The Rooster and his Chicks of the Month
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock - A - Doodle - When - Due"
"Oak - He - Doe - $he"
History
1663 A conspiracy of Black slaves and White indentured servants to revolt in Virginia is betrayed when a servant exposes the plot.
1759 during the final French and Indian War, the British defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham overlooking Quebec City.
1788 the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election, and declared New York City the temporary national capital.
1803 Commodore John Barry, considered by many the father of the American Navy, died in Philadelphia.
1858 In violation of the Fugitive Slave Act, John Price who was captured by the "Negro Catchers", was rescued by the people of Oberlin, OH and sent to Canada along the Underground Railroad.
1886 Author and first Black Rhodes Scholarship Alain Leroy Locke, is born in Philadelphia, PA
1943, Chiang Kai-shek became president of China.
1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
1971, a four-day inmates' rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison; the ordeal and final assault claimed 43 lives.
1972 Johnny Ford of Tuskegee and A.P. Cooper of Pritchard are elected mayors in Alabama.
1990 the combination police-courtroom drama "Law & Order" premiered on NBC television.
1993 at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
Missing in Action
1965 MOSSMAN JOE R. SPRINGFIELD PA
1966 COAKLEY WILLIAM F. LENNOX MA REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1967 REID HAROLD ERICH SALT LAKE CITY UT REMAINS IDENTIFIED 03/27/99
1968 BRIGHAM JAMES W. OCALA FL 01/01/69 RELEASED DECEASED
1970 MILLER WYATT JR. PHILDELPHIA PA
September 12
1965 GREEN GERALD FORT MORGAN CO CRASH OW SAR FAILED
1966 SPRAGUE STANLEY G. RAPID CITY SD REMAINS RETURNED 09/13/90
1966 WAGGONER ROBERT F. STEAMBOAT SPRINGS CO 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 HAWTHORNE RICHARD WILLIAM TROY NY
1967 KANE RICHARD RAYMOND WAYNE NJ
1968 MAXWELL SAMUEL C. OMAHA NE REMAINS RETURNED 6/21/89 ID 10/26/89
1968 SHARK EARL E. POMONA CA 09/68 DIC - ON PRG DIC LIST
1972 MC MURRAY FREDERICK C. COEUR D ALENE ID 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 ZUBERBUHLER RUDOLPH U. LOWMAN ID 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
September 11
1967 ANSPACH ROBERT A. MACON MO
1967 OVERLY NORRIS M. WHEELING WV 02/16/68 RELEASED BORN 1929
1967 PETERSEN GAYLORD DEAN SAN LEANDRO CA 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1968 VANDYKE RICHARD H. SALT LAKE CITY UT "HELD IN AN VIHN, DIED INJURIES" REMAINS RETURNED 07/08/81
1969 HELWIG ROGER D. COLORADO SPRINGS CO
1969 STEARNS ROGER H. BOULDER CO REMAINS RETURNED 05/22/90
1970 PLASSMEYER BERNARD H. FREEDBURG MO
1972 HEEREN JEROME D. BROOKINGS SD 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1972 RATZLAFF BRIAN M. LONG BEACH CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
September 10
1965 RIVERS WENDELL B. SEWARD NE 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 PETERSON DOUGLAS B. MINEOLA IA 03/01/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1966 TALLEY BERNARD L. BALTIMORE MD 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 TATUM LAWRENCE B. CHATTANOOGA TN
1971 CORNWELL LEROY J. III TUSCON AZ REMAINS RETURNED 08/94 ID'D 03/96
1971 IVAN ANDREW JR. SOUTH RIVER NJ REMAINS RETURNED 08/94 ID'D 03/96
1972 MUSSELMAN STEPHEN OWEN TEXARKANA TX "DEAD, NHAN DAN PHOTO REMAINS RETURNED 07/08/81"
1974 DEAN CHARLES
September 9
1965 STOCKDALE JAMES B. ABINGDON IL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 BLEVINS JOHN C. SAN ANTONIO TX 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 FISCHER JOHN RICHARD PITTSBURGH PA
The Jerusalem Post
From Gush Katif to 'the Fat Man's Belly'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
The Palestinian Authority announced on Tuesday a list of new names for the former settlements in the Gaza Strip and instructed the Palestinian media to stop using the former names.
The PA's Information Ministry noted that the list was not final and that more Arabic names would be issued in the near future. A source in the ministry said the decision to rename the former settlements was taken without consulting with Hamas and other Palestinian groups.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126578006759
Abbas: Order will be imposed in Gaza
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told his people in a televised speech Tuesday that he would take immediate steps to impose order in chaotic Gaza.
Abbas spoke a day after Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza. Since the withdrawal, Palestinian security forces have tried to prevent scavenging and looting in abandoned Jewish settlements, but have failed in most cases. Security commanders have said they don't have the manpower to do the job.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126578006764
Editorial: Hold Palestinians accountable
Israelis awoke yesterday to the news that the gates to Gaza had been ceremoniously shut, and that the Palestinians' joyous burning of Gush Katif's synagogues, which the cabinet had voted not to destroy, had begun. We were also informed that the US State Department had criticized the cabinet decision not to destroy the synagogues because it "put the Palestinian Authority into a situation where it may be criticized for whatever it does."
It is never exactly clear when a State Department spokesman says something like this whether he or she is ad-libbing or whether a particular pearl has been cleared at the cabinet level. Either way, however, such statements are instructive because they either reflect a conscious, high-level decision or are considered so uncontroversial that a low-level official can say them without fear of contradiction.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126491576175
Egypt, PA agree to seal off border
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Egyptian and Palestinian security officials met on Tuesday in an attempt to ease tensions between the two sides after thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip crossed into Egypt over the past 48 hours.
On Monday, Egyptian border policemen deployed along the Philadelphi route shot and killed a Palestinian man as he tried to infiltrate into Egypt. Another three Palestinians were injured in the incident.
Sources in the Gaza Strip said thousands of Palestinians have illegally crossed into Egypt over the past 48 hours, prompting Egyptian security officials to file a complaint with the PA.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126578003516
The Middle East Times
Pakistan offers to build Afghan security fence
September 13, 2005
United Nations
Chafing under criticism Pakistan is not doing enough to counter terrorism, President Pervez Musharraf offered yesterday to construct a security fence to deter incursion of militants and drug merchants from Afghanistan. Musharraf made the offer at a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that was expanded to 75 minutes from the 30 minutes originally planned. It sets the stage for President Bush's meeting with the Pakistani leader today. Osama bin Laden, head of the Al Qaeda terror network, is believed to be hiding in the border area. (AP)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/09/13/pakistan_offers_to_build_afghan_security_fence/
Rumsfeld calls for more flexibility from Nato troops
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Berlin and Peter Spiegel in London
Published: September 13 2005 17:44 Last updated: September 13 2005 17:44
Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, said he willl step up pressure on European Nato nations to broaden their militaries’ rules of engagement as the alliance prepares to deploy troops into Afghanistan’s violent southern provinces.
Mr Rumsfeld said it had become “enormously difficult” for commanders to have flexibility when forces from different countries under their command were subject to different rules of engagement and restrictions on operations.
US military leaders, including General James Jones, Nato’s supreme commander, have expressed concern about so-called “national caveats” on troop movements ever since the alliance sent troops to Afghanistan two years ago.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f719725e-2473-11da-a5d0-00000e2511c8.html
Iran's Ahmadinejad faces tough baptism at U.N.
By Paul Hughes
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attempt to avert referral of Tehran's nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council during a tough baptism on the world stage at this week's U.N. General Assembly.
The new president, elected in June on a hardline platform which rejected the need for renewed dialogue with arch-foe Washington, has promised to deliver a new proposal in New York to break the stalemate in Iran's atomic standoff with the West.
http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2005/9/13/worldupdates/2005-09-13T172852Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-216092-1&sec=Worldupdates
Jihad to continue campaign against Israel
Armed Palestinian faction vows resistance will continue as long as Israel controls Gaza Strip access.
NETZARIM, Gaza Strip - The armed Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad vowed Tuesday to continue its campaign against Israel as long as the Jewish state continued to control access in and out of the Gaza Strip.
"Islamic Jihad does not consider what has happened in the Gaza Strip as a total retreat as the Zionist enemy continues to strangle our territories and our air space," one of the group's leaders, Mohammed al-Hindi, told a news conference in a former Israeli settlement.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/palestine/?id=14523
WHO Launches Polio Vaccination Campaign
By SAM CAGE
Associated Press Writer
GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N. health agency said Tuesday it has launched a series of polio immunization campaigns in east Africa after a new case was confirmed in Somalia, a country that had been free of the disease since 2002.
Concern has been growing that outbreaks in neighboring Ethiopia and Yemen could spread across porous borders into Somalia, the World Health Organization said in a statement.
Emergency measures have been put in place now that a case, the infection of a 15-month-old girl, has been confirmed in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, WHO said.
"There has been regular exposure of Somalia to the virus, probably from Yemen," said Bruce Aylward, coordinator of the Global Polio Eradication Program for WHO. "We're trying to battle some wildfires, so to speak."
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POLIO_SOMALIA?SITE=CAWOO&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-09-13-07-08-14
Haaretz
PA official: Abbas aims to begin disarming militias
By News Agencies
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas aims to start disarming small militant groups soon and will insist that the Hamas faction puts down weapons after January elections, a top aide said on Tuesday.
Abbas' chief of staff, Rafiq Husseini, said the PA Chairman wants to end local lawlessness. Israel has also demanded disarmament as a precondition for statehood talks.
Husseini said Abbas planned to start by disarming the small armed groups within his own Fatah movement before moving onto bigger, better armed and more disciplined organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/624486.html
Sharon says expected Palestinians to torch Gaza synagogues
By Amos Harel, Arnon Regular and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service and Reuters
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in his first comments to reporters since Israel quit Gaza, said on Tuesday the burning of synagogues by Palestinians rushing into evacuated Jewish settlements was no less than he expected.
"I didn't think it would be any different," he said on a flight to New York, where he will address the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
Citing fears of desecration, the cabinet originally planned to destroy the 17 synagogues left standing in 21 Gaza settlements that were evacuated and demolished last month.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/624320.html
The Jewish soul
By Nadav Shragai
"In the Jewish soul, we have always heard, the Jewish spark is waiting for it's day," wrote Nathan Alterman, in an almost axiomatic assumption ("Seventh Column," 1946).
"A Jew may be ignorant or learned, intelligent or stupid, friend or foe, the best or scum, but he cannot be a Jew without a Jewish soul," he wrote.
Alterman marveled at this, but assumed that "such is nature," for "this is the essence and character of this soul." Almost 60 years after he wrote those famous words, the Jewish State is questioning this assumption in its handling of the Gush Katif synagogues.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/624036.html
continued …
"Oak - He - Doe - $he"
History
1663 A conspiracy of Black slaves and White indentured servants to revolt in Virginia is betrayed when a servant exposes the plot.
1759 during the final French and Indian War, the British defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham overlooking Quebec City.
1788 the Congress of the Confederation authorized the first national election, and declared New York City the temporary national capital.
1803 Commodore John Barry, considered by many the father of the American Navy, died in Philadelphia.
1858 In violation of the Fugitive Slave Act, John Price who was captured by the "Negro Catchers", was rescued by the people of Oberlin, OH and sent to Canada along the Underground Railroad.
1886 Author and first Black Rhodes Scholarship Alain Leroy Locke, is born in Philadelphia, PA
1943, Chiang Kai-shek became president of China.
1948, Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress.
1971, a four-day inmates' rebellion at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York ended as police and guards stormed the prison; the ordeal and final assault claimed 43 lives.
1972 Johnny Ford of Tuskegee and A.P. Cooper of Pritchard are elected mayors in Alabama.
1990 the combination police-courtroom drama "Law & Order" premiered on NBC television.
1993 at the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat shook hands after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
Missing in Action
1965 MOSSMAN JOE R. SPRINGFIELD PA
1966 COAKLEY WILLIAM F. LENNOX MA REMAINS RETURNED 05/89
1967 REID HAROLD ERICH SALT LAKE CITY UT REMAINS IDENTIFIED 03/27/99
1968 BRIGHAM JAMES W. OCALA FL 01/01/69 RELEASED DECEASED
1970 MILLER WYATT JR. PHILDELPHIA PA
September 12
1965 GREEN GERALD FORT MORGAN CO CRASH OW SAR FAILED
1966 SPRAGUE STANLEY G. RAPID CITY SD REMAINS RETURNED 09/13/90
1966 WAGGONER ROBERT F. STEAMBOAT SPRINGS CO 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 HAWTHORNE RICHARD WILLIAM TROY NY
1967 KANE RICHARD RAYMOND WAYNE NJ
1968 MAXWELL SAMUEL C. OMAHA NE REMAINS RETURNED 6/21/89 ID 10/26/89
1968 SHARK EARL E. POMONA CA 09/68 DIC - ON PRG DIC LIST
1972 MC MURRAY FREDERICK C. COEUR D ALENE ID 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 ZUBERBUHLER RUDOLPH U. LOWMAN ID 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
September 11
1967 ANSPACH ROBERT A. MACON MO
1967 OVERLY NORRIS M. WHEELING WV 02/16/68 RELEASED BORN 1929
1967 PETERSEN GAYLORD DEAN SAN LEANDRO CA 08/23/78 REMAINS RETURNED MONTGOM HANOI
1968 VANDYKE RICHARD H. SALT LAKE CITY UT "HELD IN AN VIHN, DIED INJURIES" REMAINS RETURNED 07/08/81
1969 HELWIG ROGER D. COLORADO SPRINGS CO
1969 STEARNS ROGER H. BOULDER CO REMAINS RETURNED 05/22/90
1970 PLASSMEYER BERNARD H. FREEDBURG MO
1972 HEEREN JEROME D. BROOKINGS SD 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 96
1972 RATZLAFF BRIAN M. LONG BEACH CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
September 10
1965 RIVERS WENDELL B. SEWARD NE 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 PETERSON DOUGLAS B. MINEOLA IA 03/01/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98
1966 TALLEY BERNARD L. BALTIMORE MD 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 TATUM LAWRENCE B. CHATTANOOGA TN
1971 CORNWELL LEROY J. III TUSCON AZ REMAINS RETURNED 08/94 ID'D 03/96
1971 IVAN ANDREW JR. SOUTH RIVER NJ REMAINS RETURNED 08/94 ID'D 03/96
1972 MUSSELMAN STEPHEN OWEN TEXARKANA TX "DEAD, NHAN DAN PHOTO REMAINS RETURNED 07/08/81"
1974 DEAN CHARLES
September 9
1965 STOCKDALE JAMES B. ABINGDON IL 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 BLEVINS JOHN C. SAN ANTONIO TX 03/04/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1966 FISCHER JOHN RICHARD PITTSBURGH PA
The Jerusalem Post
From Gush Katif to 'the Fat Man's Belly'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
The Palestinian Authority announced on Tuesday a list of new names for the former settlements in the Gaza Strip and instructed the Palestinian media to stop using the former names.
The PA's Information Ministry noted that the list was not final and that more Arabic names would be issued in the near future. A source in the ministry said the decision to rename the former settlements was taken without consulting with Hamas and other Palestinian groups.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126578006759
Abbas: Order will be imposed in Gaza
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told his people in a televised speech Tuesday that he would take immediate steps to impose order in chaotic Gaza.
Abbas spoke a day after Israeli forces pulled out of Gaza. Since the withdrawal, Palestinian security forces have tried to prevent scavenging and looting in abandoned Jewish settlements, but have failed in most cases. Security commanders have said they don't have the manpower to do the job.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126578006764
Editorial: Hold Palestinians accountable
Israelis awoke yesterday to the news that the gates to Gaza had been ceremoniously shut, and that the Palestinians' joyous burning of Gush Katif's synagogues, which the cabinet had voted not to destroy, had begun. We were also informed that the US State Department had criticized the cabinet decision not to destroy the synagogues because it "put the Palestinian Authority into a situation where it may be criticized for whatever it does."
It is never exactly clear when a State Department spokesman says something like this whether he or she is ad-libbing or whether a particular pearl has been cleared at the cabinet level. Either way, however, such statements are instructive because they either reflect a conscious, high-level decision or are considered so uncontroversial that a low-level official can say them without fear of contradiction.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126491576175
Egypt, PA agree to seal off border
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Egyptian and Palestinian security officials met on Tuesday in an attempt to ease tensions between the two sides after thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip crossed into Egypt over the past 48 hours.
On Monday, Egyptian border policemen deployed along the Philadelphi route shot and killed a Palestinian man as he tried to infiltrate into Egypt. Another three Palestinians were injured in the incident.
Sources in the Gaza Strip said thousands of Palestinians have illegally crossed into Egypt over the past 48 hours, prompting Egyptian security officials to file a complaint with the PA.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1126578003516
The Middle East Times
Pakistan offers to build Afghan security fence
September 13, 2005
United Nations
Chafing under criticism Pakistan is not doing enough to counter terrorism, President Pervez Musharraf offered yesterday to construct a security fence to deter incursion of militants and drug merchants from Afghanistan. Musharraf made the offer at a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that was expanded to 75 minutes from the 30 minutes originally planned. It sets the stage for President Bush's meeting with the Pakistani leader today. Osama bin Laden, head of the Al Qaeda terror network, is believed to be hiding in the border area. (AP)
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/09/13/pakistan_offers_to_build_afghan_security_fence/
Rumsfeld calls for more flexibility from Nato troops
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Berlin and Peter Spiegel in London
Published: September 13 2005 17:44 Last updated: September 13 2005 17:44
Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, said he willl step up pressure on European Nato nations to broaden their militaries’ rules of engagement as the alliance prepares to deploy troops into Afghanistan’s violent southern provinces.
Mr Rumsfeld said it had become “enormously difficult” for commanders to have flexibility when forces from different countries under their command were subject to different rules of engagement and restrictions on operations.
US military leaders, including General James Jones, Nato’s supreme commander, have expressed concern about so-called “national caveats” on troop movements ever since the alliance sent troops to Afghanistan two years ago.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f719725e-2473-11da-a5d0-00000e2511c8.html
Iran's Ahmadinejad faces tough baptism at U.N.
By Paul Hughes
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will attempt to avert referral of Tehran's nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council during a tough baptism on the world stage at this week's U.N. General Assembly.
The new president, elected in June on a hardline platform which rejected the need for renewed dialogue with arch-foe Washington, has promised to deliver a new proposal in New York to break the stalemate in Iran's atomic standoff with the West.
http://thestaronline.com/news/story.asp?file=/2005/9/13/worldupdates/2005-09-13T172852Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-216092-1&sec=Worldupdates
Jihad to continue campaign against Israel
Armed Palestinian faction vows resistance will continue as long as Israel controls Gaza Strip access.
NETZARIM, Gaza Strip - The armed Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad vowed Tuesday to continue its campaign against Israel as long as the Jewish state continued to control access in and out of the Gaza Strip.
"Islamic Jihad does not consider what has happened in the Gaza Strip as a total retreat as the Zionist enemy continues to strangle our territories and our air space," one of the group's leaders, Mohammed al-Hindi, told a news conference in a former Israeli settlement.
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/palestine/?id=14523
WHO Launches Polio Vaccination Campaign
By SAM CAGE
Associated Press Writer
GENEVA (AP) -- The U.N. health agency said Tuesday it has launched a series of polio immunization campaigns in east Africa after a new case was confirmed in Somalia, a country that had been free of the disease since 2002.
Concern has been growing that outbreaks in neighboring Ethiopia and Yemen could spread across porous borders into Somalia, the World Health Organization said in a statement.
Emergency measures have been put in place now that a case, the infection of a 15-month-old girl, has been confirmed in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, WHO said.
"There has been regular exposure of Somalia to the virus, probably from Yemen," said Bruce Aylward, coordinator of the Global Polio Eradication Program for WHO. "We're trying to battle some wildfires, so to speak."
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POLIO_SOMALIA?SITE=CAWOO&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-09-13-07-08-14
Haaretz
PA official: Abbas aims to begin disarming militias
By News Agencies
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas aims to start disarming small militant groups soon and will insist that the Hamas faction puts down weapons after January elections, a top aide said on Tuesday.
Abbas' chief of staff, Rafiq Husseini, said the PA Chairman wants to end local lawlessness. Israel has also demanded disarmament as a precondition for statehood talks.
Husseini said Abbas planned to start by disarming the small armed groups within his own Fatah movement before moving onto bigger, better armed and more disciplined organizations like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/624486.html
Sharon says expected Palestinians to torch Gaza synagogues
By Amos Harel, Arnon Regular and Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service and Reuters
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in his first comments to reporters since Israel quit Gaza, said on Tuesday the burning of synagogues by Palestinians rushing into evacuated Jewish settlements was no less than he expected.
"I didn't think it would be any different," he said on a flight to New York, where he will address the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
Citing fears of desecration, the cabinet originally planned to destroy the 17 synagogues left standing in 21 Gaza settlements that were evacuated and demolished last month.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/624320.html
The Jewish soul
By Nadav Shragai
"In the Jewish soul, we have always heard, the Jewish spark is waiting for it's day," wrote Nathan Alterman, in an almost axiomatic assumption ("Seventh Column," 1946).
"A Jew may be ignorant or learned, intelligent or stupid, friend or foe, the best or scum, but he cannot be a Jew without a Jewish soul," he wrote.
Alterman marveled at this, but assumed that "such is nature," for "this is the essence and character of this soul." Almost 60 years after he wrote those famous words, the Jewish State is questioning this assumption in its handling of the Gush Katif synagogues.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/624036.html
continued …
Morning Papers - continued
Cheney Observer
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R
U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-Hanahan, whose district includes coastal Charleston, Georgetown and Myrtle Beach
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, whose district includes coastal Hilton Head
No
Drilling should remain banned
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, whose district includes Colleton and part of Charleston counties on the coast
Maybe
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R, says inventory should be taken but has concerns about drilling
U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, R-Travelers Rest, is leaning toward yes but would like to know more about the risks
U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-York, is undecided
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/12614854.htm
Hurricane Halliburton
Having finished the search for a luxury vacation home on the eastern shore of Maryland – which preoccupied him during the critical initial days of what is being called the worst natural disaster in American history – Vice President Dick Cheney jetted south late last week to inspect the damage.
With the wheels rolling for the purchase of his own $2.9 million home on the east coast, the Cheney was more or less ready to commiserate with the folks who had lost their homes on the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, not all of the locals were prepared to thank the vice president for finally showing up.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=21497
Bonanza for Bush allies
Washington
12sep05
COMPANIES with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of the Federal Emergency Agency are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of FEMA, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group and the other is Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice-President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National, a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp, has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane.
President Bush has named Bechtel's CEO on his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16566183^954,00.html
DeLay to evacuees: 'Is this kind of fun?'
U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's visit to Reliant Park this morning offered him a glimpse of what it's like to be living in shelter.
While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.
The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"
They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.
http://blogs.chron.com/domeblog/archives/2005/09/delay_to_evacue.html
Cheney quip adds fuel to Katrina politics
RAW STORY
On Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney became the latest high profile official to offer a soundbite about Hurricane Katrina, saying all evacuees he's met have been 'thankful,' adding to a spate of comments raising eyebrows regarding the Katrina disaster, RAW STORY has found.
According to Reuters, Cheney's words were in response to reporters' questions about what evacuees had had to say to the Vice President as he toured the Austin convention centre in the wake of the demotion of FEMA director Michael D. Brown, who initially had been in charge of the federal relief efforts:
"Not one of them mentioned any of it. They're all very thankful where they find themselves right now."
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/They_just_dont_get_it_do_t_0910.html
Roberts may be sidelined in some cases
GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - John Roberts is an appeals court judge with a multimillion-dollar portfolio, a spouse who is a successful lawyer and a broad roster of clients from his days in private practice.
Those all mean he probably will have to disqualify himself from dozens of Supreme Court cases should he become chief justice. It is an situation that, while not unusual, would leave the nine-member court with a potential for tie votes.
Roberts, whose confirmation hearings are to begin Monday, can minimize his problems. For example, he could put his money in mutual funds or other types of investments. But ethics experts say his early years on the Supreme Court will require diligence to avoid conflicts.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/12612252.htm
Roberts shouldn't get nod
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Last week the president dragged his feet in getting aid to the hurricane-stricken Gulf states, yet he lost no time in nominating John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States. Up until now, Roberts seemed to be an impartial jurist. Now I'm not so sure. His nomination to be chief justice came incredibly fast.
Roberts for the court is OK, but chief justice? No. That office should go to either Justice Anthony Kennedy or Justice Stephen Breyer. Either of these would better handle the American philosophical divide in the years to come.
NANCY CHARLTON
http://www.oregonlive.com/letters/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1126349947113670.xml&coll=7
Spiritual Perspective
Will John Roberts judge faithfully?
Editor's Note: Ron Polinder, the executive director of Rehoboth Christian School, was the scheduled writer for this week's Spiritual Perspective column. However, he requested that another writer's work replace his column today.
Here is his introduction to the guest column, written by Steve Monsma and originally published as a "Capital Commentary" by The Center for Public Justice:
One of the most vexing issues in all of human history is finding a proper relationship between issues of religion and politics. Wars have been fought, churches burned, and kings excommunicated over the subject. Even now as the politicians of Iraq draft a new constitution, the issue of religion's role is central to their discussion.
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/sept/091005spwrjdg.html
Poll: Bush approval at 39 percent
Saturday, September 10, 2005; Posted: 10:46 a.m. EDT (14:46 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina.
Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/10/bush.poll.ap/index.html
Court rules Bush can detain citizen as enemy soldier
By Neil Lewis
The New York Times
Published: Saturday, September 10, 2005
WASHINGTON - A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously on Friday that President Bush had the authority to detain as an enemy combatant a U.S. citizen who fought U.S. forces on foreign soil.
The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Va., threw out a ruling by a trial judge in South Carolina that Bush had overstepped his bounds by detaining for nearly three years Jose Padilla, a Chicago native.
The military has asserted that Padilla was an al-Qaeda operative who fought in Afghanistan, was trained by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, and was considering various terrorist plots in the United States. Law enforcement authorities also have identified Padilla as a former gang member in Chicago who converted to Islam.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/09/10/a3.nat.detain.0910.p1.php?section=nation_world
All eyes on Halliburton as contacts turn into contracts
Reconstruction work after Katrina is going to be costly - and highly lucrative. Oliver Morgan reports
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
With the floodwaters still high in New Orleans last week, with 25,000 body bags on their way to the city, with the Gulf of Mexico oil industry crippled - 160 platforms and 16 rigs still evacuated, oil refineries shut down - there was one group of people who, nevertheless, could see some good coming out of the wreckage. Who? Halliburton shareholders.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567102,00.html
Katrina Clean-Up: And the Winner Is . . . Halliburton
Posted by Suzanne Nossel
Last week, I warned that while we were all fretting over the fate of hurricane victims, firms with close ties to the Administration would be lining up for the reconstruction gravy train. I pointed out that such firms, including principally Halliburton and its subsidiaries, had been accused of massive fraud, mismanagement and waste in relation to their roles roles in post-war Iraq.
http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2005/09/katrina_cleanup.html
Has Bechtel shot its bolt in Britain?
The Channel link could be the undoing of the firm that could do no wrong, writes Nick Mathiason
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
Bechtel, the secretive family-owned construction giant, has been dubbed 'the working arm of the CIA', since a stint in the intelligence arm of the US government has seemed a prerequisite for a senior position.
Its contacts with senior government decision-makers are legendary. And access has paid off. Bechtel, headed by Riley Bechtel - the fourth generation to lead the group - was the first firm the US government turned to when it awarded contracts to reconstruct Iraq, even pipping Halliburton to a $1 billion job. A subsequent Iraqi contract win has doubled that potential revenue stream.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567103,00.html
Dabhol project will get financial sops: Govt
NEW DELHI: Government will grant a host of fiscal concessions, including mega power project status and duty free import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the $2.94-billion Dabhol power project to restart the troubled plant by 2006-end.
The empowered group of ministers (eGOM), headed by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Thursday decided to grant mega power project status to the Dabhol project and waive capital gains tax on transfer of assets from Dabhol Power Co to the newly formed SPV, Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd.
RGPPL is a company promoted by gas firm Gail India and power utility National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC), who have been tasked to complete the unfinished portion of the power plant and restart the project by 2006-end.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1226408.cms
continued ...
Long before there was Katrina there was awareness. Today George Walker Bush stated, "I don't know what causes these storms." Lies and deceptions roll out of his mouth like water off a duck's back. He's president? It shows !
Global Warming Is Expected To Raise Hurricane Intensity
By ANDREW C. REVKIN (NYT) 651 words
Published: September 30, 2004
Global warming is likely to produce a significant increase in the intensity and rainfall of hurricanes in coming decades, according to the most comprehensive computer analysis done so far.
By the 2080's, seas warmed by rising atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases could cause a typical hurricane to intensify about an extra half step on the five-step scale of destructive power, says the study, done on supercomputers at the Commerce Department's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton, N.J. And rainfall up to 60 miles from the core would be nearly 20 percent more intense.
Other computer modeling efforts have also predicted that hurricanes will grow stronger and wetter as a result of global warming. But this study is particularly significant, independent experts said, because it used half a dozen computer simulations of global climate, devised by separate groups at institutions around the world. The long-term trends it identifies are independent of the normal lulls and surges in hurricane activity that have been on display in recent decades.
The study was published online on Tuesday by The Journal of Climate and can be found at
www.gfdl.noaa.gov/reference/bibliography/2004/tk0401.pdf.
The new study of hurricanes and warming ''is by far and away the most comprehensive effort'' to assess the question using powerful computer simulations, said Dr. Kerry A. Emanuel, a hurricane expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has seen the paper but did not work on it. About the link between the warming of tropical oceans and storm intensity, he said, ''This clinches the issue.''
Dr. Emanuel and the study's authors cautioned that it was too soon to know whether hurricanes would form more or less frequently in a warmer world. Even as seas warm, for example, accelerating high-level winds can shred the towering cloud formations of a tropical storm.
But the authors said that even if the number of storms simply stayed the same, the increased intensity would substantially increase their potential for destruction.
Experts also said that rising sea levels caused by global warming would lead to more flooding from hurricanes -- a point underlined at the United Nations this week by leaders of several small island nations, who pleaded for more attention to the potential for devastation from tidal surges.
The new study used four climate centers' mathematical approximations of the physics by which ocean heat fuels tropical storms.
With almost every combination of greenhouse-warmed oceans and atmosphere and formulas for storm dynamics, the results were the same: more powerful storms and more rainfall, said Robert Tuleya, one of the paper's two authors. He is a hurricane expert who recently retired after 31 years at the fluid dynamics laboratory and teaches at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. The other author was Dr. Thomas R. Knutson of the Princeton laboratory.
Altogether, the researchers spawned around 1,300 virtual hurricanes using a more powerful version of the same supercomputer simulations that generates Commerce Department forecasts of the tracks and behavior of real hurricanes.
Dr. James B. Elsner, a hurricane expert at Florida State University who was among the first to predict the recent surge in Atlantic storm activity, said the new study was a significant step in examining the impacts of a warmer future.
But like Dr. Emanuel, he also emphasized that the extraordinary complexity of the oceans and atmosphere made any scientific progress ''baby steps toward a final answer.''
http://query.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F50711F83E5C0C738FDDA00894DC404482
Bush allies secure post-Katrina rebuilding contracts
Companies with ties to the White House and the former head of FEMA have clinched some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group and the other is Halliburton-subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR). Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200509/s1457680.htm
The wind at Hillary's back
William Rees-Mogg
After the chaos of Katrina, the Clinton advance on the White House is looking unstoppable
HAS KATRINA made Hillary Clinton the next President of the United States? No, because her campaign was already rolling ahead in the month before the hurricane. But Katrina, and the slow response, may have been the final blow to Republican prospects for the election of 2008.
First of all Hillary will have to win the Democratic nomination. Here one can only quote from the jingoist song: “She’s got the ships, she’s got the men, she’s got the money, too.” Hillary has the Clinton organisation behind her — the only powerful presidential machine the Democrats have created since Ted Kennedy folded his tent in 1982. As the Bush family has shown, it takes a presidential machine to win presidential elections. That is why political dynasties become so powerful in the United States.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,1052-1775942,00.html
Australia to deport anti-Halliburton peace activist
CANBERRA, Australia A Houston man who participated in a recent protest against Halliburton has been labeled a national security threat and is set to be deported from Australia.
Scott Parkin was interviewed on national television as one of the leaders of a street protest in Sydney. It was against Halliburton's commercial interests in war-torn Iraq.
Attorney General Philip Ruddock said today that Parkin's tourist visa was canceled because of security concerns.
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3834280
Enterprise Management World: IT standards matter, says Bechtel exec
'We're looking for plug and play within our organization,' says Fred Wettling
News Story by Patrick Thibodeau
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SEPTEMBER 12, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - BETHESDA, Md. -- IT vendors that don't meet technology standards have little chance of getting Bechtel Corp.'s business.
"We're looking for plug and play within our organization," Fred Wettling, technology strategy manager at San Francisco-based Bechtel, said at the Enterprise Management World conference here. And one that the company is particularly interested in is the Systems Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) standard.
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/management/story/0,10801,104575,00.html
New Orleans contracts mired in cronyism claims
By Torcuil Crichton
Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration’s first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W Bush’s former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group Inc and the other is Halliburton Co subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice president Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp, has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel’s CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
http://www.sundayherald.com/51690
Sharon Bush wins court battle
A judge dismisses a slander lawsuit against the president's former sister-in-law
By HARVEY RICE
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
A Houston judge has dismissed a slander lawsuit accusing the ex-wife of one of President Bush's brothers of spreading rumors that he fathered a child by another woman while he was married.
The ruling by state District Judge Randy Wilson on Friday was a victory for Sharon Bush, former wife of Neil Bush. It ended a bitter, two-year battle over a lawsuit filed by the former husband of Bush's then-mistress.
"Mrs. Bush obviously feels vindicated and feels as though the entire matter was in bad faith," her attorney, David Berg, said Monday.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3351284
Protesters express anger, sadness
DOUG DENISON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Viewers walk through a mock graveyard, an exhibit at Sunday's protest.
By MARIA MASTERS
Staff Writer
September 13, 2005
Hundreds of people gathered on Flagstaff Hill Sunday to honor the victims of September 11, 2001, and to support a national campaign to bring the troops home from Iraq.
Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, said that she mourned with all those who lost their loved ones four years ago.
"Mourn for the dead, but fight like hell for the living," Lessin said.
Almost two weeks after Cindy Sheehan gained national attention for camping outside President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, three buses left the state en route to Washington, D.C., to try to convince more people to speak out against the war.
http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/13/43265e8fb3979
Fallen soldier's mother makes tour
DOUG DENISON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Cindy Sheehan addresses a crowd of anti-war protesters Sunday on Flagstaff Hill.
By GWEN KEHR
For The Pitt News
September 13, 2005
Cindy Sheehan, the mother of U.S. soldier Casey Sheehan, who was killed in Iraq, and prominent leader of the "Bring Them Home Now" tour, visited Pittsburgh as part of the "Camp Neil" Memorial and Rally Sunday.
Sheehan continued her message of peace and her strong desire to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq, a message that she began sending last month while camped outside of President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/13/43265df2c6741
Mr. Bush, How on Earth you Can Call Yourself a Problem-Solver
9/12/2005
Last week, at a press conference, President Bush had the gall to say, “We’re problem-solvers.” Nonsense, No president has made and worsened problems than GW Bush. He has solved no problems, and has created problems that will dog our nation for decades.
What has GW Bush done?
1. He has destroyed some of the world’s most important environmental protections through his corrupt “clean air act.” What it did was to allow polluters more freedom and fewer penalties in order to allow them to pollute more in America.
2. He destroyed the progress that had been made on the Kyoto Treaty to help clean up the world’s pollution problems. He also bullied other nations not to sign the Kyoto Treaty; this helped kill it as a world-wide policy.
3. He antagonized the entire Arab and Muslim worlds through his rhetoric, his brutality in Iraq and his continued calling Muslims (without proof or evidence), “terrorists.” He also allowed the fundamentalist John Ashcroft to penalize Muslim charities in America and in the world—all without evidence or probative proof—merely by assertion. No lawyer in the world could get away with using allegation as proof!
http://iqna.ir/NewsBodyDesc_en.asp?lang=en&ProdID=28322
Black college decline puts heat on Bush's policy
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TALLAHASSEE -- New figures show fewer black students are attending Florida universities than in the past seven years -- ammunition for critics of Gov Jeb Bush's 5-year-old policy excluding race in admissions.
The decline comes despite continued growth in the overall student population -- a 3.1 percent increase to nearly 282,000 students, according to Friday's figures.
"We need to find out what's going on," said David Griffin, a trustee for the historically black Florida A&M University.
Bush has celebrated freshmen enrollment numbers to rebuff criticism of his One Florida plan, which barred universities from using race in admission decisions. In its place, the state installed the Talented 20 program, which guarantees a spot at a state university to those in the top 20 percent of their senior classes.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050912/NEWS/509120595/1006/SPORTS
Bush Cronies Tapped For Katrina Reconstruction Contracts…
Reuters Posted September 12, 2005 11:55 AM
Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2005/09/12/bush-cronies-tapped-for-k_n_7221.html
A Very, Very Good Idea___“Go fuck yourself Mr. Cheney
Ben Marble, a Gulfport resident who says he’s a doctor, had the guts to wade int
by DOUG THOMPSON
“Go fuck yourself Mr. Cheney,” Marble screamed just off camera as the event played out live on CNN. “Go fuck yourself you asshole!”
Secret Service agents subdued Marble and CNN yanked the video off its web site but copies of it float around the Internet and Marble, who’s homeless after Katrina destroyed his Gulfport home, is offering a copy for sale on EBay.
Republicans, of course, jumped in with carefully-crafted indignation over Marble’s “inappropriate remarks” to Cheney, forgetting the Vice President used the same words to tell off a Senator just last year.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_doug_tho_050912_a_very__very_good_id.htm
Cheney fundraiser for Talent canceled
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A major St. Louis fundraiser for Missouri Sen. Jim Talent that was set for Sept. 19 has been postponed because of Hurricane Katrina.
The event, which was to feature Vice President Dick Cheney, will be rescheduled, Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer said Monday.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12626556.htm
THE BUZZ: Cheney buying home?
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The Kansas City Star
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St. Michaels, Md., is abuzz that Vice President Dick Cheney might buy a $2.9 million waterfront home not far from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s home. The purchase couldn’t officially be confirmed, but Police Chief Ed Henry even referred to the property as “Cheney’s house.”
It’s a 9-acre estate with ornamental pools and extensive gardens. Real estate company owner Charles Mangold told The Washington Post: “It’s under contract, but he hasn’t settled yet.”
The home was built in about 1930, possibly by one of Thomas Edison’s daughters.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascitystar/news/politics/12621269.htm
Nora Ephron: The Curious Incident of the Veep in the Summertime
Nora Ephron Mon Sep 12, 3:41 AM ET
For some time I've been wondering whether anyone is going to explain the true mystery of what happened after Hurricane Katrina struck. I read thousands of words on the subject in this morning’s New York Times, and I still don’t get it. Where was the President? And more to the point, where was the Vice President? And don’t tell me Crawford Texas and on a ranch in Wyoming. For days there was an absolute vacuum at the top. Why? What was going on?
ADVERTISEMENT
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You’ll be happy to hear that I have a theory. Is it possible that the President and the Vice President have fallen out? I mean, I’m just asking. But if you remember September 11, 2001 -- and I’m sure you do -- the President had no idea what to do, but the Vice President did. The Vice President took over. He didn’t even consult with the President. He put the President on Air Force One and the President spent the day flying from one airport to another, which was something that even the President eventually understood made him look as if he wasn’t in charge.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20050912/cm_huffpost/007189
Congress probes hurricane clean-up contracts
Oliver Morgan, industrial editor
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
A powerful investigative agency of the US Congress is to investigate the award of contracts by the Bush administration for emergency and reconstruction work in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The Government Accounting Office, which monitors public spending, is to audit the contracts won by the US firms. Already contracts have been given for repairing New Orleans' flood levees, rebuilding naval facilities, providing temporary housing and removing debris.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567081,00.html
King George II and queen mum
Monday, Sep 12, 2005
By John Brummett
Hurricane Katrina advanced an apparent American political truism. It is that a president might be able to hide for a term, but will be revealed inevitably if he gets to a second.
Nixon's darkness met its fate in the second term. Reagan's simplistic superficiality was laid bare in his second go-round. Iran-contra happened and he was able to contend credibly that he lacked a clue what was going on in the White House basement. Clinton's radiator actually overheated in the first term, but we didn't find out until the second.
Now we see plainly in his fifth presidential year that George W. Bush is incompetent and insensitive.
This fortunate son of privilege didn't get it, never got it, probably doesn't even really get it now - that a Third World America washed up in New Orleans, and that poor people, mostly black, felt abandoned in their own bountiful land, because, in fact, they were, as they so often are.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/09/12/JohnBrummett/328260.html
Roberts' record shows business savvy
Nominee often argued for companies in court
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By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:00 AM ET Sept. 11, 2005
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- John Roberts' record as a corporate lawyer shows the nominee for chief justice of the United States to have substantial experience arguing for business interests, representing clients from a major automobile maker to an HMO.
With only two years' experience on the federal bench, legal observers contend that the appellate judge's sparse record makes it hard to know his personal judicial beliefs. But it's clear that Roberts is well-versed in business issues and has aligned himself with commercial concerns when representing clients.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/archivedStory.asp?archive=true&dist=ArchiveSplash&siteid=google&guid=%7B560448E8%2DA2A8%2D4779%2DB456%2DAC36DC2C16B5%7D&returnURL=%2Fnews%2Fstory%2Easp%3Fguid%3D%7B560448E8%2DA2A8%2D4779%2DB456%2DAC36DC2C16B5%7D%26siteid%3Dgoogle%26dist%3D%26archive%3Dtrue%26param%3Darchive%26garden%3D%26minisite%3D
Pelosi Supports Anti-Fraud Commission on Katrina
1 comment(s).
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For Immediate Release Sept. 11, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi announced today that she supports forming an anti-fraud commission to oversee government contracts issued in response to Hurricane Katrina:
"Congress is rightly spending billions of dollars to help the people and businesses of the Gulf Coast who have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. To ensure taxpayers’ money goes to those in need, not to fraudulent contractors, we must establish an independent commission to oversee government contracts for hurricane relief.
"Already we have seen despicable stories of those trying to profit off desperate Gulf Coast residents. To ensure accountability and that taxpayer money is spent efficiently and effectively, this ’anti-fraud commission’ would investigate waste and fraud in government contracting, as soon as the contracts are awarded.
http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=8216
`Dabhol asset transfer shortly`
Crisil Marketwire / Mumbai September 12, 2005
The transfer of assets of Dabhol Power Company will be completed by the end of September, said J Balakrishnan, executive director, Industrial Development Bank of India Ltd (IDBI).
"The transfer of the assets into the Ratnagiri Gas and Power (Pvt) Ltd is the second phase of the revival of the project," Balakrishnan said.
Details of the transfer are being worked out with the sponsors of the special purpose vehicle (SPV), GAIL and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).
The issues relating to GE, Bechtel and other foreign lenders have been settled recently. "We have taken over the loans of those banks (that financed the project) and GE, Bechtel have already been paid off," Balakrishnan said.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?storyflag=y&leftnm=lmnu2&leftindx=2&lselect=1&chklogin=N&autono=199828
Hundreds join Sheehan in rally against Iraq war
Monday, September 12, 2005
By Nate Guidry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Shielded from the sun by a large tarpaulin, Cindy Sheehan walked to the microphone dressed in blue denim shorts and no shoes, then blasted the policies of President Bush.
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Alyssa Cwanger, Post-Gazette
Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan prepares to speak to a crowd gathered on Flagstaff Hill in Oakland last evening as part of her "Bring Them Home Now" tour.
Click photo for larger image.
"Every time Bush talks he should be removed from office," Sheehan screamed into the microphone. "None of the chicken hawks have served our country the way our children have," she continued, referring to Bush and members of his administration who support the Iraq war but did not fight in previous conflicts.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05255/569972.stm
SHOULD S.C. DRILL OFFSHORE?
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Here’s what South Carolina’s congressional delegation says about whether the state should be able to allow drilling for gas off its coastline:
Yes
States should have the option to allow drilling
U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R
U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R-Hanahan, whose district includes coastal Charleston, Georgetown and Myrtle Beach
U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, whose district includes coastal Hilton Head
No
Drilling should remain banned
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, whose district includes Colleton and part of Charleston counties on the coast
Maybe
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R, says inventory should be taken but has concerns about drilling
U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, R-Travelers Rest, is leaning toward yes but would like to know more about the risks
U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-York, is undecided
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/12614854.htm
Hurricane Halliburton
Having finished the search for a luxury vacation home on the eastern shore of Maryland – which preoccupied him during the critical initial days of what is being called the worst natural disaster in American history – Vice President Dick Cheney jetted south late last week to inspect the damage.
With the wheels rolling for the purchase of his own $2.9 million home on the east coast, the Cheney was more or less ready to commiserate with the folks who had lost their homes on the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, not all of the locals were prepared to thank the vice president for finally showing up.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=21497
Bonanza for Bush allies
Washington
12sep05
COMPANIES with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of the Federal Emergency Agency are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of FEMA, have already been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast.
One is Shaw Group and the other is Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root. Vice-President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton.
Bechtel National, a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp, has also been selected by FEMA to provide short-term housing for people displaced by the hurricane.
President Bush has named Bechtel's CEO on his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16566183^954,00.html
DeLay to evacuees: 'Is this kind of fun?'
U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's visit to Reliant Park this morning offered him a glimpse of what it's like to be living in shelter.
While on the tour with top administration officials from Washington, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao and U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow, DeLay stopped to chat with three young boys resting on cots.
The congressman likened their stay to being at camp and asked, "Now tell me the truth boys, is this kind of fun?"
They nodded yes, but looked perplexed.
http://blogs.chron.com/domeblog/archives/2005/09/delay_to_evacue.html
Cheney quip adds fuel to Katrina politics
RAW STORY
On Saturday, Vice President Dick Cheney became the latest high profile official to offer a soundbite about Hurricane Katrina, saying all evacuees he's met have been 'thankful,' adding to a spate of comments raising eyebrows regarding the Katrina disaster, RAW STORY has found.
According to Reuters, Cheney's words were in response to reporters' questions about what evacuees had had to say to the Vice President as he toured the Austin convention centre in the wake of the demotion of FEMA director Michael D. Brown, who initially had been in charge of the federal relief efforts:
"Not one of them mentioned any of it. They're all very thankful where they find themselves right now."
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/They_just_dont_get_it_do_t_0910.html
Roberts may be sidelined in some cases
GINA HOLLAND
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - John Roberts is an appeals court judge with a multimillion-dollar portfolio, a spouse who is a successful lawyer and a broad roster of clients from his days in private practice.
Those all mean he probably will have to disqualify himself from dozens of Supreme Court cases should he become chief justice. It is an situation that, while not unusual, would leave the nine-member court with a potential for tie votes.
Roberts, whose confirmation hearings are to begin Monday, can minimize his problems. For example, he could put his money in mutual funds or other types of investments. But ethics experts say his early years on the Supreme Court will require diligence to avoid conflicts.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/12612252.htm
Roberts shouldn't get nod
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Last week the president dragged his feet in getting aid to the hurricane-stricken Gulf states, yet he lost no time in nominating John Roberts to be chief justice of the United States. Up until now, Roberts seemed to be an impartial jurist. Now I'm not so sure. His nomination to be chief justice came incredibly fast.
Roberts for the court is OK, but chief justice? No. That office should go to either Justice Anthony Kennedy or Justice Stephen Breyer. Either of these would better handle the American philosophical divide in the years to come.
NANCY CHARLTON
http://www.oregonlive.com/letters/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1126349947113670.xml&coll=7
Spiritual Perspective
Will John Roberts judge faithfully?
Editor's Note: Ron Polinder, the executive director of Rehoboth Christian School, was the scheduled writer for this week's Spiritual Perspective column. However, he requested that another writer's work replace his column today.
Here is his introduction to the guest column, written by Steve Monsma and originally published as a "Capital Commentary" by The Center for Public Justice:
One of the most vexing issues in all of human history is finding a proper relationship between issues of religion and politics. Wars have been fought, churches burned, and kings excommunicated over the subject. Even now as the politicians of Iraq draft a new constitution, the issue of religion's role is central to their discussion.
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2005/sept/091005spwrjdg.html
Poll: Bush approval at 39 percent
Saturday, September 10, 2005; Posted: 10:46 a.m. EDT (14:46 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina.
Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/10/bush.poll.ap/index.html
Court rules Bush can detain citizen as enemy soldier
By Neil Lewis
The New York Times
Published: Saturday, September 10, 2005
WASHINGTON - A three-judge federal appeals court panel ruled unanimously on Friday that President Bush had the authority to detain as an enemy combatant a U.S. citizen who fought U.S. forces on foreign soil.
The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Va., threw out a ruling by a trial judge in South Carolina that Bush had overstepped his bounds by detaining for nearly three years Jose Padilla, a Chicago native.
The military has asserted that Padilla was an al-Qaeda operative who fought in Afghanistan, was trained by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, and was considering various terrorist plots in the United States. Law enforcement authorities also have identified Padilla as a former gang member in Chicago who converted to Islam.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/09/10/a3.nat.detain.0910.p1.php?section=nation_world
All eyes on Halliburton as contacts turn into contracts
Reconstruction work after Katrina is going to be costly - and highly lucrative. Oliver Morgan reports
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
With the floodwaters still high in New Orleans last week, with 25,000 body bags on their way to the city, with the Gulf of Mexico oil industry crippled - 160 platforms and 16 rigs still evacuated, oil refineries shut down - there was one group of people who, nevertheless, could see some good coming out of the wreckage. Who? Halliburton shareholders.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567102,00.html
Katrina Clean-Up: And the Winner Is . . . Halliburton
Posted by Suzanne Nossel
Last week, I warned that while we were all fretting over the fate of hurricane victims, firms with close ties to the Administration would be lining up for the reconstruction gravy train. I pointed out that such firms, including principally Halliburton and its subsidiaries, had been accused of massive fraud, mismanagement and waste in relation to their roles roles in post-war Iraq.
http://www.democracyarsenal.org/2005/09/katrina_cleanup.html
Has Bechtel shot its bolt in Britain?
The Channel link could be the undoing of the firm that could do no wrong, writes Nick Mathiason
Sunday September 11, 2005
The Observer
Bechtel, the secretive family-owned construction giant, has been dubbed 'the working arm of the CIA', since a stint in the intelligence arm of the US government has seemed a prerequisite for a senior position.
Its contacts with senior government decision-makers are legendary. And access has paid off. Bechtel, headed by Riley Bechtel - the fourth generation to lead the group - was the first firm the US government turned to when it awarded contracts to reconstruct Iraq, even pipping Halliburton to a $1 billion job. A subsequent Iraqi contract win has doubled that potential revenue stream.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567103,00.html
Dabhol project will get financial sops: Govt
NEW DELHI: Government will grant a host of fiscal concessions, including mega power project status and duty free import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the $2.94-billion Dabhol power project to restart the troubled plant by 2006-end.
The empowered group of ministers (eGOM), headed by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Thursday decided to grant mega power project status to the Dabhol project and waive capital gains tax on transfer of assets from Dabhol Power Co to the newly formed SPV, Ratnagiri Gas and Power Pvt Ltd.
RGPPL is a company promoted by gas firm Gail India and power utility National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC), who have been tasked to complete the unfinished portion of the power plant and restart the project by 2006-end.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1226408.cms
continued ...
Morning Papers continued
Washington Post
Bush's Approval Rating Drops To New Low in Wake of Storm
He Says Race Didn't Affect Efforts; Blacks in Poll Disagree
By Michael A. Fletcher and Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A08
Touring devastated portions of New Orleans yesterday, President Bush sought to reassure the public that the government is responding to Hurricane Katrina with equity and dispatch, even as his standing hit record lows amid broad support for an independent investigation of the federal response to the storm.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that clear majorities of Americans disapprove of the way officials at all levels of government are handling the recovery from Katrina. A 54 percent majority disapproved of Bush's response to Katrina, while an even larger majority -- 57 percent -- say state and local officials should bear responsibility for the problems.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091200668.html
More Join Guantanamo Hunger Strike
Detainees Demand Hearings, Allege Beatings by Guards
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A03
A month-old hunger strike at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has grown to include at least 128 detainees, 18 of whom are forcibly receiving intravenous fluids or nutrition in the prison hospital, military officials and detainee lawyers said yesterday.
The captives are protesting their indefinite imprisonment and what they describe as beatings administered by the prison's Immediate Response Force (IRF)-- squads of military personnel who are dispatched to put down disturbances in detainees' cells. Some have said they will refuse to eat until the military gives them a fair hearing or they die, according to their
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201690.html
5-Week-Old Born in N.Va. To Comatose Mother Dies
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A01
Susan Anne Catherine Torres, whose mother was declared brain-dead and kept on life-support for three months so she could be born, died early yesterday. She was 5 weeks and 5 days old.
The baby contracted a disease that can afflict premature infants, which led to an infection and a perforated intestine that finally overwhelmed her tiny body, according to hospital officials and the baby's uncle, Justin Torres, whose only public words yesterday were the ones he wrote.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091200669.html
Los Angeles Times
As Lights Go Out, Power Worries Rise
Mistake by DWP workers cuts electricity across the L.A. area. Public officials express doubts about the city system's integrity.
By Sharon Bernstein, Hector Becerra and Mitchell Landsberg, Times Staff Writers
A mistake on a single bundle of wires Monday cascaded into a major blackout in and around Los Angeles, inconveniencing millions of people and renewing questions about the vulnerability of the region's power system.
Coming one day after a purported Al Qaeda threat of attack on the city, the midday outage pricked nerves and caused isolated incidents of panic. Plumes of flame and smoke heightened the drama as refineries, temporarily shut by the outage, flared off excess gases.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-power13sep13,0,1192306.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Roberts Sees Role as Judicial 'Umpire'
'I have no platform,' the chief justice nominee tells senators at start of confirmation hearings.
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — Judge John G. Roberts Jr., President Bush's choice for chief justice of the United States, said Monday that he aspired to a humble and limited role as leader of the Supreme Court, more akin to an umpire who calls the balls and strikes rather than the star player who is the center of attention.
"Justices and judges are servants of the law, not the other way around," Roberts told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-roberts13sep13,0,6212450.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Polluted paradise
Giant trees, magnificent vistas, pristine wilderness. Well, reconsider the pristine part. The air in Sequoia-Kings Canyon is smoggier than New York City's.
By Gary Polakovic, Times Staff Writer
Up here, atop Beetle Rock, a precipice more than one mile high in the Sierra, air at dawn is clear, invisible, exactly as it should be. Two mule deer bucks in velvet saunter through the forest, and a sow bear and cub scratch out bugs from a big tree near Giant Grove.
Down below, 30 miles away in the San Joaquin Valley, sunrise illuminates haze like a flashlight shot through tea. The smear of smog spreads wide over Central California, constrained only by the horizon and a tabletop-flat layer of warm air called an inversion that holds a brownish haze low to valley farms and cities and highways. For now, at least, the high country is untouched.
Yet as the sun climbs, California heats up; people awaken, start their machines and pump tons of emissions into the sky. The air pollution, stratified over Visalia like the layers of a cake, begins to cook and mix and expand. The ozone gauge at Beetle Rock starts ticking upwards from .066 part per million and will soon climb toward the unhealthful mark. The smog is coming.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/outdoors/la-os-smogparknew13sep13,0,5175419.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=pacifictime
Michael Moore Today
Veteran's for Peace
On September 2, 2005 the Veterans for Peace Bus from Mendocino County, CA took a detour to help the victims of hurricane Katrina. We arrived in Covington, LA with food and supplies that Camp Casey had sent from Crawford, Texas.
We are moving some of the Camp Casey operations from the Pine View Middle School to The Green Room at 521 Boston Street in Covington - More information coming ASAP.
Please see drop off and volunteer info below as that is accruate as of September 9th.
We are using the school to support Veterans For Peace hurricane relief efforts for the people of the region. We are supporting The Red Cross with power, medical supplies, kitchen service, food bank and distribution, internet communications and trained medical personnel.
http://www.vfproadtrips.org/
Wednesday, September 7th, 2005
Here's How You Can Make an Immediate Difference in Louisiana
Friends,
There is much to be said and done about the manmade annihilation of New Orleans, caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years. Do not listen to anyone who says we can discuss all this later. No, we can't. Our country is in an immediate state of vulnerability. More hurricanes and other disasters are on the way, and a lazy bunch of self-satisfied lunatics are still running the show.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2005-09-07
A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore
To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:
On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?
How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?
That's right. Horse shows.
I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.
I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.
Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?
When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?
When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?
Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?
Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?
With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?
Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.
That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.
It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the window at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"
My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?
And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?
Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.
Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?
I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?
I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.
Yours,
Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
mmflint@aol.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=185
Roberts: 'I Have No Agenda'
Associated Press
Following are excerpts from the opening statement of John G. Roberts Jr. yesterday at the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for his nomination to be chief justice of the United States, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id-4067
People for the American Way
Oppose Roberts for Chief Justice
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Your action today is critical in alerting the Senate that the American people are unwilling to allow the position of Chief Justice to be filled by a candidate as troubling as John Roberts. With so many rights and liberties already hanging by a thread at the Supreme Court, it is all the more critical that the next Chief Justice be someone that Americans can count on to protect their rights and freedoms.
http://www.savethecourt.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=mwK0JbNTJrF&b=1022811&action=4318&template=x.ascx
US could withdraw 50,000 troops by year end-Talabani
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Reuters) - The United States could withdraw as many as 50,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year because there are enough Iraqi forces ready to begin taking control of parts of the country, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told the Washington Post.
In an interview with the newspaper that was published on Tuesday, Talabani said he would discuss reductions in U.S. forces during a private meeting with President George W. Bush and said he thought the United States could pull some troops out immediately.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4064
Embattled FEMA Director Mike Brown Resigns
By Ron Fournier / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned "in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president," three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
Brown, under fire for FEMA's performance in the Gulf Coast, said he feared he had become a distraction.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4062
A Day of Contradictions
By Dana Milbank
Saturday, September 3, 2005; Page A15
"I'm looking forward to my trip down there," President Bush said in the White House driveway yesterday morning before leaving to tour the storm wreckage.
Something must have happened in flight, because when he arrived in Mobile, Ala., two hours later, he reported: "I'm not looking forward to this trip."
Who's Blogging?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
What scenes of Washington politics would you like Dana Milbank to write about? E-mail your suggestions of people, places or events -- along with your name and hometown to Sketch@washpost.com.
For Bush, it was that kind of day. Nursing the lowest standing of his presidency, he could have used another bullhorn-atop-the-wreckage moment to symbolize his strong leadership.
Instead, while a flood of sewage and corpses filled lawless New Orleans, Bush found himself in an awkward photo op in an airport hangar, accepting hosannas from government officials and a pair of Republican governors.
"Thank you for all the help," Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said.
"Your people have been great," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said.
When it was his turn to talk, Bush congratulated the governors, then turned to FEMA Director Mike Brown and said, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Addressing another member of his party, Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.), Bush promised: "Out of the rubble of Trent Lott's house -- he lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."
The performance, broadcast on most networks, drew ridicule from CNN anchor Daryn Kagan. "The president, finally making it to the Gulf Coast after five days . . . getting a briefing that frankly he could have gotten back at the White House," she said. "A lot of that seemed like a political opportunity for the cameras and the Republican governors."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202215.html
The Boston Globe
44 found dead in New Orleans hospital
FEMA chief quits; Bush views city
By Christopher Rowland and Stephen Smith, Globe Staff September 13, 2005
NEW ORLEANS -- Forty-four bodies have been recovered in an evacuated hospital, officials announced yesterday, as the federal official in charge of the initial response to Hurricane Katrina resigned under fire, and as President Bush took a firsthand look at flood damage in parts of the city.
The bodies of the 44 patients, the largest group found so far, were removed Sunday from the Memorial Medical Center, a state health official and hospital representatives said yesterday.
The hospital, in the Mid-City neighborhood had been surrounded by water, stranding patients and staff inside for four days after the hurricane struck.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/13/44_found_dead_in_new_orleans_hospital/
Ophelia pounds beaches with heavy surf
Waves crash on shore near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, N.C., as tropical storm Ophelia lurks off of the east coast on Monday, Sept. 12, 2005. Ophelia was a minimal hurricane early Monday with sustained winds of 75 mph, but by midday it had weakened to about 70 mph, 4 mph below the threshold, the National Hurricane Center said. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
By Paul Nowell, Associated Press Writer September 13, 2005
ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. --Ophelia's fitful spinning off the Carolina coast continued early Tuesday, as the on-again-off-again tropical storm exasperated residents and pounded beaches with heavy surf.
The storm's outer bands of rain were expected to begin drenching the coast by early Wednesday as Ophelia bobs slowly to the northwest and gets better organized.
Nonresidents were ordered to leave one of North Carolina's Outer Banks islands, school systems in five counties were closed and 300 National Guard troops were sent to staging points along the coast.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/13/ophelia_pounds_beaches_with_heavy_surf/
Senate votes on EPA mercury emission rules
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press Writer September 13, 2005
WASHINGTON --Senators are challenging the Bush administration over its approach to reducing power plant emissions of mercury, a toxic metal that poses serious threats of neurological damage to newborn and young children.
The White House insists its market-based approach to curtailing mercury pollution is effective and founded on sound science, and warned that the president will veto any legislation that would overturn rules on mercury emissions finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency last March.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/13/senate_votes_on_epa_mercury_emission_rules/
U.S. world position in education slipping
By Ben Feller, AP Education Writer September 13, 2005
WASHINGTON --The United States is losing ground in education, as peers across the globe zoom by with bigger gains in student achievement and school graduations, a study shows.
Among adults age 25 to 34, the U.S. is ninth among industrialized nations in the share of its population that has at least a high school degree. In the same age group, the United States ranks seventh, with Belgium, in the share of people who hold a college degree.
By both measures, the United States was first in the world as recently as 20 years ago, said Barry McGaw, director of education for the Paris-based Organization for Cooperation and Development. The 30-nation organization develops the yearly rankings as a way for countries to evaluate their education systems and determine whether to change their policies.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/13/us_world_position_in_education_slipping/
Court mulls release of Columbine videos
This undated file photo shows yearbook photos of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The Colorado Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005, on whether videotapes and diaries made by the Columbine High School gunmen can be released publicly. The parents of Klebold and Harris argue that the items are privately owned and not subject to a state open-records law. (AP Photos/File)
By Jon Sarche, Associated Press Writer September 13, 2005
DENVER --Reporters have already seen and written about the Columbine "basement tapes" of killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold showing off their arsenal and eagerly talking about their plan to attack their high school.
But the gunmen's parents are fighting a newspaper's request for public release of the videos, audio recordings and writings Harris and Klebold made in the months before they killed 12 students and a teacher in April 1999.
The Colorado Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday from The Denver Post, the parents and the Jefferson County sheriff's office, which also opposes the release.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/13/court_mulls_release_of_columbine_videos/
Major developments in Katrina's aftermath
By The Associated Press September 13, 2005
Major developments in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
-- More than 40 bodies are discovered in a New Orleans hospital. One official says a few of the patients died before the hurricane struck, while another says some patients died waiting to be evacuated when temperatures hit 106 degrees.
-- Officials say nearly two-thirds of southeastern Louisiana's water treatment plants are up and running. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport plans to resume limited passenger service Tuesday morning.
-- It will be at least three months before New Orleans' public water system is fully operational, according to a California National Guard engineer working on the systems. Some homes have running water now, but it's mostly untreated river water.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/13/major_developments_in_katrinas_aftermath/
Palestinians told to end looting, start rebuilding
By Nidal al-Mughrabi September 13, 2005
NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Palestinians began to clear away a vast swathe of rubble in abandoned Jewish settlements and knocked down remains of a charred synagogue on Tuesday after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
"The nightmare is over, the occupation has gone and Gaza is now without settlers ... Today we begin the work of rebuilding," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said in Neve Dekalim, the site of what had been Israel's largest settlement in Gaza.
He urged the hundreds of Palestinians who continued to pour into the area to celebrate Israel's pullout but to stop looting synagogue buildings and farm equipment left behind after 38 years of occupation.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/09/13/palestinians_told_to_end_looting_start_rebuilding/
Hewlett-Packard cutting 968 UK jobs
September 13, 2005
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. computer giant Hewlett-Packard <HPQ.N> said on Tuesday it would cut 968 jobs in Britain over the next 12 months.
The job cuts will be made at Hewlett-Packard's five British sites: Bracknell, Bristol, Glasgow, Reading and Warrington, a spokesman told Reuters, adding that it would cut 5,900 jobs in total across its EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region.
Hewlett-Packard said in July it would slash about 10 percent of its work force in a sweeping move by new Chief Executive Mark Hurd to cut costs by $1.9 billion a year and compete better in cutthroat computer and printer markets.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/09/13/hewlett_packard_cutting_968_uk_jobs_1126611311/
Guardian Unlimited
Eleven Children Found Caged in Ohio Home
Tuesday September 13, 2005 4:01 AM
WAKEMAN, Ohio (AP) - Sheriff's deputies found 11 children locked in cages with alarms in a north Ohio home, and prosecutors are looking into possible charges of abuse and neglect.
The children, ages 1 to 14, were in nine cages in the walls of a house outside this city of about 1,000 about 50 miles west of Cleveland, according to the Huron County Sheriff's Office. They had no blankets or pillows, and the cages were rigged with alarms that sounded if the cages were opened, Lt. Randy Sommers said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5274120,00.html
Race not an issue in Katrina disaster, says Bush
· President uses city tour to defend federal recovery
· Beleaguered emergency services chief finally quits
Jamie Wilson in New Orleans, Julian Borger in Washington and Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Tuesday September 13, 2005
George Bush and the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, get a briefing from former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown (centre) in Mobile, Alabama. Photohgraph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty
The director of the much-criticised federal emergency management agency, Michael Brown, resigned yesterday. The news of his resignation came as George Bush, on his first visit to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, rejected suggestions that race had played a role in the slow government response to the flooding of the city.
Insisting it had been his decision to step down, Mr Brown said he had resigned to give the beleaguered agency a chance to refocus on the rescue and recovery effort. "As I told the president, it is important that I leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of Fema," Mr Brown said in a statement.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1568694,00.html
Insurer doubles forecast of Katrina claims
Jill Treanor
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
Estimates of the insurance bill to clean up after Hurricane Katrina rose yesterday when Swiss Re doubled its predictions for the size of its claims but admitted it was difficult to be certain about the final cost.
Swiss Re, the world's second-largest reinsurance firm, admitted it had been too conservative in its early estimates as it doubled its forecast for the total industry cost to $40bn (£22bn) and doubled the estimate for its own claims to $1.2bn.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1568765,00.html
America? 'It was like a scene from Africa'
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
I was at home watching television when I learned that Afghanistan was giving $100,000 to help the hurricane victims in America. I think President Karzai has done us proud by doing this. The images of Americans carrying their luggage and leaving their homes behind reminded me of the time my family had to flee to Pakistan after the Taliban took over. We were arrested, held for days, robbed; it was a very tough time.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1568660,00.html
Doubts over value of £3bn Sure Start
Flagship government scheme to help deprived youngsters may be failing
Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
The first major evaluation of the government's flagship £3bn Sure Start programme for deprived preschool children and their families has revealed no overall improvement in the areas targeted by the initiative.
Although some Sure Start schemes were successful, an independent study by academics at Birkbeck College, London - due to be published by the government next month - revealed that Sure Start as a whole failed to boost youngsters' development, language and behaviour. It also showed children of teenage mothers did worse in Sure Start areas than elsewhere.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,1074,1568732,00.html
Bush summons spirit of 9/11 to help repair his hurricane-damaged ratings
· White House talks of reconstruction 'tsar'
· Rescuers say flood toll may be lower than feared
Julian Borger in Washington and Jamie Wilson
Monday September 12, 2005
The Guardian
President George Bush yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by flying to New Orleans in an effort to restore national unity after the political and physical devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
After observing a moment's silence on the White House lawn for the victims of the 2001 attacks, Mr Bush left for New Orleans, where he was immediately helicoptered aboard a naval assault ship, the USS Iwo Jima, docked in the city centre. He is due to venture forth into the streets today in a military Humvee to inspect the damage and the reconstruction, before flying on to Mississippi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1567701,00.html
Power to the victims of New Orleans
With the poor gone, developers are planning to gentrify the city
Naomi Klein
Friday September 9, 2005
The Guardian
On September 4, six days after Katrina hit, I saw the first glimmer of hope. "The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while federal relief funds are funnelled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants. We will not stand idly by while this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1565939,00.html
continued ...
Bush's Approval Rating Drops To New Low in Wake of Storm
He Says Race Didn't Affect Efforts; Blacks in Poll Disagree
By Michael A. Fletcher and Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A08
Touring devastated portions of New Orleans yesterday, President Bush sought to reassure the public that the government is responding to Hurricane Katrina with equity and dispatch, even as his standing hit record lows amid broad support for an independent investigation of the federal response to the storm.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that clear majorities of Americans disapprove of the way officials at all levels of government are handling the recovery from Katrina. A 54 percent majority disapproved of Bush's response to Katrina, while an even larger majority -- 57 percent -- say state and local officials should bear responsibility for the problems.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091200668.html
More Join Guantanamo Hunger Strike
Detainees Demand Hearings, Allege Beatings by Guards
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A03
A month-old hunger strike at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has grown to include at least 128 detainees, 18 of whom are forcibly receiving intravenous fluids or nutrition in the prison hospital, military officials and detainee lawyers said yesterday.
The captives are protesting their indefinite imprisonment and what they describe as beatings administered by the prison's Immediate Response Force (IRF)-- squads of military personnel who are dispatched to put down disturbances in detainees' cells. Some have said they will refuse to eat until the military gives them a fair hearing or they die, according to their
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201690.html
5-Week-Old Born in N.Va. To Comatose Mother Dies
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 13, 2005; Page A01
Susan Anne Catherine Torres, whose mother was declared brain-dead and kept on life-support for three months so she could be born, died early yesterday. She was 5 weeks and 5 days old.
The baby contracted a disease that can afflict premature infants, which led to an infection and a perforated intestine that finally overwhelmed her tiny body, according to hospital officials and the baby's uncle, Justin Torres, whose only public words yesterday were the ones he wrote.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091200669.html
Los Angeles Times
As Lights Go Out, Power Worries Rise
Mistake by DWP workers cuts electricity across the L.A. area. Public officials express doubts about the city system's integrity.
By Sharon Bernstein, Hector Becerra and Mitchell Landsberg, Times Staff Writers
A mistake on a single bundle of wires Monday cascaded into a major blackout in and around Los Angeles, inconveniencing millions of people and renewing questions about the vulnerability of the region's power system.
Coming one day after a purported Al Qaeda threat of attack on the city, the midday outage pricked nerves and caused isolated incidents of panic. Plumes of flame and smoke heightened the drama as refineries, temporarily shut by the outage, flared off excess gases.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-power13sep13,0,1192306.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Roberts Sees Role as Judicial 'Umpire'
'I have no platform,' the chief justice nominee tells senators at start of confirmation hearings.
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — Judge John G. Roberts Jr., President Bush's choice for chief justice of the United States, said Monday that he aspired to a humble and limited role as leader of the Supreme Court, more akin to an umpire who calls the balls and strikes rather than the star player who is the center of attention.
"Justices and judges are servants of the law, not the other way around," Roberts told the Senate Judiciary Committee. "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-roberts13sep13,0,6212450.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Polluted paradise
Giant trees, magnificent vistas, pristine wilderness. Well, reconsider the pristine part. The air in Sequoia-Kings Canyon is smoggier than New York City's.
By Gary Polakovic, Times Staff Writer
Up here, atop Beetle Rock, a precipice more than one mile high in the Sierra, air at dawn is clear, invisible, exactly as it should be. Two mule deer bucks in velvet saunter through the forest, and a sow bear and cub scratch out bugs from a big tree near Giant Grove.
Down below, 30 miles away in the San Joaquin Valley, sunrise illuminates haze like a flashlight shot through tea. The smear of smog spreads wide over Central California, constrained only by the horizon and a tabletop-flat layer of warm air called an inversion that holds a brownish haze low to valley farms and cities and highways. For now, at least, the high country is untouched.
Yet as the sun climbs, California heats up; people awaken, start their machines and pump tons of emissions into the sky. The air pollution, stratified over Visalia like the layers of a cake, begins to cook and mix and expand. The ozone gauge at Beetle Rock starts ticking upwards from .066 part per million and will soon climb toward the unhealthful mark. The smog is coming.
http://www.latimes.com/travel/outdoors/la-os-smogparknew13sep13,0,5175419.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=pacifictime
Michael Moore Today
Veteran's for Peace
On September 2, 2005 the Veterans for Peace Bus from Mendocino County, CA took a detour to help the victims of hurricane Katrina. We arrived in Covington, LA with food and supplies that Camp Casey had sent from Crawford, Texas.
We are moving some of the Camp Casey operations from the Pine View Middle School to The Green Room at 521 Boston Street in Covington - More information coming ASAP.
Please see drop off and volunteer info below as that is accruate as of September 9th.
We are using the school to support Veterans For Peace hurricane relief efforts for the people of the region. We are supporting The Red Cross with power, medical supplies, kitchen service, food bank and distribution, internet communications and trained medical personnel.
http://www.vfproadtrips.org/
Wednesday, September 7th, 2005
Here's How You Can Make an Immediate Difference in Louisiana
Friends,
There is much to be said and done about the manmade annihilation of New Orleans, caused NOT by a hurricane but by the very specific decisions made by the Bush administration in the past four and a half years. Do not listen to anyone who says we can discuss all this later. No, we can't. Our country is in an immediate state of vulnerability. More hurricanes and other disasters are on the way, and a lazy bunch of self-satisfied lunatics are still running the show.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2005-09-07
A Letter to All Who Voted for George W. Bush from Michael Moore
To All My Fellow Americans Who Voted for George W. Bush:
On this, the fourth anniversary of 9/11, I'm just curious, how does it feel?
How does it feel to know that the man you elected to lead us after we were attacked went ahead and put a guy in charge of FEMA whose main qualification was that he ran horse shows?
That's right. Horse shows.
I really want to know -- and I ask you this in all sincerity and with all due respect -- how do you feel about the utter contempt Mr. Bush has shown for your safety? C'mon, give me just a moment of honesty. Don't start ranting on about how this disaster in New Orleans was the fault of one of the poorest cities in America. Put aside your hatred of Democrats and liberals and anyone with the last name of Clinton. Just look me in the eye and tell me our President did the right thing after 9/11 by naming a horse show runner as the top man to protect us in case of an emergency or catastrophe.
I want you to put aside your self-affixed label of Republican/conservative/born-again/capitalist/ditto-head/right-winger and just talk to me as an American, on the common ground we both call America.
Are we safer now than before 9/11? When you learn that behind the horse show runner, the #2 and #3 men in charge of emergency preparedness have zero experience in emergency preparedness, do you think we are safer?
When you look at Michael Chertoff, the head of Homeland Security, a man with little experience in national security, do you feel secure?
When men who never served in the military and have never seen young men die in battle send our young people off to war, do you think they know how to conduct a war? Do they know what it means to have your legs blown off for a threat that was never there?
Do you really believe that turning over important government services to private corporations has resulted in better services for the people?
Why do you hate our federal government so much? You have voted for politicians for the past 25 years whose main goal has been to de-fund the federal government. Do you think that cutting federal programs like FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers has been good or bad for America? GOOD OR BAD?
With the nation's debt at an all-time high, do you think tax cuts for the rich are still a good idea? Will you give yours back so hundreds of thousands of homeless in New Orleans can have a home?
Do you believe in Jesus? Really? Didn't he say that we would be judged by how we treat the least among us? Hurricane Katrina came in and blew off the facade that we were a nation with liberty and justice for all. The wind howled and the water rose and what was revealed was that the poor in America shall be left to suffer and die while the President of the United States fiddles and tells them to eat cake.
That's not a joke. The day the hurricane hit and the levees broke, Mr. Bush, John McCain and their rich pals were stuffing themselves with cake. A full day after the levees broke (the same levees whose repair funding he had cut), Mr. Bush was playing a guitar some country singer gave him. All this while New Orleans sank under water.
It would take ANOTHER day before the President would do a flyover in his jumbo jet, peeking out the window at the misery 2500 feet below him as he flew back to his second home in DC. It would then be TWO MORE DAYS before a trickle of federal aid and troops would arrive. This was no seven minutes in a sitting trance while children read "My Pet Goat" to him. This was FOUR DAYS of doing nothing other than saying "Brownie (FEMA director Michael Brown), you're doing a heck of a job!"
My Republican friends, does it bother you that we are the laughing stock of the world?
And on this sacred day of remembrance, do you think we honor or shame those who died on 9/11/01? If we learned nothing and find ourselves today every bit as vulnerable and unprepared as we were on that bright sunny morning, then did the 3,000 die in vain?
Our vulnerability is not just about dealing with terrorists or natural disasters. We are vulnerable and unsafe because we allow one in eight Americans to live in horrible poverty. We accept an education system where one in six children never graduate and most of those who do can't string a coherent sentence together. The middle class can't pay the mortgage or the hospital bills and 45 million have no health coverage whatsoever.
Are we safe? Do you really feel safe? You can only move so far out and build so many gated communities before the fruit of what you've sown will be crashing through your walls and demanding retribution. Do you really want to wait until that happens? Or is it your hope that if they are left alone long enough to soil themselves and shoot themselves and drown in the filth that fills the street that maybe the problem will somehow go away?
I know you know better. You gave the country and the world a man who wasn't up for the job and all he does is hire people who aren't up for the job. You did this to us, to the world, to the people of New Orleans. Please fix it. Bush is yours. And you know, for our peace and safety and security, this has to be fixed. What do you propose?
I have an idea, and it isn't a horse show.
Yours,
Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
mmflint@aol.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=185
Roberts: 'I Have No Agenda'
Associated Press
Following are excerpts from the opening statement of John G. Roberts Jr. yesterday at the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for his nomination to be chief justice of the United States, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:
Judges and justices are servants of the law, not the other way around. Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role. Nobody ever went to a ballgame to see the umpire.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id-4067
People for the American Way
Oppose Roberts for Chief Justice
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Your action today is critical in alerting the Senate that the American people are unwilling to allow the position of Chief Justice to be filled by a candidate as troubling as John Roberts. With so many rights and liberties already hanging by a thread at the Supreme Court, it is all the more critical that the next Chief Justice be someone that Americans can count on to protect their rights and freedoms.
http://www.savethecourt.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=mwK0JbNTJrF&b=1022811&action=4318&template=x.ascx
US could withdraw 50,000 troops by year end-Talabani
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Reuters) - The United States could withdraw as many as 50,000 troops from Iraq by the end of the year because there are enough Iraqi forces ready to begin taking control of parts of the country, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told the Washington Post.
In an interview with the newspaper that was published on Tuesday, Talabani said he would discuss reductions in U.S. forces during a private meeting with President George W. Bush and said he thought the United States could pull some troops out immediately.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4064
Embattled FEMA Director Mike Brown Resigns
By Ron Fournier / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Federal Emergency Management Agency director Mike Brown said Monday he has resigned "in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president," three days after losing his onsite command of the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.
Brown, under fire for FEMA's performance in the Gulf Coast, said he feared he had become a distraction.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4062
A Day of Contradictions
By Dana Milbank
Saturday, September 3, 2005; Page A15
"I'm looking forward to my trip down there," President Bush said in the White House driveway yesterday morning before leaving to tour the storm wreckage.
Something must have happened in flight, because when he arrived in Mobile, Ala., two hours later, he reported: "I'm not looking forward to this trip."
Who's Blogging?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
What scenes of Washington politics would you like Dana Milbank to write about? E-mail your suggestions of people, places or events -- along with your name and hometown to Sketch@washpost.com.
For Bush, it was that kind of day. Nursing the lowest standing of his presidency, he could have used another bullhorn-atop-the-wreckage moment to symbolize his strong leadership.
Instead, while a flood of sewage and corpses filled lawless New Orleans, Bush found himself in an awkward photo op in an airport hangar, accepting hosannas from government officials and a pair of Republican governors.
"Thank you for all the help," Alabama Gov. Bob Riley said.
"Your people have been great," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said.
When it was his turn to talk, Bush congratulated the governors, then turned to FEMA Director Mike Brown and said, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Addressing another member of his party, Sen. Trent Lott (Miss.), Bush promised: "Out of the rubble of Trent Lott's house -- he lost his entire house -- there's going to be a fantastic house. And I'm looking forward to sitting on the porch."
The performance, broadcast on most networks, drew ridicule from CNN anchor Daryn Kagan. "The president, finally making it to the Gulf Coast after five days . . . getting a briefing that frankly he could have gotten back at the White House," she said. "A lot of that seemed like a political opportunity for the cameras and the Republican governors."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/02/AR2005090202215.html
The Boston Globe
44 found dead in New Orleans hospital
FEMA chief quits; Bush views city
By Christopher Rowland and Stephen Smith, Globe Staff September 13, 2005
NEW ORLEANS -- Forty-four bodies have been recovered in an evacuated hospital, officials announced yesterday, as the federal official in charge of the initial response to Hurricane Katrina resigned under fire, and as President Bush took a firsthand look at flood damage in parts of the city.
The bodies of the 44 patients, the largest group found so far, were removed Sunday from the Memorial Medical Center, a state health official and hospital representatives said yesterday.
The hospital, in the Mid-City neighborhood had been surrounded by water, stranding patients and staff inside for four days after the hurricane struck.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2005/09/13/44_found_dead_in_new_orleans_hospital/
Ophelia pounds beaches with heavy surf
Waves crash on shore near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, N.C., as tropical storm Ophelia lurks off of the east coast on Monday, Sept. 12, 2005. Ophelia was a minimal hurricane early Monday with sustained winds of 75 mph, but by midday it had weakened to about 70 mph, 4 mph below the threshold, the National Hurricane Center said. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
By Paul Nowell, Associated Press Writer September 13, 2005
ATLANTIC BEACH, N.C. --Ophelia's fitful spinning off the Carolina coast continued early Tuesday, as the on-again-off-again tropical storm exasperated residents and pounded beaches with heavy surf.
The storm's outer bands of rain were expected to begin drenching the coast by early Wednesday as Ophelia bobs slowly to the northwest and gets better organized.
Nonresidents were ordered to leave one of North Carolina's Outer Banks islands, school systems in five counties were closed and 300 National Guard troops were sent to staging points along the coast.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/13/ophelia_pounds_beaches_with_heavy_surf/
Senate votes on EPA mercury emission rules
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press Writer September 13, 2005
WASHINGTON --Senators are challenging the Bush administration over its approach to reducing power plant emissions of mercury, a toxic metal that poses serious threats of neurological damage to newborn and young children.
The White House insists its market-based approach to curtailing mercury pollution is effective and founded on sound science, and warned that the president will veto any legislation that would overturn rules on mercury emissions finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency last March.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/13/senate_votes_on_epa_mercury_emission_rules/
U.S. world position in education slipping
By Ben Feller, AP Education Writer September 13, 2005
WASHINGTON --The United States is losing ground in education, as peers across the globe zoom by with bigger gains in student achievement and school graduations, a study shows.
Among adults age 25 to 34, the U.S. is ninth among industrialized nations in the share of its population that has at least a high school degree. In the same age group, the United States ranks seventh, with Belgium, in the share of people who hold a college degree.
By both measures, the United States was first in the world as recently as 20 years ago, said Barry McGaw, director of education for the Paris-based Organization for Cooperation and Development. The 30-nation organization develops the yearly rankings as a way for countries to evaluate their education systems and determine whether to change their policies.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/09/13/us_world_position_in_education_slipping/
Court mulls release of Columbine videos
This undated file photo shows yearbook photos of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The Colorado Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005, on whether videotapes and diaries made by the Columbine High School gunmen can be released publicly. The parents of Klebold and Harris argue that the items are privately owned and not subject to a state open-records law. (AP Photos/File)
By Jon Sarche, Associated Press Writer September 13, 2005
DENVER --Reporters have already seen and written about the Columbine "basement tapes" of killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold showing off their arsenal and eagerly talking about their plan to attack their high school.
But the gunmen's parents are fighting a newspaper's request for public release of the videos, audio recordings and writings Harris and Klebold made in the months before they killed 12 students and a teacher in April 1999.
The Colorado Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday from The Denver Post, the parents and the Jefferson County sheriff's office, which also opposes the release.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/13/court_mulls_release_of_columbine_videos/
Major developments in Katrina's aftermath
By The Associated Press September 13, 2005
Major developments in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
-- More than 40 bodies are discovered in a New Orleans hospital. One official says a few of the patients died before the hurricane struck, while another says some patients died waiting to be evacuated when temperatures hit 106 degrees.
-- Officials say nearly two-thirds of southeastern Louisiana's water treatment plants are up and running. Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport plans to resume limited passenger service Tuesday morning.
-- It will be at least three months before New Orleans' public water system is fully operational, according to a California National Guard engineer working on the systems. Some homes have running water now, but it's mostly untreated river water.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/13/major_developments_in_katrinas_aftermath/
Palestinians told to end looting, start rebuilding
By Nidal al-Mughrabi September 13, 2005
NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Palestinians began to clear away a vast swathe of rubble in abandoned Jewish settlements and knocked down remains of a charred synagogue on Tuesday after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza.
"The nightmare is over, the occupation has gone and Gaza is now without settlers ... Today we begin the work of rebuilding," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said in Neve Dekalim, the site of what had been Israel's largest settlement in Gaza.
He urged the hundreds of Palestinians who continued to pour into the area to celebrate Israel's pullout but to stop looting synagogue buildings and farm equipment left behind after 38 years of occupation.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/09/13/palestinians_told_to_end_looting_start_rebuilding/
Hewlett-Packard cutting 968 UK jobs
September 13, 2005
LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. computer giant Hewlett-Packard <HPQ.N> said on Tuesday it would cut 968 jobs in Britain over the next 12 months.
The job cuts will be made at Hewlett-Packard's five British sites: Bracknell, Bristol, Glasgow, Reading and Warrington, a spokesman told Reuters, adding that it would cut 5,900 jobs in total across its EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region.
Hewlett-Packard said in July it would slash about 10 percent of its work force in a sweeping move by new Chief Executive Mark Hurd to cut costs by $1.9 billion a year and compete better in cutthroat computer and printer markets.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/09/13/hewlett_packard_cutting_968_uk_jobs_1126611311/
Guardian Unlimited
Eleven Children Found Caged in Ohio Home
Tuesday September 13, 2005 4:01 AM
WAKEMAN, Ohio (AP) - Sheriff's deputies found 11 children locked in cages with alarms in a north Ohio home, and prosecutors are looking into possible charges of abuse and neglect.
The children, ages 1 to 14, were in nine cages in the walls of a house outside this city of about 1,000 about 50 miles west of Cleveland, according to the Huron County Sheriff's Office. They had no blankets or pillows, and the cages were rigged with alarms that sounded if the cages were opened, Lt. Randy Sommers said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5274120,00.html
Race not an issue in Katrina disaster, says Bush
· President uses city tour to defend federal recovery
· Beleaguered emergency services chief finally quits
Jamie Wilson in New Orleans, Julian Borger in Washington and Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Tuesday September 13, 2005
George Bush and the homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, get a briefing from former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown (centre) in Mobile, Alabama. Photohgraph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty
The director of the much-criticised federal emergency management agency, Michael Brown, resigned yesterday. The news of his resignation came as George Bush, on his first visit to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, rejected suggestions that race had played a role in the slow government response to the flooding of the city.
Insisting it had been his decision to step down, Mr Brown said he had resigned to give the beleaguered agency a chance to refocus on the rescue and recovery effort. "As I told the president, it is important that I leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of Fema," Mr Brown said in a statement.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1568694,00.html
Insurer doubles forecast of Katrina claims
Jill Treanor
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
Estimates of the insurance bill to clean up after Hurricane Katrina rose yesterday when Swiss Re doubled its predictions for the size of its claims but admitted it was difficult to be certain about the final cost.
Swiss Re, the world's second-largest reinsurance firm, admitted it had been too conservative in its early estimates as it doubled its forecast for the total industry cost to $40bn (£22bn) and doubled the estimate for its own claims to $1.2bn.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1568765,00.html
America? 'It was like a scene from Africa'
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
I was at home watching television when I learned that Afghanistan was giving $100,000 to help the hurricane victims in America. I think President Karzai has done us proud by doing this. The images of Americans carrying their luggage and leaving their homes behind reminded me of the time my family had to flee to Pakistan after the Taliban took over. We were arrested, held for days, robbed; it was a very tough time.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1568660,00.html
Doubts over value of £3bn Sure Start
Flagship government scheme to help deprived youngsters may be failing
Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent
Tuesday September 13, 2005
The Guardian
The first major evaluation of the government's flagship £3bn Sure Start programme for deprived preschool children and their families has revealed no overall improvement in the areas targeted by the initiative.
Although some Sure Start schemes were successful, an independent study by academics at Birkbeck College, London - due to be published by the government next month - revealed that Sure Start as a whole failed to boost youngsters' development, language and behaviour. It also showed children of teenage mothers did worse in Sure Start areas than elsewhere.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/children/story/0,1074,1568732,00.html
Bush summons spirit of 9/11 to help repair his hurricane-damaged ratings
· White House talks of reconstruction 'tsar'
· Rescuers say flood toll may be lower than feared
Julian Borger in Washington and Jamie Wilson
Monday September 12, 2005
The Guardian
President George Bush yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by flying to New Orleans in an effort to restore national unity after the political and physical devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
After observing a moment's silence on the White House lawn for the victims of the 2001 attacks, Mr Bush left for New Orleans, where he was immediately helicoptered aboard a naval assault ship, the USS Iwo Jima, docked in the city centre. He is due to venture forth into the streets today in a military Humvee to inspect the damage and the reconstruction, before flying on to Mississippi.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/katrina/story/0,16441,1567701,00.html
Power to the victims of New Orleans
With the poor gone, developers are planning to gentrify the city
Naomi Klein
Friday September 9, 2005
The Guardian
On September 4, six days after Katrina hit, I saw the first glimmer of hope. "The people of New Orleans will not go quietly into the night, scattering across this country to become homeless in countless other cities while federal relief funds are funnelled into rebuilding casinos, hotels, chemical plants. We will not stand idly by while this disaster is used as an opportunity to replace our homes with newly built mansions and condos in a gentrified New Orleans."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1565939,00.html
continued ...
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