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History

Today is Monday, Nov. 7, the 311th day of 2005. There are 54 days left in the year.

1841 130 slaves capture "The Creole", a slave trader ship, that was traveling from Hampton, VA to New Orleans, LA. They will kill the slave owner and sail the ship to Nassau, Bahamas where they will be freed under British law.

1893, the state of Colorado granted its women the right to vote.

1916, Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress.

1917, Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.

1929, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City opened to the public.

1936 Alvin “Al” Attles who will be selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the fifth round of the 1960 NBA Draft, is born in Newark, NJ. He will become coach, vice president, and assistant general manager of the Golden State Warriors.

1940, the middle section of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state collapsed during a windstorm.

1944, President Roosevelt won an unprecedented fourth term in office, defeating Thomas E. Dewey.

1950 Dr. Alexa Canady, the first Black female neurosurgeon, is born in Lansing, MI.

1955 U.S. Supreme Court bans segregation in public recreation facilities.

1962 Richard M. Nixon, having lost California's gubernatorial race, held what he called his "last press conference," telling reporters, "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore."

1973 Congress overrode President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive's power to wage war without congressional approval.
1989 L.Douglas Wilder is elected first Black governor of Virginia and United States since Reconstruction

1998 John Glenn returned to Earth aboard the space shuttle Discovery, visibly weak but elated after a nine-day mission.

Ten years ago: In a Japanese courtroom, three American military men admitted to the ambush-rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl, an attack that outraged the Japanese and strained security ties between Japan and the U.S. (The men later received prison sentences ranging from 6 1/2 to seven years.)

Five years ago: Americans went to the polls for an election that would result in indecision for George W. Bush and Al Gore, with Florida's disputed electoral votes emerging as critical.

Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first first lady to win public office, defeating Republican Rick Lazio for a U.S. Senate seat from New York.

One year ago: France rolled out overwhelming military force to put down an explosion of anti-French violence in Ivory Coast, its former West African colony.

In the New York City Marathon, Britain's Paula Radcliffe won the women's race in 2 hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds, edging Kenya's Susan Chepkemei by only four seconds;

South Africa's Hendrik Ramaala of South Africa won the men's race in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 28 seconds.

Missing in Action

1967 DIEHL WILLIAM CALVIN BARTLESVILLE OK 03/06/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1967 ELLIS LEON F. COMMERCE GA 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1967 FISHER KENNETH BRONX NY 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1972 BROWN ROBERT M. PORTSMOUTH VA
1972 CARROLL JOHN L. DECATUR GA
1972 MORRISSEY ROBERT D. ALBUQUERQUE NM

November 6

1964 DAWSON DANIEL G. FORT BRAGG CA ACFT OVERDUE "FATHER LOST AT SEA, 1957, BROTHER CAPTR SRCH 4 HIM"
1965 BOLSTAD RICHARD E. MINNEAPOLIS MN 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 CORMIER ARTHUR WEST ORANGE NJ "02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV (BAY SHORE, NY)" ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 LILLY WARREN E. DALLAS TX 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJURED " ""BOB"" ALIVE AND WELL 98"
1965 MC KNIGHT GEORGE G. ALBANY OR 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV INJ ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 SINGLETON JERRY A. OKLAHOMA CITY OK "02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV (GREELEY, CO)" ALIVE IN 98
1967 HAGERMAN ROBERT WARREN CHICAGO IL POSS DEAD REMAINS RETURNED 12/04/85
1968 TURNER FREDERICK RAY COLUMBUS OH
1972 TOLBERT CLARENCE O. TISHOMINGO OK "DEAD, NHAN DAN" REMAINS RETURNED 02/22/89

November 5

1965 CHAPMAN HARLAN P. ELYRIA OH 02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98
1965 MC CLEARY GEORGE C. BATON ROUGE LA REMAINS RETURNED ID'D 05/91
1967 COBEIL EARL GLENN PONTIAC MI 03/06/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1967 DUTTON RICHARD A. CHICAGO IL "03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV (FT LEAVENWORTH, KS)" RIP 12/12/99
1968 CORNTHWAITE THOMAS G. GREAT BRITIAN EN
1968 SIMPSON JAMES E. "ESCAPED, KILLED IN BINH THUAN"
1969 ECHANIS JOSEPH PORTLAND OR
1969 LE FEVER DOUGLAS P. ARCANUM OH

The Jakarta Post

Bird flu: Experts gather for council of war
GENEVA (AFP): Four hundred experts and decision-makers were gathering here on Monday for a three-day council of war on bird flu called by the world's paramount agencies for human and animal health.
It is the seniormost global meeting of doctors, veterinarians and public-health officials since the avian influenza scare erupted in 2003, and the first to gather the World Bank alongside the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and AgriculturalOrganization (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), hosting the talks.
The meeting will assess the latest data about the outbreak, measures to bolster animal surveillance and preparations for tackling any human pandemic.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107175258&irec=0


Indonesian bird flu fight needs attention: Animal health expert
JAKARTA (AFP): A UN animal health official warned Monday that Indonesia's bird flu situation needed urgent attention.
Peter Roeder, an animal health officer responsible for viral diseases from the UN's food agency, said efforts to fight the deadly H5N1 strain needed to be quickly boosted as the season when it spreads easily had begun.
"What everyone has to realize is this is extremely urgent. The reason is we're in November, which is the start of the epidemic season for avian and human influenza," he told AFP.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107150408&irec=1


Six Indonesians trying to enter Singapore nabbed at sea
SINGAPORE (DPA): Six Indonesian nationals caught trying to enter Singapore using a wooden sampan were scheduled to be charged Monday in court, the Police Coast Guard said.
The illegal immigrants, ranging in ages between 17 and 32, were at sea Sunday near Bedok Jetty.
If convicted, they face up to six months in jail and could be caned at least three strokes or fined up to 6,000 Singapore dollars (US$3,550).
With the latest arrests, 133 illegal immigrants have been nabbed this year at sea, police said. (**)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107120140&irec=4


Indonesian boat people arrive in Australia
SYDNEY (DPA): Seven Indonesians who waded ashore from a boat in Australia's remote northwest are not asylum seekers, immigration officials said Monday.
The seven - four men, a woman and two children - are from West Timor and were picked up Saturday at Cape Londonderry.
"The adult members of the group have been interviewed," an immigration department official said in a statement. "Results of those interviews have been assessed as not raising claims or information which prima facie engages Australia's protection obligation."
HMAS Geraldton and a West Australian fisheries patrol vessel were sent to impound the boat. The group appeared in good health, the spokeswoman said. (**)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107120445&irec=3


Courting Brazil, Bush seemingly forgets India
BRASILIA (AFP): U.S. President George W. Bush said Sunday that relations between Brazil and the United States were critical because "we're the two largest democracies in the world" -- apparently forgetting India.
A White House transcript of his remarks acknowledged the error and added a footnote: "Western World." Bush is expected to travel to India in early 2006.
According to the U.S. State Department, Brazil has 182 million people, while India has a population of more than one billion. Indonesia has 224 million people.
The South American country is, however, nearly triple the geographic size of India and many times larger than Indonesia. (**)

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20051107115349&irec=5


Aceh militias lose protection, so are they still a threat?
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Langsa, Aceh
A new chapter has begun for the region along the southeastern coast of Aceh, a district with a tumultuous past, which has long been the bastion of pro-government militias. Similar conditions occurred in the ethnically more diverse highland of Central Aceh. But what made eastern Aceh unique is, unlike Central Aceh, it had been an important stronghold of GAM (Aceh Free Movement) rebels as well.
Now, with a considerable number of Indonesian Army and police units being withdrawn in accordance with the Helsinki peace accord, the militias -- much to the relief of local human rights workers -- are losing their protective umbrella. Still, it isn't clear whether they will no longer pose a threat to peace.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20051107.E03&irec=2


Indonesia's mutual funds industry: Down but not out
Martin Jenkins, Jakarta
It has not been a good year for Indonesia's mutual funds industry. Still reeling from the Bank Global fiasco at the end of 2004, the industry has seen huge redemptions in 2005 as investors fled to safer havens on fears that mutual funds would continue to post negative returns. The size of the redemptions has indeed been staggering: At the beginning of the year Rp 111.13 trillion (US$ 11.1 billion) was invested in mutual funds, but by the third week of September the amount had plummeted to just Rp 33.9 trillion.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20051107.E02&irec=1


A deeper look into the cash for poor program
Arianto A. Patunru, Jakarta
My main skepticism of the current cash transfer program (CTP) for the poor to offset the impact of the fuel price increase is due to the failure of the government in identifying who is eligible. As with most other social safety programs, the CTP suffers from adverse selection and moral hazard problems.
Evidence for all these are widespread. Pick any local newspaper today, you will find stories about people running amok because they have been deemed ineligible. Some old, thin person will inevitably be pictured with his extremely poor house in the background, looking at the camera with empty eyes.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20051107.F04&irec=3


Seattle Post Intelligencer

City forests in peril: Invasive plants are killing native trees
Restoration efforts rely heavily on volunteers
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Under a damp awning of yellowing bigleaf maples, Judith Starbuck is laying waste to a patch of English ivy. A vine at a time, she rips and tugs at the menace creeping through Madrona Woods.
Starbuck and a small band of mud-stained volunteers are reclaiming these woods, saving native trees and shrubs from the stranglehold of fast-growing foreign invaders.
Dan DeLong / P-I
Volunteers Meghan Welch and Peter Richardson yank out some stubborn English ivy during an EarthCorps event at Cheasty Greenspace in Rainier Valley. The invasive ivy chokes trees.
The sloping park, covering more than 9 acres above Lake Washington, is a valuable piece of urban forest -- a refuge where people can hike, learn a thing or two about nature and shed the stress of living in a big city.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247350_urbanforest07.html


Seattle's woods are home to many species
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Chuck Lennox was skeptical -- until he saw it with his own eyes.
A Cooper's hawk had taken up winter residence in Seattle's Central District.
Normally a forest creature, the raptor, its tail and broad wings distinctly banded red and white, was hanging around treetops and telephone poles. First spotted two years ago, the hawk dined on a smorgasbord of sparrows, finches and chickadees.
ALSO IN THIS REPORT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247154_urbanwildlife07.html


On private lands, few rules protect mature trees
By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A trip with Cass Turnbull through Olympic Manor -- a community in northwest Seattle renowned for its Christmas displays and expansive views of Puget Sound -- is a lesson in ruthless pruning.
"There's a clobbered birch," said the founder of PlantAmnesty, a Seattle group that advocates for urban tree preservation.
ALSO IN THIS REPORT
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247352_urbanprivate07.html


Hope for land in local hands
By JOEL CONNELLY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST
As we draw to the close of what he calls "the most perilous year," former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has a message to Americans who value parks, forests and clean water: This, too, shall pass.
"We are in the midst of the most sustained assault on this country's environmental consensus that we have ever experienced," said Babbitt, here today to read from his new book, "Cities in the Wilderness: A New Vision of Land Use in America."
"I feel almost nostalgic for James Watt," he joked, referring to a Cabinet predecessor who didn't like to paddle or walk and wondered how many future generations we'd have before the Lord comes again.
The Bush administration, Congress' bosses and their corporate lobbyist pals are in a Bambi-bashing mood at the moment.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/247329_joel07.html


Parks board invites public comment on removing Woodland Park rabbits
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners has set a public hearing for Thursday on relocating the rabbits in Woodland Park.
The hearing will take place during the board's regular meeting, 6 p.m., parks headquarters, 100 Dexter Ave. N., Seattle.
The rabbits, which are damaging tree roots in the park, have been estimated to number 300 to 500 or more.
Staff members have been working with the Progressive Animal Welfare Society, Seattle Animal Shelter and the non-profit Rabbit Meadow Sanctuary on a proposal to trap, sterilize and move the animals. Volunteers would put up temporary fencing beginning in January, capture the rabbits and take them for surgery, then to the Rabbit Meadow Sanctuary in Redmond.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247312_tl107.html


Mountains covered; wind, rain whip region
Up to 10 inches of more snow expected in higher elevations
By CECILIA KANG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The second of multiple storms expected over the next week rolled inland into the Seattle area Friday, bringing showers and windy weather into the city and several inches of snow across the Cascades.
The heavy rain and wind began around noon and reached a climax in the afternoon, with south winds blowing across Seattle at about 15 to 20 mph and rainfall of about one-quarter of an inch. Temperatures reached a low of 42 degrees and a high of 50 in Seattle.
Scott Eklund / P-I
It was the kind of day dreams are made of as Kris Lanning of Ravensdale hit the slopes Friday at Crystal Mountain ski resort. Lanning lost his leg in 1992 in a motorcycle accident and was in a coma for 11 weeks. During that time, he said, "I had many dreams, but the one that stands out is me skiing down Lucky Shot at Crystal Mountain." The resort welcomed 2,300 skiers on opening day Friday, the earliest in 28 years.
Winds were stronger on the northern coast, with south winds of up to 40 mph in Bellingham and the San Juan Islands.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247200_weather05.html


Rockslide closes I-90, at least until Tuesday
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HYAK, Wash. -- A rockslide east of Snoqualmie Pass that shut down Interstate 90 was expected to keep Washington state's principal east-west artery closed to all traffic until at least Tuesday, state Department of Transportation officials said Monday.
Until the potential for further rock falls can be thoroughly evaluated, officials cannot predict when crews could reopen at least one lane in each direction, department spokesman Michael P. Westbay said.
Boulders big as refrigerators hit the westbound lanes on I-90 without causing any injuries shortly after 3:15 a.m. Sunday, blocking the freeway about 6 1/2 miles east of the 3,022-foot pass. The freeway was closed to westbound traffic at Easton, about 70 miles southeast of Seattle, and to eastbound traffic at the pass summit.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Hyak_Rockslide.html


Wrecking-yard polluter sentenced
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A wrecking-yard operator who turned land near the Green River in Kent into a hazardous-waste site by dumping hundreds of gallons of gasoline and other chemicals was sentenced Friday to three years in work release and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution. Wei Guo "Larry" Huang operated three wrecking yards and caused "an extraordinary amount of environmental damage," King County prosecutors said. Huang, who pleaded guilty last month to eight criminal charges, apologized. A Superior Court judge, however, said Huang had failed to take responsibility for his actions.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247207_tl105.html


Iraq War: Finding the exit
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Pressure is growing on the Bush administration to enunciate a detailed strategy for the U.S. military occupation of Iraq, particularly about how it might end.
It's been little noted in the U.S. media, but the U.N. mandate that provided President Bush the diplomatic imprimatur for using military force in Iraq is due to expire. As reported in The Financial Times on Friday, Resolution 1546 is set to expire after the December elections in Iraq. The president has, of course, not always shown himself willing to wait for international sanction, but his Iraq adventure would be diplomatically complicated by the failure of the U.S.-backed resolution to extend the U.N. mandate for another year.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/247186_uniraqed.asp


Pentagon: Iraq troop rotation to shrink
By ROBERT BURNS
AP MILITARY WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon on Monday announced a troop rotation for Iraq that will number at least 92,000 soldiers through 2008, although officials said it likely will be considerably larger than that.
On paper, the force as announced is much smaller than the one currently in Iraq, but a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Barry Venable, said there have been no decisions made to reduce troops levels next year.
"This (announcement) does not anticipate a reduction" from the roughly 138,000-strong troop level that has been the standard this year, Venable said. The force was expanded to about 160,000 this fall because of anticipated higher levels of insurgent violence in connection with the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum and Dec. 15 election.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Iraq_US_Military.html


U.N. nuclear chief sees progress on Iran
By BARRY SCHWEID
AP DIPLOMATIC WRITER
WASHINGTON -- As Europeans mull an Iranian offer to resume negotiations, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said Monday that his inspectors were making progress in their effort to probe the country's nuclear weapons intentions.
"We are moving in the right direction," Mohamed ElBaradei, winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, said at a conference sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_US_Iran.html


Australia warns Indonesia may face attack
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYDNEY, Australia -- Australia has warned its citizens against traveling to Indonesia, saying it has credible evidence that terrorists are in the "advanced stages" of plotting a terror attack before the end of the year.
In a travel advisory issued late Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it continued "to receive a stream of credible reporting suggesting that terrorists are in the advanced stages of planning attacks against Western interests in Indonesia."
"Recent new information suggests that terrorists may be planning attacks to occur before the end of 2005," it added.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Australia_Indonesia.html


Gulf War vets to testify before Congress
They want U.S. to recognize health problems as service-related
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War felled by a disproportionate number of neurological disorders are picking themselves up for one last hurrah.
The fight this time involves summoning up the energy to turn out to address in a congressional hearing this month government funding and response to their needs after exposure to an array of toxins during and after the first war against Iraq.
"It's our last chance to stand up together because many of us are so ill," says Julie Mock of Bothell, president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, herself afflicted with the

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247343_msvets07.html


Google wants easier use on mobile phones
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Google Inc. is introducing software Monday designed to make its local search and mapping service easier to navigate on mobile phones, continuing the Internet search engine leader's effort to extend its reach beyond personal computers.
Consumers who download and install the new software will be able to skip some of the steps that had been required since Google began offering a mobile version of its maps nearly seven months ago.
For instance, users won't have to type in their location before getting directions to a specific location, as long as their phone has Global Positioning System, or GPS, capabilities, said Deep Nishar, a director of Google's mobile products.
Google has been exploring ways to pinpoint the location of its users in order to better target ads from nearby merchants. But Nishar said that goal isn't driving the mobile upgrade: Google doesn't plan to display ads alongside its mobile maps.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Google_Mobile_Maps.html


Judge upholds Oregon's gay marriage ban
By BRAD CAIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALEM, Ore. -- Oregon's voter-approved ban on gay marriage was upheld Friday by a judge who turned aside arguments from gay-rights supporters that the measure is flawed and should not have been put to a statewide vote.
The state's largest gay-rights organization said later it would appeal the ruling while continuing its political fight in the Legislature to gain more rights and benefits for gay couples.
But the group that sponsored the gay marriage ban said the ruling honored the will of the voters and protected Oregonians' right to enact constitutional changes via the ballot.
In his ruling, Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond rejected opponents' arguments that Measure 36 contained too many changes that should have been voted on as separate amendments and that it was improperly submitted to voters.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/247234_gaymarriage05.html


U.S. papers adding Japanese-style comics
By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP BUSINESS WRITER
TOKYO -- "Doonesbury" and "Peanuts," make way for "manga." Come January, the Sunday funnies of several major North American newspapers will have doe-eyed women in frilly outfits, effeminate long-haired heroes and other trademark images of the Japanese comic style.
The reason? Newspaper editors want to attract more young readers. A study released earlier this year by the Carnegie Corporation put the age of newspaper readers at 53 and climbing - hardly a recipe for circulation growth.
"We thought if teens and young kids are reading manga, then why don't we get something in the paper that teens want to read?" said John Glynn, vice president at Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes comics and columns globally to newspapers. "Newspapers are being seen as their parents' medium."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Japan_Sunday_Comics.html


University of Washington admissions policies, Bogus reinlistment bonuses, Don't forget to vote
U.W. -- Changes in admissions at public universities in Washington ought to please those who believe in treating students as individuals. The University of Washington is abandoning automatic, numbers-based acceptances of much of the student body to give more individual attention to each application. Other universities will likely follow suit.
Bogus bonuses -- We owe National Guard troops better than reneging on a $15,000 enlistment bonus.
Election Day -- Don't forget to go to the polls or mail your absentee ballots today!
Comment on any of these subjects or post your comments as an instant letter to the editor.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/veb/archives/100407.asp


Haaretz

Does the political jockeying ever stop. The country's favorite pastime.

Olmert named finance minister after rebels foil PM
By Gideon Alon, Yoav Stern and Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondents
The Knesset overwhelmingly approved on Monday night the appointment of Ehud Olmert as permanent finance minister and Matan Vilnai as science minister less than two hours after rejecting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's attempt to name Olmert together with Roni Bar-On and Ze'ev Boim.
Sharon was forced to submit Olmert's appointment individually after eight Likud "rebels" voted with the opposition to defeat by a 60-54 margin the proposed appointments of Olmert, Bar-On as industry, trade and employment minister and Boim as immigrant absorption minister.
The appointment of Olmert and Vilnai passed by a comfortable margin - 71 in favor to 41 against.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642224.html


Four no-confidence measures voted down in the Knesset
By Zvi Zrahiya, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset rejected four no-confidence motions submitted by the opposition factions on Monday. The government, which defeated the motions by margins of 57-59 MKs to 44-49, was cited for criticism due to the rise in bread prices, poverty, political corruption, and a court ruling exempting the state from subsidizing school meals to ultra-Orthodox students in private institutions.
The National Union, the National Religious Party, and National Religious Zionism sponsored a no-confidence motion against the backdrop of higher bread prices and growing proverty. The motion was rejected with 57 MKs voting against to 45 MKs voting for. Six MKs abstained from the vote.
A similar no-confidence measure authored by Yahad-Meretz, Hadash-Ta'al, Balad, and Ra'am due to the rise in bread prices was also rejected by a 59-49 margin with three MKs abstaining.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642614.html


Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom to attend int'l summit in Tunisia
By Reuters
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom will attend a summit in Tunisia next week in another sign of improving ties between Israel and the Arab world after the withdrawal from Gaza, the foreign ministry said on Monday.
Shalom will lead the delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society, being held from Nov. 16 to 18 in the North African country, which downgraded limited ties at the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.
Shalom, who was born in Tunisia and left as an infant, hopes to improve Israel's standing in an often hostile region on the back of its withdrawal in September from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642607.html


Sharon says talks with PA off if Hamas runs in parliamentary elections
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent, and The Associated Press
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday that Israel is vehemently opposed to Hamas' participation in the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections.
Speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Sharon said if Hamas participates in the January 25 Palestinian elections, Israel would not hold joint meetings with Palestinians, and would make it difficult for Hamas members to campaign freely.
Sharon also said that if Hamas is allowed to participate in the elections, there will be no lifting of military restrictions on the territories in the run-up to the vote.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642533.html


Syria says 'considering' UN request to question officials in Hariri probe
By Associated Press
Syria is considering a UN request to interview six top officials about the slaying of a former Lebanese leader, a Foreign Ministry official said Monday. A Lebanese official said earlier that President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law was one of the six.
Assad's regime has been under heavy pressure since the UN Security Council unanimously demanded last month that Syria cooperate fully with the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, warning of further measures if it fails to do so.
The Foreign Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists, confirmed the request to talk with six officials was received Sunday and said the government was "considering" it.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642556.html


Holocaust heroine Hannah Szenes remembered in Hungary
By The Associated Press
Hungary's Holocaust Museum on Monday organized a tribute to Hannah Szenes, a young woman executed for trying to organize Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.
Hungarian-born Szenes emigrated to Palestine in 1939 and was part of a group of young Jews sent to Europe in 1944 to try to save Jews.
In March 1944, Szenes parachuted into Yugoslavia but was caught soon after crossing the border into southern Hungary.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/642560.html


Topex Net

Indiana tornado deals death and destruction
2005-11-07
Rescuers search for tornado survivors
By John Gress
EVANSVILLE, Indiana (Reuters) - No more victims were likely to be found in the remains of a mobile home park shredded by a tornado that killed 22 people in Indiana, rescue workers said on Monday.
Vanderburgh County officials said searches would continue throughout the day at Eastbrook mobile home park in Evansville, where 17 people died, but it was believed everyone there had been accounted for after Sunday's twister.
Sheriff Brad Ellsworth said the tornado could not have touched down in a worse place -- a cluster of mobile homes surrounded by farmland where "there is not a place to escape to" with 11 minutes warning in the middle of the night.
The dead there ranged from children aged 2, 5 and 6 to a 78-year-old man. County officials revised the number of dead in the park down by one from Sunday. Five deaths were confirmed in neighboring Warrick County.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839428


Rescuers search for tornado survivors
2005-11-07
Rescuers search for tornado survivors
By John Gress
EVANSVILLE, Indiana (Reuters) - Rescue workers tore at the shredded remains of an Indiana mobile home park on Monday, looking for possible survivors of a tornado that killed at least 22 people in the state but fearing they might find more dead.
Search efforts were centered on the Eastbrook mobile home park in Evansville where Sunday's middle-of-the-night tornado dealt the deadliest damage, killing victims ranging from children aged two, five and six to a 78-year-old man.
Vanderburgh County officials said 17 people were known dead in the mobile home community, revising the toll down by one from an earlier count they had released on Sunday. Five deaths were confirmed in neighboring Warrick County.
More than 200 were injured in the southwest Indiana region, some of them critically.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839359


Australia foils major attack
2005-11-07
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian authorities foiled what they believed to be a large-scale terrorist attack, arresting 15 people during raids in the country's two biggest cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Tuesday.
"I am satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a large-scale terrorist attack, or the launch of a large-scale terrorist attack here in Australia," New South Wales Police Commissioner Ken Moroney told ABC radio.
The arrests come less than a week after Prime Minster John Howard said Australia received intelligence about a "terrorist threat."
Australia, a staunch U.S. ally with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, has never suffered a major peacetime attack on home soil. The country has been on medium security alert since shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Moroney said more than 400 officers were involved in the overnight raids of 15 homes in Sydney's southwest, resulting in the arrest of six males.
"They are currently being interviewed by police and my expectation is that those persons variously will appear in Sydney courts this morning."
Nine arrests were made in Melbourne, the ABC reported.
Australia's parliament rushed through urgent amendments to anti-terror laws on Thursday to allow police to charge people in the early stages of planning an attack.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839572


After Libby's indictment, Bush has promise to keep
2005-10-31
In the 2000 campaign, candidate George W. Bush said, "In my administration, we will ask not only what is legal, but what is right not just what the lawyers allow, but what the public deserves."
Americans should recall those words as Washington goes awhirl over the indictment of a top White House official. They also should recall what all the fuss is about: High-level officials with security clearances exposed the identity of a CIA officer whose identity was classified.
Journalist Robert Novak described his sources as "two senior administration officials" in a July 14, 2003, column that blew the cover of Valerie Plame Wilson as "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction."
The White House leak came after Plame's husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson, had written articles criticizing the Bush administration's misuse of intelligence in the lead-up to the war in Iraq. This was a petty act of political retaliation inflicted with no regard for national security consequences.
The White House did nothing to hold anyone accountable for the public fingering of Valerie Plame Wilson, so the CIA requested that the Justice Department investigate.
A federal grand jury Friday indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and an assistant to President Bush, on suspicion of lying about "how and when in 2003 he learned and subsequently disclosed to reporters then-classified information concerning the employment of Valerie Wilson by the Central Intelligence Agency." Libby did the appropriate thing and resigned.
But this is just the beginning. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Friday that because Libby "lied under oath repeatedly and fabricated a story of how he learned" Plame's identity, we don't have the full story. In other words, stay tuned.
Recall, too, that Novak mentioned two senior administration officials. It is way past time for Bush to look other high officials in the eye and get straight answers about their role in exposing Plame as a CIA officer.
Then he knows what to do: Fire them.
What was the consequence of the White House leak? Its ultimate aim, of course, was to discredit Joseph Wilson's criticism and blur the facts regarding the Bush administration's case for going to war in Iraq.
But the leak had other consequences. Plame's career as a classified CIA officer was destroyed. Further, blowing her cover potentially compromised every CIA operation with which she had been associated.
That is an outrage. Forget all the complicated legal issues; set aside the distorted case for going to war. This is about national security and how the government protects covert CIA officers, which is a serious matter.
James Marcinkowski, a former CIA operations officer, testified before Congress that this "unprecedented act" would have "far-reaching consequences for covert operations around the world."
How, he asks, are covert officers supposed to gain the confidence of informants "when their own government cannot even guarantee the personal protection of the home team?"
Bush should make his actions match his words in 2000: Do what is right, and clean house. As he said five years ago, it's what the public deserves.
For more coverage from The Modesto Bee, or to start home delivery, go to http://www.modbee.com.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=836573


Bush says US and Panama close to accord
2005-11-07
Bush says US and Panama close to accord
By Steve Holland
PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said on Monday the United States and Panama were close to completing a free trade agreement as he ended a Latin American tour that fell short of his goal of reviving talks on a hemispheric-wide trade zone.
Bush wrapped up his trip to Argentina, Brazil and Panama with a visit to the Miraflores lock of the Panama Canal, nearly 99 years after Theodore Roosevelt came in 1906 to see the canal construction in the first visit abroad by a U.S. president.
In a Canal-related issue straining U.S.-Panama relations, Bush offered no hope of a resolution soon on a Panamanian demand that the United States do more to clean up thousands of unexploded weapons strewn across jungle firing ranges in the Canal zone.
At a joint news conference with Panamanian President Martin Torrijos, Bush said Washington felt it met its obligations under the 1977 Panama Canal Treaty that turned the key artery over to Panama.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839451


At Summit of the Americas, no trade pact for Bush
By Howard LaFranchi Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
2005-11-07 MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA - Despite a five-day trip to South and Central America, President Bush was unable to work the same wonders on US-Latin American relations that he did earlier this year on ties to Europe.
Indeed, this trip was unlike Mr. Bush's February journey across the Atlantic, which was widely seen as successful in repairing relations damaged by the US decision to invade Iraq. Instead, the three-country trip that ends Monday has revealed more than anything how distant and dissonant relations with much of the hemisphere - in particular South America - have become.
"The sense one has after these few days that Bush spent in the region is that Latin America is very, very far from Washington," says Felix Pe a, a specialist in international economic relations in Buenos Aires. "It's not good for anyone involved, but the events don't seem to allow any other conclusion."

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wned/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=839445


11/07: Would be funny if it weren't true: Bush opposes torture ban and says "We do not torture"
PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) -- President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.
"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," Bush said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law."
He declared, "We do not torture."

http://www.journaltimesonline.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=2681


U.S. Soliders Charged With Prisoner Abuse
Nov 7, 2005 4:12 pm US/Eastern
BAGHDAD (AP) Five U.S. soldiers have been charged with allegedly abusing detainees in Iraq, the military said Monday.
The U.S. military said five soldiers from the 75th Ranger Regiment were charged on Saturday with detainee abuse, stemming from an incident on Sept. 7 "in which three detainees were allegedly punched and kicked while awaiting movement to a detention facility," reports CBS News correspondent Cami McCormick. The five have been charged with violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
"Upon discovery of the alleged abuse, officials immediately launched an investigation which ultimately led to the charges being proffered," the command said.
Names and ranks of the five soldiers were not released and the statement gave no further details.

http://wbz1030.com/topstories/topstories_story_311144429.html


Three soldiers killed in Iraq
Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Two Army soldiers were killed in separate attacks by insurgents and a third died in a non-combat related traffic accident, the military said Saturday.
The traffic fatality occurred Saturday near Talil in southern Iraq, the U.S. command said. Three other soldiers were injured, the statement said. All were assigned to a command which helps train Iraqi soldiers, the statement added.
In addition, a Task Force Baghdad soldier died on Friday after being hit by small arms fire south of the capital, the U.S. command said, without providing the exact location.
An Army soldier fighting with Marines near Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, died after his vehicle was hit by a mine Friday, the U.S. command said.
The names of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of relatives.
At least 2,045 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

http://www.marinetimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1226414.php


Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Cheney "We have to be able to do what is necessary..."

Cheney in the Bunker
By Daniel Klaidman and Michael Isikoff / Newsweek
Nov. 14, 2005 issue - As usual, Dick Cheney insisted on doing business behind closed doors. Last Tuesday, Senate Republicans were winding up their weekly luncheon in the Capitol when the vice president rose to speak. Staffers were quickly ordered out of the room—what Cheney had to say was for senators only. Normally taciturn, Cheney was uncharacteristically impassioned, according to two GOP senators who did not want to be on the record about a private meeting. He was very upset over the Senate's overwhelming passage of an amendment that prohibits inhumane treatment of terrorist detainees. Cheney said the law would tie the president's hands and end up costing "thousands of lives." He dramatized the point, conjuring up a scenario in which a captured Qaeda operative, another Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, refuses to give his interrogators details about an imminent attack. "We have to be able to do what is necessary," the vice president said, according to one of the senators who was present. The lawmakers listened, but they weren't moved to act. Sen. John McCain, who authored the anti-torture amendment, spoke up. "This is killing us around the world," he said. The House, which will likely vote on the measure soon, is also expected to pass it by a large margin.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4790


Senate Votes Again for Ban on Abusing Prisoners
By Eric Schmitt / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 - The Senate restated its support on Friday for banning the abusive treatment of prisoners in American custody, and the measure's Republican sponsor chided the House Republican leadership for delaying a vote on it.
The Senate approved the same provision last month, 90 to 9. On Friday, senators endorsed it again, this time by a unanimous voice vote, and attached it to a revised military spending bill. The White House has threatened to veto the bill if it includes the measure, saying the provision would restrict the president's ability to protect the country.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4787


"If necessary, and I sincerely hope it is not..."

Hagel: Torture Exemption Would Be Mistake
By Douglass K. Daniel / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A leading Republican senator said Sunday that the Bush administration is making "a terrible mistake" in opposing a congressional ban on torture and other inhuman treatment of prisoners in U.S. custody.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, considered a potential presidential candidate in 2008, said many Republican senators support the ban proposed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.
The ban was approved by a 90-9 vote last month in the Senate and added to a defense spending bill. The White House has threatened a veto, but the fate of the proposal depends on House-Senate negotiations that will reconcile different versions of the spending measure. The House's does not include the ban.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4793


"I think the administration is making a terrible mistake..."

Afghan Detainee's Leg Was 'Pulpified,' Witness Says
The testimony comes at a hearing for an MP who delivered beatings. The inmate later died.
By Lianne Hart / Los Angeles Times
FT. BLISS, Texas — An Afghan detainee in U.S. custody was so brutalized before his death that his thigh tissue was "pulpified," a forensic pathologist testified Tuesday at a preliminary hearing for a military police officer charged in the 2002 assault.
"It was similar to injuries of a person run over by a bus," said Lt. Col. Elizabeth Rouse, who performed an autopsy on the detainee, identified only as Dilawar.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=1931


Cheney Approval Nearing Rock Bottom at 19%
Vice President Cheney seems to have brushed off the felony charges against his most senior aide:
The criminal indictment of the vice president’s chief of staff, a rare moment in White House history, does not appear to have derailed Dick Cheney’s career — or even his routine.
The vice president has replaced the aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, with two other longtime assistants and seems prepared to continue his role as a central player in the Bush presidency, particularly on foreign policy and the Iraq war.
But the American people haven’t:
Vice President Cheney has never been as popular as the president, but his favorable rating is down nine points this year to just 19 percent.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/03/cheney-19/


UN audit says Halliburton overcharged Iraq
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A UN auditing board has recommended the United States pay as much as 208 million dollars to Iraq for overbilling or shoddy work performed by a subsidiary of the US oil services firm Halliburton, The New York Times reports.
The work, carried out by Kellogg, Brown and Root, was paid for with Iraqi oil revenues but was delivered at inflated prices or done poorly, the board said, quoted by the US newspaper.
While audits had called into question 208 million dollars worth of contracting work, it was too early to say how much of the funds should be paid back because analysis of financial statements and documents was still under way, the newspaper wrote.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4792


A White House Without Rove?
He's not gone yet, but his Texas-size ambitions are giving way to smaller goals
By Mike Allen / Time
He's weary. His wife and only child, who is approaching college, miss him. He has monstrous legal bills. His unique bond with the President is under stress. His most important work is done.
Karl Rove's colleagues don't know exactly when it will happen, but they are already laying out the reasons they will give for the departure of the man President George W. Bush dubbed the architect. A Roveless Bush seemed unthinkable just a few months ago. But that has changed as the President's senior adviser and deputy chief of staff remains embroiled in the CIA leak scandal.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4799


US intel on Iraq-Qaeda ties 'intentionally misleading': document
WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US military intelligence warned the Bush administration as early as February 2002 that its key source on Al-Qaeda's relationship with Iraq had provided "intentionally misleading" data, according to a declassified report.
Nevertheless, eight months later, President George W. Bush went public with charges that the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein had trained members of Osama bin Laden's terror network in manufacturing deadly poisons and gases.
These same accusations had found their way into then-secretary of state Colin Powell's February 2003 speech before the UN Security Council, in which he outlined the US rationale for military action against Iraq.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4795


Bush Declares: 'We Do Not Torture'
By Deb Riechmann / Associated Press
PANAMA CITY, Panama - President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.
"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," Bush said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law."
He declared, "We do not torture."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4800


Rove's Security Clearance Widely Questioned
Federal workers under suspicion of smaller lapses have had access to classified data yanked
By Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger / Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — An intelligence analyst temporarily lost his top-secret security clearance because he faxed his resume using a commercial machine.
An employee of the Defense Department had her clearance suspended for months because a jilted boyfriend called to say she might not be reliable.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4788


Bush orders staff to review ethics rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush, reacting to the indictment of a high-level White House aide in the CIA leak case, has ordered his staff to get a refresher on ethics rules. In a memo sent to all White House aides on Friday, the counsel's office said it will hold briefings next week on ethics, with a particular focus on the rules governing the handling of classified information. Attendance is mandatory for anyone holding any level of security clearance.
"There will be no exceptions," the memo said.
The week after, the counsel's office is holding sessions on general ethical conduct for the rest of the staff.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4794


White House Tries to Keep Distance From Leak Case
By Richard W. Stevenson / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 5 - In the hours before the Justice Department informed the White House in late September 2003 that it would investigate the leak of a covert C.I.A. officer's identity, Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, gave reporters what turned out to be a rare glimpse into President Bush's knowledge of the case.
Mr. Bush, he said, "knows" that Karl Rove, his senior adviser, had not been the source of the leak. Pressed on how Mr. Bush was certain, Mr. McClellan said he was "not going to get into conversations that the president has with advisers," but made no effort to erase the impression that Mr. Rove had assured Mr. Bush that he had not been involved.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4786


House Delays Vote on U.S. Treatment of Terrorism Suspects
By Eric Schmitt / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 - The House Republican leadership has delayed a vote on a proposed ban against cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners in American custody, and Democrats say the move is an effort to spare Vice President Dick Cheney an embarrassing defeat.
House Democrats, led by Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, had planned to offer a motion this week to endorse language in a military spending bill, written by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, that would prohibit abusive treatment of terror suspects. The motion would instruct House negotiators to adopt Mr. McCain's precise language, which the Senate approved last month, 90 to 9. The White House has threatened to veto any bill containing the provision, saying it would restrict the president's ability to fight terrorism and protect the country.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4784


Source of Forged Niger-Iraq Uranium Documents Identified
By Elaine Sciolino and Elisabetta Povoledo / New York Times
ROME, Nov. 3 - Italy's spymaster identified an Italian occasional spy named Rocco Martino on Thursday as the disseminator of forged documents that described efforts by Iraq to buy uranium ore from Niger for a nuclear weapons program, three lawmakers said Thursday.
The spymaster, Gen. Nicolò Pollari, director of the Italian military intelligence agency known as Sismi, disclosed that Mr. Martino was the source of the forged documents in closed-door testimony to a parliamentary committee that oversees secret services, the lawmakers said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=4782


Roadtrip for Relief
Converge in New Orleans in a Showing of Solidarity! November 20-27 in New Orleans -- organized by Common Ground
Come lend a hand over the week of Thanksgiving until November 27th. That's less than four weeks away!
The folks at Common Ground invite you to join an estimated 300 volunteers from around the continent to converge in New Orleans the week of Thanksgiving. We want to encourage those in attendance to arrive with building & cleaning supplies, donated equipment and, if possible, funds that can apply directly to help rebuild and the 9th Ward.
Upon arrival, we will orient you to the long history of neglect and oppression in this area and offer tips on how to connect with the community in a respectful and effective manor. Then we will plug people into community projects in the 9th Ward, where we have just opened a new distribution center and where we are helping to coordinate efforts to challenge unjust city, state and national governments' policies and commercial exploits.
People who come can expect a life-changing experience and tasks ranging from debris removal to simply listening to those most effected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Common Ground is working dilegently to arrange for adequete shelter and food for all volunteers. please join us in the Roadtrip for Relief Forum Discussion or write Kerul Dyer at roadtripforrelief@gmail.com or call call 504.339.5885 to let us know where you are coming from, how many are in your convoy and when you will arrive!
Our efforts can illuminate that clean-up is possible and that we will stand in solidarity with people as they re-establish their lives in New Orleans. We will also bear witness to the dangerous policies of the city of New Orleans and keep a careful eye on the infamous New Orleans Police Department.
Continue reading "Road Trip for Relief! Reclaim the Gulf!"

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/covington.php?id=51

Rosa Parks Statue

A plan to erect a statue of Rosa Parks in the US Capitol building is starting to gain momentum. Several members of Congress have filed legislation that would see a statue honoring the late civil rights icon placed in the building's famed Statuary Hall.
Among those who have introduced legislation seeking the statue are Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and John Kerry and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Congressman Jesse Jackson Junior has introduced similar legislation in the House.
The proposal would make Parks the first black woman to be represented in Statuary Hall. Parks' getting in may mean a move for one of the statues already there. The number of statues in the hall is limited to 102 per state.

http://www.wtvynews4.com/home/headlines/1950247.html

continued …

November 7, 2005.

The Royals of San Francisco.

Caption :: Val Diamond (center) of "Beach Blanket Babylon," wearing the show's trademark crown of San Francisco landmarks, is flanked onstage by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, along with former Secretary of State George Shultz (far right) and his wife, Charlotte Maillard Shultz

Morning Papers - continued

Daily Princetonian

Nominee led conference recommending privacy, gay rights
Chanakya Sethi
Princetonian Senior Writer
As a senior at Princeton, Samuel Alito '72, President Bush's nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, chaired a Wilson School undergraduate conference that authored a report calling for the bolstering of privacy rights, including the creation of a federal privacy ombudsman and the decriminalization of sodomy.
"At the present time ... we sense a great threat to privacy in modern America," Alito wrote in his "Report of the Chairman" on the "Conference on The Boundaries of Privacy in American Society."
"[W]e all believe that privacy is too often sacrificed to other values," said the 1971 report, which is located in the University's Mudd Manuscript Library. "[W]e all believe that the threat to privacy is steadily and rapidly mounting; we all believe that action must be taken on many fronts now to preserve privacy."

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2005/11/07/news/13676.shtml


Judging the Judge
On Oct. 31, President Bush nominated Woodrow Wilson School alumnus Samuel Alito, Jr. '72 to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. After a decade long stretch without a vacancy on the high court, Alito will be the third nominee to face public scrutiny in the past four months.
But with respect to this year's first two nominees, John Roberts and Harriet Miers, many of the questions posed by both Congress and the public were left troublingly unanswered. It is our hope that over the coming months, and especially during the congressional hearings that will ultimately decide the fate of his nomination, the nation will come to have a thorough understanding of Alito's judicial philosophy. His extensive judicial record, of course, is a good start and should guide the questions that senators pose to the nominee. In particular, we look forward to hearing the judge's comments on the following themes:
First, how should precedents be used as a guide to the high court when hearing new cases? Under what circumstances can and should a precedent be overturned? While some might focus their attention mainly on the Roe v. Wade precedent, we look forward to broader questioning that will illuminate more than just Alito's views on this one issue, but will help clarify how he is likely to view the proper role of the court for the coming decades.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2005/11/07/opinion/13668.shtml


A grand slam nomination
John M. Smith
Guest Columnist
For the Red Sox, the White Sox and now Princeton's heavy-hitters in the law, the curse has finally been broken. If the Senate confirms Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. '72 to the U.S. Supreme Court as expected, it will end a 35-year drought of Princetonians on the nation's highest court. As an alumnus, an American and his former clerk, I rejoice in the appointment of this mighty quiet Tiger from Trenton. Let me tell you why you can too.
The hearings will focus on Judge Alito's opinions (and demonstrate his brilliance), so allow me instead to share several personal insights into the Judge that give fair-minded Princetonians reason to welcome his nomination.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2005/11/07/opinion/13669.shtml


Football's 135th Anniversary

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/features/index.jsp?id=23

Football is not quite the same after 135 years
Rutgers claims college football's first win, but Princeton evens score
Thad Hartmann
Princetonian Sports Editor
"On Saturday November 6th, Princeton sent twenty-five picked men to play our twenty-five a match game of football."
So began the account of the first intercollegiate football game in the Rutgers Targum of November, 1869, and so began intercollegiate football as we know it.
Not really as we know it, actually. The game that Princeton played against Rutgers that day 135 years ago looked very little like today's game of football.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/09/15/sports/10704.shtml


Football atop Ivy League
Dominant fourth quarter lifts Tigers past Quakers
Karl Micka-Foos
Princetonian Staff Writer
Photo by Bill Allen '79 :: NJ Sport/Action
(Expand Photo)
Senior tight end Jon Dekker slips by the lunging tackle attempt of the last Penn defender en route to the end zone in the fourth quarter of the football team's 30-13 win over the Quakers on Saturday.
PHILADELPHIA — When one encounters a middleman, the automatic response is to think up a way to eliminate him. But in football's 30-13 victory over Penn on Saturday afternoon, junior linebacker Luke Steckel was one middleman whose play the Tigers could not have done without.
After the Quakers (5-3 overall, 3-2 Ivy League) scored on a Joe Sandberg rushing touchdown five minutes into the second quarter, it appeared as though Princeton (6-2, 4-1) would see the 14-0 lead it had built cut in half.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2005/11/07/sports/13660.shtml


Women's soccer wins three but falls short of Ivy title
Tyler Woulfe
Princetonian Senior Writer
Women's soccer did everything it needed to do over Fall Break, but its efforts just weren't enough. Playing the last three games of the regular season against league opponents, Princeton (8-6-2 overall, 5-2-0 Ivy League) ran the table but saw its luck ran out as Yale held on to first place, foiling the Tigers' late-season run at a repeat Ivy League title.
Though the wins over Cornell, Columbia and Penn put Princeton's record above .500 for the first time this year and extended its winning streak to five games, without the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament for winning the title, the Tigers' season may be over. Hope still remains in the form of an at-large bid, however.

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2005/11/07/sports/13663.shtml


The San Francisco Chronicle

'Beach Blanket' blows away royal couple
Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005
The Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, disproved any notion that regal Brits must be stuffy and wear impassive faces in public. They smiled, chortled and even laughed out loud during a special performance of the madcap "Beach Blanket Babylon" musical revue in San Francisco on Sunday night.
It would have been hard not to.
The show has a stranger-than-fiction cast -- including Mr. Peanut, Glinda the Good Witch, singing poodles and Snow White, who searches for love and meets pop culture figures along the way -- all in outlandish costumes with super-size hats. But the VIP visit called for even more surreal song-and-dance numbers, tailored to Charles and Camilla.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/07/MNGH0FK7641.DTL


Man Becomes First Killed in French Rioting
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005
(11-07) 04:57 PST PARIS, France (AP) --
A man who was beaten by an attacker while trying to extinguish a trash can fire during riots north of Paris has died of his injuries, becoming the first fatality since the urban unrest started 11 days ago, a police official said Monday. Youths overnight injured three dozen officers and burned more than 1,400 vehicles.
Apparent copycat attacks spread to other European cities for the first time, with five cars torched outside Brussels' main train station, police in the Belgian capital said.
Australia, Austria and Britain became the latest countries to advise their citizens to exercise care in France, joining the United States and Russia in warning tourists to stay away from violence-hit areas.
Alain Rahmouni, a national police spokesman, said the man who was beaten died at a hospital from injuries sustained in the attack, but he had no

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/07/international/i045752S26.DTL


Governor accuses his foes of scare tactics
They butt heads on election -- opponents say it's unwanted
Mark Martin, Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Staff Writers
Monday, November 7, 2005
Los Angeles -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the final televised forum before Tuesday's special election, charged Sunday that his opponents were desperately trying to frighten voters out of backing his four-initiative blueprint for change.
"They're trying to scare you and make me look like I want to be dictator of California,'' he said.
Joining Schwarzenegger for the pre-election showdown on KTTV-TV on Sunday night were Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Barbara Kerr, the head of the California Teachers Association. The special election called by Schwarzenegger, they argued, is an unwanted and unnecessary partisan face-off that is ripping the Capitol apart.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/07/MNGH0FK7581.DTL


11-year-old boy honored by Dalai Lama in S.F.
Ben Duskin's online game helps kids like him worldwide who are battling cancer
Patricia Yollin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005
Last year, Ben Duskin created an Internet video game for children just like him -- kids with cancer. Since then, Ben's Game has received 443,000 hits and been translated into nine languages. It's hard to top that, but on Sunday he did: the 11-year-old boy was one of 48 people honored by the Dalai Lama in San Francisco.
The "Unsung Heroes of Compassion 2005" converged upon the Ritz-Carlton hotel from 22 countries -- as far as India, Ethiopia, Bhutan and South Africa, and as close as the city's Castro district, home of Eric Johnston, who designed the game with Ben.
Johnston, a 35-year-old software engineer at LucasArts, also was honored as an unsung hero.
"We don't see them or hear about them in the daily news, but they exemplify a humanism and heroism to which we must each aspire," said Dick Grace, founder of Grace Family Vineyards in the Napa Valley and board chair of Wisdom in Action, the St. Helena nonprofit that hosted the event.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/07/MNG5KFK79V1.DTL


Bush Declares: 'We Do Not Torture'
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005
(11-07) 07:28 PST PANAMA CITY, Panama (AP) --
President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.
"There's an enemy that lurks and plots and plans and wants to hurt America again," Bush said. "So you bet we will aggressively pursue them but we will do so under the law."
He declared, "We do not torture."
Over White House opposition, the Senate has passed legislation banning torture. With Vice President Dick Cheney as the point man, the administration is seeking an exemption for the CIA. It was recently disclosed that the spy agency maintains a network of prisons in eastern Europe and Asia, where it holds terrorist suspects.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/07/national/w070802S23.DTL


This comment has nothing in particular to do with this newsprint. It is just generally how I feel about the war. The Iraqi Opposition is invested. They continue to be. I think there needs to be a lot of reassessment. Another Ethnic Cleansing Episode in Iraq. Is there any wonder why they are finding munitions? No ! The USA military is in a vicious cycle of killing and being killed. Who is the real enemy?

U.S. Launches Major Offensive in Iraq
By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, November 5, 2005
(11-05) 07:02 PST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) --
American and Iraqi forces launched a major offensive Saturday near the porous Syrian border aimed at destroying al-Qaida in Iraq's ability to smuggle foreign fighters, money and equipment through the region.
The U.S. military also announced that two soldiers were killed by insurgents in other areas of Iraq on Friday.
The offensive in the town of Husaybah of about 2,500 U.S. forces and 1,000 Iraqis — including local forces acting as scouts — will remove insurgents from the western province of Anbar ahead of Iraq's parliamentary election on Dec. 15, the U.S. military said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/04/international/i223816S77.DTL&hw=soldier&sn=005&sc=620


Missing Soldier's Family Gets Update
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, November 5, 2005
(11-05) 05:08 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Carolyn and Keith Maupin walked into the Pentagon Friday hoping for any new bits of information about their son, who was captured by insurgents near Baghdad more than 18 months ago.
They left after more than two hours, saying defense officials assured them the military is continuing to search for Army Reserve Sgt. Keith "Matt" Maupin. But they got no definitive answer to the question that haunts them most: Is he still alive?
"Even though you see a smile, your heart still aches," Carolyn Maupin told a reporter after the meeting, as she and her husband visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, both wearing pins bearing a photo of their son.
Surrounded by journalists and escorted by two Army officials, Keith Maupin — wearing a POW-MIA hat — said he believes "they'll find something soon. They'll find him." He said he and his wife went to the somber Vietnam Wall because, "There are 50,000 names on that wall, and I just wanted to say thanks."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/04/national/w154307S93.DTL&hw=soldier&sn=001&sc=1000


Travel in Iraq, Still Risky, Does Improve
By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, November 5, 2005
(11-05) 00:44 PST ANBAR DESERT, Iraq (AP) --
The four-lane highway from Baghdad to Iraq's borders with Syria and Jordan is among the most dangerous in the country, so the unexpected improvements along the road were hard to believe at first.
New restaurants and gas stations have opened, and some are busy with Iraqi customers making the grueling five-hour drive from Baghdad to the borders.
Some of the gas pumps and eateries remain open after dark, even though few people risk driving the highway at night.
During a recent roundtrip drive from Baghdad to Damascus, the road also appeared to be guarded by more U.S. military patrols than ever before, each one made up of several Humvees and armored vehicles.
But the risks remain clear on a highway that passes through the empty desert in Iraq's most dangerous province, skirting militant "hot spots" such as Ramadi. When this reporter stopped at a gas station at dusk to get fuel, an employee refused.
"There is little gas left. We are saving it for mujahadeen," he said, referring to the insurgents. "You better leave now."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/05/international/i004441S81.DTL&hw=soldier&sn=006&sc=561


U.S. owes Iraq $208 million, auditor says
Gouging, shoddy work by Halliburton blamed
James Glanz, Edward Wong, New York Times
Saturday, November 5, 2005
An auditing board sponsored by the United Nations recommended Friday that the United States repay as much as $208 million to the Iraqi government for contracting work in 2003 and 2004 assigned to Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton Co. subsidiary.
The work was paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, but the board says it was either carried out at inflated prices or done poorly. The board did not give examples of poor work.
Some of the work involved postwar fuel imports carried out by KBR that previous audits have criticized as grossly overpriced. But this is the first time that an international auditing group has suggested that the United States repay some of that money to Iraq.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/05/MNGU5FJN341.DTL


LETHAL BEAUTY
SAVING A LIFE: The common assumption that suicide can't be prevented is wrong.
Heidi Benson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, November 5, 2005
The last in a seven-part series on the Golden Gate Bridge barrier debate.
When a dazzled John C. Fremont sailed through the strait of San Francisco in 1846, he was struck by its resemblance to the glorious harbor of Constantinople, the Golden Horn. Fremont was captain of the U.S. Army's topographical engineers and charged with naming the strait. He called it the Golden Gate.
The Golden Gate Bridge straddled the mile-wide strait in 1937, and instantly became a symbol of humanity's ability to build in harmony with nature. But the bridge soon gained another meaning, something darker. It became a suicide magnet.
Today, mental health experts refer to it as "a loaded gun in the middle of the city," and a debate over whether to build a suicide barrier has raged for decades. But the issues raised cannot be fully understood or argued without contemplating the phenomenon of suicide itself.
The death of a loved one by suicide may be the most difficult to mourn. The loss is complicated by emotions that may include anger, incomprehension and regret. In 2002, 32,000 people in the United States took their own lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide, the 1 million suicide toll in 2001 exceeded the number of deaths from homicide and war, the World Health Organization reports. In the wake of a single suicide, families are shattered, communities shaken.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/05/MNG9UFIV9O1.DTL


Humanity over vanity
Monday, November 7, 2005
BUILDING A SUICIDE barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge won't ever be an easy sell. Too many people have contrary opinions about the cost, appearance and effectiveness, or even if there's a social duty to curb such deaths.
But it is time to settle the debate on humane and defensible grounds. The bridge is a dangerous lure for troubled people. If they can be prevented from leaping to their deaths, many will find the help that deters another try. Their lives can be saved, and the damage to families and friends can be avoided.
This isn't simple belief, as underscored in "Lethal Beauty,'' The Chronicle's just-completed series of stories. It's the testimony of a majority of would-be suicides, survivors and health professionals. After considering such personal experiences and medical histories, it is plain that a barrier can save lives. It's time to end decades of delay and build a barrier.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/11/07/EDGQIF5H4A1.DTL


U.S. toll in Iraq
Saturday, November 5, 2005
As of Friday, at least 2,042 members of the U.S. military had died in Iraq since March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. The latest identifications reported by the military:
-- Army 2nd Lt. Mark J. Procopio, 28, Stowe, Vt.
-- Army Staff Sgt. Kyle B. Wehrly, 28, Galesburg, Ill.
-- Army Spc. Joshua J. Munger, 22, Maysville, Mo.
-- Army Spc. Benjamin A. Smith, 21, Hudson, Wis.
-- Army Pfc. Tyler R. Mackenzie, 20, Evans, Colo.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/05/MNGU5FJC621.DTL


Messy or not, divorce is hard on kids, survey finds
Tamar Lewin, New York Times
Saturday, November 5, 2005
Even in a so-called good divorce, in which parents amicably minimize their conflicts, children inhabit a more difficult emotional landscape than those who grow up with married parents, according to a new survey of 1,500 adults ages 18-35.
"All the happy talk about divorce is designed to reassure parents," said Elizabeth Marquardt, author of the study, which is described in her new book, "Between Two Worlds." "But it's not the truth for children. Even a good divorce restructures children's childhoods and leaves them traveling between two distinct worlds. It becomes their job, not their parents', to make sense of those two worlds."
Marquardt is an affiliate scholar with the Institute for American Values, a nonpartisan advocacy group that strongly emphasizes marriage. She is, she says, the first child of divorce to publish a broad study on how divorce affects children.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/05/MNGU5FJMTL1.DTL


Family fights an HMO for 4-year-old's life
C.W. Nevius
Saturday, November 5, 2005
Somewhere in a corporate office at Health Net Inc. is someone who needs to meet Jack Zembsch. Jack is 4, he loves SpongeBob SquarePants, and he is going to die.
One doctor in the country just might be able to save Jack, but the nation's largest HMO won't let Jack see him because the doctor is not within its network.
Jack, who lives in Moraga with his parents, Mark and Kim Zembsch, has an extremely rare form of dwarfism called metatropic dysplasia, or MD. It leaves his bones extremely soft, and before long, they'll simply stop growing even as his body continues to get bigger. Eventually, his lungs will be so constricted by his ribs that breathing will become a chore, and an infection could kill him.
That is, if his spine doesn't simply snap from something as simple as a fall.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/05/MNG41FJMLM1.DTL


It's natural, healthy -- and it's law
Chip Johnson
Monday, November 7, 2005
How would you feel if your child's lunch or dinner was prepared in a bathroom?
That's exactly how some working new mothers feel when they are directed to the nearest bathroom whenever they have to pump milk from their breasts to prepare their newborn's next meal.
Over the years, breast-feeding has gained such popularity that lawmakers are increasingly recognizing a mother's right -- in essence her need -- to express milk wherever and whenever she needs to do it.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/07/BAGO5FJUVO1.DTL


International Herald Tribune

Rioters shoot at French police
PARIS Nearly a dozen riot police were injured by gunfire overnight in one of the most widespread nights of unrest in France in 40 years, with the police reporting more than 1,408 vehicles burned in 274 towns across the country.

Sunday marked the 11th night of confrontation between the police and youths from the housing projects that lie on the periphery of French cities. The unrest was sparked by the fatal electrocution two weeks ago of two youths who hid in an electricity substation to avoid an identity inspection by the police.

President Jacques Chirac called an emergency meeting of top security officials on Sunday night and promised increased police pressure to confront the violence.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/07/news/france.php


UN scandal forces out India's top diplomat
NEW DELHI India's foreign minister, Natwar Singh, was forced to step down from his post Monday amid allegations that he and the governing Congress Party had illegally benefited from the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq.

Singh's position was deemed untenable after the government began two separate investigations into the alleged deals.

Singh described the allegations, contained in the final report by the committee led by the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, as "farcical" and refused to resign, saying, "I do a good job. I have had tremendous support." Late Monday, however, after a long meeting with the prime minister, Congress party officials announced that he had been demoted.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/07/news/india.php


Fighting enters 3rd day in Iraqi border town
BAGHDAD U.S. and Iraqi troops battled insurgents house-to-house on Monday, the third day of an assault against Qaeda-led insurgents in a town near the Syrian border, and the U.S. command reported the first American death in the operation.

In Baghdad, a leading Sunni Arab politician, Adnan al-Dulaimi, called Monday for a halt to U.S. and Iraqi military operations against cities in order to encourage disaffected Sunnis to join the political process and vote in national elections next month.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/07/news/iraq.php


Unrest reaches Paris; 186 arrested nationwide
PARIS Spreading urban unrest — with arson attacks on vehicles, nursery schools and other targets in France from the Mediterranean to the German border — for the first time reached central Paris, where police said Sunday that 28 cars were burned overnight.

Police made 186 arrests nationwide as the violence, in its 10th night, moved from poor suburbs into the capital — France's seat of power — and reached new intensity across the country.

The number of cars torched overnight — 918 across France — was the highest yet since the unrest began Oct 27. Of the cars burned, 545 were outside of the wider Paris region, the Interior Ministry said. The night before, 900 vehicles were burned throughout the country.

The count of overnight arson attacks

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/06/europe/web.1106paris.php


3 paths to blended Europe - all flawed
PARIS The images of wild gangs of young men silhouetted against the flames of burning cars came as an unwelcome reminder for France of its growing underclass just weeks after the French watched, in horrified fascination, the anarchy of New Orleans as Americans looted stores and defied the police after hurricane Katrina.

So far, while the damage to French property has been extensive - hundreds of cars and buses burned and dozens of businesses destroyed - and the violence has spread to troubled neighborhoods in many towns, there is no evidence that the unrest is coalescing into a broader political movement. Most of the rioters appear to be teenage boys bent more on making the news than on making a coherent political statement.

"It's a game of cowboys and Indians," said Olivier Roy, a French scholar of European Islam, adding that attacking the police and setting cars on fire "have become a local sport, a rite of passage."

But the fear is that a structural underclass is emerging - not only in France, but elsewhere in Europe as well - that could bring with it crime and religious fanaticism.

The French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, warned Thursday that France risked losing the integration battle in its immigrant neighborhoods to radical religious-based movements - shorthand for Islamic extremism.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/04/news/paris.php


'We're French,' but not 'real' French
LA COURNEUVE, France Walid was born in France and went to a French high school. He will show you his French driving license and even his French identity card. But ask him what his identity is and he will say "93."

"Nine Three" - the two first two digits of the postal code spanning the roughest suburbs on Paris's northeastern fringe - stands for unemployment and endless rows of housing projects. It stands for chronically high crime rates, teenage gang wars and a large immigrant community.

Since Oct. 27, when the accidental death of two teenagers set off nightly riots across the region, "93" also stands for angry youths burning hundreds of cars, setting fire to shops and attacking the police with anything from rocks to real bullets.


http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/04/business/france.php


Absolute authority in Bosnia coming to end?
SARAJEVO Paddy Ashdown sipped his tea, stretched his arm over the back of his chair and looked out of his office window at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, a country over which he has held almost absolute authority for three and a half years.

As the high representative in Bosnia, he has the authority to fire public officials and impose laws, powers invested in his office by the international community to uphold the peace between the three main ethnic groups in Bosnia since the war, which lasted from 1992 to 1995.

But of all the figures to have been appointed this post - he is the fourth - Ashdown has been the subject of the most discussion, using his powers more extensively than any of his predecessors in an attempt to make Bosnia a more united country. He is likely also to be the last to exercise such wide-ranging authority; the powers of any successor, expected to be appointed early next year, will almost certainly be curtailed. He is widely credited with being the most effective official to have occupied his post. Yet there is a growing consensus that both Ashdown's office, and perhaps even his forceful character, may be doing as much harm as good by holding back the development of democracy here.

It is not a view he agrees with. He acknowledged in a recent interview that his authoritative position "would appear at first sight to be outrageous, undemocratic and inconsistent with the modern democratic age." But he quickly added, "Not really."

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/04/news/profile.php


EU accepts denials of 2 members on CIA prisons
A European Union spokesman said Friday that the EU had accepted Poland's and Romania's denials that the United States was operating secret terrorist prisons.

"So far we have no reason to complain nor to suspect any unfair or inappropriate policy," said Friso Roscam Abbing, the EU spokesman for justice, freedom and security. The statements issued by the Polish and Romanian governments were "crystal clear," he said.

He said that other East European countries should release similar statements to clear the air, and added: "We can't obviously let's say run with every allegation, every story, and just in a panicky way start interrogating and grilling member states." So far, Hungary and the Czech Republic, as well as Romania and Poland, have issued denials.

Although Polish officials also categorically denied the existence of any detention, Romanian officials were more circumspect. Government officials declined to give direct answers to questions like whether Romania had ever cooperated with the United States over receiving detainees or had ever been asked to cooperate and whether the officials could explain the alleged CIA flight records.

Human Rights Watch, a U.S.-based human rights group, said Thursday that Romania, scheduled to join the EU in 2007, and Poland, which joined last year, were sites for secret prisons on behalf of the CIA. The allegations followed reports in The Washington Post about the possible existence of secret detention facilities, but the Post report did not name the host countries

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/04/news/cia.php


The world needs a prefab constitution
WASHINGTON Governments and relief agencies working feverishly in areas stricken by recent natural disasters aren't trying to win architectural awards with innovative new designs for permanent housing. They are trying to provide emergency shelter for the homeless. In the same way, officials trying to rebuild nations ripped apart by war can't be expected to come up with groundbreaking new constitutions that will last for the ages. With the bullets still flying, nation-builders must create governmental structures as quickly as possible to run their countries.

Just as providers of housing can rely on standard-design tents, trailers and prefabricated shelters, nation-builders need a new tool at their disposal - the prefabricated constitution.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/07/opinion/edbernard.php


Washington Post

I have seen this strategy by Cheney before. Energy Committee, Supreme Court, opted for VP power and sent back to lower courts. Difference this time is Cheney's power is opposed to the Legislature which is the will of the people whereby his office is managerial. I have a feeling the Legislature wins out here. If the people feel their Executive Branch is not reflecting the polices of the nation while breaking International Law besides and placing the nation in harms way if their elected leaders are removed to prison and/or proceedings. Cheney is just outrageous and power hungry. He is chronically trying to vindicate WaterGate with touting Executive Privilege.

Cheney Fights for Detainee Policy
As Pressure Mounts to Limit Handling Of Terror Suspects, He Holds Hard Line
By Dana Priest and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, November 7, 2005; Page A01
Over the past year, Vice President Cheney has waged an intense and largely unpublicized campaign to stop Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department from imposing more restrictive rules on the handling of terrorist suspects, according to defense, state, intelligence and congressional officials.
Last winter, when Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, began pushing to have the full committee briefed on the CIA's interrogation practices, Cheney called him to the White House to urge that he drop the matter, said three U.S. officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/06/AR2005110601281.html


Supreme Court to Hear Tribunals Challenge
By GINA HOLLAND
The Associated Press
Monday, November 7, 2005; 11:09 AM
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider a challenge to the Bush administration's military tribunals for foreign terror suspects, a major test of the government's wartime powers.
Justices will decide whether Osama bin Laden's former driver can be tried for war crimes before military officers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan is seen in this undated file photo. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday Nov. 7, 2005 to consider a challenge to the Bush administration's military tribunals for foreign terror suspects, a major test of the government's wartime powers and a case presenting the first conflict for new Chief Justice John Roberts. Justices will decide whether Hamdan can be tried for war crimes before military officers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hamdan's case brought a new issue to the court, the rights of foreigners who have been charged and face a military trial. Lawyers for Hamdan were expected to ask Roberts to participate in the case, to avoid a 4-4 tie. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Prof. Neal Katyal, HO, File) (AP)
Chief Justice John Roberts, as an appeals court judge, joined a summer ruling against Salim Ahmed Hamdan. He did not participate in Monday's action, which put him in the difficult situation of sitting in judgment of one of his own rulings.
The court's intervention piles

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/07/AR2005110700562.html



For Many in Iraq, Death Is Quick and Capricious
Platoon Sergeant's Fate Turned on Factors He Could Not Calculate
By Steve Fainaru
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, November 7, 2005; Page A01
KIRKUK, Iraq -- His men called him "Big Daddy," and, for many of them, Sgt. 1st Class Robbie D. McNary was larger than life.
He stood more than six feet tall and weighed 240 pounds, with a thunderous laugh that filled up a room. His 22-year-old Humvee driver, Spec. Trent White, said McNary possessed "bear paws for hands" and "a heart the size of the world."
Sgt. 1st Class Robbie D. McNary, 42, was killed March 31 in the violent Iraqi city of Hawija
Graphic
Death in Iraq
A total of 2,035 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since March 2003. Their deaths came in many different ways, sometimes involving just bad luck or human frailty.
U.S. Deaths in Iraq
Map: U.S. Death Toll Reaches 2,000 A look at the fallen troops' home towns, ages, service categories and other particulars, as announced by the Defense Department.
White was one of the young National Guardsmen whom McNary, a gruff 42-year-old former Marine, often referred to as "my kids."
On March 31, in the small, violent city of Hawija near Kirkuk, White threw his Humvee into reverse, gunned it to knock down a garage door and, instead, crushed McNary, his platoon sergeant, between the five-ton vehicle and a warehouse their platoon was about to raid. Within minutes, as White sat frozen in the driver's seat, McNary had bled to death on a dirt road.
The growing number of U.S. military deaths, which reached 2,000 last month and has since risen to 2,035, underscores a grim reality: There are countless ways to die in Iraq.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/06/AR2005110600997.html

Since Bush seem to think there is no wall between Church and State this is a valid objection. Certainly a question that needs to be addressed by the Senate Committee.


Court Could Tip to Catholic Majority
Some Say Slant Is Dangerous; Others See Historic Victory
By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005; Page A03
If Samuel A. Alito Jr. is confirmed to the Supreme Court, a majority of its nine justices for the first time will be Roman Catholics -- a fact that, depending on whom you ask, marks the acceptance of a once-persecuted minority, reflects the importance of conservative Catholics to the Republican Party or means practically nothing.
Four Catholics currently serve on the court: Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and the new chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr. From the moment that President Bush announced Alito's nomination, there has been an undercurrent of debate about the prospect of a five-member Catholic majority.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/06/AR2005110601134.html

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