Monday, February 21, 2005
Galactic Region around LBV 1806-20
Cluster of Stars including LBV1820 and SGR1820 compared in size to Earth's Sun, Sol. http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/1806-20.htm 
Record space flash was hinted at in 2002 by Israeli
This occurrence is so odd. It happened on December 27, 2004. The day after Earth tilted. ACTUALLY. That isn't exactly accurate. The effects from the magnetic storm was measured the day after Earth tilted. The 'fabric' of space that Earth lives in may have been disturbed the same time SGR1806-20 of the distrubances we were experiencing on Earth. Interesting. Too coincidental not to be related.
US and European scientists reported at a press conference over the weekend that a 2002 article published by a Ben-Gurion University of the Negev astrophysicist predicted the brightest-ever recorded flash from beyond our solar system, which occurred almost two months ago.
This "giant flare" of high-energy radiation was detected by US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European satellites on December 27. The light from the giant flare was brightest in the gamma-ray energy range, a far more energetic realm of the spectrum than visible light or X-rays.
In addition, it generated a blast wave into the interstellar medium that emitted radio waves, which are still being recorded by radio telescopes around the world. The event was caused by an eruption on the surface of a known, exotic neutron star called SGR 1806-20, about 50,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius.
US and European scientists reported at a press conference over the weekend that a 2002 article published by a Ben-Gurion University of the Negev astrophysicist predicted the brightest-ever recorded flash from beyond our solar system, which occurred almost two months ago.
This "giant flare" of high-energy radiation was detected by US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European satellites on December 27. The light from the giant flare was brightest in the gamma-ray energy range, a far more energetic realm of the spectrum than visible light or X-rays.
In addition, it generated a blast wave into the interstellar medium that emitted radio waves, which are still being recorded by radio telescopes around the world. The event was caused by an eruption on the surface of a known, exotic neutron star called SGR 1806-20, about 50,000 light years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius.
Top Story - Goddard Space Flight Center
SCIENTISTS MEASURE THE MOST POWERFUL MAGNET KNOWN
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20021030strongestmag.html
Scientists have identified the most magnetic object known in the Universe, the result of the first direct measurement of a magnetic field around a peculiar neutron star first observed nearly 25 years ago.
By following the fate of a tiny proton whipping about at near light speed close to the neutron star with NASA's Rossi X-ray Explorer satellite, scientists calculated this star's magnetic field to be up to 10 times more powerful than previously thought -- with a force strong enough to slow a steel locomotive from as far away as the Moon.
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20021030strongestmag.html
Scientists have identified the most magnetic object known in the Universe, the result of the first direct measurement of a magnetic field around a peculiar neutron star first observed nearly 25 years ago.
By following the fate of a tiny proton whipping about at near light speed close to the neutron star with NASA's Rossi X-ray Explorer satellite, scientists calculated this star's magnetic field to be up to 10 times more powerful than previously thought -- with a force strong enough to slow a steel locomotive from as far away as the Moon.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Oakie-Doakie"
History ...
1872: Incorporated in 1870, New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art opens its doors.
1878, the first telephone directory was issued, by the District Telephone Co. of New Haven, Conn.
1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.
1901, born, Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian revolutionary.
1902, Ansel Adams, photographer.
1915: The World's Fair opens in San Francisco. The fair, called the Panama-Pacific Exhibition, celebrates the opening of the Panama Canal and the rebuilding of S.F. following the 1906 earth world's fair.
1925, The New Yorker magazine made its debut.
1927, Sydney Poitier, American motion-picture actor, the first black to become a major Hollywood star. Born in Miami, Florida, Poitier began acting with the American Negro Theater and made his movie debut in 1950 with a featured role in No Way Out, one of Hollywood's first films on racial bigotry. His next important credit was Blackboard Jungle (1955). The Defiant Ones (1958) brought Poitier an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of an escaped convict. Poitier won an Oscar five years later for Lilies of the Field (1963), in which he played a drifter who becomes a reluctant mainstay to a group of émigré nuns.
Poitier was hailed as the box-office star of 1967 for his charismatic work on three popular films: In the Heat of the Night; To Sir, with Love; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. He did not appear in any movies from 1976 to 1987, preferring to direct (Buck and the Preacher, 1972; Uptown Saturday Night, 1974, and its sequel Let's Do It Again, 1975; and Stir Crazy, 1980). He played Thurgood Marshall in the 1991 Emmy Award-winning Separate But Equal.
1947, Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.
1962: Astronaut John Glenn, in the Mercury capsule Friendship 7, orbits Earth three times to become the first American to orbit Earth.
1963: Willie Mays signs a one-year $100,000 contract with the San Francisco Giants.
1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death in New York by assassins identified as Black Muslims.
1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 21/2 to eight years in prison for their roles in the Watergate coverup.
1988, During a live TV broadcast, televangelist Jimmy Swaggert, 52, admitted to visiting a prostitute, then announced he would be leaving his ministry for an unspecified length of time. (Defrocked in April by the Assemblies of God, he was ordered to stay off TV for a year, but returned after only three months.)
Missing in Action
1967 BORJA DOMINGO R. SAN FRANCISCO CA
1967 WRIGHT ARTHUR LANSING MI
Haaretz
Abbas: Pullout won't be under fire
By Gideon Alon, Daphna Berman and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents
The five-month countdown to the start of the historic withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank began Sunday with an overwhelming 17-5 vote by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/542583.html
Analysis: Once a symbol of war, Sharon becomes a symbol of hope in region
Analysis: Sharon as Gorbachev
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Ariel Sharon's government made history Sunday with its decision on the evacuation of the settlements from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. The dry, brief evacuation orders issued after the cabinet meeting and bearing the signatures of A. Sharon and Mofaz herald the beginning of the end of the Israeli settlement enterprise in the territories.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/542582.html
Jordan, Egypt return ambassadors after four-year absence
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Jordanian Ambassador Marouf al-Bakhit, a former general and most recently ambassador to Turkey, arrived in Israel on Sunday, as Egypt named Mohammed Assem, Cairo's current envoy to Sudan, as its new ambassador to Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/542442.html
The Boston Globe
Green movement pales in Bay State
Cuts hobble parks, pollution control
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff February 21, 2005
Massachusetts was once a favorite of the national environmental movement, passing some of the country's strongest laws to protect its air, water, and land. But today, after 15 years of budget cuts, it is failing to deliver key services.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/02/21/green_movement_pales_in_bay_state/
Weak dollar draws wary Europeans back to NYC
By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff February 21, 2005
NEW YORK -- Paul Coffey earns a modest salary working at a shoe warehouse near London, but this year he was able to vacation with his wife and two teenage sons in Manhattan, sightseeing and shopping for the latest fashions and electronic gadgets.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/21/weak_dollar_draws_wary_europeans_back_to_nyc/
California's signature-ready tax returns get mixed reviews
By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times February 21, 2005
SACRAMENTO -- California's tax agency is moving forward with a revolutionary -- some people say disturbing -- concept: having the government do your taxes for you.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/21/californias_signature_ready_tax_returns_get_mixed_reviews/
Irish official says Sinn Fein leaders command IRA
Government weary of assertions that groups are separate
By Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press February 21, 2005
DUBLIN -- In an unprecedented confrontation, the Irish government yesterday publicly identified three of Sinn Fein's top figures -- including party leader Gerry Adams -- as members of the Irish Republican Army command.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/02/21/irish_official_says_sinn_fein_leaders_command_ira/
The Onion
BURLINGTON, VT—Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont-based ice-cream manufacturer known for its progressive social mission, held a press conference Monday to introduce a new flavor celebrating Academy Award winner
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4107&n=1
Michael Moore Today
Anti-War Group Plans Strategy in U.S. Heartland
By Deborah Cohen / Reuters
CHICAGO - Peace activists from around the United States gathered in St. Louis on Sunday, part of a three-day meeting to develop plans to pressure the Bush administration to exit Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1497
February 20th, 2005 3:22 pm
Talking with the Enemy
Inside the secret dialogue between the U.S. and insurgents in Iraq—and what the rebels say they want
By Michael Ware / Time
The secret meeting is taking place in the bowels of a facility in Baghdad, a cavernous, heavily guarded building in the U.S.-controlled green zone. The Iraqi negotiator, a middle-aged former member of Saddam Hussein's regime and the senior representative of the self-described nationalist insurgency, sits on one side of the table.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1494
Knocking on the nuclear door
By Lynda Hurst / Toronto Star
In 1992, in the warm glow of the Cold War's end, the United States stopped making and testing nuclear arms, halting its arsenal at 10,000 warheads and pledging to cut back further still.
Four years later, it was the first country to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty. But though committed to it in principle — certainly in regard to other nations — the U.S. wanted to keep its options open and, in 1999, to universal dismay, refused to ratify the treaty.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1498
Editorial: Phony journalist/Pimping for the White House
Star Tribune
Heard about the Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert muck-up in Washington? If you are an aficionado of the blogs, you've heard plenty. They're having a field day with it. But underneath all the fun lies a serious problem that hasn't got its due from the mainstream press: This White House employs a lot more kinds of fakery than the budgetary smoke and mirrors described in the editorial above.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1485
Agencies Warned About Fake News Videos
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Congressional investigators warned federal agencies this week that the promotion of government policies through video news releases meant to look like TV news stories may violate federal rules against propaganda.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1481
Japan Today
Ecologists revive extinct plants using seeds from lake bed
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 11:20 JST
TOKYO — A group of researchers, including members of the University of Tokyo's Laboratory of Conservation Ecology, has succeeded in reviving plants which were considered extinct at Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture by using seeds buried in lake bed soil, they said Monday.
Ireland names 3 top Sinn Fein members as IRA
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 07:17 JST
DUBLIN — Irishi Justice Minister Michael McDowell on Sunday accused three of the top leaders of the nationalist Sinn Fein political party, including party leader Gerry Adams, of belonging to the military command of the outlawed Irish Republican Army.
The government's blunt declaration indicated it no longer would tolerate Adams' protestations that his party should not be held accountable for IRA actions. The shift is intended to force the illegal IRA to disarm fully and disband, or risk the marginalization of the legal Sinn Fein.
Civic groups appeal for nuclear disarmament
Sunday, February 20, 2005 at 07:44 JST
TOKYO — Civic groups convened a meeting Saturday in Tokyo to appeal for nuclear disarmament ahead of a conference in New York in May to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The starting point for moves to seek nuclear disarmament traces was the experiences of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Masayoshi Naito, leader of one of nuclear disarmament groups, said at the meeting. (Kyodo News)
4th GSDF contingent returns from Iraq
Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 10:03 JST
SENDAI — About 120 members of the fourth Ground Self-Defense Force contingent who had served for three months in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on a humanitarian and reconstruction mission returned to Japan on Saturday.
They are the first batch to have returned from the fourth contingent, mainly from the GSDF's 6th Division based in Higashine, Yamagata Prefecture. They carried out their mission at a time when Iraq held its first democratic elections in 50 years. (Kyodo News)
Japan, U.S. set security goals
Sunday, February 20, 2005 at 05:31 JST
WASHINGTON — Japan and the United States agreed Saturday to reinforce their bilateral security alliance under a new set of "common security objectives" to deal with "uncertainty" in the Asia-Pacific amid China's growing military power, possible clashes across the Taiwan Strait and N. Korea's nuclear threat.
In a joint statement issued after the so-called "two-plus-two" meeting of foreign affairs and defense chiefs, the two nations agreed to accelerate their consultations by using the common objectives as the baseline to realign U.S. military presence in Japan and to examine "the roles, missions and capabilities" of Japan's Self-Defense Forces and U.S. armed forces. (Kyodo News)
Japan risks upsetting China on Taiwan
Janice Tang
Japan on Saturday took the bold step of including the sensitive Taiwan Strait issue as one of its "common strategic objectives" with the United States to boost their security alliance, risking Japan's already fragile relationship with China.
CNN
N. Korea: Japan, U.S. plotting invasion
From Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer
Sunday, February 20, 2005 Posted: 2043 GMT (0443 HKT)
(CNN) -- North Korea has accused Japan of aspiring to rule a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" beginning with an invasion of Korea with the assistance
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/02/20/us.japan/
The Japan Times
North Korea, Taiwan top issues in Japan-U.S. talks
Compiled from Kyodo, AP
WASHINGTON -- Japan and the United States agreed Saturday to reinforce their alliance under a new set of common security objectives to deal with "unpredictability and uncertainty" in the Asia-Pacific region.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050221a1.htm
Mitsubishi Fuso takes most time to report vehicle defects
Scandal-tainted Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. waited an average of more than two years before reporting vehicle defect cases to the government in fiscal 2003, government officials said Sunday.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050221a2.htm
Japan Today
Japan in dilemma over NK sanctions
Shinya Ajima
The Japanese government is coming under increasing pressure to impose economic sanctions on North Korea due to the North's attitude toward its past abductions of Japanese citizens.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=comment&id=727
Okinawa compiles proposals on reducing U.S. military presence
Friday, February 18, 2005 at 07:19 JST
NAHA — Okinawa Prefecture has compiled a set of proposals for the U.S. and Japanese governments on reducing the presence of U.S. forces there in line with the envisaged realignment of the U.S. military in Japan, prefectural government sources said Thursday.
Gov. Keiichi Inamine will visit the United States in March to put the four proposals to the U.S. government, including relocating U.S. Marines in Okinawa to outside of the prefecture and reviewing the function of the U.S. Kadena Air Base, they said. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=328133
Okinawa governor asks Japan, U.S. to relocate Marines
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 04:00 JST
NAHA — Okinawa Gov Keiichi Inamine expressed hope Sunday that the discussion between the United States and Japan on security would work to reduce U.S. military facilities in his prefecture after a Japan-U.S. ministerial security meeting ended.
"We will continue to urge the governments of Japan and the United States that the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa be transferred elsewhere outside the prefecture and review the functions of the Kadena Air Base. We will also ask that the burden be reduced in a visible manner," he said. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=328374
Japan to lend Y98.7 bil to Turkey for subway construction
Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 08:00 JST
TOKYO — The government said Friday it will provide up to 98.73 billion yen in low-interest loans to Turkey to help build a subway system in Istanbul.
The 40-year loan, which will carry an interest rate of 0.75% per annum, follows Tokyo's previous loan of 12.46 billion yen for the same project in 1999. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=328254
Dengue fever kills 20 in East Timor
Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 04:21 JST
DILI — An outbreak of dengue fever has killed 20 people in East Timor since January, a health official said Friday.
Livio da Conceicao, a surveillance officer in the Health Department, said the first case was found Jan 5 and 178 cases have been confirmed of the viral disease so far. (Kyodo News)
Sunnis seek role in Iraq government
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 07:13 JST
BAGHDAD — Sunni Muslim tribal leaders met Sunday to determine their place in a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, while U.S. Marines and Iraqi security forces launched an offensive against insurgents in troubled cities west of Baghdad after two days of carnage that left nearly 100 people dead.
As the Shiite majority prepared to take control of the country's first freely elected government, tribal chiefs representing Sunni Arabs in six provinces issued a list of demands — including participation in the government and drafting a new constitution — after previously refusing to acknowledge the vote's legitimacy.
The New York Times
Cabinet in Israel Ratifies Pullout From Gaza Strip
By GREG MYRE
Published: February 21, 2005
JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won cabinet approval on Sunday for two sweeping plans intended to reshape Israel's relations with the Palestinians: the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, and a revamped route for the separation barrier in the West Bank.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/international/middleeast/21mideast.html?hp&ex=1109048400&en=3f2eb769d75b1d74&ei=5094&partner=homepage
WHERE 'WALKER BUSH' GOES, THEY KISS HIS ARCE! They must be running out of money.
A New Target for Advisers to Swift Vets
By GLEN JUSTICE
Published: February 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - Taking its cues from the success of last year's Swift boat veterans' campaign in the presidential race, a conservative lobbying organization has hired some of the same consultants to orchestrate attacks on one of President Bush's toughest opponents in the battle to overhaul Social Security.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/politics/21social.html?hp&ex=1109048400&en=31aa371bb47479ad&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Big Oil Steps Aside in Battle Over Arctic
By JEFF GERTH
Published: February 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - George W. Bush first proposed drilling for oil in a small part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska in 2000, after oil industry experts helped his presidential campaign develop an energy plan. Five years later, he is pushing the proposal again, saying the nation urgently needs to increase domestic production.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/politics/21refuge.html
The Gulf News
Lebanon to boycott UN inquiry
Agencies
Beirut: The Lebanese government took exception to the United Nations' decision to appoint a commission of inquiry into the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152731
Iraq reels from bomb attacks on Shiite holy day
AP
Baghdad: Eight suicide bombers struck in quick succession in a wave of attacks that killed 55 people as Iraqi Shiites marched and lashed themselves with chains in ritual mourning of the 7th century death of a leader of their Muslim sect. Ninety-one people have been killed in violence in the past two days.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152839
Inspectors on high alert over tainted foodstuffs
By Ashfaq Ahmed and Diaa Hadid, Staff Reporters
Dubai: The Municipality has warned the public not to buy products containing a potentially cancer-causing dye following a food scare in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency (FSA) on Friday published a list of more than 350 processed foods that may contain Sudan 1, a dye used to colour non-edible items such as solvents, floor polish and waxes.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=152724
Mother files for divorce over unruly daughter
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: A mother whose teenage daughter bit her is asking the court for a divorce claiming her husband has not raised the girl properly.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=152743
Illegals 'behind many crimes'
By Mona Ahmad, Staff Reporter
Dubai: Nearly 3,000 illegal workers were caught by Dubai police in the past two weeks during a continuing police campaign to cut crime in the emirate.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=152741
Syria is no fool … and the US is not smart
By Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief
It is absurd to think that Syria is behind the well-planned blast that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=152746
Arabs should learn how to deal with Washington
By Abdullah Al Madani
The Gulf Forum is an independent grouping of intellectuals, academics, technocrats and businessmen from the six Arab Gulf countries.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=152748
Hezbollah warns against uprising
Reuters
Beirut: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned yesterday that popular agitation against Syria's grip on Lebanon after the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri could plunge the country back into civil war.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152790
On the move again
By Mildred Fernandes, Special to Gulf News
After being paralysed on the right side for 18 years, Simon Poynter has regained almost full use of his body, thanks to Dubai-based physiotherapist Jacques Caluwe.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/FeaturesNF.asp?ArticleID=152721
Biggest candle rekindles Islam's message of peace
By Mohammad Almezel, Bureau Chief
Manama: Bahrain has broken a new record for the world's largest candle during the Ashura procession on Friday night.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152808
This would definitely seal the deal with Iran. Chalabi loves Iran.
Chalabi confident Alliance will back him for PM's job
AP
Baghdad: Ahmad Chalabi, the former Washington insider who later fell out of favour with the United States, has expressed confidence that he was on the brink of being anointed by the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance to be the country's first democratically elected prime minister.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152804
Israeli PM praises Egypt over security
Reuters
Cairo: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in remarks published yesterday Egypt was doing more than before to stop weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152797
continued...
"Oakie-Doakie"
History ...
1872: Incorporated in 1870, New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art opens its doors.
1878, the first telephone directory was issued, by the District Telephone Co. of New Haven, Conn.
1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated.
1901, born, Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian revolutionary.
1902, Ansel Adams, photographer.
1915: The World's Fair opens in San Francisco. The fair, called the Panama-Pacific Exhibition, celebrates the opening of the Panama Canal and the rebuilding of S.F. following the 1906 earth world's fair.
1925, The New Yorker magazine made its debut.
1927, Sydney Poitier, American motion-picture actor, the first black to become a major Hollywood star. Born in Miami, Florida, Poitier began acting with the American Negro Theater and made his movie debut in 1950 with a featured role in No Way Out, one of Hollywood's first films on racial bigotry. His next important credit was Blackboard Jungle (1955). The Defiant Ones (1958) brought Poitier an Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of an escaped convict. Poitier won an Oscar five years later for Lilies of the Field (1963), in which he played a drifter who becomes a reluctant mainstay to a group of émigré nuns.
Poitier was hailed as the box-office star of 1967 for his charismatic work on three popular films: In the Heat of the Night; To Sir, with Love; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. He did not appear in any movies from 1976 to 1987, preferring to direct (Buck and the Preacher, 1972; Uptown Saturday Night, 1974, and its sequel Let's Do It Again, 1975; and Stir Crazy, 1980). He played Thurgood Marshall in the 1991 Emmy Award-winning Separate But Equal.
1947, Edwin H. Land publicly demonstrated his Polaroid Land camera, which could produce a black-and-white photograph in 60 seconds.
1962: Astronaut John Glenn, in the Mercury capsule Friendship 7, orbits Earth three times to become the first American to orbit Earth.
1963: Willie Mays signs a one-year $100,000 contract with the San Francisco Giants.
1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, 39, was shot to death in New York by assassins identified as Black Muslims.
1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 21/2 to eight years in prison for their roles in the Watergate coverup.
1988, During a live TV broadcast, televangelist Jimmy Swaggert, 52, admitted to visiting a prostitute, then announced he would be leaving his ministry for an unspecified length of time. (Defrocked in April by the Assemblies of God, he was ordered to stay off TV for a year, but returned after only three months.)
Missing in Action
1967 BORJA DOMINGO R. SAN FRANCISCO CA
1967 WRIGHT ARTHUR LANSING MI
Haaretz
Abbas: Pullout won't be under fire
By Gideon Alon, Daphna Berman and Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondents
The five-month countdown to the start of the historic withdrawal from Gaza and the northern West Bank began Sunday with an overwhelming 17-5 vote by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/542583.html
Analysis: Once a symbol of war, Sharon becomes a symbol of hope in region
Analysis: Sharon as Gorbachev
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Ariel Sharon's government made history Sunday with its decision on the evacuation of the settlements from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. The dry, brief evacuation orders issued after the cabinet meeting and bearing the signatures of A. Sharon and Mofaz herald the beginning of the end of the Israeli settlement enterprise in the territories.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/542582.html
Jordan, Egypt return ambassadors after four-year absence
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Jordanian Ambassador Marouf al-Bakhit, a former general and most recently ambassador to Turkey, arrived in Israel on Sunday, as Egypt named Mohammed Assem, Cairo's current envoy to Sudan, as its new ambassador to Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/542442.html
The Boston Globe
Green movement pales in Bay State
Cuts hobble parks, pollution control
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff February 21, 2005
Massachusetts was once a favorite of the national environmental movement, passing some of the country's strongest laws to protect its air, water, and land. But today, after 15 years of budget cuts, it is failing to deliver key services.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/02/21/green_movement_pales_in_bay_state/
Weak dollar draws wary Europeans back to NYC
By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff February 21, 2005
NEW YORK -- Paul Coffey earns a modest salary working at a shoe warehouse near London, but this year he was able to vacation with his wife and two teenage sons in Manhattan, sightseeing and shopping for the latest fashions and electronic gadgets.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/21/weak_dollar_draws_wary_europeans_back_to_nyc/
California's signature-ready tax returns get mixed reviews
By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times February 21, 2005
SACRAMENTO -- California's tax agency is moving forward with a revolutionary -- some people say disturbing -- concept: having the government do your taxes for you.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/02/21/californias_signature_ready_tax_returns_get_mixed_reviews/
Irish official says Sinn Fein leaders command IRA
Government weary of assertions that groups are separate
By Shawn Pogatchnik, Associated Press February 21, 2005
DUBLIN -- In an unprecedented confrontation, the Irish government yesterday publicly identified three of Sinn Fein's top figures -- including party leader Gerry Adams -- as members of the Irish Republican Army command.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/02/21/irish_official_says_sinn_fein_leaders_command_ira/
The Onion
BURLINGTON, VT—Ben & Jerry's, the Vermont-based ice-cream manufacturer known for its progressive social mission, held a press conference Monday to introduce a new flavor celebrating Academy Award winner
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4107&n=1
Michael Moore Today
Anti-War Group Plans Strategy in U.S. Heartland
By Deborah Cohen / Reuters
CHICAGO - Peace activists from around the United States gathered in St. Louis on Sunday, part of a three-day meeting to develop plans to pressure the Bush administration to exit Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1497
February 20th, 2005 3:22 pm
Talking with the Enemy
Inside the secret dialogue between the U.S. and insurgents in Iraq—and what the rebels say they want
By Michael Ware / Time
The secret meeting is taking place in the bowels of a facility in Baghdad, a cavernous, heavily guarded building in the U.S.-controlled green zone. The Iraqi negotiator, a middle-aged former member of Saddam Hussein's regime and the senior representative of the self-described nationalist insurgency, sits on one side of the table.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1494
Knocking on the nuclear door
By Lynda Hurst / Toronto Star
In 1992, in the warm glow of the Cold War's end, the United States stopped making and testing nuclear arms, halting its arsenal at 10,000 warheads and pledging to cut back further still.
Four years later, it was the first country to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban treaty. But though committed to it in principle — certainly in regard to other nations — the U.S. wanted to keep its options open and, in 1999, to universal dismay, refused to ratify the treaty.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1498
Editorial: Phony journalist/Pimping for the White House
Star Tribune
Heard about the Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert muck-up in Washington? If you are an aficionado of the blogs, you've heard plenty. They're having a field day with it. But underneath all the fun lies a serious problem that hasn't got its due from the mainstream press: This White House employs a lot more kinds of fakery than the budgetary smoke and mirrors described in the editorial above.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1485
Agencies Warned About Fake News Videos
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Congressional investigators warned federal agencies this week that the promotion of government policies through video news releases meant to look like TV news stories may violate federal rules against propaganda.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1481
Japan Today
Ecologists revive extinct plants using seeds from lake bed
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 11:20 JST
TOKYO — A group of researchers, including members of the University of Tokyo's Laboratory of Conservation Ecology, has succeeded in reviving plants which were considered extinct at Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture by using seeds buried in lake bed soil, they said Monday.
Ireland names 3 top Sinn Fein members as IRA
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 07:17 JST
DUBLIN — Irishi Justice Minister Michael McDowell on Sunday accused three of the top leaders of the nationalist Sinn Fein political party, including party leader Gerry Adams, of belonging to the military command of the outlawed Irish Republican Army.
The government's blunt declaration indicated it no longer would tolerate Adams' protestations that his party should not be held accountable for IRA actions. The shift is intended to force the illegal IRA to disarm fully and disband, or risk the marginalization of the legal Sinn Fein.
Civic groups appeal for nuclear disarmament
Sunday, February 20, 2005 at 07:44 JST
TOKYO — Civic groups convened a meeting Saturday in Tokyo to appeal for nuclear disarmament ahead of a conference in New York in May to review the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The starting point for moves to seek nuclear disarmament traces was the experiences of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki," Masayoshi Naito, leader of one of nuclear disarmament groups, said at the meeting. (Kyodo News)
4th GSDF contingent returns from Iraq
Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 10:03 JST
SENDAI — About 120 members of the fourth Ground Self-Defense Force contingent who had served for three months in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah on a humanitarian and reconstruction mission returned to Japan on Saturday.
They are the first batch to have returned from the fourth contingent, mainly from the GSDF's 6th Division based in Higashine, Yamagata Prefecture. They carried out their mission at a time when Iraq held its first democratic elections in 50 years. (Kyodo News)
Japan, U.S. set security goals
Sunday, February 20, 2005 at 05:31 JST
WASHINGTON — Japan and the United States agreed Saturday to reinforce their bilateral security alliance under a new set of "common security objectives" to deal with "uncertainty" in the Asia-Pacific amid China's growing military power, possible clashes across the Taiwan Strait and N. Korea's nuclear threat.
In a joint statement issued after the so-called "two-plus-two" meeting of foreign affairs and defense chiefs, the two nations agreed to accelerate their consultations by using the common objectives as the baseline to realign U.S. military presence in Japan and to examine "the roles, missions and capabilities" of Japan's Self-Defense Forces and U.S. armed forces. (Kyodo News)
Japan risks upsetting China on Taiwan
Janice Tang
Japan on Saturday took the bold step of including the sensitive Taiwan Strait issue as one of its "common strategic objectives" with the United States to boost their security alliance, risking Japan's already fragile relationship with China.
CNN
N. Korea: Japan, U.S. plotting invasion
From Elise Labott
CNN State Department Producer
Sunday, February 20, 2005 Posted: 2043 GMT (0443 HKT)
(CNN) -- North Korea has accused Japan of aspiring to rule a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" beginning with an invasion of Korea with the assistance
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/02/20/us.japan/
The Japan Times
North Korea, Taiwan top issues in Japan-U.S. talks
Compiled from Kyodo, AP
WASHINGTON -- Japan and the United States agreed Saturday to reinforce their alliance under a new set of common security objectives to deal with "unpredictability and uncertainty" in the Asia-Pacific region.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050221a1.htm
Mitsubishi Fuso takes most time to report vehicle defects
Scandal-tainted Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. waited an average of more than two years before reporting vehicle defect cases to the government in fiscal 2003, government officials said Sunday.
http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050221a2.htm
Japan Today
Japan in dilemma over NK sanctions
Shinya Ajima
The Japanese government is coming under increasing pressure to impose economic sanctions on North Korea due to the North's attitude toward its past abductions of Japanese citizens.
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=comment&id=727
Okinawa compiles proposals on reducing U.S. military presence
Friday, February 18, 2005 at 07:19 JST
NAHA — Okinawa Prefecture has compiled a set of proposals for the U.S. and Japanese governments on reducing the presence of U.S. forces there in line with the envisaged realignment of the U.S. military in Japan, prefectural government sources said Thursday.
Gov. Keiichi Inamine will visit the United States in March to put the four proposals to the U.S. government, including relocating U.S. Marines in Okinawa to outside of the prefecture and reviewing the function of the U.S. Kadena Air Base, they said. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=328133
Okinawa governor asks Japan, U.S. to relocate Marines
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 04:00 JST
NAHA — Okinawa Gov Keiichi Inamine expressed hope Sunday that the discussion between the United States and Japan on security would work to reduce U.S. military facilities in his prefecture after a Japan-U.S. ministerial security meeting ended.
"We will continue to urge the governments of Japan and the United States that the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa be transferred elsewhere outside the prefecture and review the functions of the Kadena Air Base. We will also ask that the burden be reduced in a visible manner," he said. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=328374
Japan to lend Y98.7 bil to Turkey for subway construction
Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 08:00 JST
TOKYO — The government said Friday it will provide up to 98.73 billion yen in low-interest loans to Turkey to help build a subway system in Istanbul.
The 40-year loan, which will carry an interest rate of 0.75% per annum, follows Tokyo's previous loan of 12.46 billion yen for the same project in 1999. (Kyodo News)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=3&id=328254
Dengue fever kills 20 in East Timor
Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 04:21 JST
DILI — An outbreak of dengue fever has killed 20 people in East Timor since January, a health official said Friday.
Livio da Conceicao, a surveillance officer in the Health Department, said the first case was found Jan 5 and 178 cases have been confirmed of the viral disease so far. (Kyodo News)
Sunnis seek role in Iraq government
Monday, February 21, 2005 at 07:13 JST
BAGHDAD — Sunni Muslim tribal leaders met Sunday to determine their place in a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government, while U.S. Marines and Iraqi security forces launched an offensive against insurgents in troubled cities west of Baghdad after two days of carnage that left nearly 100 people dead.
As the Shiite majority prepared to take control of the country's first freely elected government, tribal chiefs representing Sunni Arabs in six provinces issued a list of demands — including participation in the government and drafting a new constitution — after previously refusing to acknowledge the vote's legitimacy.
The New York Times
Cabinet in Israel Ratifies Pullout From Gaza Strip
By GREG MYRE
Published: February 21, 2005
JERUSALEM, Feb. 20 - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won cabinet approval on Sunday for two sweeping plans intended to reshape Israel's relations with the Palestinians: the withdrawal of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, and a revamped route for the separation barrier in the West Bank.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/international/middleeast/21mideast.html?hp&ex=1109048400&en=3f2eb769d75b1d74&ei=5094&partner=homepage
WHERE 'WALKER BUSH' GOES, THEY KISS HIS ARCE! They must be running out of money.
A New Target for Advisers to Swift Vets
By GLEN JUSTICE
Published: February 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - Taking its cues from the success of last year's Swift boat veterans' campaign in the presidential race, a conservative lobbying organization has hired some of the same consultants to orchestrate attacks on one of President Bush's toughest opponents in the battle to overhaul Social Security.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/politics/21social.html?hp&ex=1109048400&en=31aa371bb47479ad&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Big Oil Steps Aside in Battle Over Arctic
By JEFF GERTH
Published: February 21, 2005
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - George W. Bush first proposed drilling for oil in a small part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska in 2000, after oil industry experts helped his presidential campaign develop an energy plan. Five years later, he is pushing the proposal again, saying the nation urgently needs to increase domestic production.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/21/politics/21refuge.html
The Gulf News
Lebanon to boycott UN inquiry
Agencies
Beirut: The Lebanese government took exception to the United Nations' decision to appoint a commission of inquiry into the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152731
Iraq reels from bomb attacks on Shiite holy day
AP
Baghdad: Eight suicide bombers struck in quick succession in a wave of attacks that killed 55 people as Iraqi Shiites marched and lashed themselves with chains in ritual mourning of the 7th century death of a leader of their Muslim sect. Ninety-one people have been killed in violence in the past two days.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152839
Inspectors on high alert over tainted foodstuffs
By Ashfaq Ahmed and Diaa Hadid, Staff Reporters
Dubai: The Municipality has warned the public not to buy products containing a potentially cancer-causing dye following a food scare in the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom's Food Standards Agency (FSA) on Friday published a list of more than 350 processed foods that may contain Sudan 1, a dye used to colour non-edible items such as solvents, floor polish and waxes.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=152724
Mother files for divorce over unruly daughter
By Bassam Za'za', Staff Reporter
Dubai: A mother whose teenage daughter bit her is asking the court for a divorce claiming her husband has not raised the girl properly.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=152743
Illegals 'behind many crimes'
By Mona Ahmad, Staff Reporter
Dubai: Nearly 3,000 illegal workers were caught by Dubai police in the past two weeks during a continuing police campaign to cut crime in the emirate.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/NationNF.asp?ArticleID=152741
Syria is no fool … and the US is not smart
By Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Editor-in-Chief
It is absurd to think that Syria is behind the well-planned blast that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=152746
Arabs should learn how to deal with Washington
By Abdullah Al Madani
The Gulf Forum is an independent grouping of intellectuals, academics, technocrats and businessmen from the six Arab Gulf countries.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/OpinionNF.asp?ArticleID=152748
Hezbollah warns against uprising
Reuters
Beirut: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned yesterday that popular agitation against Syria's grip on Lebanon after the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Al Hariri could plunge the country back into civil war.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152790
On the move again
By Mildred Fernandes, Special to Gulf News
After being paralysed on the right side for 18 years, Simon Poynter has regained almost full use of his body, thanks to Dubai-based physiotherapist Jacques Caluwe.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/FeaturesNF.asp?ArticleID=152721
Biggest candle rekindles Islam's message of peace
By Mohammad Almezel, Bureau Chief
Manama: Bahrain has broken a new record for the world's largest candle during the Ashura procession on Friday night.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152808
This would definitely seal the deal with Iran. Chalabi loves Iran.
Chalabi confident Alliance will back him for PM's job
AP
Baghdad: Ahmad Chalabi, the former Washington insider who later fell out of favour with the United States, has expressed confidence that he was on the brink of being anointed by the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance to be the country's first democratically elected prime minister.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152804
Israeli PM praises Egypt over security
Reuters
Cairo: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in remarks published yesterday Egypt was doing more than before to stop weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip.
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=152797
continued...
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