The Times Picayune
Politics delayed troops dispatch to N.O.
Blanco resisted Bush leadership proposal
Sunday, December 11, 2005
By Robert Travis Scott
Capital bureau
BATON ROUGE -- The 82nd Airborne is "trained to deploy anywhere, at any time, to fight upon arrival and to win," according to the mission statement of the famous Army division based at Fort Bragg, N.C.
It's a force capable of launching a strategic mission into any area of the world with 18 hours of notification, so the question for many people is why it took President Bush five days to order the 82nd on the ground to deal with the lawlessness and human suffering that spread across New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1134323377121060.xml
GOVERNOR BLANCO'S KATRINA DOCUMENTS
The following documents are a large portion of 100,000 pages of emails, notes and other information submitted by Gov. Kathleen Blanco's office for ongoing congressional hearings on issues surrounding Hurricane Katrina. These documents, which have been available to journalists for the past week, have been the source of numerous news reports. The state attorney general's office on Dec. 8 announced that it eventually will provide access to these documents via internet to the general public.
NOLA provides the following documents in their raw form to the public. These represent a major portion of papers from the Blanco administration -- including all supplied staff emails and reports. More supplemental documents will be added shortly. Most of these documents are in PDF format; some are extremely large, and will require lengthy download times.
http://www.nola.com/katrina/view.ssf
Look forward, governor
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Gov. Kathleen Blanco has gone all out in an effort to show that Louisiana was in responsible hands on Aug. 29.
In response to a request from a congressional committee investigating governmental failures after Hurricane Katrina, the Blanco administration recently unburdened itself of 100,000 documents, including e-mails, correspondence and a lengthy narrative that described the unfolding crisis from the governor's point of view.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-2/113428660876920.xml
Live during the storm:
This is the audio of a conference call between state and parish emergency officials at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 29, 2005, as Hurricane Katrina was beginning to pound Southeastern Louisiana. In this call, parish leaders report on destruction taking place at the moment in their areas.
http://www.nola.com/katrina/view.ssf?audio
Katrina speeds up plans to build westward
Officials foresee opportunity, challenge
Sunday, December 11, 2005
By Michelle Krupa
West Bank bureau
Jefferson Parish officials figured it would be 20 years before they had to worry about major development at the far reaches of the West Bank. With population growth nearly stagnant, the need for thousands of new homes on almost 10,000 acres was far from imminent, leaving plenty of time to study model communities and avoid the mind-numbing evolution of helter-skelter East Jefferson.
Then Hurricane Katrina swamped most of New Orleans and nearly all of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, rendering an estimated 200,000 families homeless. And Jefferson suddenly found itself sitting on one of the metropolitan region's last bastions for residential development.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/113428415976920.xml
NYT: We are about to lose New Orleans
From today's New York Times, an editorial headlined:
Death of an American City
"We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum
" . . . for New Orleans the words "pending in Congress" are a death warrant requiring no signature."
http://www.nola.com/weblogs/bourbon/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_bstdiaries/archives/2005_12_11.html
Death of an American City
Published: December 11, 2005
We are about to lose New Orleans. Whether it is a conscious plan to let the city rot until no one is willing to move back or honest paralysis over difficult questions, the moment is upon us when a major American city will die, leaving nothing but a few shells for tourists to visit like a museum.
We said this wouldn't happen. President Bush said it wouldn't happen. He stood in Jackson Square and said, "There is no way to imagine America without New Orleans." But it has been over three months since Hurricane Katrina struck and the city is in complete shambles.
There are many unanswered questions that will take years to work out, but one is make-or-break and needs to be dealt with immediately. It all boils down to the levee system. People will clear garbage, live in tents, work their fingers to the bone to reclaim homes and lives, but not if they don't believe they will be protected by more than patches to the same old system that failed during the deadly storm. Homeowners, businesses and insurance companies all need a commitment before they will stake their futures on the city.
At this moment the reconstruction is a rudderless ship. There is no effective leadership that we can identify. How many people could even name the president's liaison for the reconstruction effort, Donald Powell? Lawmakers need to understand that for New Orleans the words "pending in Congress" are a death warrant requiring no signature.
The rumbling from Washington that the proposed cost of better levees is too much has grown louder. Pretending we are going to do the necessary work eventually, while stalling until the next hurricane season is upon us, is dishonest and cowardly. Unless some clear, quick commitments are made, the displaced will have no choice but to sink roots in the alien communities where they landed.
The price tag for protection against a Category 5 hurricane, which would involve not just stronger and higher levees but also new drainage canals and environmental restoration, would very likely run to well over $32 billion. That is a lot of money. But that starting point represents just 1.2 percent of this year's estimated $2.6 trillion in federal spending, which actually overstates the case, since the cost would be spread over many years. And it is barely one-third the cost of the $95 billion in tax cuts passed just last week by the House of Representatives.
Total allocations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror have topped $300 billion. All that money has been appropriated as the cost of protecting the nation from terrorist attacks. But what was the worst possible case we fought to prevent?
Losing a major American city.
"We'll not just rebuild, we'll build higher and better," President Bush said that night in September. Our feeling, strongly, is that he was right and should keep to his word. We in New York remember well what it was like for the country to rally around our city in a desperate hour. New York survived and has flourished. New Orleans can too.
Of course, New Orleans's local and state officials must do their part as well, and demonstrate the political and practical will to rebuild the city efficiently and responsibly. They must, as quickly as possible, produce a comprehensive plan for putting New Orleans back together. Which schools will be rebuilt and which will be absorbed? Which neighborhoods will be shored up? Where will the roads go? What about electricity and water lines? So far, local and state officials have been derelict at producing anything that comes close to a coherent plan. That is unacceptable.
The city must rise to the occasion. But it will not have that opportunity without the levees, and only the office of the president is strong enough to goad Congress to take swift action. Only his voice is loud enough to call people home and convince them that commitments will be met.
Maybe America does not want to rebuild New Orleans. Maybe we have decided that the deficits are too large and the money too scarce, and that it is better just to look the other way until the city withers and disappears. If that is truly the case, then it is incumbent on President Bush and Congress to admit it, and organize a real plan to help the dislocated residents resettle into new homes. The communities that opened their hearts to the Katrina refugees need to know that their short-term act of charity has turned into a permanent commitment.
If the rest of the nation has decided it is too expensive to give the people of New Orleans a chance at renewal, we have to tell them so. We must tell them we spent our rainy-day fund on a costly stalemate in Iraq, that we gave it away in tax cuts for wealthy families and shareholders. We must tell them America is too broke and too weak to rebuild one of its great cities.
Our nation would then look like a feeble giant indeed. But whether we admit it or not, this is our choice to make. We decide whether New Orleans lives or dies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/opinion/11sun1.html?ex=1134968400&en=febf58baae52191b&ei=5070
Landlords, tenants find going tough
By Gwen Filosa
and Michelle Hunter
Staff writers
After losing their half of a Louisiana Avenue double to the flood, Sheila Landry and her 13-year-old daughter thought post-Katrina life couldn’t get much worse. Then they returned to New Orleans from evacuation in Orlando, Fla.
They were braced for the sight of sodden clothing and rotted furniture. Instead they found ... nothing at all. Their landlord had essentially evicted them from the apartment they had rented for $500 a month for half a decade.
“Jewelry. My daughter’s piggy bank, the one she has had since she was 5. Her Xbox, video games, her porcelain dolls,” Landry said, ticking off the list of things that had been pitched out in her absence. “Everything in my house is gone.”
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2005_12_11.html
FEMA extends hotel aid for far-flung evacuees
People who sought refuge outside the 10 states that absorbed most of the evacuees from Hurricanes Rita and Katrina can remain in hotels at the government’s expense while their applications for rental assistance are processed, officials announced Saturday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to pick up the tab for an estimated 42,000 hotel rooms in 47 states and the District of Columbia, according to wire reports. In the 10 states that took in most of the homeless evacuees, FEMA recently pledged to continue paying their hotel bills until Jan. 7, after its previous Dec. 1 deadline was met with widespread criticism.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2005_12_11.html
Relief worker killed in bus crash identified
A hurricane relief volunteer who was killed in a bus crash in New Orleans Saturday afternoon has been identified as Meg Perry, 25, of Portland, Maine.
Perry was one of nine volunteers for the Common Ground Collective who were on the bus when it turned on its side just before 1:30 p.m. on eastbound Interstate 10 a half mile west of the Poydras-Superdome exit.
Another passenger said Perry was thrown through the windshield and the bus landed on her about a block east of the Broad overpass, where eastbound I-10 splits off from southbound Pontchartrain expressway.
Police said driver Alyssa Wisehart, 20, of Connecticut, may have made a last-moment decision to take I-10 lanes toward Slidell, swerved, and lost control. Police Saturday said toxicology tests were pending for Wisehart.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2005_12_11.html
World-Renowned Wine Cellar Is Katrina Casualty
Associated Press
Sunday, December 11, 2005; Page A12
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 10 -- In the dark recesses of what was once one of the great wine cellars of the world, the fabled bottles sit. The 1870 Lafite Rothschild, the Chateau Moutons, Chateau Margaux -- fine wines with enormous price tags, or at least they were.
The wine cellar at Brennan's Restaurant, winner since 1983 of Wine Spectator magazine's Grand Award as one of the 85 top cellars in the world, has 35,000 bottles that since Hurricane Katrina have turned from vintage to vinegar.
Photos, videos, maps and stories from this season's hurricanes.
This collection showcases Washington Post reporting on the debate over the government's response to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes and pre-storm planning.
"They may be drinkable, but they're probably better for salads," said Ted Brennan, whose brother Jimmy spent 35 years building the collection.
The Brennan's wine cellar covers two floors in what was once the carriage house of the 1795 French Quarter mansion-turned-restaurant. Domestic wines are stacked to the ceiling on the first floor, European vintages on the second floor. Behind a locked gate is the private collection.
The wine was ruined when the electricity went off after the hurricane. The wine cellar, normally kept at 58 degrees year-round, was suddenly at the mercy of the broiling heat wave that followed the storm.
"I know it easily got to 120 degrees in there," Brennan said. "The wine was literally cooked."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/10/AR2005121000948.html?nav=most_emailed
Entergy appeal for New Orleans aid rejected
By Richard Cowan and Chris Baltimore
Reuters
Friday, December 9, 2005; 7:48 PM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration has denied requests from Entergy Corp. for $350 million in federal aid to help rebuild the company's electric generating facilities in storm-ravaged New Orleans, according to documents obtained by Reuters on Friday.
"We believe that transferring federal tax dollars to the bondholders and shareholders of a private firm is inappropriate," said Allan Hubbard, President George W. Bush's top economic adviser who also chairs a White House council on rebuilding the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.
Hubbard conveyed the message in a November 18 letter to Entergy Corp. Executive Vice President Curt Hebert, who is a former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The letter was part of a bitter exchange between the White House and Entergy last month. Entergy has warned of more than $1 billion in damages, and its New Orleans unit was forced into bankruptcy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/09/AR2005120901710.html
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"I would wish to be seated at the $10,000 a seat table, with other patriots."-- Gold Star Mother, Celeste Zappala
An Open Letter to Wealthy Patriots, from a Gold Star Mother
--A message from Celeste Zappala
George Bush will be speaking at the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia on Monday. Tickets for the event are sold out, however, the luncheon tickets that are closest to Mr. Bush were sold for $10,000. I would like to be at a table close enough to Mr. Bush so that he could meet with me.
I was one of the Gold Star Mothers who camped on the road side ditch in Crawford, Texas waiting to meet with George Bush. I watched him roll past me on his way to a local fundraiser. He never stopped to talk to the Gold Star Mothers.
On Monday he will be in Philadelphia, the City where I live and where my fallen son Sgt. Sherwood Baker grew up. I will be outside of the hotel where he is speaking hoping to ask again, "for what noble cause did my son die?"
I would like to be inside, I would wish to be seated at the $10,000 a seat table, with other patriots. Maybe then Mr. Bush would be willing to speak to me, look at my son's picture and tell me why Sherwood was killed looking for the weapons of mass destruction.
Thank you for your consideration,
Celeste Zappala
--Mother of Sgt Sherwood Baker, the First PA National Guardsman to die in combat since 1945, killed in Baghdad, 4/26/04 while protecting the Iraq Survey Group as they looked for the Weapons of Mass Destruction
IF YOU HAVE AN EXTRA TICKET TO BUSH'S SPEECH IN PHILLY ON MONDAY AND WOULD LIKE TO INVITE MS. ZAPPALA, PLEASE DROP US A LINE
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=559
EMAIL MIKE
http://michaelmoore.com/email/form.php?sbj=mustRead
Monday, December 12, 2005, 10:00 a.m.
Park Hyatt Philadelphia
Exclusive to World Affairs Council Members
Luncheon and a Foreign Policy Address on the War on Terror
The Honorable
George W. Bush
President of the
United States of America
Event Details Sorry — Event Sold Out
Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue
Broad & Walnut Streets
10:00 a.m.
Doors open
11:00 a.m.
No admittance after this time
No cameras or video recording equipment permitted. Allow ample travel time to the event as city traffic flow may be congested.
http://www.wacphila.org/programs/speaker_special.html
Driving Directions
Hotel Address
Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue
Broad and Walnut Streets,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Tel: 215 893 1234 Fax: 215 732 8518
Directions
FROM THE NORTH (I – 95)
Going I- 95 South to Central Philadelphia take exit 22 to 676 West. Follow 676 West for approximately one mile to the Broad Stree exit. This will automatically put you onto 15th Street, going South. Go ten lights to Locust Street and make a left onto Locust Street. Go one block to Broad Street. Make a left onto Broad Street. Proceed immediately into the center lane. From the center lane make a left into the garage entrance for self-parking or into Chancellor Court for valet parking and unloading luggage or passengers.
FROM THE NORTH ( NEW YORK AND NORTHERN NEW JERSEY)
Take exit 4 off the New Jersey Turnpike to Route 73 North. Route 73 North ( 1.4 miles ) will take you to Route 38 West ( 5.8 miles ) which will lead you to Route 30 West. Rt 30 West ( 2.5 miles ) will take you to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, cross the Bridge into Philadelphia. When you go over the bridge, stay to your left and follow the signs for 8th Street, Chinatown. Make a left and proceed on 8th Street for 7 blocks to Walnut Street. Make a right onto Walnut Street, go 6 blocks to Broad Street, and make a left onto Broad Street. Proceed immediately into your right hand lane. The entrance to the Hotel and parking facility is on your right hand side.
FROM THE SOUTH ( I – 95 AND THE AIRPORT )
Take I-95 North to exit 17, Broad Street exit ( Route 611 ). This will put you on Broad Street traveling North. The Hotel is located approximately 2.5 miles North on Broad Street, on your left-hand side between Locust and Walnut Streets. You will need to enter the center lane to make a left into either the parking facility for self-parking or into Chancellor Court for valet parking and unloading luggage or passengers.
FROM THE EAST ( WALT WHITMAN BRIDGE )
Take Atlantic City Expressway to Route 42 North to the Walt Whitman Bridge. Cross the bridge and take the Broad Street exit. Follow Broad Street approximately 2 miles North to Locust Street. Just as you pass Locust Street proceed immediately into the center lane. From the center lane make a left into the garage entrance for self-parking or into Chancellor Court for valet parking and unloading luggage or passengers.
FROM THE EAST ( BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BRIDGE )
Follow directions from New York and Northern New Jersey.
FROM THE WEST ( PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE )
Exit from exit 24 (326) Valley Forge Interchange to Route 76 East. Take Route 76 East to exit 38 (345) / Route 676 East ( This exit is from the left lane ). Go approximately ½ mile to the Broad Street/Central Philadelphia exit. At the top of the Broad Street exit ramp make an immediate right onto 15th Street. Go nine lights to Locust Street, make a left onto Locust Street. Go one block to Broad Street. Make a left onto Broad Street. Proceed immediately into the center lane. From the center lane make a left into garage entrance for self-parking or into Chancellor Court for valet parking and unloading luggage or passengers.
FROM THE NORTHEAST EXTENTION
Take the Northeast Extension, exit 25 (333) off the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Then take Route 476 South to Route 76 East. The directions after this point are the same as above after you are on Route 76 going East.
http://parkphiladelphia.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/services/maps/index.jsp;jsessionid=F5BRKF023JMELTQSNWIVAF4OCJWYOUP4
Save Tookie
Arnold - do the right thing for the children!
http://www.savetookie.org/
Contact the Governor
Governor's Office
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov
http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_contacts.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0864899787.1134248532@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccchaddggmdlefmcfngcfkmdffidfng.0
Update 7: Williams' Supporters: Witness Has Surfaced
12.11.2005, 08:37 PM
Supporters of former gang leader and convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams made a last-minute pitch to save his life Sunday, saying they had a new witness, while prosecutors asked the California Supreme Court to allow his execution to go forward as scheduled early Tuesday.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Brault wrote to the court that Williams' request for a stay of execution "is without merit and is manifestly designed for delay."
Her brief came hours after a lawyer for Williams urged the court to stop the execution on the grounds that Williams should have been allowed to argue at his 1981 trial that someone else killed one of his four alleged victims. She also noted state lawmakers are expected to consider a moratorium on the death penalty next month.
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/ap/2005/12/11/ap2383824.html
State court rejects Williams’ request for stay
Only options now are federal appeal or clemency from Schwarzenegger
SAN FRANCISCO - The state Supreme Court late Sunday refused to grant a stay of execution for gang member and convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, meaning Williams will be executed early Tuesday unless the governor grants clemency or a last-ditch federal appeal succeeds.
Williams’ supporters made another pitch to save his life earlier Sunday, telling Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s staff that they had a new witness who could help prove Williams’ innocence.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10355657/
Tookie's life in Schwarzenegger's hands
December 12, 2005 - 11:39AM
Death Row inmate Stanley "Tookie" Williams sits in a visiting cell at San Quentin prison on November 16, 2005.
Photo: Reuters
AdvertisementAdvertisement
Time is running out for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to decide if former Crips gang leader Stanley "Tookie" Williams should be executed.
As Williams - who was convicted of murdering four people in 1979 - awaited the clemency decision, his lawyers sought to prevent his scheduled execution tomorrow with a new petition to the California Supreme Court.
Barring clemency or last-minute court intervention, officials will administer a lethal injection to Williams at 12.01am in the death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/tookies-life-in-schwarzeneggers-hands/2005/12/12/1134235979179.html
No Word From Governor as Execution Approaches
People protesting the death sentence of Stanley Tookie Williams include Michael Braden, outside a church in Santa Monica.
By SARAH KERSHAW
Published: December 12, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 11 - As fervor over the scheduled execution of Stanley Tookie Williams early Tuesday began to boil across California on Sunday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declined for a third day to announce whether he would spare the life of Mr. Williams, a former gangster and now world-famous death row inmate, and commute his sentence to life in prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/12/national/12tookie.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1134364217-qlfL9iehilN5yRB1P+SAoA
The entries regarding The First Lady of California did not appear on the Michael Moore Website. Thank you for noting that.
Maria Shriver delivers a message about "courage" during the 20th Annual Scholarship luncheon for Girls' Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara
First Lady Maria Shriver talks about the importance of having courage in life as she delivers her keynote address at the 20th Annual Scholarship luncheon for Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara. The annual charity luncheon was held at the home of Ivan and Genevieve Reitman and all proceeds from the event pay for scholarship awards granted to girls ages 5-15 who attend local after school programs.
In her address, Maria told attendees, "young women growing up in today's world need courage in their lives as they struggle to become the women they want to be."
http://www.photos.gov.ca.gov/firstlady/essay18.html
Maria Participates in Head Start Service Project at the National Service-Learning Conference
Maria and daughter Katherine enjoy the National Service-Learning Conference while putting together spring baskets full of school supplies for needy students. The students who received these baskets are involved in the local Head Start Program, which is one of the many service programs created by her father, Sargent Shriver in the 1960s. Head Start continues to this day, serving needy youth from all over the United States.
http://www.photos.gov.ca.gov/firstlady/essay19.html
Nancy Reagan presents Maria with "The Colleagues' "Champion of the Children" Award
At the 17th annual Colleagues Spring Luncheon and Fashion Show, Former First Lady Nancy Reagan presents California First Lady Maria Shriver with "The Colleagues' "Champion of the Children" award. The Colleagues was founded in 1950 as an auxiliary of the Big Sister Leagues of Los Angeles. It is a non-profit corporation of sixty-five women who support and raise funds to benefit Children's Institute International in their efforts to end child abuse and neglect.
http://www.photos.gov.ca.gov/firstlady/essay14.html
First Lady Maria Shriver and her Father Sargent Shriver Honored by the Los Angeles Leadership Academy
Pictured are Los Angeles Leadership Academy founder Roger Lowenstein and First Lady Maria Shriver.
Maria Shriver and her father Sargent Shriver were recognized by the Los Angeles Leadership Academy for their life-long dedication to public service. School officials will be paying tribute to Sargent Shriver's living legacy and unparalleled leadership by dedicating the school auditorium as "The Sargent Shriver Student Center."
On Wednesday, October 27, Maria Shriver paid a private visit to the campus to see the student center first-hand and to meet with Academy students. The Los Angeles Leadership Academy is a charter school serving 195 students in grades 6-8 and it is home to a California Edible School "Rooftop" Garden. The average income of families attending the school is less than twelve thousand dollars per year and seventy percent of Academy students speak a language other than English at home, predominantly Spanish. The Academy invests heavily in its faculty and is a college preparatory school that emphasizes community service and civics education.
http://www.photos.gov.ca.gov/firstlady/essay8.html
Roll Over Rove
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
12:18 P.M. EDT
MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon. This afternoon the President will welcome and congratulate the 2003 Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils to the White House. Later this afternoon, the President looks forward to meeting with congregational rabbis. This is the Jewish high holy days, and it is a time for prayer and reflection in the Jewish community. Today's meeting is part of the President's ongoing commitment to reaching out to faith-based leaders who make our nation stronger. So the President looks forward to that meeting.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030929-7.html
Matt Cooper's Source
What Karl Rove told Time magazine's reporter
By Michael Isikoff / Newsweek
July 18 issue - It was 11:07 on a Friday morning, July 11, 2003, and Time magazine correspondent Matt Cooper was tapping out an e-mail to his bureau chief, Michael Duffy. "Subject: Rove/P&C," (for personal and confidential), Cooper began. "Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation..." Cooper proceeded to spell out some guidance on a story that was beginning to roil Washington. He finished, "please don't source this to rove or even WH [White House]" and suggested another reporter check with the CIA.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3275
Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, 89, Dies
By Frederic J. Frommer / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Former Minnesota Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, whose insurgent campaign toppled a sitting president in 1968 and forced the Democratic Party to take seriously his message against the Vietnam War, died Saturday. He was 89.
McCarthy died in his sleep at assisted living home in the Georgetown neighborhood where he had lived for the past few years, said his son, Michael.
Eugene McCarthy challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination during growing debate over the Vietnam War. The challenge led to Johnson's withdrawal from the race.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5132
How planespotters turned into the scourge of the CIA
Gerard Seenan and Giles Tremlett
By Gerard Seenan and Giles Tremlett / Guardian
Paul last saw the Gulfstream V about 18 months ago. He comes down to Glasgow airport's planespotters' club most days. He had not seen the plane before so he marked the serial number down in his book. At the time, he did not think there was anything unusual about the Gulfstream being ushered to a stand away from public view, one that could not be seen from the airport terminal or the club's prime view.
But that flight this week was at the centre of a transatlantic row that saw the prime minister being put on the spot on the floor of the House of Commons and the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, forced on the defensive during a visit to Europe. The Gulfstream V has been identified as having been used by the CIA for "extraordinary renditions" - abducting terror suspects and taking them to secret prisons around the world where they may be tortured.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5133
Qaeda-Iraq Link U.S. Cited Is Tied to Coercion Claim
By Douglas Jehl / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 - The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.
The officials said the captive, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, provided his most specific and elaborate accounts about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda only after he was secretly handed over to Egypt by the United States in January 2002, in a process known as rendition.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5118
Four U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq Violence
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 10, 6:35 PM ET
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents killed four American soldiers in separate attacks Saturday as violence mounted five days ahead of national elections. U.S. officials announced the release of 238 detainees but said the move was unrelated to demands by kidnappers of four Christian peace activists to free all prisoners.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051210/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=ApyJdwEfVguaZz62NZxfb9Gs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--\
Poland Links Bid For U.S. Aid to Presence in Iraq
Money Sought to Modernize Forces
By Bradley Graham / Washington Post
Poland has asked for additional U.S. military assistance to modernize its own forces as it considers whether to extend the presence of Polish troops in Iraq next year, according to Polish and U.S. officials.
Although Warsaw has stopped short of conditioning its Iraq decision on the request for aid, it has made it clear that the two are linked, saying the $600 million it has spent on the Iraq operation has siphoned funds from plans to upgrade its own military.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5130
Researchers: Alcohol misuse, divorce rates higher among returning troops
By Leo Shane III / Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON — Army researchers saw alcohol misuse rise from 13 percent among soldiers to 21 percent one year after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, underscoring the continuing stress of deployment for some troops.
In post-deployment reassessment data completed in July, researchers also saw soldiers with anger and aggression issues increase from 11 percent to 22 percent after deployment. Those planning to divorce their spouse rose from 9 percent to 15 percent after time spent in the combat zone.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5131
Bulgaria to withdraw troops from Iraq by end-year
SOFIA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Bulgaria will withdraw its 334-strong light infantry battalion from Iraq by the end of the year and after Iraqi parliamentary elections on Dec. 15, Defence Minister Veselin Bliznakov said on Friday. With the decision, the poor Balkan state is speeding up a pullout originally expected to take several months.
At Washington's request, Sofia's Socialist-led government delayed a plan to withdraw soon after winning June elections, but Bliznakov said troops would be home before the new year.
"The fifth contingent of Bulgaria troops will come back by the end of this year at the latest. We expect the last group of troops to come back by Dec. 31," he told journalists on returning from a visit to the United States.
He said the cabinet was still discussing ways to contribute to the U.S.-led military effort in Iraq and was mulling sending around 120 guards to man a camp for Iranian refugees in Ashraf.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5123
Rumsfeld: Too Incompetent For Bush to Fire
Reporters Tom DeFrank and Dana Milbank were on MSNBC last night discussing the Rumsfeld resignation rumors. (On Thursday, DeFrank reported in the New York Daily News that “White House officials are telling associates they expect Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to quit early next year.”)
They both said that Rumsfeld would have been fired long ago if things hadn’t been going so poorly in Iraq. Firing Rumsfeld now would simply be too embarrassing for the administration. It’s the key to Rumsfeld’s success: he’s so incompetent, it’s impossible to let him go –
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/09/rumsfeld-fire/
The New Zealand Herald
US forced to join climate talks
12.12.05
By Audrey Young and Agencies
The fight against global warming has had a dramatic boost after 180 nations unexpectedly agreed to develop far-reaching measures on climate change.
Delegates to the climate summit in Montreal dealt a humiliating blow to President George W. Bush's five-year attempt to destroy the Kyoto Protocol, the pact designed to cut emissions of gases blamed for global warming.
The United States, which tried to sabotage the meeting at the last minute by walking out of the negotiations, was forced to join the agreement after failing to persuade a single nation to join it.
The result was hailed last night by New Zealand's Minister for Climate Change, David Parker, who said the US, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, was "effectively back in the tent".
The outcome was a surprise because the US also resisted moves to get non-Kyoto countries to agree to non-binding talks on future measures.
Its delegation walked out of one session because it was against the proposed wording.
But with not one ally in its opposition to future talks, a torrent of domestic and international criticism, pressure from Britain and a speech undermining its position by former President Bill Clinton, the US relented and agreed to take part in discussions about international co-operation on the global warming issue.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359547
African plea to rich: end cotton aid
12.12.05
By Peter Murphy
KORHOGO, IVORY COAST - Lefara Soro rests on a mound of rough cotton as the midday sun scorches his fields and says he knows nothing about the debate raging over subsidies paid by rich nations to his competitors half a world away.
He is not aware either of a meeting of the world's top trade officials in Hong Kong to try to bridge differences over a global trade pact, originally meant to help people like him. But he knows what he needs.
"I haven't heard anything about [the talks]," Soro, 33, said.
"But I would like prices to rise. If we were paid more I could grow more cotton, and if I had a good season I would start a small shop and sell bicycle and moped parts and soap."
African cotton producers say subsidies paid by the United States to its farmers depress world prices. They want these subsidies scrapped but the US has said rich nations can best respond to African concerns by agreeing on a global deal to open up agricultural markets.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359529
French farmers criticise the EU's latest tariff offer
12.12.05
ST GILLES PLIGEAUX - Even though she is 82, French farmer Emilienne Guyader gets up at 6am every day and trudges through the mud to her fields, driving her 17 cows before her.
Guyader has been a farmer for 60 years and says she has never seen French farming in such a bad state.
"Everything is in crisis. I've never seen it like this before," she said as she milked a cow on a wintry afternoon. "A litre of water is more expensive than a litre of milk."
Guyader and her neighbours in central Brittany, a region of rolling hills and fertile land, fear life may become even harder.
The European Union has proposed cutting import tariffs on agricultural goods as part of global trade talks that will reach boiling point this week during a meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Hong Kong.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359479
Tsunami girl lost for a year spotted in news photo
11.12.05 5.00pm
By Stephen Khan
The governor of the tsunami-hit province of Phuket has pledged his personal help to a German-Thai couple searching for a daughter they firmly believe is still alive nearly one year after the surging ocean tore her away from her mother's arms.
The parents, Sascha and Patchara Meissmer, say they are certain that a girl they saw in a grainy photograph taken a day after the tsunami is their five-year-old daughter Solitaire, and yesterday officials were scouring orphanages in the region for any sign of her.
"We are pleased to help the parents investigating and searching for their daughter," said Udomsak Asawawarangu, Governor of Phuket, yesterday.
Mr Meissmer, 36, from Frankfurt, and his wife will meet the governor on Tuesday, by which time it is hoped that further information about the fate of their daughter will have emerged.
"I am confident that he can help investigate the case of my daughter because the picture was taken in the office of the provincial administration." Mr Meissmer said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359459
Government requesting flu drug stockpiles
12.12.05 4.00pm
The Government is attempting to secure a guaranteed supply of antibiotics for the country in the event of an influenza pandemic.
Minister of Health Pete Hodgson said the government drug funding agency Pharmac would contact pharmaceutical suppliers today to request proposals for the antibiotic supply effort.
"We know that in the 1918 influenza pandemic, most deaths were caused by secondary bacterial infections," Pete Hodgson said.
"Taking this step early will put us ahead of the curve as demand for antibiotics are expected to spike dramatically if a pandemic is declared."
The World Health Organisation has warned there is a high risk of the bird flu which is now spreading in the northern hemisphere mutating to a virulent human influenza.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10359611
No word on hostage, Clark says
12.12.05 1.00pm
The Government has heard nothing about Auckland student Harmeet Singh Sooden, held hostage in Iraq by a group that is threatening to kill him and three other Christian peace mission workers, Prime Minister Helen Clark said today.
The kidnappers are demanding the release of all Iraqi prisoners and their weekend deadline expired with no word about the fate of the hostages.
"We're as much in the dark as the family is right now," Helen Clark said on TV One's Breakfast programme.
"All I can say is the best news is that there has been no bad news."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10359590
Parents chip in to pay for extra teacher
12.12.05 1.00pm
A school that asked parents to dip into their pockets to pay for an extra teacher has raised most of the $45,000 it needed.
Waipu School principal Paul Ramsay said the extra teacher meant class sizes could be kept small and said the generosity of the Northland school's community had come as a pleasant surprise.
The school's board of trustees sent a newsletter to pupils' homes last month asking for donations because funding would be cut after 43 senior students left for intermediate school.
Most donations were between $500 and $1000, but one family handed over $2000.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10359587
Protesters denounce WTO at Hong Kong rallies
12.12.05 1.00pm
HONG KONG - Hong Kong braced for potential violence as anti-globalisation protesters kicked off a flurry of demonstrations on Sunday against this week's World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting of nearly 150 rich and poor nations.
Around 3,000 protesters waving signs reading "Junk the WTO" and "Life is not for sale" marched in a carnival atmosphere in the shade of skyscrapers in one of the world's main financial centres.
Some 10,000 activists are expected to converge on Hong Kong as the city holds a pivotal ministerial meeting from December 13-18 in a bid to get stalled global trade talks back on track.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10359583
China admits police killed protesters
12.12.05 1.00pm
By David Eimer
BEIJING - The commander of Chinese forces that shot protesters opposed to the construction of a power plant has been detained, as authorities admitted that at least three people had been killed.
The shootings, in southern China's Guangdong Province last Tuesday, were confirmed by state media yesterday.
According to Amnesty International, it is the first time Chinese police have fired on protestors since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 4 June 1989.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359604
Schwarzenegger still undecided on gang leader
12.12.05 1.20pm
LOS ANGELES - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will not decide today whether to grant clemency to former Crips gang leader Stanley Tookie Williams, who is slated to be executed this week for murdering four people in 1979, his office said.
As Williams awaited the clemency decision, his lawyers sought to prevent his scheduled Tuesday execution with a new petition to the California Supreme Court.
Barring clemency or last-minute court intervention, officials will administer a lethal injection to Williams at 12:01am (9pm NZT) on Tuesday in the death chamber at San Quentin State Prison.
"Mr. Williams has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested," Attorney Verna Wefald wrote in the petition filed to the state's top court on Saturday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10359609
'Sopranos' actor suspected in NY police shooting
12.12.05
NEW YORK - New York police said on Saturday they had arrested television and film actor Lillo Brancato on suspicion of carrying out a burglary in which a police officer was shot and killed.
Brancato, 29, appeared several times as a mobster in the hit television show "The Sopranos," and in several films including "A Bronx Tale" opposite Robert De Niro.
He was arrested in June for heroin possession.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters that Daniel Enchautegui, a police officer of three years, was shot in the chest early on Saturday after investigating the sound of breaking glass in an unoccupied house in the Bronx.
Before the officer died, he shot an unarmed Brancato and his armed accomplice, who have both been arrested but remain in hospital, Kelly said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10359616
All-night protest after French rave party banned
12.12.05 12.20pm
PARIS - Hundreds of French youths smashed shop windows, ignited trash cans and pelted police with bottles through the night to protest against a ban on a rave party they planned in the western city of Rennes, officials said on Sunday.
Two police were injured and about 30 youths were detained during the unrest, which began mid-afternoon on Saturday as protesters chanting "freedom!" and "we want a field!" marched through the capital of the Brittany region.
Police in full riot gear fired tear gas to disperse the crowds but the protesters, many of whom police said were drunk, stayed on until the early morning.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10359589
Sydney beachside violence spreads
12.12.05 10.30am
SYDNEY - More than 20 people have been injured and 16 arrested as race-fuelled violence spread through Sydney's beachside suburbs overnight.
But NSW Premier Morris Iemma says police are in control of the situation, after violence that began at Cronulla Beach in Sydney's south flowed over to other communities.
A series of apparent revenge attacks - including two stabbings - occurred overnight following the unrest at Cronulla, where more than 5000 people gathered yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10359579
PM, police attack Sydney racial unrest
12.12.05 12.20pm
SYDNEY - Underlying hatred in some elements of the Middle Eastern community, and anger within the Anglo-Saxon community, must be addressed to prevent more violence in Sydney, New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney said today.
He said there was clear fault among the two opposing groups who carried out the race-fuelled violence at Cronulla yesterday and overnight, and talks between the two sides were essential if the problem were to be solved. More than 20 people were injured and 16 arrested in the violence.
Prime Minister John Howard refused to call Australians racist following the violence.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359602
Israeli defence minister quits Likud to join Sharon
12.12.05 1.00pm
JERUSALEM - Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has joined Ariel Sharon's new Kadima faction, sowing further disarray in the ruling rightist Likud Party abandoned by the prime minister in the run-up to a March general election.
Mofaz is a popular figure among many Israelis for his tough handling of a 5-year-old Palestinian uprising, although opinion polls had predicted he would lose a Likud leadership race on December 19 to former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sharon founded centrist Kadima after quitting Likud last month over a rebellion by hawkish legislators who condemned Israel's Gaza pullout as a surrender to Palestinian militants. Mofaz cited a sense of solidarity as reason for his defection.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10359586
Oil depot blast rocks houses
12.12.05
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD - Explosions tore through a fuel depot north of London yesterday, spewing out a huge tower of smoke and flame in what officials said could be the biggest incident of its kind in peacetime Europe.
Police said only one person was seriously injured and believed it was almost certainly an accident.
"There is nothing that indicates anything other than an accident," Hertfordshire Chief Constable Frank Whiteley told a news conference after Britons, still on edge from July bomb attacks in London, awoke to fresh images of destruction.
Eyewitnesses described a series of massive explosions at the Buncefield oil depot just after 6am, (7pm NZT) shooting flames and billowing smoke hundreds of feet into the air, smashing the windows of nearby homes and causing widespread damage.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359558
Bad news for Corby
12.12.05 7.20am
Bali prosecutors are confident judges considering Schapelle Corby's appeal will increase her sentence in light of photographs seized by Australian police showing her with an alleged drug smuggler.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10359526
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