Guardian Unlimited
Melting of permafrost threatens homes and roads, scientists warn
· Study foresees huge release of carbon by 2100
· Water runoff could affect global currents
David Adam, environment correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Global warming could melt almost all of the top layer of Arctic permafrost by the end of the century. Scientists say the thaw would release vast stocks of carbon into the atmosphere, threaten ocean currents and wreck roads and buildings across Canada, Alaska and Russia.
David Lawrence, a climate scientist with the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said: "There's a lot of carbon stored in the soil. If the permafrost does thaw, as our model predicts, it could have a major influence on climate." Thawing permafrost is one of several climate "tipping points" feared by environmental experts, because carbon released by melted soil would accelerate global warming. Permafrost makes up about a quarter of land surface in the northern hemisphere and the upper layer is believed to hold at least 30% of the carbon stored in soil worldwide.
Dr Lawrence said: "In terms of its impact on the global climate, I don't see how it can be good news, but just how bad it is is unclear. It's very difficult to see how we can halt it. We may be able to slow it down."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1671774,00.html
Hospitals fail to control killer bug
Outbreaks led to 934 deaths last year
James Meikle, health correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Hospitals are failing to follow rules to control a killer bug which has been linked to three times as many deaths as MRSA. Health watchdogs have found that NHS managers in England are failing to isolate patients struck by the virulent bug, Clostridium difficile, a bacterium responsible for 934 deaths among 44,500 patients infected by it last year.
But some hospital trusts say they do not have suitable bedspace to cope with a problem which most believe is getting worse. Dozens of hospitals - about a quarter in England - had to close wards in the last 12 months because of outbreaks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1671824,00.html
Flu vaccine not as effective as studies suggest, say researchers
Sarah Boseley, health editor
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
The flu jab is not as effective in protecting elderly people as studies have suggested because most of those who are vaccinated are healthier than those who are not, according to new research.
A study examining the health records of 73,527 people aged over 65 during an eight-year period in the US found that those who failed to get a flu jab were more likely to die or end up in hospital not only during the flu season and after it, but also before it began.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,11381,1671777,00.html
Special Report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/0,11381,618095,00.html
Reforms may let young killers escape life in jail
· 'Screwed up' youngsters may get new defence
· 'Two tiers' of murder put forward for big law change
Clare Dyer, legal editor
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
Children who kill could escape a life sentence by pleading "developmental immaturity" under proposals published yesterday for the biggest shake-up of murder law in over 50 years.
Under the recommendations, part of a Home Office review of murder, children who kill "in circumstances suggesting incomplete moral development of mental functioning" could claim their responsibility was diminished and their crime should not be punished by a life sentence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1671835,00.html
US judge bans intelligent design from science lessons
· Victory for parents on teaching of evolution
· Theory ruled to be religion by the back door
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
A courtroom battle seen as a test case for the teaching of science in America ended in a decisive victory for evolution yesterday when a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that it was unconstitutional to teach "intelligent design" in biology class.
In a 139-page decision that was scathing about the area school district and dismissive of the science of "intelligent design", US district judge John Jones III ruled that the school district of Dover, Pennsylvania, had violated the constitution by ordering teachers to read a statement which challenged Darwin's theory of evolution.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1671680,00.html
Combining food additives may be harmful, say researchers
· Aspartame and artificial colourings investigated
· Mice nerve cells stopped growing in experiments
Felicity Lawrence, consumer affairs correspondent
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
New research on common food additives, including the controversial sweetener aspartame and food colourings, suggests they may interact to interfere with the development of the nervous system.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool examined the toxic effects on nerve cells in the laboratory of using a combination of four common food additives - aspartame, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the artificial colourings brilliant blue and quinoline yellow. The findings of their two-year study were published last week in the journal Toxicological Sciences.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,2763,1671818,00.html
Pupils to get nicotine patches
Martin Wainwright
Wednesday December 21, 2005
The Guardian
School pupils as young as 12 are to be given nicotine patches to help them stop smoking. Nurses and trained staff at six secondary schools in County Durham, close to the prime minister's Sedgefield constituency, will prescribe the treatment and monitor usage and results.
The programme follows a successful pilot scheme at Greencroft school in Annfield Plain last year, where half of a group of 30 children who were given the patches stopped smoking. Regular cigarette use in the region is slightly higher than the country-wide average, which experts say is 1% of 11-year-olds. This rises to 16% of boys and 26% of girls by the age of 16.
http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,5500,1671805,00.html
BBC1 drops Saturday kids' TV
Jason Deans
Wednesday December 21, 2005
Dick and Dom: Saturday morning kids' shows could be moving to BBC2 permanently
The BBC is planning to shift Saturday morning children's TV away from BBC1, ending a 30-year broadcasting tradition stretching back to Multicoloured Swap Shop in the 70s.
From Saturday January 7, BBC1's morning line-up, including Dick & Dom in da Bungalow and Top of the Pops Reloaded, will switch to BBC2 between 6am and noon.
The Saturday morning BBC2 schedule, including Breakfast, Weekend 24 and Saturday Kitchen, will move the other way.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1671546,00.html
The new world disorder
Martin Woollacott
Friday December 21, 1990
The Guardian
It is ironic that on the same day that the security council has produced a resolution that could help to avoid war in the Gulf, we have the clearest evidence yet that Soviet foreign policy, so critical to a united approach, is under severe attack at home.
The most emotional section of Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation speech was his rejection of charges that he was ready to send Soviet troops to the Gulf.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/fromthearchive/story/0,12269,1671574,00.html
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Senator Stevens plays blackmail with piers.
For Stevens, drilling in Alaska is personal payback
By LAURIE KELLMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Incredible Hulk appeared Tuesday on the Senate floor, adorning the necktie of Sen. Ted Stevens - a familiar sign that the veteran from Alaska is pumped for the fight to open part of an arctic wildlife refuge to oil drilling.
But to hear his colleagues tell it, Stevens is more like the Grinch who would steal Christmas - and New Year's, if need be - to collect on his end of a vote-swapping deal he struck with two Democrats 25 years ago.
"A promise made is a debt unpaid," Stevens, 82, is fond of repeating. "This is a debt unpaid to this Senate, to the country, to Alaska."
Back in 1980, the deal went like this: Vote yes on setting aside 19 million acres of wilderness, said Sens. Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington and Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, and Congress will support permission to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Stevens agreed. Tsongas and Jackson, meanwhile, died before Congress could grant permission to drill.
Their debt survives, Stevens insists. And he's playing procedural hardball to make the Senate pay up.
"We're going to have to face up to ANWR either now or Christmas Day or New Year's Eve or sometime," Stevens thundered from the Senate floor Tuesday, bucking criticism from drilling opponents furious that he succeeded in attaching the drilling permission to a must-pass bill to fund the military.
Off the floor, Stevens acknowledged he has little to lose by muscling opponents into this uncomfortable choice: Vote for a bill that allows arctic drilling or be seen as blocking money for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, new aid for hurricane victims and subsidies to help the poor meet what are expected to be record winter heating bills.
"This is the toughest battle I've ever had," Stevens said Tuesday, a senatorial red handkerchief perched in a jacket pocket just inches from his surly alter ego.
The big green guy on the necktie is famous in the Senate for injecting a bit of playfulness into spending fights during Stevens' years chairing the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I've won every other battle with it on, so I'm wearing it for this one," Stevens said.
All-night sessions and a list of stalled bills have left little humor on Capitol Hill as the clock ticks toward the end of the year.
"This is, after all, Christmas!" Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., complained on the Senate floor.
The showdown vote could come as early as Wednesday.
The 1980 law doubled to 19 million acres the size of the Alaska wildlife refuge. Stevens said he supported that law only after Jackson and Tsongas promised him that Congress would later consider allowing drilling on a 1.5 million-acre tract bordering the Beaufort Sea.
Democrats disagreed on whether current senators are obligated to pay what Stevens calls a "debt" owed him by Jackson and Tsongas.
"The Grinch Who Stole the Defense Bill," they called Stevens in a news release put out Tuesday by the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
"Every Sen. in Washington liked the defense bill a lot," they added, channeling Dr. Seuss. "But Stevens, who lives north, in Alaska, did NOT."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_Stevens_Hurrah.html
Seattle in vanguard of tsunami research
Goal is speedier forecasting of a possible disaster
By TOM PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
In the wake of last year's Indian Ocean tsunami, Seattle has expanded its scientific talent pool for studying the killer waves and launched what is now perhaps the world's largest research organization devoted to tsunamis.
With the Pacific Northwest equally at risk from a major tsunami, scientists are focused on forecasting what to expect when, not if, it happens here.
NOAA research scientist Diego Arcas talks about NOAA's Tsunami Forecast, Measurement and Modeling Systems. Behind him is a projected map of the Pacific Rim showing DARTs (Deep Ocean Assesment of Tsunamis; Red dots) and SIMs (Standby Inundation Mode; yellow squares) that will make up the building blocks of the Tsunami Warning System. The insert shows the Ocean Shores-Grays Harbor area of the Washington coast.
More than a dozen mathematical modelers and software wizards have been newly recruited to analyze the complex, chaotic information that determines tsunami behavior. They are creating simulations that can be used to rapidly predict if a deep-sea quake will produce a tsunami, how big it will be and how it may affect U.S. coastal communities.
"The idea is to pre-compute a lot of the information so we can do it in minutes instead of hours," said Diego Arcas, a new forecaster for the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Seattle station.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/252829_tsunamilab21.html
Gregoire pitches stronger tsunami warning system
By CURT WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington's coastal counties would get another batch of high-tech tsunami warning stations under a disaster management plan proposed by Gov. Christine Gregoire.
The state has been working to upgrade the warning systems since this summer, when a faulty phone line failed to trigger alerts in several coastal areas.
Gregoire's supplemental state budget request, unveiled Tuesday, asks the Legislature for $500,000 to install All Hazard Alert Broadcasting stations in four counties.
Her proposal would pay for about 10 of the stations, doubling the number planned for Washington's coast under a previous federal project.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WST_Gregoire_Emergencies.html
Gregoire's ambitious plan to clean Sound
$42 million spending boost proposed
By LISA STIFFLER AND ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Hoping to rocket the restoration of Puget Sound into national prominence, Gov. Christine Gregoire announced Monday the most ambitious plan to date to clean up toxic dumps around the Sound, prevent oil spills and take other actions to revive the ailing inland sea.
Gregoire's $42 million proposal would provide a boost to the approximately $90 million currently earmarked for Sound-related work each year.
Cody Woodruff of Manson Construction sweeps sediment off a dock on the Foss Waterway in Tacoma. As part of the cleanup, Manson Construction was hired to deposit a gravel mixture to cover up some of the contaminated areas.
Although it represents a big bump in spending, the money is only a modest down payment on a 15-year program to restore the Sound -- to make it once again fishable and swimmable, the governor pledged.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252749_sound20.html
Jet with problem lands safely in Boston
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON -- A jetliner with a landing gear problem touched down safely at Logan International late Tuesday after circling the airport for about two hours.
Sparks could be seen coming from an area near the right landing gear as the aircraft landed just before 10 p.m., but the plane rolled to a stop without incident.
Midwest Airlines Flight 210 had 86 passengers and four crew members on board. Passengers remained on the jet as it was towed to a gate.
Air traffic controllers reported seeing sparks at the rear of the plane after it took off at about 8:15 p.m., bound for Milwaukee, said Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Logan_Plane.html
Judge rules against Pa. biology curriculum
By MARTHA RAFFAELE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Tammy Kitzmiller, left, and Christy Rhem express their happiness during a new conferece Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005, in Harrisburg Pa., after hearing the verdicit from U.S. District Judge John E. Jones that prevents the Dover School District from teching "intelligent design" in biology class. (AP Photo/Daniel Shanken)
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- In one of the biggest courtroom clashes between faith and evolution since the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial, a federal judge barred a Pennsylvania public school district Tuesday from teaching "intelligent design" in biology class, saying the concept is creationism in disguise.
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones delivered a stinging attack on the Dover Area School Board, saying its first-in-the-nation decision in October 2004 to insert intelligent design into the science curriculum violated the constitutional separation of church and state.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Evolution_Debate.html
Source: Abramoff lawyers in talks with DOJ
By PETE YOST
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff are in discussions with the Justice Department about his possible cooperation in a congressional corruption probe, a person involved in the investigation said Tuesday night.
The probe involves a number of members of Congress as well as staff. A former aide to ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, has already pleaded guilty.
Abramoff would plead guilty under an arrangement that would settle a criminal case against him in Florida as well as potential corruption charges in Washington, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1155AP_Abramoff_Probe.html
REMEMBER the other day Bush stated, "Tom DeLay is not guilty?" What has Gonzalez got cooking to get DeLay off the hook?
DeLay officially files for re-election
By MICHAEL GRACZYK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HOUSTON -- Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, facing trial on charges of money laundering, officially filed Tuesday to run for a 12th term in his suburban Houston district.
The filing was not unexpected.
Republican DeLay, who has denied any wrongdoing and has accused Democrat Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle of conducting a political witch hunt, must deal with at least two GOP challengers in the March primary. He already has been campaigning against his likely general election opponent, former Rep. Nick Lampson.
DeLay filed by petition with the Republican Party of Texas, delivering almost 1,000 signatures collected by volunteers. Filing by petition, instead of paying a filing fee, requires 500 signatures from registered voters in his district.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1133AP_DeLay_Candidacy.html
Donors underwrite DeLay's deluxe lifestyle
By LARRY MARGASAK AND SHARON THEIMER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
Former House Majority Leader, Rep. Tom Delay, R-Texas, left, prepares to tee off as President Bush swings in the background during a morning golf outing with three House Republicans at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in this July 27, 2002 file photo. As DeLay became a king of political fundraising, he lived like one too. Over the past six years, the Republican and his aides have visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants - all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire. (AP Photo/Kenneth Lambert, Files)
WASHINGTON -- As Tom DeLay became a king of campaign fundraising, he lived like one too. He visited cliff-top Caribbean resorts, golf courses designed by PGA champions and four-star restaurants - all courtesy of donors who bankrolled his political money empire.
Over the past six years, the former House majority leader and his associates have visited places of luxury most Americans have never seen, often getting there aboard corporate jets arranged by lobbyists and other special interests.
Public documents reviewed by The Associated Press tell the story: at least 48 visits to golf clubs and resorts; 100 flights aboard company planes; 200 stays at hotels, many world-class; and 500 meals at restaurants, some averaging nearly $200 for a dinner for two.
Instead of his personal expense, the meals and trips for DeLay and his associates were paid with donations collected by the campaign committees, political action committees and children's charity the Texas Republican created during his rise to the top of Congress. His lawyer says the expenses are part of DeLay's effort to raise money from Republicans and to spread the GOP message.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_DeLay_Living_on_Donors.html
Wife of Joel Osteen asked to leave plane
By PAM EASTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Victoria Osteen stands beside her husband, Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, during services at the church Jan. 9, 2005, in Houston. Osteen failed to comply with a flight attendant's instructions and was asked to leave a plane headed from Houston to Colorado, the FBI said Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005. The plane's door had been closed Monday, Dec. 19, 2005 when she, got into a verbal altercation with a flight attendant, FBI spokeswoman Luz Garcia said. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
HOUSTON -- The wife of the pastor of the nation's largest church was asked to leave a plane after she failed to comply with a flight attendant's instructions, the FBI said Tuesday.
Houston Lakewood Church pastor Joel Osteen, his wife, Victoria, and their two children boarded a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Vail, Colo., Monday. The plane's door had been closed when Victoria Osteen and a flight attendant had a disagreement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Pastors_Wife_Disturbance.html
Elton John to tie the knot with partner
By DANICA KIRKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Irish guardsmen march past Windsor's Guildhall, England, Tuesday Dec. 20, 2005, where rock star Elton John, and filmmaker David Furnish will be joined in Civil Union Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)
LONDON -- Rock star Elton John is tying the knot with longtime partner David Furnish Wednesday, in a civil union ceremony seen as a watershed in the struggle for gay rights - and as the party of the season by celebrity-spotters.
Thousands of fans are expected to mob the cobbled streets around Windsor's town hall, the Guildhall, where Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles wed in April.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/1403AP_People_Elton_John.html
Bar Association objects to police posing as lawyers
By GENE JOHNSON
AP LEGAL AFFAIRS WRITER
SEATTLE -- The Washington State Bar Association is asking the state Supreme Court to ban police from posing as lawyers - as officers did to obtain DNA evidence in one recent case - saying the practice is unnecessary and damages the credibility of attorney-client relationships.
The issue arose following the conviction of John Athan, a Palisades Park, N.J., man found to have murdered a 13-year-old girl in Seattle in 1982, when he was 14. Though Athan was a suspect in the case, police didn't have the evidence to arrest him and the case went unsolved for two decades.
In 2003, police sent him a letter on the stationery of a fictitious law firm, asking if they could represent him in a class-action lawsuit. Athan licked the envelope and returned it, providing the DNA sample investigators needed to link him to semen found on the girl's body.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_DNA_Trick.html
Engineers approve latest Boeing contract offer
By ROXANA HEGEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WICHITA, Kan. -- Engineers at the Boeing Co.'s defense operations in Wichita on Tuesday overwhelmingly accepted a new contract offer that looks a lot like the one they turned down earlier this month.
In their second election, 73 percent of the engineers who voted approved of the three-year contract. The vote was 184-69 to accept the company's latest proposal.
The contract covers 788 engineers represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace at Boeing's defense operations in Wichita.
"The engineers were ready to move on, rather than fuss over the contract," said SPEEA executive director Charles Bofferding.
Boeing spokesman Forrest Gossett said the company was obviously pleased that engineers accepted the region-leading contract.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_KS_Boeing_Wichita.html
Queen Anne residents angrily oppose QFC
Quaintness would be sacrificed, they say
By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A packed room of Queen Anne residents said Monday evening that they resented the plans for a new Quality Food Centers supermarket, complaining that their quaint neighborhood could lose its character by essentially becoming one long strip of national chain-store outlets.
The meeting centered on the proposal for the demolition of the Metropolitan Market and the development of "Queen Anne Place," which would comprise a 38,000-square-foot QFC supermarket branch and another 15,000 square feet of retail space at the top of Queen Anne Hill.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252756_market20.html
Cantwell vows Senate fight to stop oil drilling
Democrat may lead filibuster to preserve Arctic refuge
By CHARLES POPE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Maria Cantwell vowed Monday to keep the Senate in session until the brink of Christmas to defeat legislation that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
"If this language is allowed to stand, one of our nation's most pristine wildlife areas will be lost," Cantwell, a Democrat, said as she outlined plans by her party and its allies to defeat language offered by Alaska Republican Ted Stevens to open ANWR.
"This is nothing more than a sweetheart deal for Alaska and the oil companies," Cantwell said. "That's why I am prepared to use every procedural option available to me as a senator to prevent this language from moving forward."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252683_anwr20.html
Back-pain study touts yoga's benefits
Remedy seemed to work best for sufferers
By JULIE DAVIDOW
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Susana Schuarzberg thinks lifting her 2-year-old grandson in and out of his car seat did it.
The stinging pain in her lower back shot down her leg and wouldn't go away after a year, even with prescription pain medication.
So, when Schuarzberg found out about a study measuring yoga's potential for soothing lower back pain, she didn't hesitate to sign up.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252745_yoga20.html
Frozen body may be missing Indiana girl
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALBANY, Ind. -- Searchers following a tip from a man jailed for allegedly killing his wife and three young daughters have found a frozen body believed to be that of a 10-year-old girl last seen heading to a school bus stop earlier this month.
Police found the body Monday in a wooded area 50 miles from the Fort Wayne neighborhood where Alejandra Gutierrez disappeared Dec. 8, Delaware County Sheriff George Sheridan said. The body appeared to be that of a child who had been strangled, authorities said, and investigators were working to determine if it was Gutierrez.
Delaware County Deputy Prosecutor Mark McKinney said the area was searched based on details given by Simon Rios, who is now considered a suspect in Gutierrez's abduction and slaying. A 17-year-old juvenile in custody in Allen County also is considered a suspect, authorities said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Missing_Girl.html
Analysis: AOL deal leaves Microsoft to 'search' alone
By SAUL HANSELL
THE NEW YORK TIMES
This time, it was Microsoft that was snubbed at the last minute.
In 1996, America Online agreed to offer Netscape's Internet browser to its 5 million customers. A day later, the non-binding agreement was pushed aside when AOL announced that it had instead chosen Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser in a $100 million deal.
As recently as two weeks ago, Microsoft executives said they believed that their company was going to win the endorsement of Time Warner, AOL's parent, to form an advertising venture with AOL and become its provider of Web search technology.
But today, Time Warner is expected to announce that it will instead renew its three-year-old partnership with Google as the provider of search technology. The deal, in which Google will invest $1 billion for a 5 percent stake in AOL, also will significantly expand AOL's advertising opportunities on Google sites, among other things.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/252690_msftaol20.html
County Health: Failing to thrive
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
The results from our collective health check-up aren't good. In terms of our broad social well-being, King County is failing to thrive.
The latest Communities Count assessment of health and social indicators found bright spots, such as reduced infant mortality, births to teen mothers and alcohol abuse. But that's only part of the picture. "In very basic ways, King County has not progressed," the report found. Many things are worsening.
As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported recently, rising housing prices have made home ownership an increasingly improbable dream for many working people. The percentage of children living in poverty has risen sharply, to more than 13 percent. The rate of county residents without health insurance hit the highest point in the nearly 15 years the data have been tracked.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/252661_counted20.asp
Domestic Spying: Out of bounds
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
No administration is above the law. Members of both political parties must act on that sound principle to investigate thoroughly the revelations of domestic spying on Americans.
On Monday President Bush appeared to shed some light on the practice, emphasizing that the monitoring of telecommunications without warrants involves only messages going from or coming into the country. He said the administration makes use of a special court to win approval to monitor calls or e-mails within the country.
On a certain level, that will ease public concerns about most communications. But the president has a long way to go in addressing the larger questions about respecting the law and civil liberties.
While Bush has been more forthcoming in recent days, it was typical of the administration that he said the monitoring without warrants will continue on international communications. He sought to frame the decision in terms of the war on terror. That's somewhat misleading, because even before Sept. 11, 2001, this administration was intent on the broadest assumption of powers in the executive branch. At first glace, there is no practical reason for an administration to decide against operating within the established parameters of a law that gives latitude for filing for court approval after monitoring has begun.
Prominent senators from both parties promise to examine the spying program. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said, "We are at war and I applaud the president for being aggressive. But we cannot set aside the rule of law in time of war."
The rule of law is fundamental to summoning the country to the cause of democracy, in times of war or peace.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/252671_nsaed.asp
About 104,000 Aspen 3-in-1 cribs recalled
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- About 104,000 Aspen 3-in-1 cribs have been recalled due to the suffocation hazard the wooden cribs' mattresses pose to young children.
The cribs, sold under the Graco trademark and manufactured by Simplicity Inc., have screws on the wooden mattress support that can come loose, allowing a portion of the mattress to fall and pose a suffocation hazard. The company has received 14 reports of screws becoming loose, including eight incidents of trapped children. Five injuries to children, including scratches and bruises to the head and face, have been reported. One child was reported to have turned blue.
The recalled cribs have a model number 8740KCWSC, which is printed on an envelope attached to the mattress support. Only specific cribs manufactured between July 2003 through April 2005 are recalled.
Department stores and children's product stores sold the product nationwide from August 2003 through May 2005.
For additional information, consumers should contact the company at (800) 784-1982 or visit http://www.simplicityforchildren.com. Pictures of the crib and additional recall information can be found at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Recalls_Cribs.html
Rock slide destroys bank in Pelham, N.Y.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PELHAM, N.Y. -- A rock slide into the back of a building Tuesday demolished at least three businesses, including a bank branch that had opened the day before.
There were no injuries. The accident on this Westchester County village's main shopping street happened just after midnight when stores were empty, police Detective Rick Deere said.
A collapsing section of a 25-foot-high cliff pushed the building toward the street and propelled bricks onto the sidewalk, Deere said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Rock_Slide.html
Building Pushed Forward by Landslide; Building Demolished Tuesday night
The building housing three downtown Pelham stores--Pelham Cafe, the brand new branch of Washington Mutual Bank and Village Optician--was pushed forward and pieces of the building façade crumbled and fell to the sidewalk early Tuesday. As dirt and boulders from the cliff in the back gave way, a landslide occurred shortly after midnight.
The stores were closed at the time and no one was walking on the sidewalk. There were no injuries.
Village officials, concerned that the building would collapse, ordered the structure to be demolished, and the order was carried out Tuesday night.
The first emergency call to fire and police was at 12:17am on Tuesday morning. Gas lines as well as water and electrical lines were shut off immediately so there would be no risk of fire. Police also ordered residents in homes facing Sixth Avenue on top of the cliff to be evacuated and closure orders were given to the Pelham Medical building next to the damaged storefronts as well as the string of 13 other stores along the cliff. By Tuesday afternoon, only Caruso Paint & Hardware and Depot Market Delicatessen had been allowed to re-open because a retaining wall separated their building from the cliff.
http://www.pelhamweekly.com/
8 killed in collapse of Algiers hotel
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ALGIERS, Algeria -- The facade of a dilapidated hotel collapsed early Tuesday in Algeria's capital, killing eight people and injuring 21 others, authorities said.
Rescue workers with sniffer dogs retrieved the bodies from the three-story Hadika Hotel in downtown Algiers near the north African country's National Theater, officials said.
The dead included six men, a woman and a child. Their nationalities were not immediately available.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Algeria_Hotel_Collapse.html
Russian city braces for toxic slick
By YURAS KARMANAU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Residents of this Far East city stocked up on water Tuesday in the hours before the arrival of a toxic slick of chemicals that could force authorities to shut off water and central heating in subzero temperatures.
With the chemicals that spilled last month from a factory explosion upriver in China expected to reach Khabarovsk by Wednesday, the regional governor said hot water supplies might have to be suspended for as long as seven days and cold water for three days.
"We hope we can deal with the situation but we have to prepare ourselves for a cutoff of water supplies," Gov. Viktor Ishaev was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Poisoned_River.html
EPA proposes new health-based soot limits
By JOHN HEILPRIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency proposed stricter daily limits Tuesday for how many microscopic particles of air pollution, or soot, are safe for all Americans to breathe from the nation's smokestacks and tailpipes.
The proposed new health-based air standards represent one of government's most far-reaching decisions. They affect millions of lives, and could force states to make industries spend billions of dollars to clean up coal-burning power plants, diesel-powered equipment, trucks and industrial boilers.
Health and environmental groups had sued the government to force it to tighten its limits. Meeting a court-ordered deadline of midnight Tuesday, EPA ignored the recommendations of an expert clean air scientific advisory committee, which in June called for even tougher limits.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_EPA_Soot.html
Quake rocks seabed between Micrones, Guam
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- A powerful earthquake rocked the seabed Tuesday between the Pacific island groups of Micronesia and Guam, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not immediately issue any warning that the quake could have generated a tsunami.
The 6.2-magnitude quake, four miles below the seabed, was centered 265 miles northeast of Yap in Micronesia and 270 miles west-southwest of Hagatna, Guam, the agency reported.
There have been a string of quakes in recent weeks in the south Pacific region, including in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. None have caused major damage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Micronesia_Quake.html
Rescuers free beached whales in New Zealand
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Rescuers used high tide to free 110 pilot whales Wednesday, nearly a day after the animals became stranded on New Zealand's South Island.
"They're several kilometers from the shore," Department of Conservation spokeswoman Trish Grant told The Associated Press. "It's early times yet as to whether they make it out to sea or whether they turn back and restrand.
Grant said at least 15 whales had died on the beach during the 24-hour ordeal.
Hundreds of rescuers helped to keep the mammals alive by covering them with moisture until the tide came in.
Volunteers, including tourists from as far afield as China and Germany, joined the rescue effort. Some said they had never seen a whale before.
The whales had beached in two groups, one group of 60 whales near the top of the beach and another group of 63 whales stranded further out.
Grant said the surviving whales, including some young calves, "are not in too bad shape really, considering their stressful time."
New Zealand has several mass whale strandings each summer. Whale experts have been unable to explain why the whales apparently swim into dangerously shallow waters.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_New_Zealand_Whale_Stranding.html
Whales restranding after massive rescue effort
21.12.05 6.00pm UPDATE
By Colin Marshall
Rescuers who helped save more than 100 whales stranded along Puponga Beach on the South Island's Farewell Spit this evening faced the heartbreak of seeing 10 of the whales in trouble again just a kilometre down the beach.
About 15 of the estimated 123 pilot whales that stranded from about midday yesterday died before the pod was shepherded out to sea by Department of Conservation (DOC) staff and hundreds of volunteers on the second high tide about 2pm today.
But just three hours later, after many of the volunteers had gone home, about 10 of the whales were back in shallow water about 1km south along the beach.
DOC Golden Bay spokeswoman Trish Grant said efforts were focused on trying to prevent another mass stranding and on getting the 10 whales already in trouble back to sea.
"They're in shallow water at the moment and we're hoping we can turn them around before they're completely stranded.
"They're still floating but the tide's going out."
Other whales were also milling around close by and boats and volunteers were in the water trying to keep them away from shore.
Ms Grant said the rescuers were hugely disappointed.
"We've been quite hopeful that they were all going to go safely out to sea and we didn't have to worry about them again.
"It is a bit gutting really."
Ms Grant said they might yet need to call for more volunteers.
She said historically only about 60 per cent of stranded whales survived before being refloated so for only 15 of the 123 whales to die so far was a remarkable effort.
As with last night, the rescuers would do what they could before dark if the whales could not be shepherded out to sea, Ms Grant said.
But if they did completely strand, once it was dark, rescuers would have to leave the beach as it would be too dangerous.
Another high tide would arrive in the early hours of the morning and the whales may be able to refloat on their own.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360972
Battle to save remaining whales after refloating fails
21.12.05 7.15am
Conservation workers and volunteers are today battling to save the remaining 116 after a large pod beached themselves near Farewell Spit yesterday.
Despite rescue efforts, seven of the estimated 123 pilot whales died overnight.
Some of the surviving whales had been expected to refloat themselves early today, but the Department of Conservation (DOC) said it appeared none of them had made it out to sea.
About 100 local people spent the night trying to keep the whales as comfortable as possible on the beach at Puponga, on the west side of Golden Bay.
Whales are being covered with wet sheets and blankets and water poured over them to try and keep them cool.
The next opportunity to refloat the whales will be at high tide this afternoon at 2pm.
Yesterday Golden Bay area manager John Mason said workers had been tracking the pod of whales all morning after seeing them looking confused and milling around near the shore.
"It wasn't a great surprise to us when they began to strand when the tide turned and began to go out."
The first whale had stranded about 2pm and the rest of the pod of 4-5m whales had progressively stranded.
"We've also got some pumps down there so we're going set up some sprinkler systems," Mr Mason said.
There had been other mass strandings in the area, the last in 1998 when about the same number of whales had beached.
With the start of the holiday season, the population in the usually quiet area had swelled, meaning more volunteers were available.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360923
Michael Moore Today
"Thank you, Michael. No other person in this country has been loyal to American Values from economic to education to political as Michael Moore. I don't know where the US Constitution would be without you. There comes a time when 'mind speak' rules the actions of a society. I think we witnessed this after 911. But, you were willing to risk it all including producing a film Disney attempted to oppress, to be sure the voice of truth was not forgotten. Thank you. I consider you one of the greatest Americans of our times."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel
By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer / Washington Post
A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, sent a letter to Chief Justice John D. Roberts Jr. late Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation.
Two associates familiar with his decision said yesterday that Robertson privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court's work.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5237
Spying Program Snared U.S. Calls
By James Risen and Eric Lichtblau / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - A surveillance program approved by President Bush to conduct eavesdropping without warrants has captured what are purely domestic communications in some cases, despite a requirement by the White House that one end of the intercepted conversations take place on foreign soil, officials say.
The officials say the National Security Agency's interception of a small number of communications between people within the United States was apparently accidental, and was caused by technical glitches at the National Security Agency in determining whether a communication was in fact "international."
Telecommunications experts say the issue points up troubling logistical questions about the program. At a time when communications networks are increasingly globalized, it is sometimes difficult even for the N.S.A. to determine whether someone is inside or outside the United States when making a cellphone call or sending an e-mail message. As a result, people that the security agency may think are outside the United States are actually on American soil.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5240
National Security Official Goes on Offensive Over Iran, Iraq
Hadley Hopes Iraq Vote Will Help Spread 'Ideology of Freedom'
By George Sanchez / ABC News
Dec. 20, 2005 — President Bush's National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley today labeled Iran "probably the No. 1 supporter of terror in the world today" and claimed a growing consensus between the Bush administration and its critics on the way forward in Iraq.
Iran has been blamed for sending equipment to terrorists operating in Iraq and for supporting terror groups like Hezbollah. Iran has reportedly also been seeking to build nuclear weapons.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, Hadley said Iraq's recent parliamentary election is one way to offset Iran's influence in the region, claiming the high turnout on Sunday could help trigger democracy throughout the region.
"That is why it is so important that the terrorists be defeated in Iraq, and that Iraq be a showcase, in some sense, of a competition between the ideology of the terrorists and the ideology of freedom and democracy," Hadley said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5241
Bolivia's Morales brands Bush a "terrorist"
DUBAI (Reuters) - Evo Morales, the winner of Bolivia's presidential election, branded U.S. President George W. Bush a "terrorist", in an interview with Arabic satellite television on Tuesday.
"The only terrorist in this world that I know of is Bush. His military intervention, such as the one in Iraq, that is state terrorism," he told Al Jazeera television.
The leftist won slightly more than half the votes cast in Bolivia's election on Sunday and is set to become the country's first indigenous president.
"There is a difference between people fighting for a cause and what terrorists do," he said in comments, which were translated into Arabic.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5238
Bush’s Snoopgate
The president was so desperate to kill The New York Times’ eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper’s editor and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn’t just out of concern about national security.
By Jonathan Alter / Newsweek
Dec. 19, 2005 - Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power. President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5226
LIAR
Bush speech, April 20, 2004:
Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.
http://atrios.blogspot.com/2005_12_18_atrios_archive.html
WATCH HOW WELL BUSH LIES. THE MAN IS A PROFESSIONAL.
Video of President "W" stating "...When you think "Patriot Act" Constitutional guarantees are in place because we value the Constitution…"
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/georgelies4202004.mov
Conservative Scholars Argue Bush’s Wiretapping Is An Impeachable Offense
Conservative scholars Bruce Fein and Norm Ornstein argued yesterday on The Diane Rehm show that, should Bush remain defiant in defending his constitutionally-abusive wire-tapping of Americans (as he has indicated he will), Congress should consider impeaching him.
QUESTION: Is spying on the American people as impeachable an offense as lying about having sex with an intern?
BRUCE FEIN, constitutional scholar and former deputy attorney general in the Reagan Administration: I think the answer requires at least in part considering what the occupant of the presidency says in the aftermath of wrongdoing or rectification. On its face, if President Bush is totally unapologetic and says I continue to maintain that as a war-time President I can do anything I want – I don’t need to consult any other branches – that is an impeachable offense. It’s more dangerous than Clinton’s lying under oath because it jeopardizes our democratic dispensation and civil liberties for the ages. It would set a precedent that … would lie around like a loaded gun, able to be used indefinitely for any future occupant.
NORM ORNSTEIN, AEI scholar: I think if we’re going to be intellectually honest here, this really is the kind of thing that Alexander Hamilton was referring to when impeachment was discussed.
(Listen to The Diane Rehm show here. The segment above begins at 33:40)
UPDATE:
More from Knight-Ridder:
[Bush’s] explanation fueled more anger over the domestic spying, and some legal experts asserted that Bush broke the law on a scale that could warrant his impeachment.
“The president’s dead wrong. It’s not a close question. Federal law is clear,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University and a specialist in surveillance law. “When the president admits that he violated federal law, that raises serious constitutional questions of high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Hotline Blog is tracking the “I” word.
Filed under: Administration
Posted by Faiz December 20, 2005 3:01 pm
Permalink Comment (181)
Entries to Blog:
King GBush = KGB. Probably just another scary coincidence. Comment by Turk Meister — December 20, 2005 @ 4:28 pm
http://www.forbes.com/work/ feeds…afx2400383.html
This Forbes article quoting Cheney is interesting:
‘It’s the kind of capability if we’d had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11,’ Cheney said in an interview with ABC’s ‘Nightline’ program.”
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Forbes have something in common…
Now ask yourself what interest Mr. Forbes might have in providing cover for the Administration…give up?Let’s take a look at the list of signatories to the PNAC, shall we?
Steve Forbes actively participated in the following events:
September 2000: PNAC Report Recommends Policies That Need New Pearl Harbor for Quick Implementation:
PNAC drafts a strategy document, “Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategies, Forces and Resources for a New Century,” for George W. Bush’s team before the 2000 Presidential election. The document was commissioned by future Vice President Cheney, future Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, future Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Florida Governor Jeb Bush (Bush’s brother), and future Vice President Cheney’s Chief of Staff Lewis Libby. [Sources: Rebuilding America’s Defenses]
The document outlines a “blueprint for maintaining global US preeminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests.”
PNAC states further: “The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.”
PNAC calls for the control of space through a new “US Space Forces,” the political control of the Internet, and the subversion of any growth in political power of even close allies, and advocates “regime change” in China, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Iran, and other countries.
It also mentions that “advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.”
However, PNAC complains that thes changes are likely to take a long time, “absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/12/03]
Notably, while Cheney commissioned this plan (along with other future key leaders of the Bush administration), he defends Bush’s position of maintaining Clinton’s policy not to attack Iraq during an NBC interview in the midst of the 2000 presidential campaign, asserting that the US should not act as though “we were an imperialist power, willy-nilly moving into capitals in that part of the world, taking down governments.” [Washington Post, 1/12/02]
A British member of Parliament will later say of the report: “This is a blueprint for US world domination—a new world order of their making. These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who want to control the world.” [Sunday Herald, 9/7/02]
Both PNAC and its strategy plan for Bush are almost virtually ignored by the media until a few weeks before the start of the Iraq war (see February-March 20, 2003).
People and organizations involved: Aaron Friedberg, Steve Forbes, Elliott Abrams, Francis Fukuyama, Norman Podhoretz, Henry S. Rowen, Vin Weber, Eliot A. Cohen, Hasam Amin, William J. Bennett, Midge Decter, George Weigel, John Ellis (”Jeb”) Bush, Lewis (”Scooter”) Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard (”Dick”) Cheney, Project for the New American Century, Paula J. Dobriansky, Frank Gaffney, Donald Kagan, Steve Rosen, Saddam Hussein, Peter Rodman, Zalmay M. Khalilzad, Dan Quayle, Syria, China, United States, Lybia, North Korea, Iraq, Fred C. Ikle
http://www.cooperativeresearch.o…1521846767- 2624
Well lookie there!
Mr. Cheney and Mr. Forbes BOTH signed the strategic document which, when implemented, enabled the largest build up in the history of defense contracting, while simultaneously implementing the Energy Strategy plan that was secretly developed in the company of none other than Ken Lay.
And what a coincidence that ABC News is playing its part in helping to push the Cheney agenda. Actually, it didn’t even require wiretapping to catch some of the coconspirators with foreknowledge of 9/11, an ABC News’ crack 20/20 investigative team knew the entire story - and Michael Chertoff deported them - after 7 failed lie detector tests, without filing any charges:
http:// www.antichristconspiracy….pt_11_Spies.htm
Oh look! We’ve come full-circle to the DANCING ISRAELIS!
Any coincidence theorists on the board?
Comment by plunger — December 20, 2005 @ 4:40 pm
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/12/20/conservative-scholars-argue-bush’s-wiretapping-is-an-impeachable-offense/
To qualify the 'Israeli' comment. I believe people in power find it 'convenient' to be a friend of Israel without really believeing in peace for Israel. Cheney is one of those people. It is not Israel's problem the 'type' of meaning others label their alliance with it either. Israel is allowed to have alliances regardless of it's politicians and their domsestic gaming. It is called diplomacy.
Democrats Say They Never OK'd Wiretapping
By Katherine Shrader / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Some Democrats say they never approved a domestic wiretapping program, undermining suggestions by President Bush and his senior advisers that the plan was fully vetted in a series of congressional briefings.
"I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities," West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee's top Democrat, said in a handwritten letter to Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003. "As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney."
Rockefeller is among a small group of congressional leaders who have received briefings on the administration's four-year-old program to eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and e-mails of Americans and others inside the United States with suspected ties to al-Qaida.
The government still would seek court approval to snoop on purely domestic communications, such as calls between New York and Los Angeles.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5233
Bin Laden still priority: Rumsfeld
SHANNON, Ireland (CNN) -- Capturing Osama bin Laden was still a priority of the U.S. government, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday.
Rumsfeld, speaking to reporters aboard his flight to Pakistan via Shannon, Ireland, would not speculate on whether the al Qaeda leader was still alive.
"I think it is interesting that we haven't heard from him in a year, close to a year," he said. "I don't know what it means. I suspect that in any event if he's alive and functioning that he's probably spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught.
"I have trouble believing that he's able to operate sufficiently to be in a position of major command over a worldwide al Qaeda operation, but I could be wrong. We just don't know."
Earlier, Rumsfeld said he had authorized a reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is believed to be hiding, from 19,000 to 16,000, largely because of an increase in NATO troops there.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5236
Lawmaker Wants Bush and Cheney Censured
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., called Tuesday for Congress to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney, saying they misled lawmakers on the decision to go to war in Iraq.
Conyers, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, introduced resolutions creating a panel to investigate the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war and separate measures censuring Bush and Cheney.
Conyers, releasing a staff report on the buildup to war, cited "substantial evidence the president, the vice president and other high-ranking members of the Bush administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5235
Zogby Poll: 53% of Americans Support Impeachment; ImpeachPAC Announced!
Submitted by bob fertik on Fri, 2005-11-04 12:43. About ImpeachPAC
For Immediate Release: November 4, 2005
New Zogby Poll Shows Majority of Americans Support Impeachment;
ImpeachPAC is Launched to Support Pro-Impeachment Candidates
By a margin of 53% to 42%, Americans want Congress to impeach President Bush if he lied about the war in Iraq, according to a new Zogby poll commissioned by AfterDowningStreet.org, a grassroots coalition that supports a Congressional investigation of President Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
The nationwide telephone poll was conducted by Zogby International, the highly-regarded non-partisan polling company. The poll interviewed 1,200 U.S. adults from October 29 through November 2.
The poll found that 53% agreed with the statement:
"If President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should consider holding him accountable through impeachment."
http://www.impeachpac.org/?q=node/6
U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ:
2156
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ:
15881
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS (MINIMUM):
27569
Study Puts Iraqi Deaths of Civilians at 100,000
By Elisabeth Rosenthal / New York Times
An estimated 100,000 civilians have died in Iraq as a direct or indirect consequence of the March 2003 United States-led invasion, according to a new study by a research team at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Coming just five days before the presidential election the finding is certain to generate intense controversy, since it is far higher than previous mortality estimates for the Iraq conflict.
Editors of The Lancet, the London-based medical publication, where an article describing the study is scheduled to appear, decided not to wait for the normal publication date next week, but to place the research online Friday, apparently so it could circulate before the election.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1565
DRUDGE BLOWS IT
Poor Matt Drudge has been taken for a ride.
Attempting to downplay George W. Bush's illegal activities, Matt D. charges that Presidents Clinton and Carter spied on Americans without a court order, too.
Unfortunately, Drudge is wrong.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=566
continued …
