The Rooster
Friday, September 02, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Crowing"
"Okeydoke"
History
31 BC- Battle of Actium; Octavian defeats Antony, becomes Emp Augustus
1666 Great Fire of London starts; destroys St Paul's Church
1752 Last day of Julian calendar in Britain, British colonies
1766 Abolitionist, inventor, and entrepreneur, James Forten is born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1789 US Treasury Department established by Congress
1833 Oberlin College, one of the first colleges to admit African Americans,
is founded in Oberlin, Ohio.
1864 In series of battles around Chaffin's Farm in the suburbs of Richmond,
Virginia, African American troops capture entrenchments at New Market
Heights, make a gallant but unsuccessful assault on Fort Gilmer and
help repulse a Confederate counterattack on Fort Harrison. The
Thirty-Ninth U.S. Colored Troops will win a Congressional Medal of
Honor in the engagements.
1901 VP Theodore Roosevelt advises, "Speak softly & carry a big stick"
1902 "In Dahomey" premieres at the Old Globe Theater in Boston,
Massachusetts. With music by Will Marion Cook and lyrics by poet
Paul Laurence Dunbar, it is the most successful musical of its day.
1911 Romare Bearden is born in Charlotte, North Carolina. His family will
move to the village of Harlem in New York City in 1914. He will
call New York his home for the rest of his life. A student at
New York University, the American Artists School, Columbia
University, and the Sorbonne, Bearden's depiction of the rituals and
social customs of African American life will be imbued with an
eloquence and power that will earn him accolades as one of the
finest artists of the 20th century and a master of collage. Among
his honors will be election to the American Academy of Arts and
Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and receiving
the President's National Medal of Arts in 1987. He will join the
ancestors in 1988.
1919 Communist Party of America organized in Chicago
1924 Rudolf Friml's "Rose Marie" opens to rave reviews in NYC
1928 Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver is born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He
will become a jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer who will
initially lead the Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey before
forming his own band in 1956. A pioneer of the hard bop style, he
will attract to his band the talents of Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, and
Blue Mitchell, among others.
1944 Anne Frank (Diary of Anne Frank), is sent to Auschwitz
1945 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independence from France (National Day)
1945 V-J Day; formal surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri (WWII ends)
1945 The end of World War II (V-J Day). A total of 1,154,720 African
Americans have been inducted or drafted into the armed forces.
Official records list 7,768 African American commissioned officers on
August 31, 1945. At the height of the conflict, 3,902 African
American women (115 officers) were enrolled in the Women's Army
Auxiliary Corps (WACS) and 68 were in the Navy auxiliary, the WAVES.
The highest ranking African American women were Major Harriet M. West
and Major Charity E. Adams. Distinguished Unit Citations were awarded
to the 969th Field Artillery Battalion, the 614th Tank Destroyer
Battalion, and the 332nd Fighter Group (Tuskegee Airmen).
1956 The Tennessee National Guard is sent to Clinton, Tennessee, to quell
white mobs demonstrating against school integration.
1960 Eric Dickerson is born. He will become a professional football player
and will become NFC Rookie of the Year in 1983. He will also set a
NFL single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards in 1984.
1963 Alabama Gov George C Wallace prevents integration of Tuskegee HS
1963 CBS & NBC expand network news from 15 to 30 minutes
1963 Alabama Governor George Wallace blocks the integration of Tuskegee
High School in Tuskegee, Alabama.
1965 Lennox Lewis, former WBC boxing champ, is born.
1966 Frank Robinson is named Most Valuable Player of the American League.
1971 Cheryl White becomes the first African American woman jockey to win a
sanctioned horse race.
1973 Billy Martin fired as manager of Tigers
1975 Joseph W. Hatchett sworn in as first African American state supreme
court justice in the South (Florida) in the twentieth century.
1978 Reggie Jackson is 19th player to hit 20 home runs in 11 straight
years.
1983 Yitzhak Shamir (Herut) endorsed by Menachem Begin for Israelli PM
1987 West German pilot Mathias Rust, who flew a private plane from Helsinki Finland, to Moscow's Red Square, goes on trial in Russia
1988 Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour begins in Wembley
1989 Rev. Al Sharpton leads a civil rights march through the Bensonhurst
section of Brooklyn, New York.
1991 Jerry Lewis' 26th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $45 Million
Missing in Action
1963 CRUZ RAPHAEL STOCKTON CA GROUP BURIAL? REM RET 10/30/96
1963 MC KINNEY NEIL BERNARD MUNCIE IN LAST RADIO CONTACT VIC ZB061805 REM RET 10/30/96
1963 PURCELL HOWARD PHILIP LANSDOWNE PA LAST RADIO CONTACT VIC ZB061805 REM RET 10/30/96
1965 COLLINS JAMES Q. CONCORD NC 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BENNETT WILLIAM G. BIRMINGHAM AL SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1972 GREENWOOD ROBERT R. JR. PORTSMOUTH VA
1972 HEROLD RICHARD W. PLATTSBURGH NY
1972 WOOD WILLIAM C. JR. PARIS TN
The Boston Globe
La. governor calls for more troops as violence rises in New Orleans
Rescue work hampered; flood abating
A military helicopter dropped provisions to victims of Hurricane Katrina near the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses reportedly lay in the open. (AP Photo)
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff September 2, 2005
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Governor Kathleen Blanco called yesterday for massive reinforcements of National Guard and federal troops to seize control of New Orleans streets, which city officials said had disintegrated into an anarchic scene of fighting, gunfire, and unattended corpses. At least two law enforcement authorities were wounded by gunfire in the city, officials said, and a medical team was withdrawn after it came under fire.
The chaos and violence rose even as the water levels continued to abate, repair work progressed on the breached levee that had flooded much of New Orleans, and National Guard troops continued to pour into the devastated city.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/02/la_governor_calls_for_more_troops_as_violence_rises_in_new_orleans/
Not his father's war
September 2, 2005
PRESIDENT BUSH does a disservice both to veterans of World War II and Americans who have served in Iraq by devising similarities between the two conflicts. Unlike the global struggle that ensnared the United States in 1941, Iraq is a discretionary war, one that has not engaged the full resources of the United States. It is being fought with inadequate manpower, and the outcome is far from clear.
Bush has compared World War II with the war against terror and the war in Iraq several times, most recently in a speech in San Diego on Tuesday commemorating the surrender of Japan. The analogy would provide the war in Iraq with powerful moral force -- if it were true.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/09/02/not_his_fathers_war/
Boston in talks to settle US suit on voters' rights
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff September 2, 2005
After repeatedly vowing to fight a US Department of Justice lawsuit alleging it violated minority voters' rights, the City of Boston recently hired a well-known Washington lawyer, and this week began private discussions with Justice Department officials to settle the suit.
''We have met with the Justice Department, for two days, Tuesday and Thursday, and we're making progress " said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. ''I talked with [corporation counsel] Merita Hopkins. They have resolved a lot of issues; they're down to a few issues, and we hope to continue to work those issues through and come to a resolution of the complaint."
Menino said the matter could be settled within days.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/09/02/boston_in_talks_to_settle_us_suit_on_voters_rights/
Workers get $4.7 million in Hanford trial
By Shannon Dininny, Associated Press Writer September 2, 2005
YAKIMA, Wash. --A jury awarded more than $4.7 million in damages Friday to 11 workers who say a contractor fired them for expressing safety concerns about work at Hanford nuclear reservation.
The workers say seven pipefitters objected in 1997 when they were told to install a valve rated to withstand less pressure than was needed for a test of radioactive waste pipes. The crew was later laid off, but a settlement required the contractor, Fluor Federal Services, to rehire them.
The plaintiffs' attorneys contended that foremen on the job were told they would have to lay off seven other pipefitters to bring the first seven back. Attorneys for Fluor Federal Services argued there simply was not enough work at the Hanford site for all of the pipefitters.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/02/workers_get_47_million_in_hanford_trial/
Major oil spill seen on Mississippi River-officials
September 2, 2005
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Louisiana officials said they spotted a major oil spill from two storage tanks near the town of Venice on the Mississippi River on Friday.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said a flyover revealed a leak from tanks capable of holding 2 million barrels of fuel.
"There is oil leaking, but we don't have access to the area," said Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the agency, adding that Homeland Security officials are restricting access.
No further details were available.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/02/major_oil_spill_seen_on_mississippi_river_officials/
Study: Blacks face high mortgage rates
September 2, 2005
CHARLOTTE, N.C. --Blacks who bought homes across America last year were four times as likely as whites to get mortgage loans at high interest rates instead of lower market rates, a study conducted by The Charlotte Observer found.
The paper analyzed records from 25 of the nation's largest lenders and found that even blacks with incomes above $100,000 a year were charged the high rates more often than whites with incomes below $40,000.
For decades, blacks struggled to get loans at any price. Lenders ignored entire black neighborhoods, a practice called redlining. Last year, the nation's 10 largest banks denied black applicants twice as often as whites, according to the report.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/02/study_blacks_face_high_mortgage_rates/
Halal burgers a hit in fast-food restaurant
By Tiziana Cauli September 2, 2005
PARIS (Reuters) - Malik Belkouche lives in a city brimming with fast-food restaurants, but it wasn't until a special one opened that he finally ordered a hamburger.
Like many other Muslims, the 24-year-old technician avoided the top item in fast-food chains because the meat had not been prepared according to the Islamic halal ritual. But Beurger King Muslim (BKM) changed that.
"I hadn't had a hamburger in seven years and I missed it," said Belkouche, who has eaten at BKM at least three times a week since the restaurant opened last month in the northern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/09/02/halal_burgers_a_hit_in_fast_food_restaurant/
Mystery unfolds over hunt for WMD in Iraq
By Charles J. Hanley, AP Special Correspondent September 2, 2005
Beneath the giant dome of a Baghdad palace, facing his team of scientists and engineers, George Tenet sounded more like a football coach than a spymaster, a coach who didn't know the game was over.
"Are we 85 percent done?" the CIA boss demanded. The arms hunters knew what he wanted to hear. "No!" they shouted back. "Let me hear it again!" They shouted again.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/09/02/mystery_unfolds_over_hunt_for_wmd_in_iraq/
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Submit Missing/Stranded Persons Request
http://homeport.uscg.mil/mycg/portal/ep/home.do
Help
http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/katrina_aid.html
Searching For
http://www.wwltv.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=28245b14c7727df3df4bd2e188d4f473
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http://www.wwltv.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=15
Offer Housing
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/?id=5945-1571022-Qkyp1wUM2wLbj47p5_j13A
More Resources
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083101758.html
CLUELESS
Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2005-09-02
"I assume the president's going to say he got bad intelligence... I think that wherever you see poverty, whether it's in the white rural community or the black urban community, you see that the resources have been sucked up into the war and tax cuts for the rich." -- Congressman Charles B. Rangel
"Many black people feel that their race, their property conditions and their voting patterns have been a factor in the response....I'm not saying that myself, but what's self-evident is that you have many poor people without a way out." -- Rev. Jesse Jackson
"In New Orleans, the disaster's impact underscores the intersection of race and class in a city where fully two-thirds of its residents are black and more than a quarter of the city lives in poverty. In the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, which was inundated by the floodwaters, more than 98 percent of the residents are black and more than a third live in poverty."
-- David Gonzalez, NY Times
"We've got to get a handle on the situation."
-- George W. Bush
If I didn't know better I would guess the 'emergency' was allowed to happen to serve the purpose of a military agenda of escalation including a draft !
Opt Out!
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
By completing the steps on these pages, you can create letters that will opt your child out of BOTH local and Pentagon databases.
For background information about the Pentagon database, click here. For background information on No Child Left Behind's military recruiting provision click here.
To opt your own child out, you must submit Opt Out letters by "snail mail" to your School District Superintendent and to the Pentagon. It's easy! You'll need a printer, two envelopes and two stamps. Just follow these 4 steps:
Step 1. Find your School District Superintendent
Step 2. Automatically generate two Opt Out Letters
Step 3. Sign, stamp and mail your Opt Out Letters - one goes to your local Superintendent, one goes to the Pentagon.
Step 4. Follow-up with your district to make sure they have opted your child out!
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/index.cfm?event=showContent&contentid=63&mktcode=uncontacted
Blaming the Victim !
FEMA chief: Victims bear some responsibility
Brown pleased with effort: 'Things are going relatively well'
(CNN) -- The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday those New Orleans residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for their fates.
Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands.
"Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3953
Off their guard
The Gulf Coast disaster is further taxing the National Guard, already stretched to a breaking point in Iraq.
By Mark Benjamin / Salon
Sept. 1, 2005 On Aug. 1, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard lamented to a local reporter that the state might be stretched for security personnel in the event of a big hurricane. Dozens of high-water vehicles, generators and Humvees were employed in Iraq, along with 3,000 Louisiana National Guard troops.
"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," the Louisiana National Guard's Lt. Col. Pete Schneider told a reporter from WGNO, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans. Schneider said that in the event of a hurricane, Louisiana would need help from neighboring states.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3947
Local Officials Criticize Federal Government Over Response
By Joseph B. Treaster and Deborah Sontag / New York Times
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 1 - Despair, privation and violent lawlessness grew so extreme in New Orleans on Thursday that the flooded city's mayor issued a "desperate S O S" and other local officials, describing the security situation as horrific, lambasted the federal government as responding too slowly to the disaster.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3948
Trapped Tourists Unite in New Orleans
By Robert Tanner / Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- First the federal government took the buses they had hired to evacuate them.
Then their hotels turned them out onto the desolate streets.
They trudged for blocks to walk over a bridge, but officers wouldn't let them cross _ and fired a few warning shots over their heads to convince them.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3949
Off their guard
The Gulf Coast disaster is further taxing the National Guard, already stretched to a breaking point in Iraq.
By Mark Benjamin / Salon
Sept. 1, 2005 On Aug. 1, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard lamented to a local reporter that the state might be stretched for security personnel in the event of a big hurricane. Dozens of high-water vehicles, generators and Humvees were employed in Iraq, along with 3,000 Louisiana National Guard troops.
"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," the Louisiana National Guard's Lt. Col. Pete Schneider told a reporter from WGNO, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans. Schneider said that in the event of a hurricane, Louisiana would need help from neighboring states.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3947
continued ...
"Okeydoke"
History
31 BC- Battle of Actium; Octavian defeats Antony, becomes Emp Augustus
1666 Great Fire of London starts; destroys St Paul's Church
1752 Last day of Julian calendar in Britain, British colonies
1766 Abolitionist, inventor, and entrepreneur, James Forten is born in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1789 US Treasury Department established by Congress
1833 Oberlin College, one of the first colleges to admit African Americans,
is founded in Oberlin, Ohio.
1864 In series of battles around Chaffin's Farm in the suburbs of Richmond,
Virginia, African American troops capture entrenchments at New Market
Heights, make a gallant but unsuccessful assault on Fort Gilmer and
help repulse a Confederate counterattack on Fort Harrison. The
Thirty-Ninth U.S. Colored Troops will win a Congressional Medal of
Honor in the engagements.
1901 VP Theodore Roosevelt advises, "Speak softly & carry a big stick"
1902 "In Dahomey" premieres at the Old Globe Theater in Boston,
Massachusetts. With music by Will Marion Cook and lyrics by poet
Paul Laurence Dunbar, it is the most successful musical of its day.
1911 Romare Bearden is born in Charlotte, North Carolina. His family will
move to the village of Harlem in New York City in 1914. He will
call New York his home for the rest of his life. A student at
New York University, the American Artists School, Columbia
University, and the Sorbonne, Bearden's depiction of the rituals and
social customs of African American life will be imbued with an
eloquence and power that will earn him accolades as one of the
finest artists of the 20th century and a master of collage. Among
his honors will be election to the American Academy of Arts and
Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, and receiving
the President's National Medal of Arts in 1987. He will join the
ancestors in 1988.
1919 Communist Party of America organized in Chicago
1924 Rudolf Friml's "Rose Marie" opens to rave reviews in NYC
1928 Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver is born in Norwalk, Connecticut. He
will become a jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer who will
initially lead the Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey before
forming his own band in 1956. A pioneer of the hard bop style, he
will attract to his band the talents of Art Farmer, Donald Byrd, and
Blue Mitchell, among others.
1944 Anne Frank (Diary of Anne Frank), is sent to Auschwitz
1945 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independence from France (National Day)
1945 V-J Day; formal surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri (WWII ends)
1945 The end of World War II (V-J Day). A total of 1,154,720 African
Americans have been inducted or drafted into the armed forces.
Official records list 7,768 African American commissioned officers on
August 31, 1945. At the height of the conflict, 3,902 African
American women (115 officers) were enrolled in the Women's Army
Auxiliary Corps (WACS) and 68 were in the Navy auxiliary, the WAVES.
The highest ranking African American women were Major Harriet M. West
and Major Charity E. Adams. Distinguished Unit Citations were awarded
to the 969th Field Artillery Battalion, the 614th Tank Destroyer
Battalion, and the 332nd Fighter Group (Tuskegee Airmen).
1956 The Tennessee National Guard is sent to Clinton, Tennessee, to quell
white mobs demonstrating against school integration.
1960 Eric Dickerson is born. He will become a professional football player
and will become NFC Rookie of the Year in 1983. He will also set a
NFL single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards in 1984.
1963 Alabama Gov George C Wallace prevents integration of Tuskegee HS
1963 CBS & NBC expand network news from 15 to 30 minutes
1963 Alabama Governor George Wallace blocks the integration of Tuskegee
High School in Tuskegee, Alabama.
1965 Lennox Lewis, former WBC boxing champ, is born.
1966 Frank Robinson is named Most Valuable Player of the American League.
1971 Cheryl White becomes the first African American woman jockey to win a
sanctioned horse race.
1973 Billy Martin fired as manager of Tigers
1975 Joseph W. Hatchett sworn in as first African American state supreme
court justice in the South (Florida) in the twentieth century.
1978 Reggie Jackson is 19th player to hit 20 home runs in 11 straight
years.
1983 Yitzhak Shamir (Herut) endorsed by Menachem Begin for Israelli PM
1987 West German pilot Mathias Rust, who flew a private plane from Helsinki Finland, to Moscow's Red Square, goes on trial in Russia
1988 Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! tour begins in Wembley
1989 Rev. Al Sharpton leads a civil rights march through the Bensonhurst
section of Brooklyn, New York.
1991 Jerry Lewis' 26th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raises $45 Million
Missing in Action
1963 CRUZ RAPHAEL STOCKTON CA GROUP BURIAL? REM RET 10/30/96
1963 MC KINNEY NEIL BERNARD MUNCIE IN LAST RADIO CONTACT VIC ZB061805 REM RET 10/30/96
1963 PURCELL HOWARD PHILIP LANSDOWNE PA LAST RADIO CONTACT VIC ZB061805 REM RET 10/30/96
1965 COLLINS JAMES Q. CONCORD NC 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 BENNETT WILLIAM G. BIRMINGHAM AL SURVIVAL UNLIKELY
1972 GREENWOOD ROBERT R. JR. PORTSMOUTH VA
1972 HEROLD RICHARD W. PLATTSBURGH NY
1972 WOOD WILLIAM C. JR. PARIS TN
The Boston Globe
La. governor calls for more troops as violence rises in New Orleans
Rescue work hampered; flood abating
A military helicopter dropped provisions to victims of Hurricane Katrina near the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses reportedly lay in the open. (AP Photo)
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff September 2, 2005
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Governor Kathleen Blanco called yesterday for massive reinforcements of National Guard and federal troops to seize control of New Orleans streets, which city officials said had disintegrated into an anarchic scene of fighting, gunfire, and unattended corpses. At least two law enforcement authorities were wounded by gunfire in the city, officials said, and a medical team was withdrawn after it came under fire.
The chaos and violence rose even as the water levels continued to abate, repair work progressed on the breached levee that had flooded much of New Orleans, and National Guard troops continued to pour into the devastated city.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/02/la_governor_calls_for_more_troops_as_violence_rises_in_new_orleans/
Not his father's war
September 2, 2005
PRESIDENT BUSH does a disservice both to veterans of World War II and Americans who have served in Iraq by devising similarities between the two conflicts. Unlike the global struggle that ensnared the United States in 1941, Iraq is a discretionary war, one that has not engaged the full resources of the United States. It is being fought with inadequate manpower, and the outcome is far from clear.
Bush has compared World War II with the war against terror and the war in Iraq several times, most recently in a speech in San Diego on Tuesday commemorating the surrender of Japan. The analogy would provide the war in Iraq with powerful moral force -- if it were true.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2005/09/02/not_his_fathers_war/
Boston in talks to settle US suit on voters' rights
By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff September 2, 2005
After repeatedly vowing to fight a US Department of Justice lawsuit alleging it violated minority voters' rights, the City of Boston recently hired a well-known Washington lawyer, and this week began private discussions with Justice Department officials to settle the suit.
''We have met with the Justice Department, for two days, Tuesday and Thursday, and we're making progress " said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. ''I talked with [corporation counsel] Merita Hopkins. They have resolved a lot of issues; they're down to a few issues, and we hope to continue to work those issues through and come to a resolution of the complaint."
Menino said the matter could be settled within days.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/09/02/boston_in_talks_to_settle_us_suit_on_voters_rights/
Workers get $4.7 million in Hanford trial
By Shannon Dininny, Associated Press Writer September 2, 2005
YAKIMA, Wash. --A jury awarded more than $4.7 million in damages Friday to 11 workers who say a contractor fired them for expressing safety concerns about work at Hanford nuclear reservation.
The workers say seven pipefitters objected in 1997 when they were told to install a valve rated to withstand less pressure than was needed for a test of radioactive waste pipes. The crew was later laid off, but a settlement required the contractor, Fluor Federal Services, to rehire them.
The plaintiffs' attorneys contended that foremen on the job were told they would have to lay off seven other pipefitters to bring the first seven back. Attorneys for Fluor Federal Services argued there simply was not enough work at the Hanford site for all of the pipefitters.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/02/workers_get_47_million_in_hanford_trial/
Major oil spill seen on Mississippi River-officials
September 2, 2005
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Louisiana officials said they spotted a major oil spill from two storage tanks near the town of Venice on the Mississippi River on Friday.
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality said a flyover revealed a leak from tanks capable of holding 2 million barrels of fuel.
"There is oil leaking, but we don't have access to the area," said Jean Kelly, spokeswoman for the agency, adding that Homeland Security officials are restricting access.
No further details were available.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/02/major_oil_spill_seen_on_mississippi_river_officials/
Study: Blacks face high mortgage rates
September 2, 2005
CHARLOTTE, N.C. --Blacks who bought homes across America last year were four times as likely as whites to get mortgage loans at high interest rates instead of lower market rates, a study conducted by The Charlotte Observer found.
The paper analyzed records from 25 of the nation's largest lenders and found that even blacks with incomes above $100,000 a year were charged the high rates more often than whites with incomes below $40,000.
For decades, blacks struggled to get loans at any price. Lenders ignored entire black neighborhoods, a practice called redlining. Last year, the nation's 10 largest banks denied black applicants twice as often as whites, according to the report.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/02/study_blacks_face_high_mortgage_rates/
Halal burgers a hit in fast-food restaurant
By Tiziana Cauli September 2, 2005
PARIS (Reuters) - Malik Belkouche lives in a city brimming with fast-food restaurants, but it wasn't until a special one opened that he finally ordered a hamburger.
Like many other Muslims, the 24-year-old technician avoided the top item in fast-food chains because the meat had not been prepared according to the Islamic halal ritual. But Beurger King Muslim (BKM) changed that.
"I hadn't had a hamburger in seven years and I missed it," said Belkouche, who has eaten at BKM at least three times a week since the restaurant opened last month in the northern suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/09/02/halal_burgers_a_hit_in_fast_food_restaurant/
Mystery unfolds over hunt for WMD in Iraq
By Charles J. Hanley, AP Special Correspondent September 2, 2005
Beneath the giant dome of a Baghdad palace, facing his team of scientists and engineers, George Tenet sounded more like a football coach than a spymaster, a coach who didn't know the game was over.
"Are we 85 percent done?" the CIA boss demanded. The arms hunters knew what he wanted to hear. "No!" they shouted back. "Let me hear it again!" They shouted again.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/09/02/mystery_unfolds_over_hunt_for_wmd_in_iraq/
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CLUELESS
Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush
Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Dear Mr. Bush:
Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.
Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?
Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!
I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?
And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!
On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.
There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.
No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!
You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.
Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com
P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2005-09-02
"I assume the president's going to say he got bad intelligence... I think that wherever you see poverty, whether it's in the white rural community or the black urban community, you see that the resources have been sucked up into the war and tax cuts for the rich." -- Congressman Charles B. Rangel
"Many black people feel that their race, their property conditions and their voting patterns have been a factor in the response....I'm not saying that myself, but what's self-evident is that you have many poor people without a way out." -- Rev. Jesse Jackson
"In New Orleans, the disaster's impact underscores the intersection of race and class in a city where fully two-thirds of its residents are black and more than a quarter of the city lives in poverty. In the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, which was inundated by the floodwaters, more than 98 percent of the residents are black and more than a third live in poverty."
-- David Gonzalez, NY Times
"We've got to get a handle on the situation."
-- George W. Bush
If I didn't know better I would guess the 'emergency' was allowed to happen to serve the purpose of a military agenda of escalation including a draft !
Opt Out!
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By completing the steps on these pages, you can create letters that will opt your child out of BOTH local and Pentagon databases.
For background information about the Pentagon database, click here. For background information on No Child Left Behind's military recruiting provision click here.
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Step 3. Sign, stamp and mail your Opt Out Letters - one goes to your local Superintendent, one goes to the Pentagon.
Step 4. Follow-up with your district to make sure they have opted your child out!
http://www.leavemychildalone.org/index.cfm?event=showContent&contentid=63&mktcode=uncontacted
Blaming the Victim !
FEMA chief: Victims bear some responsibility
Brown pleased with effort: 'Things are going relatively well'
(CNN) -- The director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Thursday those New Orleans residents who chose not to heed warnings to evacuate before Hurricane Katrina bear some responsibility for their fates.
Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands.
"Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3953
Off their guard
The Gulf Coast disaster is further taxing the National Guard, already stretched to a breaking point in Iraq.
By Mark Benjamin / Salon
Sept. 1, 2005 On Aug. 1, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard lamented to a local reporter that the state might be stretched for security personnel in the event of a big hurricane. Dozens of high-water vehicles, generators and Humvees were employed in Iraq, along with 3,000 Louisiana National Guard troops.
"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," the Louisiana National Guard's Lt. Col. Pete Schneider told a reporter from WGNO, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans. Schneider said that in the event of a hurricane, Louisiana would need help from neighboring states.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3947
Local Officials Criticize Federal Government Over Response
By Joseph B. Treaster and Deborah Sontag / New York Times
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 1 - Despair, privation and violent lawlessness grew so extreme in New Orleans on Thursday that the flooded city's mayor issued a "desperate S O S" and other local officials, describing the security situation as horrific, lambasted the federal government as responding too slowly to the disaster.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3948
Trapped Tourists Unite in New Orleans
By Robert Tanner / Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- First the federal government took the buses they had hired to evacuate them.
Then their hotels turned them out onto the desolate streets.
They trudged for blocks to walk over a bridge, but officers wouldn't let them cross _ and fired a few warning shots over their heads to convince them.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3949
Off their guard
The Gulf Coast disaster is further taxing the National Guard, already stretched to a breaking point in Iraq.
By Mark Benjamin / Salon
Sept. 1, 2005 On Aug. 1, a spokesman for the Louisiana National Guard lamented to a local reporter that the state might be stretched for security personnel in the event of a big hurricane. Dozens of high-water vehicles, generators and Humvees were employed in Iraq, along with 3,000 Louisiana National Guard troops.
"The National Guard needs that equipment back home to support the homeland security mission," the Louisiana National Guard's Lt. Col. Pete Schneider told a reporter from WGNO, the ABC affiliate in New Orleans. Schneider said that in the event of a hurricane, Louisiana would need help from neighboring states.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=3947
continued ...
September 2, 2004. New Orleans, Louisiana. Everyday it takes to 'get control' of the situation in the aftermath is another day full of surprises and adversity. We now have explosions and more destruction. I see "Preparedness" very differently than this administration. Very differently. This unexpected circumstanes is too scary. To unpredictable. Too critically important to insure good outcomes to towns and their economies to leave to chance.
Morning Papers - continued ...
Haaretz
Sharon, Abbas to hold talks at end of September
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the end of September, after the two return from a United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 19, sources in Jerusalem said on Friday.
Sharon will meet with United States President George W. Bush at the UN General Assembly meeting, but is not expected to meet with Abbas.
Abbas called Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Friday and expressed his appreciation for the contribution made by Peres and the Labor party to Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620473.html
Jordan's King Abdullah to visit Israel publicly for first time
By Aluf Benn and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents
Jordan's King Abdullah will visit Israel next week and meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss the aftermath of the disengagement, Israeli officials said.
Although Abdullah has previously visited Sharon in secret at his Sycamore Ranch, this will be the king's first public visit to Israel.
The Israeli officials said the meeting was coordinated by the head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, but officials in Jordan are denying reports of the planned visit to Israel. Jordan regularly denies such reports until a fixed date is set for a visit.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620417.html
Pakistani official: No Musharraf-Sharon meeting at UN assembly
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Mohammed Naeem Khan, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, said Friday there are no plans for Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York later this month. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Thursday he had discussed the possibility of such a meeting in talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday defended Thursday's talks with Israel as Muslim clerics denounced the shift in policy in fiery sermons during prayers, but planned street protests fell flat.
"There is no harm in having talks," Aziz told the lower house of the National Assembly, where opposition Islamist legislators walked out in token protest.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620200.html
Sharon plans to meet Pakistani president at UN
By Aluf Benn
Pakistan took a first step toward normalizing ties with Israel yesterday, with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri, in Istanbul.
In the public meeting, the ministers discussed ways of promoting bilateral ties, but not establishing full diplomatic relations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620222.html
It wasn't their fault. They should receive compensation.
Justice Min. mulls granting full compensation to evacuees who missed deadline
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is mulling a proposal under which Gaza settlers who did not leave their homes by the end of the official August 16 deadline but who did not act violently during their evacuation would still benefit from the full compensation offered by the Evacuation-Compensation Law.
The proposal was put forward during the evacuation of the settlements itself. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin he would consider favorably the possibility that the government will amend the Evacuation-Compensation Law, although he was referring to the option of offering all evacuated settlers full compensation, regardless of their behavior.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620249.html
State Comptroller finds holes in security of the separation fence
By Arnon Regular
The State Comptroller found serious shortcomings in operating the separation fence and the obstacle strip running alongside it.
Basing its findings on studies conducted between August-December 2004, the State Comptroller found that "the passage points in the seam line obstacle strip are not equipped with the technology or personnel to operate them according to the standards required to meet security needs or to preserve the Palestinians' `fabric of life'."
The State Comptroller's Office identified flaws in the purchasing process and use of warning, command and control, and observation devices, as well as war rooms along segments of the fence that already have been built.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/619927.html
Philadelphia Inquirer
Aid vs. anarchy in New Orleans
By Allen G. Breed and David Espo
Associated Press
As New Orleans descended into anarchy yesterday, Congress rushed to provide a $10.5 billion down payment in relief aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the federal government promised to send more troops to help restore order.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared war on looters who have made New Orleans a menacing landscape of disorder and fear. "They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/12538830.htm
Lawmakers seek ways to ease pain at pumps
By Robert Moran and Mario Cattabiani
Inquirer Staff Writers
Responding to public shock over soaring fuel prices, Gov. Rendell said yesterday that he may ask the legislature to temporarily lift Pennsylvania's 31-cent-per-gallon gas tax.
In New Jersey, state lawmakers were calling for price-control measures to ease the pain at the pump in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on Gulf Coast oil and refinery production.
Politicians in both states swiftly jumped on the hot-button issue as motorists reeled from $3-a-gallon gas.
However, no quick relief is in sight.
The Pennsylvania legislature, which would need to approve a suspension of the gas tax, is not scheduled to return to work for three weeks. And New Jersey's Legislature is not expected back in session until after the November election.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538719.htm
Charges filed in export of toxic chemicals
Officials say Joel D. Udell set up a phony sale to send the hazardous stuff to the Netherlands from Pottstown.
By John Shiffman
Inquirer Staff Writer
In 2000, businessman Joel D. Udell faced a serious problem. The EPA had determined that his crowded Pottstown warehouse was so hazardous - filled with leaking, corroded drums of chemicals - that it qualified for Superfund status.
He had an order to empty and clean the place. And quickly.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538851.htm
Officials blamed for deaths of 3 boys
A self-appointed panel castigated "the command structure" for failing to rescue the boys in June.
By Adam Fifield and Dwight Ott
Inquirer Staff Writers
A citizens group that examined the deaths of three boys in a car trunk in June has faulted a range of city and county officials and singled out one Camden police lieutenant for failing to search the vehicle fully.
It also absolved the boys' families of any responsibility.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538776.htm
Pa. vaccine factory will be reopened
GlaxoSmithKline said it would use the Lancaster County site to develop new ways to make flu vaccine.
By Marian Uhlman
Inquirer Staff Writer
GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. said yesterday that it has bought a shuttered vaccine plant in Lancaster County that will create nearly 300 jobs, advance the fight against influenza, and cement the region's position as the nation's flu-vaccine capital.
The British firm, which has U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, said it will invest at least $100 million to buy and upgrade the 90-acre manufacturing site previously owned by Wyeth, of Madison, N.J.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538720.htm
A child's garden of classic books
By Denise Cowie
Inquirer Staff Writer
When children's author/illustrator Lynne Cherry decided to write a picture book about a tree in the rain forest that affects many lives, she didn't just sit down and start painting scenes based on other people's descriptions. She headed off to Brazil, trekking into the Amazon rain forest to learn about it firsthand.
"For all my books, I travel to the place I'm writing about," says Cherry, a graduate of Temple University's Tyler School of Art. "The feel of the place, the smell, the texture... somehow it comes out in the illustrations."
That book, The Great Kapok Tree, has been read by millions of children since it was published in 1990. Now, it has been declared a book-of-the-century by the judges for a new awards program that honors children's books with a gardening or ecology theme.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538739.htm
The Jordan Times
Bush waives Jordan aid restriction
SAN DIEGO, California (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Tuesday waived for six months a restriction on millions of dollars in aid to Jordan, which could have been blocked over Amman's membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Under a US law passed last year, money from the $2.5 billion economic support fund cannot go to countries that are parties to the court but have not signed agreements to give US citizens immunity from the tribunal.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news2.htm
Jordan, Syria agree on controls on employment of Syrian workers
AMMAN (JT) — Jordan and Syria on Wednesday reached agreement on several measures to control the employment of Syrian workers in the Kingdom.
The agreement followed talks between Labour Ministry Secretary General Majid Habashneh and his Syrian counterpart Issa Maldaoun in Amman.
Under the agreement, Syrian workers wishing to work in Jordan should obtain a certified work permit endorsed by the Jordanian and Syrian ministers of labour, before entering the Kingdom.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews6.htm
1st executions since Saddam ouster conducted
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq on Thursday hanged three convicted murderers in the first executions since the toppling of former dictator Saddam Hussein, despite appeals from the United Nations and human rights groups.
“The capital punishment was carried out this morning at 10:30am (0630 GMT) on three convicts. They were hanged to death,” government spokesman Leith Kubba said.
The three, believed to be members of Al Qaeda linked extremist group Ansar Al Sunna, were sentenced in May for killing and kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news10.htm
Western anti-terror units accused of abuse
NAIROBI (Reuters) — Foreign security services chasing terrorist cells in lawless Somalia are abusing human rights with kidnappings, harassment and threats to suspects, some of whom may be innocent, a UN envoy said on Thursday.
“This has to be highlighted. I cannot just sit back and watch,” Ghanim Alnajjar, the UN-named rights expert on Somalia, said after an 11-day trip to the Horn of Africa nation.
US and other Western security services see Somalia as a potential haven for terrorists as it has been without government since warlords overthrow dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news9.htm
President to be elected in 1st contested poll next week
CAIRO (AFP) — With Egypt just a week away from its first-ever contested presidential election, which incumbent Hosni Mubarak is widely expected to win, concern is mounting over the likely transparency and fairness of the poll.
The victory of the 77-year-old Mubarak, at the helm since 1981, is not even open to question despite a strong challenge from his most outspoken challenger, and 37 years his junior, Ayman Nur.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news8.htm
Opposition in love-hate relationship with US
By Jean-Marc Mojon
Agence France-Presse
CAIRO — Washington's drive for democratic change in Egypt has left the country's reformist opposition torn between a deep-rooted anti-Americanism and the potential windfall of US support.
"Do you think Washington will issue a statement to condemn this?" snapped an angry protester during a recent protest in Cairo by the Kefaya ("Enough" in Arabic) movement that was violently dispersed by security forces.
The US State Department published the statement.
But the very same Egyptians opposed to President Hosni Mubarak's autocratic regime who accuse America of abandoning them also slam the "interference and imperialist policies" of Washington.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news9.htm
King attends ceremony marking Al Israa Wal Miraj
His Majesty King Abdullah attends a ceremony held at the Islamic Cultural Centre marking the anniversary of Al Israa Wal Miraj on Wednesday (Photo by Yousef Allan)
AMMAN (JT) — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday acted as patron at a ceremony marking the anniversary of Al Israa Wal Miraj (Prophet Mohammad's nocturnal journey and ascension to heaven).
Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Abdul Salam Abbadi delivered a speech on this occasion in which he referred to the role of the Hashemite dynasty over the decades in the renovation and the maintenance of Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome.
Custodianship over the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem has been the traditional responsibility of the Hashemite family since the reign of the first Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah I.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews1.htm
4 suspects in Hariri probe quizzed; 1 released
Artist Zaher Bizri of Sidon paints a portrait of slain former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, marking 200 days since his assassination (AP photo by Mohammad Zaatari)
BEIRUT (AP) — The UN probe into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri — in which four pro-Syrian generals and a lawmaker were named as suspects — was expected Wednesday to send shock waves through neighbouring Syria by again raising suspicion that Damascus had a role in the slaying.
The generals were being questioned Wednesday, a day after they were detained or surrendered to authorities at the request of United Nations investigators trying to determine who was behind the February 14 bombing that killed Hariri and 20 other people.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news3.htm
Pakistan, Israel hold landmark talks
ISTANBUL (Reuters) — Israel held its first public talks with Pakistan on Thursday in a diplomatic breakthrough spurred by its Gaza pullout that signalled a possible thaw in relations with longtime foes in the Muslim world.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said after a high-level meeting in Istanbul that his country had decided to "engage" with Israel after years as one of its harshest critics over its handling of a Palestinian uprising.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, speaking after talks with Kasuri, said the Jewish state hoped to use the Pakistan talks as a springboard for broader diplomatic ties with Muslim and Arab countries that have long shunned it.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Unemployment among women falls by 20.2% over a decade
By Thomas Gringer Jakobsen and Henrik El-Kher
AMMAN — Jordanian women are closing in on men when it comes to participation in the labour market.
In little more than a decade, unemployment among women has plunged 20.2 percentage points — from 36.7 to 16.5 per cent, according to official figures from the Department of Statistics (DoS).
Male unemployment dropped 5 per cent during the same period.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews4.htm
The New York Times
New Orleans Mayor, in Tears, Blasts Washington's Response
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: September 2, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2 - Fires and explosions jolted an area near the French Quarter this morning in a city gripped by despair and violent lawlessness, and the city's mayor, by turns angry and sad, blasted Washington for what he said was its slow response to the storm disaster
Fires and explosions jolted an area south of the French Quarter this morning.
Today President Bush called the response "not acceptable," as he left for a tour of the ravaged areas. Soon after his remarks the nation's airlines said they had been mobilized to fly up to 25,000 refugees out of New Orleans beginning today, under an emergency plan put into effect for the first time by the Department of Homeland Security. Under the plan, the refugees will be taken from Louis Armstrong Airport outside New Orleans to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02cnd-storm.html?hp&ex=1125720000&en=c39cf45e7f030e63&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Local Officials Criticize Federal Government Over Response
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER
and DEBORAH SONTAG
Published: September 2, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 1 - Despair, privation and violent lawlessness grew so extreme in New Orleans on Thursday that the flooded city's mayor issued a "desperate S O S" and other local officials, describing the security situation as horrific, lambasted the federal government as responding too slowly to the disaster.
At the New Orleans Convention Center, crowds swelled to about 25,000.
Thousands of refugees from Hurricane Katrina boarded buses for Houston, but others quickly took their places at the filthy, teeming Superdome, which has been serving as the primary shelter. At the increasingly unsanitary convention center, crowds swelled to about 25,000 and desperate refugees clamored for food, water and attention while dead bodies, slumped in wheelchairs or wrapped in sheets, lay in their midst.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02storm.html?hp&ex=1125633600&en=d2abfacae2d859f8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Government Saw Flood Risk but Not Levee Failure
By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC LIPTON
Published: September 2, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 - When Michael D. Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, returned in January from a tour of the tsunami devastation in Asia, he urgently gathered his aides to prepare for a similar catastrophe at home
"New Orleans was the No. 1 disaster we were talking about," recalled Eric L. Tolbert, then a top FEMA official. "We were obsessed with New Orleans because of the risk."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02response.html
Bloomberg Democrats Are a Primary Force
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at a Fire Department training center on Thursday, is supported by many of the city's Democrats. They have primary options: vote to help the mayor, vote for a second choice, or stay home.
By SAM ROBERTS
Published: September 2, 2005
Most New Yorkers are Democrats. And half of them, a recent poll suggests, would re-elect the city's Republican mayor. So come Primary Day, what are these Bloomberg Democrats to do?
Their intriguing quandary could become a huge factor in determining who wins the Democratic nomination on Sept. 13. Do they vote their hearts? Or do they vote strategically, for "anybody but Freddy" to force the Democratic front-runner, Fernando Ferrer, into a debilitating runoff against either Gifford Miller, Anthony D. Weiner or C. Virginia Fields? Or do they vote for the candidate who they believe would pose the smallest threat to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in November?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/nyregion/metrocampaigns/02voters.html
Education Law Is Loosened for Failing Chicago Schools
By SAM DILLON
Published: September 2, 2005
Moving once again to ease the requirements of the nation's tough new education law, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced yesterday that she would allow the Chicago Public Schools to run federally financed tutoring programs for students at low-performing schools, despite Chicago's failure to meet academic goals.
It was the second time in a week that Ms. Spellings had extended new flexibility in her enforcement of President Bush's signature education law, known as No Child Left Behind. Earlier she had extended a waiver to four Virginia districts, allowing them to offer tutoring before they offer the chance to transfer out of failing schools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/education/02child.html
76 Arrested Protesting N.Y.U. Cutoff of Student Union
By KAREN W. ARENSON
Published: September 1, 2005
The president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers and a state senator were among nearly 80 people who were arrested yesterday during a protest of New York University's decision to end dealings with a union of graduate student teaching and research assistants.
John J. Sweeney, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., told the crowd at New York University's library, "Union busting is for corporate criminals who have no values, not for an educational institution." Last year, a federal labor board reversed an earlier approval of unions of graduate students.
The protesters linked arms and sat down in front of the university's Bobst Library, despite warnings from the police that they would be charged with disorderly conduct.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/nyregion/01nyu.html
Gazing at Breached Levees, Critics See Years of Missed Opportunities
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: September 2, 2005
As federal flood-control officials directed efforts to block the 17th Street Canal, the source of most of the water swamping New Orleans, they faced growing criticism yesterday over decades of missed opportunities to prevent precisely this type of disaster.Workers paused at the point where a levee broke in New Orleans.
In interviews and a telephone conference call with reporters, senior officials and engineers from up and down the ranks of the Army Corps of Engineers conceded that they had no ability to detect quickly small breaches in the matrix of 350 miles of levees around New Orleans.
Unless such holes can be blocked early, the water will almost invariably rip away at the edges, widening the breach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02levee.html
Iran Hopes for 'Positive' U.N. Nuclear Report
By REUTERS
Published: September 2, 2005
Filed at 9:56 a.m. ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's chief atomic negotiator said on Friday he hoped an upcoming report by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog would contain ``positive points'' that would encourage Tehran to cooperate more with the agency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to distribute a new report on Iran's nuclear programme on Friday or Saturday to the 35 nations on the IAEA's board of governors.
Diplomats in Vienna, the headquarters of the IAEA, say the report will likely spark U.S. and EU calls to refer Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-nuclear-iran.html
Putin Promises Beslan Mothers a Tough Probe of School Siege
By REUTERS
Published: September 2, 2005
Filed at 9:47 a.m. ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the Beslan school siege would be thoroughly investigated to establish whether official incompetence contributed to the deaths of 331 hostages.
Speaking to a group of bereaved mothers on the anniversary of the siege, Putin said Russia's security forces, as in other countries, had found it was impossible to offer total protection against terror attacks.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-russia-beslan.html
continued ...
Sharon, Abbas to hold talks at end of September
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the end of September, after the two return from a United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 19, sources in Jerusalem said on Friday.
Sharon will meet with United States President George W. Bush at the UN General Assembly meeting, but is not expected to meet with Abbas.
Abbas called Vice Premier Shimon Peres on Friday and expressed his appreciation for the contribution made by Peres and the Labor party to Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620473.html
Jordan's King Abdullah to visit Israel publicly for first time
By Aluf Benn and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents
Jordan's King Abdullah will visit Israel next week and meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to discuss the aftermath of the disengagement, Israeli officials said.
Although Abdullah has previously visited Sharon in secret at his Sycamore Ranch, this will be the king's first public visit to Israel.
The Israeli officials said the meeting was coordinated by the head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, but officials in Jordan are denying reports of the planned visit to Israel. Jordan regularly denies such reports until a fixed date is set for a visit.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620417.html
Pakistani official: No Musharraf-Sharon meeting at UN assembly
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies
Mohammed Naeem Khan, a spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, said Friday there are no plans for Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York later this month. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Thursday he had discussed the possibility of such a meeting in talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Friday defended Thursday's talks with Israel as Muslim clerics denounced the shift in policy in fiery sermons during prayers, but planned street protests fell flat.
"There is no harm in having talks," Aziz told the lower house of the National Assembly, where opposition Islamist legislators walked out in token protest.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620200.html
Sharon plans to meet Pakistani president at UN
By Aluf Benn
Pakistan took a first step toward normalizing ties with Israel yesterday, with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Khurshid Kasuri, in Istanbul.
In the public meeting, the ministers discussed ways of promoting bilateral ties, but not establishing full diplomatic relations.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620222.html
It wasn't their fault. They should receive compensation.
Justice Min. mulls granting full compensation to evacuees who missed deadline
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is mulling a proposal under which Gaza settlers who did not leave their homes by the end of the official August 16 deadline but who did not act violently during their evacuation would still benefit from the full compensation offered by the Evacuation-Compensation Law.
The proposal was put forward during the evacuation of the settlements itself. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised Knesset Chairman Reuven Rivlin he would consider favorably the possibility that the government will amend the Evacuation-Compensation Law, although he was referring to the option of offering all evacuated settlers full compensation, regardless of their behavior.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/620249.html
State Comptroller finds holes in security of the separation fence
By Arnon Regular
The State Comptroller found serious shortcomings in operating the separation fence and the obstacle strip running alongside it.
Basing its findings on studies conducted between August-December 2004, the State Comptroller found that "the passage points in the seam line obstacle strip are not equipped with the technology or personnel to operate them according to the standards required to meet security needs or to preserve the Palestinians' `fabric of life'."
The State Comptroller's Office identified flaws in the purchasing process and use of warning, command and control, and observation devices, as well as war rooms along segments of the fence that already have been built.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/619927.html
Philadelphia Inquirer
Aid vs. anarchy in New Orleans
By Allen G. Breed and David Espo
Associated Press
As New Orleans descended into anarchy yesterday, Congress rushed to provide a $10.5 billion down payment in relief aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina and the federal government promised to send more troops to help restore order.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco declared war on looters who have made New Orleans a menacing landscape of disorder and fear. "They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/12538830.htm
Lawmakers seek ways to ease pain at pumps
By Robert Moran and Mario Cattabiani
Inquirer Staff Writers
Responding to public shock over soaring fuel prices, Gov. Rendell said yesterday that he may ask the legislature to temporarily lift Pennsylvania's 31-cent-per-gallon gas tax.
In New Jersey, state lawmakers were calling for price-control measures to ease the pain at the pump in the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on Gulf Coast oil and refinery production.
Politicians in both states swiftly jumped on the hot-button issue as motorists reeled from $3-a-gallon gas.
However, no quick relief is in sight.
The Pennsylvania legislature, which would need to approve a suspension of the gas tax, is not scheduled to return to work for three weeks. And New Jersey's Legislature is not expected back in session until after the November election.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538719.htm
Charges filed in export of toxic chemicals
Officials say Joel D. Udell set up a phony sale to send the hazardous stuff to the Netherlands from Pottstown.
By John Shiffman
Inquirer Staff Writer
In 2000, businessman Joel D. Udell faced a serious problem. The EPA had determined that his crowded Pottstown warehouse was so hazardous - filled with leaking, corroded drums of chemicals - that it qualified for Superfund status.
He had an order to empty and clean the place. And quickly.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538851.htm
Officials blamed for deaths of 3 boys
A self-appointed panel castigated "the command structure" for failing to rescue the boys in June.
By Adam Fifield and Dwight Ott
Inquirer Staff Writers
A citizens group that examined the deaths of three boys in a car trunk in June has faulted a range of city and county officials and singled out one Camden police lieutenant for failing to search the vehicle fully.
It also absolved the boys' families of any responsibility.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538776.htm
Pa. vaccine factory will be reopened
GlaxoSmithKline said it would use the Lancaster County site to develop new ways to make flu vaccine.
By Marian Uhlman
Inquirer Staff Writer
GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. said yesterday that it has bought a shuttered vaccine plant in Lancaster County that will create nearly 300 jobs, advance the fight against influenza, and cement the region's position as the nation's flu-vaccine capital.
The British firm, which has U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia, said it will invest at least $100 million to buy and upgrade the 90-acre manufacturing site previously owned by Wyeth, of Madison, N.J.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538720.htm
A child's garden of classic books
By Denise Cowie
Inquirer Staff Writer
When children's author/illustrator Lynne Cherry decided to write a picture book about a tree in the rain forest that affects many lives, she didn't just sit down and start painting scenes based on other people's descriptions. She headed off to Brazil, trekking into the Amazon rain forest to learn about it firsthand.
"For all my books, I travel to the place I'm writing about," says Cherry, a graduate of Temple University's Tyler School of Art. "The feel of the place, the smell, the texture... somehow it comes out in the illustrations."
That book, The Great Kapok Tree, has been read by millions of children since it was published in 1990. Now, it has been declared a book-of-the-century by the judges for a new awards program that honors children's books with a gardening or ecology theme.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/12538739.htm
The Jordan Times
Bush waives Jordan aid restriction
SAN DIEGO, California (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Tuesday waived for six months a restriction on millions of dollars in aid to Jordan, which could have been blocked over Amman's membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Under a US law passed last year, money from the $2.5 billion economic support fund cannot go to countries that are parties to the court but have not signed agreements to give US citizens immunity from the tribunal.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news2.htm
Jordan, Syria agree on controls on employment of Syrian workers
AMMAN (JT) — Jordan and Syria on Wednesday reached agreement on several measures to control the employment of Syrian workers in the Kingdom.
The agreement followed talks between Labour Ministry Secretary General Majid Habashneh and his Syrian counterpart Issa Maldaoun in Amman.
Under the agreement, Syrian workers wishing to work in Jordan should obtain a certified work permit endorsed by the Jordanian and Syrian ministers of labour, before entering the Kingdom.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews6.htm
1st executions since Saddam ouster conducted
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq on Thursday hanged three convicted murderers in the first executions since the toppling of former dictator Saddam Hussein, despite appeals from the United Nations and human rights groups.
“The capital punishment was carried out this morning at 10:30am (0630 GMT) on three convicts. They were hanged to death,” government spokesman Leith Kubba said.
The three, believed to be members of Al Qaeda linked extremist group Ansar Al Sunna, were sentenced in May for killing and kidnapping policemen and raping Iraqi women.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news10.htm
Western anti-terror units accused of abuse
NAIROBI (Reuters) — Foreign security services chasing terrorist cells in lawless Somalia are abusing human rights with kidnappings, harassment and threats to suspects, some of whom may be innocent, a UN envoy said on Thursday.
“This has to be highlighted. I cannot just sit back and watch,” Ghanim Alnajjar, the UN-named rights expert on Somalia, said after an 11-day trip to the Horn of Africa nation.
US and other Western security services see Somalia as a potential haven for terrorists as it has been without government since warlords overthrow dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news9.htm
President to be elected in 1st contested poll next week
CAIRO (AFP) — With Egypt just a week away from its first-ever contested presidential election, which incumbent Hosni Mubarak is widely expected to win, concern is mounting over the likely transparency and fairness of the poll.
The victory of the 77-year-old Mubarak, at the helm since 1981, is not even open to question despite a strong challenge from his most outspoken challenger, and 37 years his junior, Ayman Nur.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news8.htm
Opposition in love-hate relationship with US
By Jean-Marc Mojon
Agence France-Presse
CAIRO — Washington's drive for democratic change in Egypt has left the country's reformist opposition torn between a deep-rooted anti-Americanism and the potential windfall of US support.
"Do you think Washington will issue a statement to condemn this?" snapped an angry protester during a recent protest in Cairo by the Kefaya ("Enough" in Arabic) movement that was violently dispersed by security forces.
The US State Department published the statement.
But the very same Egyptians opposed to President Hosni Mubarak's autocratic regime who accuse America of abandoning them also slam the "interference and imperialist policies" of Washington.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news9.htm
King attends ceremony marking Al Israa Wal Miraj
His Majesty King Abdullah attends a ceremony held at the Islamic Cultural Centre marking the anniversary of Al Israa Wal Miraj on Wednesday (Photo by Yousef Allan)
AMMAN (JT) — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday acted as patron at a ceremony marking the anniversary of Al Israa Wal Miraj (Prophet Mohammad's nocturnal journey and ascension to heaven).
Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Abdul Salam Abbadi delivered a speech on this occasion in which he referred to the role of the Hashemite dynasty over the decades in the renovation and the maintenance of Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome.
Custodianship over the Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem has been the traditional responsibility of the Hashemite family since the reign of the first Jordanian monarch, King Abdullah I.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews1.htm
4 suspects in Hariri probe quizzed; 1 released
Artist Zaher Bizri of Sidon paints a portrait of slain former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, marking 200 days since his assassination (AP photo by Mohammad Zaatari)
BEIRUT (AP) — The UN probe into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri — in which four pro-Syrian generals and a lawmaker were named as suspects — was expected Wednesday to send shock waves through neighbouring Syria by again raising suspicion that Damascus had a role in the slaying.
The generals were being questioned Wednesday, a day after they were detained or surrendered to authorities at the request of United Nations investigators trying to determine who was behind the February 14 bombing that killed Hariri and 20 other people.
http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/news/news3.htm
Pakistan, Israel hold landmark talks
ISTANBUL (Reuters) — Israel held its first public talks with Pakistan on Thursday in a diplomatic breakthrough spurred by its Gaza pullout that signalled a possible thaw in relations with longtime foes in the Muslim world.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said after a high-level meeting in Istanbul that his country had decided to "engage" with Israel after years as one of its harshest critics over its handling of a Palestinian uprising.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, speaking after talks with Kasuri, said the Jewish state hoped to use the Pakistan talks as a springboard for broader diplomatic ties with Muslim and Arab countries that have long shunned it.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Unemployment among women falls by 20.2% over a decade
By Thomas Gringer Jakobsen and Henrik El-Kher
AMMAN — Jordanian women are closing in on men when it comes to participation in the labour market.
In little more than a decade, unemployment among women has plunged 20.2 percentage points — from 36.7 to 16.5 per cent, according to official figures from the Department of Statistics (DoS).
Male unemployment dropped 5 per cent during the same period.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews4.htm
The New York Times
New Orleans Mayor, in Tears, Blasts Washington's Response
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: September 2, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2 - Fires and explosions jolted an area near the French Quarter this morning in a city gripped by despair and violent lawlessness, and the city's mayor, by turns angry and sad, blasted Washington for what he said was its slow response to the storm disaster
Fires and explosions jolted an area south of the French Quarter this morning.
Today President Bush called the response "not acceptable," as he left for a tour of the ravaged areas. Soon after his remarks the nation's airlines said they had been mobilized to fly up to 25,000 refugees out of New Orleans beginning today, under an emergency plan put into effect for the first time by the Department of Homeland Security. Under the plan, the refugees will be taken from Louis Armstrong Airport outside New Orleans to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02cnd-storm.html?hp&ex=1125720000&en=c39cf45e7f030e63&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Local Officials Criticize Federal Government Over Response
By JOSEPH B. TREASTER
and DEBORAH SONTAG
Published: September 2, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 1 - Despair, privation and violent lawlessness grew so extreme in New Orleans on Thursday that the flooded city's mayor issued a "desperate S O S" and other local officials, describing the security situation as horrific, lambasted the federal government as responding too slowly to the disaster.
At the New Orleans Convention Center, crowds swelled to about 25,000.
Thousands of refugees from Hurricane Katrina boarded buses for Houston, but others quickly took their places at the filthy, teeming Superdome, which has been serving as the primary shelter. At the increasingly unsanitary convention center, crowds swelled to about 25,000 and desperate refugees clamored for food, water and attention while dead bodies, slumped in wheelchairs or wrapped in sheets, lay in their midst.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02storm.html?hp&ex=1125633600&en=d2abfacae2d859f8&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Government Saw Flood Risk but Not Levee Failure
By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC LIPTON
Published: September 2, 2005
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 - When Michael D. Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, returned in January from a tour of the tsunami devastation in Asia, he urgently gathered his aides to prepare for a similar catastrophe at home
"New Orleans was the No. 1 disaster we were talking about," recalled Eric L. Tolbert, then a top FEMA official. "We were obsessed with New Orleans because of the risk."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02response.html
Bloomberg Democrats Are a Primary Force
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, at a Fire Department training center on Thursday, is supported by many of the city's Democrats. They have primary options: vote to help the mayor, vote for a second choice, or stay home.
By SAM ROBERTS
Published: September 2, 2005
Most New Yorkers are Democrats. And half of them, a recent poll suggests, would re-elect the city's Republican mayor. So come Primary Day, what are these Bloomberg Democrats to do?
Their intriguing quandary could become a huge factor in determining who wins the Democratic nomination on Sept. 13. Do they vote their hearts? Or do they vote strategically, for "anybody but Freddy" to force the Democratic front-runner, Fernando Ferrer, into a debilitating runoff against either Gifford Miller, Anthony D. Weiner or C. Virginia Fields? Or do they vote for the candidate who they believe would pose the smallest threat to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in November?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/nyregion/metrocampaigns/02voters.html
Education Law Is Loosened for Failing Chicago Schools
By SAM DILLON
Published: September 2, 2005
Moving once again to ease the requirements of the nation's tough new education law, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced yesterday that she would allow the Chicago Public Schools to run federally financed tutoring programs for students at low-performing schools, despite Chicago's failure to meet academic goals.
It was the second time in a week that Ms. Spellings had extended new flexibility in her enforcement of President Bush's signature education law, known as No Child Left Behind. Earlier she had extended a waiver to four Virginia districts, allowing them to offer tutoring before they offer the chance to transfer out of failing schools.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/education/02child.html
76 Arrested Protesting N.Y.U. Cutoff of Student Union
By KAREN W. ARENSON
Published: September 1, 2005
The president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the secretary-treasurer of the United Auto Workers and a state senator were among nearly 80 people who were arrested yesterday during a protest of New York University's decision to end dealings with a union of graduate student teaching and research assistants.
John J. Sweeney, the president of the A.F.L.-C.I.O., told the crowd at New York University's library, "Union busting is for corporate criminals who have no values, not for an educational institution." Last year, a federal labor board reversed an earlier approval of unions of graduate students.
The protesters linked arms and sat down in front of the university's Bobst Library, despite warnings from the police that they would be charged with disorderly conduct.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/nyregion/01nyu.html
Gazing at Breached Levees, Critics See Years of Missed Opportunities
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: September 2, 2005
As federal flood-control officials directed efforts to block the 17th Street Canal, the source of most of the water swamping New Orleans, they faced growing criticism yesterday over decades of missed opportunities to prevent precisely this type of disaster.Workers paused at the point where a levee broke in New Orleans.
In interviews and a telephone conference call with reporters, senior officials and engineers from up and down the ranks of the Army Corps of Engineers conceded that they had no ability to detect quickly small breaches in the matrix of 350 miles of levees around New Orleans.
Unless such holes can be blocked early, the water will almost invariably rip away at the edges, widening the breach.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/national/nationalspecial/02levee.html
Iran Hopes for 'Positive' U.N. Nuclear Report
By REUTERS
Published: September 2, 2005
Filed at 9:56 a.m. ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's chief atomic negotiator said on Friday he hoped an upcoming report by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog would contain ``positive points'' that would encourage Tehran to cooperate more with the agency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to distribute a new report on Iran's nuclear programme on Friday or Saturday to the 35 nations on the IAEA's board of governors.
Diplomats in Vienna, the headquarters of the IAEA, say the report will likely spark U.S. and EU calls to refer Iran's case to the U.N. Security Council.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-nuclear-iran.html
Putin Promises Beslan Mothers a Tough Probe of School Siege
By REUTERS
Published: September 2, 2005
Filed at 9:47 a.m. ET
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the Beslan school siege would be thoroughly investigated to establish whether official incompetence contributed to the deaths of 331 hostages.
Speaking to a group of bereaved mothers on the anniversary of the siege, Putin said Russia's security forces, as in other countries, had found it was impossible to offer total protection against terror attacks.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-russia-beslan.html
continued ...
Morning Papers - continued...
The Miami Herald
Katrina disrupts nation's economy
Economic activity in the United States could be severely crimped by the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina
Herald Staff and Wire Report
From gas stations to grocery stores, farms to factories, the force of Hurricane Katrina is raging through the U.S. economy.
The storm hit a chokepoint in the economy -- a concentration of ports, rail lines, barge traffic and major highways making up one of the nation's major trade hubs. Major transportation arteries are clogged, and imports and exports have slowed to a crawl.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12538591.htm
Gas prices climb; Bush makes a plea
Gas prices continued rising in South Florida, as Gov. Bush -- with Labor Day weekend approaching -- urged everyone to conserve fuel.
BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN, DOUGLAS HANKS III AND MARY ELLEN KLAS
mhaggman@herald.com
Neighborhood gas prices rose nine cents a gallon in one day amid reports of scattered outages Thursday, a Herald survey of South Florida fuel stations showed.
Average local fuel prices have jumped nearly 20 cents a gallon since Monday when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast, one of the most important energy-producing regions to the nation -- and Florida.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539209.htm
Storm surge, debris shut 2 national parks
Katrina's storm surge swept across Everglades National Park and Dry Tortugas Park, causing rangers to keep both closed until they clean up debris left behind.
BY PETER BAILEY
pbailey@herald.com
Most of the facilities at Everglades National Park will remain closed because of damage caused by the storm surge following Hurricane Katrina.
Officials closed the areas surrounding the park's main entrance west of Florida City and at Shark Valley off the Tamiami Trail west of Miami because of flooding that rose to more than five feet.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539386.htm
2,000 still without power in Dade
By JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@herald.com
Florida Power & Light announced Friday morning that its crews have finished the power restoration effort in Broward County, and were working on getting the remaining 2,000 powerless homes in Miami-Dade back on line.
The 2,000 are all that remain of the 1.45 million who lost power when Hurricane Katrina slammed through South Florida on Thursday, Aug. 25. The company's goal is to have all 2,000 customers restored by this evening.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12544431.htm
Woman awaits word on fate of her family
A Gulfport native now living in Coral Springs fears for the safety of her family after Hurricane Katrina left many in the New Orleans area homeless, widowed and orphaned.
BY DARRAN SIMON
Madeline Andrews doesn't know whether her family members are alive or dead.
Days after Hurricane Katrina slammed Mississippi and Louisiana, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless, Andrews waits for word.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539210.htm
Stranded pets get aid from Broward
Humane Society of Broward County staff will leave on Saturday to assist the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in helping animals displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
A team of seven from Broward will help set up a staging ground in Houston to care for the animals.
The humane society will rotate teams to Houston and such areas as Mississippi for at least the next eight weeks. As each team returns, they are to bring pets with them that need new homes in South Florida.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539229.htm
The Cheney Observer
Political behavior in Plame case despicable
Re "A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed," Aug. 25
Thank you for a comprehensive article on the leaking of the identity of a CIA operative for political purposes. The Valerie Plame Wilson story is complicated to the point of confusion, but the essence is this: The Bush administration was willing to compromise national security to prevent the American people from learning that Bush lied to get America to go to war against Iraq. I look forward to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's report and the eventual impeachment of President Bush.
JOHN WEINELL
Dana Point
The fact that no one has yet been held accountable for this despicable behavior proves that Bush is either incompetent as a manager or is attempting to hide who in his group of associates leaked the information. All he had to do to resolve this issue is what any competent CEO would do under the same circumstance: summon all of his advisors and subordinates and inform them that if he didn't have the name or names of who committed this despicable act on his desk in one week, they'd all be replaced.
This incident, along with the lies and distortions that have produced the current dilemma in Iraq, should prove to any reasonable, thoughtful person that this president is unworthy of our trust.
MATT GIORGI
Brea
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-le-sunday28.4aug28,1,6166414.story
'L.A.Times' Offers Mammoth Piece On Plame Leak
By E&P Staff
Published: August 25, 2005 11:30 AM ET
NEW YORK In a mammoth 5,500-word piece Thursday headlined “A CIA Cover Blown, A White House Exposed,” Tom Hamburger and Sonni Efron lay out in The Los Angeles Times what happened in the days leading up to, and beyond, the now infamous July 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to the press.
“Beyond the whodunit,” they write, “the affair raises questions about the credibility of the Bush White House, the tactics it employs against political opponents and the justification it used for going to war.”
The article includes some fresh revelations or comments. For example, it notes that allies of Karl Rove defend his talks with reporters in which he tried to counter claims by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Then it adds that “some of Rove's colleagues say that he and others used poor judgment in talking about Wilson's wife. 'With the benefit of hindsight, it's clear our focus should have been on Wilson's facts, not his conclusions or his wife or his politics,' said one official who was helping with White House strategy at the time.”
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001021628
A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed
Submitted by editor on August 25, 2005 - 2:13pm.
By Tom Hamburger and Sonni Efron
Source: LA Times
WASHINGTON — Toward the end of a steamy summer week in 2003, reporters were peppering the White House with phone calls and e-mails, looking for someone to defend the administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
About to emerge as a key critic was Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former diplomat who asserted that the administration had manipulated intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion.
At the White House, there wasn't much interest in responding to critics like Wilson that Fourth of July weekend. The communications staff faced more pressing concerns — the president's imminent trip to Africa, growing questions about the war and declining ratings in public opinion polls.
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/749
Ex-Halliburton worker pleads guilty to bribes
Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:24 PM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A former Halliburton Co. worker pleaded guilty late last week to taking more than $110,000 in bribes from an Iraqi company in 2004 and defrauding the United States, court documents showed.
The man, Glenn Allen Powell, is facing up to 20 years in prison plus a $1.25 million fine for the crimes, which he committed while working for Halliburton's KBR engineering and construction unit, the U.S. government's largest private contractor in Iraq.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-08-22T202433Z_01_SCH273329_RTRIDST_0_USREPORT-ENERGY-HALLIBURTON-DC.XML
Ex-Halliburton employee pleads guilty to accepting bribes for Iraq work
Jeannie Shawl at 6:06 PM ET
[JURIST] Glenn Allen Powell, a former employee of Halliburton [official website; JURIST news archive] subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) [official website], has pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted bribes and defrauded the US government when awarding a contract to an Iraqi company in 2004. According to the plea agreement, KBR discovered during an internal investigation that Powell had accepted more than $110,000 in exchange for a $609,000 contract to renovate a warehouse in Iraq. Powell will be sentenced November 18 and could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine. In March, Jeff Alex Mazon, another an ex-KBR employee, was indicted on fraud charges [JURIST report]. It is alleged that Mazon cost the federal government $3.5 million by inflating subcontractor bids and taking kickbacks on contracts awarded.
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/08/ex-halliburton-employee-pleads-guilty.php
Chicago Bridge gets Halliburton-related subpoena
Dow Jones/AP
WASHINGTON — Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., a Netherlands-based engineering and construction company, has received a subpoena from a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into a Halliburton Co. construction project in Nigeria where Chicago Bridge was a subcontractor.
ADVERTISEMENT
Houston-based Halliburton's foreign operations have been the focus of investigations by various regulatory agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC have been investigating allegations of bribery of Nigerian officials connected to the construction of a natural-gas liquefaction plant at Bonny Island.
Halliburton said it was under formal SEC investigation in June 2004.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3320122
Oriental Oil Kish activities suspended in Iran
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, August 23 (IranMania) - Oriental Oil Kish has been barred from continuing the projects it has at hand or has commitment to implement pending judicial inquiries into its activities, said a senior National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) official.
Mohammad Reza Moqaddam, NIOC director for planning affairs, told ISNA that the NIOC has the authority to ?halt the activities of companies involved in financial corruption as well as those which have just begun to do so?.
?Since it was revealed that this company (Oriental Oil Kish) is involved in financial corruption, it was decided that its activities must be brought to an end,? he said, adding that Pars Oil and Gas Company will hand over the project to develop South Pars phases IX and X to another contractor or complete the drilling operations using its own facilities.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=34651&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
Whistle-blowers need more protection
OUR OPINION: TOO MANY PUNISHED FOR CALLING IT AS THEY SEE IT
In theory, federal employees who refuse to play along when they see wrongdoing in government enjoy protection against reprisals, but don't tell that to Bunnatine H. Greenhouse. She's the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers procurement official who lost her job last week after refusing to back away from criticism of Pentagon contracts involving the Halliburton Company, formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, for work in Iraq. The demotion of Ms. Greenhouse appears to be a particularly egregious instance of punishing a federal whistle-blower who won't bend to the political winds.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12539759.htm
Florida sweeps up from Katrina, but braces for a possible encore
By Jill Barton; NHC
August 26, 2005
MIAMI (AP) - Residents of the Florida Panhandle nervously monitored the path of Hurricane Katrina early Saturday as weary South Florida homeowners swept the muddy residue of floodwaters from their basements and street crews canoed through miles of inundated roadways.
Katrina threatened an encore visit as early as Monday after ripping through southern Florida and leaving seven people dead. Though the storm appeared to have turned more toward the Louisiana-Mississippi coastline, forecasters were uncertain of exactly where along the northern Gulf Coast it might strike.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/wptv/article/0,2547,TCP_1213_4023191,00.html
Unrest intensifies at Superdome shelter
By ADAM NOSSITER
Associated Press Writer
See Expanded Coverage
More Stories, Multimedia
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Fights and trash fires broke out, rescue helicopters were shot at and anger mounted across New Orleans on Thursday, as National Guardsmen in armored vehicles poured in to help restore order across this increasingly desperate and lawless city.
"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HURRICANE_KATRINA?SITE=FLSTU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=HURRICANE
Louisiana refugees safe at Port Salerno home
By Ike Crumpler
staff writer
September 1, 2005
PORT SALERNO — Waiting for Hurricane Katrina to amass into the ominous monster that sent anxiety levels skyrocketing in their Gulf Coast homes wasn't an option for Amber Bartron and Kerri Esteves.
"We have kids to think about," said Bartron.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,,TCP_16736_4045517,00.html
Forget Freedom Fries: U.S. Lawmaker Jones Turns Against the War
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Walter Jones says the French may have been right about Iraq after all.
This isn't just any U.S. politician having second thoughts. Jones, a Republican representative from North Carolina, is the guy who was so incensed at France's opposition to the U.S. invasion he had the French fries served in congressional cafeterias renamed ``Freedom'' fries.
Now Jones has changed his mind about the war, and critics who called his gesture a trivializing stunt may be changing theirs about him. ``I don't think Walter's the only member'' of Congress rethinking Iraq, said Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who called Freedom fries ``one of the silliest things'' he'd ever seen in Congress. ``What's unusual about Walter is he's willing to say it.''
Jones says he has lined up 46 co-sponsors of legislation he introduced with two anti-war Democrats in June calling on President George W. Bush to set a timetable for bringing U.S. troops back. He says he expects the number of co-sponsors to increase after Congress resumes next week.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a7ixq_XdNgNA&refer=us
Gosh, he must be proud of himself.
EXCLUSIVE: Karl Rove Makes Surprise Visit to Camp Casey!
Greets, Thanks Bush Supporters Opposing Cindy Sheehan
Snubs, Ignores Combat Vets, Gold Star Families Who Made Ultimate Sacrifice for Bush's War
CRAWFORD, TX - Driving his own pickup, with two trucks blockading both sides of the street, Bush Administration Senior Political Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove made a surprise sunset visit/photo-op Tuesday night to the half dozen or so Bush supporters camped across the street from "Camp Casey" in Crawford, Texas where Cindy Sheehan -- whose son, Casey, was killed in Iraq -- originally made her stand requesting a meeting and an explanation from George W. Bush, The BRAD BLOG has learned from eye-witnesses.
According to supporters from both the Bush and Sheehan sides of the street at the makeshift protest sites, Rove's visit occurred as the bulk of Sheehan supporters and volunteers were enjoying a final "thank you dinner" down at the larger Camp Casey II several miles down the road on Tuesday evening.
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001784.htm
Rove caught at Crawford protest site
RAW STORY
Senior Bush adviser Karl Rove was spotted at the camp of President Bush's supporters outside the Cindy Sheehan anti-war protest near Bush's Crawford Texas ranch, RAW STORY has learned.
BradBlog.com, who anchored Raw Radio's daily broadcast from the protest site, has acquired photographs of Rove greeting Bush supporters on site.
In one photo, Rove stands with a supporter's arm thrown around him in a white shirt outside a white pickup truck, grinning.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Rove_caught_at_Crawford_protest__0901.html
Cindy Sheehan Rallies In Austin
Thursday, Cindy Sheehan takes her anti-war message to Houston, and the Office of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Wednesday's bus tour stop was in the Capital City.
Nearly 2,000 people marched from the capitol to city hall and heard Sheehan talk about Casey, the son she lost in Iraq.
"They did the worst thing they could do to me on April 4, 2004. They took my oldest son away from me for nothing, and I wanted to come up here and say," Sheehan said, "'George Bush, you keep saying my son died for a noble cause. What is that noble cause? Why did you send my son, my oldest child, my baby boy, to die?'"
http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=3794540&nav=0s3de1fj
In the Bush administration, yes men (and women) will do nicely
It ought to be obvious to all by now -- it certainly is to me -- that what we have in George W. Bush is a "What-me-worry?, Don't-bring-me-no-bad news" kind of guy.
Case in point:
I've just finished reading reading Michael Shnayerson's harrowing account in Vanity Fair about the trashing of Bunnatine (Bunny) Greenhouse.
Greenhouse, as Shnayerson reports, has one of those compelling personal histories.
She's one of six children of a not-very-formally-educated-but-common-sense-blessed, God-fearing, Bible-reading African-American couple who (despite rearing their family in the rigidly segregated South) imbued their little ones (including, besides Bunny, basketball legend Elvin Hayes) with a hunger for educational excellence.
So it's no surprise that Greenhouse earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics with honors, and subsequently earned three masters degrees. Until recently, she was the highest ranking civilian at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Her job was to ensure a fair process for allocating multi-million and multi-billion-dollar Corps contracts.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/COLUMNISTS09/509010373
Cheney to host Talent fundraiser
Published Thursday, September 1, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney will host a major fundraiser for Sen. Jim Talent in September as the Missouri Republican gears up for a challenge from Democratic state Auditor Claire McCaskill.
Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer confirmed yesterday that Cheney would host the event in St. Louis on Sept. 19.
With about $3.4 million in his war chest, Talent already holds a sizable advantage over McCaskill. That includes more than $1 million from a June event that President George W. Bush attended in St. Louis.
With the race expected to garner national attention, both candidates could beat previous records for a U.S. Senate race in Missouri, said Terry Jones, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Sep/20050901News017.asp
OhmyNews International Talk Back Board
Subject : Dick Cheney Running To Canada
Name : cranston36
Date : 2005-09-02 04:05 View : 116
Dick Cheney is headed for Calgary, Alberta, Canada on September 8th and hosted by the The Fraser Institute
Fraser is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Michael Walter, founder of the ?쁈nstitute??is quoted as saying, "It's a private dinner for a few friends of ours with the vice president. It's by invitation only."
The cost for dinner ranges from $5,000 to $10,000.
Cheney is the Vice President of the United States. Why does he have official business in Calgary before a group that describes itself like this: ?쏧n raising the level of understanding about economic and social policy, the Institute's ideas contribute directly to the economic well-being of individual Canadians.??
What do Canadians expect to learn about social policy from Dick Cheney who has carped at the United Nations and publicly used profanity?
It might be that Dick is attracted to them.
In 2001 they released some information entitled, ?? Canadians not as generous as Americans according to the annual "Generosity Index"?? Maybe he has found his true home after all.
Other studies this ?쁈nstitute??released include :
?쏯ew study says poverty in Canada continues to be overstated??which was followed by ?쏳eturning British Columbia to Prosperity??
Cheney, is from Wyoming where 85 percent of petroleum production is controlled by British Petroleum during these times of economic trouble in the United States may be trying to gain insight from a report the Institute put out in 2001, ?쏷he Perfect Food in a Perfect Mess: The Cost of Milk in Canada??
http://english.ohmynews.com/TALK_BACK/bbs_view.asp?ba_code=63&bb_code=301791
Prices in area climb past $3 per gallon
By KATE CLEMENTS
Published Online August 31, 2005
As gas prices topped $3 per gallon in East Central Illinois, the Bush administration announced today it would release oil from federal reserves.
Meanwhile, frustrated with rising gas prices and worried about their effect on the economy, area lawmakers are pushing for action in Springfield.
One of the solutions backed by state Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, and state Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, is a 60-day holiday from the state's sales tax on gasoline.
"It's absolutely, positively criminal that the state of Illinois is gouging its citizens at the pump," Rose said. "It's absolutely egregious because the higher the price of gas is, the higher the tax is."
The Bush move to release reserves, which was expected later in the day, is designed to give refineries a temporary supply of crude oil to take the place of interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm.
http://www.news-gazette.com/localnews/story.cfm?Number=18886
The New Zealand Herald
Typhoon strengthens, heads for Okinawa
02.09.05 2.15pm
TOKYO - A powerful typhoon churning toward Japan's Okinawa islands strengthened by Friday to a Class Five storm -- technically the same strength as Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans -- and experts said it could also threaten Japan's southernmost main island.
Typhoon Nabi -- Korean for "butterfly" -- increased in power to super-typhoon status, the Tropical Storm Risk group at University College London said on its website, www.tropicalstormrisk.com
An official at Japan's Meteorological Agency warned that the storm could reach Okinawa by Monday and could curve up to hit Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343729
Louisiana troops will 'shoot and kill' to end violence
03.09.05 6.15pm UPDATE
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters in New Orleans that National Guard troops are under her orders to "shoot and kill" to end the rampant violence in the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343753
NZ offers hurricane help, Kiwis missing
02.09.05 1.00pm
New Zealand has offered hurricane assistance to the United States.
Foreign Minister Phil Goff has been in touch with the White House and the US State Department.
He said as a friend of the United States, New Zealand stands ready to help. The response from the Americans has been that there is no request for specific assistance as yet.
Meanwhile there is growing concern for the safety of at least three New Zealanders unaccounted for in New Orleans.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10343698
Bodies litter New Orleans streets
02.09.05 1.00pm
By Mark Babineck
NEW ORLEANS - Rotting bodies litter New Orleans streets as troops headed in to control looting and violence and thousands of desperate survivors of Hurricane Katrina plead to be evacuated from the flooded city, or even just fed.
The historic jazz city became a playground for armed looters, and sporadic gunfire hampered chaotic and widely criticised rescue efforts.
The mayhem in New Orleans, after Katrina's attack on the US Gulf Coast on Monday, resembled a refugee crisis in a Third World hot spot. There was a television report that a sniper opened fire on rescue workers as they tried to evacuate sick patients from a flooded hospital.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343714
Lebanon charges four with murder in Hariri case
02.09.05 1.00pm
By Lin Noueihed
BROUMMANA, Lebanon - Lebanon has charged four pro-Syrian generals with murder over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, judicial sources said.
They said Lebanon's Public Prosecutor Saeed Meerza also charged the four, detained on Tuesday on the recommendation of chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, with attempted murder and carrying out a terrorist act. Hariri and 20 others were killed in a massive bombing in Beirut on February 14.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343700
Iraqi Shi'ites bury dead after stampede tragedy
02.09.05 1.00pm
NAJAF, Iraq - Thousands of mourners poured into the holy city of Najaf to bury some of the victims of the stampede in Baghdad in the burial ground most sacred to Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims.
The stampede on a bridge over the river Tigris during a religious festival on Wednesday killed around 1000 people, the greatest loss of Iraqi life in a single incident since the United States invasion of 2003.
The government announced a full judicial inquiry.
Hundreds of graves were dug at a cemetery in Najaf, 160km south of Baghdad. This Reuters correspondent saw at least 130 bodies being buried, with other graves open.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343704
US confirms its troops killed journalist in Iraq
02.09.05 1.00pm
BAGHDAD - The US military confirmed on Thursday that its soldiers killed a Reuters journalist in Iraq but said their action was "appropriate".
Describing Sunday's incident, when television soundman Waleed Khaled was killed by multiple shots, Major General Rick Lynch said: "That car approached at a high rate of speed and then conducted activity that in itself was suspicious. There were individuals hanging outside with what looked to be a weapon.
"It stopped and immediately put itself in reverse. Again suspicious activity. Our soldiers on the scene used established rules of engagement and all the training received ... decided that it was appropriate to engage that particular car.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343707
US confirms its troops killed journalist in Iraq
02.09.05 1.00pm
BAGHDAD - The US military confirmed on Thursday that its soldiers killed a Reuters journalist in Iraq but said their action was "appropriate".
Describing Sunday's incident, when television soundman Waleed Khaled was killed by multiple shots, Major General Rick Lynch said: "That car approached at a high rate of speed and then conducted activity that in itself was suspicious. There were individuals hanging outside with what looked to be a weapon.
"It stopped and immediately put itself in reverse. Again suspicious activity. Our soldiers on the scene used established rules of engagement and all the training received ... decided that it was appropriate to engage that particular car.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343707
Solar power firms warm up for stock market debuts
02.09.05 1.00pm
A number of solar power firms are considering floating their shares in the coming months as the soaring price of oil draws increasing interest from governments trying to reduce their dependence on importing costly and polluting fossil fuels.
The largest markets for solar power -- Germany and Japan -- have already been boosted by state support, which has made relatively-costly products such as roof-top solar panels affordable to the general public.
And despite the sharp rise in oil prices most solar companies are likely to remain dependent on political support for the medium term, which exposes investors to political risks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10343683
Two Kiwi technology firms make Asia's 'A' list
02.09.05
By Georgina Bond
Two small Kiwi companies have scored big in getting on a prestigious list of the most promising technology companies in Asia.
Esphion and Argent Networks were last week named on international magazine Red Herring's Top 100 Private Companies of Asia - the only two from New Zealand.
In doing so they sit alongside Google and eBay, both of which are now public, and which, in their early days, were spotted by Red Herring as companies that would help change the way people live and work.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10343626
Signs of Israeli diplomatic thaw with Muslim world
02.09.05 1.00pm
By Gareth Jones
ISTANBUL - Israel has held its first public talks with Pakistan in a diplomatic breakthrough spurred by its Gaza pullout that signalled a possible thaw in relations with longtime foes in the Muslim world.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said after a high-level meeting in Istanbul that his country had decided to "engage" with Israel after years as one of its harshest critics over its handling of the Palestinian uprising.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343718
High US death toll in Iraq
02.09.05
American military deaths in Iraq last month were the highest monthly total since January, and US officials predict escalating insurgent violence before the constitutional referendum in October.
At least 84 United States troops were killed in August, according to a count of deaths announced by the military.
Since the US-led invasion in March 2003, there have been 1879 American military deaths in Iraq, the Pentagon said, with another 14,265 troops wounded.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343653
Russia criticises US bio-arms report
02.09.05 9.20am
Russia has sharply criticised a United States report that suggests Moscow maintains an offensive biological weapons programme.
A US State Department report said the conclusion was based on all available evidence.
But the Kremlin said it strictly adhered to an international agreement that controls biological arms.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343651
continued ...
Katrina disrupts nation's economy
Economic activity in the United States could be severely crimped by the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina
Herald Staff and Wire Report
From gas stations to grocery stores, farms to factories, the force of Hurricane Katrina is raging through the U.S. economy.
The storm hit a chokepoint in the economy -- a concentration of ports, rail lines, barge traffic and major highways making up one of the nation's major trade hubs. Major transportation arteries are clogged, and imports and exports have slowed to a crawl.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12538591.htm
Gas prices climb; Bush makes a plea
Gas prices continued rising in South Florida, as Gov. Bush -- with Labor Day weekend approaching -- urged everyone to conserve fuel.
BY MATTHEW HAGGMAN, DOUGLAS HANKS III AND MARY ELLEN KLAS
mhaggman@herald.com
Neighborhood gas prices rose nine cents a gallon in one day amid reports of scattered outages Thursday, a Herald survey of South Florida fuel stations showed.
Average local fuel prices have jumped nearly 20 cents a gallon since Monday when Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast, one of the most important energy-producing regions to the nation -- and Florida.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539209.htm
Storm surge, debris shut 2 national parks
Katrina's storm surge swept across Everglades National Park and Dry Tortugas Park, causing rangers to keep both closed until they clean up debris left behind.
BY PETER BAILEY
pbailey@herald.com
Most of the facilities at Everglades National Park will remain closed because of damage caused by the storm surge following Hurricane Katrina.
Officials closed the areas surrounding the park's main entrance west of Florida City and at Shark Valley off the Tamiami Trail west of Miami because of flooding that rose to more than five feet.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539386.htm
2,000 still without power in Dade
By JOHN DORSCHNER
jdorschner@herald.com
Florida Power & Light announced Friday morning that its crews have finished the power restoration effort in Broward County, and were working on getting the remaining 2,000 powerless homes in Miami-Dade back on line.
The 2,000 are all that remain of the 1.45 million who lost power when Hurricane Katrina slammed through South Florida on Thursday, Aug. 25. The company's goal is to have all 2,000 customers restored by this evening.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12544431.htm
Woman awaits word on fate of her family
A Gulfport native now living in Coral Springs fears for the safety of her family after Hurricane Katrina left many in the New Orleans area homeless, widowed and orphaned.
BY DARRAN SIMON
Madeline Andrews doesn't know whether her family members are alive or dead.
Days after Hurricane Katrina slammed Mississippi and Louisiana, killing hundreds and leaving thousands homeless, Andrews waits for word.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539210.htm
Stranded pets get aid from Broward
Humane Society of Broward County staff will leave on Saturday to assist the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in helping animals displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
A team of seven from Broward will help set up a staging ground in Houston to care for the animals.
The humane society will rotate teams to Houston and such areas as Mississippi for at least the next eight weeks. As each team returns, they are to bring pets with them that need new homes in South Florida.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/12539229.htm
The Cheney Observer
Political behavior in Plame case despicable
Re "A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed," Aug. 25
Thank you for a comprehensive article on the leaking of the identity of a CIA operative for political purposes. The Valerie Plame Wilson story is complicated to the point of confusion, but the essence is this: The Bush administration was willing to compromise national security to prevent the American people from learning that Bush lied to get America to go to war against Iraq. I look forward to special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's report and the eventual impeachment of President Bush.
JOHN WEINELL
Dana Point
The fact that no one has yet been held accountable for this despicable behavior proves that Bush is either incompetent as a manager or is attempting to hide who in his group of associates leaked the information. All he had to do to resolve this issue is what any competent CEO would do under the same circumstance: summon all of his advisors and subordinates and inform them that if he didn't have the name or names of who committed this despicable act on his desk in one week, they'd all be replaced.
This incident, along with the lies and distortions that have produced the current dilemma in Iraq, should prove to any reasonable, thoughtful person that this president is unworthy of our trust.
MATT GIORGI
Brea
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-le-sunday28.4aug28,1,6166414.story
'L.A.Times' Offers Mammoth Piece On Plame Leak
By E&P Staff
Published: August 25, 2005 11:30 AM ET
NEW YORK In a mammoth 5,500-word piece Thursday headlined “A CIA Cover Blown, A White House Exposed,” Tom Hamburger and Sonni Efron lay out in The Los Angeles Times what happened in the days leading up to, and beyond, the now infamous July 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to the press.
“Beyond the whodunit,” they write, “the affair raises questions about the credibility of the Bush White House, the tactics it employs against political opponents and the justification it used for going to war.”
The article includes some fresh revelations or comments. For example, it notes that allies of Karl Rove defend his talks with reporters in which he tried to counter claims by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Then it adds that “some of Rove's colleagues say that he and others used poor judgment in talking about Wilson's wife. 'With the benefit of hindsight, it's clear our focus should have been on Wilson's facts, not his conclusions or his wife or his politics,' said one official who was helping with White House strategy at the time.”
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001021628
A CIA Cover Blown, a White House Exposed
Submitted by editor on August 25, 2005 - 2:13pm.
By Tom Hamburger and Sonni Efron
Source: LA Times
WASHINGTON — Toward the end of a steamy summer week in 2003, reporters were peppering the White House with phone calls and e-mails, looking for someone to defend the administration's claims about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
About to emerge as a key critic was Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former diplomat who asserted that the administration had manipulated intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion.
At the White House, there wasn't much interest in responding to critics like Wilson that Fourth of July weekend. The communications staff faced more pressing concerns — the president's imminent trip to Africa, growing questions about the war and declining ratings in public opinion polls.
http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/749
Ex-Halliburton worker pleads guilty to bribes
Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:24 PM ET
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A former Halliburton Co. worker pleaded guilty late last week to taking more than $110,000 in bribes from an Iraqi company in 2004 and defrauding the United States, court documents showed.
The man, Glenn Allen Powell, is facing up to 20 years in prison plus a $1.25 million fine for the crimes, which he committed while working for Halliburton's KBR engineering and construction unit, the U.S. government's largest private contractor in Iraq.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-08-22T202433Z_01_SCH273329_RTRIDST_0_USREPORT-ENERGY-HALLIBURTON-DC.XML
Ex-Halliburton employee pleads guilty to accepting bribes for Iraq work
Jeannie Shawl at 6:06 PM ET
[JURIST] Glenn Allen Powell, a former employee of Halliburton [official website; JURIST news archive] subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) [official website], has pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted bribes and defrauded the US government when awarding a contract to an Iraqi company in 2004. According to the plea agreement, KBR discovered during an internal investigation that Powell had accepted more than $110,000 in exchange for a $609,000 contract to renovate a warehouse in Iraq. Powell will be sentenced November 18 and could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine. In March, Jeff Alex Mazon, another an ex-KBR employee, was indicted on fraud charges [JURIST report]. It is alleged that Mazon cost the federal government $3.5 million by inflating subcontractor bids and taking kickbacks on contracts awarded.
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/08/ex-halliburton-employee-pleads-guilty.php
Chicago Bridge gets Halliburton-related subpoena
Dow Jones/AP
WASHINGTON — Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., a Netherlands-based engineering and construction company, has received a subpoena from a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into a Halliburton Co. construction project in Nigeria where Chicago Bridge was a subcontractor.
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Houston-based Halliburton's foreign operations have been the focus of investigations by various regulatory agencies. The U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC have been investigating allegations of bribery of Nigerian officials connected to the construction of a natural-gas liquefaction plant at Bonny Island.
Halliburton said it was under formal SEC investigation in June 2004.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3320122
Oriental Oil Kish activities suspended in Iran
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, August 23 (IranMania) - Oriental Oil Kish has been barred from continuing the projects it has at hand or has commitment to implement pending judicial inquiries into its activities, said a senior National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) official.
Mohammad Reza Moqaddam, NIOC director for planning affairs, told ISNA that the NIOC has the authority to ?halt the activities of companies involved in financial corruption as well as those which have just begun to do so?.
?Since it was revealed that this company (Oriental Oil Kish) is involved in financial corruption, it was decided that its activities must be brought to an end,? he said, adding that Pars Oil and Gas Company will hand over the project to develop South Pars phases IX and X to another contractor or complete the drilling operations using its own facilities.
http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=34651&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
Whistle-blowers need more protection
OUR OPINION: TOO MANY PUNISHED FOR CALLING IT AS THEY SEE IT
In theory, federal employees who refuse to play along when they see wrongdoing in government enjoy protection against reprisals, but don't tell that to Bunnatine H. Greenhouse. She's the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers procurement official who lost her job last week after refusing to back away from criticism of Pentagon contracts involving the Halliburton Company, formerly headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, for work in Iraq. The demotion of Ms. Greenhouse appears to be a particularly egregious instance of punishing a federal whistle-blower who won't bend to the political winds.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/12539759.htm
Florida sweeps up from Katrina, but braces for a possible encore
By Jill Barton; NHC
August 26, 2005
MIAMI (AP) - Residents of the Florida Panhandle nervously monitored the path of Hurricane Katrina early Saturday as weary South Florida homeowners swept the muddy residue of floodwaters from their basements and street crews canoed through miles of inundated roadways.
Katrina threatened an encore visit as early as Monday after ripping through southern Florida and leaving seven people dead. Though the storm appeared to have turned more toward the Louisiana-Mississippi coastline, forecasters were uncertain of exactly where along the northern Gulf Coast it might strike.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/wptv/article/0,2547,TCP_1213_4023191,00.html
Unrest intensifies at Superdome shelter
By ADAM NOSSITER
Associated Press Writer
See Expanded Coverage
More Stories, Multimedia
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Fights and trash fires broke out, rescue helicopters were shot at and anger mounted across New Orleans on Thursday, as National Guardsmen in armored vehicles poured in to help restore order across this increasingly desperate and lawless city.
"We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HURRICANE_KATRINA?SITE=FLSTU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=HURRICANE
Louisiana refugees safe at Port Salerno home
By Ike Crumpler
staff writer
September 1, 2005
PORT SALERNO — Waiting for Hurricane Katrina to amass into the ominous monster that sent anxiety levels skyrocketing in their Gulf Coast homes wasn't an option for Amber Bartron and Kerri Esteves.
"We have kids to think about," said Bartron.
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/article/0,,TCP_16736_4045517,00.html
Forget Freedom Fries: U.S. Lawmaker Jones Turns Against the War
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Walter Jones says the French may have been right about Iraq after all.
This isn't just any U.S. politician having second thoughts. Jones, a Republican representative from North Carolina, is the guy who was so incensed at France's opposition to the U.S. invasion he had the French fries served in congressional cafeterias renamed ``Freedom'' fries.
Now Jones has changed his mind about the war, and critics who called his gesture a trivializing stunt may be changing theirs about him. ``I don't think Walter's the only member'' of Congress rethinking Iraq, said Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who called Freedom fries ``one of the silliest things'' he'd ever seen in Congress. ``What's unusual about Walter is he's willing to say it.''
Jones says he has lined up 46 co-sponsors of legislation he introduced with two anti-war Democrats in June calling on President George W. Bush to set a timetable for bringing U.S. troops back. He says he expects the number of co-sponsors to increase after Congress resumes next week.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a7ixq_XdNgNA&refer=us
Gosh, he must be proud of himself.
EXCLUSIVE: Karl Rove Makes Surprise Visit to Camp Casey!
Greets, Thanks Bush Supporters Opposing Cindy Sheehan
Snubs, Ignores Combat Vets, Gold Star Families Who Made Ultimate Sacrifice for Bush's War
CRAWFORD, TX - Driving his own pickup, with two trucks blockading both sides of the street, Bush Administration Senior Political Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove made a surprise sunset visit/photo-op Tuesday night to the half dozen or so Bush supporters camped across the street from "Camp Casey" in Crawford, Texas where Cindy Sheehan -- whose son, Casey, was killed in Iraq -- originally made her stand requesting a meeting and an explanation from George W. Bush, The BRAD BLOG has learned from eye-witnesses.
According to supporters from both the Bush and Sheehan sides of the street at the makeshift protest sites, Rove's visit occurred as the bulk of Sheehan supporters and volunteers were enjoying a final "thank you dinner" down at the larger Camp Casey II several miles down the road on Tuesday evening.
http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001784.htm
Rove caught at Crawford protest site
RAW STORY
Senior Bush adviser Karl Rove was spotted at the camp of President Bush's supporters outside the Cindy Sheehan anti-war protest near Bush's Crawford Texas ranch, RAW STORY has learned.
BradBlog.com, who anchored Raw Radio's daily broadcast from the protest site, has acquired photographs of Rove greeting Bush supporters on site.
In one photo, Rove stands with a supporter's arm thrown around him in a white shirt outside a white pickup truck, grinning.
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Rove_caught_at_Crawford_protest__0901.html
Cindy Sheehan Rallies In Austin
Thursday, Cindy Sheehan takes her anti-war message to Houston, and the Office of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Wednesday's bus tour stop was in the Capital City.
Nearly 2,000 people marched from the capitol to city hall and heard Sheehan talk about Casey, the son she lost in Iraq.
"They did the worst thing they could do to me on April 4, 2004. They took my oldest son away from me for nothing, and I wanted to come up here and say," Sheehan said, "'George Bush, you keep saying my son died for a noble cause. What is that noble cause? Why did you send my son, my oldest child, my baby boy, to die?'"
http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=3794540&nav=0s3de1fj
In the Bush administration, yes men (and women) will do nicely
It ought to be obvious to all by now -- it certainly is to me -- that what we have in George W. Bush is a "What-me-worry?, Don't-bring-me-no-bad news" kind of guy.
Case in point:
I've just finished reading reading Michael Shnayerson's harrowing account in Vanity Fair about the trashing of Bunnatine (Bunny) Greenhouse.
Greenhouse, as Shnayerson reports, has one of those compelling personal histories.
She's one of six children of a not-very-formally-educated-but-common-sense-blessed, God-fearing, Bible-reading African-American couple who (despite rearing their family in the rigidly segregated South) imbued their little ones (including, besides Bunny, basketball legend Elvin Hayes) with a hunger for educational excellence.
So it's no surprise that Greenhouse earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics with honors, and subsequently earned three masters degrees. Until recently, she was the highest ranking civilian at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Her job was to ensure a fair process for allocating multi-million and multi-billion-dollar Corps contracts.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050901/COLUMNISTS09/509010373
Cheney to host Talent fundraiser
Published Thursday, September 1, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney will host a major fundraiser for Sen. Jim Talent in September as the Missouri Republican gears up for a challenge from Democratic state Auditor Claire McCaskill.
Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer confirmed yesterday that Cheney would host the event in St. Louis on Sept. 19.
With about $3.4 million in his war chest, Talent already holds a sizable advantage over McCaskill. That includes more than $1 million from a June event that President George W. Bush attended in St. Louis.
With the race expected to garner national attention, both candidates could beat previous records for a U.S. Senate race in Missouri, said Terry Jones, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Sep/20050901News017.asp
OhmyNews International Talk Back Board
Subject : Dick Cheney Running To Canada
Name : cranston36
Date : 2005-09-02 04:05 View : 116
Dick Cheney is headed for Calgary, Alberta, Canada on September 8th and hosted by the The Fraser Institute
Fraser is based in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Michael Walter, founder of the ?쁈nstitute??is quoted as saying, "It's a private dinner for a few friends of ours with the vice president. It's by invitation only."
The cost for dinner ranges from $5,000 to $10,000.
Cheney is the Vice President of the United States. Why does he have official business in Calgary before a group that describes itself like this: ?쏧n raising the level of understanding about economic and social policy, the Institute's ideas contribute directly to the economic well-being of individual Canadians.??
What do Canadians expect to learn about social policy from Dick Cheney who has carped at the United Nations and publicly used profanity?
It might be that Dick is attracted to them.
In 2001 they released some information entitled, ?? Canadians not as generous as Americans according to the annual "Generosity Index"?? Maybe he has found his true home after all.
Other studies this ?쁈nstitute??released include :
?쏯ew study says poverty in Canada continues to be overstated??which was followed by ?쏳eturning British Columbia to Prosperity??
Cheney, is from Wyoming where 85 percent of petroleum production is controlled by British Petroleum during these times of economic trouble in the United States may be trying to gain insight from a report the Institute put out in 2001, ?쏷he Perfect Food in a Perfect Mess: The Cost of Milk in Canada??
http://english.ohmynews.com/TALK_BACK/bbs_view.asp?ba_code=63&bb_code=301791
Prices in area climb past $3 per gallon
By KATE CLEMENTS
Published Online August 31, 2005
As gas prices topped $3 per gallon in East Central Illinois, the Bush administration announced today it would release oil from federal reserves.
Meanwhile, frustrated with rising gas prices and worried about their effect on the economy, area lawmakers are pushing for action in Springfield.
One of the solutions backed by state Rep. Bill Black, R-Danville, and state Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, is a 60-day holiday from the state's sales tax on gasoline.
"It's absolutely, positively criminal that the state of Illinois is gouging its citizens at the pump," Rose said. "It's absolutely egregious because the higher the price of gas is, the higher the tax is."
The Bush move to release reserves, which was expected later in the day, is designed to give refineries a temporary supply of crude oil to take the place of interrupted shipments from tankers or offshore oil platforms affected by the storm.
http://www.news-gazette.com/localnews/story.cfm?Number=18886
The New Zealand Herald
Typhoon strengthens, heads for Okinawa
02.09.05 2.15pm
TOKYO - A powerful typhoon churning toward Japan's Okinawa islands strengthened by Friday to a Class Five storm -- technically the same strength as Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans -- and experts said it could also threaten Japan's southernmost main island.
Typhoon Nabi -- Korean for "butterfly" -- increased in power to super-typhoon status, the Tropical Storm Risk group at University College London said on its website, www.tropicalstormrisk.com
An official at Japan's Meteorological Agency warned that the storm could reach Okinawa by Monday and could curve up to hit Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343729
Louisiana troops will 'shoot and kill' to end violence
03.09.05 6.15pm UPDATE
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana - Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco warned rioters and looters in New Orleans that National Guard troops are under her orders to "shoot and kill" to end the rampant violence in the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343753
NZ offers hurricane help, Kiwis missing
02.09.05 1.00pm
New Zealand has offered hurricane assistance to the United States.
Foreign Minister Phil Goff has been in touch with the White House and the US State Department.
He said as a friend of the United States, New Zealand stands ready to help. The response from the Americans has been that there is no request for specific assistance as yet.
Meanwhile there is growing concern for the safety of at least three New Zealanders unaccounted for in New Orleans.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10343698
Bodies litter New Orleans streets
02.09.05 1.00pm
By Mark Babineck
NEW ORLEANS - Rotting bodies litter New Orleans streets as troops headed in to control looting and violence and thousands of desperate survivors of Hurricane Katrina plead to be evacuated from the flooded city, or even just fed.
The historic jazz city became a playground for armed looters, and sporadic gunfire hampered chaotic and widely criticised rescue efforts.
The mayhem in New Orleans, after Katrina's attack on the US Gulf Coast on Monday, resembled a refugee crisis in a Third World hot spot. There was a television report that a sniper opened fire on rescue workers as they tried to evacuate sick patients from a flooded hospital.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343714
Lebanon charges four with murder in Hariri case
02.09.05 1.00pm
By Lin Noueihed
BROUMMANA, Lebanon - Lebanon has charged four pro-Syrian generals with murder over the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, judicial sources said.
They said Lebanon's Public Prosecutor Saeed Meerza also charged the four, detained on Tuesday on the recommendation of chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis, with attempted murder and carrying out a terrorist act. Hariri and 20 others were killed in a massive bombing in Beirut on February 14.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343700
Iraqi Shi'ites bury dead after stampede tragedy
02.09.05 1.00pm
NAJAF, Iraq - Thousands of mourners poured into the holy city of Najaf to bury some of the victims of the stampede in Baghdad in the burial ground most sacred to Iraq's Shi'ite Muslims.
The stampede on a bridge over the river Tigris during a religious festival on Wednesday killed around 1000 people, the greatest loss of Iraqi life in a single incident since the United States invasion of 2003.
The government announced a full judicial inquiry.
Hundreds of graves were dug at a cemetery in Najaf, 160km south of Baghdad. This Reuters correspondent saw at least 130 bodies being buried, with other graves open.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343704
US confirms its troops killed journalist in Iraq
02.09.05 1.00pm
BAGHDAD - The US military confirmed on Thursday that its soldiers killed a Reuters journalist in Iraq but said their action was "appropriate".
Describing Sunday's incident, when television soundman Waleed Khaled was killed by multiple shots, Major General Rick Lynch said: "That car approached at a high rate of speed and then conducted activity that in itself was suspicious. There were individuals hanging outside with what looked to be a weapon.
"It stopped and immediately put itself in reverse. Again suspicious activity. Our soldiers on the scene used established rules of engagement and all the training received ... decided that it was appropriate to engage that particular car.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343707
US confirms its troops killed journalist in Iraq
02.09.05 1.00pm
BAGHDAD - The US military confirmed on Thursday that its soldiers killed a Reuters journalist in Iraq but said their action was "appropriate".
Describing Sunday's incident, when television soundman Waleed Khaled was killed by multiple shots, Major General Rick Lynch said: "That car approached at a high rate of speed and then conducted activity that in itself was suspicious. There were individuals hanging outside with what looked to be a weapon.
"It stopped and immediately put itself in reverse. Again suspicious activity. Our soldiers on the scene used established rules of engagement and all the training received ... decided that it was appropriate to engage that particular car.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343707
Solar power firms warm up for stock market debuts
02.09.05 1.00pm
A number of solar power firms are considering floating their shares in the coming months as the soaring price of oil draws increasing interest from governments trying to reduce their dependence on importing costly and polluting fossil fuels.
The largest markets for solar power -- Germany and Japan -- have already been boosted by state support, which has made relatively-costly products such as roof-top solar panels affordable to the general public.
And despite the sharp rise in oil prices most solar companies are likely to remain dependent on political support for the medium term, which exposes investors to political risks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10343683
Two Kiwi technology firms make Asia's 'A' list
02.09.05
By Georgina Bond
Two small Kiwi companies have scored big in getting on a prestigious list of the most promising technology companies in Asia.
Esphion and Argent Networks were last week named on international magazine Red Herring's Top 100 Private Companies of Asia - the only two from New Zealand.
In doing so they sit alongside Google and eBay, both of which are now public, and which, in their early days, were spotted by Red Herring as companies that would help change the way people live and work.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10343626
Signs of Israeli diplomatic thaw with Muslim world
02.09.05 1.00pm
By Gareth Jones
ISTANBUL - Israel has held its first public talks with Pakistan in a diplomatic breakthrough spurred by its Gaza pullout that signalled a possible thaw in relations with longtime foes in the Muslim world.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said after a high-level meeting in Istanbul that his country had decided to "engage" with Israel after years as one of its harshest critics over its handling of the Palestinian uprising.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343718
High US death toll in Iraq
02.09.05
American military deaths in Iraq last month were the highest monthly total since January, and US officials predict escalating insurgent violence before the constitutional referendum in October.
At least 84 United States troops were killed in August, according to a count of deaths announced by the military.
Since the US-led invasion in March 2003, there have been 1879 American military deaths in Iraq, the Pentagon said, with another 14,265 troops wounded.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343653
Russia criticises US bio-arms report
02.09.05 9.20am
Russia has sharply criticised a United States report that suggests Moscow maintains an offensive biological weapons programme.
A US State Department report said the conclusion was based on all available evidence.
But the Kremlin said it strictly adhered to an international agreement that controls biological arms.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10343651
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