September 30. 2005. 0230z.

There is a lower altitude system connected with the convection system off Baha. The other thing is that when there is a convection system near Mexico like that there is frequently a storm building in the Gulf or Atlantic. I haven't looked close at the rotation center south of Haiti within the last 12 hours or so. It looked mostly tame at 2 PM today.

September 30, 2005. 0230z.

Oddly enough while I was looking over these satellites my alarm went off indicating approaching bad weather in Wilmington, NC.

It is easily seen on this water vapor view over the coast of NC. My purpose in opening up these windows at all was to figure out what will be relief if any in California. It doesn't look like much EXCEPT there is a 'gray haze' although pale it is still part of a building system connected to the convection system off Baha. I am not optomistic. But, there is a chance that the fires might with the help of conflicting hot and cold air build their own weather and rain. Other than that any of the views I looked at tells me 'dry' air and not much else.

The Rooster

Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan.

This is a polling place where women are casting their ballots on the outskirts of Kabul. I don't see problems. Do you?

This was counting the ballots in Kandahar.

Pretty amazing.

Even today, it is said there is a better than even chance that Osama bin Laden and Omar are held up in the mountains east of Kandahar. This is the region where Omar's patriarchal tribe, the Norsanis, are located. The other area where 'bin' can be located is of course Pakistan but then Musharraf is contemplating a WALL like that of the China's Great Wall to stop the free movement of terrorists and munitions between the countries common border.

The Pashtuns.

I believe they live near the Pakistan border. They were the 'steadfast' of Afghanistans. They were among those that welcomed the USA meeting them with donkeys. They managed to exist while the Taliban were ruthless in the hills and the mountains.

I hope I am right about that.

It is 'fabled' or more a little more than fabled their patrilinear heritage is Israelite. But, heritage is ancient. These Pashtuns are Afghan through and through. They seem to be doing well.

Morning Papers - It's Origins

Rooster "Crowing"

"Okeydoke"

History

1789 the U.S. War Department established a regular army with a strength of several hundred men.

1910 The National Urban League is founded in New York City. It will evolve from the Committee on Urban Conditions to address the problems of Blacks in cities.

1941 The Booker T. Washington U.S. Merchant Marine Ship is launched and commanded by Captain Hugh Mulzac, a Black officer.

1948 Bryant Gumbel, who will become co-anchor of NBC's "Today Show", is born in New Orleans, LA.

1955 a one-act version of the Arthur Miller play "A View From the Bridge" opened.

1963 the second session of Second Vatican Council opened in Rome.

1978 Pope John Paul I was found dead in his Vatican apartment just over a month after becoming head of the Roman Catholic Church.

1979 Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit Ireland.

1982 seven people in the Chicago area died after unwittingly taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide.

1988 the space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marking America's return to manned space flight following the Challenger disaster.

1994 the House voted to end the age-old practice of lobbyists buying meals and entertainment for members of Congress.

1998 Tom Bradley, the first Black mayor of Los Angeles, CA, dies

Missing in Action

1968 NEWBERRY WAYNE E. EAST ST LOUIS IL
1969 CURRAN PARTICK R. BENSENVILLE IL
1969 LONO LUTHER A. TACOMA WA
1972 BOSILJEVAC MICHAEL J. OMAHA NE REMAINS RETURNED 1988
1972 BRETT ROBERT A. JR. CORVALLIS OR
1972 COLTMAN WILLIAM C. PITTSBURGH PA
1972 O'NEIL JAMES W. LOS ANGELES CA 03/29/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE IN 98

Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Opt Out!
Opt out of the Pentagon's illegal database and your school's military recruitment lists.
CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE
By completing the steps on these pages, you can create letters that will opt your child out of BOTH your high school recruitment list and the Pentagon database.
For background information about the Pentagon database, click here. For background information on No Child Left Behind's high school military recruiting provision click here.
To opt your own child out, you must submit Opt Out letters by *postal mail* to your School District Superintendent and to the Pentagon. If students are over 18, they may opt themselves out from school and/or Pentagon lists. If the person you want off the list is out of high school but under 25, go through the steps, print and then recycle your School Superintendent Opt Out letter and mail the Pentagon letter to the address indicated. It's easy! You'll need a printer, two envelopes and two stamps. Just follow these 4 steps:
Step 1. Find your School District Superintendent
Step 2. Automatically generate two Opt Out Letters
Step 3. Sign, stamp and mail your Opt Out Letters - one goes to your local Superintendent, one goes to the Pentagon.
Step 4. Follow-up with your district to make sure they have opted your child out!
Each high school receiving federal funding is REQUIRED to turn over student information (name, address, phone number) to local military recruiters unless parents opt out in writing. Follow the steps on this page to find your local school superintendent, and you will generate a letter to send in to opt out your child. If you'd like more information on No Child Left Behind and School Opt-Outs, click here.

http://www.leavemychildalone.org/index.cfm?event=showContent&contentid=63


Indicted DeLay Steps Down From House Post
Indictment (PDF format)
By Larry Margasak / Associated Press
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury Wednesday on a charge of conspiring to violate political fundraising laws, forcing him to temporarily step aside from his GOP post. He is the highest-ranking member of Congress to face criminal prosecution.
A defiant DeLay said he had done nothing wrong and denounced the Democratic prosecutor who pursued the case as a "partisan fanatic." He said, "This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history. It's a sham."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4309


SEC Opens Full Probe Into Frist Stock Sale
By Jonathan M. Katz / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - While insiders at HCA Inc. (HCA) were selling millions of dollars of their own stock this year, they were also painting a sunny picture of the company's outlook for investors. Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the sale of HCA stock by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., whose family founded the company that grew into the nation's largest for-profit health care chain.
The SEC turned its initial inquiry into a formal investigation of the company, HCA announced Thursday. The company said it is cooperating with investigators.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4322


Roberts confirmed as chief justice
Bush poised to name O'Connor replacement
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate voted to confrim Judge John Roberts as the nation's 17th chief justice Thursday.
Senate approval capped a two-month process surprisingly free of the partisan rancor widely expected when President Bush nominated Roberts in July.
Meanwhile, with Bush poised to fill a second Supreme Court vacancy -- possibly within a day of the Roberts vote -- the question on Capitol Hill will be how long the era of good feelings might last. (View a gallery of possible Supreme Court nominees)

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4320


Commander Now Backs Off Troop Pullout Idea
Top U.S. Commander Backs Off Prediction of Troop Pullout; White House Bids for War Support
By Hendra Pickler / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The top U.S. commander in Iraq backed away on Wednesday from his prediction that a substantial pullout of U.S. troops could begin by next spring, as the White House undertakes a new campaign to win public support for the war effort.
Gen. George Casey's latest assessment came as President Bush down in the polls and criticized for his hurricane response starts to turn his focus back to the fight against terrorism and to Iraq, the issues that helped him win re-election last year.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4317


Gunmen kill 9 in Iraq attacks
Rumsfeld, generals to brief congressional panels
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) - Gunmen killed at least nine people including four police officers, and wounded 11 Thursday in attacks around Iraq, police said.
Attackers opened fire on a carload of teachers near Baquba, killing one of them. The three other teachers in the car survived the attack.
The incident occurred a few days after insurgents disguised as police shot and killed six teachers at an elementary school in Babil province, south of Baghdad.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4321


Republicans See Signs That Pentagon Is Evading Oversight
By Douglas Jehl / Washington Post
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 - Republican members of Congress say there are signs that the Defense Department may be carrying out new intelligence activities through programs intended to escape oversight from Congress and the new director of national intelligence.
The warnings are an unusually public signal of some Republican lawmakers' concern about overreaching by the Pentagon, where top officials have been jockeying with the new intelligence chief, John D. Negroponte, for primacy in intelligence operations. The lawmakers said they believed that some intelligence activities, involving possible propaganda efforts and highly technological initiatives, might be masked as so-called special access programs, the details of which are highly classified.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4316


"If you want to impress me, go to Baghdad."
Dear Michael Moore:
I must say that you are always on point. I am a soldier serving in Iraq and till this day we still don’t know why we are here.
I sit and watch television and the bull shit that our leaders are feeding to the people on a daily basis. How can you be a President and spend over 800 billions of dollars destroying and rebuilding another country when we need help in our own country? How do you live with yourself knowing that innocent soldiers are dying every day just for you?

http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/willtheyevertrustusagain/


Recruiting the Amish
A response to Jocelyn, the spouse of a military recruiter, who wrote in last May.
Dear Jocelyn,
Thank God, I am out of that mess that you are describing so eloquently. My husband was a Navy recruiter. Oh the hell we went through! (We are now divorced.) My husband had it the same way as your husband does. He was even told to work on Sunday. If they didn't meet their goals, they had to stay at the recruiting station and sleep on the desks. My husband had a very bad back at the time, and suffered even the more. He would come dragging in at midnight sometimes and be up before the sun was up all the way.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/willtheyevertrustusagain/index.php?id=34

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS IN IRAQ: 1931

U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED IN IRAQ: 14755


The Cheney Observer

Karzai wants end to U.S.-led operations

11:33 AM EDT on Tuesday, September 20, 2005
By DANIEL COONEY
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday challenged the need for major foreign military operations in Afghanistan, saying air strikes are no longer effective and that U.S.-led coalition forces should focus on rooting out terror bases and support networks.
Karzai also demanded an immediate end to foreign troops searching people's homes without his government's authorization.
"I don't think there is a big need for military activity in Afghanistan anymore," he told reporters in Kabul. "The nature of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan has changed now.
"No coalition forces should go to Afghan homes without the authorization of the Afghan government. ... The use of air power is something that may not be very effective now."

http://www.krem.com/sharedcontent/nationworld/world/092005ccjccwIntKarzai.aed0c115.html?hp


Ballots transported under tight security for counting after landmark Afghan elections

By STEVE GUTTERMAN Associated Press
September 19, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan - As heavily guarded convoys on Monday hauled ballots from landmark legislative elections across Afghanistan's rugged terrain, evidence that turnout was sharply lower than in last year's presidential vote undermined celebrations of the polling as a key step toward stability.
Afghan and international officials hailed Sunday's elections as a major success, but chief electoral officer Peter Erben said turnout appeared to be just over 50 percent, based on reports from about one-third of the polling stations.
Barring a big increase, this would be significantly lower than the 70 percent for Hamid Karzai's victory in last October's euphoric presidential election. More than 8 million people voted then, even though the number of registered voters was lower than the 12.4 million eligible to cast ballots for the first new legislature in more than three decades.

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/32685.html


Afghanistan: EU Monitors Say Vote Well-Run Despite Security Concerns

By Ron Synovitz
Emma Bonino
(RFE/RL)

The European Union’s election observation mission in Afghanistan has released its preliminary report on the 18 September parliamentary vote. It says election day was “generally well-administered” and largely peaceful. But the EU team also observed serious shortcomings during the two-month campaign and on the day of voting. RFE/RL spoke with Emma Bonino, the head of the monitoring team, about the positive developments and some of the serious concerns.

Kabul, 20 September 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Since the beginning of July, nearly 100 EU observers have been monitoring the electoral process in 29 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. On election day, they were joined by an additional 60 European observers.
Their preliminary report praises the vote as a significant step forward for Afghanistan’s democratic development. But it also says there were security and electoral shortcomings that cannot be overlooked.

http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/09/bf995d91-e540-4058-b9f2-a3c341ee3af9.html


Afghan turnout said below 2004's presidential poll

Sun 18 Sep 2005 6:47 AM ET
By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Fewer Afghans appear to be voting in landmark assembly elections on Sunday than in a presidential election a year ago, polling observers said.
Residents in several parts of the country, including the capital Kabul, said voting appeared to be slow on Sunday morning and this was borne out by election observers.
"I'm going to be surprised if it (turnout) is more than the presidential election," said Richard Howitt, a British member of the European Parliament and a member of an EU observer mission.
"It's been very quiet in lots of places," he told Reuters.

http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=ISL14758


'Taleban' target Afghan election

More than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting this year
Suspected Taleban militants launched a series of attacks as Afghanistan's landmark vote was getting under way.
There were overnight rocket and bomb attacks on several polling stations and a candidate's house, but they failed to disrupt the vote.
At least two policemen and three suspected militants died in a clash in Khost province. A French soldier died in a landmine blast in the south.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4257368.stm


Karzai Wants End to U.S.-Led Operations

By DANIEL COONEY
Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2005 8:05 AM PDT

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday challenged the need for major foreign military operations in Afghanistan, saying air strikes are no longer effective and that U.S.-led coalition forces should focus on rooting out terror bases and support networks.
Karzai also demanded an immediate end to foreign troops searching people's homes without his government's authorization.
"I don't think there is a big need for military activity in Afghanistan anymore," he told reporters in Kabul. "The nature of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan has changed now.
"No coalition forces should go to Afghan homes without the authorization of the Afghan government. ... The use of air power is something that may not be very effective now."

http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/09/20/ap/headlines/d8co22880.txt


Sasol to showcase its technology at 18th World Petroleum Congress (WPC) in Johannesburg

Sasol Limited
Posted: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:00 © Moneyweb Holdings Limited, 1997-2005

The In Business Today section is reserved for relevant company announcements and releases. Companies are not entitled to have their announcements published in this section, but from time to time, these may be selected by Moneyweb for publication in the interest of the Moneyweb Community of readers.
The copy has not been generated by Moneyweb nor should be attributed to Moneyweb. Nor has the information contained therein been verified by Moneyweb journalists.
Sasol technology and proven expertise in the fields of coal-to-liquids (CTL) and gas-to-liquids (GTL) will come under the spotlight as international energy experts converge on Johannesburg from 25 to 29 September for the 18th World Petroleum Congress.
Sasol is one of the gold sponsors of the WPC and co-sponsor of Africa Night, a social event that will provide global delegates with a true taste of African hospitality.
“The high oil price has renewed international focus on Sasol’s pioneering proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology in the fields of CTL and GTL. These technologies offer significant opportunities to the African continent as well as the rest of the world in unlocking hydrocarbon resources,” says Sasol chief executive Pat Davies.

http://www.moneyweb.co.za/business_today/492870.htm


AS LONG AS THEY DON'T MIND LOSING THEIR TAX EXEMPT STATUS

Church leaders seek more influence in state government

Sunday, September 4, 2005
By CHARITA M. GOSHAY Repository staff writer
Related Stories
Expert says religious right must stay galvanized to be effective

The Rev. Russell Johnson says he doesn’t want to take over Ohio; he just wants to improve it based on his Christian faith.
The way that he’s going about it is making some people nervous.
Bolstered by a pivotal role in President Bush’s re-election and passage of a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, some Ohio conservative evangelicals are working to ensure they have an impact in the 2006 elections.
Russell’s Ohio Restoration Project has set up a network of “patriot pastors” and “minutemen of prayer” to mobilize like-minded voters, pushing hard to align public policy with its biblically based views.

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=240700&r=3&Category=11&external=&newCookie=yes&userID=164519


Here is the latest in discrimination. Nuclear.

Middle East News

Ahmadinejad slams nuclear discrimination
Sep 27, 2005, 10:50 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (UPI) -- Iran`s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has complained of 'nuclear discrimination' in the world, stressing Iran`s right to have peaceful nuclear technology.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting late Monday night, Ahmadinejad said, 'Peoples of the world are subject to nuclear discrimination, as many countries possessing nuclear technology are seeking to monopolize this knowledge and deprive the rest of the world from this scientific capacity.'
The Iranian News Agency quoted him as saying the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty gives all members of the United Nations the right to possess peaceful technology and a nuclear fuel cycle.
'Only those with bad and evil intentions have managed to raise Iran`s nuclear program at the International Atomic Energy Agency,' he added
Ahmadinejad pointed out that Iran has not started enriching uranium 'and that is why in the past 20 years Iran did not commit any violation of IAEA`s resolutions.'

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1050866.php/Ahmadinejad_slams_nuclear_discrimination


No Katrina Contracts for KBR and other Crooks and Cronies

WASHINGTON - September 27 - HalliburtonWatch.org and the Center for Corporate Policy support the 19 members of Congress who joined together to call upon the Bush administration to suspend Halliburton/KBR from any new contracts or task orders in Iraq or for post-hurricane reconstruction in the U.S., based on the company’s record in Iraq and elsewhere.
“Halliburton/KBR has an unrivaled record of waste, fraud, bribery and other violations in Iraq and elsewhere, and should be barred from taxpayer-funded contracts,” said Charlie Cray, director of the Center for Corporate Policy. “As happened with Enron, the federal government should suspend KBR from any new contracts until all ongoing criminal investigations are finished.”
The Department of Justice, SEC and Treasury Department are conducting separate investigations into various acts of bribery, fraud, violations of trade restrictions and other acts committed by Halliburton and/or its employees.

http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0927-12.htm


Deep Pockets, Small Government and the Man in the Middle

By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; Page A04

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) had the look of a hunted man as he walked from the Capitol to the Longworth House Office Building yesterday for a speech to young conservatives.
Pence, chairman of a group of House conservatives called the Republican Study Committee, was complaining to his companions about a Robert Novak column in yesterday's Washington Post saying Pence was subjected to a "closed-door auto-da-fe" from Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom DeLay for daring to suggest that the profligate House leadership should reconsider its big-spending ways. But Pence got the leadership's message, loud and clear.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/26/AR2005092601859.html


Dan Wants Second Go at Bush

Submitted by editor on September 28, 2005 - 2:15pm.
By DON KAPLAN

DAN Rather wants to reopen the investigation into President Bush and the National Guard story that resulted in the Memogate scandal and led to his early departure from the anchor desk.
But his bosses at CBS have forbidden him to go back at it, he said.
"CBS News doesn't want me to do that story," Rather said during an interview that aired on C-SPAN Monday night.
"They wouldn't let me do that story," he said during the shockingly frank interview with former NBC newsman Marvin Kalb.

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/1206


Rather: VIACOM CBS News Shills for Bush Cheney

by WAYNE MADSEN

(Sep. 27, 2005) -- Dan Rather says CBS wouldn't allow him to do a follow-up story on Bush's Texas Air National Guard (TANG) files.
Speaking at the National Press Club on September 26, former CBS News anchor Dan Rather responded to a question posed by moderator Marvin Kalb concerning the controversial TANG files of George W. Bush.
Kalb asked Rather why he did not return to the story and investigate those who created the guard files, passed them off to a former TANG officer and hence to CBS's 60 Minutes, and tipped off right-wing bloggers before the airing of the pre-2004 election exposé by 60 Minutes.
Rather responded, "You'll have to ask CBS that question."
Rather stated it was his desire to continue to delve into the story and the set-up.
According to CBS insiders, the original TANG files were scanned by GOP dirty tricks operatives using a sophisticated text scanner that changed the original IBM typewriter Courier font to a Times Roman font, automatically created a "th" superscript for date numbers, and created margins and pagination.

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=65&contentid=2817


Peace rally opposes Iraq war

By Paul Boerger
Marchers opposed to the war in Iraq cross Mount Shasta Blvd. after a rally at the Mount Shasta city plaza.

Along with tens of thousands of other Americans across the United States, nearly 100 people rallied at the Mount Shasta city plaza September 24th to express their opposition to the war in Iraq.
The group circled up in front of the police department to hear citizens share their views on why they are against America's continued presence in Iraq. The rally then proceeded down Mount Shasta Blvd. carrying a wide variety of signs proclaiming everything from "Impeach Bush" to "Save Our Children."
Chants of "Bring them home now" and "No justice, no peace" rang out through the downtown business district.
Unlike previous rallies against the war in Mount Shasta, overt expressions of anger and outrage permeated many speeches. In addition, a single Bush supporter faced angry confrontations by several marchers.

http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2005/09/28/news/06peacerally.txt


CNN, other news outlets ignored Brown's false claim about Blanco's state of emergency request

On the September 27 editions of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and NewsNight with Aaron Brown, anchor Anderson Cooper billed a report on former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown's congressional testimony as an effort to "check what he said against the facts." In the segment that followed, however, CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry simply reported on the "war of words" between Brown and members of the House committee investigating the handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster by local, state, and federal government agencies. Despite Cooper's introduction, Henry did not offer viewers the facts surrounding the Katrina response, nor did he discuss the veracity of Brown's statements. He merely noted that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D), in a "blistering" response, had described Brown as "either out of touch with the truth or reality." But if Henry had actually fact-checked Brown's testimony, he would have identified as clearly false Brown's claim that Blanco excluded several parishes from her federal emergency assistance request.
Under questioning from Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) during the September 27 House hearing, Brown claimed that President Bush's August 27 declaration of emergency for Louisiana did not include Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines parishes because Blanco had excluded them from her request earlier that day:

BUYER: So I'd like to know why did the president's federal emergency assistance declaration of August 27th not include the parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines?
BROWN: Under the law, the governor makes the request for the declaration, and the governors of the states specify what areas, what counties they want included in that declaration. And, based upon the governor's request, that's the recommendation that we make to the president. So if a governor does not request a particular county or a particular parish, that's not included in the request.
BUYER: All right. Orleans Parish is New Orleans. I was listening to my colleague, Mr. [Rep. William J.] Jefferson's [D-LA], questions about when they talked about, you know, they asked for this assistance for three days and the president responded the very next day, not the day that it was made -- the request -- but the governor of Louisiana actually excluded New Orleans from the president's federal emergency assistance declaration?
BROWN: Again, congressman, we looked at the request. The governors make the request by --
BUYER: Let me ask this: Since you went through the exercise in [Hurricane] Pam [a FEMA training exercise], was that not shocking to you that the governor would exclude New Orleans from the declaration?
BROWN: Yes.
BUYER: When that request came in excluding these three parishes, did you question it?
BROWN: We questioned it. But I made the decision that we were going to go ahead and move assets in regardless, because we have the ability to add those parishes.

In fact, Blanco requested a federal declaration of emergency "in all southeastern parishes," which clearly included the three parishes in question, as the weblog Think Progress has noted. Despite Brown's assertion that Blanco was to blame for this oversight, the FEMA officials who drafted the federal declaration on August 27, which included a list of the parishes to which it applied, apparently were responsible for the omission -- a broad swath of parishes in the southern part of the state was omitted. The declaration was then amended on August 29 to include the missing parishes.
Henry was not the only journalist to highlight Blanco's criticism of Brown's testimony without noting Brown's false allegation regarding her emergency declaration request. Reports featured on the September 27 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight and the September 28 edition of CNN's Daybreak also ignored Brown's false claim, as did segments on the September 27 editions of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson and Special Report with Brit Hume. The Associated Press also overlooked this aspect of Brown's testimony, as did numerous newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Dallas Morning News, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
— J.K.
Posted to the web on Wednesday September 28, 2005 at 5:17 PM EST

http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280009


NRG Energy Gains on Report It's in Talks to Acquire Texas Genco

Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of NRG Energy Inc. rose after a report the company is in talks to acquire Texas Genco Holdings LLC, the power company that serves Houston, for $5 billion or more in cash and stock.
NRG, based in Princeton, New Jersey, would also assume $2 billion in debt from four buyout firms that acquired the company in April 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Texas Pacific Group, Blackstone Group LP, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Hellman & Friedman LLC paid $3.65 billion for Texas Genco, using $900 million in cash and borrowing the rest.
``If independent power producers want to survive they have to bulk up dramatically,'' said Ed Tirello, managing director at Berenson & Co., a New York-based investment bank that advises on utility deals. For NRG Energy, ``this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to almost double the size of the company.''

...Buyout firms this year have often sold assets within a year of buying them amid the best mergers and acquisitions market since 2000. In the past year, there have been $1.8 trillion in announced mergers or acquisitions, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Firms such as New York-based KKR and Washington based Carlyle Group have sold stakes in companies about a year after taking them over.
In April, Carlyle Group and its buyout-firm partners sold shares in former Enron Corp. unit Mariner Energy, an oil and gas company, more than tripling their investment in 13 months.
On Sept. 26, First Reserve Corp., a Greenwich, Connecticut- based buyout firm that specializes in buying energy companies, made about five times the equity it invested in Caledonia Oil & Gas Ltd. when it sold it to power and gas provider E.On AG for 470 million pounds ($830.5 million).

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=avH4sPXzjtFQ&refer=us


Analysis: For Republicans, DeLay adds to sea of problems

Robin Toner, New York Times
September 29, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- This is not what the Republicans envisioned 11 months ago, when they were returned to office as a powerful one-party government with a big agenda and -- it seemed -- little to fear from the opposition.
The indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas and the House majority leader, on Wednesday was the latest in a series of scandals and setbacks that have buffeted Republican leaders in Congress and the Bush administration and transformed what might have been a victory lap into a hard political scramble. Republicans are still managing to score some wins -- notably, John Roberts' expected confirmation today as chief justice of the Supreme Court -- but their governing majority is showing major signs of strain.
Leadership woes

http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/5641179.html


SO BACK TO WORK. GOOD, DICK !! Off Workman’s Comp and back to earning your way ! Good !!

Cheney's aneurysm procedure a success

Wed 28 Sep 2005 07:10 am CST
VIRGINIA (myDNA News)

To treat Vice President Dick Cheney's popliteal aneurysm located behind his knee, interventional radiologists guided a flexible, self-expanding stent through a catheter into the damaged blood vessel to block off the aneurysm and create a reinforced pathway through which blood can flow. The popliteal endograft is typically performed while the patient is conscious, using only local anesthesia. The procedure offers less risk, less pain and less recovery time than surgical options.

http://www.mydna.com/health/heart/news/resources/news/200509/news_20050928_chen2.html


Charges Dropped Against Man Accused Of Stealing Bush-Cheney Signs

POSTED: 6:26 pm EDT September 28, 2005

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A judge dismissed charges against a man Wednesday accused of stealing presidential campaign signs from a Raleigh man's yard.
Edward Shook, was caught last October allegedly stealing Bush-Cheney campaign signs, reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
The victim, Bill Moore, staked out the woods near his house with a video camera. The videotape caught a man appearing to be Shook actually ripping up the signs.
With the video and a license plate number, Wake County deputies arrested Shook and charged him with misdemeanor larceny.

http://www.wral.com/news/5033334/detail.html


Rove and Norquist Ruining America

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Gerald Plessner

George W. Bush has exposed the two greatest flaws in our political system -- the existence of the Electoral College and the non-existence of a parliamentary system.
Without the Electoral College George W. Bush would not be our president, and if we had a parliamentary system, George W. Bush would not long be our president.
Columnist E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post recently wrote that, "The Bush Era is over. The sooner politicians in both parties realize that, the better for them -- and for the country."
But the Bush era of incompetence, dishonesty, harmful ideology and greed is not over. Quite the contrary. The Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina demonstrate the disastrous consequences of its conservative political principles and Libertarian elitist economic ideas. And none of that has changed.

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/05/09/con05365.html


THE MYTH OF COMPETENCE IN THE BUSH WHITE HOUSE

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. — Do you remember how, right after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, we heard all the pundits talk about how great it was that we finally had grownups in charge of our government in a time of crisis?
Does anyone still believe that nonsense now? Who would, especially when one considers the breathtaking incompetence of the Bush administration, as well as the cronyism, the lack of accountability and the total stupidity that has haunted every enterprise from 9/11 to Iraq to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita?
There are two dynamics at work in the Bush White House. There's the guiding philosophy that politics are more important than governance. Then there's the carefully constructed myth of the "CEO President" and how the best principles and ideas of the private sector are transforming government.
We have seen the effects of both, and they haven't been good.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_randolph_050928_the_myth_of_competen.htm


DeLay Is Indicted and Forced to Step Down as Majority Leader

By DAVID STOUT

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 – Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the powerful House Republican majority leader, was accused by a Texas grand jury today of criminal conspiracy in a campaign fund-raising scheme.
Mr. DeLay was indicted on one count charging that he violated state election laws in September 2002. Two political associates, John D. Colyandro and James W. Ellis, were indicted with him.
The indictment of Mr. DeLay, while not entirely unexpected, still reverberated through the Capitol. The House Republican rules require a member of the leadership to step down, at least temporarily, if indicted.
Late this afternoon, Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the majority whip, was appointed temporary House majority leader, with David Dreier of California, the chairman of the Rules Committee, designated to assist him. Earlier in the day, Republicans on Capitol Hill said Speaker J. Dennis Hastert intended to appoint Mr. Dreier to take over for Mr. DeLay.
A conviction on the felony charge against Mr. DeLay, 58, carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. The lawmaker has consistently maintained his innocence and today asserted that the indictment resulted from a "purely political investigation" by the Travis County district attorney, Ronnie Earle, a Democrat.
"I have done nothing wrong," Mr. DeLay said, adding that he had violated "no law, no regulation, no rule of the House." Mr. DeLay, speaking on Capitol Hill, described Mr. Earle, a longtime antagonist, as "a partisan fanatic" and a "rogue district attorney" and said the prosecutor had shamelessly courted journalists on "the only days he actually comes to the office." Mr. DeLay said the charge lodged against him today was "one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history," one that is "a sham, and Mr. Earle knows it."
Mr. Earle, in a separate news conference, disputed Mr. DeLay's contentions. "We have over the years prosecuted a number of public officials," he said in Texas, adding that it was his duty to go after "abuses of power." In fact, he said, he has prosecuted more Democrats than Republicans.
At the White House, the president's chief spokesman, Scott McClellan, expressed support for Mr. DeLay, telling reporters, "Mr. DeLay is a good ally and a leader who we have worked closely with for the good of the American people.'' "The president's view is to let the legal process work," Mr. McClellan said. "There's a legal process and we're going to let it work.''
Democrats were quick to seize on Mr. DeLay's troubles. "The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people," the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, said in a statement.
Mr. DeLay is second only to Speaker Hastert of Illinois in power in the House of Representatives and has been credited with shepherding much of his party's legislative programs through Congress. He has also been seen as a key in expanding the Republican majority in the House, which now stands at 231 to 202 Democrats, with one independent and one vacancy.
Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said the indictment was further evidence that "alleged illegal activity reaches to the highest levels of the Republican Party."
"Tom DeLay is neither the beginning nor the end of the Washington Republicans' ethical problems," Mr. Dean said in a statement that also cited questions over a stock sale by the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, and an investigation into the leaking of the identity of a C.I.A. operative that has touched on the presidential adviser Karl Rove.
The DeLay indictment asserts that Mr. Colyandro and Mr. Ellis were part of a scheme in which corporations contributed large sums ($50,000 in one instance, and $25,000 in at least three other instances) that were destined for the Republican National Committee. The indictment includes a copy of a check for $190,000 made out to the Republican National State Elections Committee, a component of the party's national committee. That money was to go to various candidates for the Texas Legislature, the indictment says.
The indictment came just three weeks after a political organization formed by Mr. DeLay, Texans for a Republican Majority, was indicted on charges of taking illegal corporate money while Mr. DeLay was helping Republicans win control of the Texas Legislature as well as strengthening their hold on Congress.
The DeLay organization was charged with accepting a contribution of $100,000 from the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care and one of $20,000 from AT&T. A statewide business group, the Texas Association of Business, was also charged.
State law prohibits use of corporate contributions to advocate the election or defeat of state candidates, and prosecutors accuse the DeLay organization of engaging in a complex scheme to circumvent the law.
Mr. DeLay, who has also come under fire from the House ethics committee on three occasions in recent months, will not have to leave his post as the congressman from Texas's 22d District, near Houston, as a result of the indictment. But by his having to step down from his leadership position, his power will be vastly diminished, at least for the time being.
Mr. DeLay has won the grudging respect of Democrats for his effectiveness, not only in pushing legislation through the House but for helping to strengthen the Republican majority. In Texas, he helped to engineer a redistricting plan that boosted the Texas Republican majority to 21-11 in the current Congress.
Mr. DeLay's troubles come at an awkward time for Republicans, as President Bush is sagging in public opinion surveys and as the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, Republican of Tennessee, has been defending himself against questions about the timing of the sale of stock in a family-owned business.
To compound embarrassment for the Republicans, Mr. DeLay is a close friend of Jack Abramoff, the Republican lobbyist who has been under scrutiny by the Justice Department for more than a year and who has been indicted on unrelated federal fraud charges in Florida. Democrats are sure to try to capitalize on the Republican troubles in next year's Congressional elections, and probably in the presidential election campaign of 2008.
Representative Tom Reynolds of New York, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, asserted today that the political motive behind the investigation of Mr. DeLay was obvious. "The majority leader has been a highly effective leader of our conference," Mr. Reynolds said. "Democrats resent Tom DeLay because he routinely defeats them — both politically and legislatively." "Until Majority Leader Tom DeLay has his day in court, it is vitally important he be afforded the same presumption of innocence afforded to every other American," Mr. Reynolds said.
As majority whip, Mr. Blunt has held the third-highest post in the House, with responsibility for rounding up votes to support the leadership's agenda. Before going to Congress in 1997, Mr. Blunt was Missouri's secretary of state and president of his alma mater, Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo.
Mr. Dreier, who will take over the majority leader's office, was first elected to Congress in 1980 and is currently chairman of the powerful Rules Committee. On his Web site he describes his "core principles" as "working to promote individual liberty, economic opportunity, strong U.S. global leadership, and limited but effective government."


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/28/politics/28cnd-delay.html?ei=5070&en=9e0dad16fd9d33e8&ex=1128571200&adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1128039255-8mpOptdkNwPzInDU8QMrVg


Indictment of Republican Tom DeLay a serious blow for Bush agenda
08:10 PM EDT Sep 29
Rep. Tom DeLay, R- Tex., left, is escorted by police to a meeting on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
BETH GORHAM
WASHINGTON (CP) - In a serious blow for President George W. Bush, powerful Republican Tom DeLay was forced to step down Wednesday as House majority leader to face a conspiracy charge in a Texas campaign finance scheme.
Bush, who relied on DeLay's tough style to push policy, is already having a tough time dealing with a party beleaguered by the weak response to hurricane Katrina and divided over how to pay for a massive rebuilding project.
Now DeLay's indictment after years of pushing ethical boundaries provides an opportunity for Democrats to pound Republicans on corruption issues in the run-up to next year's congressional elections.

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050928/w092888.html

continued ...

The Hammer has FALLEN !!! 

It would seem "The End does not justify The Means." 

The Goal for Tom DeLay when he took office because he was ruthless and didn't care about the law or the USA Constitution. We'll see if he attains that goal. 

Morning Papers - continued ...

The Boston Globe

Owner of bus that burned warned on records

By Matt Curry, Associated Press Writer September 29, 2005

DALLAS --The bus company being investigated after its vehicle burned during a Hurricane Rita evacuation, killing 23 elderly passengers, was warned in 2002 about inadequate inspection and maintenance records, state records show.
Global Limo Inc. failed to test employees for use of alcohol or controlled substances, failed to keep records of vehicle inspections and maintenance and did not retain proof of the qualifications of brake inspectors who worked on its buses, according to Department of Public Safety records released Wednesday.
The company was told to comply with those regulations, but no enforcement action was taken.
Global's owner, James Maples, told the Texas Department of Transportation a month after the April 2002 review that he had made the requested changes. The report was first published Wednesday in The Dallas Morning News.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/09/29/owner_of_bus_that_burned_warned_on_records/


Man's creation could make solar power more accessible

By Dirk Perrefort, Connecticut Post September 29, 2005

MILFORD, Conn. --Who would have thought the material used to make potato chip bags could revolutionize the solar energy industry?
Nobody, until Milford resident Michael Costner came along. And now the mechanical engineer hopes to patent his visionary idea to make solar energy technology less expensive and more accessible to a larger market.
"We've developed a design that would deliver solar energy at more affordable costs," said Costner, a consultant with Aerospace Structural Research in Milford. "Our goal is to reduce the price so that solar energy can become more widely accepted. We think we're there."
Previous attempts to design a solar collector system, which focuses sunlight on a central beam, have been unsuccessful because of the costs involved, he said. Mirrors used in prototype collector systems to reflect the light are often too expensive and heavy for traditional uses.
Costner and his partner, Eric Hochberg, an optics expert with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, decided to use an aluminum mylar to reflect the sun's rays. The mylar is the same material used in potato chip bags. The material is not only light but cheap, Costner said.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2005/09/29/mans_creation_could_make_solar_power_more_accessible/


Ukraine marks anniversary of Nazi killings

By Natasha Lisova, Associated Press Writer September 29, 2005

KIEV, Ukraine --Weeping survivors clutching red carnations paid tribute Thursday to tens of thousands of Jews massacred by the Nazis 64 years ago at the ravine known as Babi Yar.
At a memorial park erected at the chasm just outside Kiev's city center, about 200 people bowed their heads and laid flowers at the bronze monument marking the area where the killings took place in September 1941. Senior Jewish community leaders bemoaned the fact that some of the country's most senior leaders were unable to attend.
"People must understand that this tragedy is important, not only for Jewish people, but also for all Ukrainians," Ukraine's chief rabbi Yakov Blaikh told The Associated Press after the ceremony. "If children learned a lesson from history, no skinheads would attack people on the streets."

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/09/29/ukraine_marks_anniversary_of_nazi_killings/

Civil rights lawyer Baker Motley dies

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, chats with his wife, Coretta, left, and civil rights champion Constance Baker Motley before the start of an S.C.L.C. banquet in this Aug. 9, 1965 file photo in Birmingham, Ala. Motley, a federal judge who as a young lawyer represented Martin Luther King Jr. and played a pivotal role in reducing racial injustice in America in the 1960s, has died. She was 84. Motley died Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005, after a career that in its early days found her fighting blatant racism in many of the nation's landmark segregation cases. (AP Photo/File)

By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer September 29, 2005

NEW YORK --When she was 15, Constance Baker Motley was turned away from a public beach because she was black. It was only then -- even though her mother was active in the NAACP -- that the teenager really became interested in civil rights.
She went to law school and found herself fighting racism in landmark segregation cases including Brown v. Board of Education, the Central High School case in Arkansas and the case that let James Meredith enroll at the University of Mississippi.
Motley also broke barriers herself: She was the first black woman appointed to the federal bench, as well the first one elected to the New York state Senate.


http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2005/09/29/federal_judge_civil_rights_lawyer_dies/

American appeals Hong Kong conviction

September 29, 2005

HONG KONG --An American found guilty of murdering her investment banker husband after a sensational trial that featured lurid testimony about drugs, wealth and sexual abuse has filed an appeal, an attorney said Thursday.

Nancy Kissel was sentenced to life in prison on Sept. 1 for the killing of her husband, Robert, in what became known as the "Milkshake Murder."
Kissel, 41, was found guilty of lacing her husband's milkshake with sedatives before bashing his head with a metal ornament at the couple's Hong Kong luxury apartment.
Her attorney, Simon Clarke, said the appeal was filed Wednesday but declined to discuss the grounds for the appeal.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/09/29/american_appeals_hong_kong_conviction/


Kansas City Star

DeLay’s troubles a warning for GOP

While Americans have yearned for a less divisive atmosphere in Washington, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay has long threatened and antagonized not just Democrats but many Republicans, too.

The Texas Republican has a reputation for wringing campaign “contributions” out of corporations and lobbying firms with all the finesse of an angry loan shark.Nicknamed “the Hammer,” DeLay has ordered trade associations and corporations to hire Republicans as lobbyists and blasted one industry group for simply hiring a former Democratic lawmaker as its president.DeLay has issued reckless statements that seem more appropriate to violence-torn banana republics than to the United States.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/12766778.htm

Brown digs deeper hole

Every time he opens his mouth, Michael Brown shows the American people why he’s now the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.Take Tuesday’s appearance before a congressional committee investigating local, state and federal responses to Hurricane Katrina.Brown was a political appointee who lacked emergency management experience.

This was his chance to show some remorse, and to apologize for the federal agency’s mistakes and plodding reactions to the devastating Gulf storm.Remember Brown’s televised appearances days after Katrina struck, when he insisted aid was quickly getting to New Orleans and thousands of evacuees were being fed in the city’s convention center? Little of what he said turned out to be correct.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/opinion/12766783.htm

Woman must carry grisly details about Rader ‘until the day he dies’

Tainted by BTK, attorney searches for normal
The Associated Press

“I don’t think anybody can appreciate what it was like to be in the trenches with him. But the bottom line is that I treated another human with respect and compassion, and for that I don’t apologize. I did what I had to do.”

Sarah McKinnon

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Sarah McKinnon spent hours each day with Dennis Rader. She helped guide him through the legal process that ended with 10 life terms for a series of sadistic murders that terrified Wichita for decades.
Now the Reno County woman wonders how long it will take for life to return to normal — if it ever does.
“I’m still trying to find my stride,” McKinnon told The Hutchinson News for a story in Sunday’s editions. “I’m still trying to find where regular is — where I left off six months ago, where normal used to be.”
Adding to the strain, the defense attorney said, is that attorney-client privilege prevents her from discussing too many specifics.
“It’s not like you can call your best friend or your mom and dump it on them,” she said. “Because of this case’s high profile, I’ve had to carry it inside of me. And now that it’s said and done, I can’t just spill my guts.
“I’ve seen things I never wanted to see,” said McKinnon, who has lost 25 pounds since the Sedgwick County public defender’s office took the case in March. “I have information I never wanted, and I have things inside of me that I don’t want … but it’s stuff I have to keep until the day he dies.”

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/front/12742201.htm


Chicago Tribune

Former top aide begins testimony against Ryan

By Mike RobinsonThe Associated PressPublished September 29, 2005, 11:27 AM CDT

George Ryan's former right-hand man took the stand Thursday in the past governor's corruption trial, saying the reason he's testifying against his old boss is to help his fiance, who was accused in a bid-rigging indictment."I happen to love Andrea and you guys got my head in a vice," Scott Fawell told prosecutors.Fawell is serving a 61/2-year racketeering sentence and is testifying for the prosecution in hopes of getting a break at sentencing for himself and his fiance, Andrea Coutretsis, in a multimillion dollar bid-rigging scheme.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-050929ryantrial,1,1445293.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true


Ryan's inner circlePublished September 29, 2005

LAWRENCE WARNERChicago businessman and close friend of RyanRole in Ryan case: Ryan's co-defendant.Result of Operation Safe Road: Indicted in 2002 on charges he improperly used his influence in the secretary of state's office to benefit himself and others. Indicted again in 2003 on charges he illegally received $3 million in profits from secretary of state contracts and leases since 1991.ROGER STANLEYFormer state senator, lobbyist and friend of RyanRole in Ryan case: Agreed to cooperate in the probe in return for a reduced prison term of 27 months; is expected to testify for the prosecution.Result of probe: In 2003 admitted that he paid kickbacks to Udstuen to win state contracts and campaign business and that he took part in a payroll scam.SCOTT FAWELLFormer top aide to Ryan in the secretary of state's office, ex-chief executive officer of McPierRole in Ryan case: Star witness against Ryan, currently serving a 6 1/2-year prison term. Agreed to cooperate to win a reduced sentence for his fiance and former aide, Alexandria Coutretsis, who has pleaded guilty twice in corruption probes.Result of probe: Convicted in 2003 for diverting secretary of state resources to work on Ryan's gubernatorial campaign. In 2004 pleaded guilty to rigging a multimillion-dollar contract to oversee McCormick Place expansion.DONALD UDSTUENRyan confidant and former Metra board memberRole in Ryan case: Allowed federal investigators to secretly record his telephone calls to Ryan; is expected to testify for the prosecution.Result of probe: Pleaded guilty in 2002 to participating in a kickback scheme involving state contracts. In a separate scheme, admitted to taking about $380,000 in kickbacks from Warner.ARTHUR "RON" SWANSONFormer state senator, lobbyist and friend of RyanRole in Ryan case: Declined to cooperate in the probe but is expected to testify for the prosecution.Result of probe: Pleaded guilty in 2004 to lying to a federal grand jury about pocketing a $50,000 lobbying fee to win a state prison in southern Illinois, knowing Ryan had already decided to place it there.Source: U.S. attorney's office, Tribune reports


11 people hospitalized after derailment

JIM SALTER Associated PressBLACKWELL, Mo. - Eleven people suffered minor injuries late Wednesday when an Amtrak train derailed in eastern Missouri.
Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer said none of the injuries were life threatening.
The Texas Eagle, which runs between Chicago and San Antonio, derailed around 11 p.m., Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham said. It had departed from Chicago at 3:20 p.m.
Graham said the train contained 90 passengers and 13 crew members.
Boyer said the train was moving slowly through a winding area of Jefferson County, about 50 miles south of St. Louis, when it apparently struck a rock slide.
Boyer described boulders about half the size of a car hood on the track.
The cause of the slide was not known, but the area received about 1 1/2 inches of rain Wednesday night.
"We're fortunate the engineer had to slow down," Boyer said. "It probably could have been a lot more serious."
Graham said the engine and four of the six cars were off the tracks. But Boyer said the train had seven cars, and all of them derailed. He said the engine turned over on its side, but the engineer walked away unharmed.
All the passenger cars remained upright, both said.
The 11 passengers taken to the hospital complained mostly of neck and back pain, Boyer said.
One of the passengers was a pregnant woman who complained that she felt labor pains.
The National Transportation Safety Board planned to investigate, Boyer said. School buses took the uninjured passengers to the fire house in De Soto to spend the night. It wasn't clear how long they would remain in the town just north of the scene of the derailment.
Authorities also didn't know how long the track would be closed.
Earlier Wednesday, a high-speed Amtrak Acela train plowed into a car at a crossing in Waterford, Conn., killing a woman and her 8-year-old grandson and causing major delays along the Boston-to-Washington corridor.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/12769515.htm


Mail & Guardian

High drama as EU sets talks on Turkish entry

European Union foreign ministers will meet in Luxembourg on October 2 in an eleventh-hour bid to finalise guidelines for membership talks with Turkey, scheduled to start a day later.Diplomats said ministers, meeting for a working dinner on Sunday night, would focus on overcoming Austrian demands that Ankara be offered a watered-down partnership instead of full membership of the 25-nation bloc.Vienna is also insisting that the EU should set a date for the early opening of entry negotiations with Croatia.The decision to hold the last-minute ministerial meeting in Luxembourg was taken after senior EU officials failed once again on Thursday to approve a framework for negotiations with Turkey.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252260&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/


Kebble won't step into son's shoes

Roger Kebble, father of slain mining magnate Brett Kebble, is not planning to step into his son's shoes.Speaking at a press briefing at his son's home in Inanda, Johannesburg, on Thursday, he said he did not think he was the right person to pick up his son's cudgels."I'm just a fairly simple miner. I will stick to my knitting. I don't think I'm going to step into those shoes," Kebble said.

He did not say who would take over his son's many business interests, but he did hint that it was likely to be his empowerment partners.Family spokesperson David Barritt said Brett Kebble's personal finances would be wound up by his widow.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252277&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/



Theories abound over Kebble's death

Theories and speculation on why and how mining magnate Brett Kebble was killed on Tuesday this week abounded in South African media on Thursday."Was mining magnate Brett Kebble the victim of a classic diamond murder?" Beeld newspaper asked in an article on Thursday.The newspaper said the question is being asked amid growing speculation that missing shares in Kebble's Randgold Resources were related to his diamond interests in Angola and Lesotho. It said there are strong similarities between Kebble's killing in Melrose Road Extension and the murder of socialite Hazel Crane on November 10 2003 -- 800m from where Kebble died. Crane had been on her way to testify about illegal diamond trading when she was shot dead in her car. Kebble (42), known as the "new Barney Barnato" for the excitement he had injected into Johannesburg's mining industry, was on his way to the house of his partner, Sello Rasethaba, when he was shot at about 9pm on Tuesday evening.


http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252224&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/


Deaths highlight EU immigration troubles

The deaths of five people during a night of clashes on the Spanish-Moroccan border on Thursday once again threw into focus the growing pressure exerted by illegal immigration on the gateways into the European Union across the Mediterranean Sea.Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met his Moroccan counterpart Driss Jettou in Seville on Thursday for talks on the problem following the unrest on Morocco's border with Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast.Five people died before dawn when hundreds of would-be immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa attempted to storm the border fence around the enclave, just across the Strait of Gibraltar that divides Africa from mainland Europe.The European Commission called on its members to bolster cooperation with third countries to avert similar incidents.Spain's troubles are by no means unique among its fellow EU member-states that border the Mediterranean. All face a daily challenge in trying to contain illegal immigration, while also respecting the rights of potential asylum-seekers.


http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252281&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/


BAe's secret £1m to Pinochet

The United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is expected to launch an investigation into disclosures that the British arms company BAe secretly paid more than £1-million to the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.The Guardian revealed how BAe had been identified in United States banking records as routing the payments through front companies between 1997 and last year.Calls for action were led by the British Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy. He said: “These allegations will be deeply embarrassing for BAe, a leading British company with ready access to Downing Street under this and previous governments and a company which receives significant subsidies from the public purse ... The government needs to send a strong message to British companies that corruption and bribery will not be permitted or excused.’’SFO investigators are studying the files relating to Red Diamond Trading, a front company controlled by BAe and registered in the British Virgin Islands. It is alleged that the arms company has been using Red Diamond to channel secret commissions worldwide to agents on arms sales, and may have circumvented laws on corruption and money-laundering.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252132&area=/insight/insight__international/


Zimbabwe hospitals lack lab materials for HIV tests

Public hospitals in Zimbabwe are finding it difficult to conduct HIV/Aids tests because of a lack of essential laboratory chemicals, the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Wednesday.Zimbabwe has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world. An estimated one in four Zimbabweans is HIV-positive.Tendai Nyakuedzwa, a laboratory scientist at Chitungwiza General Hospital, a large public hospital about 20km from the capital Harare, was cited as saying there was a "critical shortage" of reagents used in HIV-testing.Nyakuedzwa said machines used for accurate HIV-testing had not been operating at the hospital for four months because of the lack of the reagents.The hospital's HIV viral load machine has also been lying unused for the past year because of the lack of reagents, he said. The chemicals have to be imported from neighbouring South Africa, but Zimbabwe is facing critical

shortages of foreign currency needed to pay for such imports.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252126&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/


Four thousand children still missing in Uganda

At least 4 000 children who were among some of the tens of thousands abducted by the Ugandan rebels from the north of the country cannot be traced, a Ugandan human rights group said in a report obtained on Wednesday.The report by Uganda Human Rights Commmission (UHRC) also accuses the government's forces of torturing civilians in the war-ravaged region, using methods that included suspending weights on genitals for extracting information or instilling discipline.The war is waged by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) guerillas who have displaced over 1,5-million people and abducted nearly 30 000 children and youth whom they have forced into their army. The LRA has also forced abducted girls into sex slavery. Many of the children had come back home after escaping from the LRA or being rescued by government forces but according to UHRC, "by the end of 2004, out of the 26 000 children abducted by the LRA, 4 000 were still unaccounted for in northern Uganda".

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=252170&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/


Almost 50 killed in attack on Chadian village

Almost 50 people have been killed in a village in eastern Chad during an attack by an armed group from neighbouring Sudan and subsequent clashes with Chadian forces, the government spokesman said on Tuesday.The attack took place in the eastern Wadai region on Monday morning, Hurmaji Musa Dumgor said in a statement."Armed and uniformed horsemen from Sudan infiltrated Chadian territory on Monday between 8am and 9am (7am and 8am GMT)... and took to massacring Chadian people and stole their livestock," he said."The Chadian armed forces responded rapidly," he added, saying the soldiers had killed eight of the attackers and captured seven.The horsemen had earlier killed at least 36 villagers in Madayun, according to army sources.Eastern Chad borders on the Darfur region of Sudan, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than a million displaced since rebels rose up in February 2003, prompting a fierce response from government forces and allied militia.The most notorious of these allies are the Janjaweed, armed men on horse- and camel-back widely condemned by human rights groups for their atrocities against civilians. - AFP


Cholera epidemic has killed 800 in West Africa

A current cholera epidemic spreading across West Africa is more serious than other recent outbreaks because of the fast spread of the disease in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday."Is it worse than in previous years? Yes, because of the big outbreaks it is worse," said WHO's cholera chief Claire-Lise Chaignat.This year's cholera epidemic across West Africa has sickened tens of thousands of people and killed around 800 amid heavy rains and resulting flooding, particularly in Dakar, Senegal's capital.Chaignat said that countries generally were not well enough prepared to handle the situation."We are concerned: Although countries have reacted, they should do more preparedness so that you can diminish the effects," she said, adding that poverty is the main reason for the spread of the disease.Epidemics of cholera, transmitted by infected water, are linked to poor hygiene, overcrowding, inadequate sanitation and unsafe water. West Africa is home to some of the world's poorest countries."It touches the poorest of the poor, those who live in shantytowns, don't have access to proper water and [pit] latrines," Chaignat said.According to WHO, more than 31 000 people were infected with cholera in nine west African countries between June and late August. Chaignat declined

to update that figure because of difficulties compiling overall figures.She also warned that the cholera season is only about to start in eastern and southern Africa. - Sapa-AP


Honolulu Advertiser

Pilot error blamed in deadly Iraq crash
Advertiser Staff and News Services

Human error caused a helicopter crash in western Iraq in January that killed 26 Hawai'i Marines and a sailor, according to an investigative report released yesterday on the deadliest crash in more than two years of combat in Iraq.
The crew of the California-based CH-53E Super Stallion became disoriented when weather turned bad and visibility was quickly reduced, and flew the helicopter into the ground, the Los Angeles Times reported. The crash killed the Hawai'i Marines, a Navy corpsman and four crew members based out of California.
The Jan. 26 crash occurred at 1:20 a.m. local time in a sandstorm near Rutbah, a corner of Iraq that touches the Syrian and Jordanian borders.

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HECO gets approval for 3.3% rate hike

Electric bills are going up by about $5 a month.
Hawaiian Electric Co. said yesterday that the state Public Utilities Commission granted its request for a 3.3 percent interim rate hike to pay for major capital improvements over the past 10 years.
The increase, which went into effect yesterday, is HECO's first in its base rate since 1995, when it raised rates by 1.3 percent.
On top of the base rate, electric bills have been rising because of higher fuel costs. In the past year, fuel costs have added about 16 percent to the typical bill.

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Tougher oversight of relief spending needed

The unprecedented scope of the natural disasters that hit the Gulf Coast in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita will lead to an equally unprecedented flood of dollars designed to help the region rebuild.
Along with that comes the responsibility of making sure those dollars are spent wisely.
That's the issue facing members of Congress and oversight officials within the agencies most directly involved, including the Department of Homeland Security.
More auditors and specialists have been brought on board, but clearly there's a need for a smart, coordinated oversight plan.
Critics who fear this relief effort will become a funnel for extravagant waste and improper spending already have their poster child.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has contracted with Carnival Cruise Lines for three ships to be stationed off the Gulf as emergency housing. The deal — designed ostensibly to offset the losses the line will experience by pulling the ships out of commercial service — works out to $1,275 per evacuee per week.

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The Moscow Times

Likely agenda for Russia-EU summit in London

RIA NOVOSTI. September 29, 2005, 7:45 PM
MOSCOW, (Yury Borko for RIA Novosti). --

At the sixteenth EU-Russia summit, which will be held on October 4 in London, the leaders of Russia and the European Union member states will for the first time discuss their relations within the context of the "roadmaps" approved at the EU-Russia summit held in Moscow in May 2005.These "roadmaps" anticipate the gradual creation of four common spaces in EU-Russia relations: economic; freedom, security and justice; external security; and research, science and education. The establishment of these common spaces is a long-term strategic aim and it will be too early to assess the success or otherwise of this objective in London. Instead, the summit participants will most likely discuss specific measures to implement each of the roadmaps and agree timescales for their implementation.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/doc/HotNews.html#58506


Putin Gives State Award to Key Player in Yukos Saga

By Anatoly Medetsky Staff Writer

President Vladimir Putin has presented a state award for services to the country to a key player in last year's sale of Yuganskneftegaz, the one-time crown jewel of the Yukos oil giant.
Nikolai Borisenko, the first deputy president of the state-owned Rosneft oil company, is among dozens of state oil workers who received the Order for Services to the Fatherland, Second Class, under a presidential decree signed Sept. 20, the Kremlin press service announced this week.
Borisenko represented Gazpromneft at an auction in December 2004 when the government sold Yuganskneftegaz for $9.4 billion to partially recover $28 billion in back tax claims against Yukos.
Gazpromneft, a former subsidiary of Gazprom, was initially created as a tool to create an oil and gas giant by merging Gazprom and Rosneft, a plan that has not materialized.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/09/29/010.html


Fight While Putin Took Questions

The Moscow Times

The husband of a human rights activist lost several teeth in a clash with guards who wanted to prevent the couple from participating in President Vladimir Putin's call-in show, news reports said Wednesday.
Nagitulla Khaidarov and his wife, Yevgenia Khaidarova, entered a security perimeter in the mining city of Vorkuta to join a group of people who had been selected to ask Putin questions via video link during Tuesday's show.
The trouble started when Khaidarova, head of the local chapter of Memorial, raised a banner saying that laws on the rehabilitation of victims of Soviet purges and on compensation for veterans should not be changed.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/09/29/014.html

UPDATE: Russia, EU hope for visa agreement at October 4 summit

RIA NOVOSTI. September 29, 2005, 7:00 PM
MOSCOW/LONDON, September 29 (RIA Novosti) -

Russia and the European Union may sign an agreement on simplifying visa regulations at the October 4 summit in London, the British ambassador to Moscow said Thursday. Tony Brenton told a joint news conference with Marc Franco, the head of the European Commission's Office in Moscow, that both the EU and Russia were working hard to strike a deal. Russia's envoy to London, Yury Fedotov, said Wednesday the planned agreement was only a step toward a visa-free regime. "If this is done, it will be an important and easy-to-understand result of the summit because it [the simplification of visa regulations] affects interests of millions," the diplomat said. But the signing of this agreement "does not remove the strategic task of achieving visa-free regulations between Russia and the EU." EU's Franco said the visa agreement should come along with a deal on a readmission agreement. The readmission agreement will be applied to stateless persons, while simplified visa regulations will regard students, journalists, diplomats and other people who need long-term visas, Franco added. Readmission agreements are bilateral agreements between the EU and a non-EU country and are designed to facilitate the expulsion of illegal immigrants. It introduces an obligation on the non-EU country to readmit, without any formalities, its own nationals and people coming from or having lived in that country. In return, non-EU countries would receive funds to take back and resettle these people.

New Ukrainian PM rules out re-privatization

RIA NOVOSTI. September 29, 2005, 5:51 PM

KIEV, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian government does not plan any further re-privatization, the prime minister said Thursday."Re-privatization is over," Yuriy Yekhanurov said in Dnepropetrovsk, eastern Ukraine.The prime minister, approved in the post last week, said he planned to restore trust between authorities and business in the first month of his office. "The authorities should make the first steps toward business, moving on from tough control to support," Yekhanurov said.The premier said respect for private property rights was highly important. "The property that had to be re-nationalized has been de-privatized. All the current disputable issues will only be resolved through negotiations and agreements," Yekhanurov said, adding the authorities would not get involved in corporate conflicts or comment on them. The previous cabinet headed by Yuliya Tymoshenko launched a campaign to re-privatize some of the assets belonging to businessmen seen as close to former President Leonid Kuchma. In particular, these assets included Ukraine's largest steel mill, Krivorozhstal, holding 20% of the market, and the Nikopol ferroalloy plant. Opponents saw the move as Tymoshenko's attempt to promote the interests of certain business groups.Yekhanurov is expected to visit Moscow Friday.

Russia to supply Syria with ammunition, train officers

RIA NOVOSTI. September 29, 2005, 5:47 PM

MOSCOW, September 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will provide Syria with small arms ammunition and allow more Syrian students to study at Russian defense ministry universities, a ministry spokesman said Thursday.Syrian Chief of Staff General Ali Habib, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, and Chief of Staff Yury Baluyevsky reached this agreement during talks in Moscow September 27-28, the source said."[The parties] agreed on small supplies of ammunition for small arms to Syria and doubling the number of Syrian students in Russian higher education institutions under the Ministry of Defense. There are about 30 Syrian officers studying in Russia now," the spokesman said.The source also said the parties had not signed any high-level agreements during the talks.While in Russia, the Syrian general visited the Instrument Production Design Bureau in Tula (about 200 km south of Moscow), which has developed and produced 130 types of arms and military equipment for the Russian armed forces

AMERICAN TROOPS PULL OUT OF UZBEK BASE: WILL UNCLE SAM FIND A WORTHWHILE REPLACEMENT?

RIA NOVOSTI. September 29, 2005, 5:13 PM

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Goncharov) - The United States is losing its best base for continuing the anti-terror operation in Afghanistan - Karshi-Khanabad - situated in south-eastern Uzbekistan in direct proximity to the area of fighting. American troops are to leave Uzbekistan without any chance of return. Late last Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Fried told a news conference in Tashkent that his talks with President Islam Karimov failed to produce the desired result. Karimov was adamant in his demands and American troops are forced to leave without any further talks. Karshi-Khanabad will revert to Uzbek control by the end of the year.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/doc/HotNews.html#58505


Chechen Police Find Large Bomb

The Associated Press

ROSTOV-ON-DON -- Chechen police discovered a large homemade bomb in a car they stopped near Grozny, and there were concerns that a second car they did not manage to head off could also contain explosives, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday.
The police officers tried to stop the two small, Russian-made sedans for inspection Tuesday outside the village of Pobedinskoye, said Roman Shchekotin, spokesman for the Southern Federal District office of the Interior Ministry. Instead of stopping, the people in the cars opened fire. Two people then jumped from one of the cars into the other and made their getaway.

http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/09/29/016.html

The Stage for Scandal

The fourth annual New Drama Festival promises to bring the usual mix of novelty and controversy to the Moscow theater scene.

By John FreedmanPublished: September 23, 2005

Someone is bound to say it over the next week, so I might as well beat them to the punch: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." For those not accustomed to reading books from the Oprah Winfrey list, that is a quote from the beginning of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina."Tolstoy will be on the minds of many over the next week thanks to the organizers of the fourth annual New Drama Festival, which opened Thursday and runs to Sept. 30. No, there won't be any productions of Tolstoy's plays, although there will be a contemporary adaptation by the Presnyakov brothers of his novel "Resurrection." More importantly, however, several of the festival's daily discussion groups, bearing titles such as "Intimacy: To Offer It or Not?" and "War" parts one and two, are to be conducted in the light of epigrammatic quotes from works by Tolstoy. Apparently, in an age when moral authorities are conspicuous primarily by their absence, the easiest way to jumpstart a serious debate is to fall back on a figure like Tolstoy whose power to galvanize opinion -- for or against -- remains almost as strong as it was 100 years ago.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/09/23/101.html

Bush's plan to reconstruct the Gulf Coast is the biggest crony cash-cow in U.S. history
Global Eye

Available Light


By Chris FloydPublished: September 23, 2005
The sea was pink with sunset, the last light draining as high tide slowly reclaimed the beach. A huge harvest moon, flecked with clouds, was hanging just above the horizon in a sky still barely blue. On the distant line where the world curved away, you could see the white speck of the Channel ferry, bound for Calais. Standing on the high seawall -- with no one around, no sound but the insistent boundless roar of the waves -- you could watch and wait, wait for a hint of wind to rake the clouds away from the moon. The pink sea shaded into gray. First one and then another of the seawall steps were covered by the swarming tide; the waves and the darkness were advancing together. A horsehead cloud flashed black against the vast yellow presence, then bowed its neck, drifted on -- and the moon emerged.

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/09/23/120.html

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