Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will host next Tuesday the Sharm al-Sheikh summit. (archives/AP)
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins - Download PDF
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
History…
1690, the first paper money in America was issued by the colony of Massachusetts. (The currency was used to pay soldiers fighting a war against Quebec.)
1783, Spain recognized U.S. independence.
1809, the territory of Illinois was created.
1820, born Elisha Kent Kane US arctic explorer (Kane Basin off NW Greenland)
1823, born Spencer F Baird US biologist (Wood's Hole Station)
1874, born Gertrude Stein Pennsylvania, author (Autobiography of Alice B Toklas)
1870, The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing African American voting rights, becomes law.
1904, Charlie "Pretty Boy" Floyd FBI Most Wanted criminal
1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.
1916, Canada's original Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, burned down.
1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
1940, born Jim Hartz newscaster (NBC-TV, Innovations)
1969, Yasar Arafat is appointed chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1973, the Endangered Species Act, was signed into policy by President Richard M. Nixon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers information on this law and statistics on endangered species.
1994, President Bill Clinton ends the trade embargo with Vietnam.
1994, The space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft.
Missing in Action
1966 BROWN WILBUR R. WILMINGTON NC NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONFIRMED
1966 CARTER JAMES L. PASADENA CA NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONF
1966 COFFEE GERALD L. (JERRY) LOS ANGELES CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 HANSON ROBERT T. TOLEDO OH PROB RECOVERED BY NVN BOAT REMAINS RETURNED-IDENTIFIED 02/22/89
1966 PARSLEY EDWARD M. NAUGATUCK WV NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONF
1966 WALLER THERMAN M. WYNNE AR NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONF
1967 JOHNSON AUGUST D. HOUSTON TX BLOWN UP BY GRENADE IN BOAT
1968 ANDERSON JOHN T. NIAGARA FALLS NY 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG DECEASED
1968 CAYER MARC CANADA INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE RELEASED 13 FEB 1973 ALIVE 99
1968 DEERING JOHN A. NASHVILLE TN 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 98
1968 DI BERNARDO JAMES V. FULTON NY 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 1998
1968 DIERLING EDWARD A. 02/23/68 ESCAPED
1968 DAVES GARY L. 03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG
1968 ETTMUELLER HARRY L. PLEASANTVILLE NJ 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE AND WELL 99
1968 GOUIN DONAT J. FORT KNOX KY 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 98
1968 HAYHURST ROBERT A. NEW RICHMOND WI 02/23/68 ESCAPED
1968 JOHNS VERNON Z. BALTIMORE MD LAST SEEN WITH APC 50C MGUN REMAINS RETURNED 890400 ID 910417
1968 WIGGINS WALLACE LUTTRELL WHITTIER CA 08/24/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1968 WILSON MARION E. ZANESVILLE OH "HIT LAND MINE, SEEN BURNING IN CAB"
1971 GOTNER NORBERT A. KANSAS CITY KS 03/29/73 RELEASED BY PL ALIVE IN 98
1971 STANDERWICK ROBERT L. SR. MANKATO KS
1973 STRINGHAM WILLIAM STERLIN GARDEN GROVE CA
Haaretz
Israel, PA signal they may cap summit with cease-fire
By Aluf Benn, Arnon Regular and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Senior Israeli and Palestinian cabinet ministers said Thursday that Israelis and Palestinians could crown a regional summit next week by declaring a mutual cease-fire.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535480.html
Gaza policemen head for training in Egypt
By Reuters
A group of Palestinian security officials left the Gaza Strip for Egypt on Thursday to be trained to ensure order in the Strip ahead of the planned Israeli pullout.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535793.html
The indirect message of Mahmoud Abbas
By Ze'ev Schiff
In many respects it was surprising to see the hundreds of Palestinian policemen, armed and uniformed, some in red berets as if they were IDF Paratroopers, deployed throughout the northern Gaza Strip with the aim of preventing the launch of Qassam rockets at Israel.
… Through these steps, Mahmoud Abbas basically, if indirectly, sent another important message. The speed and the way in which the deployment of the large force was executed indicated that the force had always been ready, but that someone had prevented its deployment and involvement. In other words, Yasser Arafat did not want to do so because he had an interest in continuing the violent conflict. He did not give the order to prevent the shooting and when someone else, such as Mohammed Dahlan, wanted to do so, Arafat stopped him. When Dahlan showed steadfastness, Arafat dispatched his relative, Musa Arafat, to take action against him.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535447.html
Ministers defend right to confiscate E. J'lem property
By Gideon Alon and Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondents
Minister Natan Sharansky, who chairs the cabinet committee that adopted the controversial decision to apply the Absentee Property Law to East Jerusalem, on Wednesday indignantly rejected Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's charge that the Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem Affairs made its decision improperly.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535735.html
Forward
In Watershed, Israel Deems Land-use Rules of Zionist Icon 'Discriminatory'
JNF Scored Over 'Jews-only' Sales
By naTHANIEL POPPER
February 4, 2005
In a landmark decision, Israel's attorney general ruled last week that one of the fundamental tenets upon which the Jewish state was built — acquiring and reserving land for Jews to live on — is discriminatory and should not continue with state assistance.
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?id=2643
PERHAPS now we can understand why BUSH is investigating Israeli charities for no reason. Yes? He wants to undermine the rights of private organizations who hold land in Israel. He is Anti-Semitic through and through.
BUSH CAN'T GO ON FOREVER apologizing.
U.S. Pick of Envoy To Kiev Ceremony Ignites a Furor
By e.J. KESSLER
February 4, 2005
Elation in Washington over Ukraine's so-called Orange Revolution gave way to red faces this week after the White House was forced to distance itself from a controversial Ukrainian American polemicist who was part of the American delegation to the inauguration of Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yushchenko.
The disputed envoy, Myron Kuropas, a longtime GOP activist from Illinois, has accused Jewish organizations repeatedly of exploiting the Holocaust and of waging a campaign of defamation against Ukrainians. He traveled to Kiev last month on a State Department plane as part of an official American delegation to the January 23 inauguration.
The White House now says it regrets the decision to tap Kuropas, 72, an adjunct professor of education at Northern Illinois University and a columnist in the New Jersey-based Ukrainian Weekly.
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?id=2646
Washington Post
BUSH'S SOCIAL SECURITY PLAN 'AIN'T ALL THAT' - In order to forfeit part of an account's profit one has to assume it will profit in the first place. AND IF IT DOESN'T?
Participants Would Forfeit Part of Accounts' Profits
Under the White House Social Security plan, workers who opt to divert some of their payroll taxes into individual accounts would ultimately get to keep only the investment returns that exceed the rate of return that the money would have accrued in the traditional system.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59136-2005Feb2.html
If The House is panicky about ethics, Tom DeLay must be guilty as sin.
House GOP Leaders Name Loyalist to Replace Ethics Chief
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A01
House Republican leaders tightened their control over the ethics committee yesterday by ousting its independent-minded chairman, appointing a replacement who is close to them and adding two new members who donated to the legal defense fund of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58884-2005Feb2.html
THIS IS THE AGENCY Bush is funding at twice it's rate? Oh.
NIH Workers Angered by New Ethics Rules
Restrictions on Outside Income Meet With Derision at Meeting
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A25
National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni stood before hundreds of NIH employees yesterday to explain why it had become necessary for him to impose, in his words, "drastic" restrictions on stock ownership and other forms of outside income, which take effect today for all agency employees.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58845-2005Feb2.html
THE PATRIOT ACT. The document we didn't need in the first place.
Chertoff Denies Advising on Interrogation Tactics
In Cordial Senate Hearing, Homeland Security Nominee Says He Did Not Discuss 'Hypothetical' Cases
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A02
Michael Chertoff, President Bush's nominee for secretary of homeland security, said at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday that he did not give intelligence officials any specific advice in 2002 when they asked him which interrogation techniques used on alleged terrorists might someday be prosecuted as illegal torture.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57255-2005Feb2.html
Infighting Cited at Homeland Security
Squabbles Blamed for Reducing Effectiveness
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 2, 2005; Page A01
As its leadership changes for the first time, the Department of Homeland Security remains hampered by personality conflicts, bureaucratic bottlenecks and an atmosphere of demoralization, undermining its ability to protect the nation against terrorist attack, according to current and former administration officials and independent experts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55552-2005Feb1.html?nav=most_emailed_emailfriend
Army Considers Extending Reserve
Move Would Help Meet Iraq Demand
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A22
Massing enough troops for another rotation in Iraq will be "painful" and may eventually require the Pentagon to adopt policies that would extend the two-year limit on the mobilization of reserves, a senior Army leader told Congress yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58913-2005Feb2.html
Michael Moore Today
From the People Who Brought You Purple Heart Band-Aids
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
February 3rd, 2005 3:37 am
Scant mention of benefit cuts, tax increases by president
By Marc Sandalow / San Francisco Chronicle
Washington -- President Bush's urgent call to permanently fix Social Security contained only a passing mention of an unpleasant truth: Americans soon will be asked to either pay more or receive less.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1277
SOTU Rapid Response Fact Check
Submitted by Bob Brigham on Thu, 2005-02-03 03:14.
We need people to write letters to the editor. Use our letter tool .
And vote in the online polls.
Bush Failed to Address Benefit Cuts:
Bush Failed to Address Increases in Debt:
Bush Failed to Address Social Security's Long-Term Solvency:
http://www.thereisnocrisis.com/
The New York Times
Marines Miss January Goal for Recruits
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: February 3, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 - For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps in January missed its monthly recruiting goal, in what military officials said was the latest troubling indicator of the Iraq war's impact on the armed services.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/politics/03marines.html?hp&ex=1107493200&en=6a57bc6b91c6e50b&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Apparent Gas Leak Kills Georgia's Prime Minister
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 3, 2005
Filed at 6:05 a.m. ET
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, was killed Thursday by an apparent natural gas leak, the ex-Soviet republic's interior minister said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Georgia-Prime-Minister.html?hp&ex=1107493200&en=979ac6197f7af6e6&ei=5094&partner=homepage
'Unfettered Authority' That Led to Overreaching at the Big Board
By FLOYD NORRIS
Published: February 3, 2005
Few people ever came to dominate a financial institution as Richard A. Grasso, now 58, did the New York Stock Exchange. He worked there for 35 years, starting as a 21-year-old clerk in the stock listing department, and was the exchange's No. 1 or No. 2 official for 20 years.
But the extent of his control of its board, as laid out in a report released yesterday by the exchange, still came as something of a surprise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/business/03analysis.html
Turkish Daily News
Google surges to sevenfold improvement in fourth-quarter profit
Google Inc. says it earned $204.1 million in the final three months of 2004, compared to $27.3 million at the same time in 2003
MICHAEL LIEDTKE
SAN FRANCISCO - The Associated Press
Google Inc.'s Internet-leading search engine fueled a sevenfold increase in fourth-quarter profits to soar past analyst expectations.
The Mountain View-based company said Tuesday that it earned $204.1 million, or 71 cents per share, during the final three months of 2004. That compared to net income of $27.3 million, or 10 cents per share, for the same period in 2003.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?webcat=finance&enewsid=5019
Gül says no enmity between Turkey and China
On the second day of his visit to China, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gül says the problems related to textile quotas between the two countries and the trade imbalance in favor of China can be resolved through sincere discussion
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?webcat=finance&enewsid=5011
HOW ARE THINGS WITH THE EU COMING?
The Los Angeles Times
It's a lot of 'hot air' and everyone knows it. This just further plays to Bush's banking cronies. That's all. Social Security will be no better off for it. It doesn't make sense that it will. A portion of the benefits will be diverted into private accounts. If one is taking monies that normally go into Social Security out of Social Security then there is less money there to support the plan. The best answer to the issue still remains 'preparedness' in private accounts we have all gotten used to such as IRAs, 401s and Roth. Now, what Bush has proposed panders to a young voter that feels they want their entire retirement account privatized. That complete undermines Social Security. Bush's proposals aren't good ones and will cost more that the billions AND NOT TRILLIONS we need to spend in the future. My employer gives me 50 cents on every dollar I invest up to 2 percent of my earnings. Where are you going to get that elsewhere? No place. If I didn't do that I would be a fool.
President Plays Up Sunny Side of Plan
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday rolled out the centerpiece of his plan to overhaul the financially troubled Social Security system — an enticing vision of young workers building retirement nest eggs in their own personal accounts.
But senior White House officials acknowledged that private accounts would do nothing to keep the giant retirement system solvent.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-social3feb03,0,7072505.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Swept Into the World
HUT BAY, India — Nine days after giant waves struck Little Andaman island, a child was born in a soccer stadium and the Onge tribe of hunters and gatherers took a step away from extinction.
The rain forest that surrounds the tribe, along with traditional Onge wisdom, saved it in a catastrophe that killed more than 150,000 people across southern Asia. Now some experts fear that the tsunami's aftermath will prove more dangerous than the waves.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tribes3feb03,0,2790810.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Crowd Storms Hospital in Fight Over Tsunami Baby
KALMUNAI, Sri Lanka — A court ordered a couple claiming to be the parents of a baby found alone in tsunami debris to have a DNA test, triggering a hospital intrusion that led to their arrest.
Eight women also have claimed the 4-month-old boy, called Baby 81 because he was the 81st admission to the hospital on Dec. 26, the day the tsunami hit. The battle has become a symbol of the anguish of thousands of families who lost children in the disaster.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-baby3feb03,0,1651327.story?coll=la-home-world
L.A. Jail Called Deadly, Outdated
Los Angeles County's largest jail is so outdated, understaffed and riddled with security flaws that it jeopardizes the lives of guards and inmates, the county's expert on the jail system concluded in a confidential report recommending that the facility be closed.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jail3feb03,0,4408066.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Prozac was the first of it's type. Seratonin uptake inhibitors. It was followed by Zoloft and then Celexa. Celexa is like the third generation SUI. Celexa is supposed to be the safest of all in that drug family. There was no treatment for low level depression until Prozac. It was used for personality disorder treatment as well including Borderline Personality Disorder which was almost impossible to treat before Prozac. This is not to say there were/are no problems with the drug, but, for the benefits society receives it is wrong to throw the baby out with the bath water. The APPLICATIONS of medications across the board is the issue. Bush's economic 'boom times' demands 'exploitation' of pharmaceuticals to provide higher incomes to companies and hopefully higher employment rates. It is the 'wrongful' applications of medications and the disregard for side effects for short term financial gains on corporate bottom lines that is the issue. 'The Process' by which medications are approved and applied in practice, including close patient monitoring, is the issue and not so much the medications themselves.
Suicide Rate Down in the Era of Prozac
Numbers have declined since a 1980s peak when such drugs came into use, a study finds. A skeptic says gun laws might be the cause.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-suicide3feb03,0,911851.story?coll=la-home-science
The Miami Herald
Sales surge 20 percent at CVS
Double-digit sales and earnings increases were driven in part by the early success from the CVS acquisition of Eckerd.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10800754.htm
IMMIGRATION
Cuban refugees take the long way out
Cuban refugees are using a longer and more dangerous route that takes them to the Cayman Islands, Honduras and the Mexico-U.S. border
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
nsanmartin@herald.com
PUERTO CORTES, Honduras - Days after landing in this tiny Caribbean port following her trip from Cuba, Rosalva Benítez squinted with pain as sea water and pus oozed out of her ear.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10792038.htm
Defectors will bring show to S. Florida
Performers of the Havana Night Club show caught the world's attention by defecting from Cuba last year in Las Vegas. Their next stop will be South Florida.
BY DAVID OVALLE
dovalle@herald.com
Just months after its members defected from Cuba in dramatic fashion, the Havana Night Club show will finally perform in its first U.S. venue outside Las Vegas.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10801658.htm
Good. I think Chevaz is on the right track. Oil and gas aren't necessarily as secure a venture as some would like to think. I am not surprised South American countries are finding 'better friends and allies' in China. Not surprised at all. Look how far they have 'NOT COME' with allies of the West. In addition, the countries listed in this articles are the biggest Carbon Dioxide polluters on Earth. The less oil they receive the more they will be forced to select alternative fuels. I thank Mr. Chavez for taking 'the higher ground' while maintaining his economy at home. Very nice.
VENEZUELA
Chávez weighs sale of U.S. oil plants
Venezuela may sell its U.S. refineries as part of a strategy to wean itself from the American market, President Hugo Chávez said. The White House said it is concerned.
BY ALEX KENNEDY
Bloomberg News
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said his government may sell eight U.S. refineries as part of a strategy by the world's fifth-largest supplier of oil to reduce dependency on sales to the United States.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10800758.htm
continued...
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
History…
1690, the first paper money in America was issued by the colony of Massachusetts. (The currency was used to pay soldiers fighting a war against Quebec.)
1783, Spain recognized U.S. independence.
1809, the territory of Illinois was created.
1820, born Elisha Kent Kane US arctic explorer (Kane Basin off NW Greenland)
1823, born Spencer F Baird US biologist (Wood's Hole Station)
1874, born Gertrude Stein Pennsylvania, author (Autobiography of Alice B Toklas)
1870, The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing African American voting rights, becomes law.
1904, Charlie "Pretty Boy" Floyd FBI Most Wanted criminal
1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified.
1916, Canada's original Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, burned down.
1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, which had announced a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
1940, born Jim Hartz newscaster (NBC-TV, Innovations)
1969, Yasar Arafat is appointed chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1973, the Endangered Species Act, was signed into policy by President Richard M. Nixon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers information on this law and statistics on endangered species.
1994, President Bill Clinton ends the trade embargo with Vietnam.
1994, The space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft.
Missing in Action
1966 BROWN WILBUR R. WILMINGTON NC NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONFIRMED
1966 CARTER JAMES L. PASADENA CA NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONF
1966 COFFEE GERALD L. (JERRY) LOS ANGELES CA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 HANSON ROBERT T. TOLEDO OH PROB RECOVERED BY NVN BOAT REMAINS RETURNED-IDENTIFIED 02/22/89
1966 PARSLEY EDWARD M. NAUGATUCK WV NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONF
1966 WALLER THERMAN M. WYNNE AR NO RADIO CONTACT CRASH SITE UNCONF
1967 JOHNSON AUGUST D. HOUSTON TX BLOWN UP BY GRENADE IN BOAT
1968 ANDERSON JOHN T. NIAGARA FALLS NY 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG DECEASED
1968 CAYER MARC CANADA INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTARY SERVICE RELEASED 13 FEB 1973 ALIVE 99
1968 DEERING JOHN A. NASHVILLE TN 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 98
1968 DI BERNARDO JAMES V. FULTON NY 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 1998
1968 DIERLING EDWARD A. 02/23/68 ESCAPED
1968 DAVES GARY L. 03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG
1968 ETTMUELLER HARRY L. PLEASANTVILLE NJ 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE AND WELL 99
1968 GOUIN DONAT J. FORT KNOX KY 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG ALIVE IN 98
1968 HAYHURST ROBERT A. NEW RICHMOND WI 02/23/68 ESCAPED
1968 JOHNS VERNON Z. BALTIMORE MD LAST SEEN WITH APC 50C MGUN REMAINS RETURNED 890400 ID 910417
1968 WIGGINS WALLACE LUTTRELL WHITTIER CA 08/24/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1968 WILSON MARION E. ZANESVILLE OH "HIT LAND MINE, SEEN BURNING IN CAB"
1971 GOTNER NORBERT A. KANSAS CITY KS 03/29/73 RELEASED BY PL ALIVE IN 98
1971 STANDERWICK ROBERT L. SR. MANKATO KS
1973 STRINGHAM WILLIAM STERLIN GARDEN GROVE CA
Haaretz
Israel, PA signal they may cap summit with cease-fire
By Aluf Benn, Arnon Regular and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents, and Agencies
Senior Israeli and Palestinian cabinet ministers said Thursday that Israelis and Palestinians could crown a regional summit next week by declaring a mutual cease-fire.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535480.html
Gaza policemen head for training in Egypt
By Reuters
A group of Palestinian security officials left the Gaza Strip for Egypt on Thursday to be trained to ensure order in the Strip ahead of the planned Israeli pullout.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535793.html
The indirect message of Mahmoud Abbas
By Ze'ev Schiff
In many respects it was surprising to see the hundreds of Palestinian policemen, armed and uniformed, some in red berets as if they were IDF Paratroopers, deployed throughout the northern Gaza Strip with the aim of preventing the launch of Qassam rockets at Israel.
… Through these steps, Mahmoud Abbas basically, if indirectly, sent another important message. The speed and the way in which the deployment of the large force was executed indicated that the force had always been ready, but that someone had prevented its deployment and involvement. In other words, Yasser Arafat did not want to do so because he had an interest in continuing the violent conflict. He did not give the order to prevent the shooting and when someone else, such as Mohammed Dahlan, wanted to do so, Arafat stopped him. When Dahlan showed steadfastness, Arafat dispatched his relative, Musa Arafat, to take action against him.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535447.html
Ministers defend right to confiscate E. J'lem property
By Gideon Alon and Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondents
Minister Natan Sharansky, who chairs the cabinet committee that adopted the controversial decision to apply the Absentee Property Law to East Jerusalem, on Wednesday indignantly rejected Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's charge that the Ministerial Committee on Jerusalem Affairs made its decision improperly.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/535735.html
Forward
In Watershed, Israel Deems Land-use Rules of Zionist Icon 'Discriminatory'
JNF Scored Over 'Jews-only' Sales
By naTHANIEL POPPER
February 4, 2005
In a landmark decision, Israel's attorney general ruled last week that one of the fundamental tenets upon which the Jewish state was built — acquiring and reserving land for Jews to live on — is discriminatory and should not continue with state assistance.
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?id=2643
PERHAPS now we can understand why BUSH is investigating Israeli charities for no reason. Yes? He wants to undermine the rights of private organizations who hold land in Israel. He is Anti-Semitic through and through.
BUSH CAN'T GO ON FOREVER apologizing.
U.S. Pick of Envoy To Kiev Ceremony Ignites a Furor
By e.J. KESSLER
February 4, 2005
Elation in Washington over Ukraine's so-called Orange Revolution gave way to red faces this week after the White House was forced to distance itself from a controversial Ukrainian American polemicist who was part of the American delegation to the inauguration of Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yushchenko.
The disputed envoy, Myron Kuropas, a longtime GOP activist from Illinois, has accused Jewish organizations repeatedly of exploiting the Holocaust and of waging a campaign of defamation against Ukrainians. He traveled to Kiev last month on a State Department plane as part of an official American delegation to the January 23 inauguration.
The White House now says it regrets the decision to tap Kuropas, 72, an adjunct professor of education at Northern Illinois University and a columnist in the New Jersey-based Ukrainian Weekly.
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?id=2646
Washington Post
BUSH'S SOCIAL SECURITY PLAN 'AIN'T ALL THAT' - In order to forfeit part of an account's profit one has to assume it will profit in the first place. AND IF IT DOESN'T?
Participants Would Forfeit Part of Accounts' Profits
Under the White House Social Security plan, workers who opt to divert some of their payroll taxes into individual accounts would ultimately get to keep only the investment returns that exceed the rate of return that the money would have accrued in the traditional system.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59136-2005Feb2.html
If The House is panicky about ethics, Tom DeLay must be guilty as sin.
House GOP Leaders Name Loyalist to Replace Ethics Chief
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A01
House Republican leaders tightened their control over the ethics committee yesterday by ousting its independent-minded chairman, appointing a replacement who is close to them and adding two new members who donated to the legal defense fund of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58884-2005Feb2.html
THIS IS THE AGENCY Bush is funding at twice it's rate? Oh.
NIH Workers Angered by New Ethics Rules
Restrictions on Outside Income Meet With Derision at Meeting
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A25
National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni stood before hundreds of NIH employees yesterday to explain why it had become necessary for him to impose, in his words, "drastic" restrictions on stock ownership and other forms of outside income, which take effect today for all agency employees.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58845-2005Feb2.html
THE PATRIOT ACT. The document we didn't need in the first place.
Chertoff Denies Advising on Interrogation Tactics
In Cordial Senate Hearing, Homeland Security Nominee Says He Did Not Discuss 'Hypothetical' Cases
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A02
Michael Chertoff, President Bush's nominee for secretary of homeland security, said at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday that he did not give intelligence officials any specific advice in 2002 when they asked him which interrogation techniques used on alleged terrorists might someday be prosecuted as illegal torture.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57255-2005Feb2.html
Infighting Cited at Homeland Security
Squabbles Blamed for Reducing Effectiveness
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 2, 2005; Page A01
As its leadership changes for the first time, the Department of Homeland Security remains hampered by personality conflicts, bureaucratic bottlenecks and an atmosphere of demoralization, undermining its ability to protect the nation against terrorist attack, according to current and former administration officials and independent experts.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55552-2005Feb1.html?nav=most_emailed_emailfriend
Army Considers Extending Reserve
Move Would Help Meet Iraq Demand
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 3, 2005; Page A22
Massing enough troops for another rotation in Iraq will be "painful" and may eventually require the Pentagon to adopt policies that would extend the two-year limit on the mobilization of reserves, a senior Army leader told Congress yesterday.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58913-2005Feb2.html
Michael Moore Today
From the People Who Brought You Purple Heart Band-Aids
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
February 3rd, 2005 3:37 am
Scant mention of benefit cuts, tax increases by president
By Marc Sandalow / San Francisco Chronicle
Washington -- President Bush's urgent call to permanently fix Social Security contained only a passing mention of an unpleasant truth: Americans soon will be asked to either pay more or receive less.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1277
SOTU Rapid Response Fact Check
Submitted by Bob Brigham on Thu, 2005-02-03 03:14.
We need people to write letters to the editor. Use our letter tool .
And vote in the online polls.
Bush Failed to Address Benefit Cuts:
Bush Failed to Address Increases in Debt:
Bush Failed to Address Social Security's Long-Term Solvency:
http://www.thereisnocrisis.com/
The New York Times
Marines Miss January Goal for Recruits
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: February 3, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 - For the first time in nearly a decade, the Marine Corps in January missed its monthly recruiting goal, in what military officials said was the latest troubling indicator of the Iraq war's impact on the armed services.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/politics/03marines.html?hp&ex=1107493200&en=6a57bc6b91c6e50b&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Apparent Gas Leak Kills Georgia's Prime Minister
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 3, 2005
Filed at 6:05 a.m. ET
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who helped lead the revolution that toppled the corruption-tainted regime of Eduard Shevardnadze, was killed Thursday by an apparent natural gas leak, the ex-Soviet republic's interior minister said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Georgia-Prime-Minister.html?hp&ex=1107493200&en=979ac6197f7af6e6&ei=5094&partner=homepage
'Unfettered Authority' That Led to Overreaching at the Big Board
By FLOYD NORRIS
Published: February 3, 2005
Few people ever came to dominate a financial institution as Richard A. Grasso, now 58, did the New York Stock Exchange. He worked there for 35 years, starting as a 21-year-old clerk in the stock listing department, and was the exchange's No. 1 or No. 2 official for 20 years.
But the extent of his control of its board, as laid out in a report released yesterday by the exchange, still came as something of a surprise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/03/business/03analysis.html
Turkish Daily News
Google surges to sevenfold improvement in fourth-quarter profit
Google Inc. says it earned $204.1 million in the final three months of 2004, compared to $27.3 million at the same time in 2003
MICHAEL LIEDTKE
SAN FRANCISCO - The Associated Press
Google Inc.'s Internet-leading search engine fueled a sevenfold increase in fourth-quarter profits to soar past analyst expectations.
The Mountain View-based company said Tuesday that it earned $204.1 million, or 71 cents per share, during the final three months of 2004. That compared to net income of $27.3 million, or 10 cents per share, for the same period in 2003.
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?webcat=finance&enewsid=5019
Gül says no enmity between Turkey and China
On the second day of his visit to China, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gül says the problems related to textile quotas between the two countries and the trade imbalance in favor of China can be resolved through sincere discussion
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?webcat=finance&enewsid=5011
HOW ARE THINGS WITH THE EU COMING?
The Los Angeles Times
It's a lot of 'hot air' and everyone knows it. This just further plays to Bush's banking cronies. That's all. Social Security will be no better off for it. It doesn't make sense that it will. A portion of the benefits will be diverted into private accounts. If one is taking monies that normally go into Social Security out of Social Security then there is less money there to support the plan. The best answer to the issue still remains 'preparedness' in private accounts we have all gotten used to such as IRAs, 401s and Roth. Now, what Bush has proposed panders to a young voter that feels they want their entire retirement account privatized. That complete undermines Social Security. Bush's proposals aren't good ones and will cost more that the billions AND NOT TRILLIONS we need to spend in the future. My employer gives me 50 cents on every dollar I invest up to 2 percent of my earnings. Where are you going to get that elsewhere? No place. If I didn't do that I would be a fool.
President Plays Up Sunny Side of Plan
WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday rolled out the centerpiece of his plan to overhaul the financially troubled Social Security system — an enticing vision of young workers building retirement nest eggs in their own personal accounts.
But senior White House officials acknowledged that private accounts would do nothing to keep the giant retirement system solvent.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-social3feb03,0,7072505.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Swept Into the World
HUT BAY, India — Nine days after giant waves struck Little Andaman island, a child was born in a soccer stadium and the Onge tribe of hunters and gatherers took a step away from extinction.
The rain forest that surrounds the tribe, along with traditional Onge wisdom, saved it in a catastrophe that killed more than 150,000 people across southern Asia. Now some experts fear that the tsunami's aftermath will prove more dangerous than the waves.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-tribes3feb03,0,2790810.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Crowd Storms Hospital in Fight Over Tsunami Baby
KALMUNAI, Sri Lanka — A court ordered a couple claiming to be the parents of a baby found alone in tsunami debris to have a DNA test, triggering a hospital intrusion that led to their arrest.
Eight women also have claimed the 4-month-old boy, called Baby 81 because he was the 81st admission to the hospital on Dec. 26, the day the tsunami hit. The battle has become a symbol of the anguish of thousands of families who lost children in the disaster.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-baby3feb03,0,1651327.story?coll=la-home-world
L.A. Jail Called Deadly, Outdated
Los Angeles County's largest jail is so outdated, understaffed and riddled with security flaws that it jeopardizes the lives of guards and inmates, the county's expert on the jail system concluded in a confidential report recommending that the facility be closed.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jail3feb03,0,4408066.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Prozac was the first of it's type. Seratonin uptake inhibitors. It was followed by Zoloft and then Celexa. Celexa is like the third generation SUI. Celexa is supposed to be the safest of all in that drug family. There was no treatment for low level depression until Prozac. It was used for personality disorder treatment as well including Borderline Personality Disorder which was almost impossible to treat before Prozac. This is not to say there were/are no problems with the drug, but, for the benefits society receives it is wrong to throw the baby out with the bath water. The APPLICATIONS of medications across the board is the issue. Bush's economic 'boom times' demands 'exploitation' of pharmaceuticals to provide higher incomes to companies and hopefully higher employment rates. It is the 'wrongful' applications of medications and the disregard for side effects for short term financial gains on corporate bottom lines that is the issue. 'The Process' by which medications are approved and applied in practice, including close patient monitoring, is the issue and not so much the medications themselves.
Suicide Rate Down in the Era of Prozac
Numbers have declined since a 1980s peak when such drugs came into use, a study finds. A skeptic says gun laws might be the cause.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-suicide3feb03,0,911851.story?coll=la-home-science
The Miami Herald
Sales surge 20 percent at CVS
Double-digit sales and earnings increases were driven in part by the early success from the CVS acquisition of Eckerd.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10800754.htm
IMMIGRATION
Cuban refugees take the long way out
Cuban refugees are using a longer and more dangerous route that takes them to the Cayman Islands, Honduras and the Mexico-U.S. border
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
nsanmartin@herald.com
PUERTO CORTES, Honduras - Days after landing in this tiny Caribbean port following her trip from Cuba, Rosalva Benítez squinted with pain as sea water and pus oozed out of her ear.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10792038.htm
Defectors will bring show to S. Florida
Performers of the Havana Night Club show caught the world's attention by defecting from Cuba last year in Las Vegas. Their next stop will be South Florida.
BY DAVID OVALLE
dovalle@herald.com
Just months after its members defected from Cuba in dramatic fashion, the Havana Night Club show will finally perform in its first U.S. venue outside Las Vegas.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10801658.htm
Good. I think Chevaz is on the right track. Oil and gas aren't necessarily as secure a venture as some would like to think. I am not surprised South American countries are finding 'better friends and allies' in China. Not surprised at all. Look how far they have 'NOT COME' with allies of the West. In addition, the countries listed in this articles are the biggest Carbon Dioxide polluters on Earth. The less oil they receive the more they will be forced to select alternative fuels. I thank Mr. Chavez for taking 'the higher ground' while maintaining his economy at home. Very nice.
VENEZUELA
Chávez weighs sale of U.S. oil plants
Venezuela may sell its U.S. refineries as part of a strategy to wean itself from the American market, President Hugo Chávez said. The White House said it is concerned.
BY ALEX KENNEDY
Bloomberg News
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said his government may sell eight U.S. refineries as part of a strategy by the world's fifth-largest supplier of oil to reduce dependency on sales to the United States.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10800758.htm
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
The Australian
US journalists wage war with the truth
Nicolas Rothwell, Middle East correspondent
February 03, 2005
MUCH like a swarm of locusts, darkening the skies in their descent upon a lush, crop-rich field, the US news media converge in unison when a well-signalled event demands their coverage: just as they arrived in Iraq, and departed again, in precise formation this past week for the tormented country's first democratic elections.
Reporting in such danger zones for a world-leading television network demands a particular kind of personality: not just brave but grandiloquent, not just quick-witted but inclined to narcissism. Hence the self-reflexive quality of much of the reporting that poured out of Baghdad and the other cities of Iraq over the election weekend, as celebrity correspondents filed their on-camera pieces: the stories produced were as much about the heroism of the authors as their subjects.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12128496%255E601,00.html
Annan told: act on Sudan or quit
AFP
February 03, 2005
WASHINGTON: Two leading US politicians have demanded UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan act immediately to end the killing in Darfur or else resign from the world body.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12128433%255E2703,00.html
Annan told: act on Sudan or quit
AFP
February 03, 2005
WASHINGTON: Two leading US politicians have demanded UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan act immediately to end the killing in Darfur or else resign from the world body.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12128433%255E2703,00.html
Prof steps aside
Churchill resigns chairmanship at CU amid 9/11 dispute
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
February 1, 2005
Embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill resigned his chairmanship of the school's ethnic studies program Monday.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3513399,00.html
Bird flu 'gaining momentum' in Vietnam
AP
January 23, 2005
HANOI: Vietnam on Saturday reported two more bird flu deaths, bringing the human toll to nine in three weeks and further raising the threat of the disease emerging as the next global pandemic, officials said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12025928%255E30417,00.html
Solar storm the largest in years
AFP
January 23, 2005
THE largest emission of radiation by the sun in 15 years could disrupt mobile telephone communications as well as television and radio reception, scientists said today.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12025622%255E30417,00.html
Protest over asteroid hunt
AP
January 23, 2005
MEXICO CITY: Scientists working off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula began using sound waves on Friday to search for information about an asteroid that may have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12025926%255E30417,00.html
Habib 'warned wife of a big US event'
Martin Chulov
February 02, 2005
INTELLIGENCE officials allegedly intercepted a telephone conversation between Mamdouh Habib and his wife several days before the September 11 terror attacks in which he warned of a looming "big event" in the US.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12121615%255E2702,00.html
Excess weight doubles cancer death
Clara Pirani, Medical reporter
February 02, 2005
WOMEN who are overweight when they are diagnosed with breast cancer are twice as likely to die of the disease as women who are of normal weight.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12121632%255E2702,00.html
Bloody Geldof
AFP
February 02, 2005
LONDON: Bob Geldof, the Irish rock star known for founding the Live Aid and Band Aid events for charity, says he is sick of being "Mr Bloody Africa".
Geldof, former frontman of the Boomtown Rats, says in an interview with Radio Times magazine that he and U2 lead singer Bono get more press as campaigners for aid to Africa than as musicians.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12120200%255E2703,00.html
Congress obstacle to agenda of change
AP
February 02, 2005
WASHINGTON: George W.Bush will make his annual State of the Union address tomorrow burdened with the lowest approval rating of any US president entering a second term since Richard Nixon.
Yet he is in a feisty mood and is expected to urge Congress to back his ambitious agenda and even pass some measures it has flatly rejected before. He insists his re-election in November has given him a mandate for change. Mr Bush also will use the address to update Americans about Iraq following Sunday's successful elections, and discuss the way forward.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12116485%255E2703,00.html
Darfur 'criminal but not genocide'
Reuters
February 02, 2005
A UN commission says the Sudanese Government and militias carried out mass killings and probably war crimes in Darfur, but stopped short of calling the violence genocide as Washington contends.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12120195%255E2703,00.html
Son cuts out mum's pacemaker
Reuters
February 02, 2005
HOUSTON: A Texan has been arrested after cutting a pacemaker out of his dead mother's chest with a kitchen knife as part of a long-running dispute with a medical company.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12120185%255E2703,00.html
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
U.S. ships reach Antarctic science bases
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- U.S. ships have delivered food, fuel and equipment to Antarctic science bases, despite fears they would not be able to pass through the ice pack formed behind the world's largest iceberg, officials said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Antarctic%20US%20Supplies>
WHO: Tsunami hasn't spawned outbreaks
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Precautions at the outset of the tsunami disaster in Indonesia's Aceh province prevented major outbreaks of infectious diseases, even though medical aid distribution was bedeviled by poor coordination, a World Health Organization official said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Tsunami%20Public%20Health
Vietnam seeks U.N. help to fight bird flu
By TRAN VAN MINH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnam has appealed to the United Nations to help it fight a raging bird flu outbreak that has killed 12 people in the communist country over the past five weeks, officials said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Vietnam%20Bird%20Flu
Archaeologist wins Desert Research award
By SCOTT SONNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RENO, Nev. -- An archaeologist whose research topics have ranged from Neanderthal hunters in France to the ill-fated Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada is the winner of a top research award typically reserved for more narrowly defined sciences.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Archaeologist%20Honored
U.S. aircraft carrier to leave Indonesia
By CHRIS BRUMMITT
ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN -- A U.S. aircraft carrier with 5,300 sailors and Marines headed out of Indonesian waters on Thursday, the single-biggest drawdown of the American military aid effort for the Dec. 26 tsunami victims.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20US
Group: Oil, gas wells not inspected enough
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
An oil pump is shown Dec. 18, 1998 near Monument, N.M. Oil and gas wells in New Mexico and four other states aren't being inspected often enough, and the inspections that are done are more likely for production rather than environmental concerns, an environmental group said Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005. (AP Photo/Duane Tinkey, File)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- An environmental group says oil and gas wells in five western states aren't being inspected often enough, and the inspections that are done are more likely for production than ecological concerns.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Oil%20and%20Gas%20Inspections
A move to curb drivers' cell use
Phone bill advances in state Senate; new study underlines risk
By KRISTIN DIZON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
At the same time that a new study says young people drive more like grandma and grandpa when they're on a cell phone, a bill limiting cell-phone use by drivers in Washington has passed its first hurdle in Olympia.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210515_celldrive03.html
Red-light cameras backed
State bill would allow systems to catch drivers
By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Camano Island Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen attended a traffic-safety presentation at a national legislative conference last year that included a film of accidents where cars ran a red light and were hit broadside in the intersection.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/210503_redlight03.html
25 years later, the verdict is 'guilty'
Murder victim's family may never know the 'why,' but now they know the 'who'
By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It took more than a quarter of a century for Seattle authorities to find and convict the man who murdered 25-year-old Sylvia Durante.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210493_greene03.html
Boeing's profits fall, but outlook is good
Jet deliveries could soar next year
By JAMES WALLACE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER AEROSPACE REPORTER
The Boeing Co.'s commercial jetliner business appears headed for blue skies once again.
In its most upbeat assessment in some time, Boeing said airplane deliveries could soar by as much as 20 percent next year. The company is hiring again in the Puget Sound region as it emerges from the industry's worst-ever downturn, which saw thousands of commercial jobs eliminated.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/210439_boeearns03.html
The Moscow Times
Disbelief as State Says GDP Up 7.1%
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer
The State Statistics Service announced Wednesday that the economy expanded by 7.1 percent last year, well above the 6.5 percent to 6.9 percent forecast by market watchers and the government itself.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/001.html
Banks Demand $540M From Rosneft
By Catherine Belton
Staff Writer
The legal tangle surrounding Rosneft's takeover of Yuganskneftegaz visibly tightened Wednesday as Western banks called for the state-owned company to immediately pay off a $540 million loan, and officials rushed to deny any links between the company's $6 billion loan from China and its purchase of Yugansk.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/002.html
Putin Questions Foreign Tsunami Aid
President Vladimir Putin thanked emergency workers Wednesday for their contribution to the Asian tsunami relief effort and questioned other governments' statements about the volume of aid they have provided, saying they may be inflated.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/012.html>
King Unveils New Nepali Cabinet
By Terry Friel
Reuters
KATMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal's King Gyanendra unveiled a 10-member Cabinet under his leadership on Wednesday, a day after he sacked the prime minister for failing to hold elections or end an escalating civil war with Maoist rebels.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/252.html
Putin Slams Anti-Terror Restrictions
Reuters
President Vladimir Putin has come out against parts of an anti-terror bill that would drastically restrict media reporting of militant attacks, Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/014.html
The Gulf News
Deficit that you cannot refuse
By Jonathan Chait
Kay: It made me think of what you once told me "In five years, the Corleone family will be completely legitimate." That was seven years ago.
Michael: I know I'm trying, darling.
"The Godfather, Part II"
I don't mean to sound cynical, but it's starting to look as though the Bush administration does not seriously intend to get the federal budget in order.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=150255
Wise words from King Abdullah
There is no turning back." That summation by Jordan's King Abdullah, puts beyond doubt where reform in the Arab world is headed. In what will decidedly become a momentous chapter in history, Iraqis have done as much for Arabia as they have for their country by giving a defiant answer to the enemies of freedom.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=150261
Nepal king sacks government and declares emergency
Reuters
Kathmandu: Nepal's King Gyanendra sacked the government, declared a state of emergency and assumed power yesterday.
"I have decided to dissolve the government because it has failed to make necessary arrangements to hold elections by April and promote democracy, the sovereignty of the people and life and property," the king said in an address on state radio.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/WorldNF.asp?ArticleID=150246
The Times London
Canada's debt relief move praised
Chancellor Gordon Brown has hailed Canada's decision to provide 139 million US dollars (£74 million) to help the world's poorest countries pay interest on their debts. Canada has agreed to make debt service payments directly to the World Bank and African Development Fund on behalf of heavily indebted poor countries. Britain has already agreed to do the same. If all other countries came on board, debt service payments could eventually be written off for the eligible countries.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html
Castro attacks Bush and the EU
Fidel Castro called President George Bush "deranged" and belittled recent improvements in Cuba-EU relations in his first public remarks since Washington dubbed the Caribbean isle an "outpost of tyranny". In a televised address, Castro maintained his trademark go-it-alone attitude, saying his communist-run island is a paradise that is doing fine without the help of the US or Europe. Cuba "doesn't need the United States, it doesn't need Europe," he said. "What a wonderful thing to be able to say, that (Cuba) doesn't need any assistance -- it's learned to live without it."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html
continued...
US journalists wage war with the truth
Nicolas Rothwell, Middle East correspondent
February 03, 2005
MUCH like a swarm of locusts, darkening the skies in their descent upon a lush, crop-rich field, the US news media converge in unison when a well-signalled event demands their coverage: just as they arrived in Iraq, and departed again, in precise formation this past week for the tormented country's first democratic elections.
Reporting in such danger zones for a world-leading television network demands a particular kind of personality: not just brave but grandiloquent, not just quick-witted but inclined to narcissism. Hence the self-reflexive quality of much of the reporting that poured out of Baghdad and the other cities of Iraq over the election weekend, as celebrity correspondents filed their on-camera pieces: the stories produced were as much about the heroism of the authors as their subjects.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12128496%255E601,00.html
Annan told: act on Sudan or quit
AFP
February 03, 2005
WASHINGTON: Two leading US politicians have demanded UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan act immediately to end the killing in Darfur or else resign from the world body.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12128433%255E2703,00.html
Annan told: act on Sudan or quit
AFP
February 03, 2005
WASHINGTON: Two leading US politicians have demanded UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan act immediately to end the killing in Darfur or else resign from the world body.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12128433%255E2703,00.html
Prof steps aside
Churchill resigns chairmanship at CU amid 9/11 dispute
By Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News
February 1, 2005
Embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill resigned his chairmanship of the school's ethnic studies program Monday.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3513399,00.html
Bird flu 'gaining momentum' in Vietnam
AP
January 23, 2005
HANOI: Vietnam on Saturday reported two more bird flu deaths, bringing the human toll to nine in three weeks and further raising the threat of the disease emerging as the next global pandemic, officials said.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12025928%255E30417,00.html
Solar storm the largest in years
AFP
January 23, 2005
THE largest emission of radiation by the sun in 15 years could disrupt mobile telephone communications as well as television and radio reception, scientists said today.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12025622%255E30417,00.html
Protest over asteroid hunt
AP
January 23, 2005
MEXICO CITY: Scientists working off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula began using sound waves on Friday to search for information about an asteroid that may have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12025926%255E30417,00.html
Habib 'warned wife of a big US event'
Martin Chulov
February 02, 2005
INTELLIGENCE officials allegedly intercepted a telephone conversation between Mamdouh Habib and his wife several days before the September 11 terror attacks in which he warned of a looming "big event" in the US.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12121615%255E2702,00.html
Excess weight doubles cancer death
Clara Pirani, Medical reporter
February 02, 2005
WOMEN who are overweight when they are diagnosed with breast cancer are twice as likely to die of the disease as women who are of normal weight.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12121632%255E2702,00.html
Bloody Geldof
AFP
February 02, 2005
LONDON: Bob Geldof, the Irish rock star known for founding the Live Aid and Band Aid events for charity, says he is sick of being "Mr Bloody Africa".
Geldof, former frontman of the Boomtown Rats, says in an interview with Radio Times magazine that he and U2 lead singer Bono get more press as campaigners for aid to Africa than as musicians.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12120200%255E2703,00.html
Congress obstacle to agenda of change
AP
February 02, 2005
WASHINGTON: George W.Bush will make his annual State of the Union address tomorrow burdened with the lowest approval rating of any US president entering a second term since Richard Nixon.
Yet he is in a feisty mood and is expected to urge Congress to back his ambitious agenda and even pass some measures it has flatly rejected before. He insists his re-election in November has given him a mandate for change. Mr Bush also will use the address to update Americans about Iraq following Sunday's successful elections, and discuss the way forward.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12116485%255E2703,00.html
Darfur 'criminal but not genocide'
Reuters
February 02, 2005
A UN commission says the Sudanese Government and militias carried out mass killings and probably war crimes in Darfur, but stopped short of calling the violence genocide as Washington contends.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12120195%255E2703,00.html
Son cuts out mum's pacemaker
Reuters
February 02, 2005
HOUSTON: A Texan has been arrested after cutting a pacemaker out of his dead mother's chest with a kitchen knife as part of a long-running dispute with a medical company.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12120185%255E2703,00.html
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
U.S. ships reach Antarctic science bases
WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- U.S. ships have delivered food, fuel and equipment to Antarctic science bases, despite fears they would not be able to pass through the ice pack formed behind the world's largest iceberg, officials said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Antarctic%20US%20Supplies>
WHO: Tsunami hasn't spawned outbreaks
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Precautions at the outset of the tsunami disaster in Indonesia's Aceh province prevented major outbreaks of infectious diseases, even though medical aid distribution was bedeviled by poor coordination, a World Health Organization official said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Tsunami%20Public%20Health
Vietnam seeks U.N. help to fight bird flu
By TRAN VAN MINH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnam has appealed to the United Nations to help it fight a raging bird flu outbreak that has killed 12 people in the communist country over the past five weeks, officials said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1500&slug=Vietnam%20Bird%20Flu
Archaeologist wins Desert Research award
By SCOTT SONNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RENO, Nev. -- An archaeologist whose research topics have ranged from Neanderthal hunters in France to the ill-fated Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada is the winner of a top research award typically reserved for more narrowly defined sciences.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Archaeologist%20Honored
U.S. aircraft carrier to leave Indonesia
By CHRIS BRUMMITT
ABOARD USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN -- A U.S. aircraft carrier with 5,300 sailors and Marines headed out of Indonesian waters on Thursday, the single-biggest drawdown of the American military aid effort for the Dec. 26 tsunami victims.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20US
Group: Oil, gas wells not inspected enough
By SUE MAJOR HOLMES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
An oil pump is shown Dec. 18, 1998 near Monument, N.M. Oil and gas wells in New Mexico and four other states aren't being inspected often enough, and the inspections that are done are more likely for production rather than environmental concerns, an environmental group said Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2005. (AP Photo/Duane Tinkey, File)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- An environmental group says oil and gas wells in five western states aren't being inspected often enough, and the inspections that are done are more likely for production than ecological concerns.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Oil%20and%20Gas%20Inspections
A move to curb drivers' cell use
Phone bill advances in state Senate; new study underlines risk
By KRISTIN DIZON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
At the same time that a new study says young people drive more like grandma and grandpa when they're on a cell phone, a bill limiting cell-phone use by drivers in Washington has passed its first hurdle in Olympia.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210515_celldrive03.html
Red-light cameras backed
State bill would allow systems to catch drivers
By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Camano Island Democratic Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen attended a traffic-safety presentation at a national legislative conference last year that included a film of accidents where cars ran a red light and were hit broadside in the intersection.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/210503_redlight03.html
25 years later, the verdict is 'guilty'
Murder victim's family may never know the 'why,' but now they know the 'who'
By SAM SKOLNIK
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
It took more than a quarter of a century for Seattle authorities to find and convict the man who murdered 25-year-old Sylvia Durante.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/210493_greene03.html
Boeing's profits fall, but outlook is good
Jet deliveries could soar next year
By JAMES WALLACE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER AEROSPACE REPORTER
The Boeing Co.'s commercial jetliner business appears headed for blue skies once again.
In its most upbeat assessment in some time, Boeing said airplane deliveries could soar by as much as 20 percent next year. The company is hiring again in the Puget Sound region as it emerges from the industry's worst-ever downturn, which saw thousands of commercial jobs eliminated.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/210439_boeearns03.html
The Moscow Times
Disbelief as State Says GDP Up 7.1%
By Valeria Korchagina
Staff Writer
The State Statistics Service announced Wednesday that the economy expanded by 7.1 percent last year, well above the 6.5 percent to 6.9 percent forecast by market watchers and the government itself.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/001.html
Banks Demand $540M From Rosneft
By Catherine Belton
Staff Writer
The legal tangle surrounding Rosneft's takeover of Yuganskneftegaz visibly tightened Wednesday as Western banks called for the state-owned company to immediately pay off a $540 million loan, and officials rushed to deny any links between the company's $6 billion loan from China and its purchase of Yugansk.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/002.html
Putin Questions Foreign Tsunami Aid
President Vladimir Putin thanked emergency workers Wednesday for their contribution to the Asian tsunami relief effort and questioned other governments' statements about the volume of aid they have provided, saying they may be inflated.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/012.html>
King Unveils New Nepali Cabinet
By Terry Friel
Reuters
KATMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal's King Gyanendra unveiled a 10-member Cabinet under his leadership on Wednesday, a day after he sacked the prime minister for failing to hold elections or end an escalating civil war with Maoist rebels.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/252.html
Putin Slams Anti-Terror Restrictions
Reuters
President Vladimir Putin has come out against parts of an anti-terror bill that would drastically restrict media reporting of militant attacks, Vedomosti reported Wednesday.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/02/03/014.html
The Gulf News
Deficit that you cannot refuse
By Jonathan Chait
Kay: It made me think of what you once told me "In five years, the Corleone family will be completely legitimate." That was seven years ago.
Michael: I know I'm trying, darling.
"The Godfather, Part II"
I don't mean to sound cynical, but it's starting to look as though the Bush administration does not seriously intend to get the federal budget in order.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=150255
Wise words from King Abdullah
There is no turning back." That summation by Jordan's King Abdullah, puts beyond doubt where reform in the Arab world is headed. In what will decidedly become a momentous chapter in history, Iraqis have done as much for Arabia as they have for their country by giving a defiant answer to the enemies of freedom.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=150261
Nepal king sacks government and declares emergency
Reuters
Kathmandu: Nepal's King Gyanendra sacked the government, declared a state of emergency and assumed power yesterday.
"I have decided to dissolve the government because it has failed to make necessary arrangements to hold elections by April and promote democracy, the sovereignty of the people and life and property," the king said in an address on state radio.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/WorldNF.asp?ArticleID=150246
The Times London
Canada's debt relief move praised
Chancellor Gordon Brown has hailed Canada's decision to provide 139 million US dollars (£74 million) to help the world's poorest countries pay interest on their debts. Canada has agreed to make debt service payments directly to the World Bank and African Development Fund on behalf of heavily indebted poor countries. Britain has already agreed to do the same. If all other countries came on board, debt service payments could eventually be written off for the eligible countries.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html
Castro attacks Bush and the EU
Fidel Castro called President George Bush "deranged" and belittled recent improvements in Cuba-EU relations in his first public remarks since Washington dubbed the Caribbean isle an "outpost of tyranny". In a televised address, Castro maintained his trademark go-it-alone attitude, saying his communist-run island is a paradise that is doing fine without the help of the US or Europe. Cuba "doesn't need the United States, it doesn't need Europe," he said. "What a wonderful thing to be able to say, that (Cuba) doesn't need any assistance -- it's learned to live without it."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/TGD/tgdBreakingNewsDisplay/0,,3,00.html
continued...
The Geneva Conventions prevents showing all the photos. I'd like to respect that.
British Prisoner Abuse 3
The other photos show an Iraqi prisoner with a 'net dropped on him' while being kicked. Abused. A prisoner is placed on a fork lift and dangled in mid-air. The worst of it is that if one uses their imagination one can easily imagine that prisoner being threatened with his own life by having the fork lift operator shake the prisoner up and down at the mercy of threats to probably kill him. The entire situation was completely horrible and I cannot believe these soldier were found not guilty. I don't expect prisoners to be handled with 'kit gloves' but it won't hurt.
What outrages me is to realize a lot of the prisoners were released because they shouldn't have been prisoners in the first place.
So. To respect the Iraqis in the photos so they are not continually victimized and to honor international documents I respect. This is the only photo I'll continually show on the blog. It appears to me that the face is blurred out to protect the prisoner's identity.
Morning Papers - continued...
The Guardian
Soldier cleared of abuse charge
Adam Jay and agencies
Thursday February 3, 2005
A British soldier who admitted assaulting an Iraqi prisoner was cleared today of forcing two detainees to undress, moments before they were photographed simulating anal and oral sex.
Lance Corporal Darren Larkin was cleared at a court martial in Osnabruck, Germany, which arose after photographs of alleged abuse - including a prisoner being lifted by a fork-lift truck - came to light. Police were called after another member of Larkin's regiment, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, took a film to photo developers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1404910,00.html
Bush warns Syria and Iran over terror
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday February 3, 2005
The Guardian
President George Bush last night issued clear warnings to Syria and Iran that they were next in his sights in his declared mission to spread democracy around the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1404776,00.html
Mandela calls for action on 'unnatural' poverty
Staff and agencies
Thursday February 3, 2005
Former South African president Nelson Mandela today urged thousands to join a global campaign against poverty, declaring: "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/story/0,15756,1405146,00.html
What is this Kyoto thing all about anyway?
The protocol comes into force in two weeks, but how much do you really know about climate change and carbon trading? Paul Brown answers the big questions
Thursday February 3, 2005
The Guardian
On February 16, one of the most controversial treaties in decades becomes part of international law. It has been heralded as a breakthrough in the fight against dangerous climate change and a triumph for international diplomacy - despite the fact that the US, the world's greatest emitter of greenhouse gases, refuses to take part.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1403983,00.html
Shell reports UK record profits
Mark Tran
Thursday February 3, 2005
The Anglo-Dutch giant Shell today reported the biggest-ever profits by a UK company, revealing that it had made $17.5bn (£9.3bn) - or £25m a day - last year, despite being plagued by a reserves scandal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1404798,00.html
Concluding...
Soldier cleared of abuse charge
Adam Jay and agencies
Thursday February 3, 2005
A British soldier who admitted assaulting an Iraqi prisoner was cleared today of forcing two detainees to undress, moments before they were photographed simulating anal and oral sex.
Lance Corporal Darren Larkin was cleared at a court martial in Osnabruck, Germany, which arose after photographs of alleged abuse - including a prisoner being lifted by a fork-lift truck - came to light. Police were called after another member of Larkin's regiment, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, took a film to photo developers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1404910,00.html
Bush warns Syria and Iran over terror
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday February 3, 2005
The Guardian
President George Bush last night issued clear warnings to Syria and Iran that they were next in his sights in his declared mission to spread democracy around the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1404776,00.html
Mandela calls for action on 'unnatural' poverty
Staff and agencies
Thursday February 3, 2005
Former South African president Nelson Mandela today urged thousands to join a global campaign against poverty, declaring: "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/hearafrica05/story/0,15756,1405146,00.html
What is this Kyoto thing all about anyway?
The protocol comes into force in two weeks, but how much do you really know about climate change and carbon trading? Paul Brown answers the big questions
Thursday February 3, 2005
The Guardian
On February 16, one of the most controversial treaties in decades becomes part of international law. It has been heralded as a breakthrough in the fight against dangerous climate change and a triumph for international diplomacy - despite the fact that the US, the world's greatest emitter of greenhouse gases, refuses to take part.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1403983,00.html
Shell reports UK record profits
Mark Tran
Thursday February 3, 2005
The Anglo-Dutch giant Shell today reported the biggest-ever profits by a UK company, revealing that it had made $17.5bn (£9.3bn) - or £25m a day - last year, despite being plagued by a reserves scandal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,1404798,00.html
Concluding...
In this photo released on Thursday Feb. 3, 2005 by the U.S. National Science Foundation, U.S. cargo ship American Tern arrives at McMurdo station, Antarctica, in Feb. 2005. Using a track smashed by icebreakers, U.S. cargo ships have sailed through Antarctic sea ice, nearly double its normal 77 kilometers (48 miles) width and between 1 1/2 and 3 meters (5-10 feet) thick, to offload supplies of food, fuel and equipment for science bases on the frozen continent. The American Tern offloaded sea containers of supplies for the bases, enough to support the science groups for the next 12 months. (AP Photo/U.S. National Science Foundation, HO)
Morning Papers - concluding
Better late than never.
I have a busy life, ya know? This is a part of it. But, only a part of it. This is good stuff anyway. Gay Marriage in Canada. You bet. Oceans are becoming acidic. Another threat to the algae. You know the challenge of this thing just never ends. Hang in there little algae.
The New Zealand Herald
Greenhouse gas turning oceans acid, scientists warn
04.02.05 11.30am
By Michael McCarthy
Gigantic changes to the world's oceans, leading to the complete disappearance of marine life from cod to coral reefs, are now threatened by the main greenhouse gas causing global warming, British scientists warned yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10009477
Second rotation leaves to help with tsunami relief
The second deployment of New Zealand military personnel to the tsunami-ravaged area of Indonesia has left the air force's Ohakea base.
The Boeing 757 aircraft took off for Jakarta, via Darwin, today with about 60 people on board who are part of New Zealand's tsunami relief operation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10009480
Government defends departments' handling of child porn
The Government is defending its departments against allegations of inaction in fighting child pornographers after an international magazine questioned whether New Zealand was becoming a "haven for paedophiles".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10009490
UN official solicited oil deal from Iraq says report
04.02.05 11.00am
UNITED NATIONS - A senior UN official solicited and received allocations of oil from Iraq for a trading company while he was directing the UN oil-for-food program, a key investigative report said on Thursday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10009472
Guy Wilson-Roberts: Canadian PM dead set on gay marriage
04.02.05
This week, the Canadian Government introduced into the House of Commons legislation to legalise same-sex marriage for Canadians.
If passed, it will change the legal definition of marriage from the "lawful union of one man and one woman" to the "lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others".
By proposing to change the definition of marriage in this way, the Canadian Government is going much further than New Zealand has done with its civil union law. Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Paul Martin has explicitly rejected civil union as a compromise.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10009358
Israel approves West Bank pullback and prisoner release
04.02.05 1.00pm
JERUSALEM - Israel has approved a troop pullback from West Bank cities and the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners, measures crucial to the success of a summit with the Palestinians in Egypt next week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10009492
Google surges past eBay as valuation debate rages
03.02.05 1.00pm
NEW YORK - Google Inc overtook eBay Inc as the biggest internet company in terms of stock market value on Wednesday (US time) after posting strong quarterly earnings, but some investors remain leery of whether the shares are worth the price.
Google, the leading Web search company, now has a stock market value of about US$56 billion ($79 billion), making it almost as large as media conglomerate Walt Disney Co and bigger than industrial stalwarts General Motors Corp and Alcoa combined.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10009320
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Some cloud
-5.0°
Updated Friday 04 Feb 9:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
30 °F / -1 °C
SNOW LIKELY.
SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 2 INCHES.LIGHT WINDS. CHANCE OF SNOW 70 PERCENT.
Windchill:
LOWS 19 TO 25 / -5 °C.
Humidity:
86%
Dew Point:
27 °F / -3 °C
Wind:
8 mph / 13 km/h from the SE
Pressure:
29.94 in / 1014 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 12
Clouds (AGL):
Few 1100 ft / 335 m
Scattered Clouds 2000 ft / 609 m
Mostly Cloudy 3000 ft / 914 m
Satellites Below:
I have a busy life, ya know? This is a part of it. But, only a part of it. This is good stuff anyway. Gay Marriage in Canada. You bet. Oceans are becoming acidic. Another threat to the algae. You know the challenge of this thing just never ends. Hang in there little algae.
The New Zealand Herald
Greenhouse gas turning oceans acid, scientists warn
04.02.05 11.30am
By Michael McCarthy
Gigantic changes to the world's oceans, leading to the complete disappearance of marine life from cod to coral reefs, are now threatened by the main greenhouse gas causing global warming, British scientists warned yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10009477
Second rotation leaves to help with tsunami relief
The second deployment of New Zealand military personnel to the tsunami-ravaged area of Indonesia has left the air force's Ohakea base.
The Boeing 757 aircraft took off for Jakarta, via Darwin, today with about 60 people on board who are part of New Zealand's tsunami relief operation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10009480
Government defends departments' handling of child porn
The Government is defending its departments against allegations of inaction in fighting child pornographers after an international magazine questioned whether New Zealand was becoming a "haven for paedophiles".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10009490
UN official solicited oil deal from Iraq says report
04.02.05 11.00am
UNITED NATIONS - A senior UN official solicited and received allocations of oil from Iraq for a trading company while he was directing the UN oil-for-food program, a key investigative report said on Thursday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10009472
Guy Wilson-Roberts: Canadian PM dead set on gay marriage
04.02.05
This week, the Canadian Government introduced into the House of Commons legislation to legalise same-sex marriage for Canadians.
If passed, it will change the legal definition of marriage from the "lawful union of one man and one woman" to the "lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others".
By proposing to change the definition of marriage in this way, the Canadian Government is going much further than New Zealand has done with its civil union law. Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Paul Martin has explicitly rejected civil union as a compromise.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=466&ObjectID=10009358
Israel approves West Bank pullback and prisoner release
04.02.05 1.00pm
JERUSALEM - Israel has approved a troop pullback from West Bank cities and the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners, measures crucial to the success of a summit with the Palestinians in Egypt next week.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10009492
Google surges past eBay as valuation debate rages
03.02.05 1.00pm
NEW YORK - Google Inc overtook eBay Inc as the biggest internet company in terms of stock market value on Wednesday (US time) after posting strong quarterly earnings, but some investors remain leery of whether the shares are worth the price.
Google, the leading Web search company, now has a stock market value of about US$56 billion ($79 billion), making it almost as large as media conglomerate Walt Disney Co and bigger than industrial stalwarts General Motors Corp and Alcoa combined.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10009320
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Some cloud
-5.0°
Updated Friday 04 Feb 9:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
30 °F / -1 °C
SNOW LIKELY.
SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 2 INCHES.LIGHT WINDS. CHANCE OF SNOW 70 PERCENT.
Windchill:
LOWS 19 TO 25 / -5 °C.
Humidity:
86%
Dew Point:
27 °F / -3 °C
Wind:
8 mph / 13 km/h from the SE
Pressure:
29.94 in / 1014 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 12
Clouds (AGL):
Few 1100 ft / 335 m
Scattered Clouds 2000 ft / 609 m
Mostly Cloudy 3000 ft / 914 m
Satellites Below:
High Wind Event, as noted over Montana on Satellite Below
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT
454 PM MST THU FEB 3 2005
...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES SET OR TIED IN WESTERN MONTANA TODAY...
A WARM AND DRY RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE AREA HAS ALLOWED
TEMPERATURES TO REACH OR SURPASS PREVIOUS HIGH TEMPERATURE RECORDS
FOR THE FOLLOWING AREAS.
LOCATION.......................... RECORD HIGH..... PREVIOUS RECORD.... HIGH AND YEAR
BUTTE BERT MOONEY AP......... 56............................... 54................................. IN 1963
KALISPELL GLACIER AP............ 51............................... 51 ..................................IN 1962
...COOPERATIVE OBSERVER STATIONS - MONTANA...
ANACONDA.................................... 61 ...............................54 ...................................IN 1962
DRUMMOND ..................................52 ...............................51 ...................................IN 1934
POLSON ..........................................60 ...............................53 ...................................IN 1962
HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MISSOULA MT 902 AM MST WED FEB 2 2005 ...
NEAR RECORD LOW SNOWPACK ACROSS WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO...
SNOWPACK THAT HAS ACCUMULATED THIS WINTER IS BELOW AVERAGE. SNOW THAT HAS FALLEN FROM OCTOBER THROUGH THE LAST WEEK IN JANUARY IS RANGING BETWEEN 48 AND 65 PERCENT OF NORMAL. MANY OF THE SNOWPACK MONITORING SITES OPERATED BY THE NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION SERVICE ARE SETTING NEW RECORD LOW VALUES FOR THE END OF JANUARY. THE UPPER CLARK FORK RIVER BASIN HAS SET A NEW LOW RECORD SNOWPACK AT 58 PERCENT OF AVERAGE...
THE PREVIOUS LOW RECORD SNOWPACK WAS SET IN 1977. SNOWPACK SITUATION...
RIVER BASIN ....................2005 WATER YEAR................. 2001 DROUGHT YEAR
(PERCENT OF AVE THRU JAN) (PERCENT OF AVE THRU JAN)
KOOTENAI .....................................61................................................... 55
FLATHEAD .....................................63................................................... 56
UPPER CLARK FORK ...................58................................................... 81
BITTERROOT ................................54................................................... 68
LOWER CLARK FORK ..................48................................................... 66
CLEARWATER ...............................54 ...................................................64
SALMON .........................................65 ...................................................64
STREAMFLOW SITUATION...
IF SNOWPACK TRENDS CONTINUE TO REMAIN THE SAME OR DECLINE FURTHER... STREAMFLOWS WILL BE AT VERY LOW FLOWS IN THE SUMMER OF 2005. LOW STREAMFLOWS COULD LEAD TO POSSIBLE WATER SHORTAGES ACROSS WESTERN MONTANA AND NORTH CENTRAL IDAHO.
GOES West by UNISYS - Infrared picture/Water Vapor link which changes over time but the picture won't.
Infrared GOES West 2.3.05. This is the hemispheric view of the Glacier Bay Peripheral Fin. See. Huge. I have to watch these in motion for awhile. It's the way I reacquaint myself with new dynamics, by watching it for a time before I make decisions about it. I'll include the links.
GOES East by UNISYS. Infrared Picture and Water Vapor link that will change with time.
Infrared GOES East 2.3.05. Huge. Complicated. There is a vortex over the Atlantic that appears to be spinning counter clockwise pulling energy (heat) off the peripheral fin from the Arctic Ocean Vortex. The dynamics have changed and the peripheral fin to the east of the vortex looks to be incorporating into the vortex as well. Huge. Water Vapor will lend a perspective to it's velocity. Later.
MY INITIAL reassessment is that the 'oscillation' is getting more dramatic. The cooling more cool and therefore the manifestation of the Jet Stream. The heating more hot and therefore new maximums. My initial reaction to that observation is that with 'swings' in velocity and air dynamic changes the 'biosphere' will find it more difficult to adapt. If this 'oscillation' becomes more intense the weather systems 'may' become more intense. MY BEST GUSES AT THE MOMENT. More than a 'best guess' - my best skeptical warning. I also believe I am mostly 'correct.'
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