Land of the Midnight Sun. April 19, 2005. Cambell, Alaska. The frame of a boat in progress.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-When-Due"
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
History…
1607, the English colony at Jamestown, Va., was founded; it is the first permanent English settlement in America.
1842, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, who collaborated with Sir William Gilbert in writing 14 comic operas, was born in London.
1918: The first U.S. airmail stamps, with a picture of an airplane and costing 24 cents, are introduced.
1954, President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.
1958, Vice President Nixon's limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
Born...
1950 Stevie Wonder, singer and songwriter
1857, Sir Ronald Ross, entomologist
1914, Joe Louis, American boxer. He was born Joseph Louis Barrow near Lafayette, Alabama. Louis won his first professional contest by a knockout in 1934. He won the professional heavyweight championship of the world in June 1937, defeating the American boxer James Jack Braddock by a knockout. During his professional boxing career, Louis compiled 68 victories and three defeats. His 68 victories included 54 by knockout and 14 by decision, while his three losses included two by knockout and one by decision. Louis's first loss came in 1936, to the former world champion, the German boxer Max Schmeling. The Nazis equated Schmeling's victory over Louis to a validation of Nazi superiority over democracy. The two boxers fought again in a 1938 rematch. Louis won the bout in one round, and Americans celebrated the victory of democracy. After the second Schmeling fight, Louis became a hero for the World War II war effort, gave inspirational speeches, and helped with recruiting.
Missing in Action
1968 SMITH DONALD G. AKRON PA 01/01/69 RELEASED
1969 AIKEN LARRY JAMAICA NY 07/10/69 RECOVERED FROM VC HOSPITAL DECEASED
1969 BESSOR BRUCE C. FAIRFAX VA
1969 BROOKS JOHN H. BRYANT POND ME
1969 MASUDA ROBERT S. SAN JOSE CA POSS THROWN INTO WELL
1969 MUNOZ DAVID L. LOS ANGELES CA POSS THROWN INTO WELL
1969 SCOTT MIKE J. NEWARK NJ
1970 HUBERTH ERIC J. THOUSAND OAKS CA SURVIVAL UNLIKELY-SAR
1970 TRENT ALAN R. WADSWORTH OH SURVIVAL UNLIKELY-SAR
Journalism at Risk
The Freeman - Cebu, Phillipines
Our advice to journalists: Watch your backs!
That the profession of Journalism is now considered the most dangerous in this country is no longer a joke that we used to crack; more so that this time, the 69th victim to be murdered is no longer a plain journalist or reporter, but a publisher-editor of Starline Times Recorder, Mr. Philip "Ape" Agustin of Dingalan, Aurora Province. As we've already reported in this corner, the average rate of journalists that are murdered in this country is more than one a month and climbing. The big question every journalist is asking in his mind is, who is going to be the 70th murder victim?
What is of grave concern to all of us in the media is, to date of the 69 killings of journalists, no one has been jailed as a result of any investigation by the Philippine National Police (PNP) as if the police doesn't give a hoot whether the perpetrators of these crimes are arrested and prosecuted. At this point, we can only advice our fellow journalists to watch their backs!
The Miami Herald
FLORIDA MARINE AQUARIUM SOCIETY
Tanks for the menageries
The Florida Marine Aquarium Society will hold its 49th annual show this weekend at Fort Lauderdale's War Memorial Auditorium.
BY JERRY BERRIOS
jberrios@herald.com
Miniature fish, domino damsels and a giant hermit crab are on display in Fort Lauderdale this weekend, at the Florida Marine Aquarium Society's 49th annual show.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11633932.htm
Police shooting brings outcry
The fatal shooting of an unarmed Homestead man by a Homestead police officer during a struggle raised questions from witnesses and relatives.
BY BROOKE PRESCOTT AND LUISA YANEZ
bprescott@herald.com
Miami-Dade police and prosecutors are investigating the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a Homestead police officer who was responding to a disturbance call at a small grocery.
Some witnesses said the officer didn't have to shoot. Homestead police said the man, identified as Jason Williams, 28, refused an order to leave the front of the grocery and then resisted arrest.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11634123.htm
Send a clear signal: Torture not tolerated
OUR OPINION: HOLD PENTAGON TOP BRASS ACCOUNTABLE FOR PRISONER ABUSES
U.S. military leadership is ultimately responsible for the failures that led to abuses of wartime captives in places as far flung as Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said as much after the graphic Abu Ghraib photos surfaced. ''These events occurred on my watch,'' he said. ``I am responsible.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11635074.htm
BROWARD FARMLAND
'Tax cows' still grazing in shade of huge exemptions
A couple of cows can buy huge savings for developers through tax breaks meant to protect farmland in western Broward County.
BY SAMUEL P. NITZE AND BETH REINHARD
snitze@herald.com
Part of Ronald Bergeron's estate on the quiet fringes of western Broward County encompasses a 3,900-square-foot home, tennis court, decorative waterfall and manicured lawn.
His 2004 tax bill on those seven acres: $3,775.99.
The wealthy builder and rancher pays less than the average Broward homeowner by claiming most of the land as cow pasture. Maybe not for long.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11635058.htm
Man breaks into bedroom, attempts assault on woman
By MARIA HERRERA
mherrera@herald.com
Miami-Dade Police detectives are investigating an attempted sexual assault on a 26-year-old woman in the area of Southwest 142nd Avenue and 96th Street around 3 a.m. Wednesday.
The victim told police she was awakened by a man who had broken into her bedroom and tried to sexually assault her before fleeing the home.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11639115.htm
Free-trade effort gets Bush support
President Bush joined the leaders of six Latin American countries and promised to aggressively push for the passage of a free-trade bill.
BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@herald.com
WASHINGTON - Bringing the full weight of the presidency to bear on efforts to approve a contentious free trade bill with six small Latin American countries, President Bush Thursday promised for the first time to personally lobby in favor of the pact before Congress.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11635061.htm
HURRICANE CLAIMS
State probes storm payouts
Insurance regulators are investigating 42 cases of suspected fraud in hurricane-related damage claims filed with Florida's insurer of last resort.
BY JACK DOLAN
jdolan@herald.com
State officials are investigating 42 cases of suspected fraud in hurricane-related damage claims filed last year with Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer of last resort.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11634122.htm
Florida gained jobs. Texas benefited. North Carolina doesn’t know anything about base closings. The decisions are strongly political with few exceptions. Alabama is practically closed down. Alabama is really going to suffer.
Southcom secure, Homestead gets more warplanes under base realignment plan
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@herald.com
Southcom remains secure, Homestead gets nine new warplanes and Eglin Air Force Base and Jacksonville naval facilities expand under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's plan to realign military installations worldwide.
Overall, Florida gains 2,757 jobs but the Pensacola Naval Air Station stands to be the big loser -- with a training program, three-star admiral and other functions moving to other states.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11639233.htm
List of proposed military base closings
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A list of military facilities the Defense Department recommended for closure Friday:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11638919.htm
List of U.S. bases recommended for gains
Associated Press
A list of military facilities the Defense Department recommended for gains on Friday:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11639167.htm
The Jordan Times
Insurgents unleash more deadly bombings in Iraq despite US offensive
BAGHDAD (AP) — Six car bombs exploded and two senior military and police officials were gunned down Thursday in a string of attacks that killed at least 21 Iraqis and wounded 90. The violence came despite a major US offensive in western Iraq, where fierce clashes were reported with insurgents on the outskirts of the Syrian border town of Qaim.
Associated Press Television News (APTN) footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the town, about 320 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, from which families were fleeing in trucks packed with luggage.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Europeans warn Iran not to resume 'sensitive' work
Agencies
France, Britain and Germany have warned Iran they will break off talks and join Washington in seeking UN Security Council action if Tehran makes good on its threats to resume atomic work, EU officials said on Thursday.
The foreign ministers of the European Union's three biggest powers sent a strongly-worded letter to Hassan Rohani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, warning that resuming potentially arms-related nuclear work "would bring the negotiating process to an end," an EU diplomat quoted the letter as saying. "The consequences
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news2.htm
The Cheney Observer
Charles Cutter
Impeachment Level Event
By Charles Cutter (www.cuttersway.com)
May 13, 2005, 07:10
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A secret document from the British government, reported May 1 by the Times of London, tells us what we’ve known all along. George W. Bush was determined to invade Iraq long before seeking any congressional approval; he manipulated intelligence to justify his desire for war; and he was lying - to the American people, to the United Nations, to the entire world - when he proclaimed that his goal was Iraqi disarmament and that war could be avoided.
The document is the record of a meeting held on July 23, 2002 - eight months before the invasion of Iraq - involving Prime Minister Tony Blair and his key advisors. Reporting on his meeting with CIA director George Tenet, one advisor explained: "Military action was now seen as inevitable…Bush wanted to remove Saddam Hussein, through military action…the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
http://magic-city-news.com/article_3854.shtml
Don't demand answers; demand resignation
by Jim Smith
The Daily Barometer
Tony Blair has been taking quite a beating lately in the United Kingdom. Despite having just won a third term as prime minister, his party has been dealt a severe blow, resulting in the loss of nearly 100 seats in Parliament. Responsible for this setback is the recent leak of a top-secret U.K. internal government memo, which recorded the minutes of a meeting between British Prime Minister Blair and other key figures in British intelligence and military outfits, and the very embarrassing content therein.
The text of the memo is available online, as it appeared in full in the London Times edition of May 1, and it sounds awfully exciting ... very cloak and dagger. It begins with the warning "secret and strictly personal -- U.K. eyes only."
http://barometer.orst.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/05/12/4283853a7655f
U.S., U.K. Voters Don't Care About Credibility
Times Change, So Do Values
Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnist
POSTED: 12:03 pm EDT May 12, 2005
Funny thing about America and Great Britain. I once thought their people cared about the credibility and accountability of their leaders, especially when it comes to war and peace. But now I note with regret that the voters in both nations have other priorities.
I'm talking about the fact that the leaders of both nations chose to invade Iraq for flimsy reasons that were deliberately drummed up to convince their people that a third-world country was a threat to them. Didn't the Brits say Saddam Hussein could attack in 45 minutes?
The historic election of Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair for a third term is a stunning
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/helenthomas/4481363/detail.html
Bush nomination of Pryor advances
Carl Hulse and Neil A. Lewis, New York Times
May 13, 2005 CONG0513
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a fourth contested federal appeals court nominee Thursday as Senate leaders engaged in tense maneuvering over judicial candidates.
The panel voted 10-8 along party lines to approve William Pryor's nomination to a seat on the federal appeals court in Atlanta.
In an exchange on the Senate floor that lasted more than an hour, Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada offered to allow uncontested votes on three appellate court nominees from Michigan, raising to four the number that Democrats said this week they would not block by filibuster. "I say to my Republican colleagues, do you want to confirm judges or do you just want to provoke a fight?" he said.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5401195.html
Bush Urges Central American Trade Pact
By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 12, 2005; 4:08 PM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush tried Thursday to break congressional resistance to a free-trade agreement with Central American nations by arguing that open markets will help improve security and promote freedom in the Western hemisphere.
Bush welcomed the presidents of the Dominican Republic and the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to the White House for a private Oval Office meeting and a public show of unity in the Rose Garden.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/12/AR2005051200706.html
Crony Capitalists
by Ken Sanders
www.dissidentvoice.org
May 12, 2005
On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, and without a hint of shame, the Bush administration awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) $72 million in bonuses for its "very good" and "excellent" work in Iraq.
Excuse me?
Just two months ago, the Justice Department indicted a KBR manager for "major fraud against the United States" under the same LOGCAP contract for which KBR is now being awarded bonuses. According to the indictment, former KBR manager Jeff Mazon billed the U.S. more than $5.5 million for $680,000 worth of work. In other words, Mazon inflated KBR's bill by over 700 percent.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May05/Sanders0512.htm
I TOLD YOU SO !!!
More money down the drain: War cost bleeds states, cities
Author: Susan Webb
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 05/12/05 11:15
As U.S. casualties in Iraq topped 1,600, the U.S. Congress approved another $82 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and related spending, with the bulk going to the Iraq occupation.
This additional “supplementary” funding brings total U.S. spending for the Iraq war to nearly $210 billion.
Two years after George W. Bush declared “mission accomplished,” the ever-ballooning cost of the Iraq war is hitting home for U.S. states and cities.
Recent studies by the National Priorities Project show the $210 billion war is sucking $3.2 billion in tax dollars from Tennessee, where the governor recently cut over 320,000 people from the state’s low-income health program, TennCare. John Zirker Sr., a co-founder of the Homeless Power Project in Nashville, said those cuts didn’t have to happen. The “billions and billions going to Iraq are taking away from our communities,” he told the World.
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/6996/1/269
THE DECISION STREAM
The Cheney Observer Revisited
Suit rips way colleges are run
BY MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@herald.com
TALLAHASSEE - A group of former political heavyweights sued the state's higher education system Tuesday, saying public universities are being governed in an unconstitutional ''pork barrel'' fashion like a ``banana republic.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10470913.htm
Cheney hunts ducks in Lowcountry
Associated Press
WALTERBORO, S.C. - Vice President Dick Cheney made a special trip to South Carolina to hunt ducks in the ACE Basin with a group of elected officials from the state, Colleton County authorities say.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/10472769.htm
Letter: Think peace, and bring troops home from Iraq
In this spiritual time of the year, and after the religious showing in the November election, it would seem appropriate to actively seek peace in the horrible war against Iraq.
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op122204s137490.shtml
Bush Administration Urges Supreme Court to Uphold Ten Commandments Displays
Gina Holland, The Associated Press
12-10-2004
The Bush administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to allow religious Ten Commandments displays on government property, adding a federal view on a major church-state case that justices will deal with early next year.
The government has weighed in before in religion cases at the high court, including one earlier this year that challenged the words "under God" in the classroom recitation of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.
The government supported a California school district in that case. Now, it is backing two Kentucky counties that had framed copies of the Ten Commandments in their courthouses.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued McCreary and Pulaski counties, claiming the displays were an unconstitutional promotion of religion. The group won.
Justices will hear arguments, probably in February, in the counties' appeal and in a second case involving a Texas homeless man who wants a 6-foot granite monument removed from the state Capitol grounds.
The Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Paul Clement, told justices in Wednesday's filing that Ten Commandments displays are common around the nation -- and in the Court's own building, the Capitol and national monuments.
"Reproductions and representations of the Ten Commandments have been commonly employed across the country to symbolize both the rule of law itself, as well as the role of religion in the development of American law," Clement wrote.
Clement said the displays are important in educating people "about the nation's history and celebrating its heritage."
The Supreme Court banned the posting of Ten Commandments in public schools in 1980.
Clement argued that courthouses are different from schools and often have "historic symbols of law."
Douglas Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor and former legal counsel to President Reagan and the first President George H.W. Bush, said that the government had been expected to file arguments in the case. "It would have been politically untenable and legally timid if the government's chief court litigator had not done so," he said.
…………………………………………………………...
Scalia in shul: State must back religion
The Jerusalem Post
Uriel Heilman
Nov. 23, 2004
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia used an appearance at an Orthodox synagogue in New York to assail the notion that the US government should maintain a neutral stance toward religion, saying it has always supported religion and the courts should not try to change that.
Speaking at a conference on religious freedom in America on Monday hosted by Manhattan's Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, Scalia said that the founding fathers never advocated the separation of church and state and that America has prospered because of its religiousness.
"There is something wrong with the principle of neutrality," said Scalia, considered among the court's staunchest conservatives. Neutrality as envisioned by the founding fathers, Scalia said, "is not neutrality between religiousness and nonreligiousness; it is between denominations of religion."
Scalia cited early examples of support of religion in the public sphere by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, the last of whom went so far as to argue at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the institution of daily prayers.
Today, Scalia noted, the government exempts houses of worship from real-estate tax, pays for chaplains in Congress, state legislatures, and the military, and sanctions the opening of every Supreme Court session with the cry, "God save the United States!"
"To say that the Constitution allows the court to sweep away that long-standing attitude toward religion seems to me just wrong," he said. "I do think we're forgetting our roots."
Scalia's speech, at a conference marking the 350th anniversary both of Jews in America and of Shearith Israel, elicited a standing ovation.
Scalia was nominated to the nine-member Supreme Court in 1986 by president Ronald Reagan to fill the seat vacated by William Rehnquist, who became the chief justice after Warren Berger retired. Now, with speculation that Rehnquist is on the verge of retirement after a recent diagnosis of thyroid cancer, Scalia may be the leading candidate to take his place.
It is widely believed that President George W. Bush will appoint a staunch conservative as chief justice if he gets the chance, and the only other Supreme Court justice considered sufficiently conservative is Clarence Thomas, appointed by president George H.W. Bush.
Originally from New York, Scalia wore a black skull cap as he addressed the congregation with his back to the ark.
"The founding fathers never used the phrase 'separation of church and state,'" he said, arguing that rigid separation of religion and state -- as in Europe, for example -- would be bad for America and bad for the Jews.
"Do you think it's going to make Jews safer? It didn't prove that way in Europe," he said.
"You will not hear the word 'God' cross the lips of a French premier or an Italian head of state," Scalia said. "But that has never been the American way."
Most establishment Jewish groups, however, are staunch supporters of church-state separation. Earlier this month, for example, the American Jewish Committee was part of a coalition that won a lawsuit to block a Florida program allowing state aid to go to parochial schools. In 2000, the Anti-Defamation League led several Jewish groups in criticizing vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman for talking too much about God on the campaign trail.
Scalia said expunging religion from public life would be bad for America, and that the courts, instead, should come around to most Americans' way of thinking and to the founding fathers' vision for the US. He noted that after a San Francisco court last year barred the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools because it includes the phrase "under God," Congress voted nearly unanimously to condemn the decision and uphold use of the phrase.
"I suggest that our jurisprudence should comport with our actions," he said.
If America's approach toward religion does change, it should be through democratic process, not "judicial fiat." America believes in "a personal God who takes an interest in the affairs of man," Scalia said. Quoting a line from Psalms that says the faithful will surely prosper, he added, "I think it is no accident that America has prospered."
……………………………………………...
GOP Activist Calls for Halt To Federation Donations
By E.J. KESSLER
December 10, 2004
A Jewish GOP leader is calling on his fellow Republicans to withdraw their financial support from Jewish charitable institutions — especially federations — that express "hostility toward Republicans" or pursue "a differing political agenda."
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=kessler200412081113
Tempest Tossed
For Utah naturalist and author Terry Tempest Williams, 2004 was another year of speaking dangerously.
Few students taking literary journalism at the University of Utah missed question No. 7 on a mid-October current events quiz.
Terry Tempest Williams—one of the state’s most celebrated authors—is a beloved U alumna. When news broke that the president of Florida Gulf Coast University had led the charge to postpone a speech by Williams until after the Nov. 2 election, astute observers couldn’t resist drawing parallels to a similar incident unfolding in their own back yard.
Beehive state conservatives cried foul when student body officers at Utah Valley State College invited Fahrenheit 9/11 director Michael Moore to speak as part of his 30-day, 60-city “Slacker Uprising” tour. But the desert soil kicked up by Moore’s visit did little but add street credibility to his already questionable hygiene. Moore came, spoke and left. He threw underwear and ramen noodles at the mostly student audience, but that was it.
http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2004/feat_2004-12-23.cfm
2004 The Year In Review
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Then there was the Mary Cheney issue. After Vice President Dick Cheney suggested in a campaign stop that as the father of a lesbian he did not think a constitutional amendment was necessary. When Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry brought up Mary Cheney's name in the third Presidential Debate Republicans railed. Mary's mother, Lynn Cheney, accused Kerry of pulling a "cheap and tawdry political trick."
http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/specialcoverage/2004.htm
WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE????
Rokkasho reprocessor begins tests with depleted uranium
AOMORI (Kyodo) Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. on Tuesday began tests using depleted uranium at its nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture, taking a step toward introducing a key component of the nation's nuclear fuel cycle program.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041222a1.htm
Suit rips way colleges are run
BY MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@herald.com
TALLAHASSEE - A group of former political heavyweights sued the state's higher education system Tuesday, saying public universities are being governed in an unconstitutional ''pork barrel'' fashion like a ``banana republic.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10470913.htm
Bush publicly backs Rumsfeld despite mounting opposition
GOING TO BAT: The US president lauded his defense secretary as a `caring fellow' as polls showed most Americans think Rummy should go
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/12/22/2003216243
December 22nd, 2004 1:19 pm
Michigan Congressman Seeks Exit Poll Data
By Seth Sutel / Associated Press
NEW YORK - The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has asked The Associated Press and five broadcast networks to turn over raw exit poll data collected on Election Day so that any discrepancies between the data and the certified election results can be investigated.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=677
FBI files implicate Bush in Iraqi jail abuses
From Tim Reid in Washington
VIOLENT abuse of prisoners by US forces in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay was widespread as recently as four months ago, according to documents released yesterday.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1411944,00.html
The Boston Globe
Disbarment urged for 3 in scheme
Lawyers said to conspire to discredit judge
By Jonathan Saltzman and Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff May 13, 2005
Three well-known lawyers accused of orchestrating an elaborate scheme to discredit a former Superior Court judge ''brought shame and disrepute" to the legal community and should be disbarred, a hearing officer for the state recommended yesterday, in one of Massachusetts' most closely watched attorney discipline cases ever.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/05/13/disbarment_urged_for_3_in_scheme/
Mandela challenges selective colleges to widen opportunity for needy students
Gets honorary degree from Amherst College
By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff May 13, 2005
NEW YORK -- Looking fragile but dignified, Nelson Mandela, the former imprisoned nationalist who rose to become South Africa's president, yesterday challenged selective colleges in the United States to open their doors to more students of modest means.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/05/13/mandela_challenges_selective_colleges_to_widen_opportunity_for_needy_students/
Study affirms aggressive treatment for breast cancer
By Rob Stein, Washington Post May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Chemotherapy and hormone treatment have dramatically reduced the death rate from early-stage breast cancer, according to a major international analysis that indicates the often-arduous regimes do cure many women.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/05/13/study_affirms_aggressive_treatment_for_breast_cancer/
Antitax activist says he got $1.5m from tribes
Set up policy talks with president
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Antitax activist Grover Norquist said yesterday that his organization has received nearly $1.5 million from Indian tribes in the past five years and that he arranged for tribal leaders to attend meetings to discuss tax policy with President Bush every year for the past four years.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/05/13/antitax_activist_says_he_got_15m_from_tribes/
Losing hearts and minds
By Derrick Z. Jackson May 13, 2005
WHEN THE Abu Ghraib prison scandal exploded a year ago, President Bush said it was ''an insult to the Iraqi people and an affront to the most basic standards of morality and decency." He said, ''These humiliating acts do not reflect our character." He also said, ''American soldiers and civilians on the ground have come to know and respect the citizens of Iraq."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05/13/losing_hearts_and_minds/
Rumsfeld reduces scope of military base closings
Sees $48.8b savings over next 20 years
By Robert Burns, Associated Press May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Military base closings will be less severe than expected, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld indicated yesterday, saying that he had scaled down his recommendations because the military had less surplus space than once estimated.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/13/rumsfeld_reduces_scope_of_military_base_closings/
Deadly risks lurk for Marines in western offensive
Troops aid comrades after blast hits vehicle
By Solomon Moore, Los Angeles Times May 13, 2005
ABU HARDAN, Iraq -- The Marines of Kilo Company were on the fourth day of an offensive to rid western Iraq of insurgents, but they had not seen much action Wednesday until a loud boom rocked this Euphrates River village, followed by the frantic screams of young troops.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/05/13/deadly_risks_lurk_for_marines_in_western_offensive/
Bombings, other violence kill 21 in Iraq
Baghdad crowd vents fury over bloodshed
By Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press May 13, 2005
BAGHDAD -- A car bomb exploded in a crowded commercial district yesterday, turning the sky gray as shops and restaurants caught fire in the deadliest in a string of attacks that killed 21 people and included the assassinations of a general and a colonel on their way to work.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/05/13/bombings_other_violence_kill_21_in_iraq/
There has been an entire USA military unit destroyed in the last campaign by the USA military. From this link it looks like the 3rd Battalion which has at least ten recent deaths listed here. The tragedy is that many if not all these members come from one town in the USA. National Guard Units tend to be that way. It is what makes this conflict so tragic. Different form any other USA operation the deaths that take place can frequently be from one town.
There have been 1,792 coalition troop deaths, 1,613 Americans, 88 Britons, 10 Bulgarians, one Dane, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 21 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of May 12, 2005.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/2005.05.html
continued...
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
History…
1607, the English colony at Jamestown, Va., was founded; it is the first permanent English settlement in America.
1842, composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, who collaborated with Sir William Gilbert in writing 14 comic operas, was born in London.
1918: The first U.S. airmail stamps, with a picture of an airplane and costing 24 cents, are introduced.
1954, President Eisenhower signed into law the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Act.
1958, Vice President Nixon's limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-U.S. demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela.
Born...
1950 Stevie Wonder, singer and songwriter
1857, Sir Ronald Ross, entomologist
1914, Joe Louis, American boxer. He was born Joseph Louis Barrow near Lafayette, Alabama. Louis won his first professional contest by a knockout in 1934. He won the professional heavyweight championship of the world in June 1937, defeating the American boxer James Jack Braddock by a knockout. During his professional boxing career, Louis compiled 68 victories and three defeats. His 68 victories included 54 by knockout and 14 by decision, while his three losses included two by knockout and one by decision. Louis's first loss came in 1936, to the former world champion, the German boxer Max Schmeling. The Nazis equated Schmeling's victory over Louis to a validation of Nazi superiority over democracy. The two boxers fought again in a 1938 rematch. Louis won the bout in one round, and Americans celebrated the victory of democracy. After the second Schmeling fight, Louis became a hero for the World War II war effort, gave inspirational speeches, and helped with recruiting.
Missing in Action
1968 SMITH DONALD G. AKRON PA 01/01/69 RELEASED
1969 AIKEN LARRY JAMAICA NY 07/10/69 RECOVERED FROM VC HOSPITAL DECEASED
1969 BESSOR BRUCE C. FAIRFAX VA
1969 BROOKS JOHN H. BRYANT POND ME
1969 MASUDA ROBERT S. SAN JOSE CA POSS THROWN INTO WELL
1969 MUNOZ DAVID L. LOS ANGELES CA POSS THROWN INTO WELL
1969 SCOTT MIKE J. NEWARK NJ
1970 HUBERTH ERIC J. THOUSAND OAKS CA SURVIVAL UNLIKELY-SAR
1970 TRENT ALAN R. WADSWORTH OH SURVIVAL UNLIKELY-SAR
Journalism at Risk
The Freeman - Cebu, Phillipines
Our advice to journalists: Watch your backs!
That the profession of Journalism is now considered the most dangerous in this country is no longer a joke that we used to crack; more so that this time, the 69th victim to be murdered is no longer a plain journalist or reporter, but a publisher-editor of Starline Times Recorder, Mr. Philip "Ape" Agustin of Dingalan, Aurora Province. As we've already reported in this corner, the average rate of journalists that are murdered in this country is more than one a month and climbing. The big question every journalist is asking in his mind is, who is going to be the 70th murder victim?
What is of grave concern to all of us in the media is, to date of the 69 killings of journalists, no one has been jailed as a result of any investigation by the Philippine National Police (PNP) as if the police doesn't give a hoot whether the perpetrators of these crimes are arrested and prosecuted. At this point, we can only advice our fellow journalists to watch their backs!
The Miami Herald
FLORIDA MARINE AQUARIUM SOCIETY
Tanks for the menageries
The Florida Marine Aquarium Society will hold its 49th annual show this weekend at Fort Lauderdale's War Memorial Auditorium.
BY JERRY BERRIOS
jberrios@herald.com
Miniature fish, domino damsels and a giant hermit crab are on display in Fort Lauderdale this weekend, at the Florida Marine Aquarium Society's 49th annual show.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11633932.htm
Police shooting brings outcry
The fatal shooting of an unarmed Homestead man by a Homestead police officer during a struggle raised questions from witnesses and relatives.
BY BROOKE PRESCOTT AND LUISA YANEZ
bprescott@herald.com
Miami-Dade police and prosecutors are investigating the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a Homestead police officer who was responding to a disturbance call at a small grocery.
Some witnesses said the officer didn't have to shoot. Homestead police said the man, identified as Jason Williams, 28, refused an order to leave the front of the grocery and then resisted arrest.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11634123.htm
Send a clear signal: Torture not tolerated
OUR OPINION: HOLD PENTAGON TOP BRASS ACCOUNTABLE FOR PRISONER ABUSES
U.S. military leadership is ultimately responsible for the failures that led to abuses of wartime captives in places as far flung as Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantánamo.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said as much after the graphic Abu Ghraib photos surfaced. ''These events occurred on my watch,'' he said. ``I am responsible.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11635074.htm
BROWARD FARMLAND
'Tax cows' still grazing in shade of huge exemptions
A couple of cows can buy huge savings for developers through tax breaks meant to protect farmland in western Broward County.
BY SAMUEL P. NITZE AND BETH REINHARD
snitze@herald.com
Part of Ronald Bergeron's estate on the quiet fringes of western Broward County encompasses a 3,900-square-foot home, tennis court, decorative waterfall and manicured lawn.
His 2004 tax bill on those seven acres: $3,775.99.
The wealthy builder and rancher pays less than the average Broward homeowner by claiming most of the land as cow pasture. Maybe not for long.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11635058.htm
Man breaks into bedroom, attempts assault on woman
By MARIA HERRERA
mherrera@herald.com
Miami-Dade Police detectives are investigating an attempted sexual assault on a 26-year-old woman in the area of Southwest 142nd Avenue and 96th Street around 3 a.m. Wednesday.
The victim told police she was awakened by a man who had broken into her bedroom and tried to sexually assault her before fleeing the home.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11639115.htm
Free-trade effort gets Bush support
President Bush joined the leaders of six Latin American countries and promised to aggressively push for the passage of a free-trade bill.
BY PABLO BACHELET
pbachelet@herald.com
WASHINGTON - Bringing the full weight of the presidency to bear on efforts to approve a contentious free trade bill with six small Latin American countries, President Bush Thursday promised for the first time to personally lobby in favor of the pact before Congress.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11635061.htm
HURRICANE CLAIMS
State probes storm payouts
Insurance regulators are investigating 42 cases of suspected fraud in hurricane-related damage claims filed with Florida's insurer of last resort.
BY JACK DOLAN
jdolan@herald.com
State officials are investigating 42 cases of suspected fraud in hurricane-related damage claims filed last year with Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run insurer of last resort.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11634122.htm
Florida gained jobs. Texas benefited. North Carolina doesn’t know anything about base closings. The decisions are strongly political with few exceptions. Alabama is practically closed down. Alabama is really going to suffer.
Southcom secure, Homestead gets more warplanes under base realignment plan
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
crosenberg@herald.com
Southcom remains secure, Homestead gets nine new warplanes and Eglin Air Force Base and Jacksonville naval facilities expand under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's plan to realign military installations worldwide.
Overall, Florida gains 2,757 jobs but the Pensacola Naval Air Station stands to be the big loser -- with a training program, three-star admiral and other functions moving to other states.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11639233.htm
List of proposed military base closings
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A list of military facilities the Defense Department recommended for closure Friday:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11638919.htm
List of U.S. bases recommended for gains
Associated Press
A list of military facilities the Defense Department recommended for gains on Friday:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/11639167.htm
The Jordan Times
Insurgents unleash more deadly bombings in Iraq despite US offensive
BAGHDAD (AP) — Six car bombs exploded and two senior military and police officials were gunned down Thursday in a string of attacks that killed at least 21 Iraqis and wounded 90. The violence came despite a major US offensive in western Iraq, where fierce clashes were reported with insurgents on the outskirts of the Syrian border town of Qaim.
Associated Press Television News (APTN) footage showed plumes of smoke rising from the town, about 320 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, from which families were fleeing in trucks packed with luggage.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Europeans warn Iran not to resume 'sensitive' work
Agencies
France, Britain and Germany have warned Iran they will break off talks and join Washington in seeking UN Security Council action if Tehran makes good on its threats to resume atomic work, EU officials said on Thursday.
The foreign ministers of the European Union's three biggest powers sent a strongly-worded letter to Hassan Rohani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, warning that resuming potentially arms-related nuclear work "would bring the negotiating process to an end," an EU diplomat quoted the letter as saying. "The consequences
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news2.htm
The Cheney Observer
Charles Cutter
Impeachment Level Event
By Charles Cutter (www.cuttersway.com)
May 13, 2005, 07:10
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A secret document from the British government, reported May 1 by the Times of London, tells us what we’ve known all along. George W. Bush was determined to invade Iraq long before seeking any congressional approval; he manipulated intelligence to justify his desire for war; and he was lying - to the American people, to the United Nations, to the entire world - when he proclaimed that his goal was Iraqi disarmament and that war could be avoided.
The document is the record of a meeting held on July 23, 2002 - eight months before the invasion of Iraq - involving Prime Minister Tony Blair and his key advisors. Reporting on his meeting with CIA director George Tenet, one advisor explained: "Military action was now seen as inevitable…Bush wanted to remove Saddam Hussein, through military action…the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy."
http://magic-city-news.com/article_3854.shtml
Don't demand answers; demand resignation
by Jim Smith
The Daily Barometer
Tony Blair has been taking quite a beating lately in the United Kingdom. Despite having just won a third term as prime minister, his party has been dealt a severe blow, resulting in the loss of nearly 100 seats in Parliament. Responsible for this setback is the recent leak of a top-secret U.K. internal government memo, which recorded the minutes of a meeting between British Prime Minister Blair and other key figures in British intelligence and military outfits, and the very embarrassing content therein.
The text of the memo is available online, as it appeared in full in the London Times edition of May 1, and it sounds awfully exciting ... very cloak and dagger. It begins with the warning "secret and strictly personal -- U.K. eyes only."
http://barometer.orst.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/05/12/4283853a7655f
U.S., U.K. Voters Don't Care About Credibility
Times Change, So Do Values
Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnist
POSTED: 12:03 pm EDT May 12, 2005
Funny thing about America and Great Britain. I once thought their people cared about the credibility and accountability of their leaders, especially when it comes to war and peace. But now I note with regret that the voters in both nations have other priorities.
I'm talking about the fact that the leaders of both nations chose to invade Iraq for flimsy reasons that were deliberately drummed up to convince their people that a third-world country was a threat to them. Didn't the Brits say Saddam Hussein could attack in 45 minutes?
The historic election of Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair for a third term is a stunning
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/helenthomas/4481363/detail.html
Bush nomination of Pryor advances
Carl Hulse and Neil A. Lewis, New York Times
May 13, 2005 CONG0513
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a fourth contested federal appeals court nominee Thursday as Senate leaders engaged in tense maneuvering over judicial candidates.
The panel voted 10-8 along party lines to approve William Pryor's nomination to a seat on the federal appeals court in Atlanta.
In an exchange on the Senate floor that lasted more than an hour, Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada offered to allow uncontested votes on three appellate court nominees from Michigan, raising to four the number that Democrats said this week they would not block by filibuster. "I say to my Republican colleagues, do you want to confirm judges or do you just want to provoke a fight?" he said.
http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5401195.html
Bush Urges Central American Trade Pact
By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 12, 2005; 4:08 PM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush tried Thursday to break congressional resistance to a free-trade agreement with Central American nations by arguing that open markets will help improve security and promote freedom in the Western hemisphere.
Bush welcomed the presidents of the Dominican Republic and the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to the White House for a private Oval Office meeting and a public show of unity in the Rose Garden.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/12/AR2005051200706.html
Crony Capitalists
by Ken Sanders
www.dissidentvoice.org
May 12, 2005
On Tuesday, May 10, 2005, and without a hint of shame, the Bush administration awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) $72 million in bonuses for its "very good" and "excellent" work in Iraq.
Excuse me?
Just two months ago, the Justice Department indicted a KBR manager for "major fraud against the United States" under the same LOGCAP contract for which KBR is now being awarded bonuses. According to the indictment, former KBR manager Jeff Mazon billed the U.S. more than $5.5 million for $680,000 worth of work. In other words, Mazon inflated KBR's bill by over 700 percent.
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/May05/Sanders0512.htm
I TOLD YOU SO !!!
More money down the drain: War cost bleeds states, cities
Author: Susan Webb
People's Weekly World Newspaper, 05/12/05 11:15
As U.S. casualties in Iraq topped 1,600, the U.S. Congress approved another $82 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and related spending, with the bulk going to the Iraq occupation.
This additional “supplementary” funding brings total U.S. spending for the Iraq war to nearly $210 billion.
Two years after George W. Bush declared “mission accomplished,” the ever-ballooning cost of the Iraq war is hitting home for U.S. states and cities.
Recent studies by the National Priorities Project show the $210 billion war is sucking $3.2 billion in tax dollars from Tennessee, where the governor recently cut over 320,000 people from the state’s low-income health program, TennCare. John Zirker Sr., a co-founder of the Homeless Power Project in Nashville, said those cuts didn’t have to happen. The “billions and billions going to Iraq are taking away from our communities,” he told the World.
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/6996/1/269
THE DECISION STREAM
The Cheney Observer Revisited
Suit rips way colleges are run
BY MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@herald.com
TALLAHASSEE - A group of former political heavyweights sued the state's higher education system Tuesday, saying public universities are being governed in an unconstitutional ''pork barrel'' fashion like a ``banana republic.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10470913.htm
Cheney hunts ducks in Lowcountry
Associated Press
WALTERBORO, S.C. - Vice President Dick Cheney made a special trip to South Carolina to hunt ducks in the ACE Basin with a group of elected officials from the state, Colleton County authorities say.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/10472769.htm
Letter: Think peace, and bring troops home from Iraq
In this spiritual time of the year, and after the religious showing in the November election, it would seem appropriate to actively seek peace in the horrible war against Iraq.
http://www.pressconnects.com/today/opinion/stories/op122204s137490.shtml
Bush Administration Urges Supreme Court to Uphold Ten Commandments Displays
Gina Holland, The Associated Press
12-10-2004
The Bush administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to allow religious Ten Commandments displays on government property, adding a federal view on a major church-state case that justices will deal with early next year.
The government has weighed in before in religion cases at the high court, including one earlier this year that challenged the words "under God" in the classroom recitation of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance.
The government supported a California school district in that case. Now, it is backing two Kentucky counties that had framed copies of the Ten Commandments in their courthouses.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued McCreary and Pulaski counties, claiming the displays were an unconstitutional promotion of religion. The group won.
Justices will hear arguments, probably in February, in the counties' appeal and in a second case involving a Texas homeless man who wants a 6-foot granite monument removed from the state Capitol grounds.
The Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, Paul Clement, told justices in Wednesday's filing that Ten Commandments displays are common around the nation -- and in the Court's own building, the Capitol and national monuments.
"Reproductions and representations of the Ten Commandments have been commonly employed across the country to symbolize both the rule of law itself, as well as the role of religion in the development of American law," Clement wrote.
Clement said the displays are important in educating people "about the nation's history and celebrating its heritage."
The Supreme Court banned the posting of Ten Commandments in public schools in 1980.
Clement argued that courthouses are different from schools and often have "historic symbols of law."
Douglas Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor and former legal counsel to President Reagan and the first President George H.W. Bush, said that the government had been expected to file arguments in the case. "It would have been politically untenable and legally timid if the government's chief court litigator had not done so," he said.
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Scalia in shul: State must back religion
The Jerusalem Post
Uriel Heilman
Nov. 23, 2004
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia used an appearance at an Orthodox synagogue in New York to assail the notion that the US government should maintain a neutral stance toward religion, saying it has always supported religion and the courts should not try to change that.
Speaking at a conference on religious freedom in America on Monday hosted by Manhattan's Congregation Shearith Israel, the oldest Jewish congregation in North America, Scalia said that the founding fathers never advocated the separation of church and state and that America has prospered because of its religiousness.
"There is something wrong with the principle of neutrality," said Scalia, considered among the court's staunchest conservatives. Neutrality as envisioned by the founding fathers, Scalia said, "is not neutrality between religiousness and nonreligiousness; it is between denominations of religion."
Scalia cited early examples of support of religion in the public sphere by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, the last of whom went so far as to argue at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 for the institution of daily prayers.
Today, Scalia noted, the government exempts houses of worship from real-estate tax, pays for chaplains in Congress, state legislatures, and the military, and sanctions the opening of every Supreme Court session with the cry, "God save the United States!"
"To say that the Constitution allows the court to sweep away that long-standing attitude toward religion seems to me just wrong," he said. "I do think we're forgetting our roots."
Scalia's speech, at a conference marking the 350th anniversary both of Jews in America and of Shearith Israel, elicited a standing ovation.
Scalia was nominated to the nine-member Supreme Court in 1986 by president Ronald Reagan to fill the seat vacated by William Rehnquist, who became the chief justice after Warren Berger retired. Now, with speculation that Rehnquist is on the verge of retirement after a recent diagnosis of thyroid cancer, Scalia may be the leading candidate to take his place.
It is widely believed that President George W. Bush will appoint a staunch conservative as chief justice if he gets the chance, and the only other Supreme Court justice considered sufficiently conservative is Clarence Thomas, appointed by president George H.W. Bush.
Originally from New York, Scalia wore a black skull cap as he addressed the congregation with his back to the ark.
"The founding fathers never used the phrase 'separation of church and state,'" he said, arguing that rigid separation of religion and state -- as in Europe, for example -- would be bad for America and bad for the Jews.
"Do you think it's going to make Jews safer? It didn't prove that way in Europe," he said.
"You will not hear the word 'God' cross the lips of a French premier or an Italian head of state," Scalia said. "But that has never been the American way."
Most establishment Jewish groups, however, are staunch supporters of church-state separation. Earlier this month, for example, the American Jewish Committee was part of a coalition that won a lawsuit to block a Florida program allowing state aid to go to parochial schools. In 2000, the Anti-Defamation League led several Jewish groups in criticizing vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman for talking too much about God on the campaign trail.
Scalia said expunging religion from public life would be bad for America, and that the courts, instead, should come around to most Americans' way of thinking and to the founding fathers' vision for the US. He noted that after a San Francisco court last year barred the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools because it includes the phrase "under God," Congress voted nearly unanimously to condemn the decision and uphold use of the phrase.
"I suggest that our jurisprudence should comport with our actions," he said.
If America's approach toward religion does change, it should be through democratic process, not "judicial fiat." America believes in "a personal God who takes an interest in the affairs of man," Scalia said. Quoting a line from Psalms that says the faithful will surely prosper, he added, "I think it is no accident that America has prospered."
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GOP Activist Calls for Halt To Federation Donations
By E.J. KESSLER
December 10, 2004
A Jewish GOP leader is calling on his fellow Republicans to withdraw their financial support from Jewish charitable institutions — especially federations — that express "hostility toward Republicans" or pursue "a differing political agenda."
http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=kessler200412081113
Tempest Tossed
For Utah naturalist and author Terry Tempest Williams, 2004 was another year of speaking dangerously.
Few students taking literary journalism at the University of Utah missed question No. 7 on a mid-October current events quiz.
Terry Tempest Williams—one of the state’s most celebrated authors—is a beloved U alumna. When news broke that the president of Florida Gulf Coast University had led the charge to postpone a speech by Williams until after the Nov. 2 election, astute observers couldn’t resist drawing parallels to a similar incident unfolding in their own back yard.
Beehive state conservatives cried foul when student body officers at Utah Valley State College invited Fahrenheit 9/11 director Michael Moore to speak as part of his 30-day, 60-city “Slacker Uprising” tour. But the desert soil kicked up by Moore’s visit did little but add street credibility to his already questionable hygiene. Moore came, spoke and left. He threw underwear and ramen noodles at the mostly student audience, but that was it.
http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2004/feat_2004-12-23.cfm
2004 The Year In Review
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Then there was the Mary Cheney issue. After Vice President Dick Cheney suggested in a campaign stop that as the father of a lesbian he did not think a constitutional amendment was necessary. When Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry brought up Mary Cheney's name in the third Presidential Debate Republicans railed. Mary's mother, Lynn Cheney, accused Kerry of pulling a "cheap and tawdry political trick."
http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/specialcoverage/2004.htm
WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE????
Rokkasho reprocessor begins tests with depleted uranium
AOMORI (Kyodo) Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. on Tuesday began tests using depleted uranium at its nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant in Aomori Prefecture, taking a step toward introducing a key component of the nation's nuclear fuel cycle program.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20041222a1.htm
Suit rips way colleges are run
BY MARC CAPUTO
mcaputo@herald.com
TALLAHASSEE - A group of former political heavyweights sued the state's higher education system Tuesday, saying public universities are being governed in an unconstitutional ''pork barrel'' fashion like a ``banana republic.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10470913.htm
Bush publicly backs Rumsfeld despite mounting opposition
GOING TO BAT: The US president lauded his defense secretary as a `caring fellow' as polls showed most Americans think Rummy should go
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/12/22/2003216243
December 22nd, 2004 1:19 pm
Michigan Congressman Seeks Exit Poll Data
By Seth Sutel / Associated Press
NEW YORK - The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has asked The Associated Press and five broadcast networks to turn over raw exit poll data collected on Election Day so that any discrepancies between the data and the certified election results can be investigated.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=677
FBI files implicate Bush in Iraqi jail abuses
From Tim Reid in Washington
VIOLENT abuse of prisoners by US forces in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay was widespread as recently as four months ago, according to documents released yesterday.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,11069-1411944,00.html
The Boston Globe
Disbarment urged for 3 in scheme
Lawyers said to conspire to discredit judge
By Jonathan Saltzman and Ralph Ranalli, Globe Staff May 13, 2005
Three well-known lawyers accused of orchestrating an elaborate scheme to discredit a former Superior Court judge ''brought shame and disrepute" to the legal community and should be disbarred, a hearing officer for the state recommended yesterday, in one of Massachusetts' most closely watched attorney discipline cases ever.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/05/13/disbarment_urged_for_3_in_scheme/
Mandela challenges selective colleges to widen opportunity for needy students
Gets honorary degree from Amherst College
By Tatsha Robertson, Globe Staff May 13, 2005
NEW YORK -- Looking fragile but dignified, Nelson Mandela, the former imprisoned nationalist who rose to become South Africa's president, yesterday challenged selective colleges in the United States to open their doors to more students of modest means.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/05/13/mandela_challenges_selective_colleges_to_widen_opportunity_for_needy_students/
Study affirms aggressive treatment for breast cancer
By Rob Stein, Washington Post May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Chemotherapy and hormone treatment have dramatically reduced the death rate from early-stage breast cancer, according to a major international analysis that indicates the often-arduous regimes do cure many women.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/05/13/study_affirms_aggressive_treatment_for_breast_cancer/
Antitax activist says he got $1.5m from tribes
Set up policy talks with president
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Antitax activist Grover Norquist said yesterday that his organization has received nearly $1.5 million from Indian tribes in the past five years and that he arranged for tribal leaders to attend meetings to discuss tax policy with President Bush every year for the past four years.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/05/13/antitax_activist_says_he_got_15m_from_tribes/
Losing hearts and minds
By Derrick Z. Jackson May 13, 2005
WHEN THE Abu Ghraib prison scandal exploded a year ago, President Bush said it was ''an insult to the Iraqi people and an affront to the most basic standards of morality and decency." He said, ''These humiliating acts do not reflect our character." He also said, ''American soldiers and civilians on the ground have come to know and respect the citizens of Iraq."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05/13/losing_hearts_and_minds/
Rumsfeld reduces scope of military base closings
Sees $48.8b savings over next 20 years
By Robert Burns, Associated Press May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Military base closings will be less severe than expected, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld indicated yesterday, saying that he had scaled down his recommendations because the military had less surplus space than once estimated.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/05/13/rumsfeld_reduces_scope_of_military_base_closings/
Deadly risks lurk for Marines in western offensive
Troops aid comrades after blast hits vehicle
By Solomon Moore, Los Angeles Times May 13, 2005
ABU HARDAN, Iraq -- The Marines of Kilo Company were on the fourth day of an offensive to rid western Iraq of insurgents, but they had not seen much action Wednesday until a loud boom rocked this Euphrates River village, followed by the frantic screams of young troops.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/05/13/deadly_risks_lurk_for_marines_in_western_offensive/
Bombings, other violence kill 21 in Iraq
Baghdad crowd vents fury over bloodshed
By Antonio Castaneda, Associated Press May 13, 2005
BAGHDAD -- A car bomb exploded in a crowded commercial district yesterday, turning the sky gray as shops and restaurants caught fire in the deadliest in a string of attacks that killed 21 people and included the assassinations of a general and a colonel on their way to work.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/05/13/bombings_other_violence_kill_21_in_iraq/
There has been an entire USA military unit destroyed in the last campaign by the USA military. From this link it looks like the 3rd Battalion which has at least ten recent deaths listed here. The tragedy is that many if not all these members come from one town in the USA. National Guard Units tend to be that way. It is what makes this conflict so tragic. Different form any other USA operation the deaths that take place can frequently be from one town.
There have been 1,792 coalition troop deaths, 1,613 Americans, 88 Britons, 10 Bulgarians, one Dane, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 21 Italians, one Kazakh, one Latvian, 17 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and 18 Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of May 12, 2005.
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/2005.05.html
continued...
The scene where a car bomb exploded near a market in eastern Baghdad on Thursday (AP photo by Hadi Mizban) This picture is from "The Jordan Times." What is a total bizarre reality to Baghdad is to realize people are actually milling around where bombs just went off. One would think they would run never to return until emergency crews were finished with the area. It's odd behavior to say the least as if this is common place and it's just time to 'get on' with living and rebuilding after rebuilding after rebuilding. My any chance does this remind anyone of Old Beirut? There is no police. No military. There is questionably a fireperson in the right lower corner of the picture. I just feel like people nod their heads and proceed to walk down the road to their next stop of the day. Could anyone in any big in this country actually think of strolling past this scene as if walking in New York City from Seventh Avenue to Fifth Avenue. There are spectators but there is more interaction with the violence by the Iraqi public than any place else I can remember. People literally are walking upto those vehicles to examine the complete destruction. I don't believe this isn't going to end anytime soon. Add to this the reality an entire American Military Unit has been annihilated in the latest campaign of the USA in Iraq in An Albar Province and realize there comes a time when people have to realize the Coalition Military is not making progress to say the least and more likely losing this initiative in Iraq. The opposition has the 380 tonnes of high explosives Don Rumsfeld neglected to secure after the invasion in the Iraqi Desert.
Michael Moore Scholarship Awards
Congratulations. I am happy for the Award Winners and for Mike. He's a great guy. Very happy he had such overwhelming participation. Go, Michael, Go.
MICHAEL MOORE ANNOUNCES THE RECIPIENTS OF THE FIRST ANNUAL "MICHAEL MOORE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SCHOLARSHIP AT CAL STATE SAN MARCOS"
MOORE TRIPLES THE AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FIRST YEAR DUE TO LARGE NUMBER OF OUTSTANDING APPLICANTS
May 13th, 2005 -- Oscar-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Michael Moore announced today the first annual recipients of "The Michael Moore Freedom of Speech Scholarship at Cal State San Marcos."
Michael Moore has chosen six students to receive a total award of $15,000, with $2,500 going to each student. Moore's original plan for the first year of the scholarship was to give out $5,000 or two $2,500 scholarships. Mr. Moore tripled the number of recipients in response to the large number of impressive applications from outstanding Cal State San Marcos students who have stood up to their administration and fought for students' rights.
On September 13th, 2004 Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes announced her decision to rescind a speaking invitation Michael Moore had received from the student body on the grounds that the speaker was too "political." Students responded to the administration's attempt to repress free speech by independently raising money themselves and organizing the 10,000 person rally at the Del Mar Fairgrounds held on October 12, 2004, as part of Moore's 62-city "Slacker Uprising Tour."
In honor of those courageous students, "The Michael Moore Freedom of Speech Scholarship at Cal State San Marcos" was established. The scholarship's first annual recipients are as follows:
Cheyenne Barr
... she has given workshops on clean money election reform, organized peer based student advising, lobbied against student budget cuts and fee increases in Sacramento as part of the ASI Lobby Corps.
Cheyenne also helped organize the Academic Freedom Rally, a collaborative program on the right-wing attempts to curtail freedom of expression on California campuses.
"My personal goals have always led me to broader human issues. My interest in gender roles, empowerment and access to academic counseling have all gone from the personal to the community stage…."
Julie D. Bennington
Ms. Bennington, a junior now pursuing her degree in Women's Studies and Literature and a minor in Ethnic Studies,…
...Julie is no longer the apathetic student she once was, just recently organizing a campus-wide forum on policing practices. Another event, the first annual PAN Peace Picnic, pitted Julie and her PAN cohorts against the school's administration.
The picnic eventually went ahead, but only after an armed police officer was assigned to watch over their celebration of peace. Julie hopes to put her education to good use and someday teach.
"Activism has changed my life. I feel as though I have finally found what I was meant to do in life."
Heather Frost
Ms. Frost, a graduating senior with a degree in Women's Studies, has repeatedly rallied students on campus and in the classroom. Heather does not give people in positions of power a free pass and has directly confronted CSUSM President Karen Haynes on issues of academic freedom, the fostering of critical thinking and the upholding of the University Mission Statement and its stated educational values.
...a Student Discussion Leader for two of the schools' courses, "Introduction to Women's Studies" and "Beauty and Body Image" which deals with the social pressures women face in our commercialized society….
Tasha Iglesias
Ms. Iglesias, a graduating senior with a double major in Liberal Studies and Women's studies, has been a leader in the Women's Studies department, serving as Vice President of the Women's Studies Student Association where she, along with co-scholarship winner Cheyenne Bar, recently finished teaching a course on Women's Sexuality that she helped design.
Tasha has helped coordinate trips to Washington D.C to demonstrate on behalf of women's right to choose, and has even represented CSUSM on multiple women's rights panels….
Sarah Leonard
Ms. Leonard, a junior with a double major in Criminology & Justice Studies and Women's Studies (with a focus on communities and inequalities), has been a tireless on-campus activist at CSUSM, working to increase student awareness of issues ranging from racial profiling of minority students by campus police, to HIV/AIDS education to genocide in Sudan.
...Sarah has helped organize many events that challenge the prevailing, conservative climate in North San Diego County.
...Working with Veterans for Peace, Sarah helped to create "Arlington West", a temporary memorial of over 1,400 crosses to symbolize the American military death toll in Iraq.
...Would-be saboteurs of the Republican persuasion carved a giant "W" in the lawn where these crosses were to be placed -- as if correlating these deaths with George W. Bush would somehow nullify the memorial. Sarah continues to organize, …
Jason E. Williams
Mr. Williams is a senior Communications major,…
... Mr. Williams has spoken out - at campus forums, rallies and marches, to the media and to school administration. He has tirelessly pursued justice and spoken out against racial profiling by campus authorities. In speaking about that fateful evening, Jason recalls the campus police who stopped him saying, "You don't belong here." Wrong. Jason E. Williams is exactly the type of student who belongs at CSUSM and that is why he is a deserving recipient of "The Michael Moore Freedom of Speech Scholarship At Cal State San Marcos."
Upon announcing the winners, Michael Moore said the following: "Congratulations to all the scholarship recipients. I hope this award further inspires students to hit the books, study hard, fight for what they believe in, and raise some hell when there's hell to be raised."
Moore added: "Congratulations to the entire Class of '05."
MICHAEL MOORE ANNOUNCES THE RECIPIENTS OF THE FIRST ANNUAL "MICHAEL MOORE FREEDOM OF SPEECH SCHOLARSHIP AT CAL STATE SAN MARCOS"
MOORE TRIPLES THE AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FIRST YEAR DUE TO LARGE NUMBER OF OUTSTANDING APPLICANTS
May 13th, 2005 -- Oscar-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Michael Moore announced today the first annual recipients of "The Michael Moore Freedom of Speech Scholarship at Cal State San Marcos."
Michael Moore has chosen six students to receive a total award of $15,000, with $2,500 going to each student. Moore's original plan for the first year of the scholarship was to give out $5,000 or two $2,500 scholarships. Mr. Moore tripled the number of recipients in response to the large number of impressive applications from outstanding Cal State San Marcos students who have stood up to their administration and fought for students' rights.
On September 13th, 2004 Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes announced her decision to rescind a speaking invitation Michael Moore had received from the student body on the grounds that the speaker was too "political." Students responded to the administration's attempt to repress free speech by independently raising money themselves and organizing the 10,000 person rally at the Del Mar Fairgrounds held on October 12, 2004, as part of Moore's 62-city "Slacker Uprising Tour."
In honor of those courageous students, "The Michael Moore Freedom of Speech Scholarship at Cal State San Marcos" was established. The scholarship's first annual recipients are as follows:
Cheyenne Barr
... she has given workshops on clean money election reform, organized peer based student advising, lobbied against student budget cuts and fee increases in Sacramento as part of the ASI Lobby Corps.
Cheyenne also helped organize the Academic Freedom Rally, a collaborative program on the right-wing attempts to curtail freedom of expression on California campuses.
"My personal goals have always led me to broader human issues. My interest in gender roles, empowerment and access to academic counseling have all gone from the personal to the community stage…."
Julie D. Bennington
Ms. Bennington, a junior now pursuing her degree in Women's Studies and Literature and a minor in Ethnic Studies,…
...Julie is no longer the apathetic student she once was, just recently organizing a campus-wide forum on policing practices. Another event, the first annual PAN Peace Picnic, pitted Julie and her PAN cohorts against the school's administration.
The picnic eventually went ahead, but only after an armed police officer was assigned to watch over their celebration of peace. Julie hopes to put her education to good use and someday teach.
"Activism has changed my life. I feel as though I have finally found what I was meant to do in life."
Heather Frost
Ms. Frost, a graduating senior with a degree in Women's Studies, has repeatedly rallied students on campus and in the classroom. Heather does not give people in positions of power a free pass and has directly confronted CSUSM President Karen Haynes on issues of academic freedom, the fostering of critical thinking and the upholding of the University Mission Statement and its stated educational values.
...a Student Discussion Leader for two of the schools' courses, "Introduction to Women's Studies" and "Beauty and Body Image" which deals with the social pressures women face in our commercialized society….
Tasha Iglesias
Ms. Iglesias, a graduating senior with a double major in Liberal Studies and Women's studies, has been a leader in the Women's Studies department, serving as Vice President of the Women's Studies Student Association where she, along with co-scholarship winner Cheyenne Bar, recently finished teaching a course on Women's Sexuality that she helped design.
Tasha has helped coordinate trips to Washington D.C to demonstrate on behalf of women's right to choose, and has even represented CSUSM on multiple women's rights panels….
Sarah Leonard
Ms. Leonard, a junior with a double major in Criminology & Justice Studies and Women's Studies (with a focus on communities and inequalities), has been a tireless on-campus activist at CSUSM, working to increase student awareness of issues ranging from racial profiling of minority students by campus police, to HIV/AIDS education to genocide in Sudan.
...Sarah has helped organize many events that challenge the prevailing, conservative climate in North San Diego County.
...Working with Veterans for Peace, Sarah helped to create "Arlington West", a temporary memorial of over 1,400 crosses to symbolize the American military death toll in Iraq.
...Would-be saboteurs of the Republican persuasion carved a giant "W" in the lawn where these crosses were to be placed -- as if correlating these deaths with George W. Bush would somehow nullify the memorial. Sarah continues to organize, …
Jason E. Williams
Mr. Williams is a senior Communications major,…
... Mr. Williams has spoken out - at campus forums, rallies and marches, to the media and to school administration. He has tirelessly pursued justice and spoken out against racial profiling by campus authorities. In speaking about that fateful evening, Jason recalls the campus police who stopped him saying, "You don't belong here." Wrong. Jason E. Williams is exactly the type of student who belongs at CSUSM and that is why he is a deserving recipient of "The Michael Moore Freedom of Speech Scholarship At Cal State San Marcos."
Upon announcing the winners, Michael Moore said the following: "Congratulations to all the scholarship recipients. I hope this award further inspires students to hit the books, study hard, fight for what they believe in, and raise some hell when there's hell to be raised."
Moore added: "Congratulations to the entire Class of '05."
Morning Papers - continued...
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Blissfully Unaware;
On a Bicycle in Beltsville, Blissfully Unaware
By Dana Milbank / Washington Post
When the state of red alert was declared yesterday, the vice president was evacuated from the White House and the first lady was whisked to a secure location. But no precautions were needed for President Bush.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2621
"The decision was made to inform the president upon conclusion of his bike ride," Bush press secretary Scott McClellan said
And That's Just the Way Bush Likes It
Bush satisfied with alert response
Associated Press
WHITE HOUSE -- President Bush is said to be satisfied with how officials handled yesterday's White House security alert, even though he wasn't told until it was over.
However, Press Secretary Scott McClellan says the incident is being reviewed -- and if any improvements need to be made, they will be.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2622
Reuters
Iran says nuke talks not dead amid EU warnings
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Talks between Iran and the European Union could still defuse a confrontation over Tehran's nuclear work, Iranian officials were quoted as saying on Friday, amid warnings Iran risks referral to the U.N. Security Council.
Iran has said it is poised to announce a return to activities related to uranium enrichment.
Britain, France and Germany persuaded Iran to suspend such activities late last year to reassure the world it was not seeking nuclear arms as Washington believes.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8486149
Colorado Springs Gazett
FBI Nabs Troops, Officers in Drug Sting
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- FBI agents posing as cocaine traffickers in Arizona caught 16 current and former U.S. soldiers and law enforcement personnel who took about $220,000 in bribes to help move the drugs through checkpoints, Justice Department officials said Thursday.
Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, current and former members of the Arizona Army National Guard and the state corrections department, and a Nogales police officer, officials said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBI_COCAINE_STING?SITE=COCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-12-15-17-06
U.S. Judge Rejects Neb. Gay-Marriage Ban
BY KEVIN O'HANLON
Associated Press Writer
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- A federal judge Thursday struck down Nebraska's ban on gay marriage, saying the measure interferes not only with the rights of gay couples but also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in a host of other living arrangements.
The constitutional amendment, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was passed overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2000.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon said the ban "imposes significant burdens on both the expressive and intimate associational rights" of gays "and creates a significant barrier to the plaintiffs' right to petition or to participate in the political process."
Bataillon said the ban beyond "goes far beyond merely defining marriage as between a man and a woman."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SAME_SEX_BAN?SITE=COCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-12-17-44-07
Investigation ordered into police gunfire that killed escaped buffalo in neighborhood
COLORADO SPRINGS (AP) - The city manager has ordered an investigation after police fired up to 120 rounds in a residential neighborhood to kill five buffalo that had escaped from a slaughterhouse.
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=cd79036b-0abe-421a-00f9-c2ecb7f7413f&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf
Police Shoot Buffalo Escaping From Packing Plant
Monday Incident Mirrors Similar Shooting In 2003
POSTED: 11:29 am MDT May 10, 2005
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Police Monday shot and killed five buffaloes that escaped from a meatpacking plant.
Instead of fleeing, the buffalo began grazing in a yard and police fired at the buffalo with semiautomatic rifles as each charged officers one-by-one.
"If five of them would have charged at once, I'm not sure we would have had enough manpower to kill all of them," Colorado Springs police Lt. Larry Laxson said.
The buffalo managed to get out when a truck driver didn't properly park his truck in the delivery chute at the G & C Meatpacking Plant, said plant owner Frank Grindinger.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4472052/detail.html
The Los Angeles Times
PICTURES ACCOMPANY WTH DISCUSSION
Shooting Spurs TV News Debate
Live broadcast captures fatal wounding of suspect by police after car chase.
By Eric Malnic and Jia-Rui Chong
Times Staff Writers
May 12, 2005
At least two television stations provided live coverage Wednesday as Long Beach police officers fatally shot a man after a car chase, reigniting a debate about how TV news outlets should cover chases and other live events that could end in violence.
The shooting came at the end of a 50-minute pursuit across Long Beach and the South Bay that channels 2 and 7 followed with TV helicopters — the kind of story that has become a staple of local newscasts.
When the suspect suddenly jumped out of his vehicle at a Long Beach strip mall and allegedly reached for a pistol, the cameras captured a group of police officers opening fire and the suspect falling to the ground.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shoot12may12,0,6840071,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
3 Anti-U.S. Protesters Killed in Clashes With Afghan Police
From Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Police clashed with anti-U.S. demonstrators in two Afghan towns, killing at least three people, and Afghan students burned an American flag in Kabul today as protests spread over reported abuse of Islam's holy book at the U.S. jail in Guantanamo Bay.
The unrest came a day after riots in the eastern city of Jalalabad left four people dead -- the worst anti-American protests in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-051205afghan_wr,0,2512511.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Al Jazeera
Anti-U.S. protests turn deadly in Afghanistan
Anti-U.S. demonstrations continued for another day in Afghanistan, protesting over U.S. interrogators’ desecration of the Qur’an, Muslims’ holy book, at Guantanamo Bay.
One protester was killed and four others were wounded in a blast, officials said.
Although most of the protesters appeared to be university students, some officials claimed that elements opposed to the country's U.S.-backed re-emergence were fueling the violence, which also targeted the UN offices and American troops in the country.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8321
Iraq on the verge of a civil war- Experts
With the wave of deadly car bomb attacks that struck several Iraqi cities and towns over the past few days, experts say that the war- torn country is either on the verge of civil war or already in the middle of it.
About 400 people lost their lives in various bomb attacks in Iraq during the past 10 days.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8324
Fierce uprising breaks out in Uzbekistan
Soldiers in Uzbekistan surrounded thousands of people, many of them armed, who took to the streets of an eastern Uzbek city on Friday, attacking a prison, protesting the arrest of 23 prominent businessmen on charges of ‘Islamic extremism’, witnesses said.
The men were arrested in June on charges of being members of the Akramia religious group and having contacts with the Hizb-ut-Tahrir party, which authorities accuse of inspiring attacks in Uzbekistan that claimed the lives of more than 50 people over the past year. But the group has repeatedly denied responsibility.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8327
The Pentagon closes 33 major U.S. military bases to save $48 billion
5/13/2005 3:00:00 PM GMT
The Pentagon suggested on Friday the closure of 33 major U.S. military bases and the realignment of 29 others, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine and Fort McPherson in Georgia.
Several smaller facilities were also recommended for closure as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave a nine-member Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission a list of recommendations for closing or consolidating many of the military bases in the United States and its territories.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8344
continued….
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Blissfully Unaware;
On a Bicycle in Beltsville, Blissfully Unaware
By Dana Milbank / Washington Post
When the state of red alert was declared yesterday, the vice president was evacuated from the White House and the first lady was whisked to a secure location. But no precautions were needed for President Bush.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2621
"The decision was made to inform the president upon conclusion of his bike ride," Bush press secretary Scott McClellan said
And That's Just the Way Bush Likes It
Bush satisfied with alert response
Associated Press
WHITE HOUSE -- President Bush is said to be satisfied with how officials handled yesterday's White House security alert, even though he wasn't told until it was over.
However, Press Secretary Scott McClellan says the incident is being reviewed -- and if any improvements need to be made, they will be.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=2622
Reuters
Iran says nuke talks not dead amid EU warnings
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Talks between Iran and the European Union could still defuse a confrontation over Tehran's nuclear work, Iranian officials were quoted as saying on Friday, amid warnings Iran risks referral to the U.N. Security Council.
Iran has said it is poised to announce a return to activities related to uranium enrichment.
Britain, France and Germany persuaded Iran to suspend such activities late last year to reassure the world it was not seeking nuclear arms as Washington believes.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=8486149
Colorado Springs Gazett
FBI Nabs Troops, Officers in Drug Sting
By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Associated Press Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- FBI agents posing as cocaine traffickers in Arizona caught 16 current and former U.S. soldiers and law enforcement personnel who took about $220,000 in bribes to help move the drugs through checkpoints, Justice Department officials said Thursday.
Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, current and former members of the Arizona Army National Guard and the state corrections department, and a Nogales police officer, officials said.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBI_COCAINE_STING?SITE=COCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-12-15-17-06
U.S. Judge Rejects Neb. Gay-Marriage Ban
BY KEVIN O'HANLON
Associated Press Writer
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- A federal judge Thursday struck down Nebraska's ban on gay marriage, saying the measure interferes not only with the rights of gay couples but also with those of foster parents, adopted children and people in a host of other living arrangements.
The constitutional amendment, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, was passed overwhelmingly by the voters in November 2000.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon said the ban "imposes significant burdens on both the expressive and intimate associational rights" of gays "and creates a significant barrier to the plaintiffs' right to petition or to participate in the political process."
Bataillon said the ban beyond "goes far beyond merely defining marriage as between a man and a woman."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SAME_SEX_BAN?SITE=COCOL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-12-17-44-07
Investigation ordered into police gunfire that killed escaped buffalo in neighborhood
COLORADO SPRINGS (AP) - The city manager has ordered an investigation after police fired up to 120 rounds in a residential neighborhood to kill five buffalo that had escaped from a slaughterhouse.
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=cd79036b-0abe-421a-00f9-c2ecb7f7413f&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf
Police Shoot Buffalo Escaping From Packing Plant
Monday Incident Mirrors Similar Shooting In 2003
POSTED: 11:29 am MDT May 10, 2005
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Police Monday shot and killed five buffaloes that escaped from a meatpacking plant.
Instead of fleeing, the buffalo began grazing in a yard and police fired at the buffalo with semiautomatic rifles as each charged officers one-by-one.
"If five of them would have charged at once, I'm not sure we would have had enough manpower to kill all of them," Colorado Springs police Lt. Larry Laxson said.
The buffalo managed to get out when a truck driver didn't properly park his truck in the delivery chute at the G & C Meatpacking Plant, said plant owner Frank Grindinger.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/4472052/detail.html
The Los Angeles Times
PICTURES ACCOMPANY WTH DISCUSSION
Shooting Spurs TV News Debate
Live broadcast captures fatal wounding of suspect by police after car chase.
By Eric Malnic and Jia-Rui Chong
Times Staff Writers
May 12, 2005
At least two television stations provided live coverage Wednesday as Long Beach police officers fatally shot a man after a car chase, reigniting a debate about how TV news outlets should cover chases and other live events that could end in violence.
The shooting came at the end of a 50-minute pursuit across Long Beach and the South Bay that channels 2 and 7 followed with TV helicopters — the kind of story that has become a staple of local newscasts.
When the suspect suddenly jumped out of his vehicle at a Long Beach strip mall and allegedly reached for a pistol, the cameras captured a group of police officers opening fire and the suspect falling to the ground.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shoot12may12,0,6840071,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines
3 Anti-U.S. Protesters Killed in Clashes With Afghan Police
From Associated Press
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Police clashed with anti-U.S. demonstrators in two Afghan towns, killing at least three people, and Afghan students burned an American flag in Kabul today as protests spread over reported abuse of Islam's holy book at the U.S. jail in Guantanamo Bay.
The unrest came a day after riots in the eastern city of Jalalabad left four people dead -- the worst anti-American protests in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-051205afghan_wr,0,2512511.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Al Jazeera
Anti-U.S. protests turn deadly in Afghanistan
Anti-U.S. demonstrations continued for another day in Afghanistan, protesting over U.S. interrogators’ desecration of the Qur’an, Muslims’ holy book, at Guantanamo Bay.
One protester was killed and four others were wounded in a blast, officials said.
Although most of the protesters appeared to be university students, some officials claimed that elements opposed to the country's U.S.-backed re-emergence were fueling the violence, which also targeted the UN offices and American troops in the country.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8321
Iraq on the verge of a civil war- Experts
With the wave of deadly car bomb attacks that struck several Iraqi cities and towns over the past few days, experts say that the war- torn country is either on the verge of civil war or already in the middle of it.
About 400 people lost their lives in various bomb attacks in Iraq during the past 10 days.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8324
Fierce uprising breaks out in Uzbekistan
Soldiers in Uzbekistan surrounded thousands of people, many of them armed, who took to the streets of an eastern Uzbek city on Friday, attacking a prison, protesting the arrest of 23 prominent businessmen on charges of ‘Islamic extremism’, witnesses said.
The men were arrested in June on charges of being members of the Akramia religious group and having contacts with the Hizb-ut-Tahrir party, which authorities accuse of inspiring attacks in Uzbekistan that claimed the lives of more than 50 people over the past year. But the group has repeatedly denied responsibility.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8327
The Pentagon closes 33 major U.S. military bases to save $48 billion
5/13/2005 3:00:00 PM GMT
The Pentagon suggested on Friday the closure of 33 major U.S. military bases and the realignment of 29 others, including Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine and Fort McPherson in Georgia.
Several smaller facilities were also recommended for closure as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave a nine-member Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission a list of recommendations for closing or consolidating many of the military bases in the United States and its territories.
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=8344
continued….
May 12, 2005. Actually this is moving south from Anchorage which is an interesting perspective. This is north of the Kenai Fjords National Park which is roughly about the same latitude as the Alexander Archipelago. There is new growth in the leaves of trees as reported by the photographer. He also sees new growth of leaves in Anchorage. It might be, and it's a heck of a gamble, that the drought is BEGINNING in the southern area of Alaska while the cooler northern area is still wet enough with good percipitation. I haven't looked into the annual rainfall in these areas to know how much it has changed, but, it is perfectly obvious that it has. These envionrments are completely dependant on Ice Formatoins, Glaciation and the Arctic Ocean. This is better but hardly encouraging. We all need to 'get in the face of government' and reduce those carbon dioxide levels. If the federal government is not interested in protecting live in this country then we need to petition the states to protect our lives and end this insane Global Warming.
May 12, 2005. This is more proof of the Alaskan Drought. The dried up areas are grass areas whereas the green areas are trees. The thing about this is the root systems for these trees is very shallow. Currently, as per this picture of yesterday, the drought has not reached the root systems of the Temperate Rain Forest. This is very much the way the picture from St. George's Island looked. Tundra is highly dependant upon Rain Forest conditons in that it needs chronic dampness and running water. Below any tundra area is highly saturated land. In many areas of this type of forest it is impossible to transit across it because there are more bogs than not. This is serious. These are going sizes of parched areas adding to the warming and carbon dioxide load and not less. The people in Alaska also need to assess where they are getting water supplies from as these aquafers are shallow. In addition, Bush can kiss his oil drilling dependant on ice roads good-bye because there is no moisture in large enough amounts to freeze besides the troposphere heating to prevent it anyway.
Anchorage. I am assuming this is traveling south to north. The white specs are seagulls. Those birds are having a ball right now because the water is so shallow that the creatures that live in those waters are easy pickin's. This seems to me to be a drought ridden shoreline with falling water levels. This is where it gets a little complicated when it comes to lowering sea levels rather than rising when it comes to Global Warming. This is most likely 'isostatic rebound.' In other words, water is heavy. Something like 8 pounds per gallon, there abouts. Ice is heavy as well. As the glaciers melt the land is relieved of that weight and there is actualy continental uplift. That uplift results in sea levels falling along the shorelines whereas every other land structure WITHOUT ice melting is experiencing sea level rise because the water is going into the oceans rather than staying in ice formations. I have no idea Alaska was in this type of distress. Nor, did I expect the ice formations to melt exponentially this quickly. If this is a receeding sea level at the Alaskan shoreline? We are witnessing some major Global Warming effects and gross reduction of Ice fields in the Arctic. ISOSTATIC REBOUND requires the removal of huge amounts of ice to allow an entire continent to rise.
May 12, 2005. This is Global Warming in that it is melting snow and ice more rapidly. With the warming has come a drought to Alaska that is killing off it's tundra. There is shrinking snow on the mountains; here in Palmer, Alaska; because in addition to the heating of the troposphere there is no 'recharge' to the snow fields, ice fields and hence to the glaciers. The tundra is drying up and dying.
May 12, 2005. Absolutely beautiful picture of Anchorage, Alaska, but, where, oh where has the snow on the mountain peaks gone? Noted the treeline. It is far below the snow line. That is very bad news. Normally the snow line begins where the tree line ends. Subsequent pictures will start to confirm what we started to see in a picture of St. George's Island. Alaska has a profound drought.
May 12, 2005. These are very dangerous storms indeed. The photographer states. Here near the Kansas City Missouri area today at about 7:15-pm CDT: the Gust front of severe storms blowing into town with gusts from 50-mph to 72-straight-line winds, 2-days this are has been getting warnings-watches alike for severe weather, the WX-spotters are working overtime.
Morning Papers - concluding
New York Times
MORE OF BUSH'S COERSION. He chronically 'cries' "Give me someone I can work with." Then he turns right around and doesn't work with anyone at all but only to serve as their "Image" to the public while 'turning loose' the incompetents that should never have made it that far to begin with. Bush is a manipulator of his Party by permission to achieve public fervor and continued abuse of the USA Treasury. Bush is the power player no one else is willing to be and to that tune has the undying loyalty of every crony, Repuglican or not. If there is a 'money scheme' somewhere Bush will back you up !! This method of coersion is pandering to their base and is a gross example of "The Tail Wagging The Dog of Bush." The Moderates need to stand their ground and take back the esteem of the Republican Party as well as advance the needs of the American People.
Republican Moderates in Senate Sense Intensifying Pressures
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 12 - The unusual pact that permitted the nomination of John R. Bolton to go forward on Thursday without the support of a crucial Republican senator has exposed, in a very raw and public way, the extreme pressures facing Republican moderates in a Senate that is increasingly dominated by conservatives.
President Bush called the dissenting Republican, Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio, on Wednesday, the day before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Mr. Voinovich serves, was to take up the nomination, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/politics/13assess.html?hp&ex=1116043200&en=550ce22ec279af13&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Study Finds Benefit in Some Surgery for Prostate Cancer
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 12, 2005
By The Associated Press
A Scandinavian study of an agonizing decision faced by men who have early prostate cancer - whether to have surgery or wait to see if the disease spreads - found that for those under 65, operating clearly saved lives, cutting the death rate by more than half.
For men over 65, on the other hand, who account for a vast majority of prostate cancer patients, the jury is still out.
Because of the new findings, being reported today in The New England Journal of Medicine, younger men "are much less likely to be encouraged to watch and wait," said Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate cancer at the American Cancer Society.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/health/12prostate.html
Pataki Moves to Revive the Rebuilding of Lower Manhattan
Published: May 12, 2005
Gov. George E. Pataki announced today that he had named his chief of staff, John P. Cahill, to take control of the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan and construction of the Sept 11. memorial, saying a fresh commitment of energy and money was needed to achieve the "solemn obligation" of reviving the World Trade Center site.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/nyregion/12cnd-pataki.html?hp&ex=1115956800&en=73954bf8155f43c8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Retaining Wall Collapses in Upper Manhattan, Closing Highway
NEW YORK (AP) -- A retaining wall along the Henry Hudson Parkway in upper Manhattan collapsed on Thursday afternoon, burying parked cars under a massive mound of dirt, trees and debris.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, fire department spokeswoman Maria Lamberti said.
Fire department personnel were called to the area near Riverside Drive and 181st Street at 4 p.m. Swarms of firefighters removed debris from the parkway's northbound lanes.
The six-lane parkway, Route 9A, was closed in the area in both directions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/nyregion/12wire-collapse.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
G.E. Chief Urges U.S. to Adopt Clearer Energy Policy
By FELICITY BARRINGER and MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: May 10, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 9 - The chief executive of the General Electric Company, Jeffrey R. Immelt, pushed the company squarely into the global warming debate on Monday, asking the government for a clear energy policy and saying later in an interview that he expected Washington to eventually impose controls on carbon emissions.
"If you look to the future, there is going to be a day when we have standards of some kind pertaining to carbon," he said. "I think most business people are planning for that implicitly, even without anything that's overt." The Bush administration has opposed such controls.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/10/business/10green.html
Washington Post
Mystery Illness Killing Racing Greyhounds
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 12, 2005; 2:00 PM
REVERE, Mass. -- A mysterious respiratory disease is sweeping greyhound tracks across the country, killing dozens of dogs and forcing owners to halt racing as researchers hunt for a vaccine to control the outbreak.
Pasted from <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/12/AR2005051200914.html>
The New Zealand Herald
UN critical of slow pace of tsunami rebuilding
13.05.05 1.00pm
WASHINGTON - Rebuilding from last December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami has been too slow and frustration is growing among displaced people, a senior UN official says.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125373
Asian states hampering bird flu checks, says UN
13.05.05 10.20am
ROME - A top UN agency official accused Asian nations of blocking proper monitoring of the deadly bird flu virus by giving too few samples to scientists, but denied a charge that his own agency was failing to share specimens.
The head of the Animal Health Service of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said countries were failing to export samples of the H5N1 bird flu virus that has killed more than 50 people in Asia since 2003.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125338
Girl 'witch' to be thrown into river, court told
13.05.05 1.00pm
LONDON - A schoolgirl told a British court on Thursday she was put into a laundry bag and was going to be thrown from a third-floor apartment window into a river by her mother and aunt who thought she was a witch.
Prosecutors say the girl, brought to London from Angola by a woman claiming to be her mother, had been regularly abused by members of her family after they had become convinced she was putting curses on members of her family.
The court has heard the abuse culminated in a plan by her 38-year-old "mother" and another woman, Sita Kisanga, 35, who says she is the girl's aunt, to kill her.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125376
More cash pledged to make Chernobyl safe
13.05.05 1.00pm
By Madeline Chambers
LONDON - Leading nations pledged about $200 million on Thursday towards a cover to encase the Chernobyl power plant's fourth reactor which exploded nearly two decades ago in the world's worst civil nuclear accident.
The latest contributions, which bring the total raised by 28 donor governments to about $800 million, mean work can start on a permanent shelter for the reactor to stop radioactive leaks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125377
Peacekeepers wounded in Congo ambush
13.05.05 9.20am
KINSHASA - Seven United Nations peacekeepers from Bangladesh were wounded when a militia group ambushed their convoy on Thursday in the Ituri district of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The attack happened in a lawless region where the world body has taken a more aggressive stance against militia fighters since nine peacekeepers were killed there in February. However, much of the district is still ruled by warlords.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125317
New rodent emerges
13.05.05
A long-whiskered rodent with stubby legs and a tail covered with dense hair has turned out be a previously unknown species so unique it represents an entire new family of wildlife, says the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Based on morphological differences in the bone structure, coupled with DNA analysis, scientists believe the animal diverged from other rodents millions of years ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=10125271
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-13.0°
Updated Friday 13 May 8:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
50 °F / 10 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
48 °F / 9 °C
Humidity:
89%
Dew Point:
47 °F / 8 °C
Wind:
5 mph / 7 km/h from the WNW
Pressure:
29.89 in / 1012 hPa (Falling)
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 5500 ft / 1676 m
end
MORE OF BUSH'S COERSION. He chronically 'cries' "Give me someone I can work with." Then he turns right around and doesn't work with anyone at all but only to serve as their "Image" to the public while 'turning loose' the incompetents that should never have made it that far to begin with. Bush is a manipulator of his Party by permission to achieve public fervor and continued abuse of the USA Treasury. Bush is the power player no one else is willing to be and to that tune has the undying loyalty of every crony, Repuglican or not. If there is a 'money scheme' somewhere Bush will back you up !! This method of coersion is pandering to their base and is a gross example of "The Tail Wagging The Dog of Bush." The Moderates need to stand their ground and take back the esteem of the Republican Party as well as advance the needs of the American People.
Republican Moderates in Senate Sense Intensifying Pressures
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: May 13, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 12 - The unusual pact that permitted the nomination of John R. Bolton to go forward on Thursday without the support of a crucial Republican senator has exposed, in a very raw and public way, the extreme pressures facing Republican moderates in a Senate that is increasingly dominated by conservatives.
President Bush called the dissenting Republican, Senator George V. Voinovich of Ohio, on Wednesday, the day before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which Mr. Voinovich serves, was to take up the nomination, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/13/politics/13assess.html?hp&ex=1116043200&en=550ce22ec279af13&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Study Finds Benefit in Some Surgery for Prostate Cancer
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 12, 2005
By The Associated Press
A Scandinavian study of an agonizing decision faced by men who have early prostate cancer - whether to have surgery or wait to see if the disease spreads - found that for those under 65, operating clearly saved lives, cutting the death rate by more than half.
For men over 65, on the other hand, who account for a vast majority of prostate cancer patients, the jury is still out.
Because of the new findings, being reported today in The New England Journal of Medicine, younger men "are much less likely to be encouraged to watch and wait," said Dr. Durado Brooks, director of prostate cancer at the American Cancer Society.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/health/12prostate.html
Pataki Moves to Revive the Rebuilding of Lower Manhattan
Published: May 12, 2005
Gov. George E. Pataki announced today that he had named his chief of staff, John P. Cahill, to take control of the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan and construction of the Sept 11. memorial, saying a fresh commitment of energy and money was needed to achieve the "solemn obligation" of reviving the World Trade Center site.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/nyregion/12cnd-pataki.html?hp&ex=1115956800&en=73954bf8155f43c8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Retaining Wall Collapses in Upper Manhattan, Closing Highway
NEW YORK (AP) -- A retaining wall along the Henry Hudson Parkway in upper Manhattan collapsed on Thursday afternoon, burying parked cars under a massive mound of dirt, trees and debris.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, fire department spokeswoman Maria Lamberti said.
Fire department personnel were called to the area near Riverside Drive and 181st Street at 4 p.m. Swarms of firefighters removed debris from the parkway's northbound lanes.
The six-lane parkway, Route 9A, was closed in the area in both directions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/12/nyregion/12wire-collapse.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
G.E. Chief Urges U.S. to Adopt Clearer Energy Policy
By FELICITY BARRINGER and MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: May 10, 2005
WASHINGTON, May 9 - The chief executive of the General Electric Company, Jeffrey R. Immelt, pushed the company squarely into the global warming debate on Monday, asking the government for a clear energy policy and saying later in an interview that he expected Washington to eventually impose controls on carbon emissions.
"If you look to the future, there is going to be a day when we have standards of some kind pertaining to carbon," he said. "I think most business people are planning for that implicitly, even without anything that's overt." The Bush administration has opposed such controls.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/10/business/10green.html
Washington Post
Mystery Illness Killing Racing Greyhounds
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 12, 2005; 2:00 PM
REVERE, Mass. -- A mysterious respiratory disease is sweeping greyhound tracks across the country, killing dozens of dogs and forcing owners to halt racing as researchers hunt for a vaccine to control the outbreak.
Pasted from <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/12/AR2005051200914.html>
The New Zealand Herald
UN critical of slow pace of tsunami rebuilding
13.05.05 1.00pm
WASHINGTON - Rebuilding from last December's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami has been too slow and frustration is growing among displaced people, a senior UN official says.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125373
Asian states hampering bird flu checks, says UN
13.05.05 10.20am
ROME - A top UN agency official accused Asian nations of blocking proper monitoring of the deadly bird flu virus by giving too few samples to scientists, but denied a charge that his own agency was failing to share specimens.
The head of the Animal Health Service of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said countries were failing to export samples of the H5N1 bird flu virus that has killed more than 50 people in Asia since 2003.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125338
Girl 'witch' to be thrown into river, court told
13.05.05 1.00pm
LONDON - A schoolgirl told a British court on Thursday she was put into a laundry bag and was going to be thrown from a third-floor apartment window into a river by her mother and aunt who thought she was a witch.
Prosecutors say the girl, brought to London from Angola by a woman claiming to be her mother, had been regularly abused by members of her family after they had become convinced she was putting curses on members of her family.
The court has heard the abuse culminated in a plan by her 38-year-old "mother" and another woman, Sita Kisanga, 35, who says she is the girl's aunt, to kill her.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125376
More cash pledged to make Chernobyl safe
13.05.05 1.00pm
By Madeline Chambers
LONDON - Leading nations pledged about $200 million on Thursday towards a cover to encase the Chernobyl power plant's fourth reactor which exploded nearly two decades ago in the world's worst civil nuclear accident.
The latest contributions, which bring the total raised by 28 donor governments to about $800 million, mean work can start on a permanent shelter for the reactor to stop radioactive leaks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125377
Peacekeepers wounded in Congo ambush
13.05.05 9.20am
KINSHASA - Seven United Nations peacekeepers from Bangladesh were wounded when a militia group ambushed their convoy on Thursday in the Ituri district of northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
The attack happened in a lawless region where the world body has taken a more aggressive stance against militia fighters since nine peacekeepers were killed there in February. However, much of the district is still ruled by warlords.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10125317
New rodent emerges
13.05.05
A long-whiskered rodent with stubby legs and a tail covered with dense hair has turned out be a previously unknown species so unique it represents an entire new family of wildlife, says the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Based on morphological differences in the bone structure, coupled with DNA analysis, scientists believe the animal diverged from other rodents millions of years ago.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=10125271
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Cloudy
-13.0°
Updated Friday 13 May 8:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
50 °F / 10 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
48 °F / 9 °C
Humidity:
89%
Dew Point:
47 °F / 8 °C
Wind:
5 mph / 7 km/h from the WNW
Pressure:
29.89 in / 1012 hPa (Falling)
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 5500 ft / 1676 m
end
May 11, 2005. Yorkville, Illinois early in the morning. Where is the sunrise. Speaks to the cloud density. Ionic. Note the width of that lightning strike. How many megavolts in that one? Look out ! The shape of the cloud is really strange is if an accumulation of nothing but ionized particles. Very odd. Very local. Very Global Warming. The shadow to the right is very suspicious to downpour probably but also tornado. That is another strange phenomena in this picture.
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