Northern Netherlands Trembles as Gas Extraction Triggers Quakes
Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Arie de Langen says he never thought he'd have to worry about earthquakes in his northern Dutch village of Sappemeer.
Quakes were unheard of and homes in the dozens of towns and villages that dot the region were built with wooden frames and beamed roofs. Then a venture between Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's No. 2 oil company, and Exxon Mobil Corp. began extracting natural gas in the region, triggering land shifts.
Now de Langen and about 150,000 other people living atop the crumbling 900 square-kilometer (560 square-mile) gas field are concerned quakes could shake loose beams or bring down roofs. An Aug. 5 tremor was the nation's second-strongest this year. The region had at least 30 quakes this year, putting it on course for the most tremors since records began in 1987.
.....................................................................
GULF OF MEXICO
Production Induced Seafloor Subsidence in Offshore Oil and Gas Fields as a Possible Contributor to Onshore Reactivation and Land Subsidence
...production of large volumes of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs has been shown to cause subsidence of the land surface. Prior studies suggests the vast majority of the production induced land loss appears to have occurred within the last 50 years, with the highest land subsidence rates corresponding to the maximum rates of hydrocarbon and produced fluids extraction. Production induced subsidence is a significant contributor to the continuing land loss problem in coastal and southern Louisiana.
Monday, August 29, 2005
August 29, 2005. Global Warming dominated the day. Internationally people and governments watched while the largest carbon dioxide emitter was slammed with a Cat 5 eddy of an Arctic Ocean vortex ravaged it's Gulf Coast causing citizens deaths due to the neglect of Bush and his inability to foresee the needs of the poor of this country. The storm continues to exhibit spontaneous tornadoes.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-Will-Doodle-When-Due"
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
On this day…
284 Origin of Era of Diocletian (Martyrs)
1758 1st indian reservation established
1844 1st white-indian lacrosse game in Montreal, Indians win
1854 Self-governing windmill patented (Daniel Halladay)
1864 William Huggins discovers chemical composition of nebulae
1883 Seismic sea waves created by the Krakatoa eruption create a rise in the English Channel 32 hrs after the explosion
1885 Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle
1889 1st American Intl pro lawn tennis contest (Newport RI)
1896 Chop suey invented in NYC by chef of visiting Chinese Ambassador
1904 3rd modern Olympic Games opens in St Louis
1908 NY gives a ticker tape parade to returning US Olympians from London
1909 AH Latham of France sets world airplane altitude record of 155 m
1920 Charlie "Bird" (Charles Christopher) Parker is born in Kansas
City, Kansas. The jazz saxophonist will become one of the
leaders of the bebop movement and be noted for his works "Ko
Ko" and "In the Still of the Night," among others. He will
receive numerous awards from Downbeat magazine and have the
famous jazz club, Birdland, in New York City named in his
honor.
1924 Ruth Jones is born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She will be better
known as "Dinah Washington." She will perform with Lionel
Hampton from 1943 to 1946 and become one of the most popular
R & B singers of the 1950's and early 1960's.
1933 Isabel Sanford is born in New York City. She will become an
actress and will star as Louise on the long-running sitcom
"The Jeffersons", "All in the Family", and will star in many
movies including "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", "Original
Gangstas", "South Beach", "Love at First Bite", "The
Photographer", "The New Centurions", "Pendulum", and "Buffalo
Soldiers".
1939 Chaim Weizmann informs England that Palestine Jews will fight in WW II
1944 15,000 American troops liberating Paris march down Champs Elysees
1945 Wyomia Tyus, Olympic runner, who will become the first woman
sprinter to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100
meters (three total), is born in rural Georgia. She will also
become a 10-time AAU National Champion and an All-American
Athlete in both the indoor and outdoor competition. Tyus will
compete in amateur and professional track and field meets from
1960 - 1975. In addition to her athletic achievements, Tyus
will hold a special place in Olympic history. At the XXIIIrd
Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Tyus will become the first woman
ever, in the history of the Olympic Games, to bear the Olympic
Flag.
1946 Bob Beamon is born in Jamaica, New York. He will become a star in
track and field, He will specialize in the long jump and will win
the 1968 Olympic gold medal in the long jump and set the world
record of 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches. His record will stand for twenty
three years until it is broken by Mike Powell at the World
Championships in Tokyo in 1991.
1949 USSR explodes its 1st atomic bomb
1953 USSR explodes its 1st hydrogen bomb
1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is passed by Congress. It is the
first civil rights legislation since 1875. The bill
establishes a civil rights commission and a civil rights
division in the Justice Department. It also gave the Justice
Department authority to seek injunctions against voting rights
infractions.
1957 Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957
1957 Strom Thurmond (Sen-D-SC) ends 24 hr filibuster against civil rights
1958 Air Force Academy opens
1958 Michael Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. First with the
family group the Jackson Five and later as a solo artist,
Jackson will be one of pop and Rhythm & Blues' foremost stars.
His solo album "Off the Wall" (1979) will sell 7 million copies
worldwide, surpassed only by "Thriller", his largest-selling
album (also the biggest selling album of all time).
1962 Mal Goode becomes the first African American television news
commentator when he begins broadcasting on ABC.
1962 Carl Banks is born. He will become a star NFL linebacker with the
New York Giants.
1966 Beatles last public concert, (Candlestick Park, SF)
1970 - Black Panthers confront the police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
One policeman is killed and six are wounded in a racial
confrontation.
1971 - Hank Aaron becomes the first baseball player in the National League
to drive in 100 or more runs in each of 11 seasons.
1975 Star in Cygnus goes nova becoming 4th brightest in sky
1977 St Louis Cardinal Lou Brock eclipses Ty Cobb's 49-year-old career stolen bases record at 893 as Padres win 4-3
1977 St. Louis Cardinal Lou Brock eclipses Ty Cobb's 49-year-old career
stolen base record at 893.
1979 The first completely Black-owned radio network in the world, "Mutual
Black Network" is purchased by the Sheridan Broadcasting Corporation.
1984 Edwin Moses wins the 400-meter hurdles in track competition in Europe.
It is the track star's 108th consecutive victory.
1985 Atlantis moves to launch pad for the 51-J mission
1986 Heike Drechsler of E Germany ties world women's 200 m mark (21.71s)
1988 Macy's Tap-o-Mania sets Guiness record
1988 USSR launches 3 cosmonauts (Valery Polyakav, 1 Afghan) to station Mir
1990 C-5 transport plane crashes at Ramstein AFB, Germany, killing 13
1990 Seattle Mariners become 1st team to have father-son teammates, signing Ken Griffey to play with son Ken Griffey Jr
1991 John F Kennedy Jr wins his 1st law case
Missing in Action
1965 BYRNE RONALD E. JR. GREAT NECK NY 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1965 MC WHORTER HENRY S. SAVANNAH GA FLAK EJECTED NO PARA BEEP REMAINS RETURNED 04/10/86
1965 TAYLOR EDD DAVID KENSETT AR FIRE CRASH NO PARA SEEN
1966 WELLS NORMAN L. ANNAPOLIS MD "03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV (UNIONVILLE, VA)" ALIVE IN 98
1967 NEWBURN LARRY S. KOKOMO IN
1968 ASHALL ALAN F. BILLINGS MT SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1968 DUNCAN ROBERT R. WEST PALM BEACH FL
1969 GRAF ALBERT STEPHEN BOGOTA NJ
1969 ZIMMER JERRY ALLEN MAINE NY
August 28
1962 SIMPSON ROBERT LEWIS PANAMA
1965 SCHIERMAN WESLEY D. ST. JOHN WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 BABULA ROBERT L. INDIANA PA
1966 BODENSCHATZ JOHN E. LOS ANGELES CA
1966 BORTON ROBERT C. JR. BENTON HARBOR MI FAMILY REJECTS ID REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 MAR 95
1966 CARTER DENNIS R. LOMITA CA
1967 DEGNAN JERRY L.
1967 WALLACE CHARLES FRANKLIN ELLISVILLE MS
1968 MILLER ROBERT CHARLES HAYWARD CA
1968 PHILLIPS ELBERT AUSTIN HUNTSVILLE AL
August 27
1966 COKER GEORGE T. LINDEN NJ 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 FELLOWES JOHN H. VIRGINIA BEACH VA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BACIK VLADIMIR HENRY HOUSTON TX
1967 BOGGS PASCHAL GLENN EAST POINT GA
1968 PICK DONALD WILLIAM RICHLAND WA
1970 ROGERS LYLE D.
1972 EVERETT DAVID A. BRUNSWICK GA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 TRIEBEL THEODORE VIENNA VA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
August 26
1965 DAVIS EDWARD A. MORRISTOWN PA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 DAY GEORGE EVERETTE NIAGARA FALLS NY 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 FULLER WILLIAM OTIS HOUSTON TX
1967 KILCULLEN THOMAS MICHAEL ADELPHI MD
1971 VENNIK ROBERT N. WYCKOFF NJ
1972 CORDOVA SAM GARY HUNTINGTON BEACH CA REMAINS RETURNED 12/15/88
The Mail and Guardian
Monster Hurricane Katrina pounds US Gulf Coast
Mira Oberman New Orleans, Louisiana
Hurricane Katrina pounded vulnerable New Orleans with howling winds on Monday, damaging the roof of the Superdome stadium where thousands had sought refuge, knocking out power, flooding streets and threatening a wide swath of the United States Gulf Coast.
The large and extremely dangerous hurricane claimed the lives of at least three people and sent crude oil prices soaring following the evacuation of offshore rigs in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico and the closure of refineries in Louisiana.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=249407&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/>
The Los Angeles Times
Fire Spreads in Area Near Palm Springs
Nearly 5,000 acres have burned in mountains. The blaze was only 5% contained Sunday.
By Jason Felch, Times Staff Writer
A wildfire in the mountains northwest of Palm Springs burned 4,980 acres of steep, grassy terrain, prompting a call for a voluntary evacuation of 150 residences that was later lifted, officials said Sunday.
The fire started when hikers tried to light a campfire, and spread quickly in Blaisdell Canyon Friday night, fueled by wind and dry, crunchy grasses left over from an unusually wet spring, officials said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/inland/la-me-palm29aug29,1,3058493.story?coll=la-editions-inland-news
Hurricane Katrina Slams Into Gulf Coast
Fierce winds peel off sections of Superdome roof.
By Scott Gold and Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writers
NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast early this morning, churning huge waves and spitting fierce 140-mile-an-hour winds that tore off sections of the Superdome's roof and blew out transformers, leaving much of the city without electricity.
Low-lying New Orleans was spared a direct hit from the storm that hit land at 6:10 a.m. local time near Grand Isle, La. Officials worried that a day of rain and the expected storm surge of 15 to 20 feet of water would flood New Orleans' historic districts.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-082905katrina_lat,0,7531280.story?coll=la-home-headlines
http://www.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2005-08/19195639.pdf
New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster
By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer
As Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, experts said it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.
Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.
Pasted from <http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top13aug29,0,5691616.story>
RIA Novosti
Russia's foreign ministry regrets U.S. senators' plane delay
MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign ministry said Monday it regretted that the airline flight of two U.S. senators had been delayed in Perm, the Urals region, today.
"We regret the misunderstanding and inconveniences for the senators," the ministry said.
"The flight of the U.S. Air Force airplane carrying the senators and their assistants was delayed at the Perm airport by border officials who had to look into relevant formalities and the flight's status," the ministry said.
Russian and American special flights have a number of reciprocal diplomatic privileges, including simpler border and customs procedures, the ministry said. "When Moscow confirmed the flight's diplomatic status, the senators left Russia."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050829/41247206.html
Russia, China might consider replacing dollar in bilateral trade - expert
MOSCOW, August 28 (RIA Novosti, Yelena Fedorova) - Russia and China might consider replacing dollar in bilateral trade, a senior banking expert said on the eve of the Third Russian-Chinese Banking Forum opening Monday.
Garegin Torsunyan, president of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB), said, "There are many ways to establish direct currency exchange and appropriate exchange rates with our Chinese partners."
A certain step in this direction has already been made when Russian and Chinese banks were allowed to open mutual corresponding accounts, he added.
At the same time, Torsunyan said it was difficult to establish direct currency exchange considering that the Russian currency was not convertible abroad.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20050828/41239808.html
Russia to host special forces antiterrorist exercise in September
MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - The training center of the Russian Interior Ministry special forces will host an international antiterrorist exercise in September, the commander of the Russian Interior Troops said Monday.
Colonel General Nikolai Rogozhkin said the exercise would focus on anti-terrorism efforts.
"Special forces from CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] member countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will take part in the exercise," Rogozhkin added.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050829/41243351.html
Putin to discuss Iraq with Berlusconi -- source
SOCHI, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the situation in Iraq and the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a meeting Monday, a Kremlin source said.
"Vladimir Putin will probably ask Silvio Berlusconi about the situation in Iraq, and, most importantly, about its future development," the source said, adding that Russia had "major economic interests" in the country. The source said that Russia also wanted to know Berlusconi's thoughts about when foreign troops, including Italian soldiers, would be pulled out of Iraq.
He said Russia was not pushing for an immediate withdraw, or even in the next couple of years, but did think it correct to set a deadline. He added that Western countries had pushed Moscow to set a deadline for withdrawing its troops from Georgia and Moldavia.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050829/41242303.html
August-September 1943: Tokyo tried to reconcile Stalin with Hitler
MOSCOW, (Anatoly Koshkin for RIA Novosti). Several years ago the U.S. National Archives published correspondence between the Japanese Ambassador in Berlin, Hiroshi Oshima, and the Japanese Foreign Ministry that had been intercepted and decoded by American secret services during World War II.
From this correspondence, it transpired that after the defeat of the German armies in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, the Japanese government had tried to act as an intermediary for Moscow and Berlin. Tokyo made several attempts to arrange separate talks on the cessation of hostilities on the Soviet-German front. For example, Oshima reported to Tokyo that Hitler had ostensibly agreed to halt the war against the U.S.S.R. if the Soviet leadership gave him Ukraine. ITAR-TASS reported at the time that, "It is not clear from Oshima's encrypted correspondence whether Moscow received this proposal."
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050829/41247818.html
"Siberian labor camps" were invented in Tokyo
MOSCOW. (Anatoly Koshkin for RIA Novosti). -- Who was it that suggested using Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) to restore the Soviet economy after World War II?
Incredible though it may seem, it was the court of the Japanese emperor that came up with the idea.
The entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan can be seen as the Soviet government meeting its obligations to the Allies. However, Japan still claims that it was a treacherous act that contravened the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact signed in April 1941. Japan also accuses the Soviet Union of illegally interning the men and officers of the Kwantung Army, which was routed by Soviet troops in August 1945.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050826/41233488.html
Gypsy culture in Russia
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Anatoly Korolev). -- A special course for gifted young gypsies is to start at the Shchukin Theater School in Moscow in September.
The man behind the project is actor, producer and singer Nikolai Slichenko, art director of the world's only national gypsy theater, the Romen Theater.
Slichenko set up the course for a number of reasons: firstly, the theater, which opened in 1931, will soon mark its centenary; secondly, the theatre troupe desperately needs new recruits; and thirdly, there are concerns about the general state of gypsy culture in Russia today.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050826/41232225.html
The Cheney Observer
Will Karl Rove be punished?
Budget Car Sales
5204 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Fredericksburg, VA 22408Date published: 8/28/2005
One might wonder about the connection between the "Dough Boy" and "Rove Boy." It's simple: Both change when the heat is on.
Did Karl Rove leak the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame? That is the question ["Outing a CIA agent: Why should anyone care about leak?" Aug. 1].
At first Rove denied being involved in outing Plame, but later, when pressed with certain facts, he admitted he had spoken to a member of the press about her.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/082005/08282005/120941
Rove's role
August 28, 2005
SOME WHITE House sympathizers have attempted to portray Karl Rove's role in the Valerie Plame scandal as that of a statesman, seeking to provide President Bush with the best information possible on Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions so that Bush could set policy based on facts. This has been met with deserved skepticism. Rove's career, even before he became Bush's deputy chief of staff, is rich with reasons to think his motives in helping to identify Plame as a CIA agent were far darker.
After all, Plame's identity was revealed in a Robert Novak column on July 14, 2003, just eight days after her husband, Joseph Wilson, had embarrassed Bush over his Iraq war rationale. And Rove had talked with Novak on July 9.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/08/28/roves_role/
Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: August 29, 2005
A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.
The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, has worked in military procurement for 20 years and for the past several years had been the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/international/middleeast/29halliburton.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1125340225-qO6lXKOXZ5oZ5HC96gnDoA
Smugglers force oil-rich Iraq to import high-priced fuel
By T. Christian Miller
Los Angeles Times
T. CHRISTIAN MILLER / LOS ANGELES TIMES
An Iraqi coast-guard sailor patrols the legendary waterway Shatt Al Arab, which means "Stream of the Arabs." The newly formed coast guard is responsible for catching smugglers.
ON THE SHATT AL ARAB, Iraq — The rusted skiffs chug down this broad channel lined with marsh, sometimes so laden with illegal cargo that they sit only half a foot above the waterline.
Usually they're carrying diesel fuel, bought cheaply in Iraq and smuggled for a handy profit to countries such as Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002454704_fuelsmuggling28.html
Christians preach hate, too
Why do George W Bush and Rupert Murdoch think so highly of a dangerous demagogue?
Richard Ingrams
Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer
One aspect of the preachers of hate debate which has gone unnoticed is that any new laws would have to apply to Christian preachers as well as Muslims.
In that case, people like American evangelist Pat Robertson could well find themselves in trouble. Last week, for example, Robertson was calling for the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to be 'taken out', in other words, murdered. (He later tried to get out of it by claiming that 'taking people out' didn't necessarily involve assassination.)
This Christian preacher of hate, it turns out, enjoys a cordial relationship with George W Bush, who might well come to his aid if he were under threat. But he could not deny that, in many respects, there is nothing to distinguish him from his Muslim brothers. He hates homosexuals, for example, and has even on occasion spoken out about what he calls a 'Jewish money conspiracy'.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1557952,00.html
Busted: Blair gives public treasure to White House
Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent
Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer
A bronze bust of Winston Churchill, owned by the British Government Art Collection and paid for by the taxpayer, is at the centre of a row after it was loaned by Tony Blair to George W Bush.
The renowned Jacob Epstein sculpture that sits in President Bush's Oval Office was loaned to the White House four years ago, on orders from Blair's office, in an unprecedented act outside the strict remit of the collection.
The claim, to be made in a BBC radio documentary on Thursday and supported this weekend by art specialists, forms part of new scrutiny of the GAC and its backroom handling of tens of millions of pounds worth of British art each year.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1558068,00.html
Expert View : One Alan Greenspan, there's only one Alan Greenspan
By Christopher Walker
Published: 28 August 2005
The end of an era. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, the "world's central banker", is about to retire. His abstruse pronouncements have become legendary, defining whole periods and moving markets. What will happen after him?
Greenspan is the bankers' darling. This weekend he is being feted by his peers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Declining risk premiums are attributed to the "Greenspan put" - the certainty that his astute monetary management will avoid slip-ups. His popularity has broader appeal as well; when he appeared before the senate finance committee recently, one hot-headed senator began inanely shouting: "Five more years!", while at a Washington baseball game this summer the crowd chanted: "Keep 'em low, Al."
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article308527.ece
Nine Miles to Crawford
By Paul Saint-Amand
SPECIAL TO THE ICONOCLAST
When the two Secret Service boys hopped out of their air-conditioned white Suburban, no doubt Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan felt a sudden chill pierce the 100-plus degree heat in Crawford, Texas. Saturday afternoon’s unrelenting sun washed over the roadway and spilled into the ditch where Cindy and an estimated 125 veterans and activists, including myself, waited for President Bush to acknowledge this anguished mother’s right to ask why her son, Casey, was killed for a lie.
I stood behind Cindy with my cell phone on speaker mode so that my wife in Massachusetts could hear her conversation with the agents. After a brief warning about Cindy’s intent to camp overnight on this lonely stretch of country road, the young agent hedged his concern for her safety with a final comment. “Well, ma’am. . .You have my condolences on the loss of your son.” Cindy, near heatstroke, looked into his deadpan face said quietly, “I didn’t lose my son. He was killed in Iraq. If I had lost him, I would go to Iraq and find him. He’s dead. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand?”
http://198.65.14.85/Columns/Guest/2005/34guest01.htm
Nine Miles to Crawford
By Paul Saint-Amand
SPECIAL TO THE ICONOCLAST
When the two Secret Service boys hopped out of their air-conditioned white Suburban, no doubt Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan felt a sudden chill pierce the 100-plus degree heat in Crawford, Texas. Saturday afternoon’s unrelenting sun washed over the roadway and spilled into the ditch where Cindy and an estimated 125 veterans and activists, including myself, waited for President Bush to acknowledge this anguished mother’s right to ask why her son, Casey, was killed for a lie.
I stood behind Cindy with my cell phone on speaker mode so that my wife in Massachusetts could hear her conversation with the agents. After a brief warning about Cindy’s intent to camp overnight on this lonely stretch of country road, the young agent hedged his concern for her safety with a final comment. “Well, ma’am. . .You have my condolences on the loss of your son.” Cindy, near heatstroke, looked into his deadpan face said quietly, “I didn’t lose my son. He was killed in Iraq. If I had lost him, I would go to Iraq and find him. He’s dead. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand?”
http://198.65.14.85/Columns/Guest/2005/34guest01.htm
Congressman questions VP's ability to perform duties
August 27, 2005, 5:14 PM EDT
NEW YORK -- The dean of New York's congressional delegation suggested in a television interview that Vice President Dick Cheney may not be healthy enough to perform his duties.
Rep. Charles Rangel was being interviewed on NY1, the New York City-based all-news channel, when he was asked Friday night whether he thought President Bush was taking too much vacation time this summer.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--rangel-cheney0827aug27,0,1363844.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Pentagon - Bush - Cheney Plan Nuclear War on Iran
by WEBSTER TARPLEY
With the direct threat of military attack against Iran issued Aug. 13 by Bush, the world has entered a phase of new and acute danger of general war.
Bush made the threat in an interview with Israeli television. "All options are on the table," said Bush, speaking from his estate in Crawford, Texas. Asked if that included the use of force, Bush replied: "As I say, all options are on the table. The use of force is the last option for any president and you know, we've used force in the recent past to secure our country." (Reuters,Jerusalem, August 13, 2005)
Bush's comments were ostensibly made in the context of the US campaign to shut down the Iranian nuclear program, but in reality came in the midst of feverish US-UK preparations for a new 9/11 of state- sponsored, false flag synthetic terrorism which is intended by the terrorist controllers in London and Washington to set the stage for the attack on Iran, as well as for martial law dictatorships throughout the English-speaking world and beyond.
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=2&contentid=2641
Cheney's speech inappropriate
I really appreciated Robert Leger's editorial and question "How does Cheney praise Purple Heart?" in the Aug. 21 News-Leader. He said what really needed to be said.
I am not a Purple Heart recipient; however, I am a WWII veteran with my campaign medals and ribbons listed in the crowded space allotted on my honorable Army discharge. I was in the Mediterranean theater of operations.
Seems those in power never miss an opportunity to toot their campaign horn. Sometimes inappropriately.
Paul Nevatt, Springfield
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050827/OPINIONS03/508270336/1006
DeLay dances across district to woo voters
Ethics probe, upcoming race keep him close to home over break
By SAMANTHA LEVINE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Tom DeLay at a senior citizens' sock hop that featured a DJ dressed as Elvis? You betcha.
And he wasn't roped into attending, either.
His office called the Sugar Land Parks & Recreation Department and said the House majority leader wanted to attend the event at the Sugar Land Community Center earlier this month.
"I was a little shocked," said officer Todd Zettlemoyer of the Sugar Land Police Department, which helped organize the dance as part of a neighborhood crime-awareness program.
"This was the first year that we had the congressman there," he said. "He no sooner walked in the door than he had a crowd around him."
That was the whole point.
In recent weeks, DeLay has worked his constituency harder than he has in years. He popped up at more than 20 local gigs, from speeches to the La Marque Rotary Club and the Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena to high-profile ceremonies at NASA and Ellington Field.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/front/3325775
Halliburton Is 'Doing All The Right Things'
Banc of America reiterated a "buy" rating on Halliburton (nyse: HAL - news - people ), noting "the company is doing all the right things to improve absolute returns to shareholders and relative performance versus its peers."
Banc of America said Halliburton's "breakout" second-quarter report "demonstrates the earnings potential of the company and we see the strength continuing with geographic and product line segments all expected to improve."
http://www.forbes.com/markets/equities/2005/08/26/halliburton-energy-kbr-0826markets01.html
Intelligent design - coming to a school near you
27.08.05
By Chris Barton
Science teachers say it has no place in the classroom. Christian educators say children shouldn't be denied alternative views.
Science teachers retaliate that it's not science, it's religion behind a mask and they don't want a bar of it. Christian educators argue they can teach it alongside traditional science, so what are science teachers so afraid of?
Science teachers' blood begins to boil. "It's not science."' they fume.
"It" is "intelligent design" - a challenge to the theory of evolution described by some as creationism in disguise. But it's a challenge that's garnering support from high places.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10342658
The timeline of a leak and a controversy
2002
February: Vice President Dick Cheney asks whether Iraq sought uranium from Niger.
Feb. 12: The CIA sends Joseph Wilson to Niger.
March 9: Wilson's report finds little evidence for such claims.
Aug. 26: Cheney says: "We now know that Saddam [Hussein] has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons."
Oct. 5-6: CIA Director George Tenet persuades the White House to remove the uranium claim from a Bush speech.
2003
Jan. 28: President Bush's State of the Union message cites a British report that Iraq sought uranium.
March 7: U.N. nuclear agency finds uranium documents are "not authentic."
March 20: U.S. invades Iraq.
July 6: Wilson goes public on his Niger trip and findings.
July 7-8: Administration sources tell columnist Robert Novak about Wilson's CIA wife.
July 7: White House admits to mistake in citing uranium claim.
July 11: Karl Rove tells Time's Matthew Cooper that Wilson's wife arranged the Niger trip.
July 14: Novak column unmasks Valerie Plame.
July 30: CIA asks Justice Department to investigate leak of agent's identity.
Sept. 16: White House says suggesting Rove leaked her identity is "ridiculous."
Sept. 29: White House spokesman says leaker will be fired.
Sept. 30: Wilson endorses John Kerry for president.
Dec. 30: Patrick Fitzgerald named special prosecutor.
2004
Jan. 23: Weapons inspector David Kay says there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
July 10: Senate panel faults prewar intelligence and calls Wilson's report inconclusive.
Nov. 2: Bush wins re-election.
2005
Feb. 15: Court orders journalists Judith Miller and Cooper to cooperate with grand jury.
July 6: Miller refuses to testify and is jailed; Cooper agrees to testify after getting permission from his source, Rove.
July 18: Bush says leaker will be fired if a crime was committed.
Sources: Times reporting, news media reports, White House and Senate documents
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002452825_leakbox26.html
Cheney wrong person to defend war
PILLIP GAILEY
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
I wish Dick Cheney would stay in his secret hideaway, wherever it is, the one he goes to when the terror alert in Washington is at maximum level.
Every time the vice president ventures out to defend the administration's bungled war in Iraq, he only adds insult to injury. Even more so than President Bush, Cheney is the cold embodiment of the delusions, arrogance, stubbornness, incompetence and denial that got us into this messy war. He has no credibility on the subject.
These days, you won't hear Cheney saying, as he did two months ago, that the Iraqi insurgency is in its "last throes." Instead, as he told a friendly audience of combat veterans last week, "there is still tough fighting" to come. The United States "will not relent" in pressing the war. U.S. forces will hunt down Iraqi insurgents "one at a time if necessary."
Easy to say when the war doesn't touch you or your family or wealthy friends, who enjoy tax cuts while our soldiers bleed in Iraq and their families struggle with hardships at home. At least Bush has broken down and wept with the families of fallen soldiers in private meetings on military bases. According to a story in Newsweek magazine last week, the president choked up and began to cry in a meeting at MacDill AFB in Tampa with families who had lost loved ones in the war. "I am sorry, I'm so sorry," he told them.
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050826/NEWS/208260304/1183/news08
National parks being hijacked, group claims
Retirees tie proposed public use revisions to political appointee
An association of retiree Park Service employees on Friday accused Bush administration political appointees of hijacking America’s national parks, saying a leaked Interior Department document shows a move to stress recreation and resource development over park preservation.
“Britney Spears could hold a major concert at Shiloh National Military Park or nearly any national park since the new rules significantly increase the emphasis on permitting public uses over the traditional mission of preserving historic and natural places,” the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees said in a statement.
The group singled out Paul Hoffman, who oversees the Park Service as an assistant Interior secretary, as being behind the revisions. Formerly head of the chamber of commerce in Cody, Wyo., outside Yellowstone, Hoffman had also worked for Dick Cheney when the vice president was a U.S. lawmaker in the 1980s.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9087265/
Hu’s on first, Cheney’s at bat
China, United States on back-to-back missions to Canada as both countries take aim at oil sands to shore up energy security
Gary Park
Petroleum News Canadian Correspondent
With North American trade relations at their lowest ebb in anyone’s memory, the stakes will be raised in September, if only symbolically, when Canada plays host to two of the world’s most influential politicians.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Chinese President Hu Jintao are staging back-to-back visits at a time when their interest in Canadian oil, especially the Alberta oil sands, is climbing to new heights.
For those trying to discern some deeper significance, Hu’s visit is a lengthy, elaborate affair; Cheney’s itinerary seems to have been hastily assembled.
So far, in fact, only the Alberta government and the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank, have even said Cheney is heading north of the 49th parallel. There has been no confirmation from Washington.
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/69583417.shtml
continued ...
"Oak-He-Doe-$he"
On this day…
284 Origin of Era of Diocletian (Martyrs)
1758 1st indian reservation established
1844 1st white-indian lacrosse game in Montreal, Indians win
1854 Self-governing windmill patented (Daniel Halladay)
1864 William Huggins discovers chemical composition of nebulae
1883 Seismic sea waves created by the Krakatoa eruption create a rise in the English Channel 32 hrs after the explosion
1885 Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle
1889 1st American Intl pro lawn tennis contest (Newport RI)
1896 Chop suey invented in NYC by chef of visiting Chinese Ambassador
1904 3rd modern Olympic Games opens in St Louis
1908 NY gives a ticker tape parade to returning US Olympians from London
1909 AH Latham of France sets world airplane altitude record of 155 m
1920 Charlie "Bird" (Charles Christopher) Parker is born in Kansas
City, Kansas. The jazz saxophonist will become one of the
leaders of the bebop movement and be noted for his works "Ko
Ko" and "In the Still of the Night," among others. He will
receive numerous awards from Downbeat magazine and have the
famous jazz club, Birdland, in New York City named in his
honor.
1924 Ruth Jones is born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She will be better
known as "Dinah Washington." She will perform with Lionel
Hampton from 1943 to 1946 and become one of the most popular
R & B singers of the 1950's and early 1960's.
1933 Isabel Sanford is born in New York City. She will become an
actress and will star as Louise on the long-running sitcom
"The Jeffersons", "All in the Family", and will star in many
movies including "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", "Original
Gangstas", "South Beach", "Love at First Bite", "The
Photographer", "The New Centurions", "Pendulum", and "Buffalo
Soldiers".
1939 Chaim Weizmann informs England that Palestine Jews will fight in WW II
1944 15,000 American troops liberating Paris march down Champs Elysees
1945 Wyomia Tyus, Olympic runner, who will become the first woman
sprinter to win consecutive Olympic gold medals in the 100
meters (three total), is born in rural Georgia. She will also
become a 10-time AAU National Champion and an All-American
Athlete in both the indoor and outdoor competition. Tyus will
compete in amateur and professional track and field meets from
1960 - 1975. In addition to her athletic achievements, Tyus
will hold a special place in Olympic history. At the XXIIIrd
Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Tyus will become the first woman
ever, in the history of the Olympic Games, to bear the Olympic
Flag.
1946 Bob Beamon is born in Jamaica, New York. He will become a star in
track and field, He will specialize in the long jump and will win
the 1968 Olympic gold medal in the long jump and set the world
record of 29 feet, 2 1/2 inches. His record will stand for twenty
three years until it is broken by Mike Powell at the World
Championships in Tokyo in 1991.
1949 USSR explodes its 1st atomic bomb
1953 USSR explodes its 1st hydrogen bomb
1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 is passed by Congress. It is the
first civil rights legislation since 1875. The bill
establishes a civil rights commission and a civil rights
division in the Justice Department. It also gave the Justice
Department authority to seek injunctions against voting rights
infractions.
1957 Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957
1957 Strom Thurmond (Sen-D-SC) ends 24 hr filibuster against civil rights
1958 Air Force Academy opens
1958 Michael Jackson is born in Gary, Indiana. First with the
family group the Jackson Five and later as a solo artist,
Jackson will be one of pop and Rhythm & Blues' foremost stars.
His solo album "Off the Wall" (1979) will sell 7 million copies
worldwide, surpassed only by "Thriller", his largest-selling
album (also the biggest selling album of all time).
1962 Mal Goode becomes the first African American television news
commentator when he begins broadcasting on ABC.
1962 Carl Banks is born. He will become a star NFL linebacker with the
New York Giants.
1966 Beatles last public concert, (Candlestick Park, SF)
1970 - Black Panthers confront the police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
One policeman is killed and six are wounded in a racial
confrontation.
1971 - Hank Aaron becomes the first baseball player in the National League
to drive in 100 or more runs in each of 11 seasons.
1975 Star in Cygnus goes nova becoming 4th brightest in sky
1977 St Louis Cardinal Lou Brock eclipses Ty Cobb's 49-year-old career stolen bases record at 893 as Padres win 4-3
1977 St. Louis Cardinal Lou Brock eclipses Ty Cobb's 49-year-old career
stolen base record at 893.
1979 The first completely Black-owned radio network in the world, "Mutual
Black Network" is purchased by the Sheridan Broadcasting Corporation.
1984 Edwin Moses wins the 400-meter hurdles in track competition in Europe.
It is the track star's 108th consecutive victory.
1985 Atlantis moves to launch pad for the 51-J mission
1986 Heike Drechsler of E Germany ties world women's 200 m mark (21.71s)
1988 Macy's Tap-o-Mania sets Guiness record
1988 USSR launches 3 cosmonauts (Valery Polyakav, 1 Afghan) to station Mir
1990 C-5 transport plane crashes at Ramstein AFB, Germany, killing 13
1990 Seattle Mariners become 1st team to have father-son teammates, signing Ken Griffey to play with son Ken Griffey Jr
1991 John F Kennedy Jr wins his 1st law case
Missing in Action
1965 BYRNE RONALD E. JR. GREAT NECK NY 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1965 MC WHORTER HENRY S. SAVANNAH GA FLAK EJECTED NO PARA BEEP REMAINS RETURNED 04/10/86
1965 TAYLOR EDD DAVID KENSETT AR FIRE CRASH NO PARA SEEN
1966 WELLS NORMAN L. ANNAPOLIS MD "03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV (UNIONVILLE, VA)" ALIVE IN 98
1967 NEWBURN LARRY S. KOKOMO IN
1968 ASHALL ALAN F. BILLINGS MT SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1968 DUNCAN ROBERT R. WEST PALM BEACH FL
1969 GRAF ALBERT STEPHEN BOGOTA NJ
1969 ZIMMER JERRY ALLEN MAINE NY
August 28
1962 SIMPSON ROBERT LEWIS PANAMA
1965 SCHIERMAN WESLEY D. ST. JOHN WA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 BABULA ROBERT L. INDIANA PA
1966 BODENSCHATZ JOHN E. LOS ANGELES CA
1966 BORTON ROBERT C. JR. BENTON HARBOR MI FAMILY REJECTS ID REMAINS IDENTIFIED 29 MAR 95
1966 CARTER DENNIS R. LOMITA CA
1967 DEGNAN JERRY L.
1967 WALLACE CHARLES FRANKLIN ELLISVILLE MS
1968 MILLER ROBERT CHARLES HAYWARD CA
1968 PHILLIPS ELBERT AUSTIN HUNTSVILLE AL
August 27
1966 COKER GEORGE T. LINDEN NJ 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 FELLOWES JOHN H. VIRGINIA BEACH VA 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BACIK VLADIMIR HENRY HOUSTON TX
1967 BOGGS PASCHAL GLENN EAST POINT GA
1968 PICK DONALD WILLIAM RICHLAND WA
1970 ROGERS LYLE D.
1972 EVERETT DAVID A. BRUNSWICK GA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 TRIEBEL THEODORE VIENNA VA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
August 26
1965 DAVIS EDWARD A. MORRISTOWN PA 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 DAY GEORGE EVERETTE NIAGARA FALLS NY 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 FULLER WILLIAM OTIS HOUSTON TX
1967 KILCULLEN THOMAS MICHAEL ADELPHI MD
1971 VENNIK ROBERT N. WYCKOFF NJ
1972 CORDOVA SAM GARY HUNTINGTON BEACH CA REMAINS RETURNED 12/15/88
The Mail and Guardian
Monster Hurricane Katrina pounds US Gulf Coast
Mira Oberman New Orleans, Louisiana
Hurricane Katrina pounded vulnerable New Orleans with howling winds on Monday, damaging the roof of the Superdome stadium where thousands had sought refuge, knocking out power, flooding streets and threatening a wide swath of the United States Gulf Coast.
The large and extremely dangerous hurricane claimed the lives of at least three people and sent crude oil prices soaring following the evacuation of offshore rigs in the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico and the closure of refineries in Louisiana.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=249407&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/>
The Los Angeles Times
Fire Spreads in Area Near Palm Springs
Nearly 5,000 acres have burned in mountains. The blaze was only 5% contained Sunday.
By Jason Felch, Times Staff Writer
A wildfire in the mountains northwest of Palm Springs burned 4,980 acres of steep, grassy terrain, prompting a call for a voluntary evacuation of 150 residences that was later lifted, officials said Sunday.
The fire started when hikers tried to light a campfire, and spread quickly in Blaisdell Canyon Friday night, fueled by wind and dry, crunchy grasses left over from an unusually wet spring, officials said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/inland/la-me-palm29aug29,1,3058493.story?coll=la-editions-inland-news
Hurricane Katrina Slams Into Gulf Coast
Fierce winds peel off sections of Superdome roof.
By Scott Gold and Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writers
NEW ORLEANS -- Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast early this morning, churning huge waves and spitting fierce 140-mile-an-hour winds that tore off sections of the Superdome's roof and blew out transformers, leaving much of the city without electricity.
Low-lying New Orleans was spared a direct hit from the storm that hit land at 6:10 a.m. local time near Grand Isle, La. Officials worried that a day of rain and the expected storm surge of 15 to 20 feet of water would flood New Orleans' historic districts.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-082905katrina_lat,0,7531280.story?coll=la-home-headlines
http://www.latimes.com/media/acrobat/2005-08/19195639.pdf
New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster
By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer
As Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, experts said it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries.
Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm.
Pasted from <http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top13aug29,0,5691616.story>
RIA Novosti
Russia's foreign ministry regrets U.S. senators' plane delay
MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign ministry said Monday it regretted that the airline flight of two U.S. senators had been delayed in Perm, the Urals region, today.
"We regret the misunderstanding and inconveniences for the senators," the ministry said.
"The flight of the U.S. Air Force airplane carrying the senators and their assistants was delayed at the Perm airport by border officials who had to look into relevant formalities and the flight's status," the ministry said.
Russian and American special flights have a number of reciprocal diplomatic privileges, including simpler border and customs procedures, the ministry said. "When Moscow confirmed the flight's diplomatic status, the senators left Russia."
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050829/41247206.html
Russia, China might consider replacing dollar in bilateral trade - expert
MOSCOW, August 28 (RIA Novosti, Yelena Fedorova) - Russia and China might consider replacing dollar in bilateral trade, a senior banking expert said on the eve of the Third Russian-Chinese Banking Forum opening Monday.
Garegin Torsunyan, president of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB), said, "There are many ways to establish direct currency exchange and appropriate exchange rates with our Chinese partners."
A certain step in this direction has already been made when Russian and Chinese banks were allowed to open mutual corresponding accounts, he added.
At the same time, Torsunyan said it was difficult to establish direct currency exchange considering that the Russian currency was not convertible abroad.
http://en.rian.ru/business/20050828/41239808.html
Russia to host special forces antiterrorist exercise in September
MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - The training center of the Russian Interior Ministry special forces will host an international antiterrorist exercise in September, the commander of the Russian Interior Troops said Monday.
Colonel General Nikolai Rogozhkin said the exercise would focus on anti-terrorism efforts.
"Special forces from CIS [Commonwealth of Independent States] member countries, including Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will take part in the exercise," Rogozhkin added.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050829/41243351.html
Putin to discuss Iraq with Berlusconi -- source
SOCHI, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss the situation in Iraq and the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a meeting Monday, a Kremlin source said.
"Vladimir Putin will probably ask Silvio Berlusconi about the situation in Iraq, and, most importantly, about its future development," the source said, adding that Russia had "major economic interests" in the country. The source said that Russia also wanted to know Berlusconi's thoughts about when foreign troops, including Italian soldiers, would be pulled out of Iraq.
He said Russia was not pushing for an immediate withdraw, or even in the next couple of years, but did think it correct to set a deadline. He added that Western countries had pushed Moscow to set a deadline for withdrawing its troops from Georgia and Moldavia.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20050829/41242303.html
August-September 1943: Tokyo tried to reconcile Stalin with Hitler
MOSCOW, (Anatoly Koshkin for RIA Novosti). Several years ago the U.S. National Archives published correspondence between the Japanese Ambassador in Berlin, Hiroshi Oshima, and the Japanese Foreign Ministry that had been intercepted and decoded by American secret services during World War II.
From this correspondence, it transpired that after the defeat of the German armies in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, the Japanese government had tried to act as an intermediary for Moscow and Berlin. Tokyo made several attempts to arrange separate talks on the cessation of hostilities on the Soviet-German front. For example, Oshima reported to Tokyo that Hitler had ostensibly agreed to halt the war against the U.S.S.R. if the Soviet leadership gave him Ukraine. ITAR-TASS reported at the time that, "It is not clear from Oshima's encrypted correspondence whether Moscow received this proposal."
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050829/41247818.html
"Siberian labor camps" were invented in Tokyo
MOSCOW. (Anatoly Koshkin for RIA Novosti). -- Who was it that suggested using Japanese prisoners of war (POWs) to restore the Soviet economy after World War II?
Incredible though it may seem, it was the court of the Japanese emperor that came up with the idea.
The entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan can be seen as the Soviet government meeting its obligations to the Allies. However, Japan still claims that it was a treacherous act that contravened the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact signed in April 1941. Japan also accuses the Soviet Union of illegally interning the men and officers of the Kwantung Army, which was routed by Soviet troops in August 1945.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050826/41233488.html
Gypsy culture in Russia
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Anatoly Korolev). -- A special course for gifted young gypsies is to start at the Shchukin Theater School in Moscow in September.
The man behind the project is actor, producer and singer Nikolai Slichenko, art director of the world's only national gypsy theater, the Romen Theater.
Slichenko set up the course for a number of reasons: firstly, the theater, which opened in 1931, will soon mark its centenary; secondly, the theatre troupe desperately needs new recruits; and thirdly, there are concerns about the general state of gypsy culture in Russia today.
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050826/41232225.html
The Cheney Observer
Will Karl Rove be punished?
Budget Car Sales
5204 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Fredericksburg, VA 22408Date published: 8/28/2005
One might wonder about the connection between the "Dough Boy" and "Rove Boy." It's simple: Both change when the heat is on.
Did Karl Rove leak the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame? That is the question ["Outing a CIA agent: Why should anyone care about leak?" Aug. 1].
At first Rove denied being involved in outing Plame, but later, when pressed with certain facts, he admitted he had spoken to a member of the press about her.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/082005/08282005/120941
Rove's role
August 28, 2005
SOME WHITE House sympathizers have attempted to portray Karl Rove's role in the Valerie Plame scandal as that of a statesman, seeking to provide President Bush with the best information possible on Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions so that Bush could set policy based on facts. This has been met with deserved skepticism. Rove's career, even before he became Bush's deputy chief of staff, is rich with reasons to think his motives in helping to identify Plame as a CIA agent were far darker.
After all, Plame's identity was revealed in a Robert Novak column on July 14, 2003, just eight days after her husband, Joseph Wilson, had embarrassed Bush over his Iraq war rationale. And Rove had talked with Novak on July 9.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/08/28/roves_role/
Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted
By ERIK ECKHOLM
Published: August 29, 2005
A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.
The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, has worked in military procurement for 20 years and for the past several years had been the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/international/middleeast/29halliburton.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1125340225-qO6lXKOXZ5oZ5HC96gnDoA
Smugglers force oil-rich Iraq to import high-priced fuel
By T. Christian Miller
Los Angeles Times
T. CHRISTIAN MILLER / LOS ANGELES TIMES
An Iraqi coast-guard sailor patrols the legendary waterway Shatt Al Arab, which means "Stream of the Arabs." The newly formed coast guard is responsible for catching smugglers.
ON THE SHATT AL ARAB, Iraq — The rusted skiffs chug down this broad channel lined with marsh, sometimes so laden with illegal cargo that they sit only half a foot above the waterline.
Usually they're carrying diesel fuel, bought cheaply in Iraq and smuggled for a handy profit to countries such as Iran, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002454704_fuelsmuggling28.html
Christians preach hate, too
Why do George W Bush and Rupert Murdoch think so highly of a dangerous demagogue?
Richard Ingrams
Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer
One aspect of the preachers of hate debate which has gone unnoticed is that any new laws would have to apply to Christian preachers as well as Muslims.
In that case, people like American evangelist Pat Robertson could well find themselves in trouble. Last week, for example, Robertson was calling for the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to be 'taken out', in other words, murdered. (He later tried to get out of it by claiming that 'taking people out' didn't necessarily involve assassination.)
This Christian preacher of hate, it turns out, enjoys a cordial relationship with George W Bush, who might well come to his aid if he were under threat. But he could not deny that, in many respects, there is nothing to distinguish him from his Muslim brothers. He hates homosexuals, for example, and has even on occasion spoken out about what he calls a 'Jewish money conspiracy'.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,1557952,00.html
Busted: Blair gives public treasure to White House
Vanessa Thorpe, arts and media correspondent
Sunday August 28, 2005
The Observer
A bronze bust of Winston Churchill, owned by the British Government Art Collection and paid for by the taxpayer, is at the centre of a row after it was loaned by Tony Blair to George W Bush.
The renowned Jacob Epstein sculpture that sits in President Bush's Oval Office was loaned to the White House four years ago, on orders from Blair's office, in an unprecedented act outside the strict remit of the collection.
The claim, to be made in a BBC radio documentary on Thursday and supported this weekend by art specialists, forms part of new scrutiny of the GAC and its backroom handling of tens of millions of pounds worth of British art each year.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1558068,00.html
Expert View : One Alan Greenspan, there's only one Alan Greenspan
By Christopher Walker
Published: 28 August 2005
The end of an era. Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, the "world's central banker", is about to retire. His abstruse pronouncements have become legendary, defining whole periods and moving markets. What will happen after him?
Greenspan is the bankers' darling. This weekend he is being feted by his peers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Declining risk premiums are attributed to the "Greenspan put" - the certainty that his astute monetary management will avoid slip-ups. His popularity has broader appeal as well; when he appeared before the senate finance committee recently, one hot-headed senator began inanely shouting: "Five more years!", while at a Washington baseball game this summer the crowd chanted: "Keep 'em low, Al."
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article308527.ece
Nine Miles to Crawford
By Paul Saint-Amand
SPECIAL TO THE ICONOCLAST
When the two Secret Service boys hopped out of their air-conditioned white Suburban, no doubt Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan felt a sudden chill pierce the 100-plus degree heat in Crawford, Texas. Saturday afternoon’s unrelenting sun washed over the roadway and spilled into the ditch where Cindy and an estimated 125 veterans and activists, including myself, waited for President Bush to acknowledge this anguished mother’s right to ask why her son, Casey, was killed for a lie.
I stood behind Cindy with my cell phone on speaker mode so that my wife in Massachusetts could hear her conversation with the agents. After a brief warning about Cindy’s intent to camp overnight on this lonely stretch of country road, the young agent hedged his concern for her safety with a final comment. “Well, ma’am. . .You have my condolences on the loss of your son.” Cindy, near heatstroke, looked into his deadpan face said quietly, “I didn’t lose my son. He was killed in Iraq. If I had lost him, I would go to Iraq and find him. He’s dead. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand?”
http://198.65.14.85/Columns/Guest/2005/34guest01.htm
Nine Miles to Crawford
By Paul Saint-Amand
SPECIAL TO THE ICONOCLAST
When the two Secret Service boys hopped out of their air-conditioned white Suburban, no doubt Gold Star mother Cindy Sheehan felt a sudden chill pierce the 100-plus degree heat in Crawford, Texas. Saturday afternoon’s unrelenting sun washed over the roadway and spilled into the ditch where Cindy and an estimated 125 veterans and activists, including myself, waited for President Bush to acknowledge this anguished mother’s right to ask why her son, Casey, was killed for a lie.
I stood behind Cindy with my cell phone on speaker mode so that my wife in Massachusetts could hear her conversation with the agents. After a brief warning about Cindy’s intent to camp overnight on this lonely stretch of country road, the young agent hedged his concern for her safety with a final comment. “Well, ma’am. . .You have my condolences on the loss of your son.” Cindy, near heatstroke, looked into his deadpan face said quietly, “I didn’t lose my son. He was killed in Iraq. If I had lost him, I would go to Iraq and find him. He’s dead. Do you understand what that means? Do you understand?”
http://198.65.14.85/Columns/Guest/2005/34guest01.htm
Congressman questions VP's ability to perform duties
August 27, 2005, 5:14 PM EDT
NEW YORK -- The dean of New York's congressional delegation suggested in a television interview that Vice President Dick Cheney may not be healthy enough to perform his duties.
Rep. Charles Rangel was being interviewed on NY1, the New York City-based all-news channel, when he was asked Friday night whether he thought President Bush was taking too much vacation time this summer.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--rangel-cheney0827aug27,0,1363844.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Pentagon - Bush - Cheney Plan Nuclear War on Iran
by WEBSTER TARPLEY
With the direct threat of military attack against Iran issued Aug. 13 by Bush, the world has entered a phase of new and acute danger of general war.
Bush made the threat in an interview with Israeli television. "All options are on the table," said Bush, speaking from his estate in Crawford, Texas. Asked if that included the use of force, Bush replied: "As I say, all options are on the table. The use of force is the last option for any president and you know, we've used force in the recent past to secure our country." (Reuters,Jerusalem, August 13, 2005)
Bush's comments were ostensibly made in the context of the US campaign to shut down the Iranian nuclear program, but in reality came in the midst of feverish US-UK preparations for a new 9/11 of state- sponsored, false flag synthetic terrorism which is intended by the terrorist controllers in London and Washington to set the stage for the attack on Iran, as well as for martial law dictatorships throughout the English-speaking world and beyond.
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=2&contentid=2641
Cheney's speech inappropriate
I really appreciated Robert Leger's editorial and question "How does Cheney praise Purple Heart?" in the Aug. 21 News-Leader. He said what really needed to be said.
I am not a Purple Heart recipient; however, I am a WWII veteran with my campaign medals and ribbons listed in the crowded space allotted on my honorable Army discharge. I was in the Mediterranean theater of operations.
Seems those in power never miss an opportunity to toot their campaign horn. Sometimes inappropriately.
Paul Nevatt, Springfield
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050827/OPINIONS03/508270336/1006
DeLay dances across district to woo voters
Ethics probe, upcoming race keep him close to home over break
By SAMANTHA LEVINE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Tom DeLay at a senior citizens' sock hop that featured a DJ dressed as Elvis? You betcha.
And he wasn't roped into attending, either.
His office called the Sugar Land Parks & Recreation Department and said the House majority leader wanted to attend the event at the Sugar Land Community Center earlier this month.
"I was a little shocked," said officer Todd Zettlemoyer of the Sugar Land Police Department, which helped organize the dance as part of a neighborhood crime-awareness program.
"This was the first year that we had the congressman there," he said. "He no sooner walked in the door than he had a crowd around him."
That was the whole point.
In recent weeks, DeLay has worked his constituency harder than he has in years. He popped up at more than 20 local gigs, from speeches to the La Marque Rotary Club and the Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena to high-profile ceremonies at NASA and Ellington Field.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/front/3325775
Halliburton Is 'Doing All The Right Things'
Banc of America reiterated a "buy" rating on Halliburton (nyse: HAL - news - people ), noting "the company is doing all the right things to improve absolute returns to shareholders and relative performance versus its peers."
Banc of America said Halliburton's "breakout" second-quarter report "demonstrates the earnings potential of the company and we see the strength continuing with geographic and product line segments all expected to improve."
http://www.forbes.com/markets/equities/2005/08/26/halliburton-energy-kbr-0826markets01.html
Intelligent design - coming to a school near you
27.08.05
By Chris Barton
Science teachers say it has no place in the classroom. Christian educators say children shouldn't be denied alternative views.
Science teachers retaliate that it's not science, it's religion behind a mask and they don't want a bar of it. Christian educators argue they can teach it alongside traditional science, so what are science teachers so afraid of?
Science teachers' blood begins to boil. "It's not science."' they fume.
"It" is "intelligent design" - a challenge to the theory of evolution described by some as creationism in disguise. But it's a challenge that's garnering support from high places.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10342658
The timeline of a leak and a controversy
2002
February: Vice President Dick Cheney asks whether Iraq sought uranium from Niger.
Feb. 12: The CIA sends Joseph Wilson to Niger.
March 9: Wilson's report finds little evidence for such claims.
Aug. 26: Cheney says: "We now know that Saddam [Hussein] has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons."
Oct. 5-6: CIA Director George Tenet persuades the White House to remove the uranium claim from a Bush speech.
2003
Jan. 28: President Bush's State of the Union message cites a British report that Iraq sought uranium.
March 7: U.N. nuclear agency finds uranium documents are "not authentic."
March 20: U.S. invades Iraq.
July 6: Wilson goes public on his Niger trip and findings.
July 7-8: Administration sources tell columnist Robert Novak about Wilson's CIA wife.
July 7: White House admits to mistake in citing uranium claim.
July 11: Karl Rove tells Time's Matthew Cooper that Wilson's wife arranged the Niger trip.
July 14: Novak column unmasks Valerie Plame.
July 30: CIA asks Justice Department to investigate leak of agent's identity.
Sept. 16: White House says suggesting Rove leaked her identity is "ridiculous."
Sept. 29: White House spokesman says leaker will be fired.
Sept. 30: Wilson endorses John Kerry for president.
Dec. 30: Patrick Fitzgerald named special prosecutor.
2004
Jan. 23: Weapons inspector David Kay says there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
July 10: Senate panel faults prewar intelligence and calls Wilson's report inconclusive.
Nov. 2: Bush wins re-election.
2005
Feb. 15: Court orders journalists Judith Miller and Cooper to cooperate with grand jury.
July 6: Miller refuses to testify and is jailed; Cooper agrees to testify after getting permission from his source, Rove.
July 18: Bush says leaker will be fired if a crime was committed.
Sources: Times reporting, news media reports, White House and Senate documents
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002452825_leakbox26.html
Cheney wrong person to defend war
PILLIP GAILEY
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
I wish Dick Cheney would stay in his secret hideaway, wherever it is, the one he goes to when the terror alert in Washington is at maximum level.
Every time the vice president ventures out to defend the administration's bungled war in Iraq, he only adds insult to injury. Even more so than President Bush, Cheney is the cold embodiment of the delusions, arrogance, stubbornness, incompetence and denial that got us into this messy war. He has no credibility on the subject.
These days, you won't hear Cheney saying, as he did two months ago, that the Iraqi insurgency is in its "last throes." Instead, as he told a friendly audience of combat veterans last week, "there is still tough fighting" to come. The United States "will not relent" in pressing the war. U.S. forces will hunt down Iraqi insurgents "one at a time if necessary."
Easy to say when the war doesn't touch you or your family or wealthy friends, who enjoy tax cuts while our soldiers bleed in Iraq and their families struggle with hardships at home. At least Bush has broken down and wept with the families of fallen soldiers in private meetings on military bases. According to a story in Newsweek magazine last week, the president choked up and began to cry in a meeting at MacDill AFB in Tampa with families who had lost loved ones in the war. "I am sorry, I'm so sorry," he told them.
http://www.ocala.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050826/NEWS/208260304/1183/news08
National parks being hijacked, group claims
Retirees tie proposed public use revisions to political appointee
An association of retiree Park Service employees on Friday accused Bush administration political appointees of hijacking America’s national parks, saying a leaked Interior Department document shows a move to stress recreation and resource development over park preservation.
“Britney Spears could hold a major concert at Shiloh National Military Park or nearly any national park since the new rules significantly increase the emphasis on permitting public uses over the traditional mission of preserving historic and natural places,” the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees said in a statement.
The group singled out Paul Hoffman, who oversees the Park Service as an assistant Interior secretary, as being behind the revisions. Formerly head of the chamber of commerce in Cody, Wyo., outside Yellowstone, Hoffman had also worked for Dick Cheney when the vice president was a U.S. lawmaker in the 1980s.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9087265/
Hu’s on first, Cheney’s at bat
China, United States on back-to-back missions to Canada as both countries take aim at oil sands to shore up energy security
Gary Park
Petroleum News Canadian Correspondent
With North American trade relations at their lowest ebb in anyone’s memory, the stakes will be raised in September, if only symbolically, when Canada plays host to two of the world’s most influential politicians.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Chinese President Hu Jintao are staging back-to-back visits at a time when their interest in Canadian oil, especially the Alberta oil sands, is climbing to new heights.
For those trying to discern some deeper significance, Hu’s visit is a lengthy, elaborate affair; Cheney’s itinerary seems to have been hastily assembled.
So far, in fact, only the Alberta government and the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank, have even said Cheney is heading north of the 49th parallel. There has been no confirmation from Washington.
http://www.petroleumnews.com/pntruncate/69583417.shtml
continued ...
Morning Papers - continued...
The Jerusalem Post
PM: 'Not all West Bank settlements will remain'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that the large settlement blocs in the West Bank would "remain in our hands permanently."
According to the prime minister, speaking to Channel 10, "Not all the settlements that are today in Judea and Samaria will remain under Israeli control. The discussion over the borders and the settlements is the last stage of the negotiations according to the road map."
When asked about his Likud rival Binyamin Netanyahu, Sharon lashed out at Netanyahu, calling him "a man who deals poorly with pressure and panics. Israel is a special country. Our problems are more complex than those of other countries. In order to run this country, you have to have good judgment and nerves of steel."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281964383
Suleiman and Abbas discuss pullout
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman held talks in Gaza City on Monday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad on the latest developments regarding Israel's disengagement plan.
Suleiman is the first senior Egyptian official to visit the Gaza Strip after the evacuation of the settlements there. An Egyptian security team headed by Suleiman's deputy, Mustafa Buhairi, has been in the Gaza Strip for several weeks now to help the PA in imposing law and order and assuming control over the dismantled settlement areas.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281963688
2 yeshiva students stabbed by neo-Nazis
By JPOST.COM STAFF
A group of neo-Nazis stabbed two Kiev yeshiva students on an underpass Sunday evening, while on their way home from the yeshiva.
Mordechai Ben Avraham, 28, one of the students attacked, was in critical condition and undergoing brain surgery Monday. The other student was lightly wounded.
No suspects were identified as of Monday morning.
Rabbi Moshe Asman, of the Kiev Jewish community, was in contact with the police and promised that the stabbings would be dealt with seriously. Kiev police also made similar assurances, Army Radio reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281958214
Moroccan Jews try to help immigrants through familiar process
By DANIELLA CHESLOW
Last week, Irina Abu-Oucha, 22, walked away from Ofakim with a scholarship for NIS 3,000.
Abu-Oucha, who is studying psychology at the University of Haifa, is from Ma'alot-Tarshiha. Her parents, one an Israeli-Arab and one from Bulgaria, have little connection to Morocco.
But Abu-Oucha was one of 180 students to receive scholarships from the World Federation of Moroccan Jewry, awarded at Ofakim's Salute to Moroccan Jewry celebration. About 60 percent of those receiving scholarships had no connection to the North African country, said federation president Sam Ben-Chetrit.
"I saw an advertisement at the city hall," Abu-Oucha said, explaining how she had heard about the scholarship. "I know people in the municipality. It's not such a big town, and everyone knows each other."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125195668610
Beersheba bombing 'heroes' recovering
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
The two security guards who saved the lives of dozens of passengers at Beersheba's central bus station and suffered severe injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday morning are out of danger, a Soroka University Medical Center spokeswoman said on Monday.
Lui Abu-Jama, a 27-year-old man from the Beduin town of Aroer in the Negev, and Pavel Sorotzkin, a former Russian immigrant from Beersheba, prevented the terrorist from alighting and thus prevented many from being killed.
Although they both suffered serious burns, shrapnel wounds and other damage and were in unstable condition during the 24 hours after being admitted to Soroka, both have undergone surgery and are stable and out of danger.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281964241
Full speed ahead for southern fence
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN
href="http://info.jpost.com/C001/Supplements/MapCenter/3.sfence.html"TARGET="_blank">
security fence that could have stopped a suicide bomber from reaching Beersheba on Sunday are now hastening its completion and have started erecting five kilometers a week.
The first 32-kilometer section stretching from Moshav Nehusha south of Beit Shemesh to Shomriya is expected to be completed by mid-October, six weeks ahead of schedule, a senior IDF officer said Sunday.
But the remaining – and crucial – 26-kilometer stretch that would block the lower Hebron Hills of the West Bank, where some 420,000 Palestinians live, from the northern Negev won't be finished until next summer, if not later.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281955669
The San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area Red Cross workers head to hurricane area
Relief workers from the Bay Area chapter of the American Red Cross were heading to Little Rock, Ark., this morning to prepare to distribute food and aid to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
“This could become the biggest hurricane to which the American Red Cross has ever responded,” said Alan McCurry, an executive vice president for the organization in Washington, D.C.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/08/29/BA29.DTL
Hurricane Katrina Rips La., Miss. Coasts
By ADAM NOSSITER, Associated Press Writer
(08-29) 08:37 PDT NEW ORLEANS, (AP) --
Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday with howling, 145-mph winds and blinding rain that flooded some homes to the ceilings and peeled away part of the roof of the Superdome, where thousands of people had taken shelter.
Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and turned slightly eastward before hitting land at 6:10 a.m. CDT near the bayou town of Buras, apparently sparing this vulnerable city from the storm's full fury.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/08/29/national/a072231D73.DTL
SF school district workers call in sick
(08-29) 09:47 PDT San Francisco (SF Chronicle) -- A number of custodians, cafeteria workers and secretaries for the San Francisco Unified School District made good on their threat to call in sick this morning, the first day of school, to underscore their dissatisfaction with their union’s stalled contract negotiations.
District spokeswoman Lorna Ho said the absences were not expected to cause a significant disruption. “We planned for the worst when we heard there might be a sick-out,” Ho said.
She said it was too early to tell how widespread the action was. “We clearly do have some people at the central office who are not here,” she said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/08/29/BAschools29.DTL
Evacuations Ordered Around Rail Car Leak
(08-29) 08:31 PDT CINCINNATI (AP) --
Homes within one-half mile of a leaking railroad car were ordered evacuated Monday morning because of concern about a highly flammable liquid whose fumes are hazardous to breathe.
Rush-hour commuters from the city's east side were diverted around the site.
The leak occurred Sunday near Lunken Airport, which handles mostly private and corporate planes.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/08/29/national/a083139D85.DTL
CALIFORNIA
Firefighters struggle with 3 big wildfires
Hundreds of firefighters battled to contain Sunday at least three major blazes across California that had burned through thousands of acres and destroyed more than two dozen buildings.
Residents of Manton in the Tehama County foothills 30 miles northeast of Red Bluff began returning home to examine the destruction caused by a fire that started Friday afternoon and led to the evacuation of the entire town. Thirty structures were destroyed in the community of about 500 and 20 were damaged, said Elmer Benson, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Three firefighters received minor injuries.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/29/BAGB2EER9U1.DTL
ARCTIC OIL
Oil is the lifeblood of Alaska, with residents ready to drill
Inhabitants of the Last Frontier see economic opportunity -- and with Bush and the Republicans in power, timing is right
Fairbanks, Alaska -- When Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski took office in 2003 facing a $1 billion budget deficit, he made clear how he would pull this resource-rich state out of its fiscal crisis.
"What is our plan for increasing revenue?" Murkowski said in his first address to the state Legislature. "In a single word -- oil."
The newly elected Republican governor said Alaska needed to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and elsewhere to make up for declining revenues from Prudhoe Bay, with oil flowing at only half-capacity through the trans-Alaska pipeline.
This fall, Murkowski and other Alaskan officials are expected to get their wish: Congress appears likely to approve a budget bill that would allow drilling on the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the refuge.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/29/MNGLGEEKSF1.DTL
The Buffalo News
Study finds coffee is rich in antioxidants
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press
8/29/2005
WASHINGTON - When the Ink Spots sang "I love the java jive and it loves me" in 1940, they could not have known how right they were.
Coffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the American diet, according to a study released Sunday.
Of course, too much coffee can make people jittery and even raise cholesterol levels, so food experts stress moderation.
The findings by Joe A. Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, give a healthy boost to the warming beverage.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050829/1052950.asp
Katrina threatens oil refining activity
By JUSTIN BACHMAN
Associated Press
8/29/2005
NEW YORK - With crude oil prices already at record levels, Hurricane Katrina targeted the heart of America's oil and refinery operations Sunday, shutting down an estimated 1 million barrels of daily production and threatening to curtail refining activity in the region.
Katrina, a Category 5 storm expected to strike near New Orleans early today, was churning through the Gulf of Mexico. The area is crucial to the nation's energy infrastructure - offshore oil and gas production, import terminals, pipeline networks and numerous refining operations throughout southern Louisiana and Mississippi.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050829/1048581.asp
Sharpton links protest to civil rights campaigns
By SAM COATES
Washington Post
8/29/2005
Associated Press
Cindy Sheehan, left, gets consolation from the Rev. Al Sharpton and Evan Bright, who joined her Sunday at the protest site.
CRAWFORD, Texas - The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, rallied antiwar protesters here Sunday, drawing comparisons to the civil rights movement on this anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Speaking at a morning prayer meeting, he called Cindy Sheehan, who first arrived here 22 days ago to protest the war in Iraq, "the conscience" of the nation.
"I come today because I feel that it is our moral obligation to stand and to be courageous with these families and in particular Cindy," he told the crowd of 400. "I wanted to come on that anniversary to be with ordinary people, as I think Doctor King would have wanted."
Sharpton said opposition to the war in Iraq is not a partisan act. "This is not about politics. This is not about Republican or Democrat. This is not about what party you're a part of. This is about right and
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050829/1056100.asp
The Korean Herald
North Korea proposes meeting in week of Sept. 12
North Korea yesterday proposed reopening six-party talks on its nuclear programs in the week beginning Sept. 12. South Korea also said the recessed talks will likely resume in mid-September instead of this week as was previously agreed by the member countries.
"We told the United States through contacts in New York that we can't join the six-party talks while war exercises that we oppose are under way," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. The statement was referring to joint South Korean-U.S. military drills that began last week.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300046.asp
Crude oil prices soar to a record above $70
Crude oil prices that soared to a record level above $70 roiled local bourses yesterday with concerns that lofty energy costs could erode corporate profits and hamper consumer sentiment.
The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, for October delivery soared to a record $70.80 a barrel in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after Hurricane Katrina forced companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., to shut down operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300045.asp
Ex-leader Park on list of 3,000 Japan collaborators
A civic organization yesterday disclosed a list of 3,094 Koreans who they claim collaborated with the Japanese authorities during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. Those named include former president Park Chung-hee and the former heads of major newspapers.
This is the first time a full list of pro-Japanese collaborators has been collated since Korea was liberated from Japan on Aug. 15 in 1945. But, the disclosure is likely to spur controversy over the standards by which the alleged collaborators were selected and could result in those accused filing lawsuits against the Institute for Research into Collaborationist Activities who researched and disclosed the list.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300044.asp
Doosan Heavy to tap Chinese nuclear reactor opportunities
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said yesterday it agreed to cooperate with China's largest power facility builder Harbin Power Equipment Co. in bidding for new projects in the world's fastest growing market.
The deal promises Doosan an opportunity to expand its power generating equipment business in China as HPEC agreed to make joint bids for plants planned by the Chinese government for Quinshan, Zhejiang Province.
Doosan Heavy chief executive Kim Dae-joong and HPEC Chairman Geng Lei signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday on the mid-term partnership for possible power plant projects in China in the future.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300052.asp
U.S. government supports Korean free economic zones
Korea's free economic zones are expected to play a central role in trade and investment relations between the United States and Korea, says the minister-counselor of commercial affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
Carmine D'Aloisio, who has lived in Korea for two years, stressed in an interview with The Korea Herald that the embassy and the U.S. government warmly welcomes the economic zones that form the centerpiece of the Korea's plan to develop into a business hub of Northeast Asia.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300055.asp
Michael Moore Today
The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford (Day 21)
Not One More
-- a message from Cindy Sheehan, Crawford, Texas
A photographer friend of mine went down to Crawford to the Pro-War, Anti-Peace rally today. There were about 1500 people there he said. He also said that it was the most "third reich" spectacle that he had ever seen in America.
My friend said that the speakers were whipping up the crowd into a frenzy of hatred for me (like they already didn't hate me?) and for the peace movement. My friend said that the entire theme of the rally was: "Cindy is killing American troops by her anti-American protest." Oh really, isn't George Bush killing innocent Americans and Iraqis by sending them to fight in an illegal and immoral war for power and greed? I think the real culprit is my neighbor: George.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=475
Crawford changed by Sheehan effort
Rival camps inundate tiny town
By M.S. Enkoji / Sacramento Bee
CRAWFORD, TEXAS - There was a time when this place could have been the answer to a pretty darn good trivia question. And then, Cindy Sheehan came to town.
Just a month ago, Sheehan, the Vacaville mother of a soldier slain in Iraq, began a lonely, anguished vigil under the blazing Texas sun, encamped in a tent, estranged from her husband and largely ignored by the world.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3887
They Are Stardust, And in Texas
At the Crawford Protest Camp, Growing Echoes of Woodstock
By Mike Allen / Washington Post
CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 21 -- Camp Casey, which started with one mom and a grievance, mushroomed over the weekend into a massive settlement with a party tent for 2,000, a shuttle-bus service and an elaborate catering operation that deposited a 26-foot-long refrigerator truck, generators, and restaurant-quality ranges and warming ovens in a field next to President Bush's ranch.
The hippie crowd that originally was drawn to Cindy Sheehan's protest is still in town -- activists from Food Not Bombs are sleeping in an old school bus that has been painted sky blue and can be started only with jumper cables. But now they have been joined by liberals from throughout the West who are double-parking their hybrid-fueled cars to take part in a peace protest with a budget that is $120,000 and rising.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3807
Who's Next?
By Karen Houppert / The Nation
The US Army Recruiting Command has a motto: "First to contact, first to contract." In the school recruiting handbook the Army gives to the 7,500 recruiters it has trawling the nation these days, the motto crops up so often it serves as a stuttering paean to aggressive new tactics--tactics that target increasingly younger students.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3889
Bring Them Home Now Tour
From Camp Casey, Crawford to Washington DC
From George Bush’s door step to Communities along the way, We Demand That:
Elected Representatives Decide Now to Bring the Troops Home
We Take Care of Them When They Get Here
We Never Again Send Our Loved Ones to War Based on Lies!
We are currently at a significant turning point in how the American public views the war in Iraq. As the death toll in Iraq rises, Cindy Sheehan’s vigil near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans. Bush’s approval rating is falling. The voice of military families, who have lost loved ones and those with loved ones in harm’s way or about to deploy, can activate the American people. The voice of veterans, both of this war and of previous wars will also build the movement to end the war. Together these critical voices can demand that President Bush make the decision now to bring the troops home.
http://www.bringthemhomenowtour.org/article.php?list=type&type=3
Iraq war protestor says to shift focus to Congress
By Jeremy Pelofsky / Reuters
CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 26 - Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose vigil near President George W. Bush's Texas ranch has become a symbol for the anti-war movement, said on Friday she plans to focus on Congress, starting with Bush close ally and fellow Texan House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3875
Senator Will Ask Rumsfeld to Testify to Panel on Iraq
By Carl Hulse / The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 - With lawmakers facing tough questions at home about the war in Iraq, Senator John W. Warner, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, says he intends to summon Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld quickly for a hearing when Congress returns next week.
Mr. Warner, a Virginia Republican who is one of the most important Congressional voices on military policy, said mounting numbers of dead and wounded Americans, the contentious process of drafting an Iraqi constitution and the economic cost of the war were adding up to new anxiety in Congress.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3898
Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted
By Erik Eckholm / The New York Times
A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.
The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, has worked in military procurement for 20 years and for the past several years had been the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3897
Militants, swept from battleground, return when troops leave, U.S. says
By Tom Lasseter / Knight Ridder
AR-RAMADI, Iraq -- Iraq's insurgency has concentrated much of its fight against U.S. and Iraqi forces in towns along the murky waters of the Euphrates River, beginning with Al-Qaim on the Syrian border and running through towns such as Al-Hadithah, Al-Haqlaniyah, Hit, Ar-Ramadi and Al-Fallujah. They're all in Al-Anbar province, the heartland of Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, which dominated the government under Saddam Hussein.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3895
Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted
By Erik Eckholm / The New York Times
A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.
The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, has worked in military procurement for 20 years and for the past several years had been the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3897
The Birmingham Post Herald
Preacher rants but ignores Jesus
Faith Matters by JAMES L. EVANS
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD
Pat Robertson, founder and host of the 700 Club, demonstrated this week just how far right-wingChristianity has drifted from the teachings of Jesus. During a recent telecast, Robertson said he believes the United States should assassinate Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela.
The remark came during one of Robertson's characteristic tirades. He does this quite often on his show.
… Even though Robertson later apologized for his remarks, it is hard not wonder how a Christian leader could even think such a thing. It would appear that Robertson has been more influenced by the gunslinger culture of the Wild West than by the sober teaching of Jesus about violence.
In Tombstone, the sheriff may go down to the OK Corral and shoot the bad guys before they get out of hand. But the vision of Jesus suggests that we try to overcome evil with good, not with more evil.
James L. Evans is pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church.
http://www.postherald.com/religion.shtml
continued ...
PM: 'Not all West Bank settlements will remain'
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that the large settlement blocs in the West Bank would "remain in our hands permanently."
According to the prime minister, speaking to Channel 10, "Not all the settlements that are today in Judea and Samaria will remain under Israeli control. The discussion over the borders and the settlements is the last stage of the negotiations according to the road map."
When asked about his Likud rival Binyamin Netanyahu, Sharon lashed out at Netanyahu, calling him "a man who deals poorly with pressure and panics. Israel is a special country. Our problems are more complex than those of other countries. In order to run this country, you have to have good judgment and nerves of steel."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281964383
Suleiman and Abbas discuss pullout
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Egyptian Intelligence Chief Gen. Omar Suleiman held talks in Gaza City on Monday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and leaders of Hamas and Islamic Jihad on the latest developments regarding Israel's disengagement plan.
Suleiman is the first senior Egyptian official to visit the Gaza Strip after the evacuation of the settlements there. An Egyptian security team headed by Suleiman's deputy, Mustafa Buhairi, has been in the Gaza Strip for several weeks now to help the PA in imposing law and order and assuming control over the dismantled settlement areas.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281963688
2 yeshiva students stabbed by neo-Nazis
By JPOST.COM STAFF
A group of neo-Nazis stabbed two Kiev yeshiva students on an underpass Sunday evening, while on their way home from the yeshiva.
Mordechai Ben Avraham, 28, one of the students attacked, was in critical condition and undergoing brain surgery Monday. The other student was lightly wounded.
No suspects were identified as of Monday morning.
Rabbi Moshe Asman, of the Kiev Jewish community, was in contact with the police and promised that the stabbings would be dealt with seriously. Kiev police also made similar assurances, Army Radio reported.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281958214
Moroccan Jews try to help immigrants through familiar process
By DANIELLA CHESLOW
Last week, Irina Abu-Oucha, 22, walked away from Ofakim with a scholarship for NIS 3,000.
Abu-Oucha, who is studying psychology at the University of Haifa, is from Ma'alot-Tarshiha. Her parents, one an Israeli-Arab and one from Bulgaria, have little connection to Morocco.
But Abu-Oucha was one of 180 students to receive scholarships from the World Federation of Moroccan Jewry, awarded at Ofakim's Salute to Moroccan Jewry celebration. About 60 percent of those receiving scholarships had no connection to the North African country, said federation president Sam Ben-Chetrit.
"I saw an advertisement at the city hall," Abu-Oucha said, explaining how she had heard about the scholarship. "I know people in the municipality. It's not such a big town, and everyone knows each other."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125195668610
Beersheba bombing 'heroes' recovering
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
The two security guards who saved the lives of dozens of passengers at Beersheba's central bus station and suffered severe injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up on Sunday morning are out of danger, a Soroka University Medical Center spokeswoman said on Monday.
Lui Abu-Jama, a 27-year-old man from the Beduin town of Aroer in the Negev, and Pavel Sorotzkin, a former Russian immigrant from Beersheba, prevented the terrorist from alighting and thus prevented many from being killed.
Although they both suffered serious burns, shrapnel wounds and other damage and were in unstable condition during the 24 hours after being admitted to Soroka, both have undergone surgery and are stable and out of danger.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281964241
Full speed ahead for southern fence
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN
href="http://info.jpost.com/C001/Supplements/MapCenter/3.sfence.html"TARGET="_blank">
security fence that could have stopped a suicide bomber from reaching Beersheba on Sunday are now hastening its completion and have started erecting five kilometers a week.
The first 32-kilometer section stretching from Moshav Nehusha south of Beit Shemesh to Shomriya is expected to be completed by mid-October, six weeks ahead of schedule, a senior IDF officer said Sunday.
But the remaining – and crucial – 26-kilometer stretch that would block the lower Hebron Hills of the West Bank, where some 420,000 Palestinians live, from the northern Negev won't be finished until next summer, if not later.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1125281955669
The San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area Red Cross workers head to hurricane area
Relief workers from the Bay Area chapter of the American Red Cross were heading to Little Rock, Ark., this morning to prepare to distribute food and aid to those affected by Hurricane Katrina.
“This could become the biggest hurricane to which the American Red Cross has ever responded,” said Alan McCurry, an executive vice president for the organization in Washington, D.C.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/08/29/BA29.DTL
Hurricane Katrina Rips La., Miss. Coasts
By ADAM NOSSITER, Associated Press Writer
(08-29) 08:37 PDT NEW ORLEANS, (AP) --
Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday with howling, 145-mph winds and blinding rain that flooded some homes to the ceilings and peeled away part of the roof of the Superdome, where thousands of people had taken shelter.
Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and turned slightly eastward before hitting land at 6:10 a.m. CDT near the bayou town of Buras, apparently sparing this vulnerable city from the storm's full fury.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2005/08/29/national/a072231D73.DTL
SF school district workers call in sick
(08-29) 09:47 PDT San Francisco (SF Chronicle) -- A number of custodians, cafeteria workers and secretaries for the San Francisco Unified School District made good on their threat to call in sick this morning, the first day of school, to underscore their dissatisfaction with their union’s stalled contract negotiations.
District spokeswoman Lorna Ho said the absences were not expected to cause a significant disruption. “We planned for the worst when we heard there might be a sick-out,” Ho said.
She said it was too early to tell how widespread the action was. “We clearly do have some people at the central office who are not here,” she said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/08/29/BAschools29.DTL
Evacuations Ordered Around Rail Car Leak
(08-29) 08:31 PDT CINCINNATI (AP) --
Homes within one-half mile of a leaking railroad car were ordered evacuated Monday morning because of concern about a highly flammable liquid whose fumes are hazardous to breathe.
Rush-hour commuters from the city's east side were diverted around the site.
The leak occurred Sunday near Lunken Airport, which handles mostly private and corporate planes.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/08/29/national/a083139D85.DTL
CALIFORNIA
Firefighters struggle with 3 big wildfires
Hundreds of firefighters battled to contain Sunday at least three major blazes across California that had burned through thousands of acres and destroyed more than two dozen buildings.
Residents of Manton in the Tehama County foothills 30 miles northeast of Red Bluff began returning home to examine the destruction caused by a fire that started Friday afternoon and led to the evacuation of the entire town. Thirty structures were destroyed in the community of about 500 and 20 were damaged, said Elmer Benson, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Three firefighters received minor injuries.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/29/BAGB2EER9U1.DTL
ARCTIC OIL
Oil is the lifeblood of Alaska, with residents ready to drill
Inhabitants of the Last Frontier see economic opportunity -- and with Bush and the Republicans in power, timing is right
Fairbanks, Alaska -- When Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski took office in 2003 facing a $1 billion budget deficit, he made clear how he would pull this resource-rich state out of its fiscal crisis.
"What is our plan for increasing revenue?" Murkowski said in his first address to the state Legislature. "In a single word -- oil."
The newly elected Republican governor said Alaska needed to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and elsewhere to make up for declining revenues from Prudhoe Bay, with oil flowing at only half-capacity through the trans-Alaska pipeline.
This fall, Murkowski and other Alaskan officials are expected to get their wish: Congress appears likely to approve a budget bill that would allow drilling on the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain of the refuge.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/08/29/MNGLGEEKSF1.DTL
The Buffalo News
Study finds coffee is rich in antioxidants
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press
8/29/2005
WASHINGTON - When the Ink Spots sang "I love the java jive and it loves me" in 1940, they could not have known how right they were.
Coffee not only helps clear the mind and perk up the energy, it also provides more healthful antioxidants than any other food or beverage in the American diet, according to a study released Sunday.
Of course, too much coffee can make people jittery and even raise cholesterol levels, so food experts stress moderation.
The findings by Joe A. Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton, in Pennsylvania, give a healthy boost to the warming beverage.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050829/1052950.asp
Katrina threatens oil refining activity
By JUSTIN BACHMAN
Associated Press
8/29/2005
NEW YORK - With crude oil prices already at record levels, Hurricane Katrina targeted the heart of America's oil and refinery operations Sunday, shutting down an estimated 1 million barrels of daily production and threatening to curtail refining activity in the region.
Katrina, a Category 5 storm expected to strike near New Orleans early today, was churning through the Gulf of Mexico. The area is crucial to the nation's energy infrastructure - offshore oil and gas production, import terminals, pipeline networks and numerous refining operations throughout southern Louisiana and Mississippi.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050829/1048581.asp
Sharpton links protest to civil rights campaigns
By SAM COATES
Washington Post
8/29/2005
Associated Press
Cindy Sheehan, left, gets consolation from the Rev. Al Sharpton and Evan Bright, who joined her Sunday at the protest site.
CRAWFORD, Texas - The Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, rallied antiwar protesters here Sunday, drawing comparisons to the civil rights movement on this anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.
Speaking at a morning prayer meeting, he called Cindy Sheehan, who first arrived here 22 days ago to protest the war in Iraq, "the conscience" of the nation.
"I come today because I feel that it is our moral obligation to stand and to be courageous with these families and in particular Cindy," he told the crowd of 400. "I wanted to come on that anniversary to be with ordinary people, as I think Doctor King would have wanted."
Sharpton said opposition to the war in Iraq is not a partisan act. "This is not about politics. This is not about Republican or Democrat. This is not about what party you're a part of. This is about right and
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050829/1056100.asp
The Korean Herald
North Korea proposes meeting in week of Sept. 12
North Korea yesterday proposed reopening six-party talks on its nuclear programs in the week beginning Sept. 12. South Korea also said the recessed talks will likely resume in mid-September instead of this week as was previously agreed by the member countries.
"We told the United States through contacts in New York that we can't join the six-party talks while war exercises that we oppose are under way," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying. The statement was referring to joint South Korean-U.S. military drills that began last week.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300046.asp
Crude oil prices soar to a record above $70
Crude oil prices that soared to a record level above $70 roiled local bourses yesterday with concerns that lofty energy costs could erode corporate profits and hamper consumer sentiment.
The U.S. benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, for October delivery soared to a record $70.80 a barrel in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after Hurricane Katrina forced companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., to shut down operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300045.asp
Ex-leader Park on list of 3,000 Japan collaborators
A civic organization yesterday disclosed a list of 3,094 Koreans who they claim collaborated with the Japanese authorities during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. Those named include former president Park Chung-hee and the former heads of major newspapers.
This is the first time a full list of pro-Japanese collaborators has been collated since Korea was liberated from Japan on Aug. 15 in 1945. But, the disclosure is likely to spur controversy over the standards by which the alleged collaborators were selected and could result in those accused filing lawsuits against the Institute for Research into Collaborationist Activities who researched and disclosed the list.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300044.asp
Doosan Heavy to tap Chinese nuclear reactor opportunities
Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. said yesterday it agreed to cooperate with China's largest power facility builder Harbin Power Equipment Co. in bidding for new projects in the world's fastest growing market.
The deal promises Doosan an opportunity to expand its power generating equipment business in China as HPEC agreed to make joint bids for plants planned by the Chinese government for Quinshan, Zhejiang Province.
Doosan Heavy chief executive Kim Dae-joong and HPEC Chairman Geng Lei signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday on the mid-term partnership for possible power plant projects in China in the future.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300052.asp
U.S. government supports Korean free economic zones
Korea's free economic zones are expected to play a central role in trade and investment relations between the United States and Korea, says the minister-counselor of commercial affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul.
Carmine D'Aloisio, who has lived in Korea for two years, stressed in an interview with The Korea Herald that the embassy and the U.S. government warmly welcomes the economic zones that form the centerpiece of the Korea's plan to develop into a business hub of Northeast Asia.
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/08/30/200508300055.asp
Michael Moore Today
The Peaceful Occupation of Crawford (Day 21)
Not One More
-- a message from Cindy Sheehan, Crawford, Texas
A photographer friend of mine went down to Crawford to the Pro-War, Anti-Peace rally today. There were about 1500 people there he said. He also said that it was the most "third reich" spectacle that he had ever seen in America.
My friend said that the speakers were whipping up the crowd into a frenzy of hatred for me (like they already didn't hate me?) and for the peace movement. My friend said that the entire theme of the rally was: "Cindy is killing American troops by her anti-American protest." Oh really, isn't George Bush killing innocent Americans and Iraqis by sending them to fight in an illegal and immoral war for power and greed? I think the real culprit is my neighbor: George.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=475
Crawford changed by Sheehan effort
Rival camps inundate tiny town
By M.S. Enkoji / Sacramento Bee
CRAWFORD, TEXAS - There was a time when this place could have been the answer to a pretty darn good trivia question. And then, Cindy Sheehan came to town.
Just a month ago, Sheehan, the Vacaville mother of a soldier slain in Iraq, began a lonely, anguished vigil under the blazing Texas sun, encamped in a tent, estranged from her husband and largely ignored by the world.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3887
They Are Stardust, And in Texas
At the Crawford Protest Camp, Growing Echoes of Woodstock
By Mike Allen / Washington Post
CRAWFORD, Tex., Aug. 21 -- Camp Casey, which started with one mom and a grievance, mushroomed over the weekend into a massive settlement with a party tent for 2,000, a shuttle-bus service and an elaborate catering operation that deposited a 26-foot-long refrigerator truck, generators, and restaurant-quality ranges and warming ovens in a field next to President Bush's ranch.
The hippie crowd that originally was drawn to Cindy Sheehan's protest is still in town -- activists from Food Not Bombs are sleeping in an old school bus that has been painted sky blue and can be started only with jumper cables. But now they have been joined by liberals from throughout the West who are double-parking their hybrid-fueled cars to take part in a peace protest with a budget that is $120,000 and rising.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3807
Who's Next?
By Karen Houppert / The Nation
The US Army Recruiting Command has a motto: "First to contact, first to contract." In the school recruiting handbook the Army gives to the 7,500 recruiters it has trawling the nation these days, the motto crops up so often it serves as a stuttering paean to aggressive new tactics--tactics that target increasingly younger students.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3889
Bring Them Home Now Tour
From Camp Casey, Crawford to Washington DC
From George Bush’s door step to Communities along the way, We Demand That:
Elected Representatives Decide Now to Bring the Troops Home
We Take Care of Them When They Get Here
We Never Again Send Our Loved Ones to War Based on Lies!
We are currently at a significant turning point in how the American public views the war in Iraq. As the death toll in Iraq rises, Cindy Sheehan’s vigil near President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of Americans. Bush’s approval rating is falling. The voice of military families, who have lost loved ones and those with loved ones in harm’s way or about to deploy, can activate the American people. The voice of veterans, both of this war and of previous wars will also build the movement to end the war. Together these critical voices can demand that President Bush make the decision now to bring the troops home.
http://www.bringthemhomenowtour.org/article.php?list=type&type=3
Iraq war protestor says to shift focus to Congress
By Jeremy Pelofsky / Reuters
CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 26 - Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose vigil near President George W. Bush's Texas ranch has become a symbol for the anti-war movement, said on Friday she plans to focus on Congress, starting with Bush close ally and fellow Texan House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3875
Senator Will Ask Rumsfeld to Testify to Panel on Iraq
By Carl Hulse / The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Aug. 28 - With lawmakers facing tough questions at home about the war in Iraq, Senator John W. Warner, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, says he intends to summon Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld quickly for a hearing when Congress returns next week.
Mr. Warner, a Virginia Republican who is one of the most important Congressional voices on military policy, said mounting numbers of dead and wounded Americans, the contentious process of drafting an Iraqi constitution and the economic cost of the war were adding up to new anxiety in Congress.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3898
Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted
By Erik Eckholm / The New York Times
A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.
The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, has worked in military procurement for 20 years and for the past several years had been the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3897
Militants, swept from battleground, return when troops leave, U.S. says
By Tom Lasseter / Knight Ridder
AR-RAMADI, Iraq -- Iraq's insurgency has concentrated much of its fight against U.S. and Iraqi forces in towns along the murky waters of the Euphrates River, beginning with Al-Qaim on the Syrian border and running through towns such as Al-Hadithah, Al-Haqlaniyah, Hit, Ar-Ramadi and Al-Fallujah. They're all in Al-Anbar province, the heartland of Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority, which dominated the government under Saddam Hussein.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3895
Army Contract Official Critical of Halliburton Pact Is Demoted
By Erik Eckholm / The New York Times
A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday for what the Army called poor job performance.
The official, Bunnatine H. Greenhouse, has worked in military procurement for 20 years and for the past several years had been the chief overseer of contracts at the Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that has managed much of the reconstruction work in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3897
The Birmingham Post Herald
Preacher rants but ignores Jesus
Faith Matters by JAMES L. EVANS
BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD
Pat Robertson, founder and host of the 700 Club, demonstrated this week just how far right-wingChristianity has drifted from the teachings of Jesus. During a recent telecast, Robertson said he believes the United States should assassinate Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela.
The remark came during one of Robertson's characteristic tirades. He does this quite often on his show.
… Even though Robertson later apologized for his remarks, it is hard not wonder how a Christian leader could even think such a thing. It would appear that Robertson has been more influenced by the gunslinger culture of the Wild West than by the sober teaching of Jesus about violence.
In Tombstone, the sheriff may go down to the OK Corral and shoot the bad guys before they get out of hand. But the vision of Jesus suggests that we try to overcome evil with good, not with more evil.
James L. Evans is pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church.
http://www.postherald.com/religion.shtml
continued ...
Morning Papers - concluding
The Boston Globe
National Guard: Enough GIs for storm duty
August 29, 2005
WASHINGTON --Though thousands of National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi are serving in Iraq, officials say more than enough personnel were available for disaster duty Monday as Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore.
"Only about half of available forces are mobilized in Louisiana and forces are available from neighboring states if needed," said Lt. Col. Mike Milord, a spokesman at National Guard headquarters outside Washington.
Some 3,500 Army National Guardsmen from Louisiana were deployed to help hurricane victims and another 3,000 were on standby.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/29/national_guard_enough_gis_for_storm_duty/
After Gaza, fear rises of West Bank violence
Recent attacks fueled by pullout
By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff August 29, 2005
SHILO, West Bank -- Minutes after Asher Weissgan, a Jewish settler, fatally shot four of his Palestinian co-workers in this West Bank settlement, he calmly told a security officer that he hoped the killings would stop the removal of settlers from the Gaza Strip that Israeli forces had begun that morning.
The shooting on Aug. 17 occurred less than two weeks after an Israeli Army deserter opposed to the pullout gunned down four Arabs on a bus in northern Israel.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/08/29/after_gaza_fear_rises_of_west_bank_violence/
Ex-Aryan headquarters goes up for auction
August 29, 2005
HAYDEN, Idaho --The former headquarters of a white supremacist group is headed for the auction block because no one picked up the mortgage payments after the group's founder died in September.
Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler died of a heart attack at age 86, leaving an unpaid balance of $91,486 on the home.
Human-rights advocates say the looming sale is one of many signs the Aryan Nations is in decline.
"He was the glue of the Aryan Nations movement in the Northwest, if not the country," said FBI agent Norm Brown, supervisor of the Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force. "As a result of his death, we've seen a marked decrease in Aryan Nations activity in the Inland Northwest."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/29/ex_aryan_headquarters_goes_up_for_auction/
Roberts pushed for Reagan policies
By Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press Writer August 29, 2005
WASHINGTON --Supreme Court nominee John Roberts pushed the Reagan-era Justice Department to get its conservative policies enacted into law to make it more difficult for future presidents to abrogate them, documents showed Monday.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/29/roberts_pushed_for_reagan_policies/
Jellyfish cause reactor shutdown in Sweden
August 29, 2005
STOCKHOLM, Sweden --A Swedish nuclear power plant shut down one of its three reactors Monday because of an abnormal accumulation of jellyfish in the cooling system.
The Oskarshamn plant in southeastern Sweden uses water from the Baltic Sea in its cooling tanks.
The water has been unusually rich in jellyfish in recent weeks, but the problem grew worse Monday morning, forcing officials to shut down the reactor.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/29/jellyfish_cause_reactor_shutdown_in_sweden/
Germany school reopens after 2002 rampage
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder speaks during the reopening ceremony of the Gutenberg high school in Erfurt, eastern Germany, Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. The German high school where a former pupil killed himself and 16 others during a shooting rampage was officially reopened Monday in a ceremony attended by Schroeder. The Gutenberg high school has undergone a 10 million Euro (US$12.3 million) renovation since April 26, 2002, when 19-year-old Robert Steinhaeuser fatally shot 12 teachers, a secretary, two students and a police officer before turning his gun on himself. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
By Jochen Wiesigel, Associated Press Writer August 29, 2005
ERFURT, Germany --A German high school where a former student killed 16 people and then himself during a shooting rampage three years ago was officially reopened Monday in a ceremony attended by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/08/29/germany_school_reopens_after_2002_rampage/
1 dead in Sri Lanka newspaper office blast
By Shimali Senanayake, Associated Press Writer August 29, 2005
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka --Attackers on a bicycle hurled grenades at a Tamil-language newspaper office in the capital of Colombo, killing a security guard, police said Monday.
The attack on the Sudar Oli newspaper, allegedly linked to the country's Tamil Tiger rebels, came eight days after two bombs were thrown at another office of the newspaper in Colombo. No one was injured since the bombs did not explode.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/08/29/1_dead_in_sri_lanka_newspaper_office_blast/
Shi'ite infighting opens new front in Iraq
By Mariam Karouny August 29, 2005
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A power struggle in Iraq between powerful Shi'ite factions could complicate efforts to stabilize the country as it heads toward a referendum on its new draft constitution, officials said.
Clashes that erupted last week between supporters of a powerful Shi'ite party in the governing coalition and militiamen loyal to a maverick Shi'ite cleric brought into public view long-standing faultlines in Iraqi politics.
Officials fear tensions will heighten before an October 15 referendum on a draft constitution passed without support from Arab Sunnis, whose community is the seat of an insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government and U.S. forces defending it.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/08/29/shiite_infighting_opens_new_front_in_iraq/
For women and children
August 29, 2005
DURING FOREIGN wars and disasters, women and children suffer egregious abuses. They are raped, killed, or forced into servitude as soldiers, domestics, and sex slaves. They desperately need more protection than the vital but limited food-water-and-shelter response of international aid efforts.
A bill in Congress would enhance emergency aid, making the United States a leader in cracking down on sexual violence and abuse as well as in quickly rebuilding educational and economic activities.
A coordinator would be appointed in the State Department or the US Agency for International Development who would work to ensure that emergency aid always included strategies to protect women and children.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/08/29/for_women_and_children/
The Times Picayune
Katrina's western eyewall passes over New Orleans
Power outages widespread, including Superdome
LATEST ON KATRINA:
Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday with howling, 145-mph winds and blinding rain that ripped away pieces of the roof of the Superdome, knocked out power and flooded some homes to the ceilings.
Katrina edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near Grand Isle, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city. Martin Nelson, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said the northern part of the eyewall came ashore at about 5 a.m. central time.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/weather/
The Telegraph
Bush-baiter Cindy to widen campaign
Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas. (Reuters)
Crawford (Texas), Aug. 27 (Reuters): Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose vigil near President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch has become a symbol for the anti-war movement, said yesterday she plans to focus on Congress, starting with house majority leader Tom DeLay, a Bush ally and fellow Texan.
Sheehan has been demanding a meeting with Bush to discuss the US presence in Iraq, where her son was killed in 2004.
She plans to begin a bus tour next Thursday from Bush’s ranch to the White House to campaign for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
One of DeLay’s Texas district offices would likely be the first stop, she said. That is about a 5.5 hour drive from Bush’s ranch in Crawford, where he is on a month-long vacation.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050828/asp/foreign/story_5166053.asp
Africa split hope for Delhi’s UN bid
K.P. NAYAR
New York, Aug. 27: India and other members of the Group of Four (G4) states — Brazil, Germany and Japan — will allow their joint resolution for permanent seats in the UN Security Council to lapse in the General Assembly.
So will the Africans, who have moved a resolution that has come in the way of the G4 bid to secure an expansion of the Security Council.
Both resolutions will lapse on September 13, the day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives here to address a special summit of UN members to commemorate the world body’s 60th anniversary, move ahead on reforming the UN and set the stage for mankind’s goals for the new millennium.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050828/asp/nation/story_5166144.asp
New Zealand Herald
Katrina lashes US shore, one million evacuated
A woman walks through a street in the deserted French Quarter of New Orleans after authorities told residents to evacuate. Picture / Reuters
29.08.05 5.15pm
NEW ORLEANS - The fringes of potentially catastrophic Hurricane Katrina began whipping Louisiana today as about a million people fled from the low-lying New Orleans area.
The brunt of Katrina, which had 265km/h winds on Sunday evening local time, was expected to crash ashore around sunrise on Monday (about 10pm NZT). Its winds, tides and heavy squalls had already started arriving before nightfall.
The storm had weakened slightly from the morning, when it boasted 280km/h winds, but it remained a savage Category 5 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342989
The deepening climate crisis
Hurricane Katrina hit South Miami hard, not long after Hurricane Dennis had also wreaked destruction there. Picture / Reuters
29.08.05
By Elizabeth Nash
The category four storm threatening to cause havoc around the Gulf of Mexico is another example of the way global warming is altering the world's weather systems, environmental campaigners say.
As Hurricane Katrina bore down for a second time on Florida - with New Orleans in Louisiana
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342880
Iranian boy sues Australian immigration over detention
29.08.05 1.00pm
SYDNEY - A ten-year-old Iranian boy will make legal history today when he sues the Australian Immigration Department and a detention centre operator in the NSW Supreme Court for causing him psychological damage.
News Ltd newspapers say Shayan Badraie used to be a vibrant, bubbly boy who enjoyed playing with his toy car collection.
But now, with a psychiatric illness, he is withdrawn and has trouble eating, sleeping and socialising with his classmates at his western Sydney school, his family and legal team say.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342962
Air NZ warns 2006 profit could fall 40 per cent
29.08.05 1.00pm
By Rachel Pannett
National carrier Air New Zealand today warned its 2006 earnings could plunge by as much as 40 per cent if sky high oil prices continue.
"If fuel prices persist at current levels, then the potential exists for the current year performance to be around 40 per cent below the 2005 result," Air NZ chairman John Palmer said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10342965
Shell New Zealand chairman resigns
29.08.05 2.50pm
The chairman of Shell New Zealand has resigned for family and personal reasons, the company said today.
Paul Zealand will be replaced by Shell's country manager for Commercial Exploration and Production Dr Ajit Bansal, until the company names a full-time replacement.
Mr Zealand -- who has spent 24 years with Shell -- has also resigned as general manager of Shell Todd Oil Services, where he will be replaced by New Zealander Rob Jager.
He will leave both positions at the end of September.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10342988
The weather at Scott Base, Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Clear
-25.0°
Updated Monday 29 Aug 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
48 °F / 9 °C
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity:
82%
Dew Point:
43 °F / 6 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
29.82 in / 1010 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Mostly Cloudy 6000 ft / 1828 m
end
National Guard: Enough GIs for storm duty
August 29, 2005
WASHINGTON --Though thousands of National Guard personnel from Louisiana and Mississippi are serving in Iraq, officials say more than enough personnel were available for disaster duty Monday as Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore.
"Only about half of available forces are mobilized in Louisiana and forces are available from neighboring states if needed," said Lt. Col. Mike Milord, a spokesman at National Guard headquarters outside Washington.
Some 3,500 Army National Guardsmen from Louisiana were deployed to help hurricane victims and another 3,000 were on standby.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/29/national_guard_enough_gis_for_storm_duty/
After Gaza, fear rises of West Bank violence
Recent attacks fueled by pullout
By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff August 29, 2005
SHILO, West Bank -- Minutes after Asher Weissgan, a Jewish settler, fatally shot four of his Palestinian co-workers in this West Bank settlement, he calmly told a security officer that he hoped the killings would stop the removal of settlers from the Gaza Strip that Israeli forces had begun that morning.
The shooting on Aug. 17 occurred less than two weeks after an Israeli Army deserter opposed to the pullout gunned down four Arabs on a bus in northern Israel.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/08/29/after_gaza_fear_rises_of_west_bank_violence/
Ex-Aryan headquarters goes up for auction
August 29, 2005
HAYDEN, Idaho --The former headquarters of a white supremacist group is headed for the auction block because no one picked up the mortgage payments after the group's founder died in September.
Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler died of a heart attack at age 86, leaving an unpaid balance of $91,486 on the home.
Human-rights advocates say the looming sale is one of many signs the Aryan Nations is in decline.
"He was the glue of the Aryan Nations movement in the Northwest, if not the country," said FBI agent Norm Brown, supervisor of the Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force. "As a result of his death, we've seen a marked decrease in Aryan Nations activity in the Inland Northwest."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/29/ex_aryan_headquarters_goes_up_for_auction/
Roberts pushed for Reagan policies
By Jesse J. Holland, Associated Press Writer August 29, 2005
WASHINGTON --Supreme Court nominee John Roberts pushed the Reagan-era Justice Department to get its conservative policies enacted into law to make it more difficult for future presidents to abrogate them, documents showed Monday.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/08/29/roberts_pushed_for_reagan_policies/
Jellyfish cause reactor shutdown in Sweden
August 29, 2005
STOCKHOLM, Sweden --A Swedish nuclear power plant shut down one of its three reactors Monday because of an abnormal accumulation of jellyfish in the cooling system.
The Oskarshamn plant in southeastern Sweden uses water from the Baltic Sea in its cooling tanks.
The water has been unusually rich in jellyfish in recent weeks, but the problem grew worse Monday morning, forcing officials to shut down the reactor.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/08/29/jellyfish_cause_reactor_shutdown_in_sweden/
Germany school reopens after 2002 rampage
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder speaks during the reopening ceremony of the Gutenberg high school in Erfurt, eastern Germany, Monday, Aug. 29, 2005. The German high school where a former pupil killed himself and 16 others during a shooting rampage was officially reopened Monday in a ceremony attended by Schroeder. The Gutenberg high school has undergone a 10 million Euro (US$12.3 million) renovation since April 26, 2002, when 19-year-old Robert Steinhaeuser fatally shot 12 teachers, a secretary, two students and a police officer before turning his gun on himself. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
By Jochen Wiesigel, Associated Press Writer August 29, 2005
ERFURT, Germany --A German high school where a former student killed 16 people and then himself during a shooting rampage three years ago was officially reopened Monday in a ceremony attended by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/08/29/germany_school_reopens_after_2002_rampage/
1 dead in Sri Lanka newspaper office blast
By Shimali Senanayake, Associated Press Writer August 29, 2005
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka --Attackers on a bicycle hurled grenades at a Tamil-language newspaper office in the capital of Colombo, killing a security guard, police said Monday.
The attack on the Sudar Oli newspaper, allegedly linked to the country's Tamil Tiger rebels, came eight days after two bombs were thrown at another office of the newspaper in Colombo. No one was injured since the bombs did not explode.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/08/29/1_dead_in_sri_lanka_newspaper_office_blast/
Shi'ite infighting opens new front in Iraq
By Mariam Karouny August 29, 2005
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A power struggle in Iraq between powerful Shi'ite factions could complicate efforts to stabilize the country as it heads toward a referendum on its new draft constitution, officials said.
Clashes that erupted last week between supporters of a powerful Shi'ite party in the governing coalition and militiamen loyal to a maverick Shi'ite cleric brought into public view long-standing faultlines in Iraqi politics.
Officials fear tensions will heighten before an October 15 referendum on a draft constitution passed without support from Arab Sunnis, whose community is the seat of an insurgency against the Shi'ite-led government and U.S. forces defending it.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/08/29/shiite_infighting_opens_new_front_in_iraq/
For women and children
August 29, 2005
DURING FOREIGN wars and disasters, women and children suffer egregious abuses. They are raped, killed, or forced into servitude as soldiers, domestics, and sex slaves. They desperately need more protection than the vital but limited food-water-and-shelter response of international aid efforts.
A bill in Congress would enhance emergency aid, making the United States a leader in cracking down on sexual violence and abuse as well as in quickly rebuilding educational and economic activities.
A coordinator would be appointed in the State Department or the US Agency for International Development who would work to ensure that emergency aid always included strategies to protect women and children.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/08/29/for_women_and_children/
The Times Picayune
Katrina's western eyewall passes over New Orleans
Power outages widespread, including Superdome
LATEST ON KATRINA:
Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday with howling, 145-mph winds and blinding rain that ripped away pieces of the roof of the Superdome, knocked out power and flooded some homes to the ceilings.
Katrina edged slightly to the east shortly before making landfall near Grand Isle, providing some hope that the worst of the storm's wrath might not be directed at the vulnerable city. Martin Nelson, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said the northern part of the eyewall came ashore at about 5 a.m. central time.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/weather/
The Telegraph
Bush-baiter Cindy to widen campaign
Cindy Sheehan in Crawford, Texas. (Reuters)
Crawford (Texas), Aug. 27 (Reuters): Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose vigil near President George W. Bush’s Texas ranch has become a symbol for the anti-war movement, said yesterday she plans to focus on Congress, starting with house majority leader Tom DeLay, a Bush ally and fellow Texan.
Sheehan has been demanding a meeting with Bush to discuss the US presence in Iraq, where her son was killed in 2004.
She plans to begin a bus tour next Thursday from Bush’s ranch to the White House to campaign for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
One of DeLay’s Texas district offices would likely be the first stop, she said. That is about a 5.5 hour drive from Bush’s ranch in Crawford, where he is on a month-long vacation.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050828/asp/foreign/story_5166053.asp
Africa split hope for Delhi’s UN bid
K.P. NAYAR
New York, Aug. 27: India and other members of the Group of Four (G4) states — Brazil, Germany and Japan — will allow their joint resolution for permanent seats in the UN Security Council to lapse in the General Assembly.
So will the Africans, who have moved a resolution that has come in the way of the G4 bid to secure an expansion of the Security Council.
Both resolutions will lapse on September 13, the day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives here to address a special summit of UN members to commemorate the world body’s 60th anniversary, move ahead on reforming the UN and set the stage for mankind’s goals for the new millennium.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050828/asp/nation/story_5166144.asp
New Zealand Herald
Katrina lashes US shore, one million evacuated
A woman walks through a street in the deserted French Quarter of New Orleans after authorities told residents to evacuate. Picture / Reuters
29.08.05 5.15pm
NEW ORLEANS - The fringes of potentially catastrophic Hurricane Katrina began whipping Louisiana today as about a million people fled from the low-lying New Orleans area.
The brunt of Katrina, which had 265km/h winds on Sunday evening local time, was expected to crash ashore around sunrise on Monday (about 10pm NZT). Its winds, tides and heavy squalls had already started arriving before nightfall.
The storm had weakened slightly from the morning, when it boasted 280km/h winds, but it remained a savage Category 5 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342989
The deepening climate crisis
Hurricane Katrina hit South Miami hard, not long after Hurricane Dennis had also wreaked destruction there. Picture / Reuters
29.08.05
By Elizabeth Nash
The category four storm threatening to cause havoc around the Gulf of Mexico is another example of the way global warming is altering the world's weather systems, environmental campaigners say.
As Hurricane Katrina bore down for a second time on Florida - with New Orleans in Louisiana
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342880
Iranian boy sues Australian immigration over detention
29.08.05 1.00pm
SYDNEY - A ten-year-old Iranian boy will make legal history today when he sues the Australian Immigration Department and a detention centre operator in the NSW Supreme Court for causing him psychological damage.
News Ltd newspapers say Shayan Badraie used to be a vibrant, bubbly boy who enjoyed playing with his toy car collection.
But now, with a psychiatric illness, he is withdrawn and has trouble eating, sleeping and socialising with his classmates at his western Sydney school, his family and legal team say.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10342962
Air NZ warns 2006 profit could fall 40 per cent
29.08.05 1.00pm
By Rachel Pannett
National carrier Air New Zealand today warned its 2006 earnings could plunge by as much as 40 per cent if sky high oil prices continue.
"If fuel prices persist at current levels, then the potential exists for the current year performance to be around 40 per cent below the 2005 result," Air NZ chairman John Palmer said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10342965
Shell New Zealand chairman resigns
29.08.05 2.50pm
The chairman of Shell New Zealand has resigned for family and personal reasons, the company said today.
Paul Zealand will be replaced by Shell's country manager for Commercial Exploration and Production Dr Ajit Bansal, until the company names a full-time replacement.
Mr Zealand -- who has spent 24 years with Shell -- has also resigned as general manager of Shell Todd Oil Services, where he will be replaced by New Zealander Rob Jager.
He will leave both positions at the end of September.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10342988
The weather at Scott Base, Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Clear
-25.0°
Updated Monday 29 Aug 8:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
48 °F / 9 °C
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity:
82%
Dew Point:
43 °F / 6 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
29.82 in / 1010 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds (AGL):
Mostly Cloudy 6000 ft / 1828 m
end
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