There has always been a quest for the missing and Prisoners of War for American Service men and women. I routinely place on this blog the Missing in Action of the Vietnam Era. In case there are those that are still at quest for other soldiers I wish you the best in your search. Perhaps this will encourage and help.
The Korean War and Cold War
Society: History: By Time Period: Twentieth Century: Wars and Conflicts: Korean War (74)
Coalition of Families of Korean & Cold War POW/MIA's - Families of American POW/MIAs from the Cold and Korean Wars, dedicated to a full accounting of all missing servicemen.
Korea-Cold War Families of the Missing - Family organization for Korean-Cold War Prisoners of War and Missing in Action.
Korean War MIA Family Outreach Project - A site dedicated to locating families of certain Korean War MIAs.
Korean War POW photos from Pyoktong POW camps - Photos of Korean War POWs who were kept by the Chinese army at Pyoktong POW camps in North Korea from 1951 to 1953.
Korean War POW/MIA Network - Looking for a Missing Serviceman from the Korean War? We have the 944 List, Johnnie Johnson List, MIA/CAP Report, Air Intel and Air Force Manual 200-25, KT Interrogation Reports, POW/MIA Sightings, UTM Grid Maps, Remains and Prison Camp information, and more.
Korean War Project - A non-profit corporation devoted to the study of the Korean War which includes photographs, recollections, message centers, POW/MIA information, & casualty databases.
Korean War US POW's in Soviet Jails - A news story on American prisoners of wars captured during the Korean War and sent to Soviet prisons and labor camps.
2/Lt. Jimmy L. Escalle - A Tribute - A website that uses both words and pictures to honor my uncle,an F-86 Sabre pilot who was reported missing in action during the Korean War.
Pvt Earl C Nazelrod - POW/MIA - Died in a POW camp at Andong, North Korea.
13th Bomb Squadron Association - A USAF Korean War veterans group. Site includes nose art, oral history, MIA's, strike targets, and numerous pictures.
American Battle Monuments Commission
World War II: American POWs
Airmen Missing from World War II Identified
The remains of three U.S. servicemen, missing in action since 1941, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Augustus J. Allen, of Myrtle Springs, Texas, Staff Sgt. James D. Cartwright, of Los Angeles, Calif., and Cpl. Paul R. Stubbs, of Haverhill, Mass.
On June 8, 1941, Allen, Cartwright and Stubbs departed France Field, Panama in an O-47A aircraft, en route to Rio Hato, Panama. When the aircraft failed to arrive at its destination, a search was initiated by both air and ground forces, but with negative results.
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command JPAC "Until they are home."
Monday, October 31, 2005
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
1759 Earthquake in Safed Palestine kills hundred
1793 Execution of the Girondins at Paris, during the Reign of Terror
1815 Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp
1893 Football player, William Henry Lewis, named All-American, 1893
1899 W.F. Burr patents railway switching device Oct.31,1899 Patent # 636,197
1900 Actor and singer, Ethel Waters was born, 1900
1900 Blues singer and actress Ethel Waters, who stars in "Member of the Wedding" on Broadway, "Cabin in the Sky", "Africana", and noted for her song "Stormy Weather", is born in Chester, PA
1908 4th Olympic games end in London
1922 Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy
1940 Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto
1945 Educator, Booker T Washington, inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
1952 1st thermonuclear bomb detonated-Marshall Islands
1956 1st American to land an airplane at South Pole-Rear Adm GJ Dufek
1956 Britain & France begin to bomb Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal
1956 Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service
1959 Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he will never return to US
1963 Ed Sullivan witnesses the Beatles & their fans at London Airport
1963 Leaking propane gas explodes, kills 64 at "Holiday on Ice" (Indiana)
1964 Barbra Streisand's "People," album goes #1 for 5 weeks
1968 President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam
1969 Race riot in Jacksonville Florida
1980 Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 m)
1983 Ron Grant completes a 217 day, 8,316 mile run around Australia
1984 Puerto Rican tanker, San Francisco explodes spilling 2 million gallons of oil as the ship caught fire
1987 1st jockey to win 9 races in 1 day (Chris Antley at Belmont)
1987 A pair in Coventry, England ties the world record for the longest singles tennis match at 80 hrs 21 minutes
1988 Journalists demand greater press freedom in Yugoslavia
1998 AP reports the DNA investigation confirms the findings linking President Thomas Jefferson to Sally Hemings through the Eston Hemings line.
Missing in Action
1965 ADAMS SAMUEL GOLDENROD FL 12/65 PRG DIC LIST
1965 DUSING CHARLES G. CHARLESTON SC 12/65 DIC-ON PRG DIC LIST
1965 MOORE THOMAS BATON ROUGE LA 12/65 DIC-ON PRG DIC LIST
1965 POWERS TRENT R. MINNEAPOLIS MN EJECTED SAFELY / REMAINS RETURNED 09/25/87
1967 FANNING HUGH M. FORT WORTH TX REMAINS RECOVERED 07/17/84 ID RECINDED
1967 KOTT STEPHEN J. GREENVILLE SC REMAINS RECOVERED 07/17/84 - FAM DOES NOT ACCEPT
1968 SWANSON ROGER W. ST PAUL MN
1969 GAUTHIER DENNIS L. ROCHESTER MI
October 30
1965 PAGE JASPER N. HATTIESBURG MS 11/04/65 ESCAPED 1ST OUT OF SVN/ALIVE AND WELL 98
1973 SAKAMOTO HIDEAKO JAPAN RELEASED 01/30/74
October 29
1963 PITZER DANIEL L. FAIRVIEW WV 11/11/67 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA DECEASED
1963 ROWE JAMES N. MC ALLEN TX 12/31/68 ESCAPED KILLED IN PHILLIPINE INSIDENT 04/21/89
1963 VERSACE HUMBERTO R. NORFOLK VA 09/22/65 POSS EXECUTED PRG DIC LIST
1968 BEZOLD STEVEN MC KITTRICK MO
1968 HARRISON DONALD L. CHAMBLEE GA NO SUBSEQUENT INFORMATION
1968 HUNTER JAMES D. PORTLAND TN
1971 OAKLEY LINUS LABIN CARTHAGE AR
1972 SULLIVAN JAMES E. HULL MA "DEAD, HANOI RADIO REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85"
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Fading Beta leaves thousands in shelters
By FILADELFO ALEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A panoramic view of Malacatoya river is seen one day after Hurricane Beta crossed over Nicaragua, Chontales, some 56 miles (90km) northeast of Managua, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. The hurricane made landfall Sunday morning before quickly weakening to a tropical storm and eventually becoming a tropical depression. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Thousands of people remained in shelters in Nicaragua and Honduras on Monday after Hurricane Beta swept across the Central American nations, flooding rivers, downing trees and destroying houses, churches, medical centers and schools.
The remnants of Beta drifted over the eastern Pacific on Monday, and forecasters said there was a slight chance the storm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Hurricane_Beta.html
White House rebuffs calls for shakeup
By TERENCE HUNT
AP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT
Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, husband of CIA operative Valerie Plame, gestures during an address at the National Press Club in Washington, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON -- The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way. Bush ignored reporters' questions during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_CIA_Leak_Investigation.html
Gregoire orders flags lowered for Rosa Parks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Christine Gregoire, following the lead of the White House, on Monday ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff at all state agencies and colleges on Wednesday to honor the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
Funeral services were held in Washington D.C., Monday for Parks, who died last Monday at 92. She was called the mother of the civil rights movement, after her arrest in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man.
Gregoire's order covers from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday, the day Parks is interred. President Bush previously issued a similar order for federal buildings and military installations, naval vessels, and U.S. embassies.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Gregoire_Parks.html
Torture suit begins for Salvadoran officer
By WOODY BAIRD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A former Salvadoran Army colonel was in a U.S. court Monday to defend himself against accusations that his soldiers tortured and killed civilians during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s.
A civil lawsuit filed against Nicolas Carranza, 72, accuses him of crimes against humanity. A 10-member jury was seated Monday afternoon, with testimony scheduled to begin Tuesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Torture_Lawsuit.html
Halloween is Hurricane Wilma's new victim
By DENISE KALETTE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
With no power in the Sunrise, Fla. Party City, Sarah Nottingham had to shop for her Halloween outfit Monday, Oct. 31, 2005 by looking at signs in the window of the store rather than go inside the store. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
MIAMI -- Little ghosts and goblins in cities across South Florida were stuck inside Monday night as officials urged parents to cancel this year's trick-or-treating because of the damage from Hurricane Wilma.
The power was still out in many places, and storm debris made some streets and sidewalks hazardous.
"In Miami Springs, they always have parties and tell stories. And now they have canceled that," said a disappointed Mika Lorenzo, 9. He still planned to wear his knight's costume.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Hurricane_Halloween.html
Texas judge orders mayor to leave town
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GEORGETOWN, Texas -- A Texas mayor can't set foot in the small city he leads until a criminal case against him is over, but he still plans on running it.
Bartlett Mayor Bobby Hill, 61, was arrested last week and accused of stealing money and services from his 1,500-person city, about 53 miles northeast of Austin. State District Judge Ken Anderson ruled Monday that until the case is over, Hill must live outside city limits.
"He can do the job as mayor from wherever he's at," said his attorney, Marc Ranc.
Ranc said the mayor's job is only a part-time position, and Hill can still conduct city business by phone and do paperwork at home.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mayor_Arrested.html
'View tax' triggers revolt in rural N.H.
By KATHARINE WEBSTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
John Chandler stands in his back yard with a view of the White Mountains in a Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005 photo, in Hill, N.H.. Views have become so valuable in some New Hampshire towns that assessors are giving them a separate line on appraisal records. Chandler objected when a revaluation doubled the value of his property in Hill because of its view. He says the view is obscured by pollution most of the time, and besides that he's legally blind. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
ORFORD, N.H. -- The one-room cabin David Bischoff built in a cow pasture three years ago has no electricity, no running water, no phone service and no driveway. What it does have is a wide-open view of nearby hills and distant mountains - which makes it seven times more valuable than if it had no view, according to the latest townwide property assessment. He expects his property taxes to shoot up accordingly.
Bischoff and other Orford residents bitterly call that a "view tax," and they are leading a revolt against it that has gained support in many rural towns in New Hampshire.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_View_Tax.html
Methodists defrock lesbian minister
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Rev. Irene "Beth" Stroud, left, hugs her partner Chris Paige following a news conference, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005, in Philadelphia. The highest court within the United Methodist Church defrocked the lesbian minister Monday for violating the denomination's ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" clergy. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A lesbian minister was defrocked Monday by the highest court within the United Methodist Church, which found that she violated the denomination's ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" clergy.
The decision is a victory for traditionalists in one of several mainline Protestant denominations split over the role of gays and lesbians in the church.
The UMC's nine-member Judicial Council - seven of whom heard the case Thursday in Houston - issued the ruling through its Web site. The denomination's communications office is based in Nashville.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Methodists_Gays.html
DeLay reports record funds for defense
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democratic state district Judge Bob Perkins, shown in this photo from Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005, has been subpoenaed to testify Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005, at a hearing to determine whether he is too biased to preside over U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's criminal case. DeLay's attorneys want Perkins replaced as the presiding judge because of multiple contributions he's made to Democrats. Perkins was expected to file a motion to quash the subpoena. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck) (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom DeLay's Legal Expense Trust reported Monday that it raised $318,000 in the third quarter to help the Texas Republican fight state charges of conspiracy and money laundering.
The fund spent $278,466 during the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, but most legal costs for the Texas case are yet to come as the former majority leader prepares for a possible trial.
The Houston-based trustee, Brent Perry, has said this was the fund's best quarter since it was started in June 2000. In prior years, the trust paid legal expenses for a now-closed civil racketeering lawsuit filed by Democrats and for several ethics investigations that led to criticism of DeLay by the House ethics committee.
The maximum annual donation under House rules is $5,000. Of the $318,000 raised, $141,000 came from corporations, political committees and one union - a $1,000 donation from the United Transportation Union PAC in Cleveland.
DeLay and two political associates are accused of funneling corporate money to Texas legislative candidates, in violation of a state law prohibiting use of corporate funds in state campaigns.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_DeLay_Legal_Defense.html
Article raises questions about Vietnam War
By KATHERINE SHRADER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency has been blocking the release of an article by one of its historians that says intelligence officers falsified documents about a disputed attack that was used to escalate the Vietnam War, according to a researcher who has requested the article.
Matthew Aid, who asked for the article under the Freedom of Information Act last year, said it appears that officers at the NSA made honest mistakes in translating interceptions involving the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. That was a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to President Johnson's escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Vietnam_Intelligence.html
Pluto has three moons, Hubble images show
By ALEX DOMINGUEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BALTIMORE -- Pluto has three moons, not one, new images from the Hubble Space Telescope suggest. Pluto, discovered as the ninth planet in 1930, was thought to be alone until its moon Charon was spotted in 1978.
The new moons, more than twice as far away as Charon and many times fainter, were spotted by Hubble in May.
While the observations have to be confirmed, members of the team that discovered the satellites said Monday they felt confident about their data.
"Pluto and Charon are not alone, they have two neighbors," said Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Follow-up observations by the Hubble are planned in February. If they are confirmed, the International Astronomical Union will consider names for the objects.
Earlier this month another group of astronomers, who claim to have discovered the 10th planet in the solar system, also said that body had a moon. (Whether the group actually discovered a new planet has not been confirmed.)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Plutos_Moons.html
Congo army, troops flush Rwandan rebels
By ANJAN SUNDARAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Two unidentified Rwandan Hutu rebels, left, that were captured during a joint military operation by the Congolese army and U.N. are seen some 70km from the town of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. Congo's army launched a U.N. backed military operation on Monday to drive out the rebels who hide deep in the thick forests of the eastern Congo.(AP Photo/Anjan Sundaram)
VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, Congo -- Hundreds of government troops backed by U.N. peacekeepers began flushing heavily armed Rwandan rebels from eastern Congo on Monday, destroying insurgent camps and sending smoke rising above the restive region.
The operation in North Kivu province involving 2,000 Congolese troops and 500 peacekeepers was the first time Congo's government has used force against the Hutu rebels since a deadline for the departure of all foreign armed groups expired a month ago. At least a dozen rebels were captured.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Congo_Rwanda_Rebels.html
Canada starting to accept more immigrants
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OTTAWA -- Canada is on track to accept 245,000 immigrants this year - a number that would increase under a new policy set to be unveiled by the government.
Immigration Minister Joe Volpe was to unveil the sweeping changes to Canada's immigration policy later Monday, announcing the government intends to take in as many as 300,0000 new immigrants annually within the next five years.
Volpe said Ottawa plans to increase temporary workers to tackle the enormous backlog of 700,000 prospective immigrants.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Canada_Immigration.html
Summary Box: Zanzibar holds regional vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Many saw the vote as a test of whether Western-style democracy can work in this devoutly Muslim part of East Africa. The last two elections also were tainted by violence and charges of fraud.
VIOLENCE: Clashes erupted after police and the ruling party tried to truck in hundreds of people to vote against the objections of local residents.
TURNOUT: Voters turned out in heavy numbers to choose between the socialists who have ruled the Indian Ocean archipelago for nearly 40 years and an opposition group promising wholesale economic reforms.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Zanzibar_Elections_Summary_Box.html
Three kidnapped children rescued in Haiti
By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Police rescued unharmed two kidnapped children and a foster child of an American missionary couple during a raid on an apartment in Haiti's capital, officials said Monday.
Police said Hannah Lloyd, 3, her brother David, 5, and their Haitian foster sister Miriam Meinvil, 7, were unharmed. They are the children of Pentecostal minister David Lloyd and his wife, Alicia, of Claremore, Okla.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Haiti_US_Kidnapping.html
Musharraf condemns India bombings
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Monday condemned this weekend's deadly bombings in India as "a dastardly terrorist attack," and said Pakistan would fully cooperate in any investigation.
"Pakistan stands with India," Musharraf said at a news conference in this garrison city near the capital of Islamabad.
Pakistan-based Islamic militants have been suspected in Saturday night's bombings, which killed 59 people in New Delhi, but Indian officials appeared hesitant to immediately place blame.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_India.html
The Jerusalem Post
Sharon pledges to strike at sources of terror
By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL
Avoiding the controversy of his aborted ministerial appointments, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's address at the opening of the Knesset's winter session on Tuesday focused on regional politics.
While making a renewed call for a return to the road map, he called on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle terror groups and pledged his commitment to the construction of the separation fence.
"Israel will continue to protect itself and hurt the terrorists," said Sharon. "We have no choice. We will continue to build the security fence with no political, practical, or budgetary problems."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540640558&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Sharon distributes portfolios to allies
By GIL HOFFMAN
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet voted on Sunday to approve Sharon's appointments of several of his top political allies to key positions in the cabinet.
The vote passed unanimously, with every Likud minister voting in favor. But Labor ministers walked out before the vote, protesting Sharon's decision not to allocate any new positions to Labor and the lack of coordination between Sharon's office and Labor on key issues in recent weeks.
The appointments will come to a vote as a bloc on Monday in the Knesset, where Sharon is expected to have a difficult time passing them. Likud leadership candidates Binyamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau, several Likud rebel MKs, and Labor MKs Amram Mitzna, Ilana Cohen, and Amir Peretz all intend to vote against them, virtually guaranteeing a majority against the appointments.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1129540627571&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Golan Druse suspected of attacking IDF
By DAVID RUDGE
Three teenage residents of the Golan Heights Druse village Majdal Shams have been arrested on suspicion of throwing petrol bombs at IDF troops while they were on patrol in an armored vehicle along the border with Syria.
They were detained near the beginning of October but the matter was only officially announced on Monday following the lifting of a court imposed publicity ban.
The three were allegedly members of a local cell and they were responsible also for putting ladders against the security fence to test the response time of IDF troops.
The majority of the Golan Heights Druse refused to accept Israeli identity cards when the Knesset in 1981 extended Israeli law to the region that was captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540642350&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Jihad fires 5 Kassams from Gaza
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH AND JPOST.COM STAFF
Less than a day after top Islamic Jihad leaders announced they would maintain a mutual ceasefire, at least five Kassam rockets were fired from the northern region of the Gaza Strip into the western Negev Sunday night.
No damage in life or property was reported.
The attacks came in immediate response to a military operation in Kabatiya, in which three Islamic Jihad fugitives were killed by the IDF after prolonged gunbattles Sunday night.
Two of the Islamic Jihad operatives were shot in West Bank town of Kabatiya near Jenin, after IDF forces, including Nahal brigade and elite units, surrounded a house in the afternoon where they were hiding. The two were linked to last week's suicide bomb attack in Hadera in which five Israelis were killed.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540633099&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
PA academics take to the streets
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian lecturers and legislators demonstrated in Gaza City on Monday in protest against recurring attacks on the president of Al-Azhar University.
The university, the largest in the Gaza Strip, decided earlier this month to suspend studies until further notice after some students assaulted its president, Dr. Adnan al-Khaldi, and other staff members. Sources in the university said the attackers were members of the ruling Fatah party.
Chanting slogans against the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness, the protesters marched toward the offices of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City. They also urged PA Interior Minister Nasser Youssef and the commanders of the security forces to take drastic measures against the perpetrators, including depriving them of graduation certificates.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540641345&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
UNSC okays weakened Syria resolution
By NATHAN GUTTMAN
Washington
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Monday a watered-down resolution calling on Syria to cooperate with the international investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, but not mentioning the possibility of imposing sanctions if Damascus does not comply.
The resolution, presented by the US, France and Britain, demands that Syria provide all the information needed for German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis's investigation in the month and a half remaining until his team files its final report. It also requires Syria to allow the team to question government officials about possible involvement in the bombing that killed Hariri on February 14.
The resolution passed warns Syria that it might face "further action" if it does not show full cooperation with the Mehlis investigation and requires Syria to detain and hand over individuals needed for questioning and demands that assets of those suspected of being involved in the murder be frozen.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540636773&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Our wild week surviving Wilma
By LINDA MAURICE
HOLLYWOOD, Florida - We are slowly beginning to join the modern world again. Slowly being the optimum word. I am going to be really bummed if our power chooses now to surge again (which has been happening all Shabbat afternoon, as FPL - Florida Power & Light - works on all the grids and substations) and I lose this text.
Yes, we survived Wilma. Last Sunday night it was starting to get windy, and by Monday at 6:30 a.m. it was starting to howl. We had a few pretty scary hours up until about 1 p.m. The shutters rattled and whooshes of wind went all around the house. We had always heard that you are safer in a part of the house without windows, so we pulled a mattress into the hallway and all hung out on it. At one point I got restless, so I folded laundry. Hey, routine is good.
We couldn't see anything that was going on except through the little pane of glass in our front door. Through that we watched our neighbors front tree get whipped apart, another one fall and everything just whirl around. Water was blowing under the front door and seeping in all around the sides from the force of the wind.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540635834&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Learning the hard way
By PEGGY CIDOR
Rahel 13, wants to go to school. She's supposed to be in ninth grade now. She says she's a good pupil and likes her classes.
She also insists that she is an honorable haredi girl, who dresses modestly, lives a modest life, observes the commandments, and wants a shidduch (match) to a good man.
But Rahel still hasn't begun the school year because she hasn't been accepted into any educational institution within the haredi system.
She is convinced that she has been rejected from four of the most prestigious schools, despite her high grades and commendable behavior, for one reason only: because she is Sephardi and the schools are Ashkenazi.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540639818&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Times-Picayune
Nagin serves city budget sunny side up
ALSO: Be nice or leave; Yet another task force
Saturday, October 29, 2005
By Frank Donze and Bruce Eggler
Staff writers
Delivering what may be the darkest financial forecast in New Orleans history, Mayor Ray Nagin did something remarkable this week: He kept the message upbeat.
Even though wide swaths of his largely empty city still sit in darkness every night, Nagin told City Council members Thursday that from now on he intends to accentuate the positives, starting with a prediction that the post-Katrina New Orleans will be safer, smarter and bigger.
"It's going to happen," he said after outlining a 2006 operating budget with a gaping $205 million hole in it: "500,000 to 600,000 people will live in New Orleans in the next three to five years. You can bank on it!"
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1130573314302830.xml
New Orleans' swamps turn into dumping ground, and environmentalists say it's a Superfund in the making
10/31/2005, 4:48 p.m. CT
By CAIN BURDEAU
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A swampy section of New Orleans is becoming a dumping ground for paint cans, broken furniture, insulation and the whatever else is in the rubble of this city.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1130799242187003.xml&storylist=louisiana
Post-hurricane White House plan adds $55 million for NOAA
10/31/2005, 3:42 p.m. CT
By CURT ANDERSON
The Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane forecasting and research improvements — including a new "hurricane hunter" airplane — are part of a Bush administration proposal to provide an additional $55 million this year for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/113079534588200.xml&storylist=louisiana
FEMA's money trail 'transparent as mud'
Process of awarding contracts is unclear
Monday, October 31, 2005
By Sean Reilly
Newhouse News Service
WASHINGTON -- Eric Tolbert spent almost three decades on emergency response teams, starting as a paramedic in his native North Carolina and rising to a top job at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Early this year, Tolbert left government service for an executive post at PBS&J, a prominent Miami-based engineering firm. Since then, PBS&J has become a behind-the-scenes player in a contracting team that has garnered more than $145 million in government work related to the Hurricane Katrina and Rita recovery efforts, according to interviews and government records.
In an e-mail exchange this week, Tolbert said he played no role in winning that business and has "meticulously" abided by rules limiting contacts between former federal employees and their old agencies for at least a year. But the episode typifies the murky methods FEMA has used in shoveling billions of rebuilding dollars to private contractors.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/113077254331270.xml
Tanker truck crash closes eastbound I-12
Monday, 11:30 a.m.
The eastbound lanes of Interstate 12 south of Covington are closed due to an overturned tanker-truck carrying hazardous materials, authorities said.
The accident occurred around 10:30 a.m. near the Louisiana 21 exit. The cause of the one-vehicle accident is under investigation. The driver was taken to a hospital; his condition was not immediately available.
Information on the tanker's cargo was not available.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_10_31.html
New Orleans, LA
75ºF
24ºC
Right Now
P/SUNNY
Humidity: 51%
Wind: E, 11 mph
Barometer: 30.11 inches
Visibility: 10 miles
http://www.nola.com/weather/
New Orleans Miscellaneous
New Orleans Nagin´s "Bring Back" Commission Meetings Set
The Commission established by Mayor Ray Nagin to help set policy and a framework for rebuilding the City of New Orleans wille be meeting this Monday. Also, subcommittees are being formed. The information regarding the general meeting, the subcommittee meetings and prior minutes can be found on the website, http://www.bringneworleansback.org/. Here is a copy of the minutes from the last Commission meeting:
Members Present: Boysie Bollinger, Kim Boyle, Cesar Burgos, Joe Canizaro, Scott Cowen, Archbishop Hughes, Mel Lagarde, Rev. Fred Luter, Barbara Major, Alden McDonald, Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Dan Packer, Anthony Patton, Jimmy Reiss, Gary Solomon, Oliver Thomas and David White
Members Absent: Wynton Marsalis
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=5367
Boy trumpeter from New Orleans is star of nation's biggest Halloween event
By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press Writer
October 30, 2005, 8:49 PM EST
NEW YORK -- The leader of New York's Village Halloween parade will not be a drag queen on roller skates. It will not be a giant caricature of President Bush. It will not be a naked man covered in glitter.
The star of the parade will be a little trumpeter from New Orleans _ 10-year-old Glenn Hall III, whose house and horn were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In New York, he got a new trumpet that he will play Monday in what is billed as the country's biggest public Halloween event.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--halloween-hurrica1030oct30,0,4545131.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Pumpkins, "Voodoo" fight New Orleans fires
Sun Oct 30, 2005 5:53 PM ET
By Kevin Krolicki
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The drivers of Strike Team Two, a gypsy water convoy battle-hardened from fighting Western wildfires, sleep in a tent on the fringe of New Orleans and wait for orders to roll out the pumpkins.
As part of an experiment in applying backwoods fire-fighting tactics to the urban wilderness, New Orleans' fire department has turned to grizzled U.S. Forest Service contractors to help keep the wreckage left by Hurricane Katrina from going up in flames.
"The more uncivilized it got here, the more we fit in," said Rob Bozeman of Boulder, Colorado, laughing.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-10-30T225255Z_01_MOL063990_RTRUKOC_0_US-HURRICANES-FIRES.xml
Meeting raises possibility that Nagin may have political future
By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press Writer
October 30, 2005
There were fewer than 300 seats and more than 500 people jammed into the hotel for a town hall meeting. It was overcrowded and under-air conditioned (nothing new in post-Katrina New Orleans), dozens of unhappy people lined up behind a single microphone and the scene appeared set for an ugly political inquisition as Mayor Ray Nagin entered the room - 30 minutes late.
Nagin made an opening statement on housing, then turned it over to the audience.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051030/APN/510300626&cachetime=3&template=dateline
The Arab News
Musharraf Praises US and NATO for Earthquake Aid
Khaled Almaeena & Samir Al-Saadi
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, 1 November 2005 — In a two-part press conference that bracketed iftar, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf yesterday condemned terrorist attacks on India while praising the US, UN and NATO assistance that has been provided in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake.
He also saw the opening of border points in Kashmir as a great opportunity to advance the Indo-Pak peace process.
Musharraf termed the recent bombings in the Indian capital of New Delhi “a dastardly attack.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=72561&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Kingdom Condemns Delhi Blasts
Arab News
JEDDAH, 1 November 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday condemned the deadly weekend blasts in New Delhi and urged the international community to join hands to root out terror.
“The Kingdom while denouncing this criminal act reiterates its belief that the entire world community must unite to confront and root out terrorism,” said a government spokesman.
More than 60 people were killed in blasts Saturday at two busy markets in New Delhi. The spokesman extended the Kingdom’s condolences to the Indian government and people as well as families of the victims.
Saudi Arabia, itself a victim of terrror attacks, proposed the creation of a UN-backed international center to combat terrorism at a counterterrorism conference it hosted in Riyadh last September.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=72562&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Editorial: Delhi Blasts
1 November 2005
Saturday's murderous blasts in New Delhi show once again that the war on terror will go on for a long time and will have to be fought on many fronts. They also add weight and urgency to King Abdullah’s suggestion some time back that an international center should be established to counter terrorism.
The death of 60 more innocent people will perhaps now push the international community further toward the creation of such a powerful body to root out terror. However much individual police forces may be pooling information and expertise on an ad hoc basis, there is clearly a need for properly structured coordination of the global effort to smash the evil of international terror. The menace is global. It must be confronted globally.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=72568&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Yawning Gap Between Parents and Children
Javid Hassan & Ali Al-Zahrani, Arab News
RIYADH, 1 November 2005 — Absence of dialogue between children and their parents has created a situation in which a section of the youth has been forced to contact psychiatrists who serve as a channel for the release of their suppressed feelings.
Interviews with a cross-section of young Saudis showed depth of the feelings that they cannot ventilate, the hopes that lie entombed in their hearts, and the fears that they cannot express. Being at the receiving end at school, at home, in the mosques, and, indeed, in the society at large, they have found themselves buried in the cocoon of silence. Participants in the national dialogue have called it “a time bomb waiting to explode”.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=72563&d=1&m=11&y=2005&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
UN Tells Syria to Cooperate
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara, right, chats with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the start of the Security Council meeting. (AFP)
WASHINGTON, 1 November 2005 — The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday demanding Syria’s full cooperation with a UN investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister, and warning of possible “further action” if it does not.
The resolution demands that Syria fully assist German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis’ investigation into Hariri’s murder on Feb. 14 in Beirut by detaining for questioning at a location of his choosing anyone named by the UN as a suspect in the crime.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=72557&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Arabs Shouldn’t Abandon Syria
Linda Heard, sierra12th@yahoo.co.uk
If I weren’t so vain, the antics of many of the world’s leaders would have me tearing my hair out. Indeed, some of them shouldn’t be called leaders at all since they are obviously entirely disconnected from the wishes of their own peoples, preferring (or perhaps obliged) instead to follow US diktats.
Here, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immediately springs to mind. He appeared to be one of the most gung-ho and hawkish pro-Bush European heads, yet, lo and behold, he now asserts that he repeatedly tried to talk the American president out of invading Iraq.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=72569&d=1&m=11&y=2005
continued …
"Okeydoke"
History
1759 Earthquake in Safed Palestine kills hundred
1793 Execution of the Girondins at Paris, during the Reign of Terror
1815 Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner's safety lamp
1893 Football player, William Henry Lewis, named All-American, 1893
1899 W.F. Burr patents railway switching device Oct.31,1899 Patent # 636,197
1900 Actor and singer, Ethel Waters was born, 1900
1900 Blues singer and actress Ethel Waters, who stars in "Member of the Wedding" on Broadway, "Cabin in the Sky", "Africana", and noted for her song "Stormy Weather", is born in Chester, PA
1908 4th Olympic games end in London
1922 Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) becomes premier of Italy
1940 Deadline for Warsaw Jews to move into the Warsaw Ghetto
1945 Educator, Booker T Washington, inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.
1952 1st thermonuclear bomb detonated-Marshall Islands
1956 1st American to land an airplane at South Pole-Rear Adm GJ Dufek
1956 Britain & France begin to bomb Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal
1956 Brooklyn, NY ends streetcar service
1959 Lee Harvey Oswald announces in Moscow he will never return to US
1963 Ed Sullivan witnesses the Beatles & their fans at London Airport
1963 Leaking propane gas explodes, kills 64 at "Holiday on Ice" (Indiana)
1964 Barbra Streisand's "People," album goes #1 for 5 weeks
1968 President Johnson orders a halt to all bombing of North Vietnam
1969 Race riot in Jacksonville Florida
1980 Julian Nott sets world hot-air balloon altitude record (16,806 m)
1983 Ron Grant completes a 217 day, 8,316 mile run around Australia
1984 Puerto Rican tanker, San Francisco explodes spilling 2 million gallons of oil as the ship caught fire
1987 1st jockey to win 9 races in 1 day (Chris Antley at Belmont)
1987 A pair in Coventry, England ties the world record for the longest singles tennis match at 80 hrs 21 minutes
1988 Journalists demand greater press freedom in Yugoslavia
1998 AP reports the DNA investigation confirms the findings linking President Thomas Jefferson to Sally Hemings through the Eston Hemings line.
Missing in Action
1965 ADAMS SAMUEL GOLDENROD FL 12/65 PRG DIC LIST
1965 DUSING CHARLES G. CHARLESTON SC 12/65 DIC-ON PRG DIC LIST
1965 MOORE THOMAS BATON ROUGE LA 12/65 DIC-ON PRG DIC LIST
1965 POWERS TRENT R. MINNEAPOLIS MN EJECTED SAFELY / REMAINS RETURNED 09/25/87
1967 FANNING HUGH M. FORT WORTH TX REMAINS RECOVERED 07/17/84 ID RECINDED
1967 KOTT STEPHEN J. GREENVILLE SC REMAINS RECOVERED 07/17/84 - FAM DOES NOT ACCEPT
1968 SWANSON ROGER W. ST PAUL MN
1969 GAUTHIER DENNIS L. ROCHESTER MI
October 30
1965 PAGE JASPER N. HATTIESBURG MS 11/04/65 ESCAPED 1ST OUT OF SVN/ALIVE AND WELL 98
1973 SAKAMOTO HIDEAKO JAPAN RELEASED 01/30/74
October 29
1963 PITZER DANIEL L. FAIRVIEW WV 11/11/67 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA DECEASED
1963 ROWE JAMES N. MC ALLEN TX 12/31/68 ESCAPED KILLED IN PHILLIPINE INSIDENT 04/21/89
1963 VERSACE HUMBERTO R. NORFOLK VA 09/22/65 POSS EXECUTED PRG DIC LIST
1968 BEZOLD STEVEN MC KITTRICK MO
1968 HARRISON DONALD L. CHAMBLEE GA NO SUBSEQUENT INFORMATION
1968 HUNTER JAMES D. PORTLAND TN
1971 OAKLEY LINUS LABIN CARTHAGE AR
1972 SULLIVAN JAMES E. HULL MA "DEAD, HANOI RADIO REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85"
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Fading Beta leaves thousands in shelters
By FILADELFO ALEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A panoramic view of Malacatoya river is seen one day after Hurricane Beta crossed over Nicaragua, Chontales, some 56 miles (90km) northeast of Managua, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. The hurricane made landfall Sunday morning before quickly weakening to a tropical storm and eventually becoming a tropical depression. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)
MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Thousands of people remained in shelters in Nicaragua and Honduras on Monday after Hurricane Beta swept across the Central American nations, flooding rivers, downing trees and destroying houses, churches, medical centers and schools.
The remnants of Beta drifted over the eastern Pacific on Monday, and forecasters said there was a slight chance the storm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Hurricane_Beta.html
White House rebuffs calls for shakeup
By TERENCE HUNT
AP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT
Former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, husband of CIA operative Valerie Plame, gestures during an address at the National Press Club in Washington, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON -- The White House on Monday rebuffed calls for a staff shakeup, the firing of Karl Rove and an apology by President Bush for the role of senior administration officials in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Three days after the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, the administration said it would have to remain silent as long as there was an investigation of the leak and legal proceeding under way. Bush ignored reporters' questions during an Oval Office meeting with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_CIA_Leak_Investigation.html
Gregoire orders flags lowered for Rosa Parks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Gov. Christine Gregoire, following the lead of the White House, on Monday ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff at all state agencies and colleges on Wednesday to honor the late civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks.
Funeral services were held in Washington D.C., Monday for Parks, who died last Monday at 92. She was called the mother of the civil rights movement, after her arrest in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man.
Gregoire's order covers from sunrise to sunset on Wednesday, the day Parks is interred. President Bush previously issued a similar order for federal buildings and military installations, naval vessels, and U.S. embassies.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Gregoire_Parks.html
Torture suit begins for Salvadoran officer
By WOODY BAIRD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A former Salvadoran Army colonel was in a U.S. court Monday to defend himself against accusations that his soldiers tortured and killed civilians during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s.
A civil lawsuit filed against Nicolas Carranza, 72, accuses him of crimes against humanity. A 10-member jury was seated Monday afternoon, with testimony scheduled to begin Tuesday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Torture_Lawsuit.html
Halloween is Hurricane Wilma's new victim
By DENISE KALETTE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
With no power in the Sunrise, Fla. Party City, Sarah Nottingham had to shop for her Halloween outfit Monday, Oct. 31, 2005 by looking at signs in the window of the store rather than go inside the store. (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter)
MIAMI -- Little ghosts and goblins in cities across South Florida were stuck inside Monday night as officials urged parents to cancel this year's trick-or-treating because of the damage from Hurricane Wilma.
The power was still out in many places, and storm debris made some streets and sidewalks hazardous.
"In Miami Springs, they always have parties and tell stories. And now they have canceled that," said a disappointed Mika Lorenzo, 9. He still planned to wear his knight's costume.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Hurricane_Halloween.html
Texas judge orders mayor to leave town
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GEORGETOWN, Texas -- A Texas mayor can't set foot in the small city he leads until a criminal case against him is over, but he still plans on running it.
Bartlett Mayor Bobby Hill, 61, was arrested last week and accused of stealing money and services from his 1,500-person city, about 53 miles northeast of Austin. State District Judge Ken Anderson ruled Monday that until the case is over, Hill must live outside city limits.
"He can do the job as mayor from wherever he's at," said his attorney, Marc Ranc.
Ranc said the mayor's job is only a part-time position, and Hill can still conduct city business by phone and do paperwork at home.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Mayor_Arrested.html
'View tax' triggers revolt in rural N.H.
By KATHARINE WEBSTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
John Chandler stands in his back yard with a view of the White Mountains in a Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2005 photo, in Hill, N.H.. Views have become so valuable in some New Hampshire towns that assessors are giving them a separate line on appraisal records. Chandler objected when a revaluation doubled the value of his property in Hill because of its view. He says the view is obscured by pollution most of the time, and besides that he's legally blind. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
ORFORD, N.H. -- The one-room cabin David Bischoff built in a cow pasture three years ago has no electricity, no running water, no phone service and no driveway. What it does have is a wide-open view of nearby hills and distant mountains - which makes it seven times more valuable than if it had no view, according to the latest townwide property assessment. He expects his property taxes to shoot up accordingly.
Bischoff and other Orford residents bitterly call that a "view tax," and they are leading a revolt against it that has gained support in many rural towns in New Hampshire.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_View_Tax.html
Methodists defrock lesbian minister
By LUCAS L. JOHNSON II
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Rev. Irene "Beth" Stroud, left, hugs her partner Chris Paige following a news conference, Monday, Oct. 31, 2005, in Philadelphia. The highest court within the United Methodist Church defrocked the lesbian minister Monday for violating the denomination's ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" clergy. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A lesbian minister was defrocked Monday by the highest court within the United Methodist Church, which found that she violated the denomination's ban on "self-avowed, practicing homosexual" clergy.
The decision is a victory for traditionalists in one of several mainline Protestant denominations split over the role of gays and lesbians in the church.
The UMC's nine-member Judicial Council - seven of whom heard the case Thursday in Houston - issued the ruling through its Web site. The denomination's communications office is based in Nashville.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Methodists_Gays.html
DeLay reports record funds for defense
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Democratic state district Judge Bob Perkins, shown in this photo from Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005, has been subpoenaed to testify Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2005, at a hearing to determine whether he is too biased to preside over U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's criminal case. DeLay's attorneys want Perkins replaced as the presiding judge because of multiple contributions he's made to Democrats. Perkins was expected to file a motion to quash the subpoena. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck) (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Tom DeLay's Legal Expense Trust reported Monday that it raised $318,000 in the third quarter to help the Texas Republican fight state charges of conspiracy and money laundering.
The fund spent $278,466 during the three-month period that ended Sept. 30, but most legal costs for the Texas case are yet to come as the former majority leader prepares for a possible trial.
The Houston-based trustee, Brent Perry, has said this was the fund's best quarter since it was started in June 2000. In prior years, the trust paid legal expenses for a now-closed civil racketeering lawsuit filed by Democrats and for several ethics investigations that led to criticism of DeLay by the House ethics committee.
The maximum annual donation under House rules is $5,000. Of the $318,000 raised, $141,000 came from corporations, political committees and one union - a $1,000 donation from the United Transportation Union PAC in Cleveland.
DeLay and two political associates are accused of funneling corporate money to Texas legislative candidates, in violation of a state law prohibiting use of corporate funds in state campaigns.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_DeLay_Legal_Defense.html
Article raises questions about Vietnam War
By KATHERINE SHRADER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency has been blocking the release of an article by one of its historians that says intelligence officers falsified documents about a disputed attack that was used to escalate the Vietnam War, according to a researcher who has requested the article.
Matthew Aid, who asked for the article under the Freedom of Information Act last year, said it appears that officers at the NSA made honest mistakes in translating interceptions involving the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. That was a reported North Vietnamese attack on American destroyers that helped lead to President Johnson's escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Vietnam_Intelligence.html
Pluto has three moons, Hubble images show
By ALEX DOMINGUEZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BALTIMORE -- Pluto has three moons, not one, new images from the Hubble Space Telescope suggest. Pluto, discovered as the ninth planet in 1930, was thought to be alone until its moon Charon was spotted in 1978.
The new moons, more than twice as far away as Charon and many times fainter, were spotted by Hubble in May.
While the observations have to be confirmed, members of the team that discovered the satellites said Monday they felt confident about their data.
"Pluto and Charon are not alone, they have two neighbors," said Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Follow-up observations by the Hubble are planned in February. If they are confirmed, the International Astronomical Union will consider names for the objects.
Earlier this month another group of astronomers, who claim to have discovered the 10th planet in the solar system, also said that body had a moon. (Whether the group actually discovered a new planet has not been confirmed.)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Plutos_Moons.html
Congo army, troops flush Rwandan rebels
By ANJAN SUNDARAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Two unidentified Rwandan Hutu rebels, left, that were captured during a joint military operation by the Congolese army and U.N. are seen some 70km from the town of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, Oct. 31, 2005. Congo's army launched a U.N. backed military operation on Monday to drive out the rebels who hide deep in the thick forests of the eastern Congo.(AP Photo/Anjan Sundaram)
VIRUNGA NATIONAL PARK, Congo -- Hundreds of government troops backed by U.N. peacekeepers began flushing heavily armed Rwandan rebels from eastern Congo on Monday, destroying insurgent camps and sending smoke rising above the restive region.
The operation in North Kivu province involving 2,000 Congolese troops and 500 peacekeepers was the first time Congo's government has used force against the Hutu rebels since a deadline for the departure of all foreign armed groups expired a month ago. At least a dozen rebels were captured.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Congo_Rwanda_Rebels.html
Canada starting to accept more immigrants
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OTTAWA -- Canada is on track to accept 245,000 immigrants this year - a number that would increase under a new policy set to be unveiled by the government.
Immigration Minister Joe Volpe was to unveil the sweeping changes to Canada's immigration policy later Monday, announcing the government intends to take in as many as 300,0000 new immigrants annually within the next five years.
Volpe said Ottawa plans to increase temporary workers to tackle the enormous backlog of 700,000 prospective immigrants.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Canada_Immigration.html
Summary Box: Zanzibar holds regional vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHAT'S AT STAKE: Many saw the vote as a test of whether Western-style democracy can work in this devoutly Muslim part of East Africa. The last two elections also were tainted by violence and charges of fraud.
VIOLENCE: Clashes erupted after police and the ruling party tried to truck in hundreds of people to vote against the objections of local residents.
TURNOUT: Voters turned out in heavy numbers to choose between the socialists who have ruled the Indian Ocean archipelago for nearly 40 years and an opposition group promising wholesale economic reforms.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Zanzibar_Elections_Summary_Box.html
Three kidnapped children rescued in Haiti
By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Police rescued unharmed two kidnapped children and a foster child of an American missionary couple during a raid on an apartment in Haiti's capital, officials said Monday.
Police said Hannah Lloyd, 3, her brother David, 5, and their Haitian foster sister Miriam Meinvil, 7, were unharmed. They are the children of Pentecostal minister David Lloyd and his wife, Alicia, of Claremore, Okla.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Haiti_US_Kidnapping.html
Musharraf condemns India bombings
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Monday condemned this weekend's deadly bombings in India as "a dastardly terrorist attack," and said Pakistan would fully cooperate in any investigation.
"Pakistan stands with India," Musharraf said at a news conference in this garrison city near the capital of Islamabad.
Pakistan-based Islamic militants have been suspected in Saturday night's bombings, which killed 59 people in New Delhi, but Indian officials appeared hesitant to immediately place blame.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_India.html
The Jerusalem Post
Sharon pledges to strike at sources of terror
By SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL
Avoiding the controversy of his aborted ministerial appointments, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's address at the opening of the Knesset's winter session on Tuesday focused on regional politics.
While making a renewed call for a return to the road map, he called on the Palestinian Authority to dismantle terror groups and pledged his commitment to the construction of the separation fence.
"Israel will continue to protect itself and hurt the terrorists," said Sharon. "We have no choice. We will continue to build the security fence with no political, practical, or budgetary problems."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540640558&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull
Sharon distributes portfolios to allies
By GIL HOFFMAN
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet voted on Sunday to approve Sharon's appointments of several of his top political allies to key positions in the cabinet.
The vote passed unanimously, with every Likud minister voting in favor. But Labor ministers walked out before the vote, protesting Sharon's decision not to allocate any new positions to Labor and the lack of coordination between Sharon's office and Labor on key issues in recent weeks.
The appointments will come to a vote as a bloc on Monday in the Knesset, where Sharon is expected to have a difficult time passing them. Likud leadership candidates Binyamin Netanyahu and Uzi Landau, several Likud rebel MKs, and Labor MKs Amram Mitzna, Ilana Cohen, and Amir Peretz all intend to vote against them, virtually guaranteeing a majority against the appointments.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1129540627571&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Golan Druse suspected of attacking IDF
By DAVID RUDGE
Three teenage residents of the Golan Heights Druse village Majdal Shams have been arrested on suspicion of throwing petrol bombs at IDF troops while they were on patrol in an armored vehicle along the border with Syria.
They were detained near the beginning of October but the matter was only officially announced on Monday following the lifting of a court imposed publicity ban.
The three were allegedly members of a local cell and they were responsible also for putting ladders against the security fence to test the response time of IDF troops.
The majority of the Golan Heights Druse refused to accept Israeli identity cards when the Knesset in 1981 extended Israeli law to the region that was captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540642350&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Jihad fires 5 Kassams from Gaza
By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH AND JPOST.COM STAFF
Less than a day after top Islamic Jihad leaders announced they would maintain a mutual ceasefire, at least five Kassam rockets were fired from the northern region of the Gaza Strip into the western Negev Sunday night.
No damage in life or property was reported.
The attacks came in immediate response to a military operation in Kabatiya, in which three Islamic Jihad fugitives were killed by the IDF after prolonged gunbattles Sunday night.
Two of the Islamic Jihad operatives were shot in West Bank town of Kabatiya near Jenin, after IDF forces, including Nahal brigade and elite units, surrounded a house in the afternoon where they were hiding. The two were linked to last week's suicide bomb attack in Hadera in which five Israelis were killed.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540633099&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
PA academics take to the streets
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian lecturers and legislators demonstrated in Gaza City on Monday in protest against recurring attacks on the president of Al-Azhar University.
The university, the largest in the Gaza Strip, decided earlier this month to suspend studies until further notice after some students assaulted its president, Dr. Adnan al-Khaldi, and other staff members. Sources in the university said the attackers were members of the ruling Fatah party.
Chanting slogans against the growing state of anarchy and lawlessness, the protesters marched toward the offices of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City. They also urged PA Interior Minister Nasser Youssef and the commanders of the security forces to take drastic measures against the perpetrators, including depriving them of graduation certificates.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540641345&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
UNSC okays weakened Syria resolution
By NATHAN GUTTMAN
Washington
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Monday a watered-down resolution calling on Syria to cooperate with the international investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, but not mentioning the possibility of imposing sanctions if Damascus does not comply.
The resolution, presented by the US, France and Britain, demands that Syria provide all the information needed for German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis's investigation in the month and a half remaining until his team files its final report. It also requires Syria to allow the team to question government officials about possible involvement in the bombing that killed Hariri on February 14.
The resolution passed warns Syria that it might face "further action" if it does not show full cooperation with the Mehlis investigation and requires Syria to detain and hand over individuals needed for questioning and demands that assets of those suspected of being involved in the murder be frozen.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540636773&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Our wild week surviving Wilma
By LINDA MAURICE
HOLLYWOOD, Florida - We are slowly beginning to join the modern world again. Slowly being the optimum word. I am going to be really bummed if our power chooses now to surge again (which has been happening all Shabbat afternoon, as FPL - Florida Power & Light - works on all the grids and substations) and I lose this text.
Yes, we survived Wilma. Last Sunday night it was starting to get windy, and by Monday at 6:30 a.m. it was starting to howl. We had a few pretty scary hours up until about 1 p.m. The shutters rattled and whooshes of wind went all around the house. We had always heard that you are safer in a part of the house without windows, so we pulled a mattress into the hallway and all hung out on it. At one point I got restless, so I folded laundry. Hey, routine is good.
We couldn't see anything that was going on except through the little pane of glass in our front door. Through that we watched our neighbors front tree get whipped apart, another one fall and everything just whirl around. Water was blowing under the front door and seeping in all around the sides from the force of the wind.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540635834&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Learning the hard way
By PEGGY CIDOR
Rahel 13, wants to go to school. She's supposed to be in ninth grade now. She says she's a good pupil and likes her classes.
She also insists that she is an honorable haredi girl, who dresses modestly, lives a modest life, observes the commandments, and wants a shidduch (match) to a good man.
But Rahel still hasn't begun the school year because she hasn't been accepted into any educational institution within the haredi system.
She is convinced that she has been rejected from four of the most prestigious schools, despite her high grades and commendable behavior, for one reason only: because she is Sephardi and the schools are Ashkenazi.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540639818&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Times-Picayune
Nagin serves city budget sunny side up
ALSO: Be nice or leave; Yet another task force
Saturday, October 29, 2005
By Frank Donze and Bruce Eggler
Staff writers
Delivering what may be the darkest financial forecast in New Orleans history, Mayor Ray Nagin did something remarkable this week: He kept the message upbeat.
Even though wide swaths of his largely empty city still sit in darkness every night, Nagin told City Council members Thursday that from now on he intends to accentuate the positives, starting with a prediction that the post-Katrina New Orleans will be safer, smarter and bigger.
"It's going to happen," he said after outlining a 2006 operating budget with a gaping $205 million hole in it: "500,000 to 600,000 people will live in New Orleans in the next three to five years. You can bank on it!"
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1130573314302830.xml
New Orleans' swamps turn into dumping ground, and environmentalists say it's a Superfund in the making
10/31/2005, 4:48 p.m. CT
By CAIN BURDEAU
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A swampy section of New Orleans is becoming a dumping ground for paint cans, broken furniture, insulation and the whatever else is in the rubble of this city.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/1130799242187003.xml&storylist=louisiana
Post-hurricane White House plan adds $55 million for NOAA
10/31/2005, 3:42 p.m. CT
By CURT ANDERSON
The Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) — Hurricane forecasting and research improvements — including a new "hurricane hunter" airplane — are part of a Bush administration proposal to provide an additional $55 million this year for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-20/113079534588200.xml&storylist=louisiana
FEMA's money trail 'transparent as mud'
Process of awarding contracts is unclear
Monday, October 31, 2005
By Sean Reilly
Newhouse News Service
WASHINGTON -- Eric Tolbert spent almost three decades on emergency response teams, starting as a paramedic in his native North Carolina and rising to a top job at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Early this year, Tolbert left government service for an executive post at PBS&J, a prominent Miami-based engineering firm. Since then, PBS&J has become a behind-the-scenes player in a contracting team that has garnered more than $145 million in government work related to the Hurricane Katrina and Rita recovery efforts, according to interviews and government records.
In an e-mail exchange this week, Tolbert said he played no role in winning that business and has "meticulously" abided by rules limiting contacts between former federal employees and their old agencies for at least a year. But the episode typifies the murky methods FEMA has used in shoveling billions of rebuilding dollars to private contractors.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/washington/index.ssf?/base/news-1/113077254331270.xml
Tanker truck crash closes eastbound I-12
Monday, 11:30 a.m.
The eastbound lanes of Interstate 12 south of Covington are closed due to an overturned tanker-truck carrying hazardous materials, authorities said.
The accident occurred around 10:30 a.m. near the Louisiana 21 exit. The cause of the one-vehicle accident is under investigation. The driver was taken to a hospital; his condition was not immediately available.
Information on the tanker's cargo was not available.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breakingtp/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_Times-Picayune/archives/2005_10_31.html
New Orleans, LA
75ºF
24ºC
Right Now
P/SUNNY
Humidity: 51%
Wind: E, 11 mph
Barometer: 30.11 inches
Visibility: 10 miles
http://www.nola.com/weather/
New Orleans Miscellaneous
New Orleans Nagin´s "Bring Back" Commission Meetings Set
The Commission established by Mayor Ray Nagin to help set policy and a framework for rebuilding the City of New Orleans wille be meeting this Monday. Also, subcommittees are being formed. The information regarding the general meeting, the subcommittee meetings and prior minutes can be found on the website, http://www.bringneworleansback.org/. Here is a copy of the minutes from the last Commission meeting:
Members Present: Boysie Bollinger, Kim Boyle, Cesar Burgos, Joe Canizaro, Scott Cowen, Archbishop Hughes, Mel Lagarde, Rev. Fred Luter, Barbara Major, Alden McDonald, Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Dan Packer, Anthony Patton, Jimmy Reiss, Gary Solomon, Oliver Thomas and David White
Members Absent: Wynton Marsalis
http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=5367
Boy trumpeter from New Orleans is star of nation's biggest Halloween event
By VERENA DOBNIK
Associated Press Writer
October 30, 2005, 8:49 PM EST
NEW YORK -- The leader of New York's Village Halloween parade will not be a drag queen on roller skates. It will not be a giant caricature of President Bush. It will not be a naked man covered in glitter.
The star of the parade will be a little trumpeter from New Orleans _ 10-year-old Glenn Hall III, whose house and horn were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. In New York, he got a new trumpet that he will play Monday in what is billed as the country's biggest public Halloween event.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--halloween-hurrica1030oct30,0,4545131.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork
Pumpkins, "Voodoo" fight New Orleans fires
Sun Oct 30, 2005 5:53 PM ET
By Kevin Krolicki
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The drivers of Strike Team Two, a gypsy water convoy battle-hardened from fighting Western wildfires, sleep in a tent on the fringe of New Orleans and wait for orders to roll out the pumpkins.
As part of an experiment in applying backwoods fire-fighting tactics to the urban wilderness, New Orleans' fire department has turned to grizzled U.S. Forest Service contractors to help keep the wreckage left by Hurricane Katrina from going up in flames.
"The more uncivilized it got here, the more we fit in," said Rob Bozeman of Boulder, Colorado, laughing.
http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-10-30T225255Z_01_MOL063990_RTRUKOC_0_US-HURRICANES-FIRES.xml
Meeting raises possibility that Nagin may have political future
By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press Writer
October 30, 2005
There were fewer than 300 seats and more than 500 people jammed into the hotel for a town hall meeting. It was overcrowded and under-air conditioned (nothing new in post-Katrina New Orleans), dozens of unhappy people lined up behind a single microphone and the scene appeared set for an ugly political inquisition as Mayor Ray Nagin entered the room - 30 minutes late.
Nagin made an opening statement on housing, then turned it over to the audience.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051030/APN/510300626&cachetime=3&template=dateline
The Arab News
Musharraf Praises US and NATO for Earthquake Aid
Khaled Almaeena & Samir Al-Saadi
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, 1 November 2005 — In a two-part press conference that bracketed iftar, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf yesterday condemned terrorist attacks on India while praising the US, UN and NATO assistance that has been provided in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake.
He also saw the opening of border points in Kashmir as a great opportunity to advance the Indo-Pak peace process.
Musharraf termed the recent bombings in the Indian capital of New Delhi “a dastardly attack.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=72561&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Kingdom Condemns Delhi Blasts
Arab News
JEDDAH, 1 November 2005 — Saudi Arabia yesterday condemned the deadly weekend blasts in New Delhi and urged the international community to join hands to root out terror.
“The Kingdom while denouncing this criminal act reiterates its belief that the entire world community must unite to confront and root out terrorism,” said a government spokesman.
More than 60 people were killed in blasts Saturday at two busy markets in New Delhi. The spokesman extended the Kingdom’s condolences to the Indian government and people as well as families of the victims.
Saudi Arabia, itself a victim of terrror attacks, proposed the creation of a UN-backed international center to combat terrorism at a counterterrorism conference it hosted in Riyadh last September.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=72562&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Editorial: Delhi Blasts
1 November 2005
Saturday's murderous blasts in New Delhi show once again that the war on terror will go on for a long time and will have to be fought on many fronts. They also add weight and urgency to King Abdullah’s suggestion some time back that an international center should be established to counter terrorism.
The death of 60 more innocent people will perhaps now push the international community further toward the creation of such a powerful body to root out terror. However much individual police forces may be pooling information and expertise on an ad hoc basis, there is clearly a need for properly structured coordination of the global effort to smash the evil of international terror. The menace is global. It must be confronted globally.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=72568&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Yawning Gap Between Parents and Children
Javid Hassan & Ali Al-Zahrani, Arab News
RIYADH, 1 November 2005 — Absence of dialogue between children and their parents has created a situation in which a section of the youth has been forced to contact psychiatrists who serve as a channel for the release of their suppressed feelings.
Interviews with a cross-section of young Saudis showed depth of the feelings that they cannot ventilate, the hopes that lie entombed in their hearts, and the fears that they cannot express. Being at the receiving end at school, at home, in the mosques, and, indeed, in the society at large, they have found themselves buried in the cocoon of silence. Participants in the national dialogue have called it “a time bomb waiting to explode”.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=72563&d=1&m=11&y=2005&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
UN Tells Syria to Cooperate
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara, right, chats with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the start of the Security Council meeting. (AFP)
WASHINGTON, 1 November 2005 — The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution yesterday demanding Syria’s full cooperation with a UN investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister, and warning of possible “further action” if it does not.
The resolution demands that Syria fully assist German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis’ investigation into Hariri’s murder on Feb. 14 in Beirut by detaining for questioning at a location of his choosing anyone named by the UN as a suspect in the crime.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=72557&d=1&m=11&y=2005
Arabs Shouldn’t Abandon Syria
Linda Heard, sierra12th@yahoo.co.uk
If I weren’t so vain, the antics of many of the world’s leaders would have me tearing my hair out. Indeed, some of them shouldn’t be called leaders at all since they are obviously entirely disconnected from the wishes of their own peoples, preferring (or perhaps obliged) instead to follow US diktats.
Here, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immediately springs to mind. He appeared to be one of the most gung-ho and hawkish pro-Bush European heads, yet, lo and behold, he now asserts that he repeatedly tried to talk the American president out of invading Iraq.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=72569&d=1&m=11&y=2005
continued …
FOX News, Where is the news? With news networks like this everyday is "Trick or Treat."
The FOX News Network is a matter of National Security. You will never hear the words "Global Warming" on this news channel. Rupert Murdoch needs to spend more time in Australia to know what they are going through because of the drought from Global Warming. They are looking to their first desaliation plant.
Cheney Observer
Big Bush donors got $1.2 billion from U.S., Ohio
Monday, October 31, 2005
Associated Press
Toledo- Thirty Ohioans who raised a combined $4.1 million for President Bush's re- election campaign have received more than $1.2 billion in public money for their companies and clients, a newspaper reported.
Since Bush took office in 2001, the federal government has given those companies more than $447 million in subsidies, contracts and other payments, according to records analyzed by The Blade. Ohio has awarded them about $800 million in the last six years, the paper reported Sunday.
Business leaders and lobbyists who raised money for Bush were called "Pioneers" if they raised at least $100,000 and "Rangers" if they raised $200,000; some also were given political appointments.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1130765444282160.xml&coll=2
Iran: Halliburton Involvement May Be Part Of Larger Diplomatic Effort
By Andrew Tully
The involvement of the U.S. company Halliburton in a project to develop oil fields in Iran could be part of the larger effort to convince Iran to abandon any nuclear-weapons program it might have. That's the opinion of analysts looking at a new and controversial deal involving Halliburton and Iranian companies. U.S. law generally prohibits U.S. companies from operating in Iran, but exceptions are written into the law to allow such deals if they serve greater diplomatic ends. RFE/RL spoke to analysts to see what may be going on behind the scenes.
Washington, 11 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Details of the agreement are sketchy, but it likely involves a Halliburton subsidiary based outside of the United States and the Iranian companies Oriental Kish and Pars Oil and Gas.
Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall yesterday appeared to distance the company from the deal. She was quoted as saying Oriental, not Halliburton, signed the main contract. Halliburton, in turn, would likely provide subcontracting services.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/01/e0a0a332-1150-42d1-b235-9e7198c82059.html
This article is from January. It was of interest to realize companies are made aware of regulations on a regular basis.
Halliburton set to begin work in Iran
By Lisa Sanders, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:14 PM ET Jan. 11, 2005
DALLAS (CBS.MW) -- Halliburton, under investigation for its operations in Iran, is set to begin oilfield services work in that country as a subcontractor for Oriental Kish, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Company: Halliburton Company
AHAL59.16, +1.53, +2.7%) spokeswoman Wendy Hall said that she did not know the value of the contract and noted that Oriental had won the contract, not Halliburton. Halliburton's products-and-services division is to help Oriental Kish, which is based in Iran, develop the South Pars natural-gas field.
"Halliburton's business is clearly permissible under applicable U.S. laws and regulations," Hall said. "Also, we are in the service business, not the foreign-policy business. We have followed and will continue to follow applicable laws."
She added that Halliburton has no ownership in Oriental Kish and had played no role in its creation.
Because of Iran's suspected links to terrorism, U.S. companies are severely restricted in their dealings with the country. The 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act limits companies to an investment of $20 million or less a year in Iran's oil and gas sectors, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
However, "separately incorporated foreign subsidiaries are not included in the definition of U.S. persons under the current Iranian executive order," a U.S. Treasury official said. "If a U.S. person is involved, that person may be in violation of the sanctions."
The Halliburton unit is registered in the Cayman Islands as Halliburton Products and Services.
"These entities and activities are staffed and managed by non-U.S. personnel," Hall said.
In July, the company said in a regulatory filing that a federal grand jury was investigating Halliburton operations in Iran. See archived story.
Iran, with 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, is OPEC's second-largest oil producer. It's also second in the world to Russia in terms of largest natural-gas reserves, the EIA said.
The EIA estimated the South Pars field is the world's largest gas field, with 280 trillion to 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 17 billion barrels of liquids. With about $15 billion in investment, the field is Iran's largest energy project, the EIA said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B9C0AE3B3-8A65-4883-97C1-0ADF2F78BBF3%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Halliburton Pays Dearly but Finally Escapes Cheney's Asbestos Mess
By Allan Sloan
Tuesday, January 11, 2005; Page E03
It's time for yet another Halliburton story -- but not the one you may be expecting. This isn't about the endlessly scrutinized Iraq contracting business of the big energy services company that Dick Cheney ran before he became vice president. And it's not about Halliburton's profit-boosting accounting change during Cheney's regime, or the scandals and problems currently affecting some of the firm's far-flung projects.
Instead, let's talk about Halliburton's well-executed $5 billion escape from its asbestos problems, most of which Cheney created when he orchestrated Halliburton's purchase of Dresser Industries in 1998. Few people connect this problem with Cheney, but they should, given that he was in charge at the time and got a raise as a result of buying Dresser.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64535-2005Jan10.html
Big Oil's comeuppance
What Yukos case shows about 'rule of law'
By Deirdre Griswold
A strange legal battle in Houston over control of a significant portion of Russia's oil wealth has exploded several myths used to justify capitalist counter-revolution in the former Soviet Union.
The case involves Yuganskneftegas--the main asset of the privately owned Yukos oil company. It was auctioned off by the Russian government and is now in the process of being nationalized. Yukos had been in danger of falling completely under the control of the U.S. oil oligarchy.
After the breakup of the USSR, foreign capitalists moved quickly to grab control of what had been state property at fire-sale prices. But in most cases, this foreign imperialist ownership was concealed through various legal and illegal mechanisms.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who would become the CEO of Yukos, emerged almost overnight as a billionaire because of his connections to foreign money. After Khodorkovsky was jailed in late 2003 by the Russian government for fraud and evading $27.5 billion in taxes, two U.S. citizens--Steven M. Theede and Bruce K. Misamore--took over as chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively, of Yukos.
http://www.workers.org/ww/2005/yukos0113.php
Asian importers hushed by vanishing oil premium
* Asian premium cost importers $5b to $10b extra every year
* China, India lead global oil demand
NEW DELHI: Asian oil importers may try to persuade their core Middle East crude suppliers to bring down sky-high prices when they meet this week, but for the time being, at least, they cannot claim to be unfairly singled out.
Since September, for the first time in many years, refiners in Japan, South Korea, India and China have paid less for Saudi and other Middle East crudes than the United States or Europe.
The estimated $1.00-$1.50 a barrel “Asian premium” has cost importers an extra $5-$10 billion every year, a recent US study showed.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-1-2005_pg5_22
Greek shipping firm fined $12,000 for oil spill
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology has fined a Greek shipping company $12,000, saying the crew of one of its tankers made mistakes that led to an oil spill in the Columbia River.
The agency estimates that 519 gallons of oil spilled from the Rosa Tomasos on Aug. 30, 2003, when a fuel tank overflowed onto the deck and over the side of the vessel as it was being refueled at the Hayden Island Anchorage west of Vancouver, Wash.
Department of Ecology investigators said the crew did not slow down the transfer of oil after the tank was 80 percent full, and they alleged the chief engineer ignored an automated monitoring system that signaled the tank was getting full.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/207137_spill08.html
Fuel Saving Tips
Have your car tuned regularly. An engine tune-up can improve car fuel economy by an average of 1 mile per gallon.
Keep your tires properly inflated. Underinflated tires can decrease fuel economy by up to 1 mile per gallon.
Slow down. The faster you drive, the more gasoline your car uses. Avoid exceeding posted speed limits for safety and to get the best fuel economy possible.
Avoid jackrabbit starts. Abrupt starts require about twice as much gasoline as gradual starts.
Pace your driving. Unnecessary speedups, slowdowns and stops can decrease fuel economy by up to 2 miles per gallon. Stay alert and drive steadily, not erratically. Keep a reasonable, safe distance from the car ahead of you and anticipate traffic conditions.
Use your air conditioner sparingly, The use of air conditioning can reduce fuel economy by as much as 2 miles per gallon under certain speeds and operating conditions.
Avoid lengthy engine idling. Turn your engine off when you are delayed for more than a couple of minutes.
Plan your trips carefully. Combine short trips into one to do all your errands. Avoid traveling during rush hours if possible, to reduce fuel-consumption patterns such as starting and stopping and numerous idling periods. Consider joining a car pool.
http://api-ep.api.org/industry/index.cfm?objectid=EE7DB6C3-935F-11D5-BC6B00B0D0E15BFC&method=display_body&er=1&bitmask=002007006006000000
Good, Better, Best: How to Improve Gas Mileage
Whether you are shopping for a new car or just trying to maintain the one you have, you can take some steps to get the best mileage out of your gas purchases. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, offers these tips to use fuel efficiently:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/fuelalrt.htm
Energy Savings
All Sectors, Home, Commercial Building, Automobile Transportation, Manufacturing, Federal Government Program, Nonprofit and Other Organizations
These links are provided solely as a service to our customers, and therefore should not be construed as advocating or reflecting any position of the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In addition, EIA does not guarantee the content or accuracy of any information presented in linked sites.
If you have an "Energy Savings" web site that is relevant and of a non-business nature link for this site, please contact us if you wish to be listed on this page.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/efficiency/energy_savings.htm
Driving Tips
We Test the Tips
What Really Saves Gas? And How Much?
By Philip Reed and Mike Hudson
Date Posted 08-16-2005
Gas-saving tips have an urban legend appeal.
Someone at a party might say, "Hey, did you know that if you drive with your windows up and the air conditioning on, it actually saves gas? It's more aerodynamic."
"Huh," you say, "I didn't know that. That's interesting."
Interesting, yes. True? Well, maybe not.
We took the top four fuel economy tips and put them to a real-world test. Our goal was simple: to see what tips produced a measurable difference in fuel economy. We say "measurable" (meaning detectable by an ordinary driver, not a lab technician) because most people want to see an improvement in their fuel economy that saves dollars, not just pennies.
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/driving/articles/106842/article.html
USA Department of Energy
Gas mileage (MPG), greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution ratings, and safety information for new and used cars and trucks
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
American Petroleum Institute Hurricane Update - Don't expect to find citizen interests here but only industry interests.
http://api-ec.api.org/filelibrary/API%20Hurricane%20Update%2010-28-05.pdf
No information regarding Katrina or Rita
09/24/2005
Port of Houston Backgrounder
The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located just a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. The port is ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne commerce, second in total tonnage, and sixth in the world. The Houston Ship Channel is home to a $15 billion petrochemical complex, the largest in the nation and second largest worldwide.
http://api-ec.api.org/filelibrary/PortofHoustonfacts.doc
Plentiful jobs, good pay lure students back into petroleum industry
By Steve Raabe
KRT Business News
DENVER - A resurgent interest in oil and gas careers may help avert a looming labor crisis in the energy industry.
Students are flocking back to petroleum education programs, enticed by plentiful job prospects, handsome salaries and cash bonuses.
Colorado School of Mines and the nation's other top engineering schools this year enrolled the largest number of undergraduate petroleum engineering students since 1987.
Ben Turner graduated last spring from the School of Mines with a degree in chemical engineering and an emphasis in petroleum refinement.
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/010905/oil_20050109019.shtml
Senate Body summons Secretary Petroleum over petroleum price hike
Saturday January 08, 2005 (1325 PST)
ISLAMABAD: Taking strong notice of recent hike in prices of petroleum products Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources has summoned Secretary Petroleum to appear before the committee and clear the situation.
The meeting is likely to take place next week where Secretary Petroleum will apprise the committee about the reason why petroleum prices went soaring up twice in one month.
The situation not only brought a rise in commodity prices but public transport fares were also increased.
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=89756
US commentator dropped over Bush payment
January 9, 2005 - 10:39AM
A conservative columnist has been dropped by a major US syndication service because he accepted a payment from the Bush administration to promote a federal education law to fellow blacks and to give the education secretary media time.
Armstrong Williams, one of America's leading black conservative voices, has acknowledged that a company he runs was paid $US240,000 ($A315,872.6) by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind law, and he called criticism of his relationship with the department "legitimate."
Tribune Media Services told Williams that it was halting distribution of his weekly newspaper column.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Breaking-News/US-commentator-dropped-over-Bush-payment/2005/01/09/1105205959049.html
MoneyLine by Neil Downing: Tax break possible in right conditions
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Can you get a tax break by giving money to a charity for tsunami relief? Yes, but only if you're eligible -- and only if you give to the right kind of charity.
You probably aren't donating with tax breaks in mind. Still, it helps to know how the rules work, and how these rules -- including the latest twist out of Washington -- apply to you.
Here's a quick look at the key points:
Eligibility: Most taxpayers can't claim a federal income-tax deduction for the amount they contribute to a bona fide charity.
Why? In filling out their tax returns, most taxpayers claim what's known as the "standard deduction." Under current law, "Taxpayers who elect the standard deduction . . . may not claim a deduction for charitable contributions," according to a U.S. Treasury report.
The standard deduction isn't a bad thing. It's a lump sum amount you get to claim on your return, instead of listing all your deductions separately -- a process known as "itemizing."
But because most taxpayers claim the standard deduction -- mainly because they don't have enough in overall deductions to itemize -- they can't claim the break for charitable contributions.
http://www.projo.com/business/moneyline/projo_20050111_11money.161102.html
Oil spill follows fatal truck crash
Emergency crews remain at the scene of an oil spill in south-west New South Wales after a fatal truck crash last night.
The accident, three kilometres south-east of Urana, has resulted in the road to Corowa being closed indefinitely.
Waste oil is leaking from a ruptured tanker and authorities are yet to remove the driver's body from the creek.
Inspector Dave Felton says he is not sure how much oil has been spilt.
"I'm led to believe it's the Urana Creek, the spill is actually on the eastern side, it's actually a lagoon area and we've been able to contain that spill in that area, which is quite fortunate," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1280450.htm
Tar Balls Wash Up On South Florida Beaches
POSTED: 8:25 am EST January 12, 2005
UPDATED: 1:06 pm EST January 12, 2005
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Crews cleaned up oily tar balls Wednesday that were washing ashore along a 25-mile stretch of beach from Fort Lauderdale to Miami Beach.
Beachgoers steered clear of the many tar balls.
"It's a shame and whoever's at fault should be fined for it, seriously fined. This is our main attraction," said beachgoer Richard D'Albert. "It will hurt us financially if we don't take care of our most valuable resource."
The tar balls were first reported Tuesday and their origin was not known. Tar balls form when a petroleum product congeals in seawater. Among the possible sources are ship fuel and cargo oil.
http://www.local10.com/news/4074218/detail.html
FLORIDA
Florida is aptly known as the "Sunshine State," but it can really be called the Beach State. There are more recreational beaches and barrier islands in Florida than any other state in the nation. Most of the top-rated beaches are found on barrier islands; Bahia Honda in the Florida Keys is an exception, being another National Winner. Florida has over 8,000 miles of shoreline, and beaches are found just about everywhere except where the Everglades meets the Gulf of Mexico and the Big Bend area, which is the juncture between the Florida panhandle and peninsula.
People come to Florida to relax, thaw out and enjoy a 360-degree horizon. Florida is sunshine, beaches and palm trees, and more Americans vacation in Florida than any other state in the nation. While Disney World in Orlando is the single largest draw, beaches are the number one destination for tourists by far. In fact, the state of Florida can be thought of as a souffle-soft in the middle and hard around the edges. Except for Orlando, the real money in Florida is located on the coastline.
http://www.drbeach.org/drbeach/florida_southeast/beach_florida_southeast.htm
Petroleum Import Deal Kicks Off Despite Earlier Claims of Betrayal
January 11, 2005
Posted to the web January 11, 2005
Catherine Sasman
Windhoek
THE first shipment of petroleum under the Namcor supply tender to Namibian empowerment company, Namibia Liquid Fuels, is expected to reach the Walvis Bay port around January 22.
The N$800 million per year petroleum contract remains unfettered by some controversy that very nearly derailed the lucrative deal.
A cloud of controversy covered the tender given to the company when another black economic empowerment company NAMENCO (Namibia Energy Corporation) instituted legal action against co-shareholder of Namibia Liquid Fuels, Sasol Oils, for allegedly reneging on an agreement to do maritime transportation of petro-chemicals from Durban in South Africa.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200501110687.html
Shell, ChevTex Hand Over Oil Fields to NPDC
January 11, 2005
Posted to the web January 11, 2005
Emeka Ugwuanyi
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and ChevronTexaco Company have handed over the operation of some of the Joint Venture (JV) oil fields to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) following an understanding reached in that regard between the two oil companies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) last year.
The oil fields, according to NPDC, include ChevronTexaco's Aroh, Yorla and Oghareki oil fields which are said to have an estimated total oil reserve of over 100 million barrels as well as Shell's oil fields at Egbema East and West, Utapate, Oki and Ekweife, all in Imo State, also estimated to have a total reserve of over 500 million barrels.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200501110376.html
6 US Soldiers Killed, 40 Iraqis Killed in US Air Attacks, 20 Killed in Basra Bomb, 9 Killed in Other Attacks, 98 Arrested
Car Bomb Kills 20 in Basra, Police Say
By THOMAS WAGNER Associated Press Writer
Oct 31, 2:49 PM EST
BASRA, Iraq (AP) -- A car bomb exploded Monday night in a commercial district of Iraq's second-largest city of Basra, killing at least 20 people and wounding about 40, a police official said.
The car bomb in the southern city of Basra exploded about 8:30 p.m., police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi. The restaurants had been packed in the evening with people breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Dazed survivors, their clothing stained with blood, stumbled in the darkness or wept in despair, and witnesses said body parts were strewn on the street of Iraq's second-largest city.
Also Monday, six American soldiers were killed in separate attacks. A Marine died in action Sunday, making October the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since January.
Four soldiers from the Army's Task Force Baghdad soldiers died when their patrol struck a roadside bomb in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad.
Two other soldiers from the 29th Brigade Combat Team were also killed in a bombing Monday near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. The U.S. military also said a Marine was killed Sunday near Amiriyah, 25 miles west of Baghdad.
Those deaths raised the death toll for October to more than 90, the highest monthly total since January when 107 American service members died. The latest deaths brought to 2,025 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said there is no readily apparent explanation for why the number of U.S. casualties was higher in October than in previous months. But he said the roadside bombs - which the military calls improvised explosive devices, or IEDs - are getting more sophisticated.
"We see an adversary that continues to develop some sophistication on very deadly and increasingly precise stand-off type weapons - IEDs, in particular. They're obviously quite capable of killing large numbers of noncombatants indiscriminately, and we're seeing a lot of that, too," Di Rita told reporters.
Before dawn Monday, Marines backed by jets attacked suspected positions near the Syrian border, destroying two safe houses believed use by al-Qaeda figures, a U.S. statement said. The statement made no mention of casualties, but Associated Press Television News video from the scene showed residents wailing over the bodies of about six people, including at least three children.
At the local hospital, Dr. Ahmed al-Ani claimed 40 Iraqis, including 12 children, were killed in the attack. But the claim could not be independently verified.
APTN footage from the scene showed Iraqi men digging through the rubble of several destroyed concrete buildings with a pitchfork or their hands. In the building of a nearby home, women cried over the bodies of about half a dozen blanket-covered bodies lined up on a floor. Some of the blankets were opened for the camera showing a man and three children.
"At least 20 innocent people were killed by the U.S. warplanes. Why are the Americans killing families? Where are the resistance fighters?" one middle-aged man told APTN. "We don't see democracy. We just see destruction." He didn't give his name.
Elsewhere, two separate mortar attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq killed three Iraqi people and wounded 11 on Monday.
In other strikes in the capital, two car bombs and five drive-by shootings killed five Iraqis and wounded 10, police said. The body of an Iraqi civilian who had been kidnapped and killed in captivity also was found dumped on a city street.
On Friday and Saturday, U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted several raids in Baghdad, detaining 98 Iraqis for being suspected resistance fighters and finding large weapons caches, the U.S. command said Monday.
Deadly car bomb hits Basra
6 U.S. soldiers killed in other violence
Monday, October 31, 2005; Posted: 3:28 p.m. EST (20:28 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A deadly car bomb exploded Monday night in a commercial district in central Basra, causing many casualties, police said.
Police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said at least 20 people were killed, 40 injured, according to The Associated Press.
Emergency crews were removing body parts from the area in front of a busy restaurant in the city's Algiers Street area, which had been packed with families enjoying an evening out as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close, Reuters reported.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/31/iraq.main/index.html
Karl Rove's Consigliere
When the president's political guru landed in hot water, he turned to a flamboyant Democrat for help. Will that work?
By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
Oct. 24, 2005 issue - When Karl Rove emerged after four grueling hours before a federal grand jury in Washington last Friday, his lawyer Robert Luskin made one more attempt to figure out just where his client stood. He approached special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald outside the hearing room and asked if Rove's fortunes had changed in the two-year-old inquiry of who leaked the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame. But Fitzgerald, ever tight-lipped, wasn't giving anything up. He curtly told the lawyer that "no decisions" had been made, Luskin says.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9711925/site/newsweek/
Rove's lawyer helped fend off indictment
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The decision not to indict deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove in the CIA leak case came after last-minute negotiations with his lawyer.
Citing sources, Newsweek reported Rove's defense lawyer Robert Luskin presented special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald with evidence last week that gave the prosecutor "pause."
Luskin reportedly showed Fitzgerald an e-mail Rove sent to former press aide Adam Levine on July 11, 2003, saying Levine could come to his office to discuss a personnel matter.
The e-mail was sent just minutes after Rove had finished discussing White House critic Joe Wilson's wife's work for the CIA with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper -- the same conversation that Rove originally failed to disclose to the grand jury.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20051030-21485500-bc-us-leak-rove.xml
DEM TO DUBYA: AX ROVE
By GEOFF EARLE Post Correspondent
October 31, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — The Senate's top Democrat called yesterday for presidential adviser Karl Rove to resign — or be fired.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), noting that President Bush once said he would ax anyone involved in the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's name, told CNN's "Late Edition," "If he's a man of his word, Rove should be history."
Bush, in fact, later amended his original stand by saying he would fire anyone convicted of a crime.
Reid earlier in the day said Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney must "come clean with the American public" and...
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/56579.htm
Reid Calls for Rove to Resign
Posted on Sunday, October 30 @ W. Europe Standard Time by webmaster
The leader of the Senate Democrats today called for White House chief political strategist Karl Rove to resign, saying it's time for President Bush to "come clean" with the American people about the administration's role in the disclosure of a CIA...
The leader of the Senate Democrats today called for White House chief political strategist Karl Rove to resign, saying it's time for President Bush to "come clean" with the American people about the administration's role in the disclosure of a CIA operative's name. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), speaking on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," said both Bush and Vice President Cheney owe an apology to the American public. JavaScript is required to display this interactive graphic. If it is turned off, please enable JavaScript in your browser preferences.
http://www.lasalute.net/article36059.html
Valerie Plame, the Spy Who Got Shoved Out Into the Cold
By Richard Leiby
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 29, 2005; Page C01
What's ahead for Valerie Plame?
Lost in the din of the leak scandal that has consumed Washington is the very personal impact on the willowy blond CIA operative at its center. Plame, 42, wife of former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, has become the most famous spy in the world, but her career has been derailed. It appears likely she will leave the CIA, some acquaintances say, but she hasn't publicly signaled her plans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801172.html
Valerie Elise Plame Wilson[1] (born April 19, 1963 in Anchorage, Alaska) is a United States Central Intelligence Agency officer, who was identified as a CIA operative in a newspaper column by Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. The ensuing political controversy, commonly referred to as the Plame affair, or the CIA leak scandal, led, in late 2003, to a Justice Department investigation into possible violation of criminal statutes, including the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame
Plame now spends her days at CIA desk job
By NANCY BENAC
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Valerie Plame, left, is seated with her husband, former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson, in their Jaguar convertible near the White House in Washington in this Nov. 18, 2003, photograph for the opening spread of Vanity Fair. (AP Photo/Vanity Fair, Jonas Karlsson, File)
WASHINGTON -- Joe Wilson says it was mutual love at first sight when he and Valerie Plame spotted each other at a crowded diplomatic reception eight years ago. Well, yes and no.
For Plame, the stars in her eyes that night were quickly followed by a LexisNexis computer search the next day to make sure the guy with all the fantastic stories about his life as a globe-trotting diplomat was really legit.
It is classic Valerie Plame: The silhouetted woman at the center of the CIA leak investigation is said to be warm and genuine, but also a savvy professional. Tough, too, fellow CIA officers would add.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Plame_Profile.html
Sen. Reid Says Miers Was Not a Mistake
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate's minority leader, said on ABC's "This Week" today that Bush's nomination of Harriet MIers was not a mistake and he believes she could have done well in a nomination hearing. He urged the president not to be too quick to move to the right on a nomination and to steer toward the middle.
Here's the transcript from that portion of the show:
STEPHANOPOULOS: You urged President Bush to consider Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. Was that a mistake?
REID: Oh, no. Just like you heard John Cornyn -- John Cornyn says that the Supreme Court needs people like Harriet Miers. People who have tried cases, people who are trial lawyers, 40 percent, approximately 40 percent of everyone that has served on the Supreme Court had been people with no judicial experience. Some of the great justices in the history of this country...
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/campaignforthecourt/2005/10/sen_reid_says_m.html
Direction of court uncertain
Sunday, October 30, 2005
By PATRICK JOHNSON
SPRINGFIELD - The John Roberts era of the U.S. Supreme Court begins tomorrow, but what direction the court will go in is a mystery, a panel of law professors said yesterday.
Speaking before about 100 people at the 10th annual Supreme Court Review at Western New England College, panelists said the most anyone can say right now about the Roberts Court is: "Who knows?"
In addition to the relatively unknown Roberts succeeding 19-year Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the court is facing the uncertainty of replacing retiring Sandra Day O'Connor.
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/113066190981460.xml&coll=1
New Orleans policemen fired for AWOL
BEIJING, Oct. 30 -- Fifty-one New Orleans Police Department employees were fired on Friday for abandoning their posts during and after Hurricane Katrina.
Of the 51, 45 were officers and six were civilian employees.
It was the first action taken against the "AWOL" or absent without leave officers.
"They have left right before the hurricane, or right after. They have not returned. We sent the letters out. And our policies actually allow us to terminate anyone who leave their assignment or their job for more than fourteen days." said Warren Riley, Acting Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department.
In addition, another 15 officers resigned after being placed under investigation for abandonment.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/30/content_3704256.htm
State officials work to keep Saints in New Orleans
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — While the New Orleans Saints played their first game of the season in Louisiana today, state officials were scrambling to make sure it would not be one of the last.
ADVERTISEMENT
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, after meeting with team owner Tom Benson, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, and other officials, said he was committed to keeping the team in New Orleans.
"The Saints are Louisiana's team and have been since the late '60s when my predecessor Pete Rozelle welcomed them to the league as New Orleans' team and Louisiana's team," Tagliabue said. "Our focus continues to be on having the Saints in Louisiana."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3426521
NINE INCH NAILS mainman Trent Reznor has posted the following message on the band's official web site:
"What a couple of days...
"We arrived in New Orleans Friday morning. A friend of mine at the mayor's office arranged for us to see the lower ninth ward that afternoon. I can't begin to express what I saw there. Utter, complete, incomprehensible devastation. Rob will soon be posting some photos, but you truly can not get a sense of how bad this is until you see it. These people have lost everything. A large portion of the city is simply GONE. I realized I had been assuming things were getting 'back to normal' here, but it will be a very long time before that happens — if ever. 200,000 people have been displaced, 7,000 are still unaccounted for.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=43566
Fearless Speech in Fearful Times:
An Essay Review of Capitalists and Conquerors, Teaching against Global Capitalism and the New Imperialism, and Teaching Peter McLaren
by David Gabbard and Karen Anijar Appleton
Capitalists and Conquerors: A Critical Pedagogy against Empire by Peter McLaren (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005)
Teaching against Global Capitalism and the New Imperialism: A Critical Pedagogy by Peter McLaren and Ramin Farahmandpur (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005)
Teaching Peter McLaren: Paths of Dissent, by Marc Pruyn and Luis M. Huerta-Charles (New York: Peter Lang, 2005)
"If there was any piece of legislation that I could pass it would be to blow up colleges of education." -- Reid Lyon, Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
"The NEA is a terrorist organization." -- Rod Paige, Former U.S. Secretary of Education
"You tie their teaching methods to standards so that in a very aggressive way they learn to teach to the results of those tests, like a soldier," Mr. Carnevale says. "The voluntary military didn't always get the best of human capital. But what you did was make the training so rigorous it didn't matter." -- Anthony Carnevale, Senior fellow at the National Center on Education and the Economy.
When we first entered our careers in teacher education, we found it rare to identify colleagues who shared our concerns for the future of American democracy and the potential role that schools could play in shaping that future.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/agm301005.html
Halliburton remains intent on KBR sale or spinoff
Associated Press
Midland Reporter-Telegram
10/30/2005
HOUSTON (AP) -- Halliburton Co. remains intent on selling or spinning off KBR, its engineering and construction unit that is the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, but executives at the oilfield-services conglomerate told analysts Tuesday no such action is imminent.
"No timeline has been set for the separation of KBR," Chief Financial Officer Cris Gaut said as executives discussed third-quarter earnings, which were released after financial markets closed Monday. "We will consider an initial public offering as well as private transactions."
Shares of Halliburton, which beat Wall Street's average third-quarter profit forecast but missed revenue expectations, fell $3.05, or nearly 5 percent, to $58.04 in midday trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares have traded in a 52-week range of $33.62 to $69.78.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15480576&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=474112&rfi=6
Rally: Give locals more Katrina reconstruction work
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A rally in Baton Rouge draws some 500 people angered about what they feel is a snub to help rebuild New Orleans.
The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton issued a call during yesterday's gathering to give some of the 296,000 jobless Louisiana residents priority in jobs and contracts to help repair the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
One man interested in working is Edward Hawkins. He'd like to use his fleet of bulldozers and other heavy equipment to help in the rebuilding effort. But he says he's been shut out by jobs that appear to be flowing to companies outside the state. Sharpton called it an example of how jobs are being fed to politically connected companies, specifically pointing a finger at Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's company.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco promised the rallying workers they'll soon have better access to jobs. Starting Monday, a free shuttle service will transport evacuees in Baton Rouge to New Orleans for work.
http://bizneworleans.com/109+M5d15c473acf.html
Alexander gave $5,000 to Delay campaign before Texan indicted
By MIKE MADDEN
Tennessean Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander gave money to embattled former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's re-election campaign just before DeLay was indicted on conspiracy charges, federal records show.
Through his political action committee, Tenn PAC, Alexander gave $5,000 to DeLay, the powerful Texas Republican who was indicted last month on charges he conspired to flout laws in his home state barring corporate contributions to campaigns there.
A review of Federal Election Commission records by The Tennessean found that the Tennessee Republican was the only senator to give money to DeLay's re-election account, formally called the Tom DeLay Campaign Committee.
Alexander personally delivered the check to DeLay less than two weeks before a Texas grand jury returned charges against DeLay, forcing his resignation as majority leader and handing political ammunition to Democrats who are trying to build a broad corruption case against the GOP.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051029/NEWS02/510290356/1009/NEWS
Libby May Plea Bargain To Avoid Embarrassing White House Revelations…
TIME MICHAEL DUFFY Posted October 30, 2005 01:28 PM
READ MORE: Patrick Fitzgerald, Dick Cheney, Indictments, Scooter Libby, Anderson Cooper, Karl Rove, Halliburton
[...] Libby's lawyers said last week that they were "surprised" and "distressed" by the charges and noted that "a person's recollection and memory of events will not always match those of other people, particularly when they are asked to testify months after the events occurred." They have vowed to mount a "vigorous" defense, and one even told a colleague the case is winnable. But a number of veteran criminal-defense attorneys believe a trial will be avoided for one reason: Libby's lawyers face the prospect of calling veteran journalists' credibility into question and permitting the prosecutors to call some of the most senior officials in the government, like the Vice President, to the stand. In an environment in which little to nothing has gone right for the White House, politics alone could compel a Vulcan like Libby to take one for the team.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2005/10/30/libby-may-plea-bargain-to_n_9827.html
Obscene oil profits get typical response from Congress
Saturday, Oct 29, 2005
By Wesley Brown
Where is the outrage?
ExxonMobil, Shell and BP, the world's three largest publicly traded oil companies, together pulled in quarterly profits this week of more than $19 billion.
Believe this: The oil companies have us just where they want us now - bent over a barrel of oil.
Consider the fact that reporters are writing stories about "cheap gasoline" at $2.50 a gallon, the U.S. House speaker is begging Big Oil for relief, and Congress is poised to give oil companies new tax breaks to build more refineries and drill offshore.
In the midst of this surreal scenario, ExxonMobil on Thursday reported that its third quarter earnings had jumped 75 percent to a staggering $9.92 billion, an industry record.
Revenues in the quarter were $100.7 billion, up from $76.4 billion a year ago, making the Irving, Texas-based oil giant the first company in U.S. history to report quarterly earnings over $100 million.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/10/29/WesleyBrown/330272.html
Blind trusts are starting to seem transparent
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has recently run into trouble with his blind trust, which turns out to be not so blind after all. Records have been subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to his sale of shares in HCA Inc., the health-care company founded by his father and brother, who still have a large investment in and some control over the company. Frist also held a substantial number of shares in the company; he ordered his shares sold shortly before the shares dropped 10 percent in value when the company reported lower earnings.
The SEC is investigating insider trading in the sale of the shares.
Public officials are required to put shares in so-called blind trusts in order to avoid conflicts of interest when elected to public office. It turns out that whatever stock is put into a "blind" trust remains there unless sold by the trustees, who then notify the owner that they have been sold. The owner can also order the trustees to sell shares held in the trust.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051030/OPINION/510300713/1029
Froma Harrop: Into the generational gale
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 30, 2005
AMERICA SHOULD PREPARE for a big fat war between the generations. It's going to be ugly. On one side is the Baby Boom generation, which retires and claims a ton of government benefits. On the other are younger workers, forced to fund those benefits, plus pay the bills their elders left them.
When the war comes, the Federal Reserve chairman will have to be general. That person will likely be Bush nominee Ben Bernanke. The question is, for which side will he fight?
Outgoing Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan tried to represent both sides. He supported the Bush tax cuts. This gave comfort to today's taxpayers, who chose not to charge themselves for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the new Medicare drug benefit and the quarter-billion-dollar bridge to nowhere in Alaska.
… Given the president's tendency to give top jobs to those closest, we can give thanks that he did not nominate his banker brother. Neil Bush played a major role in the Silverado Savings & Loan fiasco, of the 1980s, which cost taxpayers $1 billion.
http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/projo_20051030_clharr.cdfb607.html
continued ...
Cheney Observer
Big Bush donors got $1.2 billion from U.S., Ohio
Monday, October 31, 2005
Associated Press
Toledo- Thirty Ohioans who raised a combined $4.1 million for President Bush's re- election campaign have received more than $1.2 billion in public money for their companies and clients, a newspaper reported.
Since Bush took office in 2001, the federal government has given those companies more than $447 million in subsidies, contracts and other payments, according to records analyzed by The Blade. Ohio has awarded them about $800 million in the last six years, the paper reported Sunday.
Business leaders and lobbyists who raised money for Bush were called "Pioneers" if they raised at least $100,000 and "Rangers" if they raised $200,000; some also were given political appointments.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1130765444282160.xml&coll=2
Iran: Halliburton Involvement May Be Part Of Larger Diplomatic Effort
By Andrew Tully
The involvement of the U.S. company Halliburton in a project to develop oil fields in Iran could be part of the larger effort to convince Iran to abandon any nuclear-weapons program it might have. That's the opinion of analysts looking at a new and controversial deal involving Halliburton and Iranian companies. U.S. law generally prohibits U.S. companies from operating in Iran, but exceptions are written into the law to allow such deals if they serve greater diplomatic ends. RFE/RL spoke to analysts to see what may be going on behind the scenes.
Washington, 11 January 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Details of the agreement are sketchy, but it likely involves a Halliburton subsidiary based outside of the United States and the Iranian companies Oriental Kish and Pars Oil and Gas.
Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall yesterday appeared to distance the company from the deal. She was quoted as saying Oriental, not Halliburton, signed the main contract. Halliburton, in turn, would likely provide subcontracting services.
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/01/e0a0a332-1150-42d1-b235-9e7198c82059.html
This article is from January. It was of interest to realize companies are made aware of regulations on a regular basis.
Halliburton set to begin work in Iran
By Lisa Sanders, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 4:14 PM ET Jan. 11, 2005
DALLAS (CBS.MW) -- Halliburton, under investigation for its operations in Iran, is set to begin oilfield services work in that country as a subcontractor for Oriental Kish, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Company: Halliburton Company
AHAL59.16, +1.53, +2.7%) spokeswoman Wendy Hall said that she did not know the value of the contract and noted that Oriental had won the contract, not Halliburton. Halliburton's products-and-services division is to help Oriental Kish, which is based in Iran, develop the South Pars natural-gas field.
"Halliburton's business is clearly permissible under applicable U.S. laws and regulations," Hall said. "Also, we are in the service business, not the foreign-policy business. We have followed and will continue to follow applicable laws."
She added that Halliburton has no ownership in Oriental Kish and had played no role in its creation.
Because of Iran's suspected links to terrorism, U.S. companies are severely restricted in their dealings with the country. The 1996 Iran-Libya Sanctions Act limits companies to an investment of $20 million or less a year in Iran's oil and gas sectors, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
However, "separately incorporated foreign subsidiaries are not included in the definition of U.S. persons under the current Iranian executive order," a U.S. Treasury official said. "If a U.S. person is involved, that person may be in violation of the sanctions."
The Halliburton unit is registered in the Cayman Islands as Halliburton Products and Services.
"These entities and activities are staffed and managed by non-U.S. personnel," Hall said.
In July, the company said in a regulatory filing that a federal grand jury was investigating Halliburton operations in Iran. See archived story.
Iran, with 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves, is OPEC's second-largest oil producer. It's also second in the world to Russia in terms of largest natural-gas reserves, the EIA said.
The EIA estimated the South Pars field is the world's largest gas field, with 280 trillion to 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and more than 17 billion barrels of liquids. With about $15 billion in investment, the field is Iran's largest energy project, the EIA said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B9C0AE3B3-8A65-4883-97C1-0ADF2F78BBF3%7D&siteid=google&dist=google
Halliburton Pays Dearly but Finally Escapes Cheney's Asbestos Mess
By Allan Sloan
Tuesday, January 11, 2005; Page E03
It's time for yet another Halliburton story -- but not the one you may be expecting. This isn't about the endlessly scrutinized Iraq contracting business of the big energy services company that Dick Cheney ran before he became vice president. And it's not about Halliburton's profit-boosting accounting change during Cheney's regime, or the scandals and problems currently affecting some of the firm's far-flung projects.
Instead, let's talk about Halliburton's well-executed $5 billion escape from its asbestos problems, most of which Cheney created when he orchestrated Halliburton's purchase of Dresser Industries in 1998. Few people connect this problem with Cheney, but they should, given that he was in charge at the time and got a raise as a result of buying Dresser.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64535-2005Jan10.html
Big Oil's comeuppance
What Yukos case shows about 'rule of law'
By Deirdre Griswold
A strange legal battle in Houston over control of a significant portion of Russia's oil wealth has exploded several myths used to justify capitalist counter-revolution in the former Soviet Union.
The case involves Yuganskneftegas--the main asset of the privately owned Yukos oil company. It was auctioned off by the Russian government and is now in the process of being nationalized. Yukos had been in danger of falling completely under the control of the U.S. oil oligarchy.
After the breakup of the USSR, foreign capitalists moved quickly to grab control of what had been state property at fire-sale prices. But in most cases, this foreign imperialist ownership was concealed through various legal and illegal mechanisms.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who would become the CEO of Yukos, emerged almost overnight as a billionaire because of his connections to foreign money. After Khodorkovsky was jailed in late 2003 by the Russian government for fraud and evading $27.5 billion in taxes, two U.S. citizens--Steven M. Theede and Bruce K. Misamore--took over as chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively, of Yukos.
http://www.workers.org/ww/2005/yukos0113.php
Asian importers hushed by vanishing oil premium
* Asian premium cost importers $5b to $10b extra every year
* China, India lead global oil demand
NEW DELHI: Asian oil importers may try to persuade their core Middle East crude suppliers to bring down sky-high prices when they meet this week, but for the time being, at least, they cannot claim to be unfairly singled out.
Since September, for the first time in many years, refiners in Japan, South Korea, India and China have paid less for Saudi and other Middle East crudes than the United States or Europe.
The estimated $1.00-$1.50 a barrel “Asian premium” has cost importers an extra $5-$10 billion every year, a recent US study showed.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-1-2005_pg5_22
Greek shipping firm fined $12,000 for oil spill
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
OLYMPIA -- The state Department of Ecology has fined a Greek shipping company $12,000, saying the crew of one of its tankers made mistakes that led to an oil spill in the Columbia River.
The agency estimates that 519 gallons of oil spilled from the Rosa Tomasos on Aug. 30, 2003, when a fuel tank overflowed onto the deck and over the side of the vessel as it was being refueled at the Hayden Island Anchorage west of Vancouver, Wash.
Department of Ecology investigators said the crew did not slow down the transfer of oil after the tank was 80 percent full, and they alleged the chief engineer ignored an automated monitoring system that signaled the tank was getting full.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/207137_spill08.html
Fuel Saving Tips
Have your car tuned regularly. An engine tune-up can improve car fuel economy by an average of 1 mile per gallon.
Keep your tires properly inflated. Underinflated tires can decrease fuel economy by up to 1 mile per gallon.
Slow down. The faster you drive, the more gasoline your car uses. Avoid exceeding posted speed limits for safety and to get the best fuel economy possible.
Avoid jackrabbit starts. Abrupt starts require about twice as much gasoline as gradual starts.
Pace your driving. Unnecessary speedups, slowdowns and stops can decrease fuel economy by up to 2 miles per gallon. Stay alert and drive steadily, not erratically. Keep a reasonable, safe distance from the car ahead of you and anticipate traffic conditions.
Use your air conditioner sparingly, The use of air conditioning can reduce fuel economy by as much as 2 miles per gallon under certain speeds and operating conditions.
Avoid lengthy engine idling. Turn your engine off when you are delayed for more than a couple of minutes.
Plan your trips carefully. Combine short trips into one to do all your errands. Avoid traveling during rush hours if possible, to reduce fuel-consumption patterns such as starting and stopping and numerous idling periods. Consider joining a car pool.
http://api-ep.api.org/industry/index.cfm?objectid=EE7DB6C3-935F-11D5-BC6B00B0D0E15BFC&method=display_body&er=1&bitmask=002007006006000000
Good, Better, Best: How to Improve Gas Mileage
Whether you are shopping for a new car or just trying to maintain the one you have, you can take some steps to get the best mileage out of your gas purchases. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, offers these tips to use fuel efficiently:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/fuelalrt.htm
Energy Savings
All Sectors, Home, Commercial Building, Automobile Transportation, Manufacturing, Federal Government Program, Nonprofit and Other Organizations
These links are provided solely as a service to our customers, and therefore should not be construed as advocating or reflecting any position of the Energy Information Administration (EIA). In addition, EIA does not guarantee the content or accuracy of any information presented in linked sites.
If you have an "Energy Savings" web site that is relevant and of a non-business nature link for this site, please contact us if you wish to be listed on this page.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/efficiency/energy_savings.htm
Driving Tips
We Test the Tips
What Really Saves Gas? And How Much?
By Philip Reed and Mike Hudson
Date Posted 08-16-2005
Gas-saving tips have an urban legend appeal.
Someone at a party might say, "Hey, did you know that if you drive with your windows up and the air conditioning on, it actually saves gas? It's more aerodynamic."
"Huh," you say, "I didn't know that. That's interesting."
Interesting, yes. True? Well, maybe not.
We took the top four fuel economy tips and put them to a real-world test. Our goal was simple: to see what tips produced a measurable difference in fuel economy. We say "measurable" (meaning detectable by an ordinary driver, not a lab technician) because most people want to see an improvement in their fuel economy that saves dollars, not just pennies.
http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/driving/articles/106842/article.html
USA Department of Energy
Gas mileage (MPG), greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution ratings, and safety information for new and used cars and trucks
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
American Petroleum Institute Hurricane Update - Don't expect to find citizen interests here but only industry interests.
http://api-ec.api.org/filelibrary/API%20Hurricane%20Update%2010-28-05.pdf
No information regarding Katrina or Rita
09/24/2005
Port of Houston Backgrounder
The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located just a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. The port is ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne commerce, second in total tonnage, and sixth in the world. The Houston Ship Channel is home to a $15 billion petrochemical complex, the largest in the nation and second largest worldwide.
http://api-ec.api.org/filelibrary/PortofHoustonfacts.doc
Plentiful jobs, good pay lure students back into petroleum industry
By Steve Raabe
KRT Business News
DENVER - A resurgent interest in oil and gas careers may help avert a looming labor crisis in the energy industry.
Students are flocking back to petroleum education programs, enticed by plentiful job prospects, handsome salaries and cash bonuses.
Colorado School of Mines and the nation's other top engineering schools this year enrolled the largest number of undergraduate petroleum engineering students since 1987.
Ben Turner graduated last spring from the School of Mines with a degree in chemical engineering and an emphasis in petroleum refinement.
http://www.alaskajournal.com/stories/010905/oil_20050109019.shtml
Senate Body summons Secretary Petroleum over petroleum price hike
Saturday January 08, 2005 (1325 PST)
ISLAMABAD: Taking strong notice of recent hike in prices of petroleum products Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources has summoned Secretary Petroleum to appear before the committee and clear the situation.
The meeting is likely to take place next week where Secretary Petroleum will apprise the committee about the reason why petroleum prices went soaring up twice in one month.
The situation not only brought a rise in commodity prices but public transport fares were also increased.
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=89756
US commentator dropped over Bush payment
January 9, 2005 - 10:39AM
A conservative columnist has been dropped by a major US syndication service because he accepted a payment from the Bush administration to promote a federal education law to fellow blacks and to give the education secretary media time.
Armstrong Williams, one of America's leading black conservative voices, has acknowledged that a company he runs was paid $US240,000 ($A315,872.6) by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind law, and he called criticism of his relationship with the department "legitimate."
Tribune Media Services told Williams that it was halting distribution of his weekly newspaper column.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/Breaking-News/US-commentator-dropped-over-Bush-payment/2005/01/09/1105205959049.html
MoneyLine by Neil Downing: Tax break possible in right conditions
01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Can you get a tax break by giving money to a charity for tsunami relief? Yes, but only if you're eligible -- and only if you give to the right kind of charity.
You probably aren't donating with tax breaks in mind. Still, it helps to know how the rules work, and how these rules -- including the latest twist out of Washington -- apply to you.
Here's a quick look at the key points:
Eligibility: Most taxpayers can't claim a federal income-tax deduction for the amount they contribute to a bona fide charity.
Why? In filling out their tax returns, most taxpayers claim what's known as the "standard deduction." Under current law, "Taxpayers who elect the standard deduction . . . may not claim a deduction for charitable contributions," according to a U.S. Treasury report.
The standard deduction isn't a bad thing. It's a lump sum amount you get to claim on your return, instead of listing all your deductions separately -- a process known as "itemizing."
But because most taxpayers claim the standard deduction -- mainly because they don't have enough in overall deductions to itemize -- they can't claim the break for charitable contributions.
http://www.projo.com/business/moneyline/projo_20050111_11money.161102.html
Oil spill follows fatal truck crash
Emergency crews remain at the scene of an oil spill in south-west New South Wales after a fatal truck crash last night.
The accident, three kilometres south-east of Urana, has resulted in the road to Corowa being closed indefinitely.
Waste oil is leaking from a ruptured tanker and authorities are yet to remove the driver's body from the creek.
Inspector Dave Felton says he is not sure how much oil has been spilt.
"I'm led to believe it's the Urana Creek, the spill is actually on the eastern side, it's actually a lagoon area and we've been able to contain that spill in that area, which is quite fortunate," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200501/s1280450.htm
Tar Balls Wash Up On South Florida Beaches
POSTED: 8:25 am EST January 12, 2005
UPDATED: 1:06 pm EST January 12, 2005
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- Crews cleaned up oily tar balls Wednesday that were washing ashore along a 25-mile stretch of beach from Fort Lauderdale to Miami Beach.
Beachgoers steered clear of the many tar balls.
"It's a shame and whoever's at fault should be fined for it, seriously fined. This is our main attraction," said beachgoer Richard D'Albert. "It will hurt us financially if we don't take care of our most valuable resource."
The tar balls were first reported Tuesday and their origin was not known. Tar balls form when a petroleum product congeals in seawater. Among the possible sources are ship fuel and cargo oil.
http://www.local10.com/news/4074218/detail.html
FLORIDA
Florida is aptly known as the "Sunshine State," but it can really be called the Beach State. There are more recreational beaches and barrier islands in Florida than any other state in the nation. Most of the top-rated beaches are found on barrier islands; Bahia Honda in the Florida Keys is an exception, being another National Winner. Florida has over 8,000 miles of shoreline, and beaches are found just about everywhere except where the Everglades meets the Gulf of Mexico and the Big Bend area, which is the juncture between the Florida panhandle and peninsula.
People come to Florida to relax, thaw out and enjoy a 360-degree horizon. Florida is sunshine, beaches and palm trees, and more Americans vacation in Florida than any other state in the nation. While Disney World in Orlando is the single largest draw, beaches are the number one destination for tourists by far. In fact, the state of Florida can be thought of as a souffle-soft in the middle and hard around the edges. Except for Orlando, the real money in Florida is located on the coastline.
http://www.drbeach.org/drbeach/florida_southeast/beach_florida_southeast.htm
Petroleum Import Deal Kicks Off Despite Earlier Claims of Betrayal
January 11, 2005
Posted to the web January 11, 2005
Catherine Sasman
Windhoek
THE first shipment of petroleum under the Namcor supply tender to Namibian empowerment company, Namibia Liquid Fuels, is expected to reach the Walvis Bay port around January 22.
The N$800 million per year petroleum contract remains unfettered by some controversy that very nearly derailed the lucrative deal.
A cloud of controversy covered the tender given to the company when another black economic empowerment company NAMENCO (Namibia Energy Corporation) instituted legal action against co-shareholder of Namibia Liquid Fuels, Sasol Oils, for allegedly reneging on an agreement to do maritime transportation of petro-chemicals from Durban in South Africa.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200501110687.html
Shell, ChevTex Hand Over Oil Fields to NPDC
January 11, 2005
Posted to the web January 11, 2005
Emeka Ugwuanyi
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and ChevronTexaco Company have handed over the operation of some of the Joint Venture (JV) oil fields to the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) following an understanding reached in that regard between the two oil companies and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) last year.
The oil fields, according to NPDC, include ChevronTexaco's Aroh, Yorla and Oghareki oil fields which are said to have an estimated total oil reserve of over 100 million barrels as well as Shell's oil fields at Egbema East and West, Utapate, Oki and Ekweife, all in Imo State, also estimated to have a total reserve of over 500 million barrels.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200501110376.html
6 US Soldiers Killed, 40 Iraqis Killed in US Air Attacks, 20 Killed in Basra Bomb, 9 Killed in Other Attacks, 98 Arrested
Car Bomb Kills 20 in Basra, Police Say
By THOMAS WAGNER Associated Press Writer
Oct 31, 2:49 PM EST
BASRA, Iraq (AP) -- A car bomb exploded Monday night in a commercial district of Iraq's second-largest city of Basra, killing at least 20 people and wounding about 40, a police official said.
The car bomb in the southern city of Basra exploded about 8:30 p.m., police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi. The restaurants had been packed in the evening with people breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Dazed survivors, their clothing stained with blood, stumbled in the darkness or wept in despair, and witnesses said body parts were strewn on the street of Iraq's second-largest city.
Also Monday, six American soldiers were killed in separate attacks. A Marine died in action Sunday, making October the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Iraq since January.
Four soldiers from the Army's Task Force Baghdad soldiers died when their patrol struck a roadside bomb in Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of Baghdad.
Two other soldiers from the 29th Brigade Combat Team were also killed in a bombing Monday near Balad, 50 miles north of Baghdad. The U.S. military also said a Marine was killed Sunday near Amiriyah, 25 miles west of Baghdad.
Those deaths raised the death toll for October to more than 90, the highest monthly total since January when 107 American service members died. The latest deaths brought to 2,025 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita said there is no readily apparent explanation for why the number of U.S. casualties was higher in October than in previous months. But he said the roadside bombs - which the military calls improvised explosive devices, or IEDs - are getting more sophisticated.
"We see an adversary that continues to develop some sophistication on very deadly and increasingly precise stand-off type weapons - IEDs, in particular. They're obviously quite capable of killing large numbers of noncombatants indiscriminately, and we're seeing a lot of that, too," Di Rita told reporters.
Before dawn Monday, Marines backed by jets attacked suspected positions near the Syrian border, destroying two safe houses believed use by al-Qaeda figures, a U.S. statement said. The statement made no mention of casualties, but Associated Press Television News video from the scene showed residents wailing over the bodies of about six people, including at least three children.
At the local hospital, Dr. Ahmed al-Ani claimed 40 Iraqis, including 12 children, were killed in the attack. But the claim could not be independently verified.
APTN footage from the scene showed Iraqi men digging through the rubble of several destroyed concrete buildings with a pitchfork or their hands. In the building of a nearby home, women cried over the bodies of about half a dozen blanket-covered bodies lined up on a floor. Some of the blankets were opened for the camera showing a man and three children.
"At least 20 innocent people were killed by the U.S. warplanes. Why are the Americans killing families? Where are the resistance fighters?" one middle-aged man told APTN. "We don't see democracy. We just see destruction." He didn't give his name.
Elsewhere, two separate mortar attacks in Baghdad and northern Iraq killed three Iraqi people and wounded 11 on Monday.
In other strikes in the capital, two car bombs and five drive-by shootings killed five Iraqis and wounded 10, police said. The body of an Iraqi civilian who had been kidnapped and killed in captivity also was found dumped on a city street.
On Friday and Saturday, U.S. and Iraqi forces conducted several raids in Baghdad, detaining 98 Iraqis for being suspected resistance fighters and finding large weapons caches, the U.S. command said Monday.
Deadly car bomb hits Basra
6 U.S. soldiers killed in other violence
Monday, October 31, 2005; Posted: 3:28 p.m. EST (20:28 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A deadly car bomb exploded Monday night in a commercial district in central Basra, causing many casualties, police said.
Police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said at least 20 people were killed, 40 injured, according to The Associated Press.
Emergency crews were removing body parts from the area in front of a busy restaurant in the city's Algiers Street area, which had been packed with families enjoying an evening out as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close, Reuters reported.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/31/iraq.main/index.html
Karl Rove's Consigliere
When the president's political guru landed in hot water, he turned to a flamboyant Democrat for help. Will that work?
By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
Oct. 24, 2005 issue - When Karl Rove emerged after four grueling hours before a federal grand jury in Washington last Friday, his lawyer Robert Luskin made one more attempt to figure out just where his client stood. He approached special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald outside the hearing room and asked if Rove's fortunes had changed in the two-year-old inquiry of who leaked the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame. But Fitzgerald, ever tight-lipped, wasn't giving anything up. He curtly told the lawyer that "no decisions" had been made, Luskin says.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9711925/site/newsweek/
Rove's lawyer helped fend off indictment
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The decision not to indict deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove in the CIA leak case came after last-minute negotiations with his lawyer.
Citing sources, Newsweek reported Rove's defense lawyer Robert Luskin presented special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald with evidence last week that gave the prosecutor "pause."
Luskin reportedly showed Fitzgerald an e-mail Rove sent to former press aide Adam Levine on July 11, 2003, saying Levine could come to his office to discuss a personnel matter.
The e-mail was sent just minutes after Rove had finished discussing White House critic Joe Wilson's wife's work for the CIA with Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper -- the same conversation that Rove originally failed to disclose to the grand jury.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/?feed=TopNews&article=UPI-1-20051030-21485500-bc-us-leak-rove.xml
DEM TO DUBYA: AX ROVE
By GEOFF EARLE Post Correspondent
October 31, 2005 -- WASHINGTON — The Senate's top Democrat called yesterday for presidential adviser Karl Rove to resign — or be fired.
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), noting that President Bush once said he would ax anyone involved in the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's name, told CNN's "Late Edition," "If he's a man of his word, Rove should be history."
Bush, in fact, later amended his original stand by saying he would fire anyone convicted of a crime.
Reid earlier in the day said Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney must "come clean with the American public" and...
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/56579.htm
Reid Calls for Rove to Resign
Posted on Sunday, October 30 @ W. Europe Standard Time by webmaster
The leader of the Senate Democrats today called for White House chief political strategist Karl Rove to resign, saying it's time for President Bush to "come clean" with the American people about the administration's role in the disclosure of a CIA...
The leader of the Senate Democrats today called for White House chief political strategist Karl Rove to resign, saying it's time for President Bush to "come clean" with the American people about the administration's role in the disclosure of a CIA operative's name. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), speaking on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," said both Bush and Vice President Cheney owe an apology to the American public. JavaScript is required to display this interactive graphic. If it is turned off, please enable JavaScript in your browser preferences.
http://www.lasalute.net/article36059.html
Valerie Plame, the Spy Who Got Shoved Out Into the Cold
By Richard Leiby
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 29, 2005; Page C01
What's ahead for Valerie Plame?
Lost in the din of the leak scandal that has consumed Washington is the very personal impact on the willowy blond CIA operative at its center. Plame, 42, wife of former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, has become the most famous spy in the world, but her career has been derailed. It appears likely she will leave the CIA, some acquaintances say, but she hasn't publicly signaled her plans.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801172.html
Valerie Elise Plame Wilson[1] (born April 19, 1963 in Anchorage, Alaska) is a United States Central Intelligence Agency officer, who was identified as a CIA operative in a newspaper column by Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. The ensuing political controversy, commonly referred to as the Plame affair, or the CIA leak scandal, led, in late 2003, to a Justice Department investigation into possible violation of criminal statutes, including the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame
Plame now spends her days at CIA desk job
By NANCY BENAC
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Valerie Plame, left, is seated with her husband, former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson, in their Jaguar convertible near the White House in Washington in this Nov. 18, 2003, photograph for the opening spread of Vanity Fair. (AP Photo/Vanity Fair, Jonas Karlsson, File)
WASHINGTON -- Joe Wilson says it was mutual love at first sight when he and Valerie Plame spotted each other at a crowded diplomatic reception eight years ago. Well, yes and no.
For Plame, the stars in her eyes that night were quickly followed by a LexisNexis computer search the next day to make sure the guy with all the fantastic stories about his life as a globe-trotting diplomat was really legit.
It is classic Valerie Plame: The silhouetted woman at the center of the CIA leak investigation is said to be warm and genuine, but also a savvy professional. Tough, too, fellow CIA officers would add.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Plame_Profile.html
Sen. Reid Says Miers Was Not a Mistake
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate's minority leader, said on ABC's "This Week" today that Bush's nomination of Harriet MIers was not a mistake and he believes she could have done well in a nomination hearing. He urged the president not to be too quick to move to the right on a nomination and to steer toward the middle.
Here's the transcript from that portion of the show:
STEPHANOPOULOS: You urged President Bush to consider Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court. Was that a mistake?
REID: Oh, no. Just like you heard John Cornyn -- John Cornyn says that the Supreme Court needs people like Harriet Miers. People who have tried cases, people who are trial lawyers, 40 percent, approximately 40 percent of everyone that has served on the Supreme Court had been people with no judicial experience. Some of the great justices in the history of this country...
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/campaignforthecourt/2005/10/sen_reid_says_m.html
Direction of court uncertain
Sunday, October 30, 2005
By PATRICK JOHNSON
SPRINGFIELD - The John Roberts era of the U.S. Supreme Court begins tomorrow, but what direction the court will go in is a mystery, a panel of law professors said yesterday.
Speaking before about 100 people at the 10th annual Supreme Court Review at Western New England College, panelists said the most anyone can say right now about the Roberts Court is: "Who knows?"
In addition to the relatively unknown Roberts succeeding 19-year Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the court is facing the uncertainty of replacing retiring Sandra Day O'Connor.
http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-1/113066190981460.xml&coll=1
New Orleans policemen fired for AWOL
BEIJING, Oct. 30 -- Fifty-one New Orleans Police Department employees were fired on Friday for abandoning their posts during and after Hurricane Katrina.
Of the 51, 45 were officers and six were civilian employees.
It was the first action taken against the "AWOL" or absent without leave officers.
"They have left right before the hurricane, or right after. They have not returned. We sent the letters out. And our policies actually allow us to terminate anyone who leave their assignment or their job for more than fourteen days." said Warren Riley, Acting Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department.
In addition, another 15 officers resigned after being placed under investigation for abandonment.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/30/content_3704256.htm
State officials work to keep Saints in New Orleans
By MARY FOSTER
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. — While the New Orleans Saints played their first game of the season in Louisiana today, state officials were scrambling to make sure it would not be one of the last.
ADVERTISEMENT
NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, after meeting with team owner Tom Benson, Gov. Kathleen Blanco, and other officials, said he was committed to keeping the team in New Orleans.
"The Saints are Louisiana's team and have been since the late '60s when my predecessor Pete Rozelle welcomed them to the league as New Orleans' team and Louisiana's team," Tagliabue said. "Our focus continues to be on having the Saints in Louisiana."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3426521
NINE INCH NAILS mainman Trent Reznor has posted the following message on the band's official web site:
"What a couple of days...
"We arrived in New Orleans Friday morning. A friend of mine at the mayor's office arranged for us to see the lower ninth ward that afternoon. I can't begin to express what I saw there. Utter, complete, incomprehensible devastation. Rob will soon be posting some photos, but you truly can not get a sense of how bad this is until you see it. These people have lost everything. A large portion of the city is simply GONE. I realized I had been assuming things were getting 'back to normal' here, but it will be a very long time before that happens — if ever. 200,000 people have been displaced, 7,000 are still unaccounted for.
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=43566
Fearless Speech in Fearful Times:
An Essay Review of Capitalists and Conquerors, Teaching against Global Capitalism and the New Imperialism, and Teaching Peter McLaren
by David Gabbard and Karen Anijar Appleton
Capitalists and Conquerors: A Critical Pedagogy against Empire by Peter McLaren (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005)
Teaching against Global Capitalism and the New Imperialism: A Critical Pedagogy by Peter McLaren and Ramin Farahmandpur (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005)
Teaching Peter McLaren: Paths of Dissent, by Marc Pruyn and Luis M. Huerta-Charles (New York: Peter Lang, 2005)
"If there was any piece of legislation that I could pass it would be to blow up colleges of education." -- Reid Lyon, Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
"The NEA is a terrorist organization." -- Rod Paige, Former U.S. Secretary of Education
"You tie their teaching methods to standards so that in a very aggressive way they learn to teach to the results of those tests, like a soldier," Mr. Carnevale says. "The voluntary military didn't always get the best of human capital. But what you did was make the training so rigorous it didn't matter." -- Anthony Carnevale, Senior fellow at the National Center on Education and the Economy.
When we first entered our careers in teacher education, we found it rare to identify colleagues who shared our concerns for the future of American democracy and the potential role that schools could play in shaping that future.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/agm301005.html
Halliburton remains intent on KBR sale or spinoff
Associated Press
Midland Reporter-Telegram
10/30/2005
HOUSTON (AP) -- Halliburton Co. remains intent on selling or spinning off KBR, its engineering and construction unit that is the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, but executives at the oilfield-services conglomerate told analysts Tuesday no such action is imminent.
"No timeline has been set for the separation of KBR," Chief Financial Officer Cris Gaut said as executives discussed third-quarter earnings, which were released after financial markets closed Monday. "We will consider an initial public offering as well as private transactions."
Shares of Halliburton, which beat Wall Street's average third-quarter profit forecast but missed revenue expectations, fell $3.05, or nearly 5 percent, to $58.04 in midday trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares have traded in a 52-week range of $33.62 to $69.78.
http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15480576&BRD=2288&PAG=461&dept_id=474112&rfi=6
Rally: Give locals more Katrina reconstruction work
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A rally in Baton Rouge draws some 500 people angered about what they feel is a snub to help rebuild New Orleans.
The Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton issued a call during yesterday's gathering to give some of the 296,000 jobless Louisiana residents priority in jobs and contracts to help repair the damage caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
One man interested in working is Edward Hawkins. He'd like to use his fleet of bulldozers and other heavy equipment to help in the rebuilding effort. But he says he's been shut out by jobs that appear to be flowing to companies outside the state. Sharpton called it an example of how jobs are being fed to politically connected companies, specifically pointing a finger at Halliburton, Vice President Dick Cheney's company.
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco promised the rallying workers they'll soon have better access to jobs. Starting Monday, a free shuttle service will transport evacuees in Baton Rouge to New Orleans for work.
http://bizneworleans.com/109+M5d15c473acf.html
Alexander gave $5,000 to Delay campaign before Texan indicted
By MIKE MADDEN
Tennessean Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander gave money to embattled former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's re-election campaign just before DeLay was indicted on conspiracy charges, federal records show.
Through his political action committee, Tenn PAC, Alexander gave $5,000 to DeLay, the powerful Texas Republican who was indicted last month on charges he conspired to flout laws in his home state barring corporate contributions to campaigns there.
A review of Federal Election Commission records by The Tennessean found that the Tennessee Republican was the only senator to give money to DeLay's re-election account, formally called the Tom DeLay Campaign Committee.
Alexander personally delivered the check to DeLay less than two weeks before a Texas grand jury returned charges against DeLay, forcing his resignation as majority leader and handing political ammunition to Democrats who are trying to build a broad corruption case against the GOP.
http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051029/NEWS02/510290356/1009/NEWS
Libby May Plea Bargain To Avoid Embarrassing White House Revelations…
TIME MICHAEL DUFFY Posted October 30, 2005 01:28 PM
READ MORE: Patrick Fitzgerald, Dick Cheney, Indictments, Scooter Libby, Anderson Cooper, Karl Rove, Halliburton
[...] Libby's lawyers said last week that they were "surprised" and "distressed" by the charges and noted that "a person's recollection and memory of events will not always match those of other people, particularly when they are asked to testify months after the events occurred." They have vowed to mount a "vigorous" defense, and one even told a colleague the case is winnable. But a number of veteran criminal-defense attorneys believe a trial will be avoided for one reason: Libby's lawyers face the prospect of calling veteran journalists' credibility into question and permitting the prosecutors to call some of the most senior officials in the government, like the Vice President, to the stand. In an environment in which little to nothing has gone right for the White House, politics alone could compel a Vulcan like Libby to take one for the team.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2005/10/30/libby-may-plea-bargain-to_n_9827.html
Obscene oil profits get typical response from Congress
Saturday, Oct 29, 2005
By Wesley Brown
Where is the outrage?
ExxonMobil, Shell and BP, the world's three largest publicly traded oil companies, together pulled in quarterly profits this week of more than $19 billion.
Believe this: The oil companies have us just where they want us now - bent over a barrel of oil.
Consider the fact that reporters are writing stories about "cheap gasoline" at $2.50 a gallon, the U.S. House speaker is begging Big Oil for relief, and Congress is poised to give oil companies new tax breaks to build more refineries and drill offshore.
In the midst of this surreal scenario, ExxonMobil on Thursday reported that its third quarter earnings had jumped 75 percent to a staggering $9.92 billion, an industry record.
Revenues in the quarter were $100.7 billion, up from $76.4 billion a year ago, making the Irving, Texas-based oil giant the first company in U.S. history to report quarterly earnings over $100 million.
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2005/10/29/WesleyBrown/330272.html
Blind trusts are starting to seem transparent
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has recently run into trouble with his blind trust, which turns out to be not so blind after all. Records have been subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to his sale of shares in HCA Inc., the health-care company founded by his father and brother, who still have a large investment in and some control over the company. Frist also held a substantial number of shares in the company; he ordered his shares sold shortly before the shares dropped 10 percent in value when the company reported lower earnings.
The SEC is investigating insider trading in the sale of the shares.
Public officials are required to put shares in so-called blind trusts in order to avoid conflicts of interest when elected to public office. It turns out that whatever stock is put into a "blind" trust remains there unless sold by the trustees, who then notify the owner that they have been sold. The owner can also order the trustees to sell shares held in the trust.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051030/OPINION/510300713/1029
Froma Harrop: Into the generational gale
01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, October 30, 2005
AMERICA SHOULD PREPARE for a big fat war between the generations. It's going to be ugly. On one side is the Baby Boom generation, which retires and claims a ton of government benefits. On the other are younger workers, forced to fund those benefits, plus pay the bills their elders left them.
When the war comes, the Federal Reserve chairman will have to be general. That person will likely be Bush nominee Ben Bernanke. The question is, for which side will he fight?
Outgoing Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan tried to represent both sides. He supported the Bush tax cuts. This gave comfort to today's taxpayers, who chose not to charge themselves for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the new Medicare drug benefit and the quarter-billion-dollar bridge to nowhere in Alaska.
… Given the president's tendency to give top jobs to those closest, we can give thanks that he did not nominate his banker brother. Neil Bush played a major role in the Silverado Savings & Loan fiasco, of the 1980s, which cost taxpayers $1 billion.
http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/projo_20051030_clharr.cdfb607.html
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