May 4, 2005. A melting ice structure. The Kuskokwim River, Aniak, Alaska.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Students R-E-S-P-E-C-T-E-D !!!
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
'Tremendous Victory'
After seven day occupation, University of Hawaii activists return office to President David McClain
Navy research center opponents end sit-in
By Jeannette J. Lee / Associated Press
HONOLULU — A group protesting a proposed Navy research center at the University of Hawaii ended a weeklong sit-in Wednesday at the office of the university president.
Dozens of protesters marched out of interim President David McClain's office clapping and chanting. Organizers called the protest a "tremendous victory."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2511
Statement From 'Save UH/Stop UARC Occupation'
Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - First, we would like to thank our community of supporters in Hawai’i and around the world for their aloha, generosity and kokua. We would also like to acknowledge the staff of the university especially the custodial, secretarial, and security officers in Bachman Hall.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2510
Hello everyone, my name is Bart Abbott and I'm going to be taking over responsibility for the BLOG. I'm a political science major who's been doing research on the UARC and classified rese
http://www.livejournal.com/users/stopuarc/2005/05/04/
I've been keeping up with Earth's satellites and basically the picture is the same as a couple of days ago. I'll post more. The heat is picking up in the Northern Hemisphere. I still believe remain optimistic regarding the waining of Global Warming due to consumer price increases at the pump in the USA.
I need to finish up some projects. I'll be emptying some files over the next few weeks and have run across some 'stuff'. The older articles may or may not open but they are worth noting. Noting primarily that the USA is going NOWHERE !! Stagnant under leadership without invention or answers or the will to admit they are 'W'rong. And now we have Improvied Explosive Devices in New York City.
The Cheney Observer
Committee Prepares Questions for Bolton
By LOLITA BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
(04-27) 00:39 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is casting a wide net for information about John R. Bolton, whose nomination as ambassador to the United Nations has been stalled by allegations he abused power and mistreated underlings in government.
Over the next few days committee members plan to set up interviews with as many as 19 people — from former intelligence officers and subordinates who reported problems with Bolton to his former chief assistant, according to a Senate committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/26/national/w170325D48.DTL
Singapore Petroleum Co 1Q Net S$72.7M Vs S$41.9M -2-
Singapore Petroleum Company Ltd. - Singapore
First quarter ended March 31:
Figures are in Singapore dollars (S$).
Earnings are unaudited, and based on local accounting standards.
2005 2004
Revenue S$ 1,449,049,000 S$ 953,216,000
Pretax Profit 85,512,000 43,867,000
Net Profit 72,713,000 41,858,000
Earnings Per Share
Basic 16.57 cents 9.83 cents
Fully Diluted 14.82 cents 9.72 cents
Dividend Omitted Omitted
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Singapore Petroleum Co. (S99.SG), an affiliate of marine engineering conglomerate Keppel Corp. (K02.SG), Tuesday said its first-quarter net profit ended March 31 surged 74% from the year-ago period, boosted by soaring oil prices.
The company, which refines oil and operates petrol stations, reported its net profit for the quarter rose to S$72.7 million from S$41.9 million a year earlier.
Revenue during the period jumped to S$1.45 billion from S$953.2 million.
Earnings were fueled by high refining margins on the back of rising oil prices due to a "perceived tightness in supply in the short and medium term," SPC said in a statement.
"Concerns over the ability of crude producers to meet expanded demand and a possible disruption to supply caused crude prices to rise to record levels during the first quarter," SPC said.
The company said it achieved an average refining margin of US$3.50 a barrel for the first quarter.
SPC said it expects to continue to perform well for the rest of the year, supported by strong demand for refined petroleum products.
http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/050426/15/3s5px.html
Occidental Petroleum first quarter profit up sharply on higher oil prices
Canadian Press
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Occidental Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday that higher oil and gas prices drove up its first quarter profits by 74 per cent.
Quarterly income grew to $846 million US, or $2.11 per share, from $487 million, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, core earnings amounted to $866 million, or $2.16 per share, the company said.
http://www.canada.com/components/printstory/printstory4.aspx?id=c3fb2ee1-910e-46f8-9c6d-9c55dbf8c868
PETROLEUM: Oil refining giant Valero to buy rival Premcor for $6.9 billion
Associated Press
Published April 26, 2005
SAN ANTONIO -- Valero Energy Corp. plans to acquire Premcor Inc. for $6.9 billion in cash and stock as part of a deal that would create the largest refiner of crude oil in North America, company officials announced Monday.
Valero will issue $3.5 billion in stock and pay $3.4 billion in cash. Valero also would assume about $1.8 billion in debt in the deal, which will add four refineries and 790,000 barrels per day to its system.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0504260255apr26,1,4523978.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Whiting Petroleum upgraded to "outperform" - update
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 12:28:27 PM ET
RBC Capital Markets
NEW YORK, April 26 (newratings.com) - Analyst Scott Hanold of RBC Capital Markets upgrades Whiting Petroleum Corporation (WLL.NYS) from "sector perform" to "outperform," while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price is set to $48.
http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_795839.html
Vintage Petroleum initiated with "neutral"
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 11:02:42 AM ET
J.P. Morgan Securities
NEW YORK, April 26 (newratings.com) - Analysts at JP Morgan initiate coverage of Vintage Petroleum (VPI.NYS) with a "neutral" rating.
In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the company is currently undertaking new ventures, including the shale gas concept located in the Palo Duro basin. Vintage Petroleum's operating performance has been sluggish, as compared to that of its peers, the analysts say. Vintage Petroleum’s near-term reserve growth and organic production are likely to be adversely impacted by the company’s weak margins and high asset intensity, JP Morgan adds.
http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_795616.html
Bush and Cheney rushed to safety in security scare
Associated Press
Published April 28, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush was taken quickly to a secure underground White House bunker and Vice President Dick Cheney was whisked outside the compound Wednesday because of a "radar anomaly"--perhaps a flock of birds or pocket of rain--that was mistaken for a plane flying in restricted airspace.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0504280188apr28,1,1654458.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Bush Cheney Regime: The Illegal US Government
by WHATREALLYHAPPENED.COM
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Is this the beginning of the US "Civil" War II?)
A recent poll discovered that half of Americans know that the government intentionally lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The actual figure is probably a lot higher since there is a large percentage of Americans still willing to let their neighbors' children die than ever admit they were wrong to support the war in the first place.
So, the majority of Americans know the government lied to create a war.
A majority of Americans now know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that claims to the contrary were intentional lies.
A majority of Americans now know the US Government lied when it claimed Iraq's WMDs were a threat to the United States.
A majority of Americans now know the mainstream media lied when it claimed Iraq's WMDs were a threat to the United States.
A majority of Americans now know that the US Government has been torturing innocent Iraqis for information on WMDs the US Government already knew they could not possibly have.
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=2&contentid=2126
Global Eye
Buried Treasure
By Chris Floyd
Published: April 29, 2005
It seemed, at first, like nothing more than a novelty item in the news briefs, the kind of odd, meaningless side-fact thrown off by most major stories: "New Pope, President's Brother Had Link in Swiss Group." But a look beneath the surface of this innocuous connection reveals a vast web of sinister alliances -- and moral corruption on a world-shaking scale.
The network links a bewildering line-up of players -- the Bushes, the Vatican, bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and China's Communist overlords, among others -- in a staggering array of crime and turpitude: prostitution, pedophilia, mass death and war profiteering. Yet this is not some grand "conspiracy theory," a serpent's egg hatched in Bilderberg or Bohemian Grove. It's simply the way the Bush boys do business, trawling the globe for sweetheart deals and gushers of blood money from the war and terror they foment.
At the center of this particular nexus is the unlikely figure of Neil Bush, the feckless, fraudulent brother of the current president. Neilsy, as he's known in the family, is most famous for costing American taxpayers $1 billion to bail out a savings-and-loan he had ruined with secret insider loans to his own business partners. For this massive fraud, he was fined -- by his father's administration -- the princely sum of $50,000, which was actually paid by one of his dad's political bagmen, of course.
You see, the Bushes are robber barons, not capitalists: They never risk any of their own money in the competition of the marketplace. Nor do they ever pay the price when their deals go belly-up. Just ask George W., whose first business was jump-started with secret cash from the bin Ladens, laundered through their U.S. frontman, James Bath -- who was also hired by W.'s dad, then-CIA director George Bush Sr., to set up offshore companies for shifting CIA money and aircraft between Texas and Saudi Arabia, the Texas Observer reported.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/142022/
GOP warns Democrats they'll face probes, too
Friday, April 29, 2005
By Karen MacPherson, Post-Gazette National Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Angry House Republicans yesterday warned their Democratic colleagues to expect a spate of inquiries into possible ethics violations in retaliation for forcing GOP leaders to jettison controversial new rules for ethics investigations.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05119/496476.stm
Novak repeated conservative canard that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion"
CNN host and syndicated columnist Robert Novak repeated the baseless accusation that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion." In fact, senators who have opposed William H. Pryor's nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals -- and even current Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- have questioned Pryor over his willingness and ability to put aside his personal views and follow the law. Specter also echoed Democrats' concerns over inconsistent statements Pryor made to the committee regarding his involvement in the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).
http://mediamatters.org/items/200504280008
Guantanamo interrogations faked
Former U.S. Army translator revealed on Friday that U.S. officials at Guantanamo staged interrogations of detainees for visiting politicians and generals with the aim of giving them the impression that valuable intelligence was regularly being gathered.
Speaking to CBS television's 60 Minutes, Sergeant Erik Saar said that "only a few dozen" of the 600 detainees at the camp were "terrorists" and that little information was obtained from them.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8128
Afghan munitions blast kills and wounds over 100
A hidden weapons cache in a northern Afghan village exploded on Monday, killing at least 28 people and wounding over 70, a government spokesman said.
"The whole neighborhood around the ammunition dump has been destroyed," said Lutfullah Mashal, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said adding that a team of investigators is currently probing what caused the blast in Pajga village in Baghlan province, 120 km (80 miles) north of the capital, Kabul.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=7424
Arms deal worth $500 million to be inked by Turkey and Israel
5/2/2005 5:00:00 PM GMT
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The Turkish Prime Minister Recob Erdogen is to sign an arms deal worth $500 million with Israeli officials under which Tel Aviv would upgrade 30 Turkish F-4 jetfighters at a cost of half a million dollars, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.
The paper also stated that the Turkish government set the condition that the upgrading process should be carried out at Turkish air force bases rather than at Israeli military factories.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8069
Halliburton's War Loot
Corruption in Bush's Iraq
By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
New Zealand.
There is a squalid little wart called Mark Steyn whose blinkered worship for Bush and the Crazy Crusaders is intense. He is the darling of the Murdoch-style, mind-bending, non-information media and of some other formerly respectable US and British publications which have lost their way in the fetid jungle of Bush idolatry. Steyn is the prat who wrote in the UK's Telegraph newspaper a year ago that "I don't think it's possible for anyone who looks at Iraq honestly to see it as anything other than a success story . . . ".
http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley05032005.html
Halliburton lands $24 million Shell drilling plum
from: Offshore Engineer
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
HALLIBURTON'S ENERGY SERVICES GROUP HAS BEEN AWARDED A two-year contract, with the option for an additional year, by Shell Exploration & Production to provide 40% of Shell's integrated drilling services for their Gulf of Mexico activities. The value of the contract is estimated at $24 million for the fixed two-year duration and includes the provision of directional drilling, measurement-whiledrilling (MWD), and logging-while-drilling (LWD).
http://www.oilonline.com/news/headlines/otc/20050503.Hallibur.17864.asp
S. Pars drilling to go ahead without Halliburton
Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, May 3 (IranMania) - A senior oil industry official said that oil well drilling for phases IX and X of the giant South Pars gas field development project will begin within a month following an agreement reached between Pars Oil and Gas Company and Oriental Oil Kish.
Akbar Torkan, managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, said Oriental Oil Kish has received the initial payment for the multimillion dollar project.
Iranian engineers have managed to successfully install the first of the two jackets of the offshore platform for phases IX and X. A US company, Halliburton, was awarded phases IX and X of the giant project earlier this year together with Oriental Oil Kish, but quietly pulled out amid mounting pressures from Washington.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=31523&NewsKind=Business%20%26%20Economy
Ex-Iraqi Hostage Reflects on Life Changes
By KATHY HANRAHAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 3, 2005; 2:33 AM
JACKSON, Miss. -- Thomas Hamill, whose dash to freedom from captivity in Iraq prompted a Mississippi lawmaker to dub him a "superhero for country boys," still drives the same 1995 Dodge pickup truck, despite its lack of air conditioning.
"I will keep it until the wheels fall off," Hamill said in an interview with The Associated Press.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/03/AR2005050300107.html
Gov. Bush To Decide If Diners Can Take Opened Bottle Of Wine Home
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Governor Jeb Bush will decide whether to allow diners to take an opened bottle of wine from a restaurant home with them.
The House has voted 112-to-4 for the bill which went Wednesday to the governor. The Senate passed it a month ago.
The legislation would give individual restaurants the choice to provide the service to customers who have eaten a full meal and consumed part of a bottle of wine.
If they do, the bottle would be placed in a sealed bag and could be taken home in a car trunk or gloved compartment.
The bag would be approved by the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation and it would be tamper-resistant.
That's according to Representative Bruce Kyle, the Fort Myers Republican who sponsored the measure in the House.
http://www.local6.com/news/4449422/detail.html
Florida Halts Fight to Bar Girl's Abortion
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: May 4, 2005
MIAMI, May 3 - After first resisting a judge's order to allow a 13-year-old in state custody to get an abortion, Gov. Jeb Bush's administration changed course on Tuesday and said it would abandon the legal fight.
The reversal came a week after state lawyers went to Palm Beach County Circuit Court to stop the girl, identified as L.G., from having an abortion. Judge Ronald Alvarez agreed to delay the procedure while he weighed the facts, but ruled on Monday that the girl was competent to make decisions about her pregnancy and free to do so under the State Constitution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/national/04pregnancy.html
Portable Toilet Bill Goes to Gov. Bush
Porta potties would be regulated by the Department of Health under a bill passed unanimously Monday by the House and sent to Gov. Jeb Bush.
The measure (SB 626), which had earlier passed the Senate, creates administrative penalties and fines for failing to comply with state rules regarding where the waste from portable restrooms can be dumped.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050503/NEWS/505030398/1004
Swastika, 'Kill Bush' Found Scrawled On Golden Beach House
Police Increase Patrols
POSTED: 10:14 pm EDT May 2, 2005
GOLDEN BEACH, Fla. -- A swastika was found painted on a house under construction in Golden Beach, and authorities said they are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Investigators also said that painted on the same home along Central Island Drive were the words "Kill Bush." As a precaution, police have increased their presence in the neighborhood.
It's not clear if the "Kill Bush" scrawl was directed at the President George W. Bush, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, or someone else.
http://www.nbc6.net/news/4441943/detail.html
Florida Law: a guide
By Simon Freeman, Times Online
Since taking office in 1998, the Florida Governor John Ellis 'Jeb' Bush has several times shown his political acumen by introducing legislation that has been popular with voters
May 2005: The Jessica Lunsford Act. Introduced mandatory sentences of at least 25 years for child sex killers, backed with lifetime GPS tracking for convicted offenders.
April 2005: The 'Stand Your Ground Bill'. Gave citizens the right to shoot and kill anyone who threatens them in public without first having to try to escape.Critics, who renamed it the Kill Bill, said it would turn the Sunshine State into the Wild West.
September 2004: 'Terri's Law'. Gave the Governor the authority to reconnect severely brain-damaged Terri Schiavo's feeding tube against the wishes of her husband, who was her registered guardian. The ruling was overturned after an appeals process which reached the US Supreme Court and Ms Shiavo died last month
May 2004: Senate Bill 348. A privacy bill which closed a loophole that allowed a newspaper to obtain the social security numbers of state employees through the public records statutes
April 2004: All greyhound tracks in the state of Florida required to open booths providing information on the adoption of racing dogs, in order to stop thousands of greyhounds being put to death unnecessarily once they had passed their prime
June 2003: The Dr Marvin Davies Florida Civil Rights Act. Enabled the Attorney General's office to take civil rights actions against companies it accuses of discrimination, seeking fines of up to $10,000
June 2003: Gov Bush relaxed the terms of the Everglades Forever Act which extended the deadline for reducing phosphorous levels attributed to run-off from sugar farms by 10 years. There was criticism after it emerged that Big Sugar, a producer, had contributed to Bush's election campaign
June 2003: The Animal Fighting Bill. Prohibited the keeping and training of animals for dog and cockfighting
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1596148,00.html
Senate President rips Jeb Bush over Medicaid, growth issues
By S.V. Dáte
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer and Dara Kam, Special to the Post
Thursday, April 28, 2005
TALLAHASSEE — Eight weeks of legislative harmony came to a screeching end Wednesday, with Senate President Tom Lee lashing out at Gov. Jeb Bush over Medicaid, slot-machine gambling and, closest to his heart, growth management.
"We're down to the final week and I would encourage the governor to watch what he says," Lee said following a long day on the Senate floor. "Because the emotions tend to run high in the last week. People get offended very easily, and the decorum and tone that's been set by the speaker and I could easily unravel by a governor who really doesn't have a role in this process right now."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/news/epaper/2005/04/28/a4a_lee_0428.html
Gov. Jeb Bush Asks for 1964 Killing Review
By RON WORD
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 27, 2005; 9:25 PM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday asked state law enforcement authorities to take another look at a 1964 race-riot slaying of a black maid _ a case in which charges against three white men were eventually dropped.
It is the second time he has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review the notorious 41-year-old case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/27/AR2005042701996.html
This is popular with voters?
Governor Bush signs bill allowing meeting of "force with force"
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Florida Governor Jeb Bush has signed a bill intended to make it clear that people have a right to defend themselves on the street.
The measure passed the Florida Legislature overwhelmingly earlier this year. It says people who are under attack don't have to retreat before responding, as long as they're in a place they legally have a right to be. They already had that right in their own homes.
Supporters of the bill had touted it as a way not only to protect the rights of those who are assaulted, but to deter crime.
Opponents warned during debate that it will lead to a "Wild West" atmosphere in Florida, where gun-toting people in public places will have shootouts because they can. They say no one will ever back down.
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3263781
Jeb Bush, Man of His (Christian) Consituents
"A Muslim group today asked Gov. Jeb Bush to provide leadership in the investigation of a doctor suspected of plotting to blow up dozens of mosques.
Altaf Ali, of the the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also asked for state security at mosques. Mr. Bush's spokeswoman did not return a call."
You can go read the article if you'd like, but save one extra sentence about the doctor's plot to kill as many 'rags' as he could, that's the entirety of it, posted right there.
Let's just imagine for a moment that there had been a Muslim arrested with enough explosives to level his entire condo complex, as was the case with Mr. Goldstein. Let's say said Muslim had a mission template for exploding as many Christian churches and educational centers as possible, as was again the case (only, of course, the doc's plans were for mosques).
Do you think for one moment that Jeb wouldn't have armed security crawling over every damn church in Florida within seconds if, say, they asked him for it?
I will bet you the entire GNP of Bolivia that he would've returned their goddamned phone call.
Shame on you, Jeb. The only message you're sending to thousands of Florida Muslims is that their lives aren't quite as important to you as other voters'.
http://fox.prodigal.ca/archives/002545.html
Luis Posada, from Panama to Miami. Will the United States "Harbor Terrorism"?
By Arthur Shaw
Apr 17, 2005, 21:57
Luis Posada Carriles, also known as "Bambi," was arrested in November 17, 2000, in Panama, within hours after Cuban President Fidel Castro exposed to the world media and the Panamanian authorities a plot to assassinate him and to slaughter the student body of the University of Panama where Castro was due to speak during his stay in the central American country.
Fidel Castro was in Panama attending the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama's capital.
When he was arrested, Posada carried a fake passport and had 33 pounds of plastic explosives, called C-4, in his possession.
If Posada had been successful in detonating his explosives at the university auditorium where Castro was scheduled to speak, it has been authoritatively estimated that he would have murdered not only Fidel Castro but also at least 1000 students.
This terrorist operation against the University of Panama and Fidel Castro, if it had succeeded, would have exceeded in bestiality Posada's October 6, 1976 mid-flight bombing of the Cuban airliner which murdered 73 persons.
It would have also exceeded or outperformed in bestiality the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, by Timothy Mcveigh, when 168 people were murdered and 500 or so were wounded.
The Panamanian prosecutors rejected the idea of charging Posada and three accomplices with attempted murder of either the students or Castro, choosing rather to charge Posada with illegal possession of explosives, carrying false documents, and endangering public safety.
Posada and the three others were ultimately found guilty of only "endangering public safety."
...Since then, the Miami mafia has destroyed democracy in Florida to help ... politically ... the Bush family. In 2000, the mafia intimidated or obstructed over a million voters, mostly African-American, inclined to support the Democrats, from voting.
In 2004, the mafia, extended their vote-swindling operations from the African-Americans to senior citizens with Democratic proclivities.
Today, Jeb Bush wants Luis Posada either pardoned or granted political asylum to assure, among other things, that the Miami mafia will steal enough votes and otherwise rigged his 2008 election -- or whenever he runs -- for president.
Brother George in the White House is eager to help Jeb get what he wants.
This is the main reason why the cowardly and corrupted US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refuses to institute Section 1226a terrorist certification proceedings against Posada.
This is why Gonzales pretends that the "pardon" of Posada by the bribe-snatching former president of Panama clears Posada of the charge of attempted mass murder ... again.
© Copyrights 2005 by AxisofLogic.com and VHeadline.com
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_16910.shtml
Armed Vigilantes: The New Face of the Republican Party
By ADVOCATE STAFF
This is a news story about a Google headline, "Florida National Rifle Association Bill Would Allow People To Kill Others In Public."
This is a news story about how that headline is not, by any means, an exaggeration, and about how the story underlying that headline is brought to you not by some obscure troglodyte on the X-con frontier, but the likely Republican presidential candidate in 2008--and the brother (God help us, the "smart" one) of our current President--Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
So, we begin.
Perhaps no tenet of criminal law is more venerable than the doctrine of self-defense.
http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/04/armed-vigilantes-new-face-of.html
Letter: Think peace, and bring troops home from Iraq
In this spiritual time of the year, and after the religious showing in the November election, it would seem appropriate to actively seek peace in the horrible war against Iraq.
While large corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel rake in billions of our hard-earned tax dollars from everybody's paychecks, U.S. soldiers and the people of Iraq are dying. Where is the death toll noted in our media of the women and children of Iraq? Where is the consideration of what we are doing to our younger generation?
The vice president's company should be there for peace, not for spending our money in the black hole of war. After all, as the head of Halliburton, Dick Cheney became the head of President Bush's committee to find a vice president. And look whom he chose.
So, while looking out at our beautiful snow-covered fields, and while thinking of the true meaning of this season, we should think of peace. If the American people want peace, it will happen. Bring our young people home now.
LEIF E. WINTER
HALLSTEAD, PA.
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op122204s137490.shtml
Corruption - part 1: Who Pays the Price?
By Judith Snyderman
17 December 2004
Experts who analyze corruption say there is no way to eliminate the greed that is behind many criminal acts. But, there are effective strategies to fight corruption in countries big and small, and rich and poor.
One strategy is to openly discuss the problem. So our look at corruption begins with an assessment of the global reach of corruption and who pays the price…Paul Miller narrates.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2004-12-17-voa39.cfm
Methodist pastor embarks on mission to raise opposition to war
17 Dec 2004
Associated Press: Rev. Wayne Lavender, pastor of the New Milford, Conn., United Methodist Church, plans to launch a four-month peace mission on Jan. 1 that he hopes will include visiting Iraq and meeting President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who are both fellow Methodists.
http://www.churchcentral.com/nw/s/id/21710/template/Article.html
FAMU wants shot at flu lab
Vaccine industry would create economic boom, advocates say
By BILL COTTERELL and MELANIE YEAGER
Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat
A quietly devised plan to create a flu vaccine lab and production plant in Tallahassee could ease nationwide shortages, add prestige to Florida A&M University and give the Big Bend an economic shot in the arm.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10440217.htm
Unrelenting hurricane season top state story in 2004
JEFF PRICE
Associated Press
MIAMI - An unprecedented hurricane season when four major storms battered nearly every corner of Florida, leaving more than 100 dead and an estimated $42 billion in damages, was voted the top state story in 2004 by AP newspaper editors and broadcasters.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/10492658.htm
Drugs threaten Afghans, U.S. says
By Eric Schmitt
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON - Poppy cultivation and opium production will continue to increase in Afghanistan, expanding the dangerous influence of drug lords at all levels of the government of President Hamid Karzai, a new confidential American military assessment warns.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/10491511.htm
The year that was
Here’s some one-stop-shopping: a 2004 recap-winners-losers-heroes-villains-in and out-predictions-for-’05.
Friday, December 24, 2004
It’s that time of year again, time to reflect on the past and predict the future. All over the media, we learn the heroes and villains, the good and the bad of 2004, what’s in and what’s out, and what lies ahead in 2005.
http://www.sovo.com/2004/12-24/view/columns/was.cfm
Investigators wrapping up first phase of Big Dig wall inspections
The Associated Press
BOSTON— Investigators reviewing the construction of wall panels in the Big Dig's Interstate 93 tunnel planned to wrap up the first phase of their inspections early Friday morning by looking at two panels along one section of the tunnel.
http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041223/APN/412231074
Bin Laden Tape Urges Stopping Oil to U.S.
DAVID McHUGH
Associated Press
Osama bin Laden claims to have bled the Soviet Union into bankruptcy as an Islamic guerrilla fighter in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Could he do the same to another hated superpower - the United States?
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10449164.htm
Former U.N. oil-for-food chief denies wrongdoing
Lawyer: Sevan 'is confident that he will be fully vindicated'
From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
Saturday, December 18, 2004 Posted: 4:26 PM EST (2126 GMT)
CNN) -- Dogged by allegations that he pocketed oil money from Saddam Hussein's government, Benon Sevan, the former head of the United Nations oil-for-food program, insisted this week that he had done nothing wrong.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/18/iraq.sevan/
Iraq oil facilities targeted after bin Laden message
Iraq's key oil infrastructure suffered five attacks in 24 hours after a voice identified as Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ordered followers to sabotage the west's key oil supplies.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1268365.htm
Pounded by waves, grounded ship spews more oil into the sea
By MATT VOLZ
The Associated Press
Wendy Sangiacomo of International Bird Rescue yesterday hydrates a murre, oiled from the Selendang Ayu spill off Unalaska Island.
ANCHORAGE — Rough waves battered the remains of a grounded freighter yesterday, causing more heavy oil to spill into the Bering Sea off the coast of Unalaska Island.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002123509_freighter18m.html
IOC may pick up 47% stake in OIL
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2004 12:28:31 AM]
NEW DELHI: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) may buy 47% stake in Oil India Ltd from the government.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/963828.cms
IOC,OIL merger possible, says Aiyar:
[India News]: Jaipur, Dec.18 : Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said here today that there was a distinct and a distant possibility of the government seriously considering a merger between Indian Oil Corporation and Oil India Limited in the near future.
http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=48735
Bechtel to pay Iraqi worker $90,000 to settle bias case
December 16, 2004, 6:20 PM EST
NEWARK, N.J. -- Bechtel Inc., the giant construction company helping to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, has settled a bias lawsuit by agreeing to pay $90,000 to an Iraqi-American employee fired from its Hackensack facility, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-bc-nj--bechtel-eeocsuit1216dec16,0,3260919.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
RAY SUAREZ: It was former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil who called Social Security "the third rail of American politics" because it meant certain death to any politician who touched it.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_security/july-dec04/fix_12-16.html
Dollar Weakens on Forecasts Current-Account Deficit Will Widen
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar held near a one-week low against the euro and fell versus the yen on expectations a U.S. government report today will say the current-account deficit widened to a record.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=axq8fFd6PqLw&refer=japan
end
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
'Tremendous Victory'
After seven day occupation, University of Hawaii activists return office to President David McClain
Navy research center opponents end sit-in
By Jeannette J. Lee / Associated Press
HONOLULU — A group protesting a proposed Navy research center at the University of Hawaii ended a weeklong sit-in Wednesday at the office of the university president.
Dozens of protesters marched out of interim President David McClain's office clapping and chanting. Organizers called the protest a "tremendous victory."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2511
Statement From 'Save UH/Stop UARC Occupation'
Wednesday, May 4, 2005 - First, we would like to thank our community of supporters in Hawai’i and around the world for their aloha, generosity and kokua. We would also like to acknowledge the staff of the university especially the custodial, secretarial, and security officers in Bachman Hall.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2510
Hello everyone, my name is Bart Abbott and I'm going to be taking over responsibility for the BLOG. I'm a political science major who's been doing research on the UARC and classified rese
http://www.livejournal.com/users/stopuarc/2005/05/04/
I've been keeping up with Earth's satellites and basically the picture is the same as a couple of days ago. I'll post more. The heat is picking up in the Northern Hemisphere. I still believe remain optimistic regarding the waining of Global Warming due to consumer price increases at the pump in the USA.
I need to finish up some projects. I'll be emptying some files over the next few weeks and have run across some 'stuff'. The older articles may or may not open but they are worth noting. Noting primarily that the USA is going NOWHERE !! Stagnant under leadership without invention or answers or the will to admit they are 'W'rong. And now we have Improvied Explosive Devices in New York City.
The Cheney Observer
Committee Prepares Questions for Bolton
By LOLITA BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
(04-27) 00:39 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is casting a wide net for information about John R. Bolton, whose nomination as ambassador to the United Nations has been stalled by allegations he abused power and mistreated underlings in government.
Over the next few days committee members plan to set up interviews with as many as 19 people — from former intelligence officers and subordinates who reported problems with Bolton to his former chief assistant, according to a Senate committee aide who spoke on condition of anonymity.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/26/national/w170325D48.DTL
Singapore Petroleum Co 1Q Net S$72.7M Vs S$41.9M -2-
Singapore Petroleum Company Ltd. - Singapore
First quarter ended March 31:
Figures are in Singapore dollars (S$).
Earnings are unaudited, and based on local accounting standards.
2005 2004
Revenue S$ 1,449,049,000 S$ 953,216,000
Pretax Profit 85,512,000 43,867,000
Net Profit 72,713,000 41,858,000
Earnings Per Share
Basic 16.57 cents 9.83 cents
Fully Diluted 14.82 cents 9.72 cents
Dividend Omitted Omitted
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Singapore Petroleum Co. (S99.SG), an affiliate of marine engineering conglomerate Keppel Corp. (K02.SG), Tuesday said its first-quarter net profit ended March 31 surged 74% from the year-ago period, boosted by soaring oil prices.
The company, which refines oil and operates petrol stations, reported its net profit for the quarter rose to S$72.7 million from S$41.9 million a year earlier.
Revenue during the period jumped to S$1.45 billion from S$953.2 million.
Earnings were fueled by high refining margins on the back of rising oil prices due to a "perceived tightness in supply in the short and medium term," SPC said in a statement.
"Concerns over the ability of crude producers to meet expanded demand and a possible disruption to supply caused crude prices to rise to record levels during the first quarter," SPC said.
The company said it achieved an average refining margin of US$3.50 a barrel for the first quarter.
SPC said it expects to continue to perform well for the rest of the year, supported by strong demand for refined petroleum products.
http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/050426/15/3s5px.html
Occidental Petroleum first quarter profit up sharply on higher oil prices
Canadian Press
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Occidental Petroleum Corp. said Tuesday that higher oil and gas prices drove up its first quarter profits by 74 per cent.
Quarterly income grew to $846 million US, or $2.11 per share, from $487 million, or $1.24 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, core earnings amounted to $866 million, or $2.16 per share, the company said.
http://www.canada.com/components/printstory/printstory4.aspx?id=c3fb2ee1-910e-46f8-9c6d-9c55dbf8c868
PETROLEUM: Oil refining giant Valero to buy rival Premcor for $6.9 billion
Associated Press
Published April 26, 2005
SAN ANTONIO -- Valero Energy Corp. plans to acquire Premcor Inc. for $6.9 billion in cash and stock as part of a deal that would create the largest refiner of crude oil in North America, company officials announced Monday.
Valero will issue $3.5 billion in stock and pay $3.4 billion in cash. Valero also would assume about $1.8 billion in debt in the deal, which will add four refineries and 790,000 barrels per day to its system.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0504260255apr26,1,4523978.story?coll=chi-business-hed
Whiting Petroleum upgraded to "outperform" - update
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 12:28:27 PM ET
RBC Capital Markets
NEW YORK, April 26 (newratings.com) - Analyst Scott Hanold of RBC Capital Markets upgrades Whiting Petroleum Corporation (WLL.NYS) from "sector perform" to "outperform," while reducing his estimates for the company. The target price is set to $48.
http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_795839.html
Vintage Petroleum initiated with "neutral"
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 11:02:42 AM ET
J.P. Morgan Securities
NEW YORK, April 26 (newratings.com) - Analysts at JP Morgan initiate coverage of Vintage Petroleum (VPI.NYS) with a "neutral" rating.
In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that the company is currently undertaking new ventures, including the shale gas concept located in the Palo Duro basin. Vintage Petroleum's operating performance has been sluggish, as compared to that of its peers, the analysts say. Vintage Petroleum’s near-term reserve growth and organic production are likely to be adversely impacted by the company’s weak margins and high asset intensity, JP Morgan adds.
http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_795616.html
Bush and Cheney rushed to safety in security scare
Associated Press
Published April 28, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush was taken quickly to a secure underground White House bunker and Vice President Dick Cheney was whisked outside the compound Wednesday because of a "radar anomaly"--perhaps a flock of birds or pocket of rain--that was mistaken for a plane flying in restricted airspace.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0504280188apr28,1,1654458.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Bush Cheney Regime: The Illegal US Government
by WHATREALLYHAPPENED.COM
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Is this the beginning of the US "Civil" War II?)
A recent poll discovered that half of Americans know that the government intentionally lied about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The actual figure is probably a lot higher since there is a large percentage of Americans still willing to let their neighbors' children die than ever admit they were wrong to support the war in the first place.
So, the majority of Americans know the government lied to create a war.
A majority of Americans now know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that claims to the contrary were intentional lies.
A majority of Americans now know the US Government lied when it claimed Iraq's WMDs were a threat to the United States.
A majority of Americans now know the mainstream media lied when it claimed Iraq's WMDs were a threat to the United States.
A majority of Americans now know that the US Government has been torturing innocent Iraqis for information on WMDs the US Government already knew they could not possibly have.
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=2&contentid=2126
Global Eye
Buried Treasure
By Chris Floyd
Published: April 29, 2005
It seemed, at first, like nothing more than a novelty item in the news briefs, the kind of odd, meaningless side-fact thrown off by most major stories: "New Pope, President's Brother Had Link in Swiss Group." But a look beneath the surface of this innocuous connection reveals a vast web of sinister alliances -- and moral corruption on a world-shaking scale.
The network links a bewildering line-up of players -- the Bushes, the Vatican, bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and China's Communist overlords, among others -- in a staggering array of crime and turpitude: prostitution, pedophilia, mass death and war profiteering. Yet this is not some grand "conspiracy theory," a serpent's egg hatched in Bilderberg or Bohemian Grove. It's simply the way the Bush boys do business, trawling the globe for sweetheart deals and gushers of blood money from the war and terror they foment.
At the center of this particular nexus is the unlikely figure of Neil Bush, the feckless, fraudulent brother of the current president. Neilsy, as he's known in the family, is most famous for costing American taxpayers $1 billion to bail out a savings-and-loan he had ruined with secret insider loans to his own business partners. For this massive fraud, he was fined -- by his father's administration -- the princely sum of $50,000, which was actually paid by one of his dad's political bagmen, of course.
You see, the Bushes are robber barons, not capitalists: They never risk any of their own money in the competition of the marketplace. Nor do they ever pay the price when their deals go belly-up. Just ask George W., whose first business was jump-started with secret cash from the bin Ladens, laundered through their U.S. frontman, James Bath -- who was also hired by W.'s dad, then-CIA director George Bush Sr., to set up offshore companies for shifting CIA money and aircraft between Texas and Saudi Arabia, the Texas Observer reported.
http://context.themoscowtimes.com/story/142022/
GOP warns Democrats they'll face probes, too
Friday, April 29, 2005
By Karen MacPherson, Post-Gazette National Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Angry House Republicans yesterday warned their Democratic colleagues to expect a spate of inquiries into possible ethics violations in retaliation for forcing GOP leaders to jettison controversial new rules for ethics investigations.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05119/496476.stm
Novak repeated conservative canard that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion"
CNN host and syndicated columnist Robert Novak repeated the baseless accusation that Democrats "are opposing Judge Pryor of Alabama because of his religion." In fact, senators who have opposed William H. Pryor's nomination to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals -- and even current Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- have questioned Pryor over his willingness and ability to put aside his personal views and follow the law. Specter also echoed Democrats' concerns over inconsistent statements Pryor made to the committee regarding his involvement in the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA).
http://mediamatters.org/items/200504280008
Guantanamo interrogations faked
Former U.S. Army translator revealed on Friday that U.S. officials at Guantanamo staged interrogations of detainees for visiting politicians and generals with the aim of giving them the impression that valuable intelligence was regularly being gathered.
Speaking to CBS television's 60 Minutes, Sergeant Erik Saar said that "only a few dozen" of the 600 detainees at the camp were "terrorists" and that little information was obtained from them.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8128
Afghan munitions blast kills and wounds over 100
A hidden weapons cache in a northern Afghan village exploded on Monday, killing at least 28 people and wounding over 70, a government spokesman said.
"The whole neighborhood around the ammunition dump has been destroyed," said Lutfullah Mashal, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said adding that a team of investigators is currently probing what caused the blast in Pajga village in Baghlan province, 120 km (80 miles) north of the capital, Kabul.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=7424
Arms deal worth $500 million to be inked by Turkey and Israel
5/2/2005 5:00:00 PM GMT
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
The Turkish Prime Minister Recob Erdogen is to sign an arms deal worth $500 million with Israeli officials under which Tel Aviv would upgrade 30 Turkish F-4 jetfighters at a cost of half a million dollars, the Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported.
The paper also stated that the Turkish government set the condition that the upgrading process should be carried out at Turkish air force bases rather than at Israeli military factories.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8069
Halliburton's War Loot
Corruption in Bush's Iraq
By BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
New Zealand.
There is a squalid little wart called Mark Steyn whose blinkered worship for Bush and the Crazy Crusaders is intense. He is the darling of the Murdoch-style, mind-bending, non-information media and of some other formerly respectable US and British publications which have lost their way in the fetid jungle of Bush idolatry. Steyn is the prat who wrote in the UK's Telegraph newspaper a year ago that "I don't think it's possible for anyone who looks at Iraq honestly to see it as anything other than a success story . . . ".
http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley05032005.html
Halliburton lands $24 million Shell drilling plum
from: Offshore Engineer
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
HALLIBURTON'S ENERGY SERVICES GROUP HAS BEEN AWARDED A two-year contract, with the option for an additional year, by Shell Exploration & Production to provide 40% of Shell's integrated drilling services for their Gulf of Mexico activities. The value of the contract is estimated at $24 million for the fixed two-year duration and includes the provision of directional drilling, measurement-whiledrilling (MWD), and logging-while-drilling (LWD).
http://www.oilonline.com/news/headlines/otc/20050503.Hallibur.17864.asp
S. Pars drilling to go ahead without Halliburton
Tuesday, May 03, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, May 3 (IranMania) - A senior oil industry official said that oil well drilling for phases IX and X of the giant South Pars gas field development project will begin within a month following an agreement reached between Pars Oil and Gas Company and Oriental Oil Kish.
Akbar Torkan, managing director of Pars Oil and Gas Company, said Oriental Oil Kish has received the initial payment for the multimillion dollar project.
Iranian engineers have managed to successfully install the first of the two jackets of the offshore platform for phases IX and X. A US company, Halliburton, was awarded phases IX and X of the giant project earlier this year together with Oriental Oil Kish, but quietly pulled out amid mounting pressures from Washington.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=31523&NewsKind=Business%20%26%20Economy
Ex-Iraqi Hostage Reflects on Life Changes
By KATHY HANRAHAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 3, 2005; 2:33 AM
JACKSON, Miss. -- Thomas Hamill, whose dash to freedom from captivity in Iraq prompted a Mississippi lawmaker to dub him a "superhero for country boys," still drives the same 1995 Dodge pickup truck, despite its lack of air conditioning.
"I will keep it until the wheels fall off," Hamill said in an interview with The Associated Press.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/03/AR2005050300107.html
Gov. Bush To Decide If Diners Can Take Opened Bottle Of Wine Home
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Governor Jeb Bush will decide whether to allow diners to take an opened bottle of wine from a restaurant home with them.
The House has voted 112-to-4 for the bill which went Wednesday to the governor. The Senate passed it a month ago.
The legislation would give individual restaurants the choice to provide the service to customers who have eaten a full meal and consumed part of a bottle of wine.
If they do, the bottle would be placed in a sealed bag and could be taken home in a car trunk or gloved compartment.
The bag would be approved by the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation and it would be tamper-resistant.
That's according to Representative Bruce Kyle, the Fort Myers Republican who sponsored the measure in the House.
http://www.local6.com/news/4449422/detail.html
Florida Halts Fight to Bar Girl's Abortion
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
Published: May 4, 2005
MIAMI, May 3 - After first resisting a judge's order to allow a 13-year-old in state custody to get an abortion, Gov. Jeb Bush's administration changed course on Tuesday and said it would abandon the legal fight.
The reversal came a week after state lawyers went to Palm Beach County Circuit Court to stop the girl, identified as L.G., from having an abortion. Judge Ronald Alvarez agreed to delay the procedure while he weighed the facts, but ruled on Monday that the girl was competent to make decisions about her pregnancy and free to do so under the State Constitution.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/04/national/04pregnancy.html
Portable Toilet Bill Goes to Gov. Bush
Porta potties would be regulated by the Department of Health under a bill passed unanimously Monday by the House and sent to Gov. Jeb Bush.
The measure (SB 626), which had earlier passed the Senate, creates administrative penalties and fines for failing to comply with state rules regarding where the waste from portable restrooms can be dumped.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050503/NEWS/505030398/1004
Swastika, 'Kill Bush' Found Scrawled On Golden Beach House
Police Increase Patrols
POSTED: 10:14 pm EDT May 2, 2005
GOLDEN BEACH, Fla. -- A swastika was found painted on a house under construction in Golden Beach, and authorities said they are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Investigators also said that painted on the same home along Central Island Drive were the words "Kill Bush." As a precaution, police have increased their presence in the neighborhood.
It's not clear if the "Kill Bush" scrawl was directed at the President George W. Bush, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, or someone else.
http://www.nbc6.net/news/4441943/detail.html
Florida Law: a guide
By Simon Freeman, Times Online
Since taking office in 1998, the Florida Governor John Ellis 'Jeb' Bush has several times shown his political acumen by introducing legislation that has been popular with voters
May 2005: The Jessica Lunsford Act. Introduced mandatory sentences of at least 25 years for child sex killers, backed with lifetime GPS tracking for convicted offenders.
April 2005: The 'Stand Your Ground Bill'. Gave citizens the right to shoot and kill anyone who threatens them in public without first having to try to escape.Critics, who renamed it the Kill Bill, said it would turn the Sunshine State into the Wild West.
September 2004: 'Terri's Law'. Gave the Governor the authority to reconnect severely brain-damaged Terri Schiavo's feeding tube against the wishes of her husband, who was her registered guardian. The ruling was overturned after an appeals process which reached the US Supreme Court and Ms Shiavo died last month
May 2004: Senate Bill 348. A privacy bill which closed a loophole that allowed a newspaper to obtain the social security numbers of state employees through the public records statutes
April 2004: All greyhound tracks in the state of Florida required to open booths providing information on the adoption of racing dogs, in order to stop thousands of greyhounds being put to death unnecessarily once they had passed their prime
June 2003: The Dr Marvin Davies Florida Civil Rights Act. Enabled the Attorney General's office to take civil rights actions against companies it accuses of discrimination, seeking fines of up to $10,000
June 2003: Gov Bush relaxed the terms of the Everglades Forever Act which extended the deadline for reducing phosphorous levels attributed to run-off from sugar farms by 10 years. There was criticism after it emerged that Big Sugar, a producer, had contributed to Bush's election campaign
June 2003: The Animal Fighting Bill. Prohibited the keeping and training of animals for dog and cockfighting
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1596148,00.html
Senate President rips Jeb Bush over Medicaid, growth issues
By S.V. Dáte
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer and Dara Kam, Special to the Post
Thursday, April 28, 2005
TALLAHASSEE — Eight weeks of legislative harmony came to a screeching end Wednesday, with Senate President Tom Lee lashing out at Gov. Jeb Bush over Medicaid, slot-machine gambling and, closest to his heart, growth management.
"We're down to the final week and I would encourage the governor to watch what he says," Lee said following a long day on the Senate floor. "Because the emotions tend to run high in the last week. People get offended very easily, and the decorum and tone that's been set by the speaker and I could easily unravel by a governor who really doesn't have a role in this process right now."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/news/epaper/2005/04/28/a4a_lee_0428.html
Gov. Jeb Bush Asks for 1964 Killing Review
By RON WORD
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 27, 2005; 9:25 PM
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday asked state law enforcement authorities to take another look at a 1964 race-riot slaying of a black maid _ a case in which charges against three white men were eventually dropped.
It is the second time he has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review the notorious 41-year-old case.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/27/AR2005042701996.html
This is popular with voters?
Governor Bush signs bill allowing meeting of "force with force"
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Florida Governor Jeb Bush has signed a bill intended to make it clear that people have a right to defend themselves on the street.
The measure passed the Florida Legislature overwhelmingly earlier this year. It says people who are under attack don't have to retreat before responding, as long as they're in a place they legally have a right to be. They already had that right in their own homes.
Supporters of the bill had touted it as a way not only to protect the rights of those who are assaulted, but to deter crime.
Opponents warned during debate that it will lead to a "Wild West" atmosphere in Florida, where gun-toting people in public places will have shootouts because they can. They say no one will ever back down.
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3263781
Jeb Bush, Man of His (Christian) Consituents
"A Muslim group today asked Gov. Jeb Bush to provide leadership in the investigation of a doctor suspected of plotting to blow up dozens of mosques.
Altaf Ali, of the the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also asked for state security at mosques. Mr. Bush's spokeswoman did not return a call."
You can go read the article if you'd like, but save one extra sentence about the doctor's plot to kill as many 'rags' as he could, that's the entirety of it, posted right there.
Let's just imagine for a moment that there had been a Muslim arrested with enough explosives to level his entire condo complex, as was the case with Mr. Goldstein. Let's say said Muslim had a mission template for exploding as many Christian churches and educational centers as possible, as was again the case (only, of course, the doc's plans were for mosques).
Do you think for one moment that Jeb wouldn't have armed security crawling over every damn church in Florida within seconds if, say, they asked him for it?
I will bet you the entire GNP of Bolivia that he would've returned their goddamned phone call.
Shame on you, Jeb. The only message you're sending to thousands of Florida Muslims is that their lives aren't quite as important to you as other voters'.
http://fox.prodigal.ca/archives/002545.html
Luis Posada, from Panama to Miami. Will the United States "Harbor Terrorism"?
By Arthur Shaw
Apr 17, 2005, 21:57
Luis Posada Carriles, also known as "Bambi," was arrested in November 17, 2000, in Panama, within hours after Cuban President Fidel Castro exposed to the world media and the Panamanian authorities a plot to assassinate him and to slaughter the student body of the University of Panama where Castro was due to speak during his stay in the central American country.
Fidel Castro was in Panama attending the 10th Ibero-American Summit in Panama's capital.
When he was arrested, Posada carried a fake passport and had 33 pounds of plastic explosives, called C-4, in his possession.
If Posada had been successful in detonating his explosives at the university auditorium where Castro was scheduled to speak, it has been authoritatively estimated that he would have murdered not only Fidel Castro but also at least 1000 students.
This terrorist operation against the University of Panama and Fidel Castro, if it had succeeded, would have exceeded in bestiality Posada's October 6, 1976 mid-flight bombing of the Cuban airliner which murdered 73 persons.
It would have also exceeded or outperformed in bestiality the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, by Timothy Mcveigh, when 168 people were murdered and 500 or so were wounded.
The Panamanian prosecutors rejected the idea of charging Posada and three accomplices with attempted murder of either the students or Castro, choosing rather to charge Posada with illegal possession of explosives, carrying false documents, and endangering public safety.
Posada and the three others were ultimately found guilty of only "endangering public safety."
...Since then, the Miami mafia has destroyed democracy in Florida to help ... politically ... the Bush family. In 2000, the mafia intimidated or obstructed over a million voters, mostly African-American, inclined to support the Democrats, from voting.
In 2004, the mafia, extended their vote-swindling operations from the African-Americans to senior citizens with Democratic proclivities.
Today, Jeb Bush wants Luis Posada either pardoned or granted political asylum to assure, among other things, that the Miami mafia will steal enough votes and otherwise rigged his 2008 election -- or whenever he runs -- for president.
Brother George in the White House is eager to help Jeb get what he wants.
This is the main reason why the cowardly and corrupted US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refuses to institute Section 1226a terrorist certification proceedings against Posada.
This is why Gonzales pretends that the "pardon" of Posada by the bribe-snatching former president of Panama clears Posada of the charge of attempted mass murder ... again.
© Copyrights 2005 by AxisofLogic.com and VHeadline.com
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_16910.shtml
Armed Vigilantes: The New Face of the Republican Party
By ADVOCATE STAFF
This is a news story about a Google headline, "Florida National Rifle Association Bill Would Allow People To Kill Others In Public."
This is a news story about how that headline is not, by any means, an exaggeration, and about how the story underlying that headline is brought to you not by some obscure troglodyte on the X-con frontier, but the likely Republican presidential candidate in 2008--and the brother (God help us, the "smart" one) of our current President--Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
So, we begin.
Perhaps no tenet of criminal law is more venerable than the doctrine of self-defense.
http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/04/armed-vigilantes-new-face-of.html
Letter: Think peace, and bring troops home from Iraq
In this spiritual time of the year, and after the religious showing in the November election, it would seem appropriate to actively seek peace in the horrible war against Iraq.
While large corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel rake in billions of our hard-earned tax dollars from everybody's paychecks, U.S. soldiers and the people of Iraq are dying. Where is the death toll noted in our media of the women and children of Iraq? Where is the consideration of what we are doing to our younger generation?
The vice president's company should be there for peace, not for spending our money in the black hole of war. After all, as the head of Halliburton, Dick Cheney became the head of President Bush's committee to find a vice president. And look whom he chose.
So, while looking out at our beautiful snow-covered fields, and while thinking of the true meaning of this season, we should think of peace. If the American people want peace, it will happen. Bring our young people home now.
LEIF E. WINTER
HALLSTEAD, PA.
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op122204s137490.shtml
Corruption - part 1: Who Pays the Price?
By Judith Snyderman
17 December 2004
Experts who analyze corruption say there is no way to eliminate the greed that is behind many criminal acts. But, there are effective strategies to fight corruption in countries big and small, and rich and poor.
One strategy is to openly discuss the problem. So our look at corruption begins with an assessment of the global reach of corruption and who pays the price…Paul Miller narrates.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2004-12-17-voa39.cfm
Methodist pastor embarks on mission to raise opposition to war
17 Dec 2004
Associated Press: Rev. Wayne Lavender, pastor of the New Milford, Conn., United Methodist Church, plans to launch a four-month peace mission on Jan. 1 that he hopes will include visiting Iraq and meeting President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, who are both fellow Methodists.
http://www.churchcentral.com/nw/s/id/21710/template/Article.html
FAMU wants shot at flu lab
Vaccine industry would create economic boom, advocates say
By BILL COTTERELL and MELANIE YEAGER
Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat
A quietly devised plan to create a flu vaccine lab and production plant in Tallahassee could ease nationwide shortages, add prestige to Florida A&M University and give the Big Bend an economic shot in the arm.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10440217.htm
Unrelenting hurricane season top state story in 2004
JEFF PRICE
Associated Press
MIAMI - An unprecedented hurricane season when four major storms battered nearly every corner of Florida, leaving more than 100 dead and an estimated $42 billion in damages, was voted the top state story in 2004 by AP newspaper editors and broadcasters.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/10492658.htm
Drugs threaten Afghans, U.S. says
By Eric Schmitt
NEW YORK TIMES
WASHINGTON - Poppy cultivation and opium production will continue to increase in Afghanistan, expanding the dangerous influence of drug lords at all levels of the government of President Hamid Karzai, a new confidential American military assessment warns.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/10491511.htm
The year that was
Here’s some one-stop-shopping: a 2004 recap-winners-losers-heroes-villains-in and out-predictions-for-’05.
Friday, December 24, 2004
It’s that time of year again, time to reflect on the past and predict the future. All over the media, we learn the heroes and villains, the good and the bad of 2004, what’s in and what’s out, and what lies ahead in 2005.
http://www.sovo.com/2004/12-24/view/columns/was.cfm
Investigators wrapping up first phase of Big Dig wall inspections
The Associated Press
BOSTON— Investigators reviewing the construction of wall panels in the Big Dig's Interstate 93 tunnel planned to wrap up the first phase of their inspections early Friday morning by looking at two panels along one section of the tunnel.
http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041223/APN/412231074
Bin Laden Tape Urges Stopping Oil to U.S.
DAVID McHUGH
Associated Press
Osama bin Laden claims to have bled the Soviet Union into bankruptcy as an Islamic guerrilla fighter in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Could he do the same to another hated superpower - the United States?
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10449164.htm
Former U.N. oil-for-food chief denies wrongdoing
Lawyer: Sevan 'is confident that he will be fully vindicated'
From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
Saturday, December 18, 2004 Posted: 4:26 PM EST (2126 GMT)
CNN) -- Dogged by allegations that he pocketed oil money from Saddam Hussein's government, Benon Sevan, the former head of the United Nations oil-for-food program, insisted this week that he had done nothing wrong.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/12/18/iraq.sevan/
Iraq oil facilities targeted after bin Laden message
Iraq's key oil infrastructure suffered five attacks in 24 hours after a voice identified as Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden ordered followers to sabotage the west's key oil supplies.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200412/s1268365.htm
Pounded by waves, grounded ship spews more oil into the sea
By MATT VOLZ
The Associated Press
Wendy Sangiacomo of International Bird Rescue yesterday hydrates a murre, oiled from the Selendang Ayu spill off Unalaska Island.
ANCHORAGE — Rough waves battered the remains of a grounded freighter yesterday, causing more heavy oil to spill into the Bering Sea off the coast of Unalaska Island.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002123509_freighter18m.html
IOC may pick up 47% stake in OIL
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2004 12:28:31 AM]
NEW DELHI: Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) may buy 47% stake in Oil India Ltd from the government.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/963828.cms
IOC,OIL merger possible, says Aiyar:
[India News]: Jaipur, Dec.18 : Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said here today that there was a distinct and a distant possibility of the government seriously considering a merger between Indian Oil Corporation and Oil India Limited in the near future.
http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=48735
Bechtel to pay Iraqi worker $90,000 to settle bias case
December 16, 2004, 6:20 PM EST
NEWARK, N.J. -- Bechtel Inc., the giant construction company helping to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, has settled a bias lawsuit by agreeing to pay $90,000 to an Iraqi-American employee fired from its Hackensack facility, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-bc-nj--bechtel-eeocsuit1216dec16,0,3260919.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey
RAY SUAREZ: It was former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil who called Social Security "the third rail of American politics" because it meant certain death to any politician who touched it.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_security/july-dec04/fix_12-16.html
Dollar Weakens on Forecasts Current-Account Deficit Will Widen
Dec. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar held near a one-week low against the euro and fell versus the yen on expectations a U.S. government report today will say the current-account deficit widened to a record.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=axq8fFd6PqLw&refer=japan
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