating him.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4498
EXTENDTHEDEADLINE.ORG
A little more than one month ago, we watched with horror as hundreds of thousands of Americans fled Hurricane Katrina, many with only the clothes on their backs and the few belongings they could carry. Days later, the story got worse, much worse, as we learned that Americans across the Gulf Coast lost everything: their homes, their jobs, their family photos and even their pets.
Now these same families are in danger of losing access to some federal assistance. There is a 60-day deadline for hurricane victims to register for federal assistance with FEMA. The hurricane families should not have to suffer because FEMA is too over-burdened and poorly-managed to handle a disaster of this magnitude. It is unfair to ask these families that have lost so much to begin the complex FEMA aid application process before the end of October.
http://www.extendthedeadline.org/
Libby Did Not Tell Grand Jury About Key Conversation
By Murray Waas / National Journal
In two appearances before the federal grand jury investigating the leak of a covert CIA operative's name, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Cheney, did not disclose a crucial conversation that he had with New York Times reporter Judith Miller in June 2003 about the operative, Valerie Plame, according to sources with firsthand knowledge of his sworn testimony.
Libby also did not disclose the June 23 conversation when he was twice interviewed by FBI agents working on the Plame leak investigation, the sources said.
Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald apparently learned about the June 23 conversation for the first time just days ago, after attorneys for Miller and The New York Times informed prosecutors that Miller had discovered a set of notes on the conversation.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4486
THIS MOLD HOUSE
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpmoldhouse/
Renter's rights
This Mold House
More tips for mending your broken home
HED: RENTERS HAVE RIGHTS, TOO
New Orleanians who rent apartments have many of the same hurricane mitigation issues as homeowners: Who do they call? What does insurance cover? Can or will the place be fixed? Here’s a look at renter’s concerns and how to address them.
FIRST, CALL YOUR LANDLORD and try to ascertain the condition of your rental home. Or, if you have returned there, call to give a report on its condition. Most landlords will work with tenants to get the property back in shape and abate the rent for the time the apartment was not habitable. Many landlords also are being flexible about lease requirements, given the scope of the disaster. Work together to determine a date for moving back in.
Black People Hate Freedom
Two Percent
At a press conference on October 4, President Bush argued that he was the right person to bridge the racial divide in America:
You address the racial divide in a variety of ways. And, obviously, the tone matters from leadership. It matters what leaders say. It matters that somebody, first of all, understands there’s a problem and is willing to talk about it. And I will continue to do so as the President.
Apparently, it isn’t working so well. A new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll finds that just 2 percent of African-Americans approve of his leadership. NBC’s Tim Russert — who called the number “a dramatic setback” — looked into it, and he could not “find a pollster who can remember any President ever getting just 2 percent approval from African-Americans.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/10/13/two-percent/
Al Qaeda in Iraq says Zawahri letter is fake - Web
By Firouz Sedarat / Reuters
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq on Thursday rejected as a fabrication a letter by a top group leader that was issued by U.S. officials and suggested deep internal rifts among militants.
According to the letter, released this week by U.S. intelligence officials, al Qaeda's second in command Ayman al-Zawahri urged the group's leader in Iraq to prepare for an Islamic government to take over when U.S. forces leave.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4507
Poll: Bush Presidency Judged Unsuccessful
By Will Lester / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - For the first time, more people say George W. Bush's presidency will be judged as unsuccessful than say it will be seen as a success, a poll finds.
Forty-one percent of respondents said Bush's presidency will be seen as unsuccessful in the long run, while 26 percent said the opposite. Thirty-five percent said it was too early to tell, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
In January, 36 percent said successful and 27 percent said unsuccessful.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4511
Bush's ratings sink amid public pessimism
By John Whitesides / Reuters
WASHINGTON - Despite a drive by President George W. Bush to rebuild support and restore public confidence, three new opinion polls show his approval ratings sinking ever deeper in a sea of political troubles and pessimism.
Bush's approval rating dropped below 40 percent for the first time in polls by the Pew Research Center and NBC News/Wall Street Journal, and fewer than 30 percent of Americans believed the country was on the right track amid violence in Iraq, high gas prices and growing budget deficits.
A new Fox News poll also showed Bush's approval rating dropping to its lowest level in that survey, falling to 40 percent from 45 percent since late September.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4512
Probably a little early for me to go to Tikrit.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/10/13/bush-photo-op/
SEC Issues Subpoena To Frist, Sources Say
Records Sought On Sale of Stock
By Carrie Johnson and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum / Washington Post
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has been subpoenaed to turn over personal records and documents as federal authorities step up a probe of his July sales of HCA Inc. stock, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued the subpoena within the past two weeks, after initial reports that Frist, the Senate's top Republican official, was under scrutiny by the agency and the Justice Department for possible violations of insider trading laws.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4504
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