The Chicago Sun Times
No ticket? Join the crowd
October 19, 2005
BY DAVE NEWBART AND SHAMUS TOOMEY Staff Reporters
Richard C. Lindberg has written four books on White Sox history, had an article in this year's playoff program and will have one printed in the upcoming World Series program to be sold at U.S. Cellular Field.
Still, even he struck out Tuesday in his attempts to get to the World Series, after tickets to the public sold out in less time than it takes to walk a mile, about 18 minutes.
"That's life," he said, stressing he was not bitter and will watch the game at a Bridgeport bar if his dream of "many, many decades" does not come true.
Tens of thousands of other fans were left out as well. Some 130,000 people went online at noon to try for tickets. From 2,000 to 4,000 tickets were available for each of four games, although neither officials with the White Sox nor Major League Baseball would be more specific.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-nws-soxtix19.html
Call-it-a-career year for Ozzie?
October 19, 2005
BY CHRIS DE LUCA STAFF REPORTER
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Four more wins, and Ozzie Guillen dissolves into a Venezuelan sunset.
Don't you believe it.
Guillen's threat -- it started in spring training and resurfaced at key points throughout the season -- is still out there. If the White Sox win the World Series, he just might leave them scrambling for a new manager.
Before the Sox clinched their World Series berth Sunday, Guillen revisited the topic of retiring at 41. He was reminded that chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is among the skeptics who believe Guillen is on the south side of serious when he threatens to walk away this winter.
''Well, Jerry is wrong,'' Guillen said. ''If we win this thing, and I get home and say, 'I did what I was supposed to do and I don't want to do it anymore,' then that's what I'll do.''
http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-ozzie19.html
Go-going back to 1959
October 19, 2005
BY CAROL SLEZAK Staff Reporter
Advertisement
Back then, Chicago was unified behind its World Series representative.
"It was fabulous,'' said Turk Lown, a relief pitcher for the 1959 White Sox. "You know the animosity between the Cub fans and Sox fans? Well, even the Cubs side of town went crazy when we won [the pennant]. It wasn't like the Cubs fans were mad at us. The whole city united.''
Baseball, our world, this city are different now. Baseball has gone from two leagues to divisional play and wild-card teams, from pitchers hitting to designated hitters, from rubber-armed starting pitchers to middle-relief specialists. The world has gone from the Cold War to the Iraq War. Chicago has gentrified and suburbanized, and Cubs and Sox fans have become more polarized.
Oh, yes, much has changed since 1959. But not the World Series. It remains the biggest show on earth.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-carol19.html
Gov's wife made nearly $39K in deals
October 19, 2005
BY DAVE MCKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief
SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois first lady Patti Blagojevich made nearly $39,000 last year off real estate deals involving one of her husband's controversial fund-raisers, Antoin "Tony" Rezko.
That disclosure came Tuesday as the governor and his wife released their 2004 income tax returns showing Mrs. Blagojevich's real estate business earned the couple $154,930 -- nearly $4,300 more than her husband's salary as the state's chief executive.
Overall, the couple reported adjusted gross income of $375,063 and paid $87,810 in federal taxes and $13,148 in state taxes.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-blago19.html
Rice won't rule out U.S. troops in Iraq in 10 years
October 19, 2005
BY LIZ SIDOTI ASSOCIATED PRESS
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WASHINGTON-- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday refused to rule out U.S. troops still being in Iraq in 10 years or the possibility that the United States could use military force against neighboring Syria and Iran.
Rice deferred to the decisions of President Bush and military commanders as Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee pressed her for more specifics on the U.S. strategy in Iraq.
Asked specifically whether the United States would have troops in Iraq in five or 10 years, Rice said: "I think that even to try and speculate on how many years from now there will be a certain number of American forces is not appropriate."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/iraq/riceiraq19.html
Ex-Taliban official elected
October 19, 2005
BY AMIR SHAH
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A former regional governor who oversaw the destruction of two massive 1,500-year-old Buddha statues during the Taliban's reign was elected to the Afghan parliament last month, officials said Tuesday as results from two provinces were finalized.
Elsewhere, U.S.-led coalition forces killed four police officers after mistaking them for militants during an operation in the southern province of Kandahar, provincial Gov. Asadullah Khalid said. The coalition said it could not confirm the shootings and was investigating.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/terror/cst-nws-afghan19.html
Tree-trim request costs taxpayers $10K
October 19, 2005
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Nobody relishes the thought of parking a car and returning to find it covered with bird droppings. But only a few have the clout to do something about it.
Chicago firefighters assigned to Engine No. 89 apparently had it -- and used it.
They were so fed up with trees hanging over their firehouse parking lot, they made a pair of spring tree-trimming requests that resulted in the unauthorized removal of more than two dozen trees at an adjacent nature center. The trees had to be replaced -- at a cost of $10,000 to Chicago taxpayers.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-trees19.html
Globe and Mail
Hussein Trial Opens Under Veil of Secrecy
WASHINGTON -- Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad today, charged with crimes against humanity, almost two years after he was seized from an underground hiding place near his hometown of Tikrit. But the trial designed to expose to the world the horrors of his regime remains shrouded in secrecy.
With an insurgency still raging, the precise venue of the special Iraqi tribunal is not public. And four of the five judges have been kept anonymous because of security concerns.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051019/SADDAM19/TPInternational/Africa
Hussein pleads not guilty, trial adjourned for a month
Baghdad — Saddam Hussein pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and torture as his long-awaited trial began Wednesday, with the one-time dictator arguing about the legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards.
The first session of the trial lasted about three hours, and the judge ordered an adjournment until Nov. 28.
Mr. Hussein and his seven co-defendants could face the death penalty if convicted for the 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiites in the town of Dujail. They are being tried in the former headquarters of Mr. Hussein's Baath party.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051019.wsaddam1019/BNStory/International/
Ontario Elementary Students gain on Standardized Tests
Ontario's Grade 3 and 6 students continued to gain on standardized tests for reading, writing and math skills, a new report said Wednesday.
But, math results for Grade 9 students remained largely unchanged form the year before, suggesting more work is needed "to help every student achieve the highest possible level of success," said Marguerite Jackson, chief executive officer of the province's Education Quality and Accountability Office.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051019.wtest1019/BNStory/National/
Liberals Widen the Gap in Poll
Ottawa — The federal Liberals are creeping into range of a majority government as the gap between them and the Conservatives widens to levels not seen since well before the revelations of the Gomery commission.
The results are found in a new poll that also shows a majority of Canadians believe the NDP should continue to prop up the government in the House of Commons.
Conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV News, the survey suggests Canadians crave stability in the federal realm and are calling on Jack Layton to back the Liberals to undertake the nation's business.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051019.wxpoll19/BNStory/National/
Canada Shut Out of Stem Cell Group
Canada is to be shut out from the work of a new international consortium of scientists that plans to clone human embryos for stem-cell research.
Scientists from South Korea, Britain and the United States are to announce in Seoul today the formation of a World Stem Cell Foundation. Its aim is to collect stem cells from cloned human embryos and sell them to researchers -- many of whom are banned from cloning in their own countries.
The project will rely on cells from patients in England, South Korea and California who agree to be cloned for research and on women willing to donate their eggs. Both are essential to the technique known as therapeutic cloning.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051019.wxstemcells19/BNStory/National/
WHAT IF THIS IS SOME KIND OF GERM WARFARE AND THERE IS NO PATTERN BECAUSE IT IS ARTIFICIALLY BEING SET LOOSE.
Spread of Avian Flu Baffles Scientists
The vast new geographical expansion of the dangerous H5N1 virus has avian influenza experts worried a bird version of the Stealth Bomber may be at play.
And they readily admit that finding the asymptomatic culprit or culprits from among thousands of species of birds may be a Herculean challenge.
“If this is a . . . virus that seems to have fixed itself in some species and we don't know which species it is — but maybe it's not showing any clinical sign in this particular species — how do we find this guy?” Michael Perdue, avian influenza expert with the World Health Organization, asks with evident anxiety in his voice.
The realization that some mystery migratory birds are actually spreading the Asian virus suggests future unwanted appearances in Europe cannot be ruled out.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051018.wpande1018/BNStory/International/
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Powerball: How to spend $340,000,000
By Natalie Pompilio
Inquirer Staff Writer
If you win tonight's $340 million Powerball jackpot - and that's a mighty big if - you'll probably take it as a lump sum. Most people do. That'll leave you $164.4 million, of which the feds will take 25 percent.
Leaving you with $123.3 million.
Chump change, pal.
You'll buy an island. Everyone's always saying, "I'll buy an island." No one knows why.
But say you pick up Sultan's Island in Indonesia's Riau archipelago, listed for sale this summer with Coldwell Banker Morrison's Private Islands. Price: $27.5 million, not including upkeep.
You'll need a jet. To get to the island. That's $10 million. And a pilot. A good one.
You'll throw yourself a party. Do it up. When the Sultan of Brunei turned 50 in 1996, he allegedly spent a mere $17 million on his bash, which included three serenades by Michael Jackson. And that was 10 years ago, and that Jackson guy is over. You can do better.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12940087.htm
Millionaire Corzine wins favor with personal touch
By Leonard N. Fleming
Inquirer Staff Writer
This is the second of two articles on the campaign styles of the two major-party candidates for New Jersey governor.
The eruption began the second they saw him. Cameras flashed. Cheers rang out. Every soul in the Spanish Manor restaurant in Newark on this recent weekday stood at admiring attention.
As if anyone needed the cue, a male voice belted into the microphone: "Sen. Corzine is here. Let's get excited!"
Jon S. Corzine, bespectacled and bearded in a suit slightly wrinkled from that day's grueling campaign schedule, dispensed high fives and bear hugs to the men and pecks on the cheeks to the women.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12938478.htm
A second chance at survival
A patient turns to an experimental gene drug being tested at Penn to try to stop a deadly cancer.
By Susan FitzGerald
Inquirer Staff Writer
Harvey Harris settled into the bed at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, ready to endure yet another round of tests to check the aggressive cancer growing in his chest.
He wasn't feeling optimistic.
By most counts, Harris should have been dead by now. He had mesothelioma, caused by a lifetime spent working around asbestos.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12912010.htm
Olympic-size enthusiasm
A poll finds wide support for a Phila. Games bid.
By Larry Eichel
Inquirer Staff Writer
An attempt to bring the 2016 Summer Olympics to the Philadelphia area would start with broad support from residents throughout the region.
That's the conclusion of a poll taken on behalf of a volunteer committee now in the early stages of determining whether holding the Games here is feasible.
The poll - four questions included in a regular, syndicated, telephone survey of 1,000 households in 10 counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware - found that 83 percent of respondents backed bringing the games here while only 12 percent were opposed.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12938624.htm
American Girl Dolls
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Editorial Protest goes too far
The culture police are taking aim at an unlikely target: a popular doll coveted by pre-teens called "American Girl."
Until last week, American Girl was known primarily as one of those "gotta-have" dolls at Christmas. If dolls can be wholesome (perhaps that racy Barbie will demand equal time) American Girl dolls have been prized by parents and children alike as clean-living and patriotic.
But now some on the political right are threatening a boycott of this pricey toy over the manufacturer's financial support of a youth organization.
American Girl, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc., is donating proceeds from the sale of an "I Can" wristband to Girls Inc., a national nonprofit foundation, which provides educational programs for girls. This money will aid three specific programs run by Girls Inc. nationwide: developing girls' abilities in science and math, encouraging girls' leadership skills and promoting participation in team athletics.
Radical stuff.
But the American Family Association contends that Girls Inc. is "pro-lesbian" and objects to the group's support of abortion rights. The AFA, based in Mississippi, is urging people to write to the toy company and pressure its officials to discontinue their support of Girls Inc.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12938653.htm
Mail and Guardian
Northern Ireland 'can learn from South Africa'
Pretoria, South Africa
19 October 2005 04:13
Northern Ireland unionists who fear change will learn, like white South Africans did, that they stand to gain rather than lose, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
White South Africans, he said, had feared losing certain privileges in the post-apartheid era.
"But now, 11 years afterwards, they are all saying what we feared we are going to lose we didn't. We are happier, freer ... we have become richer... If we move this [peace] process in Ireland, indeed people who fear the future will discover that that future is a much better thing for everybody."
Mbeki was speaking to reporters after meeting Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in Pretoria.
Adams said people in his country want what South Africans have -- freedom, a rights-based society and the ability to live together in peace.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=254180&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/
'Mugabe should just be banished'
Terry Leonard Johannesburg, South Africa
19 October 2005 04:29
A Zimbabwean archbishop said on Wednesday he fears 200 000 of his countrymen could die by early next year because of food shortages he blames on his government, and called for President Robert Mugabe's ouster.
Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, a frequent and outspoken critic of Mugabe, spoke at a news conference called to show a new film on Operation Murambatsvina, the widely condemned government urban-renewal campaign that critics charge has left tens of thousands of Zimbabweans trapped in a spiral of poverty, hunger and displacement.
"I think Mugabe should just be banished, like what happened to Charles Taylor. He should just be banished from Zimbabwe," said Ncube, referring to the former Liberian president forced into exile in Nigeria.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=254187&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
'Mugabe should just be banished'
Terry Leonard Johannesburg, South Africa
19 October 2005 04:29
A Zimbabwean archbishop said on Wednesday he fears 200 000 of his countrymen could die by early next year because of food shortages he blames on his government, and called for President Robert Mugabe's ouster.
Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube, a frequent and outspoken critic of Mugabe, spoke at a news conference called to show a new film on Operation Murambatsvina, the widely condemned government urban-renewal campaign that critics charge has left tens of thousands of Zimbabweans trapped in a spiral of poverty, hunger and displacement.
"I think Mugabe should just be banished, like what happened to Charles Taylor. He should just be banished from Zimbabwe," said Ncube, referring to the former Liberian president forced into exile in Nigeria.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=254187&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/
Zimbabwe police force 'dangerously' underfunded
Harare, Zimbabwe(image placeholder)
19 October 2005 01:17
Zimbabwe's police chief says the authorities are "dangerously underfunding" the police force, which does not have enough money to pay decent wages or buy new uniforms, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri told a parliamentary committee in the capital Harare on Tuesday that as a result morale in the police force was low and law enforcers are tempted to take bribes, the private Daily Mirror reported.
"Over the years we have been saying the same things over and over again... that we are dangerously underfunding the organisation and this has not been taken seriously," Chihuri was reported as telling the committee.
"Now we have ordinance stores where we should be keeping materials, but they are empty," he said.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=254155
Guardian journalist believed kidnapped in Iraq
Mail & Guardian Online reporter and AFP London, United Kingdom
19 October 2005 04:53
A journalist working for the British newspaper The Guardian is missing, believed kidnapped, in Iraq, the daily said on Wednesday.
Rory Carroll, a 33-year-old Irishman, was on assignment in Baghdad when he disappeared, according to a statement from the newspaper, which said he could have been kidnapped.
As The Guardian's South Africa correspondent since 2002, Carroll was based at the Mail & Guardian newspaper offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, until last year.
"It is believed Mr Carroll may have been taken by a group of armed men," the newspaper said on its website.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=254189&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/
Same-sex relationships are African
Ruth Morgan: COMMENT
01 October 2005 10:00
South Africa is the only African country in which same-sex rights are constitutionally protected. Even so, homosexuals continue to be subjected to treatment that is sometimes nothing less than brutal. Lesbians, for example, are still raped by men who want to “teach them a lesson” and convert them into “real”, heterosexual women.
Many people hold the view that homosexuality is unnatural, perverse, a sin, or an import from the depraved Western culture.
The idea that homosexuality is “un-African” is often put forward by political leaders such as President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and the former presidents of Kenya and Namibia. Most African leaders seem to be ignorant of the historical evidence that traces same- sexuality back to pre-colonial times. Before the arrival of the missionaries, there were a range of same-sex practices and relations that were fully accepted and institutionalised across many African cultures.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=253364&area=/the_teacher/teacher_features/
Global plan to protect film culture
19 October 2005 12:07
The United Nations's cultural agency, Unesco, is expected tomorrow to approve a convention that will allow countries to protect their cultures from globalisation, despite bitter opposition from the United States.
A Franco-Canadian initiative, which has won broad backing as a swipe at US "cultural imperialism", could mean that countries will be able to subsidise domestic film industries and restrict foreign music and content on their radio and television stations in the name of preserving and promoting cultural diversity.
A commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation late on Monday voted overwhelmingly in favour of the text and the body's general assembly, meeting in Paris, is expected to follow suit on Thursday.
The US, supported only by Israel, filed 27 amendments in an unsuccessful bid to water down the resolution, criticising it as "flawed", "ambiguous" and "protectionist".
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleid=254139
Germany's Merkel made into doll
Berlin, Germany
19 October 2005 05:20
She may not have a government to preside over yet, but incoming German Chancellor Angela Merkel has already been turned into a doll.
Dressed in a version of the blue trouser suit and pink T-shirt she wore on the tense election night of September 18, the baby-faced miniature Merkel is on sale for €189 (R1 480), its makers announced on Tuesday.
But with just 999 of the 46cm-high dolls being produced by the traditional German dollmaker Schildroet, buyers looking to commemorate the first woman chancellor in the country's history cannot afford to wait long.
The real-life Merkel completed the line-up of her power-sharing government on Monday and has entered negotiations to work out a policy programme.
The new government is not expected to be in place until mid-November.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/other_news/&articleid=254192
Lunch with Rupert Murdoch -- for $25 000
Jerusalem, Israel
19 October 2005 05:24
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is looking to raise tens of thousands of dollars for an Israeli technology college by offering himself as a lunch date for diners who are prepared to pick up the hefty bill.
The Australian-born chairperson of News Corporation has posted an advert on the internet auction site eBay, inviting bids starting at $25 000 for lunch at the company's Manhattan headquarters.
"The winning bidder and four friends will have the unique opportunity to dine with their host, Mr Murdoch, and know that 100% of their winning bid will benefit the world-class academic institution, the Jerusalem College of Technology," said the posting on eBay.
The Jerusalem college has built up a reputation since it was founded in 1969 for its research work in such fields as electro-optics, medical technology, information technology, micro-electronics and bio-informatics.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/other_news/&articleid=254194
Storm in a wine glass
Stephen Collinson Washington, United States
19 October 2005 06:14
Washington's power-broking elite is shaken and stirred, and revolt is brewing over the Dom Perignon and canapés at the latest threat to the United States capital's everyday life.
What can have so vexed the cocktail party set? A new al-Qaeda terror threat? Quagmire in Iraq? Or maybe the CIA-leak scandal swirling around the White House?
No, the salons of Georgetown are seething over fears the famous Washington dinner party, social playground of presidents, press barons and politics junkies, could be killed off by police zero tolerance on drink driving.
It started after midnight one evening last May, when police pulled over Debra Bolton, a 49-year-old single mother, who forgot to turn on her car headlights after a Georgetown soirée.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/other_news/&articleid=254198
Be afraid -- be very afraid
14 October 2005 06:50
Outside the Durban Magistrate’s Court this week, South Africa got a very clear snapshot of what a Jacob Zuma presidency would be like. And it was not a spectacle that engenders confidence.
Arriving and departing in a shiny black Humvee, the African National Congress deputy president was at all times surrounded by a phalanx of bald-headed toughs and was escorted to and from court by a cavalcade of police cars, sirens blaring. They elbowed aside the bystanders, staring menacingly at all who dared come close to Brother Leader.
Zuma was the perfect pastiche of the populist rabble-rouser. Outside the courts, he drew comparisons between his court appearance this week and his experiences under apartheid -- a declaration not calculated to bolster public confidence in the judiciary. Addressing his supporters, he spoke of the institutions of South Africa’s democracy -- the National Prosecuting Authority and the courts -- as if they were an alien and illegitimate force.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=253640&area=/insight/insight__editorials/
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