June 29, 2005. There has been so many severe storms the residents of Frameries, Belgium stopped counting the number of roads flooded.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origin
Rooster "Crowing"
"Okeydoke"
History …
1646, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, philosopher and mathematician
1893, Walter White, civil rights activist
1899, Charles Laughton, actor and director
1929, Gerald Edelman, biochemist and neuroscientist
1961, Diana, Princess of Wales, British princess
1961, Carl Lewis, track-and-field athlete
1823: The former Spanish colonies of Guatemala, San Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica form the Confederation of the United Provinces of Central America.
1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg began takes heavy losses on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, considered the pivotal battle in the American Civil War.
.
1867, The British North America Act, passed by the British Parliament, goes into effect, joining four North American colonies in the Dominion of Canada. Canada Day, celebrating the formation of the Dominion of Canada on this date in 1867. This site relates stories of individuals, families, and ethnic groups who immigrated to Canada and helped build the nation; available in English and French.
http://www.whitepinepictures.com/seeds/
1898, Theodore Roosevelt leads a group of volunteers known as the Rough Riders in their charge on San Juan Hill in Cuba at the beginning of the Spanish-American War.
1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1948, New York International Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild was officially opened.
1961, Diana, the princess of Wales, was born near Sandringham, England. (She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris at age 36.)
1968, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
1980, "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.
1987, Stock-broker guilty of corruption
One of the City's top investment bankers has received the first conviction for insider dealing since it became illegal in 1980.
Geoffrey Collier, former head of securities at Morgan Grenfell, was given a 12-month suspended sentence and was fined £25,000 with £7,000 costs at the High Court in London.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2489000/2489179.stm
1994, Yasser Arafat ends 27-year exile
The chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Yasser Arafat, has returned to the Gaza Strip after 27 years in exile.
Fear of reprisals by Israeli and Palestinian hardliners has meant that Israel has mounted its largest security operation since President Sadat of Egypt visited Jerusalem during the 1979 Camp David Agreements.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2489000/2489631.stm
1997, At the end of its 99-year lease on the territory, Britain returns Hong Kong to Chinese control.
1997, Hong Kong handed over to Chinese control
Hong Kong has been handed back to the Chinese authorities - ending more than 50 years of British control.
The British flag was lowered over Government house - home to the last Governor Chris Patten for the past five years - at midnight last night.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2656000/2656973.stm
2000, Vermont's civil unions law, which granted gay couples most of the rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage, went into effect. . . . the Confederate flag was removed from atop South Carolina's Statehouse. . . . Actor Walter Matthau died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 79.
2000, Ex-Blair ally attacks prime minister
Millionaire novelist Ken Follett has made the most scathing personal criticism of Prime Minister Tony Blair since New Labour came to power.
Writing in The Observer newspaper Mr Follett, 51, questioned the prime minister's morals and described spin doctors as "the rent boys of politics".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2489000/2489433.stm
2004, Cassini captures Saturn's rings
The international mission to Saturn, known as Cassini-Huygens, has successfully gone into orbit around the planet.
The $3.3bn probe fired its main engine for 95 minutes to slow it sufficiently to be captured by gravity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_4640000/4640793.stm
Missing in Action
1966 CAMPBELL BURTON W. LORAIN OH 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 PETERS CHARLES HENRY WEST POINT NE REMAINS RETURNED 10/88
1966 WILLIAMS ROBERT C. MC LEANSBORO IL 05/95 REMAINS RETURNED
1972 CHENEY KEVIN J. MIAMI FL 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 ROBINSON PAUL K. GALION OH 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
June 30..
1967 ALLEN MERLIN R. BAYFIELD WI
1967 COLE LEGRANDE O. JR DANBURY CT POSS DEAD IR 6918 5067 75-REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1967 HOUSE JOHN A. II PELHAM NY
1967 HOWARD LUTHER H. HAMLET NC
1967 JUDD MICHAEL B. CLEVELAND OH
1967 KILLEN JOHN D. III DES MOINES IA
1967 MC GRATH JOHN MICHAEL DENVER CO 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 RUNNELS GLYN L. JR. BIRMINGHAM AL
1970 BELL MARVIN E. BLYTHEVILLE AR REMAINS RETURNED 03/95
1970 BURGESS JOHN L. KINGSLEY MI
1970 DEAN MICHAEL F. LA PUNTE CA REMAINS RETURNED " MARCH 7, 1995"
1970 GOEGLEIN JOHN W. KIRKWOOD MO REMAINS RETURNED 03/95
1970 HILL GORDON CLARK SEATTLE WA
1970 JENKINS PAUL L. MC GEHEE AR REMAINS RETURNED 03/95
1970 SADLER MITCHELL OLEN JR. OCEANSIDE CA
1970 SANDERS WILLIAMS S. WINTHROP ME
1970 SCHANEBERG LEROY C. ASHTON IL "REMAINS RETURNED 03/95 COMINGLED WITH ""5"""
1971 BRIDGES PHILIP W. TIPTON CA
June 29…
1965 LINDSEY MARVIN NELSON SPRINGHILL LA HIT NO PARA BEEP SEARCH NEG
1966 JONES MURPHY N. BATON ROUGE LA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1967 HARDY WILLIAM H. 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1968 OWEN TIMOTHY S. ROCHESTER NY
1970 ALDERN DONALD D. SIOUX FALLS SD
Geldof in Africa
Bob Geldof presents a six-part series on BBC One from 20 June
Discuss the series on the BBC Message Board
BBC One: Schedule information
Full Episode Guide
Leaving Live8 and politics to one side, Bob Geldof makes a personal journey through Africa to understand ordinary Africans and, through their experiences, understand the forces that make the continent tick.
Travelling through West Africa (Ghana, Benin and Mali), Central Africa (DR Congo and Uganda) and East Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania and Somalia), Geldof explores the continent that the rest of the world seems to be leaving behind.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/africalives/features/geldof.shtml
The Philadelphia Inquirer
MBNA to be sold to Bank of America
By Joseph N. DiStefano
Inquirer Staff Writer
MBNA Corp. has ended its increasingly difficult struggle to get Americans to borrow more using its credit cards. With its growth faltering, the Wilmington company said yesterday that it had agreed to be acquired by Bank of America Corp. for $29 billion in stock and $5 billion in cash, pending approval from shareholders and regulators.
MBNA, which issues Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards for the NFL, Pennsylvania State University, PNC Financial, and 500 other partners, transformed the Delaware landscape and the national consumer-loan business with its rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12028534.htm
How Italian police took on the CIA
The U.S. abduction of a terror suspect exposed a global rift in antiterror strategies - and further strained relations with a key ally.
By Ken Dilanian
Inquirer Staff Writer
MILAN, Italy - It's a plot straight out of a spy novel.
Italian antiterrorism authorities were quietly gathering evidence against a militant Egyptian cleric in early 2003 when - on Feb. 17 - he disappeared.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12028536.htm
Editorial Electing City Judges Selection plan has merit
One speaker at a recent City Hall news conference on cleaning up Philadelphia's unsavory process for selecting judges said his government watchdog group "fully endorses the idea of judicial reform."
Well, yes, but what about translating "the idea" into a plan of action?
That has eluded many an advocate of judicial reform - which is why the task requires the temperament of a long-distance runner.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12028572.htm
N.J. Senate backs sex-offender tracking bill
By Robert Moran
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - Hoping to deter sex attacks on children, the state Senate approved legislation yesterday to require satellite tracking of up to 250 of New Jersey's highest-risk sex offenders.
"Considering the nature of these crimes, we must use every available tool to keep our children safe," said acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who voted for the bill in his role as Senate president.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/12001987.htm
Live 8: The Performers
Inquirer writers Dan DeLuca, David Hiltbrand and Daniel Rubin give you the lowdown on Live 8's lineup (as of June 30), a diverse crew of pop acts, indie rockers, hip-hop moguls, and R&B stars. Hear audio clips at http://go.philly.com/live8acts
Before Overbrook's own guaranteed megaplex gold, he was a child-friendly rapper named the Fresh Prince, who made five albums with DJ Jazzy Jeff. The duo reunited for Lost and Found in March. Look for the nice-guy A-lister to carry the day - emceeing, rapping, ribbing, riffing, and platforming PG-rated Philly-style 'tude to the world. - D.R.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12027618.htm
Troubled Continent
The public is invited to an open forum, led by a panel of experts and Inquirer journalists, on Africa's problems and some possible solutions. The event will be at 6 p.m. Friday at the National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St., Philadelphia. Admission is free, but reservations are required. 215-409-6700. In conjunction with the forum, the center is hosting "Twenty Years of Philadelphia Inquirer Photography from Live Aid to Live 8," which highlights images from some of Africa's most persistently troubled areas.
Images of Africa
View a multimedia presentation of the work that Inquirer photographers have done in Africa during the last 20 years. To view the presentation, you will need to have the Macromedia Flash player, version 7, installed on your computer. If you don't have it, click here for the free download.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/
Women in the saddle
Horse fanciers are overwhelmingly female in this country. Some say there's a special chemistry.
By Melissa Dribben
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Think of famous relationships between horses and humans and who comes to mind? The Lone Ranger waving his hat while Silver rears up. Red Pollard hunkered down on Seabiscuit, flying around the Santa Anita track. Wilbur conversing with Mr. Ed.
Horses, it seems, have always been a guy thing.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/people/women/11736168.htm
Lilly, loves horses.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/lilly.html
Emmy likes eventing and has a great horse that is just a baby.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/emmy.html
Carmella loved horses as a child and never stopped. She likes dressage in her mid-forties.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/carmella.html
Heather loves to read books about horses but does not like competition. She likes horses and doesn't mind wrecking her manicure to feed the horses.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/heather.html
I always loved horses as a kid.
Officials warn humans, horses to guard against mosquitos
Published Monday, June 27, 2005 1:00 am
by By Sean Salai
Health officials are warning local residents to guard themselves and their horses against mosquito-borne infections in the wake of recent heavy rainfalls.
Although this year’s mosquito population has been average to date, Palm Beach County officials said this weekend that Boca Raton-area residents should drain all puddles and empty all bird baths, plant saucers, old tires and kiddie pools where mosquitoes might breed in their yards.
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&category=Local%20News&prid=11936
Soft fence saves horses life
Jockey Adrian Garraway hits the ground after being thrown from Topzoff at Moonee Valley.
AUSTRALIAN jumper of the year Topzoff escaped serious injury when he crashed heavily at the third last fence in Saturdays $75,000 Ian Macdonald Steeplechase (3200m) at Moonee Valley.
The eight-year-old had raced to the lead and was full of running when he ditched his jockey Adrian Garraway, shattering punters who had backed him at even money.
Garraway said Topzoff, carrying 69kg, was lucky not to die and that new-style jumps saved his life.
“He changed his mind halfway (over the jump),” Garraway said.
http://www.bordermail.com.au/newsflow/pageitem?page_id=991540
Camp gives free rein to a love of horses
Fund allows Annie Fraser, 11, to spend summer days learning to ride, groom.
Story and Photo by AMANDA STRINDBERG
The Orange County Register
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Annie Fraser knows the pain of a throbbing headache.
She knows what it's like to want to stay in bed because of a backache or to be extremely fatigued after a walk.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/26/sections/local/local/article_575037.php
Hough's horses run away with stakes wins
Published in the Asbury Park Press 06/26/05
Stanley Hough trained the winners of both Monmouth Park Stakes, saddling Travelator to win the $65,000 West Long Branch Stakes and taking the $55,000 Gilded Time Stakes with Concorde's Edge.
Travelator survived a long battle with 3-2 favorite Fortress Hill through the final furlong, sticking her head in front at the wire for a nose victory at the end of six furlongs in a quick 1:09 3/5.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050626/SPORTS07/506260432/1115/SPORTS
Evangeline Downs reopening draws lots of entries, interest
Ninety-two horses have been entered for Wednesday’s reopening at Evangeline Downs, which was forced to suspend live racing because of safety issues.
Live racing was last held at the Opelousas, Louisiana, track on May 12. Since then, the one-mile dirt track was completely overhauled. Modifications to the drainage system also were completed.
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=55634&subsec=1
Poor children horse around
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 26, 2005 12:00 AM
A local riding club is reaching out to underprivileged youths, teaching them to ride and care for horses.
Dr. Jan Watson, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Maricopa Medical Center, said the program began in November as a service project of the Arizona Western Riding Club.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0626b2localpeople26.html
Horse sense triggers boom for tracks, businesses
Those in equine industry say number and quality of Iowa animals helps economy ride high
By ANNE FITZGERALD
REGISTER AGRIBUSINESS WRITER
June 26, 2005
As Suzanne Evans walks down the aisle of a horse barn at Prairie Meadows, she pats a mare on the nose, rearranges another horse's bundle of hay and teases a third horse, a spunky 3-year-old named Smokin Mokin.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050626/BUSINESS01/506260313/1029/BUSINESS
Young jockey has racing in his blood
Ryan Fogelsonger hopes to continue his quick rise in thoroughbred racing by winning today's Colonial Turf Cup at Colonial Downs.
BY NORM WOOD
247-4642
Published June 25, 2005
NEW KENT -- As Ryan Fogelsonger surveyed the landscape six years ago atop a pony at Laurel Park Race Course in Maryland, one thought crossed his mind.
"What am I doing?"
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-40296sy0jun25,0,832087.story?coll=dp-sports-local
Hernando: Equestrian clinic teaches teens to care for their pets
Posted by: will on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 01:02 AM
HERNANDO — Some kids are happy with a puppy or a pet turtle. Some kids, however, prefer something a bit bigger, say a 1,000 pound horse.
But owning a horse brings with it much responsibility.
Enter Sue Robinson an equine lecturer and coach for the collegiate equestrian team at Murray State University in Murray, Ky. She travels and teaches at various horse camps and clinics throughout Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi.
“I love the kids here at the horse clinic in DeSoto County,” Robinson said. “They are polite, they listen, they pay attention, they have manners, they try hard and they are all good with their horses.”
http://www.godesoto.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7578&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Brother meeting brother a rarity
One Corona and Two Corona Special square off in the Ed Burke Memorial Million Futurity.
By LARRY BORTSTEIN
Special to the Register
CYPRESS – Regardless of how they finish in tonight's $1,145,000 Ed Burke Memorial Million Futurity at Los Alamitos, One Corona and Two Corona Special will make history simply by entering the starting gate for the 350-yard race for 2-year-old quarter horses. Post time is 10:39p.m.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/25/sections/sports/other/article_574650.php
100th start for 'Fred'
Tissington races at Emerald today
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
AUBURN -- Tissington makes his 100th career start today in the third race at Emerald Downs.
The horse, affectionately known as "Fred," is expected to face six others in the one-mile race. It's a distance he's won at eight times in 58 attempts, with 11 seconds and 12 thirds.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/othersports/229986_hoss25.html
George Stubbs couldn't paint a galloping horse but he's still brilliant, says Clare Balding, Britain's leading racing pundit
Sunday June 26, 2005
The Observer
Some people think all horses look the same. I have a friend who insists they are all brown, perhaps in different shades, but essentially all brown, with the occasional white one thrown in for fun.
Those who have spent time with horses know that, in fact, they are as different from each other as human beings are. Some racehorse trainers can identify 200 different horses from a distance by their markings, their behaviour and the way in which they move.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1514536,00.html
No swimming pool? How about a rodeo?
June 25, 2005, 1:30 PM
GRAND RAPID, Mich. (AP) -- When Kevin Rigg heard that half the city's swimming pools wouldn't open this summer, he came up with a plan: set up a rodeo arena on a vacant city lot and teach kids to ride horses.
Rigg is calling the project on what was once a litter-strewn piece of earth "Inner City Christian Cowboys and Cowgirls." He'll teach the kids three days a week to groom the horses, pick their hooves, saddle them, ride them -- and clean up after them. All for free.
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw117603_20050625.htm
Guest opinion: Stop slaughtering horses for export
By WAYNE PACELLE and DAVE PAULI
Americans don't eat horses, and that's one good reason why the U.S. House of Representatives was right in voting recently to ban the slaughter of American horses.
That vote concerned an amendment, offered on June 8 by Rep. John Sweeney, R-NY, and Rep. John Spratt, D-SC, to end the yearly slaughter of tens of thousands of American horses for export for human consumption. Now the U.S. Senate confronts the same moral question answered so decisively by the House: Should American horses be mercilessly killed to satisfy the demand for horse meat in other countries?
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/06/25/build/opinion/30-guest-op.inc
The Arab News
Kingdom Issues New List of Terrorists
Raid Qusti & Samir Al-Saadi, Arab News
RIYADH/JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday issued a new list of 36 suspects believed to be linked to a series of terror attacks across the country, reflecting the government’s resolve to go ahead with its anti-terror campaign.
In the latest response to a two-year campaign of bombings and killings by supporters of the Al-Qaeda terror network, the Interior Ministry broadcast pictures of the suspects on state television and offered hefty rewards for their capture. “Security authorities managed to uncover plans by the deviant group who used themselves as a tool to distort Islam and harm the security of the country,” the ministry said in a statement.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=66089&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Hundreds Protest Khamenei’s Caricature in Bahraini Daily
Mazen Mahdi, Arab News
MANAMA, 29 June 2005 — Hundreds of Bahraini Shiites took to the streets yesterday afternoon to protest the publication of a caricature of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a local newspaper.
The cartoon in Monday’s Al-Ayyam daily showed Khamenei on a graph of the results of the recent presidential election, which was won by the populist Tehran Mayor Ahmadinejad. It showed Khamenei’s long beard growing on the graph in an upward zigzag, apparently referring to his decisive role in Ahmadinejad’s victory.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=66096&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Riyadh to Host Global Forum on Economics of Health Care
Javid Hassan, Arab News
RIYADH, 29 June 2005 — The role of the private sector in health care economics will be the subject of a three-day conference to be held in Riyadh in September. Titled the International Conference on Health Care Economics & Endowments, it will be opened by Riyadh Governor Prince Salman.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=66097&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Female Staff in MOH Hospitals Complain About New Work Shifts
Razan Baker, Arab News
JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — The Health Ministry has decided to implement new hours for hospital and health center staff. The change is applicable to both male and female employees but it has made more of a problem for females, many of whom strongly opposed the decision.
Research conducted outside the cities indicate that most employees prefer the old shifts. The new hours have created problems for Saudi women nurses because they have to spend most of the day at work which leaves little or no time to take care of their homes.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=66095&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Time for US to Leave Iraq?
Fawaz Turki, disinherited@yahoo.com
Patrick O’Donnel, a well-known photojournalist whose work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, Reuters, Associated Press and a host of other outlets, is a friend of 20 years.
Patrick cut his teeth shooting pictures of the anti-Soviet guerrilla war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He currently runs Angles, an Irish saloon in Adams Morgan in Washington patronized predominantly by writers, reporters and commentators who had been around the block a few times.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=66104&d=29&m=6&y=2005
This Is Not a Saudi Soap Oprah
Lubna Hussain, lubna@arabnews.com
Admittedly, I hardly watch television. Neither do I have the time, nor the inclination. Even when I do have a spare moment, the struggle to vanquish the likes of The Power Puff Girls or Scooby Doo from the screen always proves too insurmountable an endeavor. A good book is more often than not my solace. As very few of my friends and family share this literary passion, I am quite often a silent spectator when it comes to discussions involving the box.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=66215&d=1&m=7&y=2005
Are Two Shadowy Characters Holding US Hostage in Iraq?
Sarah Whalen, sawhalen@xula.com.edu
US Vice President Dick Cheney claims Iraq’s insurgency’s in its “last throes.” But Tuesday night, Cheney’s boss, President George W. Bush, all but said that a mere two insurgent leaders were stronger than ever, and all but running the whole Middle East show. US troops must stay in Iraq, declared Bush, or else “abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi, and....yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=66232&d=1&m=7&y=2005
Editorial: Striking Change
1 July 2005
At last the political paralysis in the face of internal rebellion and immense external pressures seems to be coming to an end in Sudan. President Omar Bashir’s government has announced an end to the six-year state of emergency and the release of all political prisoners, the most prominent being his former ally and now most outspoken critic, Hassan Al-Turabi, who has been detained several times since two men fell out in 1999.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=66229&d=1&m=7&y=2005
The Chicago Tribune
Heat-busting front threatens major severe weather outbreak
Published June 29, 2005
An ominous series of meteorological conditions come together to Chicago's west later Wednesday threatening a potent severe weather outbreak, including tornadoes. At greatest risk are sections of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Atmospheric energy forecasts from computer models--useful in determining whether shifting winds and temperature declines with height combined with high humidities and daytime heating are likely to brew especially strong storms --are nearly off the scale. With surface winds converging along a cold front and strong jet stream winds aloft, the need for severe weather watches over the western Midwest appears high later today and tonight. Several active thunderstorms threaten to erupt ahead of the main squall line here Wednesday afternoon. But the most substantive risk of severe weather could reach Chicago early Thursday if the Iowa storms hold together.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0506290287jun29,1,7486950.column?coll=chi-news-hed
Bush Criticized for Linking 9/11 and Iraq
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
Published June 29, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Congressional critics of President Bush's stay-the-course commitment to the war in Iraq argued Wednesday that the administration lacks sufficient troops on the ground to mount a successful counterinsurgency.
Democrats in particular criticized Bush for again raising the Sept. 11 attacks as a justification for the protracted fight in Iraq after the president proclaimed anew that he plans to keep U.S. forces there as long as necessary to ensure peace.
Urging patience on an American public showing doubts about his Iraq policy, Bush mentioned the deadly 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington five times during a 28-minute address Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, N.C.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-bush,1,507244.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Team of U.S. GIs Missing in Afghanistan
By DANIEL COONEY
Associated Press Writer
Published July 1, 2005, 9:14 AM CDT
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A small team of U.S. soldiers was missing Friday in the same mountains in eastern Afghanistan where a special forces helicopter was shot down earlier this week, and U.S. forces are using "every available asset" to find them, a U.S. military spokesman said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-afghan-us-helicopter-crash,1,3954514.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Navy SEAL was on mission to find bin Laden
By Shia Kapos
Special to the Tribune
Published July 1, 2005
Petty Officer 1st Class Brian J. Ouellette's helmet is chipped, dented and battered from years of wear during his service in the Navy SEALs.
"When I look at it, I see Brian. It exemplifies what he was. He was a fighter. He never quit," said Ouellette's brother, Michael. "We were just a year apart and we were very competitive. We'd fight and I'd wail him, but he'd just keep going."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0507010112jul01,1,2773151.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Michael Moore Today
Thursday, June 30th, 2005
SPECIFIC STRATEGERIES
Yesterday we noted that George's speech had been hyped as "a very specific" look at the "way forward" in Iraq. The speech left us wanting for specifics so we opened it up to the readers: Who could pinpoint the much-touted specifics of the Bush speech?
Here is a selection of the most specific responses from the thousands of emails:
Gary-- "Lie, kill, 9/11, steal, platitudes, stay in iraq thru 2006 election or longer, chaos, kill some more."
Hayley-- "I think Bush's plan is quite straightforward: Wait 4 more years and leave it to the next guy in charge to fix!"
Rob-- "Very specific strategy for success: Work. Hard work. Very very difficult and tough work."
Steve-- "Stay the course. Don't send the wrong messages to Iraq, the troops or the terrorists. It's hard work. Nucular."
Jym-- "Duh! It's the same as when you have a huge book report due or you have to tell your parents that you got kicked out of school. You just wait and wait until the last minute and you just pray that your teacher or parents don't notice."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
AMERICAN MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ:
1744
AMERICAN MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ:
13074
Printable Representations: Deaths Wounded
source: antiwar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS (MINIMUM):
22774
source: iraqbodycount.net
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
100,000 Civilian Deaths Estimated in Iraq
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 29, 2004; Page A16
One of the first attempts to independently estimate the loss of civilian life from the Iraqi war has concluded that at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians may have died because of the U.S. invasion.
The analysis, an extrapolation based on a relatively small number of documented deaths, indicated that many of the excess deaths have occurred due to aerial attacks by coalition forces, with women and children being frequent victims, wrote the international team of public health researchers making the calculations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7967-2004Oct28.html
The Boston Globe
For Putin, it's a gem of a cultural exchange
Kraft hands over Super Bowl ring
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff June 29, 2005
It could be an international incident of sorts, a misunderstanding of Super Bowl proportions. Or it could be a very, very generous gift.
Whatever the case, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is out one championship ring, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia has scooped up some very flashy bling.
At a meeting of American business executives and Putin on Saturday in Russia, according to Russian news reports, Kraft showed his 4.94-carat, diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring to the Russian president, who, after trying it on, put it in his pocket and left.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/29/for_putin_its_a_gem_of_a_cultural_exchange/
Local officials to press fight against terminal
Nancy Holleran Medeiros signed a petition on the back of Lillian Correia, president of Fall River's North End Associated, during a protest yesterday against a proposed LNG terminal. (Globe Staff Photo / Evan Richman)
By Charlie Savage and David Abel, Globe Staff July 1, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday approved the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall River, clearing a major hurdle for plans to store and deliver huge quantities of flammable gas in the midst of a populated area despite fears of terrorism and environmental damage.
The 3-to-1 vote by the commission was widely anticipated, but a coalition of federal, state, and local officials representing the area were quick to denounce it as ''irresponsible" because applications are pending for alternative LNG sites in less-populated areas in the region. Fall River Mayor Edward Lambert said the city and state will keep fighting the measure.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/07/01/us_allows_building_of_fall_river_lng_facility/
Why is Massachusetts allowing this indulgence by Romney. Bechtel should be sued for all the issues manifested from their incompetence. No citizen of Massachusetts should be paying taxes for this level of government incompetence either. The people of Massachusetts should be receiving a tax rebate for all the damages Bechtel should be paying. Heelllloooooo….
Romney officials hold up $1.2m for Big Dig work
By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff July 1, 2005
In a new clash over the $14.6 billion Big Dig, the Romney administration is holding up state funds for the project, as the governor's aides question whether the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has improperly agreed to pick up costs that should be borne by project contractors.
Though the money totals only $1.2 million, the dispute could further delay completion of the project, which has already been pushed back four months to January.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/07/01/romney_officials_hold_up_12m_for_big_dig_work/
Massachusetts needs these faith-based groups for all the praying they have to do with an incompetent like Romney in the governor's seat.
Romney creates office for faith-based groups
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff June 29, 2005
Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday he has created a special office to help faith-based groups in Massachusetts land more federal money, and he appointed his wife, Ann, to lead it.
Romney, flanked by his wife and Jim Towey, head of the White House office of faith-based initiatives, endorsed faith-based programs yesterday as a means to provide social services and said he wanted to step up the state's efforts to help religious groups and charities attract federal help.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/29/romney_creates_office_for_faith_based_groups/
Israelis raid Gaza hotel, remove settlers
By Charles A. Radin,and Alon Tuval, Globe Staff, Globe Correspondent July 1, 2005
NEVEH DEKALIM, Gaza -- Israeli forces yesterday declared the main Jewish settlement block in the Gaza Strip a closed military area and moved in force against a beachfront hotel there that had become a center of radical religious Zionists, some of whom had threatened to use violence to block the upcoming Israeli disengagement from the area.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/israelis_raid_gaza_hotel_remove_settlers/
Israeli army reopens Gaza settlements to Israelis
July 1, 2005
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli army reopened the Gaza Strip's Jewish settlements area on Friday, a day after it declared it a closed military zone, the army said.
A spokeswoman said the closure had been lifted allowing Israelis free access to the area. The closure was imposed on Thursday following clashes with ultra-radical Jews resisting the planned pullout from the territory, the army said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/israeli_opinion_moves_against_gaza_pullout_foes/
Here is a challenge of compassion for Lawrence Summers. He doesn't believe in women scholars and neither does Islam.
Iraqis seek help here for their battered academia
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff July 1, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- Iraq's deputy minister of higher education moved slowly through the Harvard Museum of Natural History, transfixed by the gemstones and mineral formations on display. Beriwan M. Khailany said the exhibits reminded her of the bygone riches of Iraqi education.
''When I graduated in the mid-'70s we had these in our labs," said Khailany, a geologist by training, as she pointed to a dazzling green chunk of malachite. ''But now, with the looting, our students will never have a chance to see them."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/iraqis_seek_help_here_for_their_battered_academia/
Gunmen kill aide to Iraq Shi'ite cleric Sistani
July 1, 2005
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a prominent Baghdad cleric linked to Iraq's top Shi'ite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, shooting him and two of his aides as he went to Friday prayers at his mosque in central Baghdad.
Police and officials in Sistani's organization said Kamal al-Din al-Ghoureify was a representative for Sistani in the capital. The gunmen made off.
Sistani, based in the holy city of Najaf, is widely recognized as spiritual leader by much of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, which is now enjoying power after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/gunmen_kill_aide_to_iraq_shiite_cleric_sistani/
Taser says it sues USA Today for libel
July 1, 2005
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stun gun maker Taser International Inc.said on Friday it had filed a lawsuit against Gannett Co. Inc. , accusing the USA Today parent of libeling its weapons.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company said the lawsuit, filed in an Arizona state court, targets a USA Today article on June 3 which it said misrepresented the electrical output of Taser weapons and compared them in photographs with electric chairs, lightning and electric train tracks.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/07/01/taser_says_it_sues_usa_today_parent_for_libel/
Calif. ban on tobacco in prison begins
Randel Davis, an inmate at California stae Prison, Sacramento, enjoys a hand-rolled cigarette in the prison's minimum security yard, in Repressa, Calif., Wednesday, June 29, 2005. A new law to take effect July 1, will ban all tobacco products inside California's correctional institutions. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
By Don Thompson, Associated Press Writer July 1, 2005
FOLSOM, Calif. --Randel Davis fidgeted in his prison blues, savoring one of his final hand-rolled cigarettes for some time before a ban on tobacco in California prisons kicked in Friday.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," said Davis, 44, who is serving the last six months of a five-year stretch for a drug conviction. "I'm going to start eating grass."
Many state prison agencies around the country have full or partial bans on inmate tobacco use, but officials with corrections, health and legislative organizations say California is one of only a few to pass a near prohibition into law.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/07/01/calif_ban_on_tobacco_in_prison_begins/
India flood death toll rises to 94
July 1, 2005
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Nearly a hundred people have been killed and around 200,000 displaced by severe flooding in western India in the past week, officials said on Friday.
Hundreds of people waited for help on rooftops and atop a train as authorities in Gujarat state pressed the army into service to help move people to higher ground.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/07/01/india_flood_death_toll_rises_to_94/
Bomb kills 10 soldiers in southern Russia
July 1, 2005
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (Reuters) - At least 10 Russian soldiers were killed by a bomb on Friday as they paid a weekly visit to a steam bathhouse in a town near Russia's rebel Chechnya, justice officials and doctors said.
The bomb exploded as a unit of interior ministry troops filed into the washhouses in the town of Makhachkala, regional capital of Muslim Dagestan that borders Chechnya.
"A military truck with soldiers from the 102nd interior troop brigade blew up on Akayev Street at 2.20 p.m. Ten people, some of them servicemen and some passers-by, have died," Zaur Isayev, Dagestan's deputy prosecutor, said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/07/01/bomb_explodes_in_south_russia_some_dead_feared/
U.N. holds crisis talks to seek homes for Uzbeks
July 1, 2005
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency held crisis talks with Western countries on Friday to try to find new homes urgently for 450 Uzbek asylum seekers in Kyrgyzstan.
"Resettlement of the asylum seekers could be organized in a matter of days once agreement has been reached with governments," Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugeees (UNHCR), told journalists.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/07/01/un_holds_crisis_talks_to_seek_homes_for_uzbeks/
Muted protest as Hong Kong marks China handover
By Tan Ee Lyn July 1, 2005
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people on Friday marked the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China by marching to demand full voting rights, but the crowds were far smaller than in the last two years.
Holding banners and placards which read "Return power to the people," the protesters also called for an end to what they said were cozy government relations with big business.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/07/01/muted_protest_as_hong_kong_marks_china_handover/
continued . . .
"Okeydoke"
History …
1646, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, philosopher and mathematician
1893, Walter White, civil rights activist
1899, Charles Laughton, actor and director
1929, Gerald Edelman, biochemist and neuroscientist
1961, Diana, Princess of Wales, British princess
1961, Carl Lewis, track-and-field athlete
1823: The former Spanish colonies of Guatemala, San Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica form the Confederation of the United Provinces of Central America.
1863, the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg began takes heavy losses on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, considered the pivotal battle in the American Civil War.
.
1867, The British North America Act, passed by the British Parliament, goes into effect, joining four North American colonies in the Dominion of Canada. Canada Day, celebrating the formation of the Dominion of Canada on this date in 1867. This site relates stories of individuals, families, and ethnic groups who immigrated to Canada and helped build the nation; available in English and French.
http://www.whitepinepictures.com/seeds/
1898, Theodore Roosevelt leads a group of volunteers known as the Rough Riders in their charge on San Juan Hill in Cuba at the beginning of the Spanish-American War.
1946, the United States exploded a 20-kiloton atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific.
1948, New York International Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild was officially opened.
1961, Diana, the princess of Wales, was born near Sandringham, England. (She died in a 1997 car crash in Paris at age 36.)
1968, the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and 58 other nations signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
1980, "O Canada" was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.
1987, Stock-broker guilty of corruption
One of the City's top investment bankers has received the first conviction for insider dealing since it became illegal in 1980.
Geoffrey Collier, former head of securities at Morgan Grenfell, was given a 12-month suspended sentence and was fined £25,000 with £7,000 costs at the High Court in London.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2489000/2489179.stm
1994, Yasser Arafat ends 27-year exile
The chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, Yasser Arafat, has returned to the Gaza Strip after 27 years in exile.
Fear of reprisals by Israeli and Palestinian hardliners has meant that Israel has mounted its largest security operation since President Sadat of Egypt visited Jerusalem during the 1979 Camp David Agreements.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2489000/2489631.stm
1997, At the end of its 99-year lease on the territory, Britain returns Hong Kong to Chinese control.
1997, Hong Kong handed over to Chinese control
Hong Kong has been handed back to the Chinese authorities - ending more than 50 years of British control.
The British flag was lowered over Government house - home to the last Governor Chris Patten for the past five years - at midnight last night.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2656000/2656973.stm
2000, Vermont's civil unions law, which granted gay couples most of the rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage, went into effect. . . . the Confederate flag was removed from atop South Carolina's Statehouse. . . . Actor Walter Matthau died in Santa Monica, Calif., at age 79.
2000, Ex-Blair ally attacks prime minister
Millionaire novelist Ken Follett has made the most scathing personal criticism of Prime Minister Tony Blair since New Labour came to power.
Writing in The Observer newspaper Mr Follett, 51, questioned the prime minister's morals and described spin doctors as "the rent boys of politics".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_2489000/2489433.stm
2004, Cassini captures Saturn's rings
The international mission to Saturn, known as Cassini-Huygens, has successfully gone into orbit around the planet.
The $3.3bn probe fired its main engine for 95 minutes to slow it sufficiently to be captured by gravity.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1/newsid_4640000/4640793.stm
Missing in Action
1966 CAMPBELL BURTON W. LORAIN OH 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 PETERS CHARLES HENRY WEST POINT NE REMAINS RETURNED 10/88
1966 WILLIAMS ROBERT C. MC LEANSBORO IL 05/95 REMAINS RETURNED
1972 CHENEY KEVIN J. MIAMI FL 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1972 ROBINSON PAUL K. GALION OH 03/28/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
June 30..
1967 ALLEN MERLIN R. BAYFIELD WI
1967 COLE LEGRANDE O. JR DANBURY CT POSS DEAD IR 6918 5067 75-REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1967 HOUSE JOHN A. II PELHAM NY
1967 HOWARD LUTHER H. HAMLET NC
1967 JUDD MICHAEL B. CLEVELAND OH
1967 KILLEN JOHN D. III DES MOINES IA
1967 MC GRATH JOHN MICHAEL DENVER CO 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 RUNNELS GLYN L. JR. BIRMINGHAM AL
1970 BELL MARVIN E. BLYTHEVILLE AR REMAINS RETURNED 03/95
1970 BURGESS JOHN L. KINGSLEY MI
1970 DEAN MICHAEL F. LA PUNTE CA REMAINS RETURNED " MARCH 7, 1995"
1970 GOEGLEIN JOHN W. KIRKWOOD MO REMAINS RETURNED 03/95
1970 HILL GORDON CLARK SEATTLE WA
1970 JENKINS PAUL L. MC GEHEE AR REMAINS RETURNED 03/95
1970 SADLER MITCHELL OLEN JR. OCEANSIDE CA
1970 SANDERS WILLIAMS S. WINTHROP ME
1970 SCHANEBERG LEROY C. ASHTON IL "REMAINS RETURNED 03/95 COMINGLED WITH ""5"""
1971 BRIDGES PHILIP W. TIPTON CA
June 29…
1965 LINDSEY MARVIN NELSON SPRINGHILL LA HIT NO PARA BEEP SEARCH NEG
1966 JONES MURPHY N. BATON ROUGE LA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1967 HARDY WILLIAM H. 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1968 OWEN TIMOTHY S. ROCHESTER NY
1970 ALDERN DONALD D. SIOUX FALLS SD
Geldof in Africa
Bob Geldof presents a six-part series on BBC One from 20 June
Discuss the series on the BBC Message Board
BBC One: Schedule information
Full Episode Guide
Leaving Live8 and politics to one side, Bob Geldof makes a personal journey through Africa to understand ordinary Africans and, through their experiences, understand the forces that make the continent tick.
Travelling through West Africa (Ghana, Benin and Mali), Central Africa (DR Congo and Uganda) and East Africa (Ethiopia, Tanzania and Somalia), Geldof explores the continent that the rest of the world seems to be leaving behind.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/africalives/features/geldof.shtml
The Philadelphia Inquirer
MBNA to be sold to Bank of America
By Joseph N. DiStefano
Inquirer Staff Writer
MBNA Corp. has ended its increasingly difficult struggle to get Americans to borrow more using its credit cards. With its growth faltering, the Wilmington company said yesterday that it had agreed to be acquired by Bank of America Corp. for $29 billion in stock and $5 billion in cash, pending approval from shareholders and regulators.
MBNA, which issues Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards for the NFL, Pennsylvania State University, PNC Financial, and 500 other partners, transformed the Delaware landscape and the national consumer-loan business with its rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12028534.htm
How Italian police took on the CIA
The U.S. abduction of a terror suspect exposed a global rift in antiterror strategies - and further strained relations with a key ally.
By Ken Dilanian
Inquirer Staff Writer
MILAN, Italy - It's a plot straight out of a spy novel.
Italian antiterrorism authorities were quietly gathering evidence against a militant Egyptian cleric in early 2003 when - on Feb. 17 - he disappeared.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12028536.htm
Editorial Electing City Judges Selection plan has merit
One speaker at a recent City Hall news conference on cleaning up Philadelphia's unsavory process for selecting judges said his government watchdog group "fully endorses the idea of judicial reform."
Well, yes, but what about translating "the idea" into a plan of action?
That has eluded many an advocate of judicial reform - which is why the task requires the temperament of a long-distance runner.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12028572.htm
N.J. Senate backs sex-offender tracking bill
By Robert Moran
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
TRENTON - Hoping to deter sex attacks on children, the state Senate approved legislation yesterday to require satellite tracking of up to 250 of New Jersey's highest-risk sex offenders.
"Considering the nature of these crimes, we must use every available tool to keep our children safe," said acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who voted for the bill in his role as Senate president.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/12001987.htm
Live 8: The Performers
Inquirer writers Dan DeLuca, David Hiltbrand and Daniel Rubin give you the lowdown on Live 8's lineup (as of June 30), a diverse crew of pop acts, indie rockers, hip-hop moguls, and R&B stars. Hear audio clips at http://go.philly.com/live8acts
Before Overbrook's own guaranteed megaplex gold, he was a child-friendly rapper named the Fresh Prince, who made five albums with DJ Jazzy Jeff. The duo reunited for Lost and Found in March. Look for the nice-guy A-lister to carry the day - emceeing, rapping, ribbing, riffing, and platforming PG-rated Philly-style 'tude to the world. - D.R.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12027618.htm
Troubled Continent
The public is invited to an open forum, led by a panel of experts and Inquirer journalists, on Africa's problems and some possible solutions. The event will be at 6 p.m. Friday at the National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St., Philadelphia. Admission is free, but reservations are required. 215-409-6700. In conjunction with the forum, the center is hosting "Twenty Years of Philadelphia Inquirer Photography from Live Aid to Live 8," which highlights images from some of Africa's most persistently troubled areas.
Images of Africa
View a multimedia presentation of the work that Inquirer photographers have done in Africa during the last 20 years. To view the presentation, you will need to have the Macromedia Flash player, version 7, installed on your computer. If you don't have it, click here for the free download.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/
Women in the saddle
Horse fanciers are overwhelmingly female in this country. Some say there's a special chemistry.
By Melissa Dribben
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Think of famous relationships between horses and humans and who comes to mind? The Lone Ranger waving his hat while Silver rears up. Red Pollard hunkered down on Seabiscuit, flying around the Santa Anita track. Wilbur conversing with Mr. Ed.
Horses, it seems, have always been a guy thing.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/people/women/11736168.htm
Lilly, loves horses.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/lilly.html
Emmy likes eventing and has a great horse that is just a baby.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/emmy.html
Carmella loved horses as a child and never stopped. She likes dressage in her mid-forties.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/carmella.html
Heather loves to read books about horses but does not like competition. She likes horses and doesn't mind wrecking her manicure to feed the horses.
http://www.realcities.com//multimedia/philly/inquirer/KRT_packages/archive/slideshow/horse/heather.html
I always loved horses as a kid.
Officials warn humans, horses to guard against mosquitos
Published Monday, June 27, 2005 1:00 am
by By Sean Salai
Health officials are warning local residents to guard themselves and their horses against mosquito-borne infections in the wake of recent heavy rainfalls.
Although this year’s mosquito population has been average to date, Palm Beach County officials said this weekend that Boca Raton-area residents should drain all puddles and empty all bird baths, plant saucers, old tires and kiddie pools where mosquitoes might breed in their yards.
http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&category=Local%20News&prid=11936
Soft fence saves horses life
Jockey Adrian Garraway hits the ground after being thrown from Topzoff at Moonee Valley.
AUSTRALIAN jumper of the year Topzoff escaped serious injury when he crashed heavily at the third last fence in Saturdays $75,000 Ian Macdonald Steeplechase (3200m) at Moonee Valley.
The eight-year-old had raced to the lead and was full of running when he ditched his jockey Adrian Garraway, shattering punters who had backed him at even money.
Garraway said Topzoff, carrying 69kg, was lucky not to die and that new-style jumps saved his life.
“He changed his mind halfway (over the jump),” Garraway said.
http://www.bordermail.com.au/newsflow/pageitem?page_id=991540
Camp gives free rein to a love of horses
Fund allows Annie Fraser, 11, to spend summer days learning to ride, groom.
Story and Photo by AMANDA STRINDBERG
The Orange County Register
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Annie Fraser knows the pain of a throbbing headache.
She knows what it's like to want to stay in bed because of a backache or to be extremely fatigued after a walk.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/26/sections/local/local/article_575037.php
Hough's horses run away with stakes wins
Published in the Asbury Park Press 06/26/05
Stanley Hough trained the winners of both Monmouth Park Stakes, saddling Travelator to win the $65,000 West Long Branch Stakes and taking the $55,000 Gilded Time Stakes with Concorde's Edge.
Travelator survived a long battle with 3-2 favorite Fortress Hill through the final furlong, sticking her head in front at the wire for a nose victory at the end of six furlongs in a quick 1:09 3/5.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050626/SPORTS07/506260432/1115/SPORTS
Evangeline Downs reopening draws lots of entries, interest
Ninety-two horses have been entered for Wednesday’s reopening at Evangeline Downs, which was forced to suspend live racing because of safety issues.
Live racing was last held at the Opelousas, Louisiana, track on May 12. Since then, the one-mile dirt track was completely overhauled. Modifications to the drainage system also were completed.
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=55634&subsec=1
Poor children horse around
Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 26, 2005 12:00 AM
A local riding club is reaching out to underprivileged youths, teaching them to ride and care for horses.
Dr. Jan Watson, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Maricopa Medical Center, said the program began in November as a service project of the Arizona Western Riding Club.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0626b2localpeople26.html
Horse sense triggers boom for tracks, businesses
Those in equine industry say number and quality of Iowa animals helps economy ride high
By ANNE FITZGERALD
REGISTER AGRIBUSINESS WRITER
June 26, 2005
As Suzanne Evans walks down the aisle of a horse barn at Prairie Meadows, she pats a mare on the nose, rearranges another horse's bundle of hay and teases a third horse, a spunky 3-year-old named Smokin Mokin.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050626/BUSINESS01/506260313/1029/BUSINESS
Young jockey has racing in his blood
Ryan Fogelsonger hopes to continue his quick rise in thoroughbred racing by winning today's Colonial Turf Cup at Colonial Downs.
BY NORM WOOD
247-4642
Published June 25, 2005
NEW KENT -- As Ryan Fogelsonger surveyed the landscape six years ago atop a pony at Laurel Park Race Course in Maryland, one thought crossed his mind.
"What am I doing?"
http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-40296sy0jun25,0,832087.story?coll=dp-sports-local
Hernando: Equestrian clinic teaches teens to care for their pets
Posted by: will on Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 01:02 AM
HERNANDO — Some kids are happy with a puppy or a pet turtle. Some kids, however, prefer something a bit bigger, say a 1,000 pound horse.
But owning a horse brings with it much responsibility.
Enter Sue Robinson an equine lecturer and coach for the collegiate equestrian team at Murray State University in Murray, Ky. She travels and teaches at various horse camps and clinics throughout Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi.
“I love the kids here at the horse clinic in DeSoto County,” Robinson said. “They are polite, they listen, they pay attention, they have manners, they try hard and they are all good with their horses.”
http://www.godesoto.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7578&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Brother meeting brother a rarity
One Corona and Two Corona Special square off in the Ed Burke Memorial Million Futurity.
By LARRY BORTSTEIN
Special to the Register
CYPRESS – Regardless of how they finish in tonight's $1,145,000 Ed Burke Memorial Million Futurity at Los Alamitos, One Corona and Two Corona Special will make history simply by entering the starting gate for the 350-yard race for 2-year-old quarter horses. Post time is 10:39p.m.
http://www.ocregister.com/ocr/2005/06/25/sections/sports/other/article_574650.php
100th start for 'Fred'
Tissington races at Emerald today
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
AUBURN -- Tissington makes his 100th career start today in the third race at Emerald Downs.
The horse, affectionately known as "Fred," is expected to face six others in the one-mile race. It's a distance he's won at eight times in 58 attempts, with 11 seconds and 12 thirds.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/othersports/229986_hoss25.html
George Stubbs couldn't paint a galloping horse but he's still brilliant, says Clare Balding, Britain's leading racing pundit
Sunday June 26, 2005
The Observer
Some people think all horses look the same. I have a friend who insists they are all brown, perhaps in different shades, but essentially all brown, with the occasional white one thrown in for fun.
Those who have spent time with horses know that, in fact, they are as different from each other as human beings are. Some racehorse trainers can identify 200 different horses from a distance by their markings, their behaviour and the way in which they move.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,1514536,00.html
No swimming pool? How about a rodeo?
June 25, 2005, 1:30 PM
GRAND RAPID, Mich. (AP) -- When Kevin Rigg heard that half the city's swimming pools wouldn't open this summer, he came up with a plan: set up a rodeo arena on a vacant city lot and teach kids to ride horses.
Rigg is calling the project on what was once a litter-strewn piece of earth "Inner City Christian Cowboys and Cowgirls." He'll teach the kids three days a week to groom the horses, pick their hooves, saddle them, ride them -- and clean up after them. All for free.
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw117603_20050625.htm
Guest opinion: Stop slaughtering horses for export
By WAYNE PACELLE and DAVE PAULI
Americans don't eat horses, and that's one good reason why the U.S. House of Representatives was right in voting recently to ban the slaughter of American horses.
That vote concerned an amendment, offered on June 8 by Rep. John Sweeney, R-NY, and Rep. John Spratt, D-SC, to end the yearly slaughter of tens of thousands of American horses for export for human consumption. Now the U.S. Senate confronts the same moral question answered so decisively by the House: Should American horses be mercilessly killed to satisfy the demand for horse meat in other countries?
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/06/25/build/opinion/30-guest-op.inc
The Arab News
Kingdom Issues New List of Terrorists
Raid Qusti & Samir Al-Saadi, Arab News
RIYADH/JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday issued a new list of 36 suspects believed to be linked to a series of terror attacks across the country, reflecting the government’s resolve to go ahead with its anti-terror campaign.
In the latest response to a two-year campaign of bombings and killings by supporters of the Al-Qaeda terror network, the Interior Ministry broadcast pictures of the suspects on state television and offered hefty rewards for their capture. “Security authorities managed to uncover plans by the deviant group who used themselves as a tool to distort Islam and harm the security of the country,” the ministry said in a statement.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=66089&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Hundreds Protest Khamenei’s Caricature in Bahraini Daily
Mazen Mahdi, Arab News
MANAMA, 29 June 2005 — Hundreds of Bahraini Shiites took to the streets yesterday afternoon to protest the publication of a caricature of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei in a local newspaper.
The cartoon in Monday’s Al-Ayyam daily showed Khamenei on a graph of the results of the recent presidential election, which was won by the populist Tehran Mayor Ahmadinejad. It showed Khamenei’s long beard growing on the graph in an upward zigzag, apparently referring to his decisive role in Ahmadinejad’s victory.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=66096&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Riyadh to Host Global Forum on Economics of Health Care
Javid Hassan, Arab News
RIYADH, 29 June 2005 — The role of the private sector in health care economics will be the subject of a three-day conference to be held in Riyadh in September. Titled the International Conference on Health Care Economics & Endowments, it will be opened by Riyadh Governor Prince Salman.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=66097&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Female Staff in MOH Hospitals Complain About New Work Shifts
Razan Baker, Arab News
JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — The Health Ministry has decided to implement new hours for hospital and health center staff. The change is applicable to both male and female employees but it has made more of a problem for females, many of whom strongly opposed the decision.
Research conducted outside the cities indicate that most employees prefer the old shifts. The new hours have created problems for Saudi women nurses because they have to spend most of the day at work which leaves little or no time to take care of their homes.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=66095&d=29&m=6&y=2005
Time for US to Leave Iraq?
Fawaz Turki, disinherited@yahoo.com
Patrick O’Donnel, a well-known photojournalist whose work has appeared in Time, Newsweek, Reuters, Associated Press and a host of other outlets, is a friend of 20 years.
Patrick cut his teeth shooting pictures of the anti-Soviet guerrilla war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. He currently runs Angles, an Irish saloon in Adams Morgan in Washington patronized predominantly by writers, reporters and commentators who had been around the block a few times.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=66104&d=29&m=6&y=2005
This Is Not a Saudi Soap Oprah
Lubna Hussain, lubna@arabnews.com
Admittedly, I hardly watch television. Neither do I have the time, nor the inclination. Even when I do have a spare moment, the struggle to vanquish the likes of The Power Puff Girls or Scooby Doo from the screen always proves too insurmountable an endeavor. A good book is more often than not my solace. As very few of my friends and family share this literary passion, I am quite often a silent spectator when it comes to discussions involving the box.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=66215&d=1&m=7&y=2005
Are Two Shadowy Characters Holding US Hostage in Iraq?
Sarah Whalen, sawhalen@xula.com.edu
US Vice President Dick Cheney claims Iraq’s insurgency’s in its “last throes.” But Tuesday night, Cheney’s boss, President George W. Bush, all but said that a mere two insurgent leaders were stronger than ever, and all but running the whole Middle East show. US troops must stay in Iraq, declared Bush, or else “abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi, and....yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=66232&d=1&m=7&y=2005
Editorial: Striking Change
1 July 2005
At last the political paralysis in the face of internal rebellion and immense external pressures seems to be coming to an end in Sudan. President Omar Bashir’s government has announced an end to the six-year state of emergency and the release of all political prisoners, the most prominent being his former ally and now most outspoken critic, Hassan Al-Turabi, who has been detained several times since two men fell out in 1999.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=66229&d=1&m=7&y=2005
The Chicago Tribune
Heat-busting front threatens major severe weather outbreak
Published June 29, 2005
An ominous series of meteorological conditions come together to Chicago's west later Wednesday threatening a potent severe weather outbreak, including tornadoes. At greatest risk are sections of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Atmospheric energy forecasts from computer models--useful in determining whether shifting winds and temperature declines with height combined with high humidities and daytime heating are likely to brew especially strong storms --are nearly off the scale. With surface winds converging along a cold front and strong jet stream winds aloft, the need for severe weather watches over the western Midwest appears high later today and tonight. Several active thunderstorms threaten to erupt ahead of the main squall line here Wednesday afternoon. But the most substantive risk of severe weather could reach Chicago early Thursday if the Iowa storms hold together.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0506290287jun29,1,7486950.column?coll=chi-news-hed
Bush Criticized for Linking 9/11 and Iraq
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
Published June 29, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Congressional critics of President Bush's stay-the-course commitment to the war in Iraq argued Wednesday that the administration lacks sufficient troops on the ground to mount a successful counterinsurgency.
Democrats in particular criticized Bush for again raising the Sept. 11 attacks as a justification for the protracted fight in Iraq after the president proclaimed anew that he plans to keep U.S. forces there as long as necessary to ensure peace.
Urging patience on an American public showing doubts about his Iraq policy, Bush mentioned the deadly 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington five times during a 28-minute address Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, N.C.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-bush,1,507244.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Team of U.S. GIs Missing in Afghanistan
By DANIEL COONEY
Associated Press Writer
Published July 1, 2005, 9:14 AM CDT
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A small team of U.S. soldiers was missing Friday in the same mountains in eastern Afghanistan where a special forces helicopter was shot down earlier this week, and U.S. forces are using "every available asset" to find them, a U.S. military spokesman said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-afghan-us-helicopter-crash,1,3954514.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Navy SEAL was on mission to find bin Laden
By Shia Kapos
Special to the Tribune
Published July 1, 2005
Petty Officer 1st Class Brian J. Ouellette's helmet is chipped, dented and battered from years of wear during his service in the Navy SEALs.
"When I look at it, I see Brian. It exemplifies what he was. He was a fighter. He never quit," said Ouellette's brother, Michael. "We were just a year apart and we were very competitive. We'd fight and I'd wail him, but he'd just keep going."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0507010112jul01,1,2773151.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Michael Moore Today
Thursday, June 30th, 2005
SPECIFIC STRATEGERIES
Yesterday we noted that George's speech had been hyped as "a very specific" look at the "way forward" in Iraq. The speech left us wanting for specifics so we opened it up to the readers: Who could pinpoint the much-touted specifics of the Bush speech?
Here is a selection of the most specific responses from the thousands of emails:
Gary-- "Lie, kill, 9/11, steal, platitudes, stay in iraq thru 2006 election or longer, chaos, kill some more."
Hayley-- "I think Bush's plan is quite straightforward: Wait 4 more years and leave it to the next guy in charge to fix!"
Rob-- "Very specific strategy for success: Work. Hard work. Very very difficult and tough work."
Steve-- "Stay the course. Don't send the wrong messages to Iraq, the troops or the terrorists. It's hard work. Nucular."
Jym-- "Duh! It's the same as when you have a huge book report due or you have to tell your parents that you got kicked out of school. You just wait and wait until the last minute and you just pray that your teacher or parents don't notice."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
AMERICAN MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ:
1744
AMERICAN MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ:
13074
Printable Representations: Deaths Wounded
source: antiwar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS (MINIMUM):
22774
source: iraqbodycount.net
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
100,000 Civilian Deaths Estimated in Iraq
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 29, 2004; Page A16
One of the first attempts to independently estimate the loss of civilian life from the Iraqi war has concluded that at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians may have died because of the U.S. invasion.
The analysis, an extrapolation based on a relatively small number of documented deaths, indicated that many of the excess deaths have occurred due to aerial attacks by coalition forces, with women and children being frequent victims, wrote the international team of public health researchers making the calculations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7967-2004Oct28.html
The Boston Globe
For Putin, it's a gem of a cultural exchange
Kraft hands over Super Bowl ring
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff June 29, 2005
It could be an international incident of sorts, a misunderstanding of Super Bowl proportions. Or it could be a very, very generous gift.
Whatever the case, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is out one championship ring, and President Vladimir Putin of Russia has scooped up some very flashy bling.
At a meeting of American business executives and Putin on Saturday in Russia, according to Russian news reports, Kraft showed his 4.94-carat, diamond-encrusted 2005 Super Bowl ring to the Russian president, who, after trying it on, put it in his pocket and left.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/29/for_putin_its_a_gem_of_a_cultural_exchange/
Local officials to press fight against terminal
Nancy Holleran Medeiros signed a petition on the back of Lillian Correia, president of Fall River's North End Associated, during a protest yesterday against a proposed LNG terminal. (Globe Staff Photo / Evan Richman)
By Charlie Savage and David Abel, Globe Staff July 1, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission yesterday approved the construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal in Fall River, clearing a major hurdle for plans to store and deliver huge quantities of flammable gas in the midst of a populated area despite fears of terrorism and environmental damage.
The 3-to-1 vote by the commission was widely anticipated, but a coalition of federal, state, and local officials representing the area were quick to denounce it as ''irresponsible" because applications are pending for alternative LNG sites in less-populated areas in the region. Fall River Mayor Edward Lambert said the city and state will keep fighting the measure.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/07/01/us_allows_building_of_fall_river_lng_facility/
Why is Massachusetts allowing this indulgence by Romney. Bechtel should be sued for all the issues manifested from their incompetence. No citizen of Massachusetts should be paying taxes for this level of government incompetence either. The people of Massachusetts should be receiving a tax rebate for all the damages Bechtel should be paying. Heelllloooooo….
Romney officials hold up $1.2m for Big Dig work
By Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff July 1, 2005
In a new clash over the $14.6 billion Big Dig, the Romney administration is holding up state funds for the project, as the governor's aides question whether the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority has improperly agreed to pick up costs that should be borne by project contractors.
Though the money totals only $1.2 million, the dispute could further delay completion of the project, which has already been pushed back four months to January.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/07/01/romney_officials_hold_up_12m_for_big_dig_work/
Massachusetts needs these faith-based groups for all the praying they have to do with an incompetent like Romney in the governor's seat.
Romney creates office for faith-based groups
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff June 29, 2005
Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday he has created a special office to help faith-based groups in Massachusetts land more federal money, and he appointed his wife, Ann, to lead it.
Romney, flanked by his wife and Jim Towey, head of the White House office of faith-based initiatives, endorsed faith-based programs yesterday as a means to provide social services and said he wanted to step up the state's efforts to help religious groups and charities attract federal help.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/29/romney_creates_office_for_faith_based_groups/
Israelis raid Gaza hotel, remove settlers
By Charles A. Radin,and Alon Tuval, Globe Staff, Globe Correspondent July 1, 2005
NEVEH DEKALIM, Gaza -- Israeli forces yesterday declared the main Jewish settlement block in the Gaza Strip a closed military area and moved in force against a beachfront hotel there that had become a center of radical religious Zionists, some of whom had threatened to use violence to block the upcoming Israeli disengagement from the area.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/israelis_raid_gaza_hotel_remove_settlers/
Israeli army reopens Gaza settlements to Israelis
July 1, 2005
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli army reopened the Gaza Strip's Jewish settlements area on Friday, a day after it declared it a closed military zone, the army said.
A spokeswoman said the closure had been lifted allowing Israelis free access to the area. The closure was imposed on Thursday following clashes with ultra-radical Jews resisting the planned pullout from the territory, the army said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/israeli_opinion_moves_against_gaza_pullout_foes/
Here is a challenge of compassion for Lawrence Summers. He doesn't believe in women scholars and neither does Islam.
Iraqis seek help here for their battered academia
By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff July 1, 2005
CAMBRIDGE -- Iraq's deputy minister of higher education moved slowly through the Harvard Museum of Natural History, transfixed by the gemstones and mineral formations on display. Beriwan M. Khailany said the exhibits reminded her of the bygone riches of Iraqi education.
''When I graduated in the mid-'70s we had these in our labs," said Khailany, a geologist by training, as she pointed to a dazzling green chunk of malachite. ''But now, with the looting, our students will never have a chance to see them."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/iraqis_seek_help_here_for_their_battered_academia/
Gunmen kill aide to Iraq Shi'ite cleric Sistani
July 1, 2005
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a prominent Baghdad cleric linked to Iraq's top Shi'ite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, shooting him and two of his aides as he went to Friday prayers at his mosque in central Baghdad.
Police and officials in Sistani's organization said Kamal al-Din al-Ghoureify was a representative for Sistani in the capital. The gunmen made off.
Sistani, based in the holy city of Najaf, is widely recognized as spiritual leader by much of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, which is now enjoying power after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/07/01/gunmen_kill_aide_to_iraq_shiite_cleric_sistani/
Taser says it sues USA Today for libel
July 1, 2005
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stun gun maker Taser International Inc.
The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company said the lawsuit, filed in an Arizona state court, targets a USA Today article on June 3 which it said misrepresented the electrical output of Taser weapons and compared them in photographs with electric chairs, lightning and electric train tracks.
Calif. ban on tobacco in prison begins
Randel Davis, an inmate at California stae Prison, Sacramento, enjoys a hand-rolled cigarette in the prison's minimum security yard, in Repressa, Calif., Wednesday, June 29, 2005. A new law to take effect July 1, will ban all tobacco products inside California's correctional institutions. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
By Don Thompson, Associated Press Writer July 1, 2005
FOLSOM, Calif. --Randel Davis fidgeted in his prison blues, savoring one of his final hand-rolled cigarettes for some time before a ban on tobacco in California prisons kicked in Friday.
"I don't know what I'm going to do," said Davis, 44, who is serving the last six months of a five-year stretch for a drug conviction. "I'm going to start eating grass."
Many state prison agencies around the country have full or partial bans on inmate tobacco use, but officials with corrections, health and legislative organizations say California is one of only a few to pass a near prohibition into law.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/07/01/calif_ban_on_tobacco_in_prison_begins/
India flood death toll rises to 94
July 1, 2005
AHMEDABAD, India (Reuters) - Nearly a hundred people have been killed and around 200,000 displaced by severe flooding in western India in the past week, officials said on Friday.
Hundreds of people waited for help on rooftops and atop a train as authorities in Gujarat state pressed the army into service to help move people to higher ground.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/07/01/india_flood_death_toll_rises_to_94/
Bomb kills 10 soldiers in southern Russia
July 1, 2005
MAKHACHKALA, Russia (Reuters) - At least 10 Russian soldiers were killed by a bomb on Friday as they paid a weekly visit to a steam bathhouse in a town near Russia's rebel Chechnya, justice officials and doctors said.
The bomb exploded as a unit of interior ministry troops filed into the washhouses in the town of Makhachkala, regional capital of Muslim Dagestan that borders Chechnya.
"A military truck with soldiers from the 102nd interior troop brigade blew up on Akayev Street at 2.20 p.m. Ten people, some of them servicemen and some passers-by, have died," Zaur Isayev, Dagestan's deputy prosecutor, said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/07/01/bomb_explodes_in_south_russia_some_dead_feared/
U.N. holds crisis talks to seek homes for Uzbeks
July 1, 2005
GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency held crisis talks with Western countries on Friday to try to find new homes urgently for 450 Uzbek asylum seekers in Kyrgyzstan.
"Resettlement of the asylum seekers could be organized in a matter of days once agreement has been reached with governments," Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugeees (UNHCR), told journalists.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/07/01/un_holds_crisis_talks_to_seek_homes_for_uzbeks/
Muted protest as Hong Kong marks China handover
By Tan Ee Lyn July 1, 2005
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people on Friday marked the anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China by marching to demand full voting rights, but the crowds were far smaller than in the last two years.
Holding banners and placards which read "Return power to the people," the protesters also called for an end to what they said were cozy government relations with big business.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/07/01/muted_protest_as_hong_kong_marks_china_handover/
continued . . .
June 25, 2005. Hatcher Pass, Alaska. East half of the pass road. THE MEDIA is comparing apples and oranges when it states rainfall in any area of the world is less or more than before this year. The Climate Events that bring the rain has changed. The rain coming to the Western USA is coming of it's own Alaskan glaciers and not the normal trade winds. The Trade Winds don't exist anymore. This is dire global emergency.
June 30, 2005. Hatcher Pass, Alaska. The remains of the glacier. This is southern Alaska with similar conditions as the Juneau Ice Fields. At one time the Glaciologists stated they had 100 years before this level of demise. As of last year is was 50 years. Now, with the ionic vortices still at work in the troposphere the worst is being realized. There is a drought in Alaska with no recharge of it's glaciers while the temperatures rise.
July 1, 2005. ENOUGH ALREADY !! Dear God I want to sweep him up in my arms and take him home to stop his crying. I can't stand the sound already. But, it wouldn't be his home, it would be mine and he wouldn't be happy anyway. The Caption: Malvern Chishazhe, 7, cried Thursday after the Zimbabwe police razed his family's home at a squatter camp west of Harare. Demolition of the camp, which once housed 10,000 people, was completed yesterday.
Morning Papers - continued...
Sydney Morning Herald
Search for missing flood pair called off
By Jano Gibson, Harriet Alexander and AAP
June 30, 2005 - 6:11PM
A search for a young Gold Coast couple missing after their stranded car was swept away by floodwater has been called off for the night.
The couple - a 25-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman - were travelling in a Toyota LandCruiser ute.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/flood-pair-missing-after-phone-plea-cut-out/2005/06/30/1119724728081.html
Women bought for $18,000, sex-slave trial hears
By Malcolm Brown
June 30, 2005 - 1:37PM
The operators of an Australian sex-slave racket bought women from Thailand and other countries for $18,000 each, a court heard today.
The four accused - Danny Kwok, Hosea Yoe, Jenny Ong and her son Raymond Tan - allegedly conspired to bring eight women from Thailand and Indonesia to Australia as sex slaves.
The women were all of legal age, the NSW Distraict Court was told.
``The girls who were recruited were placed in circumstances of what might be described as debt bondage,'' prosecutor Robert Sutherland said.
The racket was uncovered in 2003 after three women escaped from a home unit in Auburn.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/women-bought-for-18000-sexslave-trial-hears/2005/06/30/1119724737520.html
Big wet forces thousands to flee
By Stephen Gibbs, Matthew Thompson and AAP
July 1, 2005
Lismore will be declared a natural disaster zone today but its new levee, finished only a month ago, has prevented the Wilsons River filling the main streets of the flood-prone city.
By last night about 3000 residents and 60 businesses had been told to evacuate.
A young couple were believed swept away on the Gold Coast as up to half a metre of rain turned roads into rivers, stranding motorists and flooding cars and homes.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/big-wet-forces-thousands-to-flee/2005/06/30/1119724757181.html
The New York Times
Several Squatters Die as Zimbabwe Police Destroy Camp
By MICHAEL WINES
Published: July 1, 2005
JOHANNESBURG, June 30 - The Zimbabwe police finished demolishing a squatter camp outside Harare that once had at least 10,000 residents on Thursday, killing as many as four people, a day after a United Nations envoy met with President Robert G. Mugabe to discuss the refugee crisis that similar mass evictions have set off.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/international/africa/01zimbabwe.html?hp
Rove wants to set up a 'barrier' to stonewall any conclusion by investigators. Evidently, Judith Miller is the only person 'principled' enough to do exactly that. Rove knew where to hit now didn't he?
Top Editor at Time Inc. Made a Difficult Decision His Own
By LORNE MANLY and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: July 1, 2005
In the months leading up to the decisive court rulings this week on whether Time Inc. had to turn over documents to a grand jury, its editor in chief, Norman Pearlstine, pored over histories of how other editors, publishers and public officials had handled cases where the ultimate law of the land went against them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/politics/01comply.html?hp&ex=1120276800&en=6f7f3888a2680124&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Senate Approves Central American Free Trade Pact
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: July 1, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 30 - After a bitter and prolonged battle over the promises and perils of foreign trade, the Senate voted on Thursday to approve the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The vote of 54 to 45, which came after weeks of efforts to placate angry sugar producers and other interest groups, was a major victory for President Bush at a time when Republicans and Democrats alike have been alarmed about soaring imports from low-cost countries.
The vote set the stage for an even more difficult fight in the House, where opposition to the trade pact is strong among lawmakers from textile regions in the South, manufacturing states in the Midwest and sugar- producing areas
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/politics/01trade.html?hp&ex=1120276800&en=6dfa955be55d9cfe&ei=5094&partner=homepage
War of Words
By BROOKE SHIELDS
Published: July 1, 2005
London
I WAS hoping it wouldn't come to this, but after Tom Cruise's interview with Matt Lauer on the NBC show "Today" last week, I feel compelled to speak not just for myself but also for the hundreds of thousands of women who have suffered from postpartum depression. While Mr. Cruise says that Mr. Lauer and I do not "understand the history of psychiatry," I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/opinion/01shields.html?hp
The Mao Myth Thrives, but Don't Mention Its Dark Side
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
Published: July 1, 2005
YENAN, China - Horribly outnumbered, poorly armed and constantly under attack, 80,000 Communist fighters set out on foot from a base in China's southeastern Jiangxi Province in October 1934 hoping above all to avoid getting wiped out by their Nationalist enemies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/international/asia/01yenan.html?hp
Chosun
U.S. Anti-Terror Steps Raise Concerns for N.K. Progress
There was concern Wednesday over diplomatic efforts to get North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear program when the U.S. adopted anti-terror measures that specifically target North Korean companies that it says are involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The executive order by President George W. Bush empowers authorities to seize the U.S. assets of companies suspected of aiding and abetting WMD proliferation and targets three North Korean companies -- Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, Tanchon Commercial Bank and the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation. A Congress report puts the U.S. assets of the three companies at a total of US$32 million. The measure also targets five Iranian and Syrian companies.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300035.html
Civic Group Releases Dozens of Nude Soldier Photos
A human rights group on Wednesday released dozens of nude photos of young conscripts, keeping the spotlight for a second week on brutal hazing practices in the Korean military. The military has explained similar pictures made public last week as horseplay, but the new images suggest the practice of forcing conscripts to strip as a form of humiliation is widespread.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506290008.html
Wrong Click Publicises Workings of U.S. Korea Policy
A confidential report for the Korean Embassy in Washington on key players in the U.S.’ Korea policies is no longer so confidential after it was accidentally e-mailed to 800 subscribers of a daily political tip sheet containing news and gossip from around the country.
The report titled "Players in Korea Policy in Washington, D.C." is an analysis of the powers that make Korea policy in the U.S. administration and was supposed to be sent only to the Korean embassy.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300020.html
Korean Air Becomes World’s Busiest Cargo Carrier
Korean Air has become the world’s busiest air cargo transporter thanks to soaring exports of electronics and IT products, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Thursday.
In its report on global airlines’ performance in cargo transport in 2004, the body said Korean Air took the lead with 8.164 billion ton.km, a 20.1 percent increase from the previous year. Ton,km, the unit for cargo traffic performance, is calculated by multiplying volume of cargo traffic by flight distance.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300028.html
Korea's Economy Is Losing Its Hold
China No Promised Land for Korean Textile Firms
Chinese Workers Slam Koreans
Korean textile businesses that moved to China to survive in the face of spiraling costs at home are closing down, having been defeated in competition with their local counterparts. Ten out of 16 firms that settled in Qingdao, Shandong Province, it is said, have already shut down or moved on to Southeast Asia where wages are lower.
The technological gap in the textile industry between Korea and China has all but gone, and that means Chinese companies are pouring cheaper products into our country. One report has it that every six or seven out of 10 items of clothing sold here are Chinese. The Korean textile industry is being overwhelmed by our giant neighbor.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300046.html
Whale’ Blows USFK Escape-from-Korea Drill
Busan-Fukuoka Ferry in Whale Alert
An unidentified object presumed to be a whale scuppered a simulated escape from the peninsula by the U.S. Forces in Korea in April when it collided with the ferry they were using for the drill and forced it to return to Busan Port, it was revealed Thursday.
The USFK said 32 American troops and their families were aboard the 267-ton ferryboat Kobee 5 that left Busan for Fukuoka, Japan on April 29 but turned back following a collision with an unidentified object. The personnel were training for an evacuation in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula.
"The non-combatants repatriation training is conducted regularly twice a year anywhere U.S. troops and civilians are stationed using ships or aircraft," the USFK said.
Americans aboard the ferry included women and children, none of whom were injured in the collision.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300037.html
The Cheney Observer
This chronic stump speech is to stimulate "The Base" so they don't loose them. It's got nothing to do with addressing THE NATION. Bush and the Repuglicans when they 'pull this stuff' could not care less about what The Nation wants or wants to hear. Bush HAS to keep his marginal support center stage in order to maintain the voter base. The saddest aspect to this is that many military families including those he visits fine merits in the Iraqi conflict because their loved ones died there for a noble cause. Bush and 'his media' then turns around and USES those families to promote the politics. Bush's presidency is only possible because of the margins he finds and builds, now main stream America. That is why the federal government is a mess. The margins of this society have been that because they are the extremes and not the 'happy' median.
A record of deception
By Scot Lehigh July 1, 2005
HERE'S THE question President Bush's Tuesday address to the nation raises.
Having framed the Iraq war in a dishonest way, can the president really expect the informed public to believe his presentation about how the stabilization effort is going?
Certainly Bush's speech started on a highly deceptive note, portraying the grinding conflict in Iraq as a necessary response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/01/a_record_of_deception/
Cheney defends CAFTA agreement
By Jim Monk, WDAY Radio
Published Thursday, June 30, 2005
Vice President Dick Cheney is defending the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
In an exclusive interview on WDAY's HotTalk Thursday morning, Cheney said the Bush Administration is "very sensitive" to the concerns of the sugar industry.
Cheney says CAFTA will have no adverse effect on sugar growers and says he fails to see why the sugar industry would oppose the bill.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=96423§ion=News
Most in poll call Gov. Bush's motive political
Mirroring national polls that suggest uneasiness with intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, voters in Florida overwhelmingly oppose Gov. Jeb Bush's request for an investigation in the case, a poll showed.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@herald.com
Florida voters are convinced Gov. Jeb Bush is intervening in the Terri Schiavo case for political reasons and disapprove by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to a new poll that nevertheless shows the Republican governor's popularity is largely untouched.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/12029125.htm
President Bush's brother Jeb Bush in serious trouble
Published on 30 June 2005 Source: TNC Release
President George Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush, is in serious trouble while hundreds of US hospitals fight bankruptcy.
Jeb Bush`s smile will soon vanish! (©2005 State of Florida)
The President's brother is in serious trouble. It has been discovered that Florida's Medicaid Program has been defrauding the federal government for over 30 years with their Medicaid Program. 100% of the federal funding Florida received under Medicaid since 1974 has been illegal as Florida's State Created Medicaid Forms and Applications have never complied with federal law.
HHS in Washington sent Florida three written Directives instructing them to check all the state's Medicaid forms & applications to make sure they complied with federal disclosure laws and if not to immediately modify all forms to be in compliance.
http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=-660038393
Jilted
The Bush brothers kick Katherine Harris to the curb.
By Brian Montopoli
Posted Thursday, June 30, 2005, at 2:16 PM PT
Don't leave me this way
Odds are that you haven't thought about Katherine Harris for a while. When she was Florida secretary of state in 2000, of course, Harris' maneuvering helped George W. Bush carry Florida, and with it the presidency. For her role in the election, she was skewered as nakedly partisan and parodied on Saturday Night Live as an ambitious harpy caked in enough makeup to embarrass a drag queen. But Harris took her lumps, expecting the Republican Party to eventually repay her for her efforts. Instead, the president and his brother Jeb are now trying to sink her.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2121746/
DeLay Commends Treasury Dept. on TRIA Report; House Will Review Treasury's Recommendations
6/30/2005 3:44:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Shannon Flaherty of the Office of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, 202-225-4000
WASHINGTON, June 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) today commended the Treasury Department for completing its review of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) and submitting its recommendation that TRIA not be extended in its current form. The Treasury Department's report states that extending TRIA will have little impact on the economy and may hinder the development of the post 9/11 insurance market.
"As Congress begins its debate on the future of terrorism insurance, it's imperative that we remember TRIA was intended to be a temporary program. Any solution must depend on the ingenuity of the private insurance markets and not the involvement of the federal government as a re-insurer or permanent backstop," DeLay said. "I'm confident that Chairman Oxley and his committee will thoroughly review this study, and I look forward to addressing this issue in the House."
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=49768
China to fill its strategic petroleum reserve from 4th Quarter
China will start filling its strategic petroleum reserve from the fourth quarter this year, said Zhang Guobao, deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in New Orleans, the United States on June 28, 2005, according to report by Xinhuanet.
http://english.people.com.cn/200506/30/eng20050630_193355.html
The trend of China's petroleum consumption
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2005-07-01 13:59
By Chen Geng
With the recovery of the world economy and the acceleration of the globalization process, as well as the rapid development of China's national economy and the ever-greater openness of the Chinese market, the macro-economic situations in and out of China have been taking place profound changes.
From the perspective of the situation of the domestic economic development, China is now at the development stage, when its degrees of industrialization, urbanization, marketization and internationalization grow incessantly, and the contradiction of resources constraints gradually emerged and will loom larger and larger with the ever-growing economy scale and resources consumption.
Currently and for some time in future, China's petroleum security is facing and will continue to face relatively grim situation. There are in general five basic judgments as follows:
http://en.ce.cn/Insight/200507/01/t20050701_4104015.shtml
MANN TALK: Who Elects a Tom DeLay and Why?
by Perry Mann
Hinton, WV (Special to HNN) - Donald Kaul is a witty, intelligent and knowledgeable columnist who retired from the Des Moines Register. But he didn't stay retired long. The reason he didn't I suspect is that he could not endure quietly George Bush and the neocons' upending and dumping the socially benevolent structures built by the New Deal and their committing other political and economic atrocities. So rather than rest on his laurels, he returned to the ring and has been delivering smart blows to the backsides of the conservatives since, much to my delight and edification.
In his article in the June 8, 2005 edition of "Liberal Opinion," he reveals how Republicans get elected and in the process speculates perspicaciously how come Republicans are Republicans. He sets forth four how-comes.
1. Kaul:"Some people are Republicans by birth, or habit or conversion. They identify with the GOP and simply cannot bring themselves to vote for a Democrat, no matter what."
Some voters are Republicans by birth because their genetic constitutions are lacking in those genes that endow their constitutions with empathy and imagination and that grant them the mental powers to discern that every person's acts and destiny are a product of nature and nurture and thus to some extent, if not completely, are determined and thus are to some extent society's faults or virtues. God may rule with a pair of dice. Accountability may be illusionary.
Some say my daddy was a Republican and so am I, by God. And some like the Dixiecrats convert to the GOP as soon as the Democrats exhibit by legislation---to wit: the civil rights act---a degree of empathy and imagination and compassion for the downtrodden.
2. Kaul: "Some people are rich. They don't need a safety net. They're attached to a bungee cord. They think that what's good for them is good for the country and they have their Mercedes to prove it."
They have wealth and they know the best way to keep and increase it is to vote Republican, because Republican politicians believe as they do that all their wealth is hard earned (always hard earned even if inherited), legally gotten and divinely approved and that no law or tax should impede further acquisitions. And they need not concern themselves that a Republican politician will ever propose a tax or vote for any bill that is designed to distribute equitably this nation's income. People who are poor are poor because they lack character and are lazy and indulgent.
3. Kaul: "Some people consider the wall between church and state an impediment to a moral society and see the Republican Party as a means to tear it down. They often are the some people who read the Bible mainly in order to memorize its prejudices."
The notion that morality resides only in churches, church members and the Bible and that morality descended from God only to prophets is a belief engendered by ignorance and perpetuated by indoctrination. There was morality here long before Christ and Christianity and long before Mohammed and Islam. The pagans read nature with perception and diligence and discovered long ago every moral concept since written in any religion. The ethics ascribed to the Roman and Greek thinkers, particularly, Socrates, attests gloriously thereto. Socrates and Christ could spend compatibly an evening together owing to their common moral natures.
Where does a homophobe go to find religious and divine support for his prejudice against homosexuals? Where else but Leviticus and Acts, particularly St. Paul's pronouncements thereon? Did anyone who turns to these scriptures for homophobic support ever consider that perhaps the author of these scriptures were homophobes and were doing nothing but expressing their prejudice and claiming it was God's? To believe in the inerrancy of the Bible is a moral and intellectual surrender, to which one becomes addicted in view of the alternative: sailing the seas of uncertainty with the goal to discover a port of secular speculation and understanding of why man in this vastness--- other than to eat, work, rest and procreate---exists. The easy way to certainty is the belief in inerrancy.
4. Kaul: "Some people are dumb as dirt. We have raised successive generations of Americans who are accustomed to getting their information from television, where there is none. Thus they are easy prey to cynical campaign tactics that unfairly demonize opponents and mask true intentions. "
There have always been dirt-dumb people. They were here before TV and they will be here after TV. They are dirt-dumb because they have no incentive to be other than dirt-dumb or the dicey powers of genes and environment have worked against them being other than dirt-dumb. And such ignorance is the greatest danger to democracy, because ignorance makes voters susceptible to demagoguery. Some people with a Ph.D. are dirt-dumb in some areas or appear to be. There is a Ph.D. who has a made a name for himself in the so-called science of Creationism. He teaches that the Great Deluge that floated Noah's Ark was responsible for all the geological layers, layers that reputable geologists and evolutionists believe took millions of years to deposit. And he teaches that the earth is 10,000 years old, a figure some 4 billion years short of the years evolutionists count.
These four how-comes explain the election and re-election and the advancement of Tom DeLay to the high office of House Majority leader and the election and re-election of George Bush. Many voted for them because they wouldn't think of voting for a Democrat. Many voted for them because
they are rich and they know that DeLay and Bush will do every thing they can to keep them rich. Many fundamentalists voted for them because they want to tear down the wall between church and state and they know in their hearts that DeLay and Bush want to tear it down also. And many voted for them because they are dirt-dumb, politically and often otherwise, and thus are easy prey to "cynical campaign tactics," a shameful expediency that Republicans, under the leadership of Karl Rove, have mastered and practiced without scruples.
History records the rot that sets in when a monarchy or a republic reaches the heights of its affluence, power, expansion and global hegemony. Any reading of America today confirms that historical rot has set in and that this country is on the downside of its rise and fall. A democracy that elevates men of the nature of DeLay and Bush arguably is in a state of decay.
Perry Mann is a former teacher, a lawyer, a former prosecuting attorney of Summers County and a regular columnist for the Nicholas Chronicle in Summersville. Born in Charleston, W.Va. in 1921, he lives in Hinton. The portrait accompanying this column is by Robert Shetterley from his book
"Americans Who Tell The Truth."
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/editor/050629-mann-tomdelay.html
The secret world of Washington
The Capitol's grubby secret is the swarm of lobbyists in a sea of money, washing around the Congress and Senate. But one lobbyist may have just over-reached himself.
By Rupert Cornwell
30 June 2005
It all began in 2000 when the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians, grown rich on the operations of casinos on their tribal land, decided they needed some allies in Washington to help protect their wealth from competitors. Not unreasonably, they chose to retain the services of Jack Abramoff, the king of Washington lobbyists. What happened next has become an American morality tale of our times.
Over the next two years, the Choctaws paid Mr Abramoff and his colleague Michael Scanlon some $15m (£8.3m). Alas, the esteem was not reciprocated. In a series of e-mails, the pair referred to the Choctaws and other Indian tribal clients as, among other things, "troglodytes" and "monkeys". Of that $15m, it is alleged, Mr Abramoff and Mr Scanlon channelled off up to $7m.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=650629
William Greene's angry and mobile rapid response machine
Greene, a protégé of the 'Godfather' of right wing direct mail, Richard Viguerie, is an Internet 'guru' whose star is rapidly rising
Shortly after the Senate reached its "compromise" -- avoiding a Republican-imposed "nuclear option" to end Democratic filibustering -- William Greene was angry, yet again. The right wing founder of RightMarch.com called on its "base of over one million conservative activists to take action against the Senate 'compromisers' who cut a bad deal."
When Terry Schiavo's parents needed fundraising firepower to keep their daughter's case afloat, they called on Greene. He is currently defending the embattled and ethically challenged House Majority Leader, Rep. Tom DeLay, as well as the beleaguered John Bolton, President Bush's nominee be the next US ambassador to the United Nations.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=19288
'Maddog' Joining DeLay's Team
Kevin Madden, who was President Bush's campaign press secretary for the Northeast and Ohio and is now press secretary to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, is taking on one of the more formidable communications jobs in Washington.
On July 11, he will become communications director to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who faces persistent questions about travel and campaign-finance issues.
DeLay also is outspoken on conservative causes and does much of the official speaking on the House Republican agenda, adding to his office's load.
Madden, 33, is known to friends as "Maddog." He graduated from State University of New York College at Cortland, where he played lacrosse, and worked for Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.).
A source close to DeLay said: "Madden's aggressive work ethic is a good fit for the office and his optimistic, upbeat personality should inject a new energy."
Madden replaces Dan Allen, a former communications director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Allen joined the DeLay office in January and had his last day there on Friday. He is joining the Republican media firm of Scott Howell and Co. as vice president of political and corporate communication.
Staff writer Mike Allen contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902835.html
Is Cheney Lying, Or Does He Just Not Have The Facts?
By Jack Lepiarz
June 29, 2005
In a recent interview Dick Cheney said that the insurgency in Iraq, which has tormented the U.S. for the past two years, is now in its "last throes." I.E., the insurgency won't last much longer. However, Donald Rumsfeld, said in his own interview on June 26th, that the "last throes" could last for up to twelve years, directly referencing Mr. Cheney's comments earlier.
Sounds like a discrepancy to me.
...I hate to do this, but I cannot help but be reminded of Vietnam. Now, I do not believe that Iraq is another Vietnam--yet. However, I draw striking resemblance between Mr. Cheney's remarks and the repeated assurances of the Johnson and Nixon Adminstrations that the VietCong were about to collapse. It was not until the Tet Offensive of 1969 that people finally began to realize how much the administrations had been lying to them.
So, is Cheney lying to us? Unfortunately, I cannot say an answer. I would say, given historical similarities and the statements of others that he is, but maybe he's not. Maybe we actually can get out of Iraq with a real "Mission Accomplished" (even though we never found the WMD's!). But I doubt it. My feeling is that this is another attempt by Mr. Cheney to keep public opinion for the war up, and try to keep those in Iraq that they will be able to go home soon.
http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/june/article468.html
Bush And Cheney Should Resign
http://www.watchblog.com/democrats/...
Bush And Cheney Should Resign Andre M. Hernandez June 29, 2005
Even the people who supported this corrupt administration have to admit that this has gone too far. The Downing Street Memos and the shocking revelations that have come out during the Haliburton Reconstruction Hearings have gone beyond the smoking gun needed to overhaul a system that has no fail safes to protect the American peoples interests. Bush and Cheney are two of the most corrupt leaders of this or any other nation in our history.
The Downing Street Memos prove that the Bush administration lied to us about WMDs and the attempt to secure Uranium from Africa by Saddam Hussein. The ice cream truck that the Pentagon called a mobile weapons lab was just an ice cream truck. The tubing that could be used to make WMDs was just tubing. Those of you who supported the Bush administration don’t seem to remember the lies that were told to get both parties to back this war.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6721
Wrong Click Publicises Workings of U.S. Korea Policy
A confidential report for the Korean Embassy in Washington on key players in the U.S.’ Korea policies is no longer so confidential after it was accidentally e-mailed to 800 subscribers of a daily political tip sheet containing news and gossip from around the country.
The report titled "Players in Korea Policy in Washington, D.C." is an analysis of the powers that make Korea policy in the U.S. administration and was supposed to be sent only to the Korean embassy.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300020.html
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: Veep Throat
By Eric Mink
Of the Post-Dispatch
06/29/2005
Post-Dispatch Columnist Eric Mink
Dreaming of a Caribbean vacation? Consider a sunny little patch of America on the southeast coast of Cuba! Officially, she's the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, but you can call her Gitmo!
Visitors ("detainees," technically) are having the time of their lives at Gitmo, says Richard B. "Dick" Cheney, who, besides being vice president of the United States, recently appointed himself chief spokesman for the Guantanamo Bay Department of Travel and Tourism.
"They got a brand new facility down at Guantanamo," Cheney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last Thursday. "We spent a lot of money to build it. They're very well-treated down there. They're living in the tropics. They're well fed. They've got everything they could possibly want."
I kind of wish the ever-dizzy Blitzer had asked a couple of follow-ups: "Everything they could possibly want, Mr. Vice President? Like a fair and impartial process to see if they even belong there? Like freedom and reunion with their families, if they don't? Like not being stripped naked, smeared with fake menstrual blood, urinated on, chained to the floor and worse?"
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/ericmink/story/C2E1A3A1510709A78625702F0032274D?OpenDocument
Who Performed Military Service
Democrats
David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72
Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, etc
Jimmy Carter: Lt. Commander in the Navy 1946-53
Wesley Clark: Army 1966-2000, Vietnam, Silver star, purple heart
Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver/Bronze stars, Vietnam
Bill Clinton: Did not serve
Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72
Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze star
Michael Dukakis: Army 1955-57
John Edwards: Did not serve
Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71
John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs; Air Medal w/18 Clusters
Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam as journalist
Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74
Howell Heflin: Silver star
Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze star
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII
Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53
Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam
John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver/Bronze stars, purple hearts
Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII
Jim McDermott: Navy 1968-70
George McGovern: Silver star & DFC during WWII
Zell Miller: Marine Corps, 1953-56
Walter Mondale: Army 1951-53
Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver star, etc
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze star, Korea
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-79; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91
Chuck Robb: U.S. Marine Corps, 1961-70, Vietnam
Pete stark: Air Force 1955-57
Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart
Republicans
Spencer Abraham: Did not serve
Eliot Abrams: Did not serve
Richard Armitage: Navy, three tours in Vietnam
John Ashcroft: Did not serve
Roy Blunt: Did not serve
Michael Bloomberg: Did not serve
George H.W. Bush: Youngest Navy pilot in WW II; awarded DFC
George W. Bush: Texas Air Nat. Guard; didn't take physical; suspended from flying
Jeb Bush: Did not serve
Saxby Chambliss: Did not serve. Attacked Cleland's patriotism
Dick Cheney: Did not serve
Christopher Cox: Did not serve
Tom DeLay: Did not serve
Bob Dole: Army in WWII, Bronze star, two purple hearts
Bob Dornan: Enlisted after fighting was over in Korea
John Engler: Did not serve
Douglas Feith: Did not serve
Gerald Ford: Lt. Commander, Navy in WWII
Bill Frist: Did not serve
Newt Gingrich: Did not serve
Rudy Giuliani: Did not serve
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer
Phil Gramm: Did not serve
Chuck Hagel: Served in Vietnam, two Bronze stars and purple heart
Dennis Hastert: Did not serve
Tim Hutchison: Did not serve
Jack Kemp: Did not serve. "Knee problem," continued in NFL for 8 years
Jon Kyl: Did not serve
Trent Lott: Did not serve
Richard Lugar: Intelligence officer in Navy 1957-60
John McCain: POW in Vietnam, Legion of Merit, Silver star, DFC, many more
Mitch McConnell: Did not serve
John McHugh: Did not serve
George Pataki: Did not serve
Richard Perle: Did not serve
Colin Powell: 35 years in Army, 4-star general
Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard
Ronald Reagan: Served in WWII making movies
Tom Ridge: Army in Vietnam, Bronze star
Dana Rohrabacher: Did not serve
Karl Rove: Did not serve
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor
Rick Santorum: Did not serve
Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base
Richard Shelby: Did not serve
JC Watts: Did not serve
Vin Weber: Did not serve
Paul Wolfowitz: Did not serve
Recent Supreme Court rulings unsettling for DeLay, Cornyn
Republicans hope to keep a closer watch on judicial branch
By SAMANTHA LEVINE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Several recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court have brought renewed criticism against the federal judiciary from some of Texas' leading Republicans in Congress.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, of Sugar Land, and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn railed against the high court's 5-4 ruling last week giving government authorities the right to seize and transfer private property for public use projects.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3245257
DeLay inquiry set to move; GOP ethics chairman backs down
John Byrne
The Republican Chairman of the House Ethics Committee has retreated on a bid to have his chief of staff become co-director for the Committee, paving the way for ethics investigations of House members, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), RAW STORY has learned.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/DeLay_inquiry_set_to_move_Chairman_of_Ethics_committee_backs_0629.html
Connelly: METRO's version of Pimp My Ride
Rich Connelly writes the following in the latest issue of the Houston Press:
Metro has famously made some "adjustments" to the $2 billion transportation plan approved by voters in 2003. Basically, areas of town represented by influential Congressmen Tom DeLay and John Culberson, both former rail opponents, will now be getting rail; minority communities promised rail will be getting...buses tricked out to look like trains. It's like the most expensive episode ever of Pimp My Ride. Immediately after the plan was announced, the Houston Chronicle dispatched a staffer to Las Vegas to report that people there really, really love their fake-train buses, so who knows why the minority community here is complaining?
Mayor White's announcement of his new transit plan strongly implied that Reps. DeLay and Culberson had endorsed it, even though DeLay's press office had little to say about the plan and Culberson has since issued two statements denying that he endorsed the plan or helped to design it.
http://www.bloghouston.net/item/1442/catid/8
Senate gives approval to energy measure
Conservation emphasized more than in House bill
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Senate approved an energy bill Tuesday that was more favorable to conservation, wind farms and ethanol and less kind to oil and gas producers than legislation passed by the House.
RESOURCES
Graphic: House, Senate Energy Plans
Whether the sharp differences can be resolved may depend on how much pressure President Bush can bring to bear. The president urged the lawmakers to resolve their differences quickly and send him a bill before August.
Hard bargaining lies ahead, especially with a pesky issue surrounding the gasoline additive MTBE remaining a potential deal breaker — as it was two years ago.
The House, particularly Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, wants to protect oil companies and refiners who produced MTBE from environmental lawsuits brought by communities whose drinking water has been contaminated by the additive. DeLay said an attempt is being made to "come up with a solution" to the MTBE issue but gave no details.
Supporters of the Senate bill, which has broad bipartisan backing and is silent on MTBE, say such liability protection would send the bill to defeat. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the House needs to work out a compromise on MTBE that can pass Senate muster.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/energy/3245480
Bass responds to ad, touts own MtBE cleanup plan
By JOHN DiSTASO
Senior Political Reporter
Rep. Charles Bass was one of two U.S. House members targeted for criticism in an environmental group's ad campaign yesterday for supporting a liability waiver for oil companies that produced the gasoline additive MtBE.
The New Hampshire Republican said the full-page ad in the New Hampshire Union Leader and other newspapers linking Bass to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, misrepresents his position. The ad was paid for by the Friends of the Earth.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=56964
Russian Journal Daily
Chinese leader: Bilateral cooperation on the up
June 30, 2005 Posted: 20:54 Moscow time (16:54 GMT)
MOSCOW — Russia and China are increasing their cooperation every year, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Thursday at a meeting with the chairman of parliament's upper chamber. Bilateral cooperation is especially active in the trade and economic sphere and in the energy sector, said Sergei Mironov, the Speaker of Russia's Federation Council.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48436
Russia, China to sign agreement on status of forces in July
June 29, 2005 Posted: 18:40 Moscow time (14:40 GMT)
See Also:
MOSCOW — Russia and China will sign an unprecedented agreement on the status of forces involved in a joint military exercise, Cooperation-2005, in late July, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48432
China, Russia to increase trade turnover
June 16, 2005 Posted: 12:19 Moscow time (08:19 GMT)
See Also:
BEIJING — Russia and China are not satisfied with the current trade turnover and structure. Speaking in the airport of Beijing on Thursday, Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the Russian parliament's lower chamber, said, "I do not think that our countries are satisfied with the volume we have reached today, $21 billion or with the structure of the trade."
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48360
Putin ratifies agreement on Russian-Chinese border
WORLD/CIS » :: Jun 01, 2005 Posted: 23:13 Moscow time (19:13 GMT)
MOSCOW — President of Russia Vladimir Putin has signed the federal law on ratification of the supplementary agreement between Russia and China on the Russian-Chinese state border in the east, the press service of the Russian President has informed. The law was adopted by the State Duma on May 20, 2005, and ratified by the Federation Council on May 25.
The chiefs of the two states signed the agreement in October 2004. The agreement specifies the border along two stretches in the Chita and Khabarovsk regions. The report of the Russian government says that the agreement finally settles border and territorial disputes between the countries, and is meant to facilitate intensification of strategic partnership and further development of near-border regions of the Russian Far East. China ratified the agreement in April 2005. /RosBusinessConsulting/
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnewswire.shtml?nw=48269
U.S. congressman Hyde against Russia's expulsion from G8
June 01, 2005 Posted: 23:10 Moscow time (19:10 GMT)
Hot Topics:
MOSCOW — U.S. congressman Henry J. Hyde does not back proposals to expel Russia from G8 in connection with the nine-year sentence to former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. I do not share the opinion that Russia should be expelled from G8, Hyde, the chairman of the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, said on Wednesday.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48268
Russia, India, Brazil, China to compete with Western nations in hi-tech
June 30, 2005 Posted: 21:07 Moscow time (17:07 GMT)
See Also:
MOSCOW — Russia, India, Brazil, and China will be able to compete with industrialized nations in five years with developing innovations, Ernst & Young Global experts say.
The intellectual level of specialists in these countries is the key factor in attracting investors to Western Europe, but the market in Central and Eastern European countries has transformed from cheap homemade products to a market with vast potential, according to James S. Turley, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48442
continued ...
Search for missing flood pair called off
By Jano Gibson, Harriet Alexander and AAP
June 30, 2005 - 6:11PM
A search for a young Gold Coast couple missing after their stranded car was swept away by floodwater has been called off for the night.
The couple - a 25-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman - were travelling in a Toyota LandCruiser ute.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/flood-pair-missing-after-phone-plea-cut-out/2005/06/30/1119724728081.html
Women bought for $18,000, sex-slave trial hears
By Malcolm Brown
June 30, 2005 - 1:37PM
The operators of an Australian sex-slave racket bought women from Thailand and other countries for $18,000 each, a court heard today.
The four accused - Danny Kwok, Hosea Yoe, Jenny Ong and her son Raymond Tan - allegedly conspired to bring eight women from Thailand and Indonesia to Australia as sex slaves.
The women were all of legal age, the NSW Distraict Court was told.
``The girls who were recruited were placed in circumstances of what might be described as debt bondage,'' prosecutor Robert Sutherland said.
The racket was uncovered in 2003 after three women escaped from a home unit in Auburn.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/women-bought-for-18000-sexslave-trial-hears/2005/06/30/1119724737520.html
Big wet forces thousands to flee
By Stephen Gibbs, Matthew Thompson and AAP
July 1, 2005
Lismore will be declared a natural disaster zone today but its new levee, finished only a month ago, has prevented the Wilsons River filling the main streets of the flood-prone city.
By last night about 3000 residents and 60 businesses had been told to evacuate.
A young couple were believed swept away on the Gold Coast as up to half a metre of rain turned roads into rivers, stranding motorists and flooding cars and homes.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/big-wet-forces-thousands-to-flee/2005/06/30/1119724757181.html
The New York Times
Several Squatters Die as Zimbabwe Police Destroy Camp
By MICHAEL WINES
Published: July 1, 2005
JOHANNESBURG, June 30 - The Zimbabwe police finished demolishing a squatter camp outside Harare that once had at least 10,000 residents on Thursday, killing as many as four people, a day after a United Nations envoy met with President Robert G. Mugabe to discuss the refugee crisis that similar mass evictions have set off.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/international/africa/01zimbabwe.html?hp
Rove wants to set up a 'barrier' to stonewall any conclusion by investigators. Evidently, Judith Miller is the only person 'principled' enough to do exactly that. Rove knew where to hit now didn't he?
Top Editor at Time Inc. Made a Difficult Decision His Own
By LORNE MANLY and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: July 1, 2005
In the months leading up to the decisive court rulings this week on whether Time Inc. had to turn over documents to a grand jury, its editor in chief, Norman Pearlstine, pored over histories of how other editors, publishers and public officials had handled cases where the ultimate law of the land went against them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/politics/01comply.html?hp&ex=1120276800&en=6f7f3888a2680124&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Senate Approves Central American Free Trade Pact
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: July 1, 2005
WASHINGTON, June 30 - After a bitter and prolonged battle over the promises and perils of foreign trade, the Senate voted on Thursday to approve the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The vote of 54 to 45, which came after weeks of efforts to placate angry sugar producers and other interest groups, was a major victory for President Bush at a time when Republicans and Democrats alike have been alarmed about soaring imports from low-cost countries.
The vote set the stage for an even more difficult fight in the House, where opposition to the trade pact is strong among lawmakers from textile regions in the South, manufacturing states in the Midwest and sugar- producing areas
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/politics/01trade.html?hp&ex=1120276800&en=6dfa955be55d9cfe&ei=5094&partner=homepage
War of Words
By BROOKE SHIELDS
Published: July 1, 2005
London
I WAS hoping it wouldn't come to this, but after Tom Cruise's interview with Matt Lauer on the NBC show "Today" last week, I feel compelled to speak not just for myself but also for the hundreds of thousands of women who have suffered from postpartum depression. While Mr. Cruise says that Mr. Lauer and I do not "understand the history of psychiatry," I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/opinion/01shields.html?hp
The Mao Myth Thrives, but Don't Mention Its Dark Side
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
Published: July 1, 2005
YENAN, China - Horribly outnumbered, poorly armed and constantly under attack, 80,000 Communist fighters set out on foot from a base in China's southeastern Jiangxi Province in October 1934 hoping above all to avoid getting wiped out by their Nationalist enemies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/01/international/asia/01yenan.html?hp
Chosun
U.S. Anti-Terror Steps Raise Concerns for N.K. Progress
There was concern Wednesday over diplomatic efforts to get North Korea to return to six-party talks on its nuclear program when the U.S. adopted anti-terror measures that specifically target North Korean companies that it says are involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The executive order by President George W. Bush empowers authorities to seize the U.S. assets of companies suspected of aiding and abetting WMD proliferation and targets three North Korean companies -- Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, Tanchon Commercial Bank and the Korea Ryonbong General Corporation. A Congress report puts the U.S. assets of the three companies at a total of US$32 million. The measure also targets five Iranian and Syrian companies.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300035.html
Civic Group Releases Dozens of Nude Soldier Photos
A human rights group on Wednesday released dozens of nude photos of young conscripts, keeping the spotlight for a second week on brutal hazing practices in the Korean military. The military has explained similar pictures made public last week as horseplay, but the new images suggest the practice of forcing conscripts to strip as a form of humiliation is widespread.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506290008.html
Wrong Click Publicises Workings of U.S. Korea Policy
A confidential report for the Korean Embassy in Washington on key players in the U.S.’ Korea policies is no longer so confidential after it was accidentally e-mailed to 800 subscribers of a daily political tip sheet containing news and gossip from around the country.
The report titled "Players in Korea Policy in Washington, D.C." is an analysis of the powers that make Korea policy in the U.S. administration and was supposed to be sent only to the Korean embassy.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300020.html
Korean Air Becomes World’s Busiest Cargo Carrier
Korean Air has become the world’s busiest air cargo transporter thanks to soaring exports of electronics and IT products, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Thursday.
In its report on global airlines’ performance in cargo transport in 2004, the body said Korean Air took the lead with 8.164 billion ton.km, a 20.1 percent increase from the previous year. Ton,km, the unit for cargo traffic performance, is calculated by multiplying volume of cargo traffic by flight distance.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300028.html
Korea's Economy Is Losing Its Hold
China No Promised Land for Korean Textile Firms
Chinese Workers Slam Koreans
Korean textile businesses that moved to China to survive in the face of spiraling costs at home are closing down, having been defeated in competition with their local counterparts. Ten out of 16 firms that settled in Qingdao, Shandong Province, it is said, have already shut down or moved on to Southeast Asia where wages are lower.
The technological gap in the textile industry between Korea and China has all but gone, and that means Chinese companies are pouring cheaper products into our country. One report has it that every six or seven out of 10 items of clothing sold here are Chinese. The Korean textile industry is being overwhelmed by our giant neighbor.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300046.html
Whale’ Blows USFK Escape-from-Korea Drill
Busan-Fukuoka Ferry in Whale Alert
An unidentified object presumed to be a whale scuppered a simulated escape from the peninsula by the U.S. Forces in Korea in April when it collided with the ferry they were using for the drill and forced it to return to Busan Port, it was revealed Thursday.
The USFK said 32 American troops and their families were aboard the 267-ton ferryboat Kobee 5 that left Busan for Fukuoka, Japan on April 29 but turned back following a collision with an unidentified object. The personnel were training for an evacuation in the event of a war on the Korean Peninsula.
"The non-combatants repatriation training is conducted regularly twice a year anywhere U.S. troops and civilians are stationed using ships or aircraft," the USFK said.
Americans aboard the ferry included women and children, none of whom were injured in the collision.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300037.html
The Cheney Observer
This chronic stump speech is to stimulate "The Base" so they don't loose them. It's got nothing to do with addressing THE NATION. Bush and the Repuglicans when they 'pull this stuff' could not care less about what The Nation wants or wants to hear. Bush HAS to keep his marginal support center stage in order to maintain the voter base. The saddest aspect to this is that many military families including those he visits fine merits in the Iraqi conflict because their loved ones died there for a noble cause. Bush and 'his media' then turns around and USES those families to promote the politics. Bush's presidency is only possible because of the margins he finds and builds, now main stream America. That is why the federal government is a mess. The margins of this society have been that because they are the extremes and not the 'happy' median.
A record of deception
By Scot Lehigh July 1, 2005
HERE'S THE question President Bush's Tuesday address to the nation raises.
Having framed the Iraq war in a dishonest way, can the president really expect the informed public to believe his presentation about how the stabilization effort is going?
Certainly Bush's speech started on a highly deceptive note, portraying the grinding conflict in Iraq as a necessary response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/07/01/a_record_of_deception/
Cheney defends CAFTA agreement
By Jim Monk, WDAY Radio
Published Thursday, June 30, 2005
Vice President Dick Cheney is defending the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
In an exclusive interview on WDAY's HotTalk Thursday morning, Cheney said the Bush Administration is "very sensitive" to the concerns of the sugar industry.
Cheney says CAFTA will have no adverse effect on sugar growers and says he fails to see why the sugar industry would oppose the bill.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=96423§ion=News
Most in poll call Gov. Bush's motive political
Mirroring national polls that suggest uneasiness with intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, voters in Florida overwhelmingly oppose Gov. Jeb Bush's request for an investigation in the case, a poll showed.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@herald.com
Florida voters are convinced Gov. Jeb Bush is intervening in the Terri Schiavo case for political reasons and disapprove by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, according to a new poll that nevertheless shows the Republican governor's popularity is largely untouched.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/12029125.htm
President Bush's brother Jeb Bush in serious trouble
Published on 30 June 2005 Source: TNC Release
President George Bush’s brother, Jeb Bush, is in serious trouble while hundreds of US hospitals fight bankruptcy.
Jeb Bush`s smile will soon vanish! (©2005 State of Florida)
The President's brother is in serious trouble. It has been discovered that Florida's Medicaid Program has been defrauding the federal government for over 30 years with their Medicaid Program. 100% of the federal funding Florida received under Medicaid since 1974 has been illegal as Florida's State Created Medicaid Forms and Applications have never complied with federal law.
HHS in Washington sent Florida three written Directives instructing them to check all the state's Medicaid forms & applications to make sure they complied with federal disclosure laws and if not to immediately modify all forms to be in compliance.
http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=-660038393
Jilted
The Bush brothers kick Katherine Harris to the curb.
By Brian Montopoli
Posted Thursday, June 30, 2005, at 2:16 PM PT
Don't leave me this way
Odds are that you haven't thought about Katherine Harris for a while. When she was Florida secretary of state in 2000, of course, Harris' maneuvering helped George W. Bush carry Florida, and with it the presidency. For her role in the election, she was skewered as nakedly partisan and parodied on Saturday Night Live as an ambitious harpy caked in enough makeup to embarrass a drag queen. But Harris took her lumps, expecting the Republican Party to eventually repay her for her efforts. Instead, the president and his brother Jeb are now trying to sink her.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2121746/
DeLay Commends Treasury Dept. on TRIA Report; House Will Review Treasury's Recommendations
6/30/2005 3:44:00 PM
To: National Desk
Contact: Shannon Flaherty of the Office of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, 202-225-4000
WASHINGTON, June 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) today commended the Treasury Department for completing its review of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) and submitting its recommendation that TRIA not be extended in its current form. The Treasury Department's report states that extending TRIA will have little impact on the economy and may hinder the development of the post 9/11 insurance market.
"As Congress begins its debate on the future of terrorism insurance, it's imperative that we remember TRIA was intended to be a temporary program. Any solution must depend on the ingenuity of the private insurance markets and not the involvement of the federal government as a re-insurer or permanent backstop," DeLay said. "I'm confident that Chairman Oxley and his committee will thoroughly review this study, and I look forward to addressing this issue in the House."
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=49768
China to fill its strategic petroleum reserve from 4th Quarter
China will start filling its strategic petroleum reserve from the fourth quarter this year, said Zhang Guobao, deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in New Orleans, the United States on June 28, 2005, according to report by Xinhuanet.
http://english.people.com.cn/200506/30/eng20050630_193355.html
The trend of China's petroleum consumption
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2005-07-01 13:59
By Chen Geng
With the recovery of the world economy and the acceleration of the globalization process, as well as the rapid development of China's national economy and the ever-greater openness of the Chinese market, the macro-economic situations in and out of China have been taking place profound changes.
From the perspective of the situation of the domestic economic development, China is now at the development stage, when its degrees of industrialization, urbanization, marketization and internationalization grow incessantly, and the contradiction of resources constraints gradually emerged and will loom larger and larger with the ever-growing economy scale and resources consumption.
Currently and for some time in future, China's petroleum security is facing and will continue to face relatively grim situation. There are in general five basic judgments as follows:
http://en.ce.cn/Insight/200507/01/t20050701_4104015.shtml
MANN TALK: Who Elects a Tom DeLay and Why?
by Perry Mann
Hinton, WV (Special to HNN) - Donald Kaul is a witty, intelligent and knowledgeable columnist who retired from the Des Moines Register. But he didn't stay retired long. The reason he didn't I suspect is that he could not endure quietly George Bush and the neocons' upending and dumping the socially benevolent structures built by the New Deal and their committing other political and economic atrocities. So rather than rest on his laurels, he returned to the ring and has been delivering smart blows to the backsides of the conservatives since, much to my delight and edification.
In his article in the June 8, 2005 edition of "Liberal Opinion," he reveals how Republicans get elected and in the process speculates perspicaciously how come Republicans are Republicans. He sets forth four how-comes.
1. Kaul:"Some people are Republicans by birth, or habit or conversion. They identify with the GOP and simply cannot bring themselves to vote for a Democrat, no matter what."
Some voters are Republicans by birth because their genetic constitutions are lacking in those genes that endow their constitutions with empathy and imagination and that grant them the mental powers to discern that every person's acts and destiny are a product of nature and nurture and thus to some extent, if not completely, are determined and thus are to some extent society's faults or virtues. God may rule with a pair of dice. Accountability may be illusionary.
Some say my daddy was a Republican and so am I, by God. And some like the Dixiecrats convert to the GOP as soon as the Democrats exhibit by legislation---to wit: the civil rights act---a degree of empathy and imagination and compassion for the downtrodden.
2. Kaul: "Some people are rich. They don't need a safety net. They're attached to a bungee cord. They think that what's good for them is good for the country and they have their Mercedes to prove it."
They have wealth and they know the best way to keep and increase it is to vote Republican, because Republican politicians believe as they do that all their wealth is hard earned (always hard earned even if inherited), legally gotten and divinely approved and that no law or tax should impede further acquisitions. And they need not concern themselves that a Republican politician will ever propose a tax or vote for any bill that is designed to distribute equitably this nation's income. People who are poor are poor because they lack character and are lazy and indulgent.
3. Kaul: "Some people consider the wall between church and state an impediment to a moral society and see the Republican Party as a means to tear it down. They often are the some people who read the Bible mainly in order to memorize its prejudices."
The notion that morality resides only in churches, church members and the Bible and that morality descended from God only to prophets is a belief engendered by ignorance and perpetuated by indoctrination. There was morality here long before Christ and Christianity and long before Mohammed and Islam. The pagans read nature with perception and diligence and discovered long ago every moral concept since written in any religion. The ethics ascribed to the Roman and Greek thinkers, particularly, Socrates, attests gloriously thereto. Socrates and Christ could spend compatibly an evening together owing to their common moral natures.
Where does a homophobe go to find religious and divine support for his prejudice against homosexuals? Where else but Leviticus and Acts, particularly St. Paul's pronouncements thereon? Did anyone who turns to these scriptures for homophobic support ever consider that perhaps the author of these scriptures were homophobes and were doing nothing but expressing their prejudice and claiming it was God's? To believe in the inerrancy of the Bible is a moral and intellectual surrender, to which one becomes addicted in view of the alternative: sailing the seas of uncertainty with the goal to discover a port of secular speculation and understanding of why man in this vastness--- other than to eat, work, rest and procreate---exists. The easy way to certainty is the belief in inerrancy.
4. Kaul: "Some people are dumb as dirt. We have raised successive generations of Americans who are accustomed to getting their information from television, where there is none. Thus they are easy prey to cynical campaign tactics that unfairly demonize opponents and mask true intentions. "
There have always been dirt-dumb people. They were here before TV and they will be here after TV. They are dirt-dumb because they have no incentive to be other than dirt-dumb or the dicey powers of genes and environment have worked against them being other than dirt-dumb. And such ignorance is the greatest danger to democracy, because ignorance makes voters susceptible to demagoguery. Some people with a Ph.D. are dirt-dumb in some areas or appear to be. There is a Ph.D. who has a made a name for himself in the so-called science of Creationism. He teaches that the Great Deluge that floated Noah's Ark was responsible for all the geological layers, layers that reputable geologists and evolutionists believe took millions of years to deposit. And he teaches that the earth is 10,000 years old, a figure some 4 billion years short of the years evolutionists count.
These four how-comes explain the election and re-election and the advancement of Tom DeLay to the high office of House Majority leader and the election and re-election of George Bush. Many voted for them because they wouldn't think of voting for a Democrat. Many voted for them because
they are rich and they know that DeLay and Bush will do every thing they can to keep them rich. Many fundamentalists voted for them because they want to tear down the wall between church and state and they know in their hearts that DeLay and Bush want to tear it down also. And many voted for them because they are dirt-dumb, politically and often otherwise, and thus are easy prey to "cynical campaign tactics," a shameful expediency that Republicans, under the leadership of Karl Rove, have mastered and practiced without scruples.
History records the rot that sets in when a monarchy or a republic reaches the heights of its affluence, power, expansion and global hegemony. Any reading of America today confirms that historical rot has set in and that this country is on the downside of its rise and fall. A democracy that elevates men of the nature of DeLay and Bush arguably is in a state of decay.
Perry Mann is a former teacher, a lawyer, a former prosecuting attorney of Summers County and a regular columnist for the Nicholas Chronicle in Summersville. Born in Charleston, W.Va. in 1921, he lives in Hinton. The portrait accompanying this column is by Robert Shetterley from his book
"Americans Who Tell The Truth."
http://www.huntingtonnews.net/editor/050629-mann-tomdelay.html
The secret world of Washington
The Capitol's grubby secret is the swarm of lobbyists in a sea of money, washing around the Congress and Senate. But one lobbyist may have just over-reached himself.
By Rupert Cornwell
30 June 2005
It all began in 2000 when the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians, grown rich on the operations of casinos on their tribal land, decided they needed some allies in Washington to help protect their wealth from competitors. Not unreasonably, they chose to retain the services of Jack Abramoff, the king of Washington lobbyists. What happened next has become an American morality tale of our times.
Over the next two years, the Choctaws paid Mr Abramoff and his colleague Michael Scanlon some $15m (£8.3m). Alas, the esteem was not reciprocated. In a series of e-mails, the pair referred to the Choctaws and other Indian tribal clients as, among other things, "troglodytes" and "monkeys". Of that $15m, it is alleged, Mr Abramoff and Mr Scanlon channelled off up to $7m.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=650629
William Greene's angry and mobile rapid response machine
Greene, a protégé of the 'Godfather' of right wing direct mail, Richard Viguerie, is an Internet 'guru' whose star is rapidly rising
Shortly after the Senate reached its "compromise" -- avoiding a Republican-imposed "nuclear option" to end Democratic filibustering -- William Greene was angry, yet again. The right wing founder of RightMarch.com called on its "base of over one million conservative activists to take action against the Senate 'compromisers' who cut a bad deal."
When Terry Schiavo's parents needed fundraising firepower to keep their daughter's case afloat, they called on Greene. He is currently defending the embattled and ethically challenged House Majority Leader, Rep. Tom DeLay, as well as the beleaguered John Bolton, President Bush's nominee be the next US ambassador to the United Nations.
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=19288
'Maddog' Joining DeLay's Team
Kevin Madden, who was President Bush's campaign press secretary for the Northeast and Ohio and is now press secretary to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, is taking on one of the more formidable communications jobs in Washington.
On July 11, he will become communications director to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who faces persistent questions about travel and campaign-finance issues.
DeLay also is outspoken on conservative causes and does much of the official speaking on the House Republican agenda, adding to his office's load.
Madden, 33, is known to friends as "Maddog." He graduated from State University of New York College at Cortland, where he played lacrosse, and worked for Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.).
A source close to DeLay said: "Madden's aggressive work ethic is a good fit for the office and his optimistic, upbeat personality should inject a new energy."
Madden replaces Dan Allen, a former communications director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Allen joined the DeLay office in January and had his last day there on Friday. He is joining the Republican media firm of Scott Howell and Co. as vice president of political and corporate communication.
Staff writer Mike Allen contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/29/AR2005062902835.html
Is Cheney Lying, Or Does He Just Not Have The Facts?
By Jack Lepiarz
June 29, 2005
In a recent interview Dick Cheney said that the insurgency in Iraq, which has tormented the U.S. for the past two years, is now in its "last throes." I.E., the insurgency won't last much longer. However, Donald Rumsfeld, said in his own interview on June 26th, that the "last throes" could last for up to twelve years, directly referencing Mr. Cheney's comments earlier.
Sounds like a discrepancy to me.
...I hate to do this, but I cannot help but be reminded of Vietnam. Now, I do not believe that Iraq is another Vietnam--yet. However, I draw striking resemblance between Mr. Cheney's remarks and the repeated assurances of the Johnson and Nixon Adminstrations that the VietCong were about to collapse. It was not until the Tet Offensive of 1969 that people finally began to realize how much the administrations had been lying to them.
So, is Cheney lying to us? Unfortunately, I cannot say an answer. I would say, given historical similarities and the statements of others that he is, but maybe he's not. Maybe we actually can get out of Iraq with a real "Mission Accomplished" (even though we never found the WMD's!). But I doubt it. My feeling is that this is another attempt by Mr. Cheney to keep public opinion for the war up, and try to keep those in Iraq that they will be able to go home soon.
http://www.useless-knowledge.com/1234/june/article468.html
Bush And Cheney Should Resign
http://www.watchblog.com/democrats/...
Bush And Cheney Should Resign Andre M. Hernandez June 29, 2005
Even the people who supported this corrupt administration have to admit that this has gone too far. The Downing Street Memos and the shocking revelations that have come out during the Haliburton Reconstruction Hearings have gone beyond the smoking gun needed to overhaul a system that has no fail safes to protect the American peoples interests. Bush and Cheney are two of the most corrupt leaders of this or any other nation in our history.
The Downing Street Memos prove that the Bush administration lied to us about WMDs and the attempt to secure Uranium from Africa by Saddam Hussein. The ice cream truck that the Pentagon called a mobile weapons lab was just an ice cream truck. The tubing that could be used to make WMDs was just tubing. Those of you who supported the Bush administration don’t seem to remember the lies that were told to get both parties to back this war.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=6721
Wrong Click Publicises Workings of U.S. Korea Policy
A confidential report for the Korean Embassy in Washington on key players in the U.S.’ Korea policies is no longer so confidential after it was accidentally e-mailed to 800 subscribers of a daily political tip sheet containing news and gossip from around the country.
The report titled "Players in Korea Policy in Washington, D.C." is an analysis of the powers that make Korea policy in the U.S. administration and was supposed to be sent only to the Korean embassy.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200506/200506300020.html
VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: Veep Throat
By Eric Mink
Of the Post-Dispatch
06/29/2005
Post-Dispatch Columnist Eric Mink
Dreaming of a Caribbean vacation? Consider a sunny little patch of America on the southeast coast of Cuba! Officially, she's the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, but you can call her Gitmo!
Visitors ("detainees," technically) are having the time of their lives at Gitmo, says Richard B. "Dick" Cheney, who, besides being vice president of the United States, recently appointed himself chief spokesman for the Guantanamo Bay Department of Travel and Tourism.
"They got a brand new facility down at Guantanamo," Cheney told CNN's Wolf Blitzer last Thursday. "We spent a lot of money to build it. They're very well-treated down there. They're living in the tropics. They're well fed. They've got everything they could possibly want."
I kind of wish the ever-dizzy Blitzer had asked a couple of follow-ups: "Everything they could possibly want, Mr. Vice President? Like a fair and impartial process to see if they even belong there? Like freedom and reunion with their families, if they don't? Like not being stripped naked, smeared with fake menstrual blood, urinated on, chained to the floor and worse?"
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnists.nsf/ericmink/story/C2E1A3A1510709A78625702F0032274D?OpenDocument
Who Performed Military Service
Democrats
David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72
Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, etc
Jimmy Carter: Lt. Commander in the Navy 1946-53
Wesley Clark: Army 1966-2000, Vietnam, Silver star, purple heart
Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver/Bronze stars, Vietnam
Bill Clinton: Did not serve
Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72
Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze star
Michael Dukakis: Army 1955-57
John Edwards: Did not serve
Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71
John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs; Air Medal w/18 Clusters
Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam as journalist
Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74
Howell Heflin: Silver star
Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze star
Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII
Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53
Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam
John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver/Bronze stars, purple hearts
Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII
Jim McDermott: Navy 1968-70
George McGovern: Silver star & DFC during WWII
Zell Miller: Marine Corps, 1953-56
Walter Mondale: Army 1951-53
Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver star, etc
Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze star, Korea
Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-79; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91
Chuck Robb: U.S. Marine Corps, 1961-70, Vietnam
Pete stark: Air Force 1955-57
Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart
Republicans
Spencer Abraham: Did not serve
Eliot Abrams: Did not serve
Richard Armitage: Navy, three tours in Vietnam
John Ashcroft: Did not serve
Roy Blunt: Did not serve
Michael Bloomberg: Did not serve
George H.W. Bush: Youngest Navy pilot in WW II; awarded DFC
George W. Bush: Texas Air Nat. Guard; didn't take physical; suspended from flying
Jeb Bush: Did not serve
Saxby Chambliss: Did not serve. Attacked Cleland's patriotism
Dick Cheney: Did not serve
Christopher Cox: Did not serve
Tom DeLay: Did not serve
Bob Dole: Army in WWII, Bronze star, two purple hearts
Bob Dornan: Enlisted after fighting was over in Korea
John Engler: Did not serve
Douglas Feith: Did not serve
Gerald Ford: Lt. Commander, Navy in WWII
Bill Frist: Did not serve
Newt Gingrich: Did not serve
Rudy Giuliani: Did not serve
Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer
Phil Gramm: Did not serve
Chuck Hagel: Served in Vietnam, two Bronze stars and purple heart
Dennis Hastert: Did not serve
Tim Hutchison: Did not serve
Jack Kemp: Did not serve. "Knee problem," continued in NFL for 8 years
Jon Kyl: Did not serve
Trent Lott: Did not serve
Richard Lugar: Intelligence officer in Navy 1957-60
John McCain: POW in Vietnam, Legion of Merit, Silver star, DFC, many more
Mitch McConnell: Did not serve
John McHugh: Did not serve
George Pataki: Did not serve
Richard Perle: Did not serve
Colin Powell: 35 years in Army, 4-star general
Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard
Ronald Reagan: Served in WWII making movies
Tom Ridge: Army in Vietnam, Bronze star
Dana Rohrabacher: Did not serve
Karl Rove: Did not serve
Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor
Rick Santorum: Did not serve
Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base
Richard Shelby: Did not serve
JC Watts: Did not serve
Vin Weber: Did not serve
Paul Wolfowitz: Did not serve
Recent Supreme Court rulings unsettling for DeLay, Cornyn
Republicans hope to keep a closer watch on judicial branch
By SAMANTHA LEVINE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Several recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court have brought renewed criticism against the federal judiciary from some of Texas' leading Republicans in Congress.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, of Sugar Land, and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn railed against the high court's 5-4 ruling last week giving government authorities the right to seize and transfer private property for public use projects.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3245257
DeLay inquiry set to move; GOP ethics chairman backs down
John Byrne
The Republican Chairman of the House Ethics Committee has retreated on a bid to have his chief of staff become co-director for the Committee, paving the way for ethics investigations of House members, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), RAW STORY has learned.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/DeLay_inquiry_set_to_move_Chairman_of_Ethics_committee_backs_0629.html
Connelly: METRO's version of Pimp My Ride
Rich Connelly writes the following in the latest issue of the Houston Press:
Metro has famously made some "adjustments" to the $2 billion transportation plan approved by voters in 2003. Basically, areas of town represented by influential Congressmen Tom DeLay and John Culberson, both former rail opponents, will now be getting rail; minority communities promised rail will be getting...buses tricked out to look like trains. It's like the most expensive episode ever of Pimp My Ride. Immediately after the plan was announced, the Houston Chronicle dispatched a staffer to Las Vegas to report that people there really, really love their fake-train buses, so who knows why the minority community here is complaining?
Mayor White's announcement of his new transit plan strongly implied that Reps. DeLay and Culberson had endorsed it, even though DeLay's press office had little to say about the plan and Culberson has since issued two statements denying that he endorsed the plan or helped to design it.
http://www.bloghouston.net/item/1442/catid/8
Senate gives approval to energy measure
Conservation emphasized more than in House bill
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Senate approved an energy bill Tuesday that was more favorable to conservation, wind farms and ethanol and less kind to oil and gas producers than legislation passed by the House.
RESOURCES
Graphic: House, Senate Energy Plans
Whether the sharp differences can be resolved may depend on how much pressure President Bush can bring to bear. The president urged the lawmakers to resolve their differences quickly and send him a bill before August.
Hard bargaining lies ahead, especially with a pesky issue surrounding the gasoline additive MTBE remaining a potential deal breaker — as it was two years ago.
The House, particularly Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Sugar Land, wants to protect oil companies and refiners who produced MTBE from environmental lawsuits brought by communities whose drinking water has been contaminated by the additive. DeLay said an attempt is being made to "come up with a solution" to the MTBE issue but gave no details.
Supporters of the Senate bill, which has broad bipartisan backing and is silent on MTBE, say such liability protection would send the bill to defeat. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the House needs to work out a compromise on MTBE that can pass Senate muster.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/energy/3245480
Bass responds to ad, touts own MtBE cleanup plan
By JOHN DiSTASO
Senior Political Reporter
Rep. Charles Bass was one of two U.S. House members targeted for criticism in an environmental group's ad campaign yesterday for supporting a liability waiver for oil companies that produced the gasoline additive MtBE.
The New Hampshire Republican said the full-page ad in the New Hampshire Union Leader and other newspapers linking Bass to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, misrepresents his position. The ad was paid for by the Friends of the Earth.
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showfast.html?article=56964
Russian Journal Daily
Chinese leader: Bilateral cooperation on the up
June 30, 2005 Posted: 20:54 Moscow time (16:54 GMT)
MOSCOW — Russia and China are increasing their cooperation every year, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Thursday at a meeting with the chairman of parliament's upper chamber. Bilateral cooperation is especially active in the trade and economic sphere and in the energy sector, said Sergei Mironov, the Speaker of Russia's Federation Council.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48436
Russia, China to sign agreement on status of forces in July
June 29, 2005 Posted: 18:40 Moscow time (14:40 GMT)
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MOSCOW — Russia and China will sign an unprecedented agreement on the status of forces involved in a joint military exercise, Cooperation-2005, in late July, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48432
China, Russia to increase trade turnover
June 16, 2005 Posted: 12:19 Moscow time (08:19 GMT)
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BEIJING — Russia and China are not satisfied with the current trade turnover and structure. Speaking in the airport of Beijing on Thursday, Boris Gryzlov, speaker of the Russian parliament's lower chamber, said, "I do not think that our countries are satisfied with the volume we have reached today, $21 billion or with the structure of the trade."
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48360
Putin ratifies agreement on Russian-Chinese border
WORLD/CIS » :: Jun 01, 2005 Posted: 23:13 Moscow time (19:13 GMT)
MOSCOW — President of Russia Vladimir Putin has signed the federal law on ratification of the supplementary agreement between Russia and China on the Russian-Chinese state border in the east, the press service of the Russian President has informed. The law was adopted by the State Duma on May 20, 2005, and ratified by the Federation Council on May 25.
The chiefs of the two states signed the agreement in October 2004. The agreement specifies the border along two stretches in the Chita and Khabarovsk regions. The report of the Russian government says that the agreement finally settles border and territorial disputes between the countries, and is meant to facilitate intensification of strategic partnership and further development of near-border regions of the Russian Far East. China ratified the agreement in April 2005. /RosBusinessConsulting/
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnewswire.shtml?nw=48269
U.S. congressman Hyde against Russia's expulsion from G8
June 01, 2005 Posted: 23:10 Moscow time (19:10 GMT)
Hot Topics:
MOSCOW — U.S. congressman Henry J. Hyde does not back proposals to expel Russia from G8 in connection with the nine-year sentence to former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. I do not share the opinion that Russia should be expelled from G8, Hyde, the chairman of the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress, said on Wednesday.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48268
Russia, India, Brazil, China to compete with Western nations in hi-tech
June 30, 2005 Posted: 21:07 Moscow time (17:07 GMT)
See Also:
MOSCOW — Russia, India, Brazil, and China will be able to compete with industrialized nations in five years with developing innovations, Ernst & Young Global experts say.
The intellectual level of specialists in these countries is the key factor in attracting investors to Western Europe, but the market in Central and Eastern European countries has transformed from cheap homemade products to a market with vast potential, according to James S. Turley, Managing Partner of Ernst & Young.
http://www.russiajournal.com/news/cnews-article.shtml?nd=48442
continued ...
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