October 5, 2005. Hooker, Oklahoma. Moon Shine.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Morning Papers - concluding
The (Greensboro) News and Record
I was looking initially for information and outrage to the 'gas utility' increase by 70% to 80%. People will freeze in their homes this winter if Easley doesn't do something about low income customers and those on fixed incomes. I think NC needs a statewide tax for a dedicated fund to help the low income this winter. A couple of years ago there was a severe winter storm that shut down electricity for eight days in some areas. During that time as rescue workers reached those isolated by 30 inches of snow there were admissions to area hospitals resulting in amputations of toes and feet that were frozen. This winter those same people will turn down their thermostats to the point of unbearable and people will freeze to death. Governor Easley needs to do something about this issue. It is unacceptable that the government did not act to change energy sources and now those most vulnerable are more vulnerable than ever.
Sailors killed off N.C. coast identified
MAYPORT, Fla. (AP) - The Navy identified three sailors killed when their helicopter crashed during night exercises off the North Carolina coast.
Pilots Lt. Robert L. Elortegui, 32, of Miami, and Lt. Thomas Brantley, 27, of Ahoskie, N.C.; and Aviation Warfare Systems Operator 3rd Class Nestor L. Oterolebron, 27, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, were stationed at Mayport Naval Station with the Anti-Submarine Light Wing 44.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051003/NEWSREC0101/51003016
Republican policies make people poorer
Republicans like to complain about poor people, especially those who "ride in the wagon." We saw the complaints in spades with Katrina, especially in right-wing blogs and on talk radio.
Our treatment of the poor is a moral issue and raises these questions: Why do Republicans, who have the power to do something about poverty, insist on creating more poor people? And why don't Republicans change their economic policies so people can get decent jobs and workers can make a living wage? Republican economics have been cruel.
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/archives/2005/10/republican_poli.html
Lack of rain produces a yard without grass
A little rain in Greensboro the other night, and that's a good thing. It's too late for the plot of dirt that I used to call my front yard. Summer started off with plenty of rain -- no need for sprinklers. When it all dried up, I refrained from watering because I was trying to be a good citizen. My neighbors might say that I was just ready to be done with mowing season, but that's just a rumor.
I'm afraid to aerate this season for fear of jarring my fillings loose. Those aerators aren't meant to bounce across petrified dirt. Looks like another year without an award-winning lawn. It's a fine line between being a good citizen and a neighborhood annoyance.
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/archives/2005/10/lack_of_rain_pr.html
Rescue children first, then save their pets
Now that all the children have been rescued and accounted for in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we can turn to the more important task of rescuing their pets.
Richard A. Davis
Pfafftown
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/archives/2005/10/rescue_children.html
Katrina and high energy prices hit consumer pocketbooks
By Martin Crutsinger
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Hurricane Katrina has knocked the economy for a loop, and whether the economy revives or slips into recession depends on whether nervous consumers are willing to spend more.
New figures on Friday showed the storm caused incomes to fall in August, reflecting $100 billion in losses by people who didn't have adequate insurance to cover damage to homes, businesses and vehicles.
There is concern the surge in energy prices will rattle consumers and push the econmy into a recession.
The Commerce Department report showed that spending was on the skids even before Katrina struck. Soaring gasoline prices caused consumers to reduce spending by the largest amount since the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
The 1 percent drop, after adjusting for inflation, reflected not only the pain at the gas pump but a cutback in spending on new cars after two big sales months resulting from attractive incentives from automakers.
The impact of $3-per-gallon gasoline is taking a toll on consumer confidence. The University of Michigan reported Friday that its confidence survey for September fell to 76.9, the lowest level in 12 years. The August and September declines are the biggest back-to-back drops on record.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/NEWSREC0103/510010315
Calming martial arts
By Tina Firesheets
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO -- They're not supposed to look at themselves in the mirror, but they can't seem to help it.
They should watch the flow of their hands. Instructor Joseph Loyd says tai chi is more of a feeling. He wants his students to rely on what they feel inside. If they look in the mirror, what they feel sometimes conflicts with what they see. But their eyes always travel back to the mirror.
Relaxing new age music fills the small studio at the Caldcleugh Multicultural Arts Center. The students inhale deeply, to breathe in positive energy. Then exhale, to breathe out negative energy. They spend a moment thinking about something good that happened to them that day.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWSREC010101/510020338
North Carolina winemaking comes of age
The Associated Press
MOUNT AIRY -- Like many North Carolinians who've ventured into growing wine grapes, Van and Kathy Coe came from farming families but didn't consider themselves farmers.
The threat of losing her family's farm changed that.
Five years ago, the Coes planted about 5 acres of grapes on the Surry County farm that had been in Kathy Coe's family for more than a century.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051003/NEWSREC0101/510030307/1001/NEWSREC0201
N.C. biggest user of migrant program
3-day bus trip north, 4 months of farm work, a year's worth of wages
By Marta Hummel
Staff Writer
"Without working here I could not have a house. It is good work. I need to come -- thinking about other things is not reality."
Genaro Trejo Padilla, a 39-year-old father of four from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas
The white sheet-metal barn is tucked off the highway. The turn onto the rutted road is easy to miss if you don't see the mailbox with the weathered numbers.
For the 6,500 legal migrant farmworkers who entered the state this year, this is their first destination: the N.C. Growers Association in Vass.
The 89 men who arrived on a Thursday in mid-July stepped off into the humid morning. They stumbled off the bus, stiff from 72 hours in a seat and restless to begin making money, their sole purpose for coming.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWSREC0101/510020318/1001/NEWSREC0201
Easley's strange veto
Gov. Mike Easley's veto last week of a bill that would have made hiring teachers from other states easier was a curious move.
It was also the wrong one, given North Carolina's teacher shortage and the state's difficulty in attracting enough qualified teachers from elsewhere to fill vacancies.
The bill, which would allow teachers considered highly qualified in other states to be so designated here, won strong support from school administrators statewide and from legislators. The House vote was unanimous in favor of the bill, and only four votes were cast against it in the 50-member Senate.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051003/NEWSREC010201/510030301/1014/NEWSREC020201
Rosemary Roberts: Bush record on conservation poor
At long last Our Leader is sermonizing against gas guzzling. President Bush told Americans this week to drive less to conserve gasoline.
"We can all pitch in ... by being better conservers of energy,'' he said. "People just need to recognize that the storms have caused disruption...." If we "are able to maybe not drive ... on a trip that's not essential, that would be helpful,'' he said.
These are the words of a president with one of the worst energy conservation records of any occupant of the White House. These are the words of a president whose energy policy was drafted by Vice President Dick Cheney and oil cronies, including Enron's Ken Lay.
Until now, the administration's profligate policy could be summarized as follows:
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050930/NEWSREC010201/509300301/1013/NEWSREC0202
Who's the Boss ? Who is the honest Boss?
Importance of precedent emphasized by Roberts
Supreme Court nominee offers glimpse of philosophy in Senate questionnaire; Calls criticism of judicial activism 'well-founded'
By Gwyneth K. Shaw
Sun National Staff
Originally published August 3, 2005
WASHINGTON - Amid dozens of pages of biographical information, financial details and legal accomplishments, Judge John G. Roberts Jr. offered a brief glimpse of his judicial philosophy to the Senate committee that will consider whether to elevate him to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his responses to a questionnaire from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Roberts stressed the importance of applying precedent in making decisions. That comment could help gauge his views on cases, including challenges to Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision.
"Roberts wrote that he was interviewed by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales on April 1, well before Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her intention to retire, which came in late June. That April meeting was followed by a discussion a month later with Vice President Dick Cheney, White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., deputy chief of staff Karl Rove,
White House Counsel Harriet Miers
and I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. Other meetings with Miers and a deputy counsel followed. President Bush interviewed Roberts in person July 15 and announced his choice four days later.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.roberts03aug03,1,3559969.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines [...]
Harriet keeps company with some of the most corrupt men that ever lived in the White House. Bush. Rove. Cheney. Libby.
Who do we trust?
http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/washington/issuesbeforethesupremecourt/index.html?page=recent&anchor=1
There is no indication Bird Flu is mutating. At all. Quarantine is not an effective method of handling this virus. The Pharmaceutical Industry needs to tool up and produce enough vaccine to stop the deaths globally.
Tests find avian flu can't spread easily
By Keith Bradsher The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005
HONG KONG A woman's death of avian influenza in Jakarta has caused considerable alarm there, but genetic tests performed in Hong Kong on samples of the virus from the woman showed Wednesday that the virus had not yet mutated in ways likely to make it more of a threat to people.
The genetic evidence suggests that cases identified so far in Indonesia may be no more dangerous by themselves than the nearly 100 cases recorded since the beginning of last year in Thailand and Vietnam. But the disease remains a potentially serious threat to human health because it could still evolve to become more readily transmissible among people.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/21/news/indo.php
Medicos at bird flu frontline
John Kerin
October 05, 2005
A TEAM of Australian emergency aid and medical experts has been sent to Indonesia to help the country's fight against an outbreak of deadly bird flu.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday the Australian team, headed by Ausaid director-general Bruce David, would meet Indonesian health and agriculture officials to see if Australia could provide further help.
"I think Indonesia is struggling a bit with (the bird-flu) outbreak," Mr Downer said yesterday.
"I think without our 50,000 anti-viral courses they wouldn't really have the capacity to counter the bird flu that has infected some people.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16819248%5E23289,00.html
Bird flu vaccine trial rushed forward
PM - Tuesday, 4 October , 2005 18:33:26
Reporter: Josie Taylor
MARK COLVIN: Terrorist attacks like the latest Bali bombings are damaging enough in themselves, but a leading bird flu researcher says they may also have the effect of obstructing the fight against the threat of avian flu.
A trial in Melbourne is about to start of one of the first human tests of a vaccination against bird flu.
Scientists at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute will begin injecting 400 men and women later this week.
They aim to have a preventative medication on the market by mid next year.
Researchers admit that the trial has been rushed forward in an attempt to get the product available as soon as possible.
In Melbourne, Josie Taylor.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Jason Elliott is a healthy, 37-year-old Victorian who's about to roll up his shirtsleeves and receive what's hoped to stop humans catching bird flu.
His motivation for getting involved is simple.
JASON ELLIOTT: I would like to be vaccinated. So I'm hoping that it's a success, because if it does hit then at least, for selfish reasons, you know, I'm covered.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1474681.htm
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/
Avian influenza
- Avian influenza – situation in Indonesia – update 32
29 September 2005
(image placeholder)
Responding to the avian influenza pandemic threat.
Recommended strategic actions
This document sets out activities that can be undertaken by individual countries, the international community and WHO to prepare the world for the next influenza pandemic and mitigate its impact once international spread has begun.
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/
Michael Moore Today
One Month in New Orleans
Friends,
My staff has been down in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast for nearly a month now setting up and running our own relief effort with Veterans for Peace. The overwhelming response from so many of you has directly affected the lives of thousands of people. Here's what we've been able to do with your help:
** Over 500 tons of food, water, clothing, medical supplies, baby products, feminine hygiene products, cleaning supplies, power tools, and a boat and trailer for reaching those still flooded by water have been distributed directly to those in need
** Over 10,000 aid packages have been sent by you via UPS and FedEx to our camp and distributed
** Over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies have been sent and distributed
** Tractor trailers, dozens of 20 foot trucks, six school buses, and other vehicles arrived loaded with supplies. Most stayed on to help distribute donations
** Over 200 chainsaws, 100 generators and 2,000 gallons of bleach have been distributed
** Doctors, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, psychologists, registered nurses, LPNs, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and social workers have volunteered from across the country and joined forces with us to create several mobile medical units providing prescription medication, first aid supplies, diabetic testing equipment, insulin and tetanus shots for those digging through the rubble of their homes
** People got in their cars and drove from 37 states to work with us in our camp
But beyond all these statistics are the personal testimonies of what my staff has experienced. Electricity was provided to a family whose young son suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, allowing him to continue his treatment until electricity in his neighborhood was restored. A 60 year old woman on a respirator was found, still in her home despite a gaping hole in the roof. We patched the roof and gave her food and water. Supplies were delivered to the Houma Indians, who had received no help (not even a visit) from the Red Cross or FEMA. A roof was put on their Cultural Center in Golden Meadows and a generator was provided to keep a years supply of seafood from spoiling in the sun. A man in Lefitte was found sitting on his porch, the house surrounded by four feet of water. A canoe-load of supplies was paddled to his doorstep by two of our volunteers. New Orleans evacuees joined our efforts. They served as our guides, leading us through now decimated communities and taking us to the areas of greatest need.
You can read more of these in the diaries posted here.
The harsh truth that I must report to you is that the federal government and Red Cross relief efforts are still a disorganized, embarrassing mess with little or no help reaching most people – this more than a month after Katrina. It is the freelance guerilla efforts like ours that are getting through. We aren't waiting for approval and we aren't stopping. We will make sure Bush and Co. pay for their failure later, but right now hundreds of thousands are homeless, hungry and in need of medical attention. And the rest of us have a responsibility to help them.
We have joined forces with S.O.S. Katrina, an organization that began as a temporary coalition of pre-existing community organizations that is doing amazing work with volunteers. They have become, with your help, a bright light offering immediate relief to the families who have lost everything. Find out what S.O.S. Katrina and other similar relief groups need, right now, from you.
Thanks again, everyone, for lending a hand. We won't give up and we know you won't either.
Yours,
Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com http://www.michaelmoore.com/
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=187
Hurricane Relief Effort Continues in Affected Areas
The Hurricane Katrina relief effort, supported by your donations of goods and cash began over a month ago in the greater New Orleans and Gulf Coast area. Together with your support, we hope to continue to meet the needs of hurricane survivors.
Thanks to the support and generosity that rolled in, the effort was more far-reaching and long-lasting than anyone ever expected.
WISH LIST
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/covington.php?id=41
War-Hawk Republicans and Anti-War Democrats: What's the Difference?
A message from Cindy Sheehan
The past week in DC found me in many offices of our elected officials: Senators, Congresspersons, pro-war, "anti-war," Democrat, Republican. With a few notable exceptions, all our employees toed party lines.
Thanks to those who met with me, because, except for Sen. Barbara Boxer, (D-Ca), I was not their constituent. And I believe the Republicans who met with me, whether they knew it or not, were breaking with their leader on this, since he was too cowardly to meet with me.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=512
Thousands Seek 24 Mont. Bison Hunt Permits
By Becky Bohrer / Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. -- More than 6,000 people, most of them Montana residents, have applied for 24 licenses to hunt the state's bison for the first time in 15 years, wildlife officials said Monday.
Last month, wildlife commissioners approved a three-month hunt of bison that leave Yellowstone National Park and enter southern Montana. Friday marked the deadline to apply for a license.
A drawing will be held next week, said Tom Palmer, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks,
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4395
Lawyer Casts Blame on Reporter for Time in Jail
Source Insists He Released Miller to Testify Last Year
By Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post
A lawyer for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, said yesterday that New York Times reporter Judith Miller and her attorneys are responsible for Miller's 85 days in jail, reiterating that she was given permission a year ago to tell a prosecutor about private conversations she had with Libby.
Libby's attorney, Joseph A. Tate, escalated the sharp dispute over exactly when Libby freed Miller to be questioned by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating whether any government officials broke the law by leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4394
What does Miers know about George's missing Vietnam years?
Mixed Review of Bush Pick in Oversight of Gambling
By Ralph Blumenthal / The New York Times
HOUSTON, Oct. 3 - As the newly sworn governor of Texas, George W. Bush had an assignment for his personal lawyer and trusted confidante, Harriet E. Miers: lead the Texas State Lottery, then one of the most lucrative public gambling operations in the world. As chairwoman for nearly five years, spanning most of Mr. Bush's two terms in Austin to the eve of his run for president, Ms. Miers did just that, putting her and her boss's stamp on the commission through an often-stormy period marked by the firings of two directors and a critical state audit.
In naming Ms. Miers on Monday to serve on the United States Supreme Court, President Bush made a point of her lottery service, saying the commission "needed a leader of unquestioned integrity." Mr. Bush said, "I chose Harriet because I knew she would earn the confidence of the people of Texas." He added: "She delivered results."
More than five years after her departure, however, with the lottery struggling and brushed by scandal, those results are a matter of heated dispute. Fellow commissioners praise her tenure. "She was a calm voice in the storm, diligent, faithful and fair," said John L. Hill Jr., a former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court who served on the lottery panel with her.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4400
US sees up to $2.1 bln arms sales to Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department on Monday notified Congress of possible military sales to Saudi Arabia worth up $2.1 billion for items ranging from tactical display terminals to aircraft maintenance.
The biggest potential contract is $918 million to help modernize the Saudi Arabian National Guard with equipment that includes 144 armored personnel carriers, 52 command and control vehicles, 3,600 assault rifles and 12 water cannon vehicles.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said principal contractors for the national guard modernization work would be Fabrique Nationale Herstal's U.S. unit, ITT Industries' Aerospace/Communications Division, Harris Corp. and Motorola Inc.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4396
Grand Jury Re-Indicts DeLay on New Charge
By April Castro / Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas - A Texas grand jury on Monday re-indicted Rep. Tom DeLay on charges of conspiring to launder money and money laundering after the former majority leader attacked last week's indictment on technical grounds.
The new indictment, handed up by a grand jury seated Monday, contains two counts: conspiring to launder money and money laundering. The latter charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Last week, DeLay was charged with conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4389
Monitors Find Significant Fraud in Afghan Elections
By Carlotta Gall / The New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 2 - Election officials and observers said Sunday that with 80 percent of the ballots counted in Afghanistan's national and provincial elections, they had found significant incidents of fraud.
Whole districts have come under suspicion for ballot box stuffing and proxy voting, said Peter Erben, the chief of the United Nations-assisted Joint Election Management Board. He said ballot boxes from 4 percent of the 26,000 polling places - about 1,000 stations - had been set aside for investigation on suspicion of fraud and other irregularities.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4388
"The Daily DeLay"
http://dailydelay.blogspot.com/
The New Zealand Herald
Geldof and Bono tipped to win Nobel Peace Prize
04.10.05
By Alister Doyle
OSLO - Irish rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono are among the bookmakers' tips to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, alongside more orthodox candidates like campaigners against nuclear arms or a peace broker for Indonesia.
Experts are divided about whether the secretive five-member committee would dare to broaden the scope of the $1.3 million award in 2005 to honor Geldof or Bono, who have campaigned for years to ease hunger and poverty in Africa.
Last year, the committee won both plaudits and brickbats for awarding the prize for the first time to an environmentalist, Kenya's Wangari Maathai, for leading a campaign to plant millions of trees across Africa.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348522
Air force accidentally kills Santa's Rudolph
04.10.05 8.20am
Santa Claus will receive US$5000 ($7240) in compensation from the Danish air force after an F-16 jet frightened one of his reindeer to death.
Professional Santa Olavi Niikanoff complained after the jet roared over where his grazing animals, air force spokesman Captain Morten Jensen said.
"We acknowledge it was our fault," Jensen said, adding the air force regularly faced claims that its jets had frightened animals to death.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348469
Mudslides and rain kill 35 in Central America
04.10.05 1:00pm
SAN SALVADOR - Torrential rains and mudslides killed at least 35 people in Central America as collapsing hillsides buried homes and rivers burst their banks, rescue workers said on Monday.
El Salvador was the country hardest hit with at least 23 people killed when the heavy rains triggered mudslides in neighbourhoods south and west of the capital in the early hours of the morning.
"They are trapped in the mud that drowned them," sobbed Ana Ramos, whose niece Carmen Elena Ramos died with her husband and three children in San Marcos, just south of San Salvador.
The government declared a red alert on Monday and rushed to evacuate thousands of families.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348564
China evacuates 13,000 from rising flood waters
04.10.05 5:20
BEIJING - Authorities have evacuated about 13,000 people from a flood hit region of central China along the banks of a tributary of the Yangtze River.
More heavy rain is expected to fall in the next two days in the province of Hubei and the local government is on alert for further flooding along the Hanjiang River.
"The flood is still under control though it seems still severe," Cai Qihua, deputy director of the Yangtze flood control headquarters, was quoted as saying.
There was no mention of any casualties.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348602
Australia to send bird flu experts to Indonesia
04.10.05 4:20pm
Australia will send a team of advisers and specialists to Indonesia this week to help it cope with an outbreak of bird flu.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said AusAID director-general Bruce Davis would head the deployment.
"The team, drawn from a number of commonwealth government departments, is expected to meet with the Indonesian Ministers for Health and Agriculture, relevant Indonesian government officials and senior personnel from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation," he said.
"These experts will work to make an assessment of the avian influenza threat, convey Australia's concern and agree on specific areas of further Australian assistance.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348595
NZ stocks: Market opens lower after yesterday
05.10.05 10.40am
The New Zealand sharemarket eased in early trading this morning, after touching a fresh intra-day high yesterday.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was 6.78 points lower at 3461.46 by 10.30am, having touched 3470.74 yesterday -- a fresh all time high.
The fall was leader-driven, with Telecom off 3c to 595, Contact Energy 1c lower at 766, and Fletcher Building down 3c at 807 -- after touching a fresh year high yesterday of 810.
Falls outnumbered rises by 14 to 12 among the 73 stocks traded so far. Turnover was light with 7 million shares worth $34 million changing hands.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348755
'Panda bonds' may help China hold yuan down
05.10.05 7.40am
BEIJING/HONG KONG - China is cuddling up to the world's capital markets with the authorisation of "panda bonds", yuan debt issued by foreign entities, a move that bankers say fits nicely with the government's financial strategy.
The new bonds should not only give a boost to the fledgling market in yuan debt, they could also help Beijing with its efforts to relieve upward pressure on the currency, analysts say.
China opened its domestic debt market to the Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corp, part of the World Bank group, last week, allowing them to raise a little over 2 billion yuan ($NZ362 million) in debt.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348699
BP says hurricanes to knock 2005 output goal
05.10.05 5.40am
LONDON - BP Plc, the world's second-largest oil firm by market capitalisation, said on Tuesday it expected Hurricanes Rita and Katrina would cost it over $US700m ($NZ1.79 billion) and make it miss its 2005 output goal.
The London-based firm said in a statement that third-quarter oil and gas output averaged 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), compared with 4.1 million boepd in the second quarter and 3.9 million boepd in the third quarter of 2004.
Rita and Katrina cost BP 145,000 boepd in the quarter.
BP said the impact of the hurricanes, plus higher prices on production-sharing contracts, meant it was unlikely to meet its full-year production goal of 4.1-4.2 million boepd.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348691
Oil: US willing to tap fuel reserves
05.10.05 8.40am
Oil tumbled by 2.4 per cent on Tuesday as Washington stood ready to tap its emergency oil stockpiles to prevent a winter fuel shortage in the world's biggest consumer.
Investors' conviction that record oil prices were battering consumer confidence and eroding demand for petrol also prompted a wave of selling, though the US oil industry's slow recovery from two hurricanes in less than a month limited losses.
US crude fell US$1.57 to settle at 63.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. London Brent crude was down US$1.58 at US$61.22 on the International Petroleum Exchange .
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348739
Station could delay power line
05.10.05
Any new power station north of Auckland could delay construction of the controversial 400 kV line running through the Waikato to south Auckland.
Two state-owned enterprises, Genesis and Mighty River Power, are planning new stations to help supply the soaring demand for energy in Auckland and further north.
Transpower spokesman Chris Roberts said projects like the Genesis plan and the Marsden B proposal from Mighty River Power had the potential to defer the deadline of 2010 to build a new transmission line through the Waikato.
"If more generation is available from 2010 from whatever source, then the time when the existing transmission lines reach capacity may be pushed back a number of years."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348659
Mining engineer graduates top pay poll with $140,00
05.10.05
SYDNEY - Australian mining engineers fresh out of college are earning as much as 60 per cent more than graduates hired by investment banks as China's commodities boom saps talent sought by producers such as BHP Billiton.
The Minerals Council of Australia says newly qualified mining engineers are earning as much as A$130,000 ($143,000) a year.
Investment banks pay recruits about A$90,000.
Australian universities are producing 50 per cent fewer mining engineers than in the late 1990s, when the dot-com era lured students into computing.
Now mining companies are hunting from Amsterdam to Chennai for graduates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348635
US manufacturing expands in storm's wake
04.10.05 1.00pm
Activity in the US manufacturing industry was surprisingly robust in September as new orders jumped in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while August construction spending rose at a record rate, data released today showed.
The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly indexes of manufacturing activity for September was 59.4, well above average expectations of a drop to 52.0 and the 53.6 level seen in August.
However, ISM cautioned that the jump was primarily driven by demand following the hurricane, which devastated the Gulf of Mexico coast at the end of August, and that the impact likely would be temporary.
"The flurry of activity and the strength of new orders -- I don't think that is a business cycle issue, that is an event-cycle issue driven by the storm," said Norbert Ore, chair of the ISM business survey committee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348584
US manufacturing expands in storm's wake
04.10.05 1.00pm
Activity in the US manufacturing industry was surprisingly robust in September as new orders jumped in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while August construction spending rose at a record rate, data released today showed.
The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly indexes of manufacturing activity for September was 59.4, well above average expectations of a drop to 52.0 and the 53.6 level seen in August.
However, ISM cautioned that the jump was primarily driven by demand following the hurricane, which devastated the Gulf of Mexico coast at the end of August, and that the impact likely would be temporary.
"The flurry of activity and the strength of new orders -- I don't think that is a business cycle issue, that is an event-cycle issue driven by the storm," said Norbert Ore, chair of the ISM business survey committee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348584
EU and Turkey get off to rocky start
05.10.05
By Catherine Field
Turkey's four-decade-old bid to join the European Union has cleared an important hurdle with a deal on the framework for negotiations.
But a split within the EU and a show of Turkish brinkmanship demonstrate just how turbulent the entry process will be.
At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that lurched from drama to farce, Austria demanded that the framework - a set of guiding principles for the entry negotiations - limit Turkey to a privileged partnership. In other words, Turkey would get wide access to the EU market but not full membership.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348683
Howard rules out changes to abortion laws
05.10.05
CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out changes to abortion laws after the Family First party suggested women seeking terminations be made to wait 72 hours before undergoing surgery.
The Family First party says in its policy statement that pregnant women should be given enough time, support and information to make informed decisions.
"Family First supports the view that women seeking information on abortion be given adequate time in which to consider the advice and information before making a decision to proceed to termination (this could take the form of a 72-hour cooling off period)," the party's website said.
Abortion is regulated by state law but the commonwealth funds termination procedures through Medicare.
Mr Howard said while he was not aware of Family First's policy, the government was not considering changes to the law.
"I have previously expressed a view that people are obviously entitled to debate the issue, but we're not proposing any changes in relation to the law," he told reporters.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348668
Caesarean no bar to going full term
05.10.05
NEW YORK - Women who have undergone a caesarean delivery can safely attempt to give birth vaginally in a subsequent pregnancy, even when they're at or past their due date, say US researchers.
However, the chances of being able to complete a vaginal birth are reduced.
The safety of vaginal birth after caesarean in a variety of situations has been investigated before, the researchers explain in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, but little has been published about such birth attempts for women at or past their expected delivery date.
Dr Kara M Coassolo from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues looked at the results for 11,587 women attempting vaginal birth after a caesarean, before and after 40 weeks of gestation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348637
Man jailed for starving his son
04.10.05 7.20am
A Japanese man has been jailed for 14 years for attempting to starve his 17-year-old son to death.
Yasunobu Karasuno, 42, beat his son repeatedly and restricted his meals in a conspiracy with his girlfriend Natsuyo Kawaguchi, 40, at their home in Kishiwada, Osaka Disteict Court heard. Karasuno denied he wanted to kill his son.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348468
China fears stir textile groups to seek own WTO pact
05.10.05 12:20pm
By Doug Palmer
Textiles and clothing should be removed from broader world trade talks aimed at reducing tariffs and dealt with separately because of the threat posed by China to other textile producers around the world, an international coalition said on Tuesday.
"We're not going to let any single country... take over business from 50 or 60 countries around the globe and monopolize the textile trade," said Zika Sukan, executive director of ITKIB Association USA, which represents Turkey's textile and clothing exporters in the United States.
Sukan spoke by telephone from Geneva on behalf of a coalition of textile trade associations in 55 countries called the Global Alliance for Fair Textile Trade, or GAFTT. US and Mexican industry representatives also were on the call.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348759
Palestinian police demand end to chaos
04.10.05 1:00pm
GAZA - Palestinian policemen stormed into Gaza's parliament building on Monday to demand a crackdown on militants, and deputies called on President Mahmoud Abbas to sack the cabinet for failing to stamp out chaos in the streets.
The two challenges highlighted Abbas' uphill struggle to impose law and order in the Gaza Strip to make it the proving ground of a future Palestinian state after Israel's withdrawal of settlers and soldiers completed last month.
"We are on the verge of civil war if the situation remains out of control," said Qaddoura Fares, a reformist legislator with Abbas' mainstream Fatah movement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348566
Hamas and Fatah calls for peace in Palestine
05.10.05 1:00pm
DAMASCUS - Leaders of Palestinian factions including rivals Fatah and Hamas pledged on Tuesday to refrain from violence in settling Palestinian problems after a firefight between Hamas activists and Palestinian police left three dead.
Farouk Kaddoumi, a leader of Fatah -- the ruling faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the exiled leaders of Palestinian groups agreed in Damascus that dialogue should be the only way to solve their disputes.
Listing the decisions of their meetings, Kaddoumi said the leaders agreed to "call all Palestinian powers and factions to ban the use of weapons to solve internal differences".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348765
Germany's Schroeder ready to bow out
04.10.05 1:00pm
BERLIN - Gerhard Schroeder signalled on Monday he might be ready to drop his demand to remain chancellor after Germany's inconclusive election, by saying he would not stand in the way of the creation of a stable new government.
Schroeder, who has led Germany since 1998, said in a brief interview with RTL television that his fight to stay in the chancellery was for the good of his Social Democrats (SPD) and their centre-left policies -- and not for personal gain.
His refusal to step aside since his party finished a close second to Angela Merkel's conservatives in the Sept. 18 vote, has been one of the chief hurdles to the formation of a coalition government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348563
Strikes puts pressure on French government
05.10.05 1:00pm
By Timothy Heritage
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Tuesday as a one-day strike snarled public transport, putting pressure on the government to change its labour and economic policies.
Some of the protesters demanded the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin after only four months in power as they marched through major cities such as Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Lyon.
Union organisers said at least a million people took part in 150 protests around France. A police estimate was not available.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348734
Chimp quits smoking
04.10.05 3.20pm
BEIJING - A chimpanzee in a northwest China zoo has quit smoking after 16 years with the help of her keepers, official media reported.
The staff, worried about her declining health, weaned 27-year-old "Ai Ai" off tobacco by distracting her with entertainment and a tastier diet, Xinhua news agency said.
"The zoo keepers tried every way to divert the chimp's attention from cigarettes: a walk after breakfast, a music session after lunch and gym after dinner," Xinhua said.
She also got fried dishes and dumplings, as well as the usual diet of milk, bananas and rice, said one zoo keeper.
"I also put earphones on her so that she could enjoy some pop music from my walkman," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348554
concluding …
I was looking initially for information and outrage to the 'gas utility' increase by 70% to 80%. People will freeze in their homes this winter if Easley doesn't do something about low income customers and those on fixed incomes. I think NC needs a statewide tax for a dedicated fund to help the low income this winter. A couple of years ago there was a severe winter storm that shut down electricity for eight days in some areas. During that time as rescue workers reached those isolated by 30 inches of snow there were admissions to area hospitals resulting in amputations of toes and feet that were frozen. This winter those same people will turn down their thermostats to the point of unbearable and people will freeze to death. Governor Easley needs to do something about this issue. It is unacceptable that the government did not act to change energy sources and now those most vulnerable are more vulnerable than ever.
Sailors killed off N.C. coast identified
MAYPORT, Fla. (AP) - The Navy identified three sailors killed when their helicopter crashed during night exercises off the North Carolina coast.
Pilots Lt. Robert L. Elortegui, 32, of Miami, and Lt. Thomas Brantley, 27, of Ahoskie, N.C.; and Aviation Warfare Systems Operator 3rd Class Nestor L. Oterolebron, 27, of Caguas, Puerto Rico, were stationed at Mayport Naval Station with the Anti-Submarine Light Wing 44.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051003/NEWSREC0101/51003016
Republican policies make people poorer
Republicans like to complain about poor people, especially those who "ride in the wagon." We saw the complaints in spades with Katrina, especially in right-wing blogs and on talk radio.
Our treatment of the poor is a moral issue and raises these questions: Why do Republicans, who have the power to do something about poverty, insist on creating more poor people? And why don't Republicans change their economic policies so people can get decent jobs and workers can make a living wage? Republican economics have been cruel.
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/archives/2005/10/republican_poli.html
Lack of rain produces a yard without grass
A little rain in Greensboro the other night, and that's a good thing. It's too late for the plot of dirt that I used to call my front yard. Summer started off with plenty of rain -- no need for sprinklers. When it all dried up, I refrained from watering because I was trying to be a good citizen. My neighbors might say that I was just ready to be done with mowing season, but that's just a rumor.
I'm afraid to aerate this season for fear of jarring my fillings loose. Those aerators aren't meant to bounce across petrified dirt. Looks like another year without an award-winning lawn. It's a fine line between being a good citizen and a neighborhood annoyance.
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/archives/2005/10/lack_of_rain_pr.html
Rescue children first, then save their pets
Now that all the children have been rescued and accounted for in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we can turn to the more important task of rescuing their pets.
Richard A. Davis
Pfafftown
http://blog.news-record.com/staff/letters/archives/2005/10/rescue_children.html
Katrina and high energy prices hit consumer pocketbooks
By Martin Crutsinger
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Hurricane Katrina has knocked the economy for a loop, and whether the economy revives or slips into recession depends on whether nervous consumers are willing to spend more.
New figures on Friday showed the storm caused incomes to fall in August, reflecting $100 billion in losses by people who didn't have adequate insurance to cover damage to homes, businesses and vehicles.
There is concern the surge in energy prices will rattle consumers and push the econmy into a recession.
The Commerce Department report showed that spending was on the skids even before Katrina struck. Soaring gasoline prices caused consumers to reduce spending by the largest amount since the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
The 1 percent drop, after adjusting for inflation, reflected not only the pain at the gas pump but a cutback in spending on new cars after two big sales months resulting from attractive incentives from automakers.
The impact of $3-per-gallon gasoline is taking a toll on consumer confidence. The University of Michigan reported Friday that its confidence survey for September fell to 76.9, the lowest level in 12 years. The August and September declines are the biggest back-to-back drops on record.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051001/NEWSREC0103/510010315
Calming martial arts
By Tina Firesheets
Staff Writer
GREENSBORO -- They're not supposed to look at themselves in the mirror, but they can't seem to help it.
They should watch the flow of their hands. Instructor Joseph Loyd says tai chi is more of a feeling. He wants his students to rely on what they feel inside. If they look in the mirror, what they feel sometimes conflicts with what they see. But their eyes always travel back to the mirror.
Relaxing new age music fills the small studio at the Caldcleugh Multicultural Arts Center. The students inhale deeply, to breathe in positive energy. Then exhale, to breathe out negative energy. They spend a moment thinking about something good that happened to them that day.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWSREC010101/510020338
North Carolina winemaking comes of age
The Associated Press
MOUNT AIRY -- Like many North Carolinians who've ventured into growing wine grapes, Van and Kathy Coe came from farming families but didn't consider themselves farmers.
The threat of losing her family's farm changed that.
Five years ago, the Coes planted about 5 acres of grapes on the Surry County farm that had been in Kathy Coe's family for more than a century.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051003/NEWSREC0101/510030307/1001/NEWSREC0201
N.C. biggest user of migrant program
3-day bus trip north, 4 months of farm work, a year's worth of wages
By Marta Hummel
Staff Writer
"Without working here I could not have a house. It is good work. I need to come -- thinking about other things is not reality."
Genaro Trejo Padilla, a 39-year-old father of four from the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas
The white sheet-metal barn is tucked off the highway. The turn onto the rutted road is easy to miss if you don't see the mailbox with the weathered numbers.
For the 6,500 legal migrant farmworkers who entered the state this year, this is their first destination: the N.C. Growers Association in Vass.
The 89 men who arrived on a Thursday in mid-July stepped off into the humid morning. They stumbled off the bus, stiff from 72 hours in a seat and restless to begin making money, their sole purpose for coming.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWSREC0101/510020318/1001/NEWSREC0201
Easley's strange veto
Gov. Mike Easley's veto last week of a bill that would have made hiring teachers from other states easier was a curious move.
It was also the wrong one, given North Carolina's teacher shortage and the state's difficulty in attracting enough qualified teachers from elsewhere to fill vacancies.
The bill, which would allow teachers considered highly qualified in other states to be so designated here, won strong support from school administrators statewide and from legislators. The House vote was unanimous in favor of the bill, and only four votes were cast against it in the 50-member Senate.
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051003/NEWSREC010201/510030301/1014/NEWSREC020201
Rosemary Roberts: Bush record on conservation poor
At long last Our Leader is sermonizing against gas guzzling. President Bush told Americans this week to drive less to conserve gasoline.
"We can all pitch in ... by being better conservers of energy,'' he said. "People just need to recognize that the storms have caused disruption...." If we "are able to maybe not drive ... on a trip that's not essential, that would be helpful,'' he said.
These are the words of a president with one of the worst energy conservation records of any occupant of the White House. These are the words of a president whose energy policy was drafted by Vice President Dick Cheney and oil cronies, including Enron's Ken Lay.
Until now, the administration's profligate policy could be summarized as follows:
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050930/NEWSREC010201/509300301/1013/NEWSREC0202
Who's the Boss ? Who is the honest Boss?
Importance of precedent emphasized by Roberts
Supreme Court nominee offers glimpse of philosophy in Senate questionnaire; Calls criticism of judicial activism 'well-founded'
By Gwyneth K. Shaw
Sun National Staff
Originally published August 3, 2005
WASHINGTON - Amid dozens of pages of biographical information, financial details and legal accomplishments, Judge John G. Roberts Jr. offered a brief glimpse of his judicial philosophy to the Senate committee that will consider whether to elevate him to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his responses to a questionnaire from the Senate Judiciary Committee, Roberts stressed the importance of applying precedent in making decisions. That comment could help gauge his views on cases, including challenges to Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion decision.
"Roberts wrote that he was interviewed by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales on April 1, well before Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her intention to retire, which came in late June. That April meeting was followed by a discussion a month later with Vice President Dick Cheney, White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., deputy chief of staff Karl Rove,
White House Counsel Harriet Miers
and I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff. Other meetings with Miers and a deputy counsel followed. President Bush interviewed Roberts in person July 15 and announced his choice four days later.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.roberts03aug03,1,3559969.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines [...]
Harriet keeps company with some of the most corrupt men that ever lived in the White House. Bush. Rove. Cheney. Libby.
Who do we trust?
http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/washington/issuesbeforethesupremecourt/index.html?page=recent&anchor=1
There is no indication Bird Flu is mutating. At all. Quarantine is not an effective method of handling this virus. The Pharmaceutical Industry needs to tool up and produce enough vaccine to stop the deaths globally.
Tests find avian flu can't spread easily
By Keith Bradsher The New York Times
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2005
HONG KONG A woman's death of avian influenza in Jakarta has caused considerable alarm there, but genetic tests performed in Hong Kong on samples of the virus from the woman showed Wednesday that the virus had not yet mutated in ways likely to make it more of a threat to people.
The genetic evidence suggests that cases identified so far in Indonesia may be no more dangerous by themselves than the nearly 100 cases recorded since the beginning of last year in Thailand and Vietnam. But the disease remains a potentially serious threat to human health because it could still evolve to become more readily transmissible among people.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/09/21/news/indo.php
Medicos at bird flu frontline
John Kerin
October 05, 2005
A TEAM of Australian emergency aid and medical experts has been sent to Indonesia to help the country's fight against an outbreak of deadly bird flu.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday the Australian team, headed by Ausaid director-general Bruce David, would meet Indonesian health and agriculture officials to see if Australia could provide further help.
"I think Indonesia is struggling a bit with (the bird-flu) outbreak," Mr Downer said yesterday.
"I think without our 50,000 anti-viral courses they wouldn't really have the capacity to counter the bird flu that has infected some people.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16819248%5E23289,00.html
Bird flu vaccine trial rushed forward
PM - Tuesday, 4 October , 2005 18:33:26
Reporter: Josie Taylor
MARK COLVIN: Terrorist attacks like the latest Bali bombings are damaging enough in themselves, but a leading bird flu researcher says they may also have the effect of obstructing the fight against the threat of avian flu.
A trial in Melbourne is about to start of one of the first human tests of a vaccination against bird flu.
Scientists at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute will begin injecting 400 men and women later this week.
They aim to have a preventative medication on the market by mid next year.
Researchers admit that the trial has been rushed forward in an attempt to get the product available as soon as possible.
In Melbourne, Josie Taylor.
JOSIE TAYLOR: Jason Elliott is a healthy, 37-year-old Victorian who's about to roll up his shirtsleeves and receive what's hoped to stop humans catching bird flu.
His motivation for getting involved is simple.
JASON ELLIOTT: I would like to be vaccinated. So I'm hoping that it's a success, because if it does hit then at least, for selfish reasons, you know, I'm covered.
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1474681.htm
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu)
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/
Avian influenza
- Avian influenza – situation in Indonesia – update 32
29 September 2005
(image placeholder)
Responding to the avian influenza pandemic threat.
Recommended strategic actions
This document sets out activities that can be undertaken by individual countries, the international community and WHO to prepare the world for the next influenza pandemic and mitigate its impact once international spread has begun.
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/avian_influenza/en/
Michael Moore Today
One Month in New Orleans
Friends,
My staff has been down in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast for nearly a month now setting up and running our own relief effort with Veterans for Peace. The overwhelming response from so many of you has directly affected the lives of thousands of people. Here's what we've been able to do with your help:
** Over 500 tons of food, water, clothing, medical supplies, baby products, feminine hygiene products, cleaning supplies, power tools, and a boat and trailer for reaching those still flooded by water have been distributed directly to those in need
** Over 10,000 aid packages have been sent by you via UPS and FedEx to our camp and distributed
** Over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies have been sent and distributed
** Tractor trailers, dozens of 20 foot trucks, six school buses, and other vehicles arrived loaded with supplies. Most stayed on to help distribute donations
** Over 200 chainsaws, 100 generators and 2,000 gallons of bleach have been distributed
** Doctors, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, psychologists, registered nurses, LPNs, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and social workers have volunteered from across the country and joined forces with us to create several mobile medical units providing prescription medication, first aid supplies, diabetic testing equipment, insulin and tetanus shots for those digging through the rubble of their homes
** People got in their cars and drove from 37 states to work with us in our camp
But beyond all these statistics are the personal testimonies of what my staff has experienced. Electricity was provided to a family whose young son suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, allowing him to continue his treatment until electricity in his neighborhood was restored. A 60 year old woman on a respirator was found, still in her home despite a gaping hole in the roof. We patched the roof and gave her food and water. Supplies were delivered to the Houma Indians, who had received no help (not even a visit) from the Red Cross or FEMA. A roof was put on their Cultural Center in Golden Meadows and a generator was provided to keep a years supply of seafood from spoiling in the sun. A man in Lefitte was found sitting on his porch, the house surrounded by four feet of water. A canoe-load of supplies was paddled to his doorstep by two of our volunteers. New Orleans evacuees joined our efforts. They served as our guides, leading us through now decimated communities and taking us to the areas of greatest need.
You can read more of these in the diaries posted here.
The harsh truth that I must report to you is that the federal government and Red Cross relief efforts are still a disorganized, embarrassing mess with little or no help reaching most people – this more than a month after Katrina. It is the freelance guerilla efforts like ours that are getting through. We aren't waiting for approval and we aren't stopping. We will make sure Bush and Co. pay for their failure later, but right now hundreds of thousands are homeless, hungry and in need of medical attention. And the rest of us have a responsibility to help them.
We have joined forces with S.O.S. Katrina, an organization that began as a temporary coalition of pre-existing community organizations that is doing amazing work with volunteers. They have become, with your help, a bright light offering immediate relief to the families who have lost everything. Find out what S.O.S. Katrina and other similar relief groups need, right now, from you.
Thanks again, everyone, for lending a hand. We won't give up and we know you won't either.
Yours,
Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com http://www.michaelmoore.com/
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=187
Hurricane Relief Effort Continues in Affected Areas
The Hurricane Katrina relief effort, supported by your donations of goods and cash began over a month ago in the greater New Orleans and Gulf Coast area. Together with your support, we hope to continue to meet the needs of hurricane survivors.
Thanks to the support and generosity that rolled in, the effort was more far-reaching and long-lasting than anyone ever expected.
WISH LIST
- Men's, Women's, and Children's SOCKS
- Men's, Women's, and Children's UNDERWEAR (boxers, briefs, bras - big sizes too)
- Tarps (the larger the better)
- Toilet Paper
- Bug Spray
- Hand Sanitizer (all sizes)
- Hydrogen Peroxide
- Canned FOOD and dried fruits
- Sponges and Scouring Pads
- Hard Scrub Brushes
- GAS CARDS
- Pampers (especially pull-ups)
- Heavy Duty Extension Cords (50')
- Heavy Duty Rubber Gloves (chemical resistant)
- Electric Dehumidifiers
- Large Box Fans
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/covington.php?id=41
War-Hawk Republicans and Anti-War Democrats: What's the Difference?
A message from Cindy Sheehan
The past week in DC found me in many offices of our elected officials: Senators, Congresspersons, pro-war, "anti-war," Democrat, Republican. With a few notable exceptions, all our employees toed party lines.
Thanks to those who met with me, because, except for Sen. Barbara Boxer, (D-Ca), I was not their constituent. And I believe the Republicans who met with me, whether they knew it or not, were breaking with their leader on this, since he was too cowardly to meet with me.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=512
Thousands Seek 24 Mont. Bison Hunt Permits
By Becky Bohrer / Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. -- More than 6,000 people, most of them Montana residents, have applied for 24 licenses to hunt the state's bison for the first time in 15 years, wildlife officials said Monday.
Last month, wildlife commissioners approved a three-month hunt of bison that leave Yellowstone National Park and enter southern Montana. Friday marked the deadline to apply for a license.
A drawing will be held next week, said Tom Palmer, a spokesman for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks,
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4395
Lawyer Casts Blame on Reporter for Time in Jail
Source Insists He Released Miller to Testify Last Year
By Carol D. Leonnig / Washington Post
A lawyer for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, said yesterday that New York Times reporter Judith Miller and her attorneys are responsible for Miller's 85 days in jail, reiterating that she was given permission a year ago to tell a prosecutor about private conversations she had with Libby.
Libby's attorney, Joseph A. Tate, escalated the sharp dispute over exactly when Libby freed Miller to be questioned by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who is investigating whether any government officials broke the law by leaking the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4394
What does Miers know about George's missing Vietnam years?
Mixed Review of Bush Pick in Oversight of Gambling
By Ralph Blumenthal / The New York Times
HOUSTON, Oct. 3 - As the newly sworn governor of Texas, George W. Bush had an assignment for his personal lawyer and trusted confidante, Harriet E. Miers: lead the Texas State Lottery, then one of the most lucrative public gambling operations in the world. As chairwoman for nearly five years, spanning most of Mr. Bush's two terms in Austin to the eve of his run for president, Ms. Miers did just that, putting her and her boss's stamp on the commission through an often-stormy period marked by the firings of two directors and a critical state audit.
In naming Ms. Miers on Monday to serve on the United States Supreme Court, President Bush made a point of her lottery service, saying the commission "needed a leader of unquestioned integrity." Mr. Bush said, "I chose Harriet because I knew she would earn the confidence of the people of Texas." He added: "She delivered results."
More than five years after her departure, however, with the lottery struggling and brushed by scandal, those results are a matter of heated dispute. Fellow commissioners praise her tenure. "She was a calm voice in the storm, diligent, faithful and fair," said John L. Hill Jr., a former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court who served on the lottery panel with her.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4400
US sees up to $2.1 bln arms sales to Saudi Arabia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department on Monday notified Congress of possible military sales to Saudi Arabia worth up $2.1 billion for items ranging from tactical display terminals to aircraft maintenance.
The biggest potential contract is $918 million to help modernize the Saudi Arabian National Guard with equipment that includes 144 armored personnel carriers, 52 command and control vehicles, 3,600 assault rifles and 12 water cannon vehicles.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency said principal contractors for the national guard modernization work would be Fabrique Nationale Herstal's U.S. unit, ITT Industries' Aerospace/Communications Division, Harris Corp. and Motorola Inc.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4396
Grand Jury Re-Indicts DeLay on New Charge
By April Castro / Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas - A Texas grand jury on Monday re-indicted Rep. Tom DeLay on charges of conspiring to launder money and money laundering after the former majority leader attacked last week's indictment on technical grounds.
The new indictment, handed up by a grand jury seated Monday, contains two counts: conspiring to launder money and money laundering. The latter charge carries a penalty of up to life in prison. Last week, DeLay was charged with conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4389
Monitors Find Significant Fraud in Afghan Elections
By Carlotta Gall / The New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 2 - Election officials and observers said Sunday that with 80 percent of the ballots counted in Afghanistan's national and provincial elections, they had found significant incidents of fraud.
Whole districts have come under suspicion for ballot box stuffing and proxy voting, said Peter Erben, the chief of the United Nations-assisted Joint Election Management Board. He said ballot boxes from 4 percent of the 26,000 polling places - about 1,000 stations - had been set aside for investigation on suspicion of fraud and other irregularities.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4388
"The Daily DeLay"
http://dailydelay.blogspot.com/
The New Zealand Herald
Geldof and Bono tipped to win Nobel Peace Prize
04.10.05
By Alister Doyle
OSLO - Irish rock stars Bob Geldof and Bono are among the bookmakers' tips to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, alongside more orthodox candidates like campaigners against nuclear arms or a peace broker for Indonesia.
Experts are divided about whether the secretive five-member committee would dare to broaden the scope of the $1.3 million award in 2005 to honor Geldof or Bono, who have campaigned for years to ease hunger and poverty in Africa.
Last year, the committee won both plaudits and brickbats for awarding the prize for the first time to an environmentalist, Kenya's Wangari Maathai, for leading a campaign to plant millions of trees across Africa.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348522
Air force accidentally kills Santa's Rudolph
04.10.05 8.20am
Santa Claus will receive US$5000 ($7240) in compensation from the Danish air force after an F-16 jet frightened one of his reindeer to death.
Professional Santa Olavi Niikanoff complained after the jet roared over where his grazing animals, air force spokesman Captain Morten Jensen said.
"We acknowledge it was our fault," Jensen said, adding the air force regularly faced claims that its jets had frightened animals to death.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348469
Mudslides and rain kill 35 in Central America
04.10.05 1:00pm
SAN SALVADOR - Torrential rains and mudslides killed at least 35 people in Central America as collapsing hillsides buried homes and rivers burst their banks, rescue workers said on Monday.
El Salvador was the country hardest hit with at least 23 people killed when the heavy rains triggered mudslides in neighbourhoods south and west of the capital in the early hours of the morning.
"They are trapped in the mud that drowned them," sobbed Ana Ramos, whose niece Carmen Elena Ramos died with her husband and three children in San Marcos, just south of San Salvador.
The government declared a red alert on Monday and rushed to evacuate thousands of families.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348564
China evacuates 13,000 from rising flood waters
04.10.05 5:20
BEIJING - Authorities have evacuated about 13,000 people from a flood hit region of central China along the banks of a tributary of the Yangtze River.
More heavy rain is expected to fall in the next two days in the province of Hubei and the local government is on alert for further flooding along the Hanjiang River.
"The flood is still under control though it seems still severe," Cai Qihua, deputy director of the Yangtze flood control headquarters, was quoted as saying.
There was no mention of any casualties.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348602
Australia to send bird flu experts to Indonesia
04.10.05 4:20pm
Australia will send a team of advisers and specialists to Indonesia this week to help it cope with an outbreak of bird flu.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said AusAID director-general Bruce Davis would head the deployment.
"The team, drawn from a number of commonwealth government departments, is expected to meet with the Indonesian Ministers for Health and Agriculture, relevant Indonesian government officials and senior personnel from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation," he said.
"These experts will work to make an assessment of the avian influenza threat, convey Australia's concern and agree on specific areas of further Australian assistance.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348595
NZ stocks: Market opens lower after yesterday
05.10.05 10.40am
The New Zealand sharemarket eased in early trading this morning, after touching a fresh intra-day high yesterday.
The benchmark NZSX-50 index was 6.78 points lower at 3461.46 by 10.30am, having touched 3470.74 yesterday -- a fresh all time high.
The fall was leader-driven, with Telecom off 3c to 595, Contact Energy 1c lower at 766, and Fletcher Building down 3c at 807 -- after touching a fresh year high yesterday of 810.
Falls outnumbered rises by 14 to 12 among the 73 stocks traded so far. Turnover was light with 7 million shares worth $34 million changing hands.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348755
'Panda bonds' may help China hold yuan down
05.10.05 7.40am
BEIJING/HONG KONG - China is cuddling up to the world's capital markets with the authorisation of "panda bonds", yuan debt issued by foreign entities, a move that bankers say fits nicely with the government's financial strategy.
The new bonds should not only give a boost to the fledgling market in yuan debt, they could also help Beijing with its efforts to relieve upward pressure on the currency, analysts say.
China opened its domestic debt market to the Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corp, part of the World Bank group, last week, allowing them to raise a little over 2 billion yuan ($NZ362 million) in debt.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348699
BP says hurricanes to knock 2005 output goal
05.10.05 5.40am
LONDON - BP Plc, the world's second-largest oil firm by market capitalisation, said on Tuesday it expected Hurricanes Rita and Katrina would cost it over $US700m ($NZ1.79 billion) and make it miss its 2005 output goal.
The London-based firm said in a statement that third-quarter oil and gas output averaged 3.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), compared with 4.1 million boepd in the second quarter and 3.9 million boepd in the third quarter of 2004.
Rita and Katrina cost BP 145,000 boepd in the quarter.
BP said the impact of the hurricanes, plus higher prices on production-sharing contracts, meant it was unlikely to meet its full-year production goal of 4.1-4.2 million boepd.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348691
Oil: US willing to tap fuel reserves
05.10.05 8.40am
Oil tumbled by 2.4 per cent on Tuesday as Washington stood ready to tap its emergency oil stockpiles to prevent a winter fuel shortage in the world's biggest consumer.
Investors' conviction that record oil prices were battering consumer confidence and eroding demand for petrol also prompted a wave of selling, though the US oil industry's slow recovery from two hurricanes in less than a month limited losses.
US crude fell US$1.57 to settle at 63.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. London Brent crude was down US$1.58 at US$61.22 on the International Petroleum Exchange .
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10348739
Station could delay power line
05.10.05
Any new power station north of Auckland could delay construction of the controversial 400 kV line running through the Waikato to south Auckland.
Two state-owned enterprises, Genesis and Mighty River Power, are planning new stations to help supply the soaring demand for energy in Auckland and further north.
Transpower spokesman Chris Roberts said projects like the Genesis plan and the Marsden B proposal from Mighty River Power had the potential to defer the deadline of 2010 to build a new transmission line through the Waikato.
"If more generation is available from 2010 from whatever source, then the time when the existing transmission lines reach capacity may be pushed back a number of years."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348659
Mining engineer graduates top pay poll with $140,00
05.10.05
SYDNEY - Australian mining engineers fresh out of college are earning as much as 60 per cent more than graduates hired by investment banks as China's commodities boom saps talent sought by producers such as BHP Billiton.
The Minerals Council of Australia says newly qualified mining engineers are earning as much as A$130,000 ($143,000) a year.
Investment banks pay recruits about A$90,000.
Australian universities are producing 50 per cent fewer mining engineers than in the late 1990s, when the dot-com era lured students into computing.
Now mining companies are hunting from Amsterdam to Chennai for graduates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348635
US manufacturing expands in storm's wake
04.10.05 1.00pm
Activity in the US manufacturing industry was surprisingly robust in September as new orders jumped in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while August construction spending rose at a record rate, data released today showed.
The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly indexes of manufacturing activity for September was 59.4, well above average expectations of a drop to 52.0 and the 53.6 level seen in August.
However, ISM cautioned that the jump was primarily driven by demand following the hurricane, which devastated the Gulf of Mexico coast at the end of August, and that the impact likely would be temporary.
"The flurry of activity and the strength of new orders -- I don't think that is a business cycle issue, that is an event-cycle issue driven by the storm," said Norbert Ore, chair of the ISM business survey committee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348584
US manufacturing expands in storm's wake
04.10.05 1.00pm
Activity in the US manufacturing industry was surprisingly robust in September as new orders jumped in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while August construction spending rose at a record rate, data released today showed.
The Institute for Supply Management said its monthly indexes of manufacturing activity for September was 59.4, well above average expectations of a drop to 52.0 and the 53.6 level seen in August.
However, ISM cautioned that the jump was primarily driven by demand following the hurricane, which devastated the Gulf of Mexico coast at the end of August, and that the impact likely would be temporary.
"The flurry of activity and the strength of new orders -- I don't think that is a business cycle issue, that is an event-cycle issue driven by the storm," said Norbert Ore, chair of the ISM business survey committee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10348584
EU and Turkey get off to rocky start
05.10.05
By Catherine Field
Turkey's four-decade-old bid to join the European Union has cleared an important hurdle with a deal on the framework for negotiations.
But a split within the EU and a show of Turkish brinkmanship demonstrate just how turbulent the entry process will be.
At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that lurched from drama to farce, Austria demanded that the framework - a set of guiding principles for the entry negotiations - limit Turkey to a privileged partnership. In other words, Turkey would get wide access to the EU market but not full membership.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348683
Howard rules out changes to abortion laws
05.10.05
CANBERRA - Prime Minister John Howard has ruled out changes to abortion laws after the Family First party suggested women seeking terminations be made to wait 72 hours before undergoing surgery.
The Family First party says in its policy statement that pregnant women should be given enough time, support and information to make informed decisions.
"Family First supports the view that women seeking information on abortion be given adequate time in which to consider the advice and information before making a decision to proceed to termination (this could take the form of a 72-hour cooling off period)," the party's website said.
Abortion is regulated by state law but the commonwealth funds termination procedures through Medicare.
Mr Howard said while he was not aware of Family First's policy, the government was not considering changes to the law.
"I have previously expressed a view that people are obviously entitled to debate the issue, but we're not proposing any changes in relation to the law," he told reporters.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348668
Caesarean no bar to going full term
05.10.05
NEW YORK - Women who have undergone a caesarean delivery can safely attempt to give birth vaginally in a subsequent pregnancy, even when they're at or past their due date, say US researchers.
However, the chances of being able to complete a vaginal birth are reduced.
The safety of vaginal birth after caesarean in a variety of situations has been investigated before, the researchers explain in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, but little has been published about such birth attempts for women at or past their expected delivery date.
Dr Kara M Coassolo from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues looked at the results for 11,587 women attempting vaginal birth after a caesarean, before and after 40 weeks of gestation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348637
Man jailed for starving his son
04.10.05 7.20am
A Japanese man has been jailed for 14 years for attempting to starve his 17-year-old son to death.
Yasunobu Karasuno, 42, beat his son repeatedly and restricted his meals in a conspiracy with his girlfriend Natsuyo Kawaguchi, 40, at their home in Kishiwada, Osaka Disteict Court heard. Karasuno denied he wanted to kill his son.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348468
China fears stir textile groups to seek own WTO pact
05.10.05 12:20pm
By Doug Palmer
Textiles and clothing should be removed from broader world trade talks aimed at reducing tariffs and dealt with separately because of the threat posed by China to other textile producers around the world, an international coalition said on Tuesday.
"We're not going to let any single country... take over business from 50 or 60 countries around the globe and monopolize the textile trade," said Zika Sukan, executive director of ITKIB Association USA, which represents Turkey's textile and clothing exporters in the United States.
Sukan spoke by telephone from Geneva on behalf of a coalition of textile trade associations in 55 countries called the Global Alliance for Fair Textile Trade, or GAFTT. US and Mexican industry representatives also were on the call.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10348759
Palestinian police demand end to chaos
04.10.05 1:00pm
GAZA - Palestinian policemen stormed into Gaza's parliament building on Monday to demand a crackdown on militants, and deputies called on President Mahmoud Abbas to sack the cabinet for failing to stamp out chaos in the streets.
The two challenges highlighted Abbas' uphill struggle to impose law and order in the Gaza Strip to make it the proving ground of a future Palestinian state after Israel's withdrawal of settlers and soldiers completed last month.
"We are on the verge of civil war if the situation remains out of control," said Qaddoura Fares, a reformist legislator with Abbas' mainstream Fatah movement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348566
Hamas and Fatah calls for peace in Palestine
05.10.05 1:00pm
DAMASCUS - Leaders of Palestinian factions including rivals Fatah and Hamas pledged on Tuesday to refrain from violence in settling Palestinian problems after a firefight between Hamas activists and Palestinian police left three dead.
Farouk Kaddoumi, a leader of Fatah -- the ruling faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the exiled leaders of Palestinian groups agreed in Damascus that dialogue should be the only way to solve their disputes.
Listing the decisions of their meetings, Kaddoumi said the leaders agreed to "call all Palestinian powers and factions to ban the use of weapons to solve internal differences".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348765
Germany's Schroeder ready to bow out
04.10.05 1:00pm
BERLIN - Gerhard Schroeder signalled on Monday he might be ready to drop his demand to remain chancellor after Germany's inconclusive election, by saying he would not stand in the way of the creation of a stable new government.
Schroeder, who has led Germany since 1998, said in a brief interview with RTL television that his fight to stay in the chancellery was for the good of his Social Democrats (SPD) and their centre-left policies -- and not for personal gain.
His refusal to step aside since his party finished a close second to Angela Merkel's conservatives in the Sept. 18 vote, has been one of the chief hurdles to the formation of a coalition government.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348563
Strikes puts pressure on French government
05.10.05 1:00pm
By Timothy Heritage
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Tuesday as a one-day strike snarled public transport, putting pressure on the government to change its labour and economic policies.
Some of the protesters demanded the resignation of conservative Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin after only four months in power as they marched through major cities such as Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Lyon.
Union organisers said at least a million people took part in 150 protests around France. A police estimate was not available.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348734
Chimp quits smoking
04.10.05 3.20pm
BEIJING - A chimpanzee in a northwest China zoo has quit smoking after 16 years with the help of her keepers, official media reported.
The staff, worried about her declining health, weaned 27-year-old "Ai Ai" off tobacco by distracting her with entertainment and a tastier diet, Xinhua news agency said.
"The zoo keepers tried every way to divert the chimp's attention from cigarettes: a walk after breakfast, a music session after lunch and gym after dinner," Xinhua said.
She also got fried dishes and dumplings, as well as the usual diet of milk, bananas and rice, said one zoo keeper.
"I also put earphones on her so that she could enjoy some pop music from my walkman," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10348554
concluding …
Morning Papers - concluding
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is:
Scott Base
Clear
-27.0°
Updated Wednesday 05 Oct 9:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
45 °F / 7 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
76%
Dew Point:
37 °F / 3 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
29.93 in / 1013 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Mostly Cloudy 6500 ft / 1981 m
Overcast 7000 ft / 2133 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Scott Base
Clear
-27.0°
Updated Wednesday 05 Oct 9:59AM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
45 °F / 7 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
76%
Dew Point:
37 °F / 3 °C
Wind:
Calm
Pressure:
29.93 in / 1013 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Mostly Cloudy 6500 ft / 1981 m
Overcast 7000 ft / 2133 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
October 2, 2005. Paamul Beach, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. "Stan" as a tropical storm was packing an atypical punch to the beaches of Mexico. The tidal pictures below shows a sea whereby waves would be 'piling up' one after another to provide very high tides accompanied by flooding. The storm along also provided enough water displacement to the shores of surrounding countries and states to increase the height of their rivers and canals. In New Orleans the levees began to flood again. These storms displace a lot of water in their turbulence to the shores of The Gulf of Mexico. There maybe some effect as from a recent solar eclipse but the focus of that planetary alignment was over Spain and not Mexico.
The Earth is a complicated rock revolving and revolving around our sun. One of the 'key' elements that stabilize the climate are teh 'winds' of Earth. The winds have an effect on the ocean surface currents. The theorist that wants to add some hockus-pockus to the tragedy of Rita and Katrina never discussed the winds. One cannot talk about warming Earth without discussing it's ocean of air as well.
The Ocean Conveyor Belt ...
... I don't call it 'The Great Ocean Conveyor Belt' because there is only one conveyor belt of ocean water on the planet so where is the "Lessor Ocean Conveyor Belt?" The title "Great" is embellished no different that the use of "High" is used to describe sheriffs and courts. It's an exageration so people think they have mastered a 'hugely great' idea and are smarter than any scientist who opposes Intelligent Design.This looks like a good website to start.
http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/CHD/classroom@sea/gene [...]
You may imagine a conveyor belt as the belt that moves your groceries at the check out in the local supermarket. It is a continuous, never ending loop driven by an electric motor which we can turn on or off.
Something like this occurs in our oceans, moving water around the world in a continuous three-dimensional current. Understanding the cause of this motion and the specific route is important. These currents disperse energy around our planet and are a huge influence on the world’s climate and, therefore, on the economies of nations.
Recent findings have suggested that, just like in the supermarket, this conveyor belt can be switched on and off by certain events. Where is the switch? Somewhere in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. The concern we have at the moment, while the conveyor belt works, is that some of man’s activities may be a factor in switching the belt off. This could lead to the world experiencing a mini ice-age.
THIS DISCUSSION IS SADLY UNNECESSARY and a distraction to the point that Bush neglected his responsiblity as president to the people of New Orleans.
AS A MATTER OF FACT to embark on THIS discussion is to say the scienetists Bush DOES listen to has 'this thing' nailed down and the outcome to the 2005 season was no mystery and the physics of KATRINA completely predictable.
THEREFORE, for those that CHOOSE to make this '20 year cycle' their bastion of hope you have just nailed Bush to the Cross of predictability with compounds his neglect one thousand fold.
The Ocean Conveyor Belt is the way salt water circulates in the oceans.
We know there have been heating and cooling cycles before on Earth but we also know that Earth is chronically cooling internally but never to the point where the mantle will be solid rock.The continents float around on the mantle and therefore that is why there is continental drift.
Now, the ocean conveyor belt in geologic time is directed by the movement of the continents. In geologic time the ocean conveyor belt is not fixed. It moves. BUT, it is not geologic time we are concerned with because the 'phenomena' of Human Induced Global Warming began in the late 1800s with the onset of The Industrial Revoltion.
The chronic emission of carbon dioxide was not coming in NATURAL CYCLES anymore. As of the Industrial Revolution the emissions of carbon dioxide from Earth was being PRODUCED by burning of old dinosaur bones compressed over time into oil. The carbon that was once living carbon was now being turned into gas rather than decaying matter returning to a very different cycle of the planet in burying it deep and out of causing trouble with the biotic Earth. The new 'gas' in a short span of time would prove to cause a complete imbalance to Earth.
With growing levels of carbon dioxide in the troposphere the infrared WAVE LENGTH off Earth was not radiating to space in the amounts it needed to but instead was heating the surface of the planet. Keeping in mind the fact the solar radiation received by Earth has changed little in the overall picture.
The first place to heat was the oceans. The oceans are always cooler than land. It's the nature of water, vapor and solid on a planet humans call Earth that actually has an ice nature.
The mechanism for cooling Earth so that biota with internal body temperaturs of 98.6 could live without demise comes from the circulation of the oceans in a thermohaline cycle.
I'd like to expand on this paragraph:
"Recent findings have suggested that, just like in the supermarket, this conveyor belt can be switched on and off by certain events. Where is the switch? Somewhere in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. The concern we have at the moment, while the conveyor belt works, is that some of man’s activities may be a factor in switching the belt off. This could lead to the world experiencing a mini ice-age."
This is the '?cycle?' the current propaganda wants to pedal in a different fashion in that somehow there is a natural component to it that will return the Earth to a "Mini-Ice" age as was experienced in 'recent geologic time.' That is INACCURATE but highly exploitable.
The 'cycle' isn't really a cycle so much as an occurrence that happens when Earth's troposphere is too hot. The heat is distributed around the planet to all the icefields and ice poles and the oceans are cooled as they are the place where heat settles first.
The 'cycle' is actually spontaneous to the heat of the planet. Geophysics. Realizing Earth is a dynamic sphere on chronic rotation and rotation around a 'sun' humans call Sol in a shrinking orbit the ACTUAL dynamics are never the same so to say this is a cycle is grossly incorrect.
Now.
The idea that this 'cycle' will bring on a STOPPING of the thermohaline circulation which IS the conveyor belt referred to in the propaganda by CNN is an unknown. Certainly, as the oceans dilute the ocean circulation will change. HOWEVER. To say there will be another ice age because of it is "W"rong because the PRODUCTION of the carbon dioxide is NOT NATURAL.
At all.
Therefore, where humans produce large amounts of carbon dioxide beyond what the 'natural' world has 'handled' before means that the ICE will never form because the carbon dioxide will continue to heat the troposphere without a falling off of it until the SOURCE stops.
This is another very 'pickable' concern IF one is to say that Bush's Hurricane Center scientists are correct. What in essence they are saying is that humans have to 'wait out' a cycle that will end in an ice age. They are saying this cycle will last ONLY twenty years. They make no predictions as to the extremes of heat Earth will sustain and whether or not at the end of this cycle there will be any living organisms as we know it on Earth.
Now you can find comfort in that if you think you can live in temperatures exceeding that of 'bearable' to humans HOWEVER no one is saying that will be possible.
Besides that IF THERE IS AN ICE AGE, who dies on the new ice formed at the completion of the Ice Age? Where is the economy? And what will the world look like when at the end of twenty years all of a sudden the heating resolves after using up all it's ice reserves?
It's a hideous theory.
It is barbaric and self serving to oil companies and car companies. It is a distraction to the truth and provides no guarantees.
I go beyond that to realize the 'heating' will not end and even after this '?cycle?' '?ends?' and there are no more ice fields or ice poles; Earth will become uninhabitable. The 'heating' due to Human Induced Global Warming will not stop to allow the cooling by the Global Vortex Dynamics UNTIL the PRODUCTION of carbon dioxide emissions stops. That PRODUCTION of the carbon dioxide gas will stop when the human population drops due to Climate Change deaths and there is less consumer abuse. THAT reality may very well mean there will be no human life left on Earth when the dynamics of Global Warming now producing these super storms ends. The only way this Climate Change may end is for humans to die off.
One other thing.
"Somewhere in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea."
The computer site I noted made mention that the 'Ocean Conveyor Belt' is determined by the dynamics of The North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea.
That is correct.
The reason that is correct is that the 'melting point' of the ocean's coolness occurs primarily at the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, as the ice cap melts the 'density' of the fresh water off the ice pole will fall first in the northern seas. The northern seas will have the highest degree of dilution first and be the first place to shut down due to that dilution. That in turn will turn off the global conveyor belt in reaction to the northern waters dilution. Earth may very well end up with stagnant waters globally that do not serve ANY purpose to cooling the troposphere where human live.
TO CONCLUDE:
The '? cycle ?' referred to by Bush's Propaganda Nut Cases at the National Hurricane Center will only continue until all the ice melts.
The vortices are a reaction by Earth's spheres and especially the troposphere to water and it's current changing state from solid to gas.
So to that extent it is a cycle but at the rate of ice demise globally it sure as heck won't take twenty years.
It won't even take ten.
Stop emitting carbon dioxide NOW !
http://www.soc.soton.ac.uk/CHD/classroom@sea/gene [...]
You may imagine a conveyor belt as the belt that moves your groceries at the check out in the local supermarket. It is a continuous, never ending loop driven by an electric motor which we can turn on or off.
Something like this occurs in our oceans, moving water around the world in a continuous three-dimensional current. Understanding the cause of this motion and the specific route is important. These currents disperse energy around our planet and are a huge influence on the world’s climate and, therefore, on the economies of nations.
Recent findings have suggested that, just like in the supermarket, this conveyor belt can be switched on and off by certain events. Where is the switch? Somewhere in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. The concern we have at the moment, while the conveyor belt works, is that some of man’s activities may be a factor in switching the belt off. This could lead to the world experiencing a mini ice-age.
THIS DISCUSSION IS SADLY UNNECESSARY and a distraction to the point that Bush neglected his responsiblity as president to the people of New Orleans.
AS A MATTER OF FACT to embark on THIS discussion is to say the scienetists Bush DOES listen to has 'this thing' nailed down and the outcome to the 2005 season was no mystery and the physics of KATRINA completely predictable.
THEREFORE, for those that CHOOSE to make this '20 year cycle' their bastion of hope you have just nailed Bush to the Cross of predictability with compounds his neglect one thousand fold.
The Ocean Conveyor Belt is the way salt water circulates in the oceans.
We know there have been heating and cooling cycles before on Earth but we also know that Earth is chronically cooling internally but never to the point where the mantle will be solid rock.The continents float around on the mantle and therefore that is why there is continental drift.
Now, the ocean conveyor belt in geologic time is directed by the movement of the continents. In geologic time the ocean conveyor belt is not fixed. It moves. BUT, it is not geologic time we are concerned with because the 'phenomena' of Human Induced Global Warming began in the late 1800s with the onset of The Industrial Revoltion.
The chronic emission of carbon dioxide was not coming in NATURAL CYCLES anymore. As of the Industrial Revolution the emissions of carbon dioxide from Earth was being PRODUCED by burning of old dinosaur bones compressed over time into oil. The carbon that was once living carbon was now being turned into gas rather than decaying matter returning to a very different cycle of the planet in burying it deep and out of causing trouble with the biotic Earth. The new 'gas' in a short span of time would prove to cause a complete imbalance to Earth.
With growing levels of carbon dioxide in the troposphere the infrared WAVE LENGTH off Earth was not radiating to space in the amounts it needed to but instead was heating the surface of the planet. Keeping in mind the fact the solar radiation received by Earth has changed little in the overall picture.
The first place to heat was the oceans. The oceans are always cooler than land. It's the nature of water, vapor and solid on a planet humans call Earth that actually has an ice nature.
The mechanism for cooling Earth so that biota with internal body temperaturs of 98.6 could live without demise comes from the circulation of the oceans in a thermohaline cycle.
I'd like to expand on this paragraph:
"Recent findings have suggested that, just like in the supermarket, this conveyor belt can be switched on and off by certain events. Where is the switch? Somewhere in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea. The concern we have at the moment, while the conveyor belt works, is that some of man’s activities may be a factor in switching the belt off. This could lead to the world experiencing a mini ice-age."
This is the '?cycle?' the current propaganda wants to pedal in a different fashion in that somehow there is a natural component to it that will return the Earth to a "Mini-Ice" age as was experienced in 'recent geologic time.' That is INACCURATE but highly exploitable.
The 'cycle' isn't really a cycle so much as an occurrence that happens when Earth's troposphere is too hot. The heat is distributed around the planet to all the icefields and ice poles and the oceans are cooled as they are the place where heat settles first.
The 'cycle' is actually spontaneous to the heat of the planet. Geophysics. Realizing Earth is a dynamic sphere on chronic rotation and rotation around a 'sun' humans call Sol in a shrinking orbit the ACTUAL dynamics are never the same so to say this is a cycle is grossly incorrect.
Now.
The idea that this 'cycle' will bring on a STOPPING of the thermohaline circulation which IS the conveyor belt referred to in the propaganda by CNN is an unknown. Certainly, as the oceans dilute the ocean circulation will change. HOWEVER. To say there will be another ice age because of it is "W"rong because the PRODUCTION of the carbon dioxide is NOT NATURAL.
At all.
Therefore, where humans produce large amounts of carbon dioxide beyond what the 'natural' world has 'handled' before means that the ICE will never form because the carbon dioxide will continue to heat the troposphere without a falling off of it until the SOURCE stops.
This is another very 'pickable' concern IF one is to say that Bush's Hurricane Center scientists are correct. What in essence they are saying is that humans have to 'wait out' a cycle that will end in an ice age. They are saying this cycle will last ONLY twenty years. They make no predictions as to the extremes of heat Earth will sustain and whether or not at the end of this cycle there will be any living organisms as we know it on Earth.
Now you can find comfort in that if you think you can live in temperatures exceeding that of 'bearable' to humans HOWEVER no one is saying that will be possible.
Besides that IF THERE IS AN ICE AGE, who dies on the new ice formed at the completion of the Ice Age? Where is the economy? And what will the world look like when at the end of twenty years all of a sudden the heating resolves after using up all it's ice reserves?
It's a hideous theory.
It is barbaric and self serving to oil companies and car companies. It is a distraction to the truth and provides no guarantees.
I go beyond that to realize the 'heating' will not end and even after this '?cycle?' '?ends?' and there are no more ice fields or ice poles; Earth will become uninhabitable. The 'heating' due to Human Induced Global Warming will not stop to allow the cooling by the Global Vortex Dynamics UNTIL the PRODUCTION of carbon dioxide emissions stops. That PRODUCTION of the carbon dioxide gas will stop when the human population drops due to Climate Change deaths and there is less consumer abuse. THAT reality may very well mean there will be no human life left on Earth when the dynamics of Global Warming now producing these super storms ends. The only way this Climate Change may end is for humans to die off.
One other thing.
"Somewhere in the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea."
The computer site I noted made mention that the 'Ocean Conveyor Belt' is determined by the dynamics of The North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea.
That is correct.
The reason that is correct is that the 'melting point' of the ocean's coolness occurs primarily at the Arctic Ocean. Therefore, as the ice cap melts the 'density' of the fresh water off the ice pole will fall first in the northern seas. The northern seas will have the highest degree of dilution first and be the first place to shut down due to that dilution. That in turn will turn off the global conveyor belt in reaction to the northern waters dilution. Earth may very well end up with stagnant waters globally that do not serve ANY purpose to cooling the troposphere where human live.
TO CONCLUDE:
The '? cycle ?' referred to by Bush's Propaganda Nut Cases at the National Hurricane Center will only continue until all the ice melts.
The vortices are a reaction by Earth's spheres and especially the troposphere to water and it's current changing state from solid to gas.
So to that extent it is a cycle but at the rate of ice demise globally it sure as heck won't take twenty years.
It won't even take ten.
Stop emitting carbon dioxide NOW !
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