Apologize for the poor resolution. These are Jewish Women and Children being escorted by Nazis to train to nowhere. The title of the picture, "Help Us Die Honorably."
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
About 300 mourn 'Precious Doe' at service
By MARIA SUDEKUM FISHERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday for a memorial service to remember the little girl once known only as "Precious Doe," interrupting a pastor's remarks with applause and shouting the child's name in unison.
The girl remained unidentified for four years after her body was found in April 2001 near an intersection in Kansas City. Days later, her head turned up nearby, wrapped in a trash bag.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Precious%20Doe%20Memorial
Blast at Kabul cafe kills two Afghans
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An explosion rocked an Internet cafe in the Afghan capital Saturday, killing two Afghans, police said. Officials were investigating whether the blast was caused by a suicide attacker.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Afghan%20Explosion
Rebel bombings kill 11 people in Myanmar
By AYE AYE WINASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YANGON, Myanmar -- Three explosions rocked Myanmar's capital on Saturday, killing 11 people and wounding 162 others in the latest bombings blamed on ethnic rebels in the military-ruled country. The blasts occurred in rapid succession at a convention center and two bustling supermarkets in neighborhoods across the city of 5 million people starting around mid-afternoon. It was not immediately known how many people died at each site.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Myanmar%20Blast
Putin questions NATO enlargement
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said NATO enlargement has not necessarily improved world security, and warned in a television interview broadcast Saturday that bringing Ukraine into the alliance could pose problems.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=France%20Putin
Austria leader urges nation to face past
By GEORGE JAHNASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
VIENNA, Austria -- In ceremonies marking the end of World War II, President Heinz Fischer urged fellow Austrians on Saturday to face the truth about the Hitler era, alluding to recent pro-Nazi comments by some politicians, including one who questioned the existence of gas chambers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Austria%20VE%20Day
Four charged in Buenos Aires club fire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Five former municipal officials have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the December 2004 nightclub fire here that claimed 193 lives.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Argentina%20Nightclub%20Blaze
U.S. Forest Service scales back burn plan
By SCOTT SONNERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RENO, Nev. -- Under fire from state wildlife biologists, the U.S. Forest Service agreed Friday to dramatically scale back plans to conduct a prescribed burn this month on northern Nevada rangeland that is home to a dwindling game bird.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1155&slug=Sage%20Grouse
To the end, Greenpeace founder Bob Hunter was hurling mindbombs
By DAVID USBORNEGUEST COLUMNIST
It was in the early '70s, when Bob Hunter was an iconoclastic columnist with the Vancouver Sun in British Columbia, that he found himself attending meetings with like-minded activists in a church basement in the city he had adopted and grown to love. The discussion at hand: how to put pressure on the United States, the rapacious neighbor to the south, to end its nuclear testing program in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It was the beginning of Greenpeace.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/223247_greenpeace08.html
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"Facts Were Being Fixed"
Memo:
The secret Downing Street memo
Sunday Times
SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY
DAVID MANNING
From: Matthew Rycroft
Date: 23 July 2002
S 195 /02
cc: Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney-General, Sir Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2548
Bush Made Intelligence Fit Iraq Policy
British memo indicates Bush made intelligence fit Iraq policy
By Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott / Knight Ridder
WASHINGTON - A highly classified British memo, leaked in the midst of Britain's just-concluded election campaign, indicates that President Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by summer 2002 and was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy.
The document, which summarizes a July 23, 2002, meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair with his top security advisers, reports on a visit to Washington by the head of Britain's MI-6 intelligence service.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2545
U.S. Press Afraid to Tell Truth?
Afraid to tell the truth
A secret memo publicized in Britain confirms the lies on which Bush based his Iraq policy. Why has it received so little notice in the U.S. press?
By Joe Conason / Salon
May 6, 2005 Are Americans so jaded about the deceptions perpetrated by our own government to lead us into war in Iraq that we are no longer interested in fresh and damning evidence of those lies? Or are the editors and producers who oversee the American news industry simply too timid to report that proof on the evening broadcasts and front pages?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2547
"The memo that has 'IMPEACH HIM' written all over it."
Impeachment Time: "Facts Were Fixed."
By Greg Palast / BuzzFlash Guest News Analysis
Here it is. The smoking gun. The memo that has "IMPEACH HIM" written all over it.
The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2546>
88 Members of Congress Call on Bush for Answers
In Pacific Islands, Mixed Feelings About a Lobbyist's Work
By James Brooke and Kate Zernike / New York Times
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands, May 5 - Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist under criminal investigation, used to say that the government here needed his services because it was the only American territory without a nonvoting delegate to Congress.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2544
Eighty-eight members of Congress call on Bush for answers on secret Iraq plan
RAW STORY
Eighty-eight members of Congress have signed a letter authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) calling on President Bush to answer questions about a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.
http://www.rawstory.com/aexternal/conyers_iraq_letter_502
We urge you to join us in a "National Day of Action for GI Resisters" on Tuesday May 10, 2005. This is the day before the US military is planning to bring sailor Pablo Paredes and soldier Kevin Benderman before military court martial tribunals for their opposition to the Iraq War. They face forfeiture of pay and benefits, and military jail time.
http://www.notinourname.net/courage.htm
Thousands protest Bush Dutch visit
MAASTRICHT, Netherlands (AP) -- Thousands of anti-war activists protested U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the Netherlands on Saturday, saying the man who started the Iraq war should not pay tribute to those who died in World War II for Dutch freedom.
Bush will attend a ceremony Sunday marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe at the Margraten battlefield cemetery 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Maastricht, where the graves of 8,300 American servicemen are spread neatly over a grassy hill.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2556
continued...
"Okeydoke"
History…
1812, Robert Browning, poet
1833, Johannes Brahms, composer
1840, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich, Russian composer, the foremost of the 19th century.
1892, Archibald MacLeish, poet, social critic, public servant, and educator
1919, Eva Perón, political figure and wife of President Juan Perón of Argentina
1789, the first inaugural ball was held in New York, in honor of President and Mrs. Washington.
1847: The American Medical Association, a federation of state and territorial medical associations, is founded in Philadelphia.
In 1915, nearly 1,200 people died when a German torpedo sank the British liner Lusitania off the Irish coast.
In 1939, Germany and Italy announced a military and political alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
In 1945, German Nazi Forces signed an unconditional surrender at Allied headquarters in Rheims, France, the European phase of World War II officially ends the next day.
In 1954, the 55-day Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam ended with Vietnamese insurgents over-running French forces.
1960: Leonid Brezhnev becomes president of the Soviet Union.
In 1963, the United States launched the Telstar 2 communications satellite.
In 1975, President Ford formally declared an end to the "Vietnam era." In Ho Chi Minh City -- formerly Saigon -- the Viet Cong celebrated its takeover.
In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby, the first of his Triple Crown wins.
In 1984, a $180 million out-of-court settlement was announced in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they'd suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.
1994: The masterpiece The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, is recovered undamaged nearly three months after it was stolen.
In 2002, Seattle Slew died in Lexington, Ky., at age 28.
Missing in Action
May 5…
1966 DAWES JOHN J. MADERA CA
1966 HEILIG JOHN MIAMI FL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 THOMAS KENNETH DEANE JR MT VERNON IL REMAINS RECOVERED 08/14/85
1967 HUGHES JAMES L. WATERLOO IA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL IN 96/98
1967 LARSON GORDON A. WINONA MN 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 SHIVELY JAMES R. SPOKANE WA 02/18/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 MITCHELL HARRY E. MARION IN 09/79 POSSIBLY SEEN IN USA REFNO 2053
1968 NORRINGTON GILES R. SPRINGFILED OH 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 TANGEMAN RICHARD G. NEW YORK NY 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
May 6…
1965 STUBBERFIELD ROBERT A. RICHMOND NC BEEP HEARD SEARCH NEG REMAINS RETURNED 06/89
1966 DODSON JAMES 06/18/66 ESCAPED DECEASED
1966 LAMAR JAMES L. EUDORA AR 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 WIDEMAN ROBERT EARL RAY VILLAGE OH 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1968 ALDRICH LAWRENCE L. FORT WORTH TX
1968 BAIRD WILLIAM A. WOOSTER OH 03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED ALIVE IN 98
1968 BRANCH MICHAEL P. NEWPORT KY 03/16/73 RELEASED BY PRG COLLAB??
1969 BILLIPP NORMAN K. MILWAUKEE WI REMAINS IDENTIFIED 01 NOV 96
1969 HAGAN JOHN ROBERT SAVANNAH GA REMAINS RETURNED IDENTIFIED 01 NOV 96
1970 HERNANDEZ FRANK S. FRESNO CA
1970 KIER LARRY GENE OMAHA NE
1970 TERAN REFUGIO T. WESTLAND MI
1970 WORTHINGTON RICHARD C. BOTHELL WA
1972 WILES MARVIN B. SAN DIEGO CA POSSIBLE DEAD
May 7…
1970 DUDMAN RICHARD 06/15/70 RELEASED REFNO 0614
1970 MORROW MICHAEL 06/15/70 RELEASED USG SPELLS MOROW
1970 POND ELIZABETH 06/70 RELEASED REFNO 1614
1972 CONSOLVO JOHN W. FORT BELVOIR VA
1972 KERNAN JOSEPH E. WASHINGTON DC 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 2000
1972 POLFER CLARENCE INDEPENDENCE MO 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1973 KAY EMMET J. HONOLULU HI 09/18/74 RELEASED BY PL DECEASED
May 8…
1965 LA HAYE JAMES D. GREEN BAY WI GROUNDFIRE CRASH AT SEA NO PARA
1966 RAY JAMES E. LONGVIEW TX 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 MC CUISTION MICHAEL K. LINCOLN NE 03/08/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 STEIMER THOMAS JACK PIEDMONT CA
1968 CONDREY GEORGE T. III ATLANTA GA EXPLODE NO SIGN SUBJ NEAR CRASH
1968 DAYTON JAMES L. GRANITE CITY IL EXPLODE NO SIGN SUBJ NEAR CRASH
1968 JENNE ROBERT E. SALT LAKE CITY UT EXPLODE NO SIGNS SUBJ NEAR CRASH
1968 JURECKO DANIEL E. CORPUS CHRISTI TX EXPLODE NO SIGN SUBJ NEAR CRASH
1969 BRASHEAR WILLIAM J. CHULA VISTA CA
1969 MUNDT HENRY G. ABILENE TX
1972 LEAVER JOHN M. JR. ARLINGTON MA
1972 TAYLOR EDMUND B. JR. LIMA OH
Los Angeles Times
A Shiite Renewal
The Muslim sect, a majority in Iraq that was oppressed under Saddam Hussein, savors new religious freedoms and political clout.
BAGHDAD — The Shiite revolution in Iraq burst into public view barely 10 days after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Without his troops to forbid them, Shiite Muslim pilgrims began to throng Iraq's highways as the festival of Arbayeen neared, the women's black abayas flowing behind them in the breeze as if flocks of crows had taken to the roads.
At almost every hamlet along the route to the holy city of Karbala, volunteers scattered plastic chairs and tables and offered sweet tea, water, bread. The mood on the eve of the festival was one of exhilaration, exuberance — and resolution. Everyone seemed to know why he or she was there. This was celebration, but also a moment of solidarity.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-shiite8may08,0,3250707.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Analysis: Senate's Partisan Showdown Has Legs
WASHINGTON — Welcome to May Madness, Washington style.
The Senate is careening toward a showdown over federal judges that poses enormous political risks for both Republicans and Democrats. But neither side seems willing or able to stop it.
The fight over President Bush's controversial judicial nominees threatens to paralyze the Senate. Unless someone blinks, it could be a defining political moment on par with the 1995-1996 federal government shutdown.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-congress8may08,0,1676721.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Leader Who Restored Labor's Clout in L.A. Dies
By Matea Gold and Monte Morin, Times Staff Writers
Miguel Contreras, the son of migrant farmworkers who grew to be one of Los Angeles' most powerful labor leaders and a dominant force in city politics, died late Friday evening of an apparent heart attack. He was 52.
Contreras, who worked the arid fields of the Central Valley as a boy, re-energized a sputtering Southern California labor movement struggling to regain relevancy.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-contreras7may07,0,4602581.story?coll=la-home-local
Iraq Blasts Kill 22, Including 2 Americans
By ALEXANDRA ZAVIS, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two suicide car bombers plowed into a foreign security company convoy in the heart of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 22 people -- including two Americans -- in an attack that left a busy traffic circle strewn with burning vehicles, mutilated bodies and bloodied school children.
Nearly 300 people have been killed in insurgent violence since Iraq's democratically elected government was sworn in 10 days ago. Seven government posts remained undecided until Saturday when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said he would submit nominations for six of them to the National Assembly for a vote Sunday.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top10may07,0,6346979.story
ELEMENTAL HALL OF SHAME
Earth: Shabby Parklands
Laura Bush has been drawing laughs lately for her quips at her husband's expense. What's more of a joke, though, is that the first lady is embarking on a $10-million campaign to get more kids to visit the national parks while the president's budgets have resulted in cuts to the campfire talks and guided hikes that are geared to youths.
The national parks are suffering from years of presidential and congressional disregard that date back far earlier than this administration. President Bush has earmarked some new money to tackle a maintenance backlog of nearly $5 billion in the parks, though most of the funds are simply being shifted from existing parks programs, and Bush still isn't allocating as much for maintenance as he promised in 2000. Some of the progress has come at the expense of staffing for visitor centers and education. Congress doesn't help when it adds pork-barrel "parks" at a rapid pace — like the Rosie the Riveter park in the Bay Area — without considering the continuing operation and maintenance costs.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-earth7may07,0,2837610.story
San Francisco Chosen to Host Stem Cell Institute
By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer
FRESNO — California's new stem cell research agency today chose San Francisco as the site of its headquarters.
The 29-member committee that oversees the Institute for Regenerative Medicine made the decision, rebuffing San Diego and Sacramento.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-050605stemcell_lat,0,7895401.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Saving PBS From the GOP
Cut the strings of government funding before right-wingers can destroy public broadcasting.
Republican hacks are slowly strangling National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System. And the liberals who are complaining about it have nobody to blame but themselves.
Well, OK, maybe not "nobody." Surely some of the blame lies with the Republican hacks. Let's begin with them, and get to the liberals later.
The chief hack in question is Kenneth Tomlinson, the Republican-appointed head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which controls NPR and PBS. Tomlinson has carried out a low-grade ideological purge, reportedly discouraging journalists there from any projects considered too hostile to business or the GOP. He has proposed placing several fellow Republican loyalists in key positions at the corporation.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-chait6may06,1,2894274.column?coll=la-home-world
Vioxx Risks Not Part of Sales Pitch, Files Reveal
Merck & Co. ordered its representatives not to talk to doctors about studies that showed the painkiller could cause heart attacks.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — Four years ago, as evidence mounted that Merck's blockbuster painkiller Vioxx could cause heart attacks, the company ordered its sales force not to discuss the emerging data with doctors, but instead to paint a reassuring picture of minimal risks, according to documents released Thursday at a congressional hearing.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-vioxx6may06,0,1912023.story?coll=la-home-business
Other
Communications Criticism: Mark Crispin Miller Examines Mainstream Media's Blind Eye Towards the Gannongate Sex ScandalPosted by: DavidSwanson on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 - 10:25 AM
Mark Crispin Miller Examines Mainstream Media's Blind Eye Towards the Gannongate Sex Scandal
A BUZZFLASH INTERVIEW
Clinton's sex life was fair game.... Although it wasn't all that interesting, let's face it--it was a consensual affair with Monica.... It made Mike Isikoff's career, gave Maureen Dowd innumerable columns, and pushed the likes of Matt Drudge and Lucianne Goldberg into prominence.
Now Bush's White House is embroiled in a sex scandal that is both more sordid and more serious.... This involves not just a huge security lapse, but what appears to be yet one more case of the Bush White House illegally deploying propaganda tactics through the institutions of the Fourth Estate.
http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1894&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Florida Senate approves slot machine bill, sends to House
8:38 PM EDT,May 6, 2005
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE -- The state Senate passed a bill to regulate Broward County slot machines in the final hours of the legislative session Friday, after approving a higher tax rate that lawmakers said would raise about $450 million for schools.
The 28-10 vote sent the bill to the House, where its future was uncertain.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0507legislature,0,6893207.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Federal judge rules against demonstrators in raid to get Elian
6:09 PM EDT,May 6, 2005
The Associated Press
MIAMI -- A federal judge Friday ruled against awarding damages to 13 people who were tear-gassed during the raid to seize 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez five years ago.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore issued a 19-page decision saying that the demonstrators and bystanders failed to show enough credible evidence that federal officers' use of force during the raid was ``unreasonable under the circumstances.''
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0506elian,0,3831311.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Man dies in Miami-Dade jail after police stun him with Taser
4:25 PM EDT,May 6, 2005
Associated Press
MIAMI -- A man died Friday after struggling with police and being hit with a Taser stun gun, authorities said.
Stanley Wilson, 44, of Miami, was found unresponsive in a Miami-Dade County Jail cell and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, police Detective Nelda Fonticiella said.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-56stungun,0,6416114.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines
Party kicks off start of beach restoration
By Jerry Berrios
jberrios@herald.com
Broward County and city officials gathered at the Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa on Hollywood beach for a ''beach party'' to kick off a project to replace sand lost to erosion onSouth Broward beaches.
The ``beach renourishment''project, to start this month, will pump sand from an offshore site onto 6.2 miles of beach in Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Dania Beach and John U. Lloyd State Park.
The shoreline width will increase from 20 feet to 220 feet.
''Restoring our eroded beaches will protect sea turtles who nest and hatch their offspring right here on our beaches,'' said Broward County Mayor Kristin Jacobs. ``Eroded beaches don't provide the nesting areas that are needed by turtles.''
The project will take four to six months for the segment from Hallandale to Dania. Work on the state park portion will start in November, to avoid conflicting with sea turtle nesting.
The cost is estimated at more than $48 million.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11581639.htm
Unwanted Pregnancies
Abortion notification bill advances
State legislators approved a measure to require teens to notify parents if they want an abortion and to allow judges to create exceptions.
BY MARY ELLEN KLAS
meklas@herald.com
TALLAHASSEE - Parents of pregnant teens will be notified by a doctor when their daughters seek an abortion, under a bill state lawmakers passed Friday and the governor is expected to sign.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11586013.htm
Suozzi to push abortion alternatives
Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi (Newsday Photo/Michael E. Ach)
BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD
STAFF WRITER
May 7, 2005
Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, wading into the contentious debate on women's reproductive health, intends in a speech Tuesday to propose spending $3 million in county funds over three years to reduce abortions, administration officials said.
Suozzi, who supports abortion rights, is following in the path of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other Democrats who say they are seeking common ground with those on the other side of the divisive issue. Political observers immediately said the address at Adelphi University indicates that Suozzi hopes to run for governor next year as a Catholic, moderate Democrat.
http://www.newsday.com/ny-lisuoz0507,0,7469216.story?coll=ny-top-headlines
Anti-abortion majority suffering division in the ranks
DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - The biggest majority in the Missouri Legislature is neither Republican nor Democrat, neither rural nor urban.
In fact, its members include most Republicans and rural lawmakers, many Democrats and some city lawmakers.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/11583376.htm
Catholic judge's abortion ruling stirs debate
May 7, 2005
By Missy Stoddard, Staff Writer
A Diocese of Palm Beach employee's efforts to have Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez barred from receiving Holy Communion after issuing a ruling on a 13-year-old's abortion was an attempt to intimidate him, the judge said Friday.
The judge is troubled that jurists may be pressured by those who believe religion trumps state law. He said he has heard from many colleagues, who worry that religious groups are challenging judges' independence.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pabortion07may07,0,1109848.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
NOVEL …
Maverick academic explores 'freaky' side of economics
Offbeat claims stir controversy
By Sharon Cohen, Associated Press
CHICAGO — Steve Levitt's world is economics, but he has no patience for inflation charts or stock market tables. He'd much prefer to plunge into a scholarly study of ... cheating sumo wrestlers.
Or slippery real estate agents.
Or drug-dealing gang members.
Levitt is a maverick economist at the University of Chicago, a school known for esteemed scholars who've paved a path to Stockholm, Sweden: Five Nobel Prize winners in economics are on the faculty.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/businessnews/ci_2719984
Rules on abortion clinics head for Bush's signature
Palm Beach Post Staff and Wire Reports
Friday, May 06, 2005
TALLAHASSEE — A bill that will place new regulations on women's health centers providing second-trimester abortions cleared the Florida House Thursday and is headed to Gov. Jeb Bush for final approval.
The House voted 97-19 to approve the bill (HB 1041), after the Senate passed it 30-9 on Wednesday.
Forum: Share your views
Critics say the bill is an attack on people trying to give and receive abortions and could erode women's constitutional rights to an abortion by putting into state law what is usually administered by the state Board of Medicine.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2005/05/06/a13a_xgr_legbriefs_0506.html
Both sides of abortion debate deride 'gay-gene' bill
By PAUL CARRIER, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
AUGUSTA — Activists on both sides of the abortion debate finally found something to agree on Thursday when they dismissed as trivial or irrelevant a bill that would outlaw abortion based on sexual orientation. Filed by Rep. Brian Duprey, R-Hampden, the high-profile bill would make it illegal to abort a fetus based on what the bill calls "the projected sexual orientation of the fetus after birth." That's if science ever identifies a so-called gay gene that could then be detected in a fetus.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/statehouse/050506abortion.shtml
New Birth Control Bill
Apr 25, 2005
Loni Blandford
WNCT - TV9
It's the so-called "conscience clause." It allows pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for the morning after pill, if they have moral or religious objections. The current law is almost the same but requires pharmacists to find someone else who will. Opponents say pharmacists shouldn't be able to second-guess what a doctor has prescribed just because they disagree.
http://www.wnct.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNCT/MGArticle/NCT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031782349187&path=
Patch up those birth-control woes
By Ayn Veronica L. de Jesus
While women have multiple roles in and outside the home—wife, mother, daughter, home manager, career woman, and friend—it’s still essential for them to stay healthy. Careful family planning and well-spaced births is one way for women to stay healthy and beautiful.
Contraceptive patches are slim and can be worn discretely under the clothes
But keeping the flames of romance alive and staying safe can be quite a challenge, with many contraceptives a hassle to administer and monitor. On top of her myriad tasks, contraception can often be overlooked.
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/apr/26/yehey/life/20050426lif1.html
Abortion Advocates Launch Efforts to Keep Filibusters in Place
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 7, 2005
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As the battle over whether to change the rules of the U.S. Senate to lower the number of votes needed to stop filibusters on President Bush's pro-life judicial picks, abortion advocates are stepping up their efforts. This past week the pro-abortion National Organization of Women announced a new campaign.
"NOW activists across the country are leading an emergency campaign to save our courts," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "We are targeting senators in fifteen states and sending the message that we will not allow the legacy of our courts to be dictated by religious and political extremists."
http://www.lifenews.com/nat1325.html
Putting the Control Back in Birth Control: Racism, Class and Reproductive Rights
Submitted by MaRK on Mon, 04/25/2005 - 15:26.
"Rape, racism, sexism, and capitalism have been consistent elements in a long history of documented assaults against the reproductive sovereignty of Black women." [1] -Theryn Kigvamasud’ Vashti, Communities Against Rape and Abuse
The Northeastern Anarchist: Repro Series
For working women, control of one's own body is constantly another turf battle in the class war. In this second article in our series on reproduction, we look at birth control and sterilization in the context of other attacks on the poor.
Putting the Control Back in Birth Control: Racism, Class and Reproductive Rights
by PJ Lilley and Jeff Shantz
As anarcha-feminists, when we think of "reproductive rights" we usually first think of a woman's right to choose when/where/how she has children in terms of her access to free, safe abortions and multiple birth control technologies.
We might think of Emma Goldman standing on a soapbox risking arrest to talk to women about condoms, or of our sisters currently standing on the front lines doing clinic defense actions. But on the flip side of the same coin is the right to choose to have a child, and the access to health care and a safe environment to enable that choice. Creeping liberalism and racism manifest when the equation that abortion equals "individual choice free from state interference", or the interests of white, middle class women become the dominant interpretation of reproductive liberty.
http://nefac.net/node/1701
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Rancher appeals fine imposed over rotting cattle
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. -- A Skagit County rancher is appealing a fine imposed by health officials after the carcasses of 172 dead cattle were found rotting on his 120-acre spread.
Roger Pederson of Bay View was sent a notice of violation April 15, after the county health department and sheriff's office obtained a search warrant to inspect the property.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=WA%20Dead%20Cattle
Internet privacy is limited in this state, experts sayConfidentiality rights unlikely in e-mail, chat rooms
By DAN RICHMANSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Washington residents communicating over the Internet shouldn't expect much privacy.
That's the view of legal experts who commented yesterday after Spokane Mayor Jim West was accused of abusing his office, in part by using the Internet to develop sexual relationships with young men.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/223358_westpriv07.html
Man who led Nixon impeachment dies
By BRUCE SHIPKOWSKIASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TRENTON, N.J. -- Peter W. Rodino Jr., a little-noticed Democratic congressman until he led the House impeachment investigation of President Nixon, died Saturday. He was 95. The raspy-voiced son of an Italian immigrant, Rodino died of congestive heart failure at his West Orange home, said Christine Bland, a spokeswoman for Seton Hall University Law School, where Rodino was a professor.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Obit%20RodinoAbout 300 mourn 'Precious Doe' at service
By MARIA SUDEKUM FISHERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday for a memorial service to remember the little girl once known only as "Precious Doe," interrupting a pastor's remarks with applause and shouting the child's name in unison.
The girl remained unidentified for four years after her body was found in April 2001 near an intersection in Kansas City. Days later, her head turned up nearby, wrapped in a trash bag.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Precious%20Doe%20Memorial
Blast at Kabul cafe kills two Afghans
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An explosion rocked an Internet cafe in the Afghan capital Saturday, killing two Afghans, police said. Officials were investigating whether the blast was caused by a suicide attacker.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Afghan%20Explosion
Rebel bombings kill 11 people in Myanmar
By AYE AYE WINASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
YANGON, Myanmar -- Three explosions rocked Myanmar's capital on Saturday, killing 11 people and wounding 162 others in the latest bombings blamed on ethnic rebels in the military-ruled country. The blasts occurred in rapid succession at a convention center and two bustling supermarkets in neighborhoods across the city of 5 million people starting around mid-afternoon. It was not immediately known how many people died at each site.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Myanmar%20Blast
Putin questions NATO enlargement
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said NATO enlargement has not necessarily improved world security, and warned in a television interview broadcast Saturday that bringing Ukraine into the alliance could pose problems.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=France%20Putin
Austria leader urges nation to face past
By GEORGE JAHNASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
VIENNA, Austria -- In ceremonies marking the end of World War II, President Heinz Fischer urged fellow Austrians on Saturday to face the truth about the Hitler era, alluding to recent pro-Nazi comments by some politicians, including one who questioned the existence of gas chambers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Austria%20VE%20Day
Four charged in Buenos Aires club fire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Five former municipal officials have been charged with manslaughter in connection with the December 2004 nightclub fire here that claimed 193 lives.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Argentina%20Nightclub%20Blaze
U.S. Forest Service scales back burn plan
By SCOTT SONNERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RENO, Nev. -- Under fire from state wildlife biologists, the U.S. Forest Service agreed Friday to dramatically scale back plans to conduct a prescribed burn this month on northern Nevada rangeland that is home to a dwindling game bird.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1155&slug=Sage%20Grouse
To the end, Greenpeace founder Bob Hunter was hurling mindbombs
By DAVID USBORNEGUEST COLUMNIST
It was in the early '70s, when Bob Hunter was an iconoclastic columnist with the Vancouver Sun in British Columbia, that he found himself attending meetings with like-minded activists in a church basement in the city he had adopted and grown to love. The discussion at hand: how to put pressure on the United States, the rapacious neighbor to the south, to end its nuclear testing program in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It was the beginning of Greenpeace.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/223247_greenpeace08.html
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"Facts Were Being Fixed"
Memo:
The secret Downing Street memo
Sunday Times
SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY
DAVID MANNING
From: Matthew Rycroft
Date: 23 July 2002
S 195 /02
cc: Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney-General, Sir Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2548
Bush Made Intelligence Fit Iraq Policy
British memo indicates Bush made intelligence fit Iraq policy
By Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott / Knight Ridder
WASHINGTON - A highly classified British memo, leaked in the midst of Britain's just-concluded election campaign, indicates that President Bush decided to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by summer 2002 and was determined to ensure that U.S. intelligence data supported his policy.
The document, which summarizes a July 23, 2002, meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair with his top security advisers, reports on a visit to Washington by the head of Britain's MI-6 intelligence service.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2545
U.S. Press Afraid to Tell Truth?
Afraid to tell the truth
A secret memo publicized in Britain confirms the lies on which Bush based his Iraq policy. Why has it received so little notice in the U.S. press?
By Joe Conason / Salon
May 6, 2005 Are Americans so jaded about the deceptions perpetrated by our own government to lead us into war in Iraq that we are no longer interested in fresh and damning evidence of those lies? Or are the editors and producers who oversee the American news industry simply too timid to report that proof on the evening broadcasts and front pages?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2547
"The memo that has 'IMPEACH HIM' written all over it."
Impeachment Time: "Facts Were Fixed."
By Greg Palast / BuzzFlash Guest News Analysis
Here it is. The smoking gun. The memo that has "IMPEACH HIM" written all over it.
The top-level government memo marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads, "Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2546>
88 Members of Congress Call on Bush for Answers
In Pacific Islands, Mixed Feelings About a Lobbyist's Work
By James Brooke and Kate Zernike / New York Times
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands, May 5 - Jack Abramoff, the Washington lobbyist under criminal investigation, used to say that the government here needed his services because it was the only American territory without a nonvoting delegate to Congress.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2544
Eighty-eight members of Congress call on Bush for answers on secret Iraq plan
RAW STORY
Eighty-eight members of Congress have signed a letter authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) calling on President Bush to answer questions about a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.
http://www.rawstory.com/aexternal/conyers_iraq_letter_502
We urge you to join us in a "National Day of Action for GI Resisters" on Tuesday May 10, 2005. This is the day before the US military is planning to bring sailor Pablo Paredes and soldier Kevin Benderman before military court martial tribunals for their opposition to the Iraq War. They face forfeiture of pay and benefits, and military jail time.
http://www.notinourname.net/courage.htm
Thousands protest Bush Dutch visit
MAASTRICHT, Netherlands (AP) -- Thousands of anti-war activists protested U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the Netherlands on Saturday, saying the man who started the Iraq war should not pay tribute to those who died in World War II for Dutch freedom.
Bush will attend a ceremony Sunday marking the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory in Europe at the Margraten battlefield cemetery 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Maastricht, where the graves of 8,300 American servicemen are spread neatly over a grassy hill.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2556
continued...
Truth or Dare
Kitty Kelly Bush Book Rumorsby Abe
Fri Sep 3rd, 2004 at 22:30:36 PDT
The Kitty Kelly Bush family book is coming in less then two weeks, and the rumors dem spreading. Wild, unsubstantiated rumors. Just the way I like them. The juiciest might be about Dubya's 'special friend' a mayor of an unnamed Tennessee city and of unnamed gender...
Read them all in the extended entry and treat as utterly suspect. And feel free to speculate on the book's impact. Kelly tends to bring out the scandal and make it sell bucketloads, I'm hearing 600,000 first printing...
Slash-and-burn celebrity biographer who revealed Sinatra's mother performed coathanger abortions and Lady Di was a pushover, is set to demolish Anti-Christ George W. Bush with Sept. 14 release of Bush Family biography.The biography is obviously unauathorized.
It reveals alleged sex offenses against minors by Dubya's father.
It reveals the use of the White House by male hookers.
It reveals crooked business deals by every member of the Bush clan, including the oh-so-holy first lady, Laura "Round Heels" Bush.
It reveals how former first lady Babs Bush is almost a practicing witch.
It reveals how Dubya has had a very special friend in the mayor of a Tennessee city, who has has cohabited the Texas ranch many times.
It reveals the details of embarassing photographs of Bush that actually caused U.S. Govt. agents to perpetrate the anthrax mailings to destroy the building of National Enquirer and kill photo editor Stevens.
It reveals how you can get surprisingly close to America's Darth Vader.
It reveals the incredible relationship between Dubya and some famous televangelists.
It reveals intimate details gleaned from persons close to Bush in Crawford, Texas.
It reveals the filth of Bush's ancestors, the most shocking family in US history.
It reveals how Bush plans additional wars for oil, under the pretense of fighting terrorism and defending Israel -- these are just pretenses, the real reason is we are running out of oil.
It reveals Dubya's oedipus complex with Babs, his love/hate relationship with his father, some surprising medical details about Duby, including an explanation of why he is so burnt out.
It reveals who runs Bush, and it is not Round Heels.
It reveals murders committed by the Bush family.
It reveals why George W. Bush is the greatest threat the US and the world has ever faced.
This book makes Fahrenheit 9/11 look like pablum. It is real raw meat.
Fri Sep 3rd, 2004 at 22:30:36 PDT
The Kitty Kelly Bush family book is coming in less then two weeks, and the rumors dem spreading. Wild, unsubstantiated rumors. Just the way I like them. The juiciest might be about Dubya's 'special friend' a mayor of an unnamed Tennessee city and of unnamed gender...
Read them all in the extended entry and treat as utterly suspect. And feel free to speculate on the book's impact. Kelly tends to bring out the scandal and make it sell bucketloads, I'm hearing 600,000 first printing...
Slash-and-burn celebrity biographer who revealed Sinatra's mother performed coathanger abortions and Lady Di was a pushover, is set to demolish Anti-Christ George W. Bush with Sept. 14 release of Bush Family biography.The biography is obviously unauathorized.
It reveals alleged sex offenses against minors by Dubya's father.
It reveals the use of the White House by male hookers.
It reveals crooked business deals by every member of the Bush clan, including the oh-so-holy first lady, Laura "Round Heels" Bush.
It reveals how former first lady Babs Bush is almost a practicing witch.
It reveals how Dubya has had a very special friend in the mayor of a Tennessee city, who has has cohabited the Texas ranch many times.
It reveals the details of embarassing photographs of Bush that actually caused U.S. Govt. agents to perpetrate the anthrax mailings to destroy the building of National Enquirer and kill photo editor Stevens.
It reveals how you can get surprisingly close to America's Darth Vader.
It reveals the incredible relationship between Dubya and some famous televangelists.
It reveals intimate details gleaned from persons close to Bush in Crawford, Texas.
It reveals the filth of Bush's ancestors, the most shocking family in US history.
It reveals how Bush plans additional wars for oil, under the pretense of fighting terrorism and defending Israel -- these are just pretenses, the real reason is we are running out of oil.
It reveals Dubya's oedipus complex with Babs, his love/hate relationship with his father, some surprising medical details about Duby, including an explanation of why he is so burnt out.
It reveals who runs Bush, and it is not Round Heels.
It reveals murders committed by the Bush family.
It reveals why George W. Bush is the greatest threat the US and the world has ever faced.
This book makes Fahrenheit 9/11 look like pablum. It is real raw meat.
Morning Papers - continued...
The Cheney Observer
The Bedfellow Disclosure Bill
Published: May 6, 2005
It is slowly dawning on Congress that the deepening influence of lobbyists' money on the inner workings of the Capitol is looking bad back home. The ethical travails of the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, are rooted in his aggressive courting of the K Street lobbying brigade, a $3-billion-a-year industry veiled from proper public scrutiny. But now the spotlight Mr. DeLay brazenly invited is widening to embarrass his colleagues who also cut corners in taking overseas junkets with lobbyists hovering like caterers. The timing is perfect, then, for the tough and long-overdue controls proposed by two Democratic representatives, Martin Meehan of Massachusetts and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/opinion/06fri3.html
SECRET PLANS
Eighty-eight members of Congress call on Bush for answers on secret Iraq plan
RAW STORY
Eighty-eight members of Congress have signed a letter authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) calling on President Bush to answer questions about a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.
http://www.rawstory.com/aexternal/conyers_iraq_letter_502
Controversial lobbyist had close contact with Bush team
WASHINGTON (AP) — In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other laws, records show.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2534
Cheney boosts Renzi's coffers
Vice president uses 'mandate'
Jon Kamman
The Arizona Republic
May. 7, 2005 12:00 AM
Vice President Dick Cheney came to the Valley on Friday, gave a 15-minute speech on how he and President Bush are using their re-election "mandate" and left Congressman Rick Renzi's campaign treasury at least a quarter-million dollars richer.
The fund-raiser brought the Flagstaff Republican's campaign bank balance to about $700,000, with the election still 18 months away.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0507cheney07.html
Time, money, and the Big Dig
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist April 26, 2005
DID BIG DIG project overseers cut corners to save time and money?
ADVERTISEMENT
US Representative Stephen F. Lynch believes the answer to that question is yes: that at some point, pressure to get the project done distracted Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff from getting the project done right.
''Under the pressure and scrutiny of a lot of people, they went back to look at areas where they could reduce cost in areas of material and time," said Lynch, a South Boston Democrat, in the aftermath of the Big Dig congressional hearing he brought to Boston on April 22.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/04/26/time_money_and_the_big_dig/
Reilly at odds with inspector general over $744 million refund
Friday, April 29, 2005
Attorney General Tom Reilly, while testifying at a congressional hearing, recently declined to estimate how much money he can recover from Big Dig contractors. Reilly said he would not "speculate."
However, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Transportation, has said the project should be able to recover about $744 million in cost overruns from Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and other contractors.
"Tom Reilly won't say how much Massachusetts is owed because he's afraid he won't live up to expectations. Based on his testimony today, there is no reason to think he'll come close to the $744 million refund that taxpayers deserve," said Tim O'Brien, executive director of the Mass GOP. "Today, Congress learned what taxpayers in Massachusetts already know: Matt Amorello can't do the job, Tom Reilly isn't doing the job, and Gov. Romney was right all along when he called for new leadership and an end to the Turnpike Authority."
http://www2.townonline.com/allston/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=236508
IRAQ: Making a killing: the big business of war
Doug Lorimer
While nearly 100,000 Iraqis and 1600 US troops have died as a result of the Iraq war and tens of thousands have been severely wounded, the war has proven to be extremely lucrative for the Houston-based oil services company Halliburton and the San Francisco-based construction company Bechtel. These are the two largest private contractors to the US occupation forces in Iraq.
Iraq war and “reconstruction” contracts helped Halliburton to turn a profit in the first quarter of this year, after the company suffered a loss of US$65 million in the first quarter of last year after paying out $4.2 billion in asbestos lawsuit settlements.
Until 2000, Halliburton was headed by US Vice-President Dick Cheney. On April 15, Cheney released his 2004 tax return. It showed that he received $194,852 in deferred payments from Halliburton, only slightly less than the $203,000 he earned as vice-president.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/625/625p20.htm
Less hot air
Star-Telegram
Federal air quality regulations are downright Byzantine.
It's difficult for Americans to know just how clean their air is. It's probably even harder to determine how good -- or bad -- a job government agencies are doing in enforcing anti-pollution measures.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/10447834.htm
Al-Qaeda renews threat to Saudi oil supplies
By Mark Huband in London
Published: December 19 2004 21:00 Last updated: December 19 2004 21:00
Militants linked to al-Qaeda on Sunday renewed a threat to attack Saudi oil supplies, in a defiant challenge to the intense security put in place to defend the kingdom's production facilities.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bebf4942-5200-11d9-961a-00000e2511c8.html
Laden targets oil to bleed US
[ MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2004 01:59:47 AM]
BERLIN: 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 US?
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/964274.cms
Iraq's oil network hit after al-Qaeda call
December 20, 2004
Iraq's 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 supplies.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/Iraqs-oil-network-hit-after-alQaeda-call/2004/12/19/1103391641019.html
Oil to push up inflation rate
A leading economist predicted over the weekend that the inflation rate, which represents the increases in consumer prices, would top the 7.6-percent registered in November, as the full impact of high oil prices begin to affect prices of food and other major commodities in the holiday season.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=BUSINESS&oid=65309
Iraq spoiling Bush plans
[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2004 11:09:57 PM ]
WASHINGTON: The deadly attack on a US military base in northern Iraq on Tuesday scrambled the Bush administration's hopes of showing progress toward stability there, while making clear that the war is creating a nasty array of problems for President Bush as he gears up for an ambitious second term.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/968314.cms
Bush plans January blitz for Social Security reform
Campaign will keep details vague
By David Morgan, Reuters December 22, 2004
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will spearhead an election-style public relations campaign early next year to try to convince Americans that Social Security is in urgent need of change but will keep dollar and cent details deliberately vague, analysts and officials say.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/12/22/bush_plans_january_blitz_for_social_security_reform/
FBI email embroils Bush in jail abuse
Correspondents in Washington
December 23, 2004
THE White House says it expects new documented accounts of torture at Guantanamo Bay to be "fully investigated", but has denied claims George W. Bush personally approved the use of abusive methods against detainees at the US prison camp.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11765305%255E2703,00.html
Bush will face major foreign policy challenges beyond war on terror
BY WARREN P. STROBEL
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush is facing a broader and more complex array of foreign policy challenges in his second term than he did four years ago, and he may have limited leverage to achieve some U.S. global goals.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10477840.html
Crisis Group Challenges Bush's Iraq Policy
BARRY SCHWEID
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The growing insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq is fed by nationalist feelings and widespread distrust of the United States, the private International Crisis Group said Wednesday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10477767.htm
Bush plans five day Europe visit
A RELIABLE diplomatic source has revealed that US president George
Bush will spend five days touring Europe in February, including a visit to Bratislava for a US-Russia summit meeting with Vladimir Putin, according to the daily Pravda.
http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok.asp?cl=18278
Governor ducks class
FLORIDA TODAY Readers
Jeb still clueless on education
I see that Gov. Jeb Bush wants to repeal the school class-size reduction amendment passed by Florida voters in 2002, a move that would help ensure the state's education system remains second rate.
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/opedstory1218WCLASSLETS.htm
Far from finished
Florida lawmakers must dig in to accomplish true hurricane-insurance reform
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/opedstory1218WLEGISLATURE.htm
Drive To Stop Bush's 'Pinochet Plan'
To Loot Social Security
by Paul Gallagher
A monstrous delusion, in the service of saving a falling U.S. dollar and a bankrupt international monetary system, was presented by George W. Bush's so-called Economic Summit on Dec. 15-16. A lock-step parade of globalization ideologues, beginning with Vice President Dick Cheney, claimed a "great recovery" for the crisis-ridden U.S. economy—and then demanded to save the dollar by grabbing trillions of dollars from the Social Security benefit funds of tens of millions of Americans. Even the seldom-truthful President said, "Do it for Wall Street," in his Dec. 16 speech concluding the "summit" and calling for Social Security privatization. The summit capped a 10-day period in which Bush devoted four major public meetings and two additional Presidential addresses to a manic rush to force privatization plans on the Congress.
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/site_packages/ss_privatization/3150lar_v_bush.html
The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush
BY WILLIAM BRYK
POLITICS 8.6.2004
Theodore Roosevelt, that most virile of presidents, insisted that, "To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people." With that in mind, I say: George W. Bush is no conservative, and his unprincipled abandonment of conservatism under the pressure of events is no statesmanship. The Republic would be well-served by his defeat this November.
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=300
Feds wary of Hub's Big Dig money pit
By Casey Ross
Friday, December 17, 2004
Revelations of Big Dig construction blunders are continuing to mount while irate federal officials are promising to withhold $81 million in funding until state project managers define the true scope and cost of leak problems.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=59339
The List 2004
6 Bush Scandals To Come
by David Corn
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
The curse of the second term — it’s been around for decades. Clinton had Monica. Reagan had Iran-Contra. Nixon had Watergate. So what will be the "best" scandals of the Bush administration in the coming year or so? Here’s a look ahead.
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/05/the-corn.php
continued...
The Bedfellow Disclosure Bill
Published: May 6, 2005
It is slowly dawning on Congress that the deepening influence of lobbyists' money on the inner workings of the Capitol is looking bad back home. The ethical travails of the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, are rooted in his aggressive courting of the K Street lobbying brigade, a $3-billion-a-year industry veiled from proper public scrutiny. But now the spotlight Mr. DeLay brazenly invited is widening to embarrass his colleagues who also cut corners in taking overseas junkets with lobbyists hovering like caterers. The timing is perfect, then, for the tough and long-overdue controls proposed by two Democratic representatives, Martin Meehan of Massachusetts and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/opinion/06fri3.html
SECRET PLANS
Eighty-eight members of Congress call on Bush for answers on secret Iraq plan
RAW STORY
Eighty-eight members of Congress have signed a letter authored by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) calling on President Bush to answer questions about a secret U.S.-UK agreement to attack Iraq, RAW STORY has learned.
http://www.rawstory.com/aexternal/conyers_iraq_letter_502
Controversial lobbyist had close contact with Bush team
WASHINGTON (AP) — In President Bush's first 10 months, GOP fundraiser Jack Abramoff and his lobbying team logged nearly 200 contacts with the new administration as they pressed for friendly hires at federal agencies and sought to keep the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the minimum wage and other laws, records show.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2534
Cheney boosts Renzi's coffers
Vice president uses 'mandate'
Jon Kamman
The Arizona Republic
May. 7, 2005 12:00 AM
Vice President Dick Cheney came to the Valley on Friday, gave a 15-minute speech on how he and President Bush are using their re-election "mandate" and left Congressman Rick Renzi's campaign treasury at least a quarter-million dollars richer.
The fund-raiser brought the Flagstaff Republican's campaign bank balance to about $700,000, with the election still 18 months away.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0507cheney07.html
Time, money, and the Big Dig
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist April 26, 2005
DID BIG DIG project overseers cut corners to save time and money?
ADVERTISEMENT
US Representative Stephen F. Lynch believes the answer to that question is yes: that at some point, pressure to get the project done distracted Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff from getting the project done right.
''Under the pressure and scrutiny of a lot of people, they went back to look at areas where they could reduce cost in areas of material and time," said Lynch, a South Boston Democrat, in the aftermath of the Big Dig congressional hearing he brought to Boston on April 22.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/04/26/time_money_and_the_big_dig/
Reilly at odds with inspector general over $744 million refund
Friday, April 29, 2005
Attorney General Tom Reilly, while testifying at a congressional hearing, recently declined to estimate how much money he can recover from Big Dig contractors. Reilly said he would not "speculate."
However, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Transportation, has said the project should be able to recover about $744 million in cost overruns from Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and other contractors.
"Tom Reilly won't say how much Massachusetts is owed because he's afraid he won't live up to expectations. Based on his testimony today, there is no reason to think he'll come close to the $744 million refund that taxpayers deserve," said Tim O'Brien, executive director of the Mass GOP. "Today, Congress learned what taxpayers in Massachusetts already know: Matt Amorello can't do the job, Tom Reilly isn't doing the job, and Gov. Romney was right all along when he called for new leadership and an end to the Turnpike Authority."
http://www2.townonline.com/allston/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=236508
IRAQ: Making a killing: the big business of war
Doug Lorimer
While nearly 100,000 Iraqis and 1600 US troops have died as a result of the Iraq war and tens of thousands have been severely wounded, the war has proven to be extremely lucrative for the Houston-based oil services company Halliburton and the San Francisco-based construction company Bechtel. These are the two largest private contractors to the US occupation forces in Iraq.
Iraq war and “reconstruction” contracts helped Halliburton to turn a profit in the first quarter of this year, after the company suffered a loss of US$65 million in the first quarter of last year after paying out $4.2 billion in asbestos lawsuit settlements.
Until 2000, Halliburton was headed by US Vice-President Dick Cheney. On April 15, Cheney released his 2004 tax return. It showed that he received $194,852 in deferred payments from Halliburton, only slightly less than the $203,000 he earned as vice-president.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/625/625p20.htm
Less hot air
Star-Telegram
Federal air quality regulations are downright Byzantine.
It's difficult for Americans to know just how clean their air is. It's probably even harder to determine how good -- or bad -- a job government agencies are doing in enforcing anti-pollution measures.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/10447834.htm
Al-Qaeda renews threat to Saudi oil supplies
By Mark Huband in London
Published: December 19 2004 21:00 Last updated: December 19 2004 21:00
Militants linked to al-Qaeda on Sunday renewed a threat to attack Saudi oil supplies, in a defiant challenge to the intense security put in place to defend the kingdom's production facilities.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/bebf4942-5200-11d9-961a-00000e2511c8.html
Laden targets oil to bleed US
[ MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2004 01:59:47 AM]
BERLIN: 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 US?
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/964274.cms
Iraq's oil network hit after al-Qaeda call
December 20, 2004
Iraq's 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 supplies.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/After-Saddam/Iraqs-oil-network-hit-after-alQaeda-call/2004/12/19/1103391641019.html
Oil to push up inflation rate
A leading economist predicted over the weekend that the inflation rate, which represents the increases in consumer prices, would top the 7.6-percent registered in November, as the full impact of high oil prices begin to affect prices of food and other major commodities in the holiday season.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=BUSINESS&oid=65309
Iraq spoiling Bush plans
[ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2004 11:09:57 PM ]
WASHINGTON: The deadly attack on a US military base in northern Iraq on Tuesday scrambled the Bush administration's hopes of showing progress toward stability there, while making clear that the war is creating a nasty array of problems for President Bush as he gears up for an ambitious second term.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/968314.cms
Bush plans January blitz for Social Security reform
Campaign will keep details vague
By David Morgan, Reuters December 22, 2004
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will spearhead an election-style public relations campaign early next year to try to convince Americans that Social Security is in urgent need of change but will keep dollar and cent details deliberately vague, analysts and officials say.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2004/12/22/bush_plans_january_blitz_for_social_security_reform/
FBI email embroils Bush in jail abuse
Correspondents in Washington
December 23, 2004
THE White House says it expects new documented accounts of torture at Guantanamo Bay to be "fully investigated", but has denied claims George W. Bush personally approved the use of abusive methods against detainees at the US prison camp.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11765305%255E2703,00.html
Bush will face major foreign policy challenges beyond war on terror
BY WARREN P. STROBEL
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - President Bush is facing a broader and more complex array of foreign policy challenges in his second term than he did four years ago, and he may have limited leverage to achieve some U.S. global goals.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/10477840.html
Crisis Group Challenges Bush's Iraq Policy
BARRY SCHWEID
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The growing insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq is fed by nationalist feelings and widespread distrust of the United States, the private International Crisis Group said Wednesday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/10477767.htm
Bush plans five day Europe visit
A RELIABLE diplomatic source has revealed that US president George
Bush will spend five days touring Europe in February, including a visit to Bratislava for a US-Russia summit meeting with Vladimir Putin, according to the daily Pravda.
http://www.slovakspectator.sk/clanok.asp?cl=18278
Governor ducks class
FLORIDA TODAY Readers
Jeb still clueless on education
I see that Gov. Jeb Bush wants to repeal the school class-size reduction amendment passed by Florida voters in 2002, a move that would help ensure the state's education system remains second rate.
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/opedstory1218WCLASSLETS.htm
Far from finished
Florida lawmakers must dig in to accomplish true hurricane-insurance reform
http://www.floridatoday.com/!NEWSROOM/opedstory1218WLEGISLATURE.htm
Drive To Stop Bush's 'Pinochet Plan'
To Loot Social Security
by Paul Gallagher
A monstrous delusion, in the service of saving a falling U.S. dollar and a bankrupt international monetary system, was presented by George W. Bush's so-called Economic Summit on Dec. 15-16. A lock-step parade of globalization ideologues, beginning with Vice President Dick Cheney, claimed a "great recovery" for the crisis-ridden U.S. economy—and then demanded to save the dollar by grabbing trillions of dollars from the Social Security benefit funds of tens of millions of Americans. Even the seldom-truthful President said, "Do it for Wall Street," in his Dec. 16 speech concluding the "summit" and calling for Social Security privatization. The summit capped a 10-day period in which Bush devoted four major public meetings and two additional Presidential addresses to a manic rush to force privatization plans on the Congress.
http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2004/site_packages/ss_privatization/3150lar_v_bush.html
The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush
BY WILLIAM BRYK
POLITICS 8.6.2004
Theodore Roosevelt, that most virile of presidents, insisted that, "To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people." With that in mind, I say: George W. Bush is no conservative, and his unprincipled abandonment of conservatism under the pressure of events is no statesmanship. The Republic would be well-served by his defeat this November.
http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=300
Feds wary of Hub's Big Dig money pit
By Casey Ross
Friday, December 17, 2004
Revelations of Big Dig construction blunders are continuing to mount while irate federal officials are promising to withhold $81 million in funding until state project managers define the true scope and cost of leak problems.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=59339
The List 2004
6 Bush Scandals To Come
by David Corn
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
The curse of the second term — it’s been around for decades. Clinton had Monica. Reagan had Iran-Contra. Nixon had Watergate. So what will be the "best" scandals of the Bush administration in the coming year or so? Here’s a look ahead.
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/05/05/the-corn.php
continued...
Morning Papers - continued...
Haaretz
PM leaning toward razing homes of Gaza evacuees
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is leaning toward sticking to an earlier decision to demolish the homes of the settlers who will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip, according to cabinet sources.
The decision to tear down the houses was made a year ago, following Sharon's defeat in the poll among Likud members. A demolition was intended to prevent Palestinians from "dancing on the rooftops" after the settlers' evacuation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573367.html
Ministers may ease citizenship terms for Palestinian spouses
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
The ministerial committee for legislation is set to approve Sunday proposed changes in the Citizenship Law that would allow dozens of mixed Israeli-Palestinian couples to continue or begin family unification procedures to acquire Israeli citizenship for the Palestinian partner.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573602.html
Abu Mazen could do a lot more
By Ze'ev Schiff
As long as the Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired intermittently from the Gaza Strip to Jewish settlements do not take a toll in lives, it is unlikely that Israel will respond with force. However, if there are casualties, Israel will not be able to stay its hand.
This is also the case if the Palestinians open fire during the disengagement itself. In the history of the Israel Defense Forces, it has never restrained itself, as it has recently, in the face of violence. In any case, the Palestinian firing of Qassams and mortars indicates just how fragile the cease-fire is.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=573064&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0
COUNT ON MORE BOMBS GOING OFF ! It always happens when there is a prisoner release. The zealots are all pent-up while in prison and they can't wait to martyr.
Israel, PA to discuss criteria for prisoner release
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
The joint PA-Israel prisoners committee will meet Sunday to discuss the criteria for the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Representatives of the Palestinian Authority are expected to demand an easing of the criteria, although most Israeli ministers are set to oppose any changes.
Health Minister Dan Naveh (Likud), who serves on the joint committee, said additional prisoners should not be released until Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas acts to stop Qassam rocket attacks on the hard-hit southern city of Sderot, Israel Radio reported Sunday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573352.html
Islamic Jihad kills Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel
By The Associated Press
Militants from the Islamic Jihad on Saturday killed a Palestinian youth suspected of collaborating with Israeli intelligence, the group said.
The body of the 18-year-old youth, identified as Rami al-Malakh, was found outside his village near the West Bank town of Tul Karm.
Residents said Al-Makh had disappeared last night. He was shot to death.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573366.html
Tel Avivians picnic on the grass on International Marijuana Day
By Tamara Traubman, Haaretz Correspondent
Thousands of people gathered at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv on Saturday to take part in the International Marijuana Day picnic and call for the legalization of marijuana.
"This is a day of protest, to show how peaceful, unaggressive and law-abiding the people who support legalization are," said Lior Lubelski, one of the organizers.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573365.html
Nazi tribute at German Open causes outrage
By Reuters
BERLIN - A photograph of Nazi Hermann Goering in the program of the German Open tennis tournament and reference to the host club's "golden times" after its Jewish members fled in the 1930s has caused outrage.
The head of Berlin's Jewish community Albert Meyer said on Saturday the passage was a disgrace.
"This article is unthinkably tactless," he told German newspaper Bild.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573414.html
PM leaning toward razing homes of Gaza evacuees
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is leaning toward sticking to an earlier decision to demolish the homes of the settlers who will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip, according to cabinet sources.
The decision to tear down the houses was made a year ago, following Sharon's defeat in the poll among Likud members. A demolition was intended to prevent Palestinians from "dancing on the rooftops" after the settlers' evacuation.
The sources said over the weekend that no convincing reason had been given for leaving the houses intact, especially since the Palestinian Authority also supports destroying them.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573367.html
What can Israeli Arabs learn at Ariel?
By Gideon Levy
Three important Arab mayors decided to publish prominent advertisements congratulating the Judea and Samaria Academic College in Ariel after the government of Israel, including the Labor Party, made one of its most disgraceful decisions - to upgrade the college, located in the occupied territories, to the status of a university. As public leaders, the mayors of Tira, Kafr Qasem and Jaljulya not only shamed themselves in their public messages of congratulations, but also the Arab citizens they represent.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573403.html
The Miami Herald
Family of beheaded American seeks solace
MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Relatives of Nicholas Berg, the young American entrepreneur beheaded in Iraq, have taken different paths as they've searched for solace in the year since his death.
His father, Michael Berg, has intensified his anti-war activities and traveled the globe to meet families of other civilians kidnapped or slain in Iraq. His weekly peace vigil at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse and frequent interviews contrast sharply with the response of his wife, Suzanne, who has grieved privately since her son's body was found on a Baghdad street on May 8, 2004.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11592345.htm
Enough's enough on that bride
BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ
aveciana@herald.com
Cold feet have never gotten so much attention -- or hot air.
Since a Georgia woman went AWOL days before her wedding, we've been bludgeoned with hours upon hours and words upon words about the bride who claimed she had been abducted and the jilted groom who vowed he will wait for her at the altar forever and ever, or as long as it takes her to walk down the aisle. Now we know more about this couple than we do about our own neighbors.
Enough, please!
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11578028.htm
Seized finger deals man a losing hand
A customer who found a fingertip in his frozen custard won't give it back, thwarting any chance of reattaching the wayward digit.
BY ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - To a dessert shop customer, the severed fingertip found in a pint of frozen custard could be worth big dollars in a potential lawsuit. To the shop worker who lost it, the value is far more than monetary.
But Clarence Stowers still has the digit, refusing to return the evidence to be reattached. And now it's too late for doctors to do anything for 23-year-old Brandon Fizer.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11585999.htm
Giacomo stuns the field to win Kentucky Derby
RICHARD ROSENBLATT
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Not this time, Nick. Not even with five horses.
Giacomo, a 50-1 shot, defied the odds and won the $2.4 million Kentucky Derby in a gigantic upset Saturday, running down a game Afleet Alex in the final strides and generating a huge payoff.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11587495.htm
Global Warming/Climate Change
Climate Change: Government and Canadian Steel Industry Reach Agreement
HAMILTON, Jan. 10 /CNW Telbec/ - The Government of Canada, the Governmentof Ontario and the Canadian Steel Producers Association today signed aMemorandum of Understanding to work together to address climate change.The agreement sets out short-term and longer-term plans for governmentand industry action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The steelindustry commits to doing its share to help Canada meet its climate changecommitments, provided this does not undermine the competitiveness of theindustry or result in an unfair burden. The Government of Canada will designemissions-reduction targets that reflect this commitment. It will also joinforces with the industry to develop new low-emissions technologies bycommitting $300,000 to an international research effort.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2005/10/c1248.html
Freak Weather Intensifies Climate Change Debate
By Paul Watson, PA
The devastating floods and gale force winds that swept parts of Britain and killed at least three people have intensified the global warming debate.
With more horrendous weather on the horizon people are left wondering what is causing the atrocious conditions with forecasters warning that more bad weather could again hit the affected areas later this week
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3983671
Watching Earth’s Climate Change in the Classroom
Annual average global warming by the year 2040 simulated and plotted using EdGCM.
College and high school students can now see how Earth’s climate is changing without leaving their computers.
NASA and other organizations use NASA’s global climate computer model (GCM) to see how Earth’s climate is changing. A GCM calculates many things, such as how much sunlight is reflected and absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, the temperature of the air and oceans, the distribution of clouds, rainfall, and snow, and what may happen to the polar ice caps in the future.
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-38744.html
Tsunami Highlights Climate Change Risk, Says Scientist
By James Lyons, PA Political Correspondent
The tsunami disaster underlines the threat posed by climate change, Britain’s top scientist said today.
Sir David King came under attack in the United States after saying global warming was a greater threat than terror earlier this year.
But Sir David, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he stands by the evaluation.
He said: “What is happening in the Indian Ocean underlines the importance of the Earth’s system to our ability to live safely.
“And what we are talking about in terms of climate change is something that is really driven by our own use of fossil fuels, so this is something we can manage.”
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3945933
Church Leaders say Tsunami Disaster warns of Climate Change
"This was a clear warning on what climate change could do to the world."
Posted: Tuesday, January 4 , 2005, 8:33 (UK)
Amid the earthquake tragedy it has been reported that two senior world church leaders have insisted that political leaders in all countries take the Asian Tsunami disaster as a stark warning of the terror that could become evident through climate change. They maintained that if the world did not give more attention to environmental issues then more tragedies such as the one seen in Asia could follow.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev Samuel Kobia stated, "This was a clear warning on what climate change could do to the world."
http://www.christiantoday.com/news/church/311.htm
Australia 'gutless' over climate change
January 5, 2005 - 11:49AM
Australia was being half-hearted and gutless about climate change, South Australian Premier Mike Rann said today.
Mr Rann called for a special Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting on climate change to be held within months.
"In that meeting, as Australian leaders, we should seek an agreement that seriously tackles climate change and commits Australia to ratification of the Kyoto protocol," Mr Rann said today.
"In 2005, we stand at the crossroads.
"We can go along as we are now, burying
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Australia-gutless-over-climate-change/2005/01/05/1104832149102.html
UN's small island meeting unanimously adopts position on climate change, clean energy
Kofi Annan addresses press conference
14 January 2005 – The United Nations meeting on small island developing States concluded today with unanimous agreement that such countries were suffering already from the consequences of climate change, with some seeing a threatening rise in sea levels, and a call to promote the use of renewable energy sources and cleaner fossil fuel technologies as a top priority.
"Adaptation to adverse impacts of climate change and sea-level rise remains a major priority," the delegations said in a document on implementing agreements made in Barbados a decade ago.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13047&Cr=small&Cr1=island
MP introduces new Bill to tackle climate change
Jan 14 2005
Today Mike Weir, MP for Angus, introduced a Private Members Bill, backed by a coalition including Friends of the Earth, which would boost the use of renewable sources for generating heat. The second reading of the Bill will take place on 4 February 2005. The new law would increase the use of renewable fuel crops such as willow and straw and harness sources such as solar power and ground heat.
Around a third of the UK's demand for energy is for heat. The proposed new law would require a proportion of heating fuel sold in the UK to be sourced from renewable resources so less fossil fuels, such as coal, would be used for heat. It would play a significant role in helping the UK to combat climate change.
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/mp_introduces_new_bill_to_14012005.html
Top global scientific minds meet to study climate change (published on 14-Jan-2005)
Top scientists from the UK and Japan have joined forces to create a super-technology for predicting climate change in the 21st Century.
This unique collaboration will combine the brainpower of top British scientists from the NCAS Centre for Global Atmospheric Modelling (CGAM) and the MET Office's Hadley Centre with Japanese climate experts and cutting edge super-computing technology.
The UK has invested £1.4 million in the initiative, which will run over the next five years and is hoped to significantly advance the science of predicting climate change.
Using the Japanese Earth Simulator supercomputer, one of the world's most powerful machines, the scientists will run the UK's state of the art climate models with the most complex science incorporated to date and at the highest resolution ever.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9389&channel=0
New warning over climate change
Researchers have warned that last week's devastating storms may be just a taste of things to come.
Scientists from Thurso and Southampton studied the seas off the west coast of Scotland and predict more frequent storms as result of climate change.
Researchers at Thurso's Environmental Research Institute - part of the UHI Millennium Institute network - and Southampton Oceanography Centre carried out a series of research projects on the impact of the sea on coastal communities and lifeline ferry services in western Scotland and the Western Isles.
http://icdumfries.icnetwork.co.uk/news/nationalnews/headlines/tm_objectid=15085536&method=full&siteid=77296&headline=new-warning-over-climate-change-name_page.html
Sri Lanka and Canada sign MoU on climate change
Wednesday, January 19, 2005, 14:52 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
The MoU signed by the two countries will remain valid for five years.
Jan 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka and Canada have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will facilitate cooperation on climate change initiatives and joint projects to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions.
Environment and Natural Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie signed the MoU on behalf of the Sri Lankan government, while Canadian Environment Minister Stephane Dion signed on behalf of the Canadian government.
http://www.colombopage.com/archive/January19145221UN.html
Baby birds in winter sound climate change warning (published on 21-Jan-2005)
Spring has arrived in January this year, providing another warning sign that the UK's climate is changing, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
A young family of song thrushes has been spotted in the middle of winter in Brighton, Sussex, earlier this week.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9431&channel=0
Launch of Anglo Japanese Climate Change Initiative
Climate Change on the Agenda as Jack Straw visits Japan
British and Japanese scientists joined forces at the British Embassy in Tokyo recently to formalise a unique and powerful collaboration that will significantly advance the science of predicting climate change for the 21st century. The aim of this five-year partnership is to combine the brainpower of top UK and Japanese climate science experts with cutting-edge supercomputing technology in Japan. The UK is investing £1.4m in this initiative.
The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, opened the seminar during his bilateral visit to Japan on 19 January. Mr Straw outlined UK plans and aims for climate change during its G8 presidency, including highlighting the importance Japan plays as a partner both on climate change and science.
http://www.oilfiredup.com/news/index.asp?id=277
International report warns of climate change impact
Last Updated 25/01/2005, 08:36:47
A new report to be released today is expected to paint a dire picture for the environment, as a result of global warming.
The study - Meeting the Climate Change Challenge - has been prepared by a task force of senior politicians, business leaders and academics from across the world.
It warns that even a one degree rise in average temperatures will lead to massive climate change and could bring about major droughts, increased disease, a dramatic rise in sea levels and death of forests.
The study says the globe may reach a point of no return in as little as 10 years.
The authors urge all countries in the G8 group of rich nations to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and to form better ties with with leading developing nations such as China.
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1288240.htm
THE AMOUNT OF AIRLINE ROUTES SHOULD BE CUT IN HALF AT THE VERY LEAST.
Climate change and the future of air travel
Adapting air travel to ease its impact on the environment
The investigation focuses on how aircraft can avoid creating vapour trails, also known as contrails. These spindly threads of condensation may not seem important but some persist for hours and behave in the same way as high altitude cirrus clouds, trapping warmth in the atmosphere and exacerbating global warming.
Air travel is currently growing at between 3 and 5% per year and cargo transportation by air is increasing by 7% per year. The researchers at Imperial College London are combining predictions from climate change models with air traffic simulations to predict contrail formation and identify ways of reducing it.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/eaps-cca012505.php
Alarming results from world's largest climate change study
[Date: 2005-01-27]
The initial results of the largest climate prediction experiment make worrying reading. Greenhouse gases could cause global temperatures to rise by up to 11 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century.
Such a temperature increase is more than double the maximum warming so far considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?CALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=EN_RCN_ID:23261
Climate change presents tangible threat: Vanuatu President Kelekele
By Royson Willie - Vanuatu Daily Post
Posted Thursday, January 27, 2005
The President of the Republic, Kalkot Matas Kelekele, has stated that adaptation to climate change, variability and sea level change is an urgent need.
He said because the livelihood of the people of Vanuatu and the economy are interwoven, shaped and driven by climate sensitive sectors, the effects of climate and sea level change are already very real and pose a tangible threat to the future socio-economic wellbeing of the country.
http://www.news.vu/en/news/environment/050127-climate-change-presents-tangible-threat.shtml
Tourism,Recreation and Climate Change (Aspects of Tourism S.)
By C.Michael Hall, James Higham
Climate change is one of the major environmental issues facing the world today. As the worlds largest industry tourism both contributes to and will be dramatically affected by climate change. Climate change has been described as a threat greater than terrorism. This book represents the first comprehensive book-level examination of the relationship between tourism and climate change and is of interest not only to students of tourism but to policy makers and the tourism industry who will have to respond to the challenges posed by climate change.
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/book/154000367/114000655.html
Climate change 'disaster by 2026'
Polar bears are at risk of dying out if the Arctic summer sea ice melts
Dangerous levels of climate change could be reached in just over 20 years if nothing is done to stop global warming, a WWF-UK study claims.
At current rates, the Earth will be 2C above pre-industrial levels some time between 2026 and 2060, says a paper by Dr Mark New of Oxford University.
Temperatures in the Arctic could rise by three times this amount, he says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/4218441.stm
Shell Chair urges UK government to act on climate change
Posted: 31 Jan 2005
Warning against the "angry beast" of climate change, Lord Ron Oxburgh, Chairman of the UK arm of Shell, called for more determined action by the UK government to limit emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Delivering the fourth Greenpeace Business Lecture on 25 January, Lord Oxburgh said that the Shell Group has nothing to fear from the taxation and regulatory changes that are needed to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of climate change.
He said, "Governments in developed countries need to introduce taxes, regulations or plans such as the European Union carbon trading scheme to increase the cost of emitting carbon dioxide."
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=2418
RUNAWAY CLIMATE CHANGE POSSIBLE
2.2.2005. 13:52:15
Scientists at a global warming conference in England say they see potential triggers for runaway climate change but admit that when and how they may be unleashed are quite unknown.
The widespread view of climate change is that it would be progressive, which means humans would have enough time to respond to the crisis and plants and animals have a better chance of adapting to its effects.
But scientists at the conference on global warming say there is also the risk of sudden, catastrophic, irreversible and uncontrollable climate change that could be triggered in as-yet unknown conditions.
"There's still a great deal we don't know about these rapid non-linear events," British scientist Sir John Houghton, a leading member of the UN's top panel on global warming, said.
The climate conference opened to renewed concern about the worsening threat of global warming and appeals from Britain to its ally, the United States, not to stand on the sidelines.
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=104359®ion=3
concluding...
PM leaning toward razing homes of Gaza evacuees
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is leaning toward sticking to an earlier decision to demolish the homes of the settlers who will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip, according to cabinet sources.
The decision to tear down the houses was made a year ago, following Sharon's defeat in the poll among Likud members. A demolition was intended to prevent Palestinians from "dancing on the rooftops" after the settlers' evacuation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573367.html
Ministers may ease citizenship terms for Palestinian spouses
By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent
The ministerial committee for legislation is set to approve Sunday proposed changes in the Citizenship Law that would allow dozens of mixed Israeli-Palestinian couples to continue or begin family unification procedures to acquire Israeli citizenship for the Palestinian partner.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573602.html
Abu Mazen could do a lot more
By Ze'ev Schiff
As long as the Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired intermittently from the Gaza Strip to Jewish settlements do not take a toll in lives, it is unlikely that Israel will respond with force. However, if there are casualties, Israel will not be able to stay its hand.
This is also the case if the Palestinians open fire during the disengagement itself. In the history of the Israel Defense Forces, it has never restrained itself, as it has recently, in the face of violence. In any case, the Palestinian firing of Qassams and mortars indicates just how fragile the cease-fire is.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=573064&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0
COUNT ON MORE BOMBS GOING OFF ! It always happens when there is a prisoner release. The zealots are all pent-up while in prison and they can't wait to martyr.
Israel, PA to discuss criteria for prisoner release
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
The joint PA-Israel prisoners committee will meet Sunday to discuss the criteria for the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
Representatives of the Palestinian Authority are expected to demand an easing of the criteria, although most Israeli ministers are set to oppose any changes.
Health Minister Dan Naveh (Likud), who serves on the joint committee, said additional prisoners should not be released until Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas acts to stop Qassam rocket attacks on the hard-hit southern city of Sderot, Israel Radio reported Sunday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573352.html
Islamic Jihad kills Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel
By The Associated Press
Militants from the Islamic Jihad on Saturday killed a Palestinian youth suspected of collaborating with Israeli intelligence, the group said.
The body of the 18-year-old youth, identified as Rami al-Malakh, was found outside his village near the West Bank town of Tul Karm.
Residents said Al-Makh had disappeared last night. He was shot to death.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573366.html
Tel Avivians picnic on the grass on International Marijuana Day
By Tamara Traubman, Haaretz Correspondent
Thousands of people gathered at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv on Saturday to take part in the International Marijuana Day picnic and call for the legalization of marijuana.
"This is a day of protest, to show how peaceful, unaggressive and law-abiding the people who support legalization are," said Lior Lubelski, one of the organizers.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573365.html
Nazi tribute at German Open causes outrage
By Reuters
BERLIN - A photograph of Nazi Hermann Goering in the program of the German Open tennis tournament and reference to the host club's "golden times" after its Jewish members fled in the 1930s has caused outrage.
The head of Berlin's Jewish community Albert Meyer said on Saturday the passage was a disgrace.
"This article is unthinkably tactless," he told German newspaper Bild.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573414.html
PM leaning toward razing homes of Gaza evacuees
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is leaning toward sticking to an earlier decision to demolish the homes of the settlers who will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip, according to cabinet sources.
The decision to tear down the houses was made a year ago, following Sharon's defeat in the poll among Likud members. A demolition was intended to prevent Palestinians from "dancing on the rooftops" after the settlers' evacuation.
The sources said over the weekend that no convincing reason had been given for leaving the houses intact, especially since the Palestinian Authority also supports destroying them.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573367.html
What can Israeli Arabs learn at Ariel?
By Gideon Levy
Three important Arab mayors decided to publish prominent advertisements congratulating the Judea and Samaria Academic College in Ariel after the government of Israel, including the Labor Party, made one of its most disgraceful decisions - to upgrade the college, located in the occupied territories, to the status of a university. As public leaders, the mayors of Tira, Kafr Qasem and Jaljulya not only shamed themselves in their public messages of congratulations, but also the Arab citizens they represent.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/573403.html
The Miami Herald
Family of beheaded American seeks solace
MARYCLAIRE DALE
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Relatives of Nicholas Berg, the young American entrepreneur beheaded in Iraq, have taken different paths as they've searched for solace in the year since his death.
His father, Michael Berg, has intensified his anti-war activities and traveled the globe to meet families of other civilians kidnapped or slain in Iraq. His weekly peace vigil at a suburban Philadelphia courthouse and frequent interviews contrast sharply with the response of his wife, Suzanne, who has grieved privately since her son's body was found on a Baghdad street on May 8, 2004.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11592345.htm
Enough's enough on that bride
BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ
aveciana@herald.com
Cold feet have never gotten so much attention -- or hot air.
Since a Georgia woman went AWOL days before her wedding, we've been bludgeoned with hours upon hours and words upon words about the bride who claimed she had been abducted and the jilted groom who vowed he will wait for her at the altar forever and ever, or as long as it takes her to walk down the aisle. Now we know more about this couple than we do about our own neighbors.
Enough, please!
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11578028.htm
Seized finger deals man a losing hand
A customer who found a fingertip in his frozen custard won't give it back, thwarting any chance of reattaching the wayward digit.
BY ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - To a dessert shop customer, the severed fingertip found in a pint of frozen custard could be worth big dollars in a potential lawsuit. To the shop worker who lost it, the value is far more than monetary.
But Clarence Stowers still has the digit, refusing to return the evidence to be reattached. And now it's too late for doctors to do anything for 23-year-old Brandon Fizer.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11585999.htm
Giacomo stuns the field to win Kentucky Derby
RICHARD ROSENBLATT
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Not this time, Nick. Not even with five horses.
Giacomo, a 50-1 shot, defied the odds and won the $2.4 million Kentucky Derby in a gigantic upset Saturday, running down a game Afleet Alex in the final strides and generating a huge payoff.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11587495.htm
Global Warming/Climate Change
Climate Change: Government and Canadian Steel Industry Reach Agreement
HAMILTON, Jan. 10 /CNW Telbec/ - The Government of Canada, the Governmentof Ontario and the Canadian Steel Producers Association today signed aMemorandum of Understanding to work together to address climate change.The agreement sets out short-term and longer-term plans for governmentand industry action to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The steelindustry commits to doing its share to help Canada meet its climate changecommitments, provided this does not undermine the competitiveness of theindustry or result in an unfair burden. The Government of Canada will designemissions-reduction targets that reflect this commitment. It will also joinforces with the industry to develop new low-emissions technologies bycommitting $300,000 to an international research effort.
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2005/10/c1248.html
Freak Weather Intensifies Climate Change Debate
By Paul Watson, PA
The devastating floods and gale force winds that swept parts of Britain and killed at least three people have intensified the global warming debate.
With more horrendous weather on the horizon people are left wondering what is causing the atrocious conditions with forecasters warning that more bad weather could again hit the affected areas later this week
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3983671
Watching Earth’s Climate Change in the Classroom
Annual average global warming by the year 2040 simulated and plotted using EdGCM.
College and high school students can now see how Earth’s climate is changing without leaving their computers.
NASA and other organizations use NASA’s global climate computer model (GCM) to see how Earth’s climate is changing. A GCM calculates many things, such as how much sunlight is reflected and absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere, the temperature of the air and oceans, the distribution of clouds, rainfall, and snow, and what may happen to the polar ice caps in the future.
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-38744.html
Tsunami Highlights Climate Change Risk, Says Scientist
By James Lyons, PA Political Correspondent
The tsunami disaster underlines the threat posed by climate change, Britain’s top scientist said today.
Sir David King came under attack in the United States after saying global warming was a greater threat than terror earlier this year.
But Sir David, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he stands by the evaluation.
He said: “What is happening in the Indian Ocean underlines the importance of the Earth’s system to our ability to live safely.
“And what we are talking about in terms of climate change is something that is really driven by our own use of fossil fuels, so this is something we can manage.”
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3945933
Church Leaders say Tsunami Disaster warns of Climate Change
"This was a clear warning on what climate change could do to the world."
Posted: Tuesday, January 4 , 2005, 8:33 (UK)
Amid the earthquake tragedy it has been reported that two senior world church leaders have insisted that political leaders in all countries take the Asian Tsunami disaster as a stark warning of the terror that could become evident through climate change. They maintained that if the world did not give more attention to environmental issues then more tragedies such as the one seen in Asia could follow.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev Samuel Kobia stated, "This was a clear warning on what climate change could do to the world."
http://www.christiantoday.com/news/church/311.htm
Australia 'gutless' over climate change
January 5, 2005 - 11:49AM
Australia was being half-hearted and gutless about climate change, South Australian Premier Mike Rann said today.
Mr Rann called for a special Council of Australian Government (COAG) meeting on climate change to be held within months.
"In that meeting, as Australian leaders, we should seek an agreement that seriously tackles climate change and commits Australia to ratification of the Kyoto protocol," Mr Rann said today.
"In 2005, we stand at the crossroads.
"We can go along as we are now, burying
http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Australia-gutless-over-climate-change/2005/01/05/1104832149102.html
UN's small island meeting unanimously adopts position on climate change, clean energy
Kofi Annan addresses press conference
14 January 2005 – The United Nations meeting on small island developing States concluded today with unanimous agreement that such countries were suffering already from the consequences of climate change, with some seeing a threatening rise in sea levels, and a call to promote the use of renewable energy sources and cleaner fossil fuel technologies as a top priority.
"Adaptation to adverse impacts of climate change and sea-level rise remains a major priority," the delegations said in a document on implementing agreements made in Barbados a decade ago.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=13047&Cr=small&Cr1=island
MP introduces new Bill to tackle climate change
Jan 14 2005
Today Mike Weir, MP for Angus, introduced a Private Members Bill, backed by a coalition including Friends of the Earth, which would boost the use of renewable sources for generating heat. The second reading of the Bill will take place on 4 February 2005. The new law would increase the use of renewable fuel crops such as willow and straw and harness sources such as solar power and ground heat.
Around a third of the UK's demand for energy is for heat. The proposed new law would require a proportion of heating fuel sold in the UK to be sourced from renewable resources so less fossil fuels, such as coal, would be used for heat. It would play a significant role in helping the UK to combat climate change.
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/mp_introduces_new_bill_to_14012005.html
Top global scientific minds meet to study climate change (published on 14-Jan-2005)
Top scientists from the UK and Japan have joined forces to create a super-technology for predicting climate change in the 21st Century.
This unique collaboration will combine the brainpower of top British scientists from the NCAS Centre for Global Atmospheric Modelling (CGAM) and the MET Office's Hadley Centre with Japanese climate experts and cutting edge super-computing technology.
The UK has invested £1.4 million in the initiative, which will run over the next five years and is hoped to significantly advance the science of predicting climate change.
Using the Japanese Earth Simulator supercomputer, one of the world's most powerful machines, the scientists will run the UK's state of the art climate models with the most complex science incorporated to date and at the highest resolution ever.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9389&channel=0
New warning over climate change
Researchers have warned that last week's devastating storms may be just a taste of things to come.
Scientists from Thurso and Southampton studied the seas off the west coast of Scotland and predict more frequent storms as result of climate change.
Researchers at Thurso's Environmental Research Institute - part of the UHI Millennium Institute network - and Southampton Oceanography Centre carried out a series of research projects on the impact of the sea on coastal communities and lifeline ferry services in western Scotland and the Western Isles.
http://icdumfries.icnetwork.co.uk/news/nationalnews/headlines/tm_objectid=15085536&method=full&siteid=77296&headline=new-warning-over-climate-change-name_page.html
Sri Lanka and Canada sign MoU on climate change
Wednesday, January 19, 2005, 14:52 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
The MoU signed by the two countries will remain valid for five years.
Jan 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka and Canada have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will facilitate cooperation on climate change initiatives and joint projects to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions.
Environment and Natural Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie signed the MoU on behalf of the Sri Lankan government, while Canadian Environment Minister Stephane Dion signed on behalf of the Canadian government.
http://www.colombopage.com/archive/January19145221UN.html
Baby birds in winter sound climate change warning (published on 21-Jan-2005)
Spring has arrived in January this year, providing another warning sign that the UK's climate is changing, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
A young family of song thrushes has been spotted in the middle of winter in Brighton, Sussex, earlier this week.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=9431&channel=0
Launch of Anglo Japanese Climate Change Initiative
Climate Change on the Agenda as Jack Straw visits Japan
British and Japanese scientists joined forces at the British Embassy in Tokyo recently to formalise a unique and powerful collaboration that will significantly advance the science of predicting climate change for the 21st century. The aim of this five-year partnership is to combine the brainpower of top UK and Japanese climate science experts with cutting-edge supercomputing technology in Japan. The UK is investing £1.4m in this initiative.
The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, opened the seminar during his bilateral visit to Japan on 19 January. Mr Straw outlined UK plans and aims for climate change during its G8 presidency, including highlighting the importance Japan plays as a partner both on climate change and science.
http://www.oilfiredup.com/news/index.asp?id=277
International report warns of climate change impact
Last Updated 25/01/2005, 08:36:47
A new report to be released today is expected to paint a dire picture for the environment, as a result of global warming.
The study - Meeting the Climate Change Challenge - has been prepared by a task force of senior politicians, business leaders and academics from across the world.
It warns that even a one degree rise in average temperatures will lead to massive climate change and could bring about major droughts, increased disease, a dramatic rise in sea levels and death of forests.
The study says the globe may reach a point of no return in as little as 10 years.
The authors urge all countries in the G8 group of rich nations to generate a quarter of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025, and to form better ties with with leading developing nations such as China.
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/s1288240.htm
THE AMOUNT OF AIRLINE ROUTES SHOULD BE CUT IN HALF AT THE VERY LEAST.
Climate change and the future of air travel
Adapting air travel to ease its impact on the environment
The investigation focuses on how aircraft can avoid creating vapour trails, also known as contrails. These spindly threads of condensation may not seem important but some persist for hours and behave in the same way as high altitude cirrus clouds, trapping warmth in the atmosphere and exacerbating global warming.
Air travel is currently growing at between 3 and 5% per year and cargo transportation by air is increasing by 7% per year. The researchers at Imperial College London are combining predictions from climate change models with air traffic simulations to predict contrail formation and identify ways of reducing it.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/eaps-cca012505.php
Alarming results from world's largest climate change study
[Date: 2005-01-27]
The initial results of the largest climate prediction experiment make worrying reading. Greenhouse gases could cause global temperatures to rise by up to 11 degrees Celsius by the middle of the century.
Such a temperature increase is more than double the maximum warming so far considered by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
http://dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?CALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN=EN_RCN_ID:23261
Climate change presents tangible threat: Vanuatu President Kelekele
By Royson Willie - Vanuatu Daily Post
Posted Thursday, January 27, 2005
The President of the Republic, Kalkot Matas Kelekele, has stated that adaptation to climate change, variability and sea level change is an urgent need.
He said because the livelihood of the people of Vanuatu and the economy are interwoven, shaped and driven by climate sensitive sectors, the effects of climate and sea level change are already very real and pose a tangible threat to the future socio-economic wellbeing of the country.
http://www.news.vu/en/news/environment/050127-climate-change-presents-tangible-threat.shtml
Tourism,Recreation and Climate Change (Aspects of Tourism S.)
By C.Michael Hall, James Higham
Climate change is one of the major environmental issues facing the world today. As the worlds largest industry tourism both contributes to and will be dramatically affected by climate change. Climate change has been described as a threat greater than terrorism. This book represents the first comprehensive book-level examination of the relationship between tourism and climate change and is of interest not only to students of tourism but to policy makers and the tourism industry who will have to respond to the challenges posed by climate change.
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/book/154000367/114000655.html
Climate change 'disaster by 2026'
Polar bears are at risk of dying out if the Arctic summer sea ice melts
Dangerous levels of climate change could be reached in just over 20 years if nothing is done to stop global warming, a WWF-UK study claims.
At current rates, the Earth will be 2C above pre-industrial levels some time between 2026 and 2060, says a paper by Dr Mark New of Oxford University.
Temperatures in the Arctic could rise by three times this amount, he says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/4218441.stm
Shell Chair urges UK government to act on climate change
Posted: 31 Jan 2005
Warning against the "angry beast" of climate change, Lord Ron Oxburgh, Chairman of the UK arm of Shell, called for more determined action by the UK government to limit emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Delivering the fourth Greenpeace Business Lecture on 25 January, Lord Oxburgh said that the Shell Group has nothing to fear from the taxation and regulatory changes that are needed to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of climate change.
He said, "Governments in developed countries need to introduce taxes, regulations or plans such as the European Union carbon trading scheme to increase the cost of emitting carbon dioxide."
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=2418
RUNAWAY CLIMATE CHANGE POSSIBLE
2.2.2005. 13:52:15
Scientists at a global warming conference in England say they see potential triggers for runaway climate change but admit that when and how they may be unleashed are quite unknown.
The widespread view of climate change is that it would be progressive, which means humans would have enough time to respond to the crisis and plants and animals have a better chance of adapting to its effects.
But scientists at the conference on global warming say there is also the risk of sudden, catastrophic, irreversible and uncontrollable climate change that could be triggered in as-yet unknown conditions.
"There's still a great deal we don't know about these rapid non-linear events," British scientist Sir John Houghton, a leading member of the UN's top panel on global warming, said.
The climate conference opened to renewed concern about the worsening threat of global warming and appeals from Britain to its ally, the United States, not to stand on the sidelines.
http://www9.sbs.com.au/theworldnews/region.php?id=104359®ion=3
concluding...
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