Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Monday, Nov. 7, the 311th day of 2005. There are 54 days left in the year.
1841 130 slaves capture "The Creole", a slave trader ship, that was traveling from Hampton, VA to New Orleans, LA. They will kill the slave owner and sail the ship to Nassau, Bahamas where they will be freed under British law.
1893, the state of Colorado granted its women the right to vote.
1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.
1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.
1929, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened to the public.
1936 Alvin “Al” Attles who will be selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the fifth round of the 1960 NBA Draft, is born in Newark, NJ. He will become coach, vice president, and assistant general manager of the Golden State Warriors.
1940, the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed during a windstorm.
1944, President Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.
1950 Dr. Alexa Canady, the first Black female neurosurgeon, is born in Lansing, MI.
1955 U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation in public recreation facilities.
1962 Richard M. Nixon, having lost California's gubernatorial race, held what he called his "last press conference," telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."
1973 Congress overrode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval.
1989 L.Douglas Wilder is elected first Black governor of Virginia and United States since Reconstruction
1998 John Glenn returned to Earth aboard the space shuttle Discovery, visibly weak but elated after a nine-day mission.
Ten years ago: In a Japanese courtroom, three American military men admitted to the ambush-rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl, an attack that outraged the Japanese and strained security ties between Japan and the U.S. (The men later received prison sentences ranging from 6 1/2 to seven years.)
Five years ago: Americans went to the polls for an election that would result in indecision for George W. Bush and Al Gore, with Florida's disputed electoral votes emerging as critical.
Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first first lady to win public office, defeating Republican Rick Lazio for a U.S. Senate seat from New York.
One year ago: France rolled out overwhelming military force to put down an explosion of anti-French violence in Ivory Coast, its former West African colony.
In the New York City Marathon, Britain's Paula Radcliffe won the women's race in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds, edging Kenya's Susan Chepkemei by only four seconds;
South Africa's Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa won the men's race in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 28 seconds.
Missing in Action
1967 DIEHL WILLIAM CALVIN BARTLESVILLE OK 03/06/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1967 ELLIS LEON F. COMMERCE GA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 FISHER KENNETH BRONX NY 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BROWN ROBERT M. PORTSMOUTH VA
1972 CARROLL JOHN L. DECATUR GA
1972 MORRISSEY ROBERT D. ALBUQUERQUE NM
November 6
1964 DAWSON DANIEL G. FORT BRAGG CA ACFT OVERDUE "FATHER LOST AT SEA, 1957, BROTHER CAPTR SRCH 4 HIM"
1965 BOLSTAD RICHARD E. MINNEAPOLIS MN 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 CORMIER ARTHUR WEST ORANGE NJ "02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV (BAY SHORE, NY)" ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 LILLY WARREN E. DALLAS TX 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED " ""BOB"" ALIVE AND WELL 98"
1965 MC KNIGHT GEORGE G. ALBANY OR 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJ ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 SINGLETON JERRY A. OKLAHOMA CITY OK "02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV (GREELEY, CO)" ALIVE IN 98
1967 HAGERMAN ROBERT WARREN CHICAGO IL POSS DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85
1968 TURNER FREDERICK RAY COLUMBUS OH
1972 TOLBERT CLARENCE O. TISHOMINGO OK "DEAD, NHAN DAN" REMAINS RETURNED 02/22/89
November 5
1965 CHAPMAN HARLAN P. ELYRIA OH 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 MC CLEARY GEORGE C. BATON ROUGE LA REMAINS RETURNED ID'D 05/91
1967 COBEIL EARL GLENN PONTIAC MI 03/06/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1967 DUTTON RICHARD A. CHICAGO IL "03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV (FT LEAVENWORTH, KS)" RIP 12/12/99
1968 CORNTHWAITE THOMAS G. GREAT BRITIAN EN
1968 SIMPSON JAMES E. "ESCAPED, KILLED IN BINH THUAN"
1969 ECHANIS JOSEPH PORTLAND OR
1969 LE FEVER DOUGLAS P. ARCANUM OH
The Jakarta Post
Bird flu: Experts gather for council of war
GENEVA (AFP): Four hundred experts and decision-makers were gathering here on Monday for a three-day council of war on bird flu called by the world's paramount agencies for human and animal health.
It is the seniormost global meeting of doctors, veterinarians and public-health officials since the avian influenza scare erupted in 2003, and the first to gather the World Bank alongside the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and AgriculturalOrganization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), hosting the talks.
The meeting will assess the latest data about the outbreak, measures to bolster animal surveillance and preparations for tackling any human pandemic.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107175258&irec=0
Indonesian bird flu fight needs attention: Animal health expert
JAKARTA (AFP): A UN animal health official warned Monday that Indonesia's bird flu situation needed urgent attention.
Peter Roeder, an animal health officer responsible for viral diseases from the UN's food agency, said efforts to fight the deadly H5N1 strain needed to be quickly boosted as the season when it spreads easily had begun.
"What everyone has to realize is this is extremely urgent. The reason is we're in November, which is the start of the epidemic season for avian and human influenza," he told AFP.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107150408&irec=1
Six Indonesians trying to enter Singapore nabbed at sea
SINGAPORE (DPA): Six Indonesian nationals caught trying to enter Singapore using a wooden sampan were scheduled to be charged Monday in court, the Police Coast Guard said.
The illegal immigrants, ranging in ages between 17 and 32, were at sea Sunday near Bedok Jetty.
If convicted, they face up to six months in jail and could be caned at least three strokes or fined up to 6,000 Singapore dollars (US$3,550).
With the latest arrests, 133 illegal immigrants have been nabbed this year at sea, police said. (**)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107120140&irec=4
Indonesian boat people arrive in Australia
SYDNEY (DPA): Seven Indonesians who waded ashore from a boat in Australia's remote northwest are not asylum seekers, immigration officials said Monday.
The seven - four men, a woman and two children - are from West Timor and were picked up Saturday at Cape Londonderry.
"The adult members of the group have been interviewed," an immigration department official said in a statement. "Results of those interviews have been assessed as not raising claims or information which prima facie engages Australia's protection obligation."
HMAS Geraldton and a West Australian fisheries patrol vessel were sent to impound the boat. The group appeared in good health, the spokeswoman said. (**)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107120445&irec=3
Courting Brazil, Bush seemingly forgets India
BRASILIA (AFP): U.S. President George W. Bush said Sunday that relations between Brazil and the United States were critical because "we're the two largest democracies in the world" -- apparently forgetting India.
A White House transcript of his remarks acknowledged the error and added a footnote: "Western World." Bush is expected to travel to India in early 2006.
According to the U.S. State Department, Brazil has 182 million people, while India has a population of more than one billion. Indonesia has 224 million people.
The South American country is, however, nearly triple the geographic size of India and many times larger than Indonesia. (**)
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107115349&irec=5
Aceh militias lose protection, so are they still a threat?
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Langsa, Aceh
A new chapter has begun for the region along the southeastern coast of Aceh, a district with a tumultuous past, which has long been the bastion of pro-government militias. Similar conditions occurred in the ethnically more diverse highland of Central Aceh. But what made eastern Aceh unique is, unlike Central Aceh, it had been an important stronghold of GAM (Aceh Free Movement) rebels as well.
Now, with a considerable number of Indonesian Army and police units being withdrawn in accordance with the Helsinki peace accord, the militias -- much to the relief of local human rights workers -- are losing their protective umbrella. Still, it isn't clear whether they will no longer pose a threat to peace.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20051107.E03&irec=2
Indonesia's mutual funds industry: Down but not out
Martin Jenkins, Jakarta
It has not been a good year for Indonesia's mutual funds industry. Still reeling from the Bank Global fiasco at the end of 2004, the industry has seen huge redemptions in 2005 as investors fled to safer havens on fears that mutual funds would continue to post negative returns. The size of the redemptions has indeed been staggering: At the beginning of the year Rp 111.13 trillion (US$ 11.1 billion) was invested in mutual funds, but by the third week of September the amount had plummeted to just Rp 33.9 trillion.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20051107.E02&irec=1
A deeper look into the cash for poor program
Arianto A. Patunru, Jakarta
My main skepticism of the current cash transfer program (CTP) for the poor to offset the impact of the fuel price increase is due to the failure of the government in identifying who is eligible. As with most other social safety programs, the CTP suffers from adverse selection and moral hazard problems.
Evidence for all these are widespread. Pick any local newspaper today, you will find stories about people running amok because they have been deemed ineligible. Some old, thin person will inevitably be pictured with his extremely poor house in the background, looking at the camera with empty eyes.
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20051107.F04&irec=3
Seattle Post Intelligencer
City forests in peril: Invasive plants are killing native trees
Restoration efforts rely heavily on volunteers
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Under a damp awning of yellowing bigleaf maples, Judith Starbuck is laying waste to a patch of English ivy. A vine at a time, she rips and tugs at the menace creeping through Madrona Woods.
Starbuck and a small band of mud-stained volunteers are reclaiming these woods, saving native trees and shrubs from the stranglehold of fast-growing foreign invaders.
Dan DeLong / P-I
Volunteers Meghan Welch and Peter Richardson yank out some stubborn English ivy during an EarthCorps event at Cheasty Greenspace in Rainier Valley. The invasive ivy chokes trees.
The sloping park, covering more than 9 acres above Lake Washington, is a valuable piece of urban forest -- a refuge where people can hike, learn a thing or two about nature and shed the stress of living in a big city.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247350_urbanforest07.html
Seattle's woods are home to many species
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Chuck Lennox was skeptical -- until he saw it with his own eyes.
A Cooper's hawk had taken up winter residence in Seattle's Central District.
Normally a forest creature, the raptor, its tail and broad wings distinctly banded red and white, was hanging around treetops and telephone poles. First spotted two years ago, the hawk dined on a smorgasbord of sparrows, finches and chickadees.
ALSO IN THIS REPORT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247154_urbanwildlife07.html
On private lands, few rules protect mature trees
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A trip with Cass Turnbull through Olympic Manor -- a community in northwest Seattle renowned for its Christmas displays and expansive views of Puget Sound -- is a lesson in ruthless pruning.
"There's a clobbered birch," said the founder of PlantAmnesty, a Seattle group that advocates for urban tree preservation.
ALSO IN THIS REPORT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247352_urbanprivate07.html
Hope for land in local hands
By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
As we draw to the close of what he calls "the most perilous year," former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has a message to Americans who value parks, forests and clean water: This, too, shall pass.
"We are in the midst of the most sustained assault on this country's environmental consensus that we have ever experienced," said Babbitt, here today to read from his new book, "Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America."
"I feel almost nostalgic for James Watt," he joked, referring to a Cabinet predecessor who didn't like to paddle or walk and wondered how many future generations we'd have before the Lord comes again.
The Bush administration, Congress' bosses and their corporate lobbyist pals are in a Bambi-bashing mood at the moment.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/247329_joel07.html
Parks board invites public comment on removing Woodland Park rabbits
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners has set a public hearing for Thursday on relocating the rabbits in Woodland Park.
The hearing will take place during the board's regular meeting, 6 p.m., parks headquarters, 100 Dexter Ave. N., Seattle.
The rabbits, which are damaging tree roots in the park, have been estimated to number 300 to 500 or more.
Staff members have been working with the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, Seattle Animal Shelter and the non-profit Rabbit Meadow Sanctuary on a proposal to trap, sterilize and move the animals. Volunteers would put up temporary fencing beginning in January, capture the rabbits and take them for surgery, then to the Rabbit Meadow Sanctuary in Redmond.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247312_tl107.html
Mountains covered; wind, rain whip region
Up to 10 inches of more snow expected in higher elevations
By CECILIA KANG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The second of multiple storms expected over the next week rolled inland into the Seattle area Friday, bringing showers and windy weather into the city and several inches of snow across the Cascades.
The heavy rain and wind began around noon and reached a climax in the afternoon, with south winds blowing across Seattle at about 15 to 20 mph and rainfall of about one-quarter of an inch. Temperatures reached a low of 42 degrees and a high of 50 in Seattle.
Scott Eklund / P-I
It was the kind of day dreams are made of as Kris Lanning of Ravensdale hit the slopes Friday at Crystal Mountain ski resort. Lanning lost his leg in 1992 in a motorcycle accident and was in a coma for 11 weeks. During that time, he said, "I had many dreams, but the one that stands out is me skiing down Lucky Shot at Crystal Mountain." The resort welcomed 2,300 skiers on opening day Friday, the earliest in 28 years.
Winds were stronger on the northern coast, with south winds of up to 40 mph in Bellingham and the San Juan Islands.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247200_weather05.html
Rockslide closes I-90, at least until Tuesday
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HYAK, Wash. -- A rockslide east of Snoqualmie Pass that shut down Interstate 90 was expected to keep Washington state's principal east-west artery closed to all traffic until at least Tuesday, state Department of Transportation officials said Monday.
Until the potential for further rock falls can be thoroughly evaluated, officials cannot predict when crews could reopen at least one lane in each direction, department spokesman Michael P. Westbay said.
Boulders big as refrigerators hit the westbound lanes on I-90 without causing any injuries shortly after 3:15 a.m. Sunday, blocking the freeway about 6 1/2 miles east of the 3,022-foot pass. The freeway was closed to westbound traffic at Easton, about 70 miles southeast of Seattle, and to eastbound traffic at the pass summit.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Hyak_Rockslide.html
Wrecking-yard polluter sentenced
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A wrecking-yard operator who turned land near the Green River in Kent into a hazardous-waste site by dumping hundreds of gallons of gasoline and other chemicals was sentenced Friday to three years in work release and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution. Wei Guo "Larry" Huang operated three wrecking yards and caused "an extraordinary amount of environmental damage," King County prosecutors said. Huang, who pleaded guilty last month to eight criminal charges, apologized. A Superior Court judge, however, said Huang had failed to take responsibility for his actions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247207_tl105.html
Iraq War: Finding the exit
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Pressure is growing on the Bush administration to enunciate a detailed strategy for the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, particularly about how it might end.
It's been little noted in the U.S. media, but the U.N. mandate that provided President Bush the diplomatic imprimatur for using military force in Iraq is due to expire. As reported in The Financial Times on Friday, Resolution 1546 is set to expire after the December elections in Iraq. The president has, of course, not always shown himself willing to wait for international sanction, but his Iraq adventure would be diplomatically complicated by the failure of the U.S.-backed resolution to extend the U.N. mandate for another year.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/247186_uniraqed.asp
Pentagon: Iraq troop rotation to shrink
By ROBERT BURNS
AP MILITARY WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon on Monday announced a troop rotation for Iraq that will number at least 92,000 soldiers through 2008, although officials said it likely will be considerably larger than that.
On paper, the force as announced is much smaller than the one currently in Iraq, but a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Barry Venable, said there have been no decisions made to reduce troops levels next year.
"This (announcement) does not anticipate a reduction" from the roughly 138,000-strong troop level that has been the standard this year, Venable said. The force was expanded to about 160,000 this fall because of anticipated higher levels of insurgent violence in connection with the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum and Dec. 15 election.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Iraq_US_Military.html
U.N. nuclear chief sees progress on Iran
By BARRY SCHWEID
AP DIPLOMATIC WRITER
WASHINGTON -- As Europeans mull an Iranian offer to resume negotiations, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Monday that his inspectors were making progress in their effort to probe the country's nuclear weapons intentions.
"We are moving in the right direction," Mohamed ElBaradei, winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, said at a conference sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_US_Iran.html
Australia warns Indonesia may face attack
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia has warned its citizens against traveling to Indonesia, saying it has credible evidence that terrorists are in the "advanced stages" of plotting a terror attack before the end of the year.
In a travel advisory issued late Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it continued "to receive a stream of credible reporting suggesting that terrorists are in the advanced stages of planning attacks against Western interests in Indonesia."
"Recent new information suggests that terrorists may be planning attacks to occur before the end of 2005," it added.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Australia_Indonesia.html
Gulf War vets to testify before Congress
They want U.S. to recognize health problems as service-related
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War felled by a disproportionate number of neurological disorders are picking themselves up for one last hurrah.
The fight this time involves summoning up the energy to turn out to address in a congressional hearing this month government funding and response to their needs after exposure to an array of toxins during and after the first war against Iraq.
"It's our last chance to stand up together because many of us are so ill," says Julie Mock of Bothell, president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, herself afflicted with the
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247343_msvets07.html
Google wants easier use on mobile phones
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Google Inc. is introducing software Monday designed to make its local search and mapping service easier to navigate on mobile phones, continuing the Internet search engine leader's effort to extend its reach beyond personal computers.
Consumers who download and install the new software will be able to skip some of the steps that had been required since Google began offering a mobile version of its maps nearly seven months ago.
For instance, users won't have to type in their location before getting directions to a specific location, as long as their phone has Global Positioning System, or GPS, capabilities, said Deep Nishar, a director of Google's mobile products.
Google has been exploring ways to pinpoint the location of its users in order to better target ads from nearby merchants. But Nishar said that goal isn't driving the mobile upgrade: Google doesn't plan to display ads alongside its mobile maps.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Google_Mobile_Maps.html
Judge upholds Oregon's gay marriage ban
By BRAD CAIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon's voter-approved ban on gay marriage was upheld Friday by a judge who turned aside arguments from gay-rights supporters that the measure is flawed and should not have been put to a statewide vote.
The state's largest gay-rights organization said later it would appeal the ruling while continuing its political fight in the Legislature to gain more rights and benefits for gay couples.
But the group that sponsored the gay marriage ban said the ruling honored the will of the voters and protected Oregonians' right to enact constitutional changes via the ballot.
In his ruling, Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond rejected opponents' arguments that Measure 36 contained too many changes that should have been voted on as separate amendments and that it was improperly submitted to voters.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247234_gaymarriage05.html
U.S. papers adding Japanese-style comics
By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP BUSINESS WRITER
TOKYO -- "Doonesbury" and "Peanuts," make way for "manga." Come January, the Sunday funnies of several major North American newspapers will have doe-eyed women in frilly outfits, effeminate long-haired heroes and other trademark images of the Japanese comic style.
The reason? Newspaper editors want to attract more young readers. A study released earlier this year by the Carnegie Corporation put the age of newspaper readers at 53 and climbing - hardly a recipe for circulation growth.
"We thought if teens and young kids are reading manga, then why don't we get something in the paper that teens want to read?" said John Glynn, vice president at Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes comics and columns globally to newspapers. "Newspapers are being seen as their parents' medium."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Japan_Sunday_Comics.html
University of Washington admissions policies, Bogus reinlistment bonuses, Don't forget to vote
U.W. -- Changes in admissions at public universities in Washington ought to please those who believe in treating students as individuals. The University of Washington is abandoning automatic, numbers-based acceptances of much of the student body to give more individual attention to each application. Other universities will likely follow suit.
Bogus bonuses -- We owe National Guard troops better than reneging on a $15,000 enlistment bonus.
Election Day -- Don't forget to go to the polls or mail your absentee ballots today!
Comment on any of these subjects or post your comments as an instant letter to the editor.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/veb/archives/100407.asp
Haaretz
Does the political jockeying ever stop. The country's favorite pastime.
Olmert named finance minister after rebels foil PM
By Gideon Alon, Yoav Stern and Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondents
The Knesset overwhelmingly approved on Monday night the appointment of Ehud Olmert as permanent finance minister and Matan Vilnai as science minister less than two hours after rejecting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's attempt to name Olmert together with Roni Bar-On and Ze'ev Boim.
Sharon was forced to submit Olmert's appointment individually after eight Likud "rebels" voted with the opposition to defeat by a 60-54 margin the proposed appointments of Olmert, Bar-On as industry, trade and employment minister and Boim as immigrant absorption minister.
The appointment of Olmert and Vilnai passed by a comfortable margin - 71 in favor to 41 against.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642224.html
Four no-confidence measures voted down in the Knesset
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset rejected four no-confidence motions submitted by the opposition factions on Monday. The government, which defeated the motions by margins of 57-59 MKs to 44-49, was cited for criticism due to the rise in bread prices, poverty, political corruption, and a court ruling exempting the state from subsidizing school meals to ultra-Orthodox students in private institutions.
The National Union, the National Religious Party, and National Religious Zionism sponsored a no-confidence motion against the backdrop of higher bread prices and growing proverty. The motion was rejected with 57 MKs voting against to 45 MKs voting for. Six MKs abstained from the vote.
A similar no-confidence measure authored by Yahad-Meretz, Hadash-Ta'al, Balad, and Ra'am due to the rise in bread prices was also rejected by a 59-49 margin with three MKs abstaining.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642614.html
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to attend int'l summit in Tunisia
By Reuters
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom will attend a summit in Tunisia next week in another sign of improving ties between Israel and the Arab world after the withdrawal from Gaza, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
Shalom will lead the delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society, being held from Nov. 16 to 18 in the North African country, which downgraded limited ties at the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.
Shalom, who was born in Tunisia and left as an infant, hopes to improve Israel's standing in an often hostile region on the back of its withdrawal in September from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642607.html
Sharon says talks with PA off if Hamas runs in parliamentary elections
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday that Israel is vehemently opposed to Hamas' participation in the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections.
Speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Sharon said if Hamas participates in the January 25 Palestinian elections, Israel would not hold joint meetings with Palestinians, and would make it difficult for Hamas members to campaign freely.
Sharon also said that if Hamas is allowed to participate in the elections, there will be no lifting of military restrictions on the territories in the run-up to the vote.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642533.html
Syria says 'considering' UN request to question officials in Hariri probe
By Associated Press
Syria is considering a UN request to interview six top officials about the slaying of a former Lebanese leader, a Foreign Ministry official said Monday. A Lebanese official said earlier that President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law was one of the six.
Assad's regime has been under heavy pressure since the UN Security Council unanimously demanded last month that Syria cooperate fully with the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, warning of further measures if it fails to do so.
The Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, confirmed the request to talk with six officials was received Sunday and said the government was "considering" it.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642556.html
Holocaust heroine Hannah Szenes remembered in Hungary
By The Associated Press
Hungary's Holocaust Museum on Monday organized a tribute to Hannah Szenes, a young woman executed for trying to organize Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.
Hungarian-born Szenes emigrated to Palestine in 1939 and was part of a group of young Jews sent to Europe in 1944 to try to save Jews.
In March 1944, Szenes parachuted into Yugoslavia but was caught soon after crossing the border into southern Hungary.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642560.html
Topex Net
Indiana tornado deals death and destruction
2005-11-07
Rescuers search for tornado survivors
By John Gress
EVANSVILLE, Indiana (Reuters) - No more victims were likely to be found in the remains of a mobile home park shredded by a tornado that killed 22 people in Indiana, rescue workers said on Monday.
Vanderburgh County officials said searches would continue throughout the day at Eastbrook mobile home park in Evansville, where 17 people died, but it was believed everyone there had been accounted for after Sunday's twister.
Sheriff Brad Ellsworth said the tornado could not have touched down in a worse place -- a cluster of mobile homes surrounded by farmland where "there is not a place to escape to" with 11 minutes warning in the middle of the night.
The dead there ranged from children aged 2, 5 and 6 to a 78-year-old man. County officials revised the number of dead in the park down by one from Sunday. Five deaths were confirmed in neighboring Warrick County.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839428
Rescuers search for tornado survivors
2005-11-07
Rescuers search for tornado survivors
By John Gress
EVANSVILLE, Indiana (Reuters) - Rescue workers tore at the shredded remains of an Indiana mobile home park on Monday, looking for possible survivors of a tornado that killed at least 22 people in the state but fearing they might find more dead.
Search efforts were centered on the Eastbrook mobile home park in Evansville where Sunday's middle-of-the-night tornado dealt the deadliest damage, killing victims ranging from children aged two, five and six to a 78-year-old man.
Vanderburgh County officials said 17 people were known dead in the mobile home community, revising the toll down by one from an earlier count they had released on Sunday. Five deaths were confirmed in neighboring Warrick County.
More than 200 were injured in the southwest Indiana region, some of them critically.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839359
Australia foils major attack
2005-11-07
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian authorities foiled what they believed to be a large-scale terrorist attack, arresting 15 people during raids in the country's two biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Tuesday.
"I am satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack, or the launch of a large-scale terrorist attack here in Australia," New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney told ABC radio.
The arrests come less than a week after Prime Minster John Howard said Australia received intelligence about a "terrorist threat."
Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil. The country has been on medium security alert since shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Moroney said more than 400 officers were involved in the overnight raids of 15 homes in Sydney's southwest, resulting in the arrest of six males.
"They are currently being interviewed by police and my expectation is that those persons variously will appear in Sydney courts this morning."
Nine arrests were made in Melbourne, the ABC reported.
Australia's parliament rushed through urgent amendments to anti-terror laws on Thursday to allow police to charge people in the early stages of planning an attack.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839572
After Libby's indictment, Bush has promise to keep
2005-10-31
In the 2000 campaign, candidate George W. Bush said, "In my administration, we will ask not only what is legal, but what is right not just what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves."
Americans should recall those words as Washington goes awhirl over the indictment of a top White House official. They also should recall what all the fuss is about: High-level officials with security clearances exposed the identity of a CIA officer whose identity was classified.
Journalist Robert Novak described his sources as "two senior administration officials" in a July 14, 2003, column that blew the cover of Valerie Plame Wilson as "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction."
The White House leak came after Plame's husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson, had written articles criticizing the Bush administration's misuse of intelligence in the lead-up to the war in Iraq. This was a petty act of political retaliation inflicted with no regard for national security consequences.
The White House did nothing to hold anyone accountable for the public fingering of Valerie Plame Wilson, so the CIA requested that the Justice Department investigate.
A federal grand jury Friday indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and an assistant to President Bush, on suspicion of lying about "how and when in 2003 he learned and subsequently disclosed to reporters then-classified information concerning the employment of Valerie Wilson by the Central Intelligence Agency." Libby did the appropriate thing and resigned.
But this is just the beginning. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday that because Libby "lied under oath repeatedly and fabricated a story of how he learned" Plame's identity, we don't have the full story. In other words, stay tuned.
Recall, too, that Novak mentioned two senior administration officials. It is way past time for Bush to look other high officials in the eye and get straight answers about their role in exposing Plame as a CIA officer.
Then he knows what to do: Fire them.
What was the consequence of the White House leak? Its ultimate aim, of course, was to discredit Joseph Wilson's criticism and blur the facts regarding the Bush administration's case for going to war in Iraq.
But the leak had other consequences. Plame's career as a classified CIA officer was destroyed. Further, blowing her cover potentially compromised every CIA operation with which she had been associated.
That is an outrage. Forget all the complicated legal issues; set aside the distorted case for going to war. This is about national security and how the government protects covert CIA officers, which is a serious matter.
James Marcinkowski, a former CIA operations officer, testified before Congress that this "unprecedented act" would have "far-reaching consequences for covert operations around the world."
How, he asks, are covert officers supposed to gain the confidence of informants "when their own government cannot even guarantee the personal protection of the home team?"
Bush should make his actions match his words in 2000: Do what is right, and clean house. As he said five years ago, it's what the public deserves.
For more coverage from The Modesto Bee, or to start home delivery, go to http://www.modbee.com.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=836573
Bush says US and Panama close to accord
2005-11-07
Bush says US and Panama close to accord
By Steve Holland
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Monday the United States and Panama were close to completing a free trade agreement as he ended a Latin American tour that fell short of his goal of reviving talks on a hemispheric-wide trade zone.
Bush wrapped up his trip to Argentina, Brazil and Panama with a visit to the Miraflores lock of the Panama Canal, nearly 99 years after Theodore Roosevelt came in 1906 to see the canal construction in the first visit abroad by a U.S. president.
In a Canal-related issue straining U.S.-Panama relations, Bush offered no hope of a resolution soon on a Panamanian demand that the United States do more to clean up thousands of unexploded weapons strewn across jungle firing ranges in the Canal zone.
At a joint news conference with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, Bush said Washington felt it met its obligations under the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty that turned the key artery over to Panama.
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839451
At Summit of the Americas, no trade pact for Bush
By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
2005-11-07 MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA - Despite a five-day trip to South and Central America, President Bush was unable to work the same wonders on US-Latin American relations that he did earlier this year on ties to Europe.
Indeed, this trip was unlike Mr. Bush's February journey across the Atlantic, which was widely seen as successful in repairing relations damaged by the US decision to invade Iraq. Instead, the three-country trip that ends Monday has revealed more than anything how distant and dissonant relations with much of the hemisphere - in particular South America - have become.
"The sense one has after these few days that Bush spent in the region is that Latin America is very, very far from Washington," says Felix Pe a, a specialist in international economic relations in Buenos Aires. "It's not good for anyone involved, but the events don't seem to allow any other conclusion."
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839445
11/07: Would be funny if it weren't true: Bush opposes torture ban and says "We do not torture"
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.
"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," Bush said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law."
He declared, "We do not torture."
http://www.journaltimesonline.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=2681
U.S. Soliders Charged With Prisoner Abuse
Nov 7, 2005 4:12 pm US/Eastern
BAGHDAD (AP) Five U.S. soldiers have been charged with allegedly abusing detainees in Iraq, the military said Monday.
The U.S. military said five soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment were charged on Saturday with detainee abuse, stemming from an incident on Sept. 7 "in which three detainees were allegedly punched and kicked while awaiting movement to a detention facility," reports CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick. The five have been charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
"Upon discovery of the alleged abuse, officials immediately launched an investigation which ultimately led to the charges being proffered," the command said.
Names and ranks of the five soldiers were not released and the statement gave no further details.
http://wbz1030.com/topstories/topstories_story_311144429.html
Three soldiers killed in Iraq
Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Two Army soldiers were killed in separate attacks by insurgents and a third died in a non-combat related traffic accident, the military said Saturday.
The traffic fatality occurred Saturday near Talil in southern Iraq, the U.S. command said. Three other soldiers were injured, the statement said. All were assigned to a command which helps train Iraqi soldiers, the statement added.
In addition, a Task Force Baghdad soldier died on Friday after being hit by small arms fire south of the capital, the U.S. command said, without providing the exact location.
An Army soldier fighting with Marines near Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, died after his vehicle was hit by a mine Friday, the U.S. command said.
The names of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of relatives.
At least 2,045 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
http://www.marinetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1226414.php
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Cheney "We have to be able to do what is necessary..."
Cheney in the Bunker
By Daniel Klaidman and Michael Isikoff / Newsweek
Nov. 14, 2005 issue - As usual, Dick Cheney insisted on doing business behind closed doors. Last Tuesday, Senate Republicans were winding up their weekly luncheon in the Capitol when the vice president rose to speak. Staffers were quickly ordered out of the room—what Cheney had to say was for senators only. Normally taciturn, Cheney was uncharacteristically impassioned, according to two GOP senators who did not want to be on the record about a private meeting. He was very upset over the Senate's overwhelming passage of an amendment that prohibits inhumane treatment of terrorist detainees. Cheney said the law would tie the president's hands and end up costing "thousands of lives." He dramatized the point, conjuring up a scenario in which a captured Qaeda operative, another Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, refuses to give his interrogators details about an imminent attack. "We have to be able to do what is necessary," the vice president said, according to one of the senators who was present. The lawmakers listened, but they weren't moved to act. Sen. John McCain, who authored the anti-torture amendment, spoke up. "This is killing us around the world," he said. The House, which will likely vote on the measure soon, is also expected to pass it by a large margin.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4790
Senate Votes Again for Ban on Abusing Prisoners
By Eric Schmitt / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 - The Senate restated its support on Friday for banning the abusive treatment of prisoners in American custody, and the measure's Republican sponsor chided the House Republican leadership for delaying a vote on it.
The Senate approved the same provision last month, 90 to 9. On Friday, senators endorsed it again, this time by a unanimous voice vote, and attached it to a revised military spending bill. The White House has threatened to veto the bill if it includes the measure, saying the provision would restrict the president's ability to protect the country.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4787
"If necessary, and I sincerely hope it is not..."
Hagel: Torture Exemption Would Be Mistake
By Douglass K. Daniel / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A leading Republican senator said Sunday that the Bush administration is making "a terrible mistake" in opposing a congressional ban on torture and other inhuman treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, considered a potential presidential candidate in 2008, said many Republican senators support the ban proposed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.
The ban was approved by a 90-9 vote last month in the Senate and added to a defense spending bill. The White House has threatened a veto, but the fate of the proposal depends on House-Senate negotiations that will reconcile different versions of the spending measure. The House's does not include the ban.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4793
"I think the administration is making a terrible mistake..."
Afghan Detainee's Leg Was 'Pulpified,' Witness Says
The testimony comes at a hearing for an MP who delivered beatings. The inmate later died.
By Lianne Hart / Los Angeles Times
FT. BLISS, Texas — An Afghan detainee in U.S. custody was so brutalized before his death that his thigh tissue was "pulpified," a forensic pathologist testified Tuesday at a preliminary hearing for a military police officer charged in the 2002 assault.
"It was similar to injuries of a person run over by a bus," said Lt. Col. Elizabeth Rouse, who performed an autopsy on the detainee, identified only as Dilawar.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1931
Cheney Approval Nearing Rock Bottom at 19%
Vice President Cheney seems to have brushed off the felony charges against his most senior aide:
The criminal indictment of the vice president’s chief of staff, a rare moment in White House history, does not appear to have derailed Dick Cheney’s career — or even his routine.
The vice president has replaced the aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, with two other longtime assistants and seems prepared to continue his role as a central player in the Bush presidency, particularly on foreign policy and the Iraq war.
But the American people haven’t:
Vice President Cheney has never been as popular as the president, but his favorable rating is down nine points this year to just 19 percent.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/03/cheney-19/
UN audit says Halliburton overcharged Iraq
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A UN auditing board has recommended the United States pay as much as 208 million dollars to Iraq for overbilling or shoddy work performed by a subsidiary of the US oil services firm Halliburton, The New York Times reports.
The work, carried out by Kellogg, Brown and Root, was paid for with Iraqi oil revenues but was delivered at inflated prices or done poorly, the board said, quoted by the US newspaper.
While audits had called into question 208 million dollars worth of contracting work, it was too early to say how much of the funds should be paid back because analysis of financial statements and documents was still under way, the newspaper wrote.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4792
A White House Without Rove?
He's not gone yet, but his Texas-size ambitions are giving way to smaller goals
By Mike Allen / Time
He's weary. His wife and only child, who is approaching college, miss him. He has monstrous legal bills. His unique bond with the President is under stress. His most important work is done.
Karl Rove's colleagues don't know exactly when it will happen, but they are already laying out the reasons they will give for the departure of the man President George W. Bush dubbed the architect. A Roveless Bush seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. But that has changed as the President's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff remains embroiled in the CIA leak scandal.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4799
US intel on Iraq-Qaeda ties 'intentionally misleading': document
WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US military intelligence warned the Bush administration as early as February 2002 that its key source on Al-Qaeda's relationship with Iraq had provided "intentionally misleading" data, according to a declassified report.
Nevertheless, eight months later, President George W. Bush went public with charges that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein had trained members of Osama bin Laden's terror network in manufacturing deadly poisons and gases.
These same accusations had found their way into then-secretary of state Colin Powell's February 2003 speech before the UN Security Council, in which he outlined the US rationale for military action against Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4795
Bush Declares: 'We Do Not Torture'
By Deb Riechmann / Associated Press
PANAMA CITY, Panama - President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.
"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," Bush said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law."
He declared, "We do not torture."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4800
Rove's Security Clearance Widely Questioned
Federal workers under suspicion of smaller lapses have had access to classified data yanked
By Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger / Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — An intelligence analyst temporarily lost his top-secret security clearance because he faxed his resume using a commercial machine.
An employee of the Defense Department had her clearance suspended for months because a jilted boyfriend called to say she might not be reliable.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4788
Bush orders staff to review ethics rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush, reacting to the indictment of a high-level White House aide in the CIA leak case, has ordered his staff to get a refresher on ethics rules. In a memo sent to all White House aides on Friday, the counsel's office said it will hold briefings next week on ethics, with a particular focus on the rules governing the handling of classified information. Attendance is mandatory for anyone holding any level of security clearance.
"There will be no exceptions," the memo said.
The week after, the counsel's office is holding sessions on general ethical conduct for the rest of the staff.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4794
White House Tries to Keep Distance From Leak Case
By Richard W. Stevenson / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 - In the hours before the Justice Department informed the White House in late September 2003 that it would investigate the leak of a covert C.I.A. officer's identity, Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, gave reporters what turned out to be a rare glimpse into President Bush's knowledge of the case.
Mr. Bush, he said, "knows" that Karl Rove, his senior adviser, had not been the source of the leak. Pressed on how Mr. Bush was certain, Mr. McClellan said he was "not going to get into conversations that the president has with advisers," but made no effort to erase the impression that Mr. Rove had assured Mr. Bush that he had not been involved.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4786
House Delays Vote on U.S. Treatment of Terrorism Suspects
By Eric Schmitt / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 - The House Republican leadership has delayed a vote on a proposed ban against cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners in American custody, and Democrats say the move is an effort to spare Vice President Dick Cheney an embarrassing defeat.
House Democrats, led by Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, had planned to offer a motion this week to endorse language in a military spending bill, written by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, that would prohibit abusive treatment of terror suspects. The motion would instruct House negotiators to adopt Mr. McCain's precise language, which the Senate approved last month, 90 to 9. The White House has threatened to veto any bill containing the provision, saying it would restrict the president's ability to fight terrorism and protect the country.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4784
Source of Forged Niger-Iraq Uranium Documents Identified
By Elaine Sciolino and Elisabetta Povoledo / New York Times
ROME, Nov. 3 - Italy's spymaster identified an Italian occasional spy named Rocco Martino on Thursday as the disseminator of forged documents that described efforts by Iraq to buy uranium ore from Niger for a nuclear weapons program, three lawmakers said Thursday.
The spymaster, Gen. Nicolò Pollari, director of the Italian military intelligence agency known as Sismi, disclosed that Mr. Martino was the source of the forged documents in closed-door testimony to a parliamentary committee that oversees secret services, the lawmakers said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4782
Roadtrip for Relief
Converge in New Orleans in a Showing of Solidarity! November 20-27 in New Orleans -- organized by Common Ground
Come lend a hand over the week of Thanksgiving until November 27th. That's less than four weeks away!
The folks at Common Ground invite you to join an estimated 300 volunteers from around the continent to converge in New Orleans the week of Thanksgiving. We want to encourage those in attendance to arrive with building & cleaning supplies, donated equipment and, if possible, funds that can apply directly to help rebuild and the 9th Ward.
Upon arrival, we will orient you to the long history of neglect and oppression in this area and offer tips on how to connect with the community in a respectful and effective manor. Then we will plug people into community projects in the 9th Ward, where we have just opened a new distribution center and where we are helping to coordinate efforts to challenge unjust city, state and national governments' policies and commercial exploits.
People who come can expect a life-changing experience and tasks ranging from debris removal to simply listening to those most effected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Common Ground is working dilegently to arrange for adequete shelter and food for all volunteers. please join us in the Roadtrip for Relief Forum Discussion or write Kerul Dyer at roadtripforrelief@gmail.com or call call 504.339.5885 to let us know where you are coming from, how many are in your convoy and when you will arrive!
Our efforts can illuminate that clean-up is possible and that we will stand in solidarity with people as they re-establish their lives in New Orleans. We will also bear witness to the dangerous policies of the city of New Orleans and keep a careful eye on the infamous New Orleans Police Department.
Continue reading "Road Trip for Relief! Reclaim the Gulf!"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/covington.php?id=51
Rosa Parks Statue
A plan to erect a statue of Rosa Parks in the US Capitol building is starting to gain momentum. Several members of Congress have filed legislation that would see a statue honoring the late civil rights icon placed in the building's famed Statuary Hall.
Among those who have introduced legislation seeking the statue are Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and John Kerry and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior has introduced similar legislation in the House.
The proposal would make Parks the first black woman to be represented in Statuary Hall. Parks' getting in may mean a move for one of the statues already there. The number of statues in the hall is limited to 102 per state.
http://www.wtvynews4.com/home/headlines/1950247.html
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