The gender of woman, across the spectrum of time brings with it a brevity that a child comes to understand from the first time a sibling is born or a doll is given as a gift. There is a certain 'responsiblity' that is uniquely female regardless of any other aspect of a genome.
From time beginning it was woman that 'fathered' the future. They 'toed the line' with a social understanding of their 'role' and their 'place.' Even in the earliest days of human existance women tended to gravitate to sedentary lifestyles. They primarily tended to their children with or without the help of men.
The earliest agrarians were women. When humans were hunters and gatherers, it was usually the woman with child in tow that gathered and stayed away from danger rather than hunted. Fishing was probably a venture worthwhile in fresh water streams but where the sea was wild and cruel, it was the Viking men that sailed to Iceland and Greenland to settle land unknown.
There are many places in anthropology where women worshiped their own image. Indeed, they built temples to gods that had big bellies and worshipped in caves that were considered wombs of the gods. Community started with women. They found it easier to raise children in a group for protection and provisions. Villages were not bi-gender until just before the great Greek society. As a matter of fact, women were invaded by roaming Hellenic tribes of men. They were already civilized farmers raising children from transient men. When the Hellenic tribes became less nomadic and more territorial the men settled in the villages of women. It was then the male gods were adapted to match the female gods. Eventually, these gods and goddesses were adopted into the Greek culture. That is why there are frequently Gods and Goddesses of the same rhelm.
The Hellenic Culture would lead to the Greek's Rhea and Hera along with Zeus whom were leaders of the Gods. Moms and Dad if you will. Aphrodite was the goddess of love, beauty. desire and sexuality. Apollo was healing, music and light with his golden chariot driving the sun across the sky. He literally made the sun rise and set according to mythology. Artemis was Apollo's twin sister and goddess of the hunt and protector of the young. She is the counter part to Aphrodite as the virgin goddess of chastity. Athena was a worrior but only to protect the homeland and invented the bridle to tame horses. She was the goddess of wisdom, reason and purity. She was Zeus's favorite and the only diety allowed to play with his weapons including thunderbolts. Demeter was the goddess of fertility and harvest while Dionysus is the god of the vine. Hades was the god of the underworld with his wife Persphone. The list goes on from there and as a consequence seems to have been carried forward even after the collapse of the Greek Empire into the days of Rome and the rise of the Roman Empire.
The exception to all this came to be known as monotheism. That 'occurred' with the tribes of Israel. Regardless, the worship of any peoples, the women were always set in a class alone. Romans closed their society by isolating what was coined as a 'real Roman,' a Patrician, a wealthy landowner. Roman culture only allowed marriages to each other and not any of the people they conquered. The royalty of Europe would share the same enthusiasm. Here again is the coveted uterus. The pure identity of a 'blue blood,' so to speak. The most egregious of coveted status still existing today is one of racism that carries with it stigmas for those that practice it for superior social status based on skin color. Imagine that. We all came from the same family tree but somehow a white woman's uterus is different from that of a black woman.
Virginity.
Virgin.
What exactly does it mean?
Something superior to other women?
Not hardly.
Virgin is a woman with an intact hymen. If a young woman happens to snap a hymen while riding horses, if there is such a thing, then they are no longer a virgin.
Another definition is a person who has not had sex with THE OPPOSITE GENDER. This term is primarily referring to women. Men are expected to be borne knowing about sex and practicing it from the time they suckle. A young mother might wonder if her disposable diaper is simply wet or a wet dream. Sorry, I just had to go there. So, to realize a virgin is a person that hasn't had sex with the opposite gender does that mean gays are always virgins?
As a matter of fact there are a lot of firsts:
-first kiss.
-first orgasm, which does not have to occur with the first kiss.
-first orgasm from/with another person "Look Ma, no hands!"
-first time in love, which does not have to occur at the first time one kisses or has sex.
-first time enjoyed sex. which does not have to occur with marriage.
-first pregnancy.
-and nearly anything else that a body can experience in the rhelm of pleasurable feelings.
Time warping a bit to early 1900 America, the 'struggle' of women to achieve 'status' was an entirely different issue. Status until the Sufferage Movement was primarily based on being married, having children and the role you took in the community including wealth. Oh, a woman could be educated but that rarely occurred anywhere except among the upper class. The Debutants. Even then the cultured were rarely business women so much as extensions of Daddy or Husband's wealth in carrying out benefits to society. Children first, you know.
I don't hate children. I have two of my own. I was not a teen bride and as you will read herein, the pregnancies were by choice. I have only been pregnant twice in my lifetime and both were carried to birth. I have been a devoted parent. It shows. They are both doing fairly well as young men. But, in a world where the parenting was mostly left to me, the achievements of a this woman was delayed and there are definately days when life just doesn't seem long enough.
My experience is not entirely unique, it is a proven fact that women enter politics in the USA a full ten years behind men. Politics is not my ambition.
That said, to take a look at the beginnings of the woman's movement is to realize it started with the Sufferage Movement. The Vote. There were primarily two women that would come to be known as the primary force behind change for women. Those two women were Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Cady Stanton was never celebrated in this country while the USA minted the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin. Cady is an interesting woman. Married. Family. Rarely traveled and then only with her spouse. Sometimes to Europe. Susan never married and travel frequently speaking to audiences. She was seen as the mover and shaker to the Sufferage Movement, but, it was Cady that was the real inspiration. The two women were very close friends while Cady's spouse frequently traveled away from home on business. It seemed as though every time he came home Cady would get pregnant.
Back in the day, pregnancy was serious business and for that reason Susan Anthony would come to appreciate the idea that women weren't supposed to be 'chattel' so much as persons with a say in life and a control over their responsibilities including that of the size of the family they raised. Cady would die before Susan with her adult children at her side and her spouse estranged from her. For that estrangement the community ostracized her and did not embrace her. Susan helped support the children with her income from speaking engagements.
After the Sufferage Movement, Black Men were first given the vote. Eventually that would be extended to women.
Birth control for women has always been an issue. Religion always sought to dictate past it. When my Grandmother of 94 years would speak to her granddaughters it was not to remove the precepts of religion but to insure they had a life and identity beyond that of a spouse.
She grew to know in the USA, she was first generation born in this country, that a promise of self fulfillment was extended to women as well as men. She was sorry her daughters didn't have careers or educations beyond high school. But, she insured every one of her forty grandchildren did have a college education and a career to fall back on.
She believed in birth control. It was against the teachings of her faith but she didn't care. She had been the mother of eleven children. She didn't want that for any of her daughters although she had many grandchildren. She certainly didn't want it for her granddaughters and it was 'the pill' that would be a common practice among the family of cousins. Not one child was born out of wedlock. And not one child was conceived before marriage. My grandmother was a very smart woman and prayed twice daily. She said, she didn't believe a man could ever understand the body or needs of a woman but only seek to be a part of her life and that of a family. She felt the goal of any of her grandchildren were to be competent as adults in a way that was pleasing to society while enjoying their own lives. None of her forty grandchildren ever saw a jail or prison. Heck, we rarely got traffic tickets.
Women have a right to the same opportunities as men. They have different bodies. Different hormones. Different physiology. That doesn't equate to oppression of the female will.
In order to achieve in life there needs to be a plan for parenthood. There is a difference between sexuality and pregnancy. The two do not equate. When my grandmother was a spouse she was a housewife and mother of eleven children. She rarely knew what a menstral cycle was. Women today have opportunity that was deprived of Elizabeth Cady Staton. They have status in this society that was not afforded to Mrs. Stanton. They have status even if they are single parents whom have never been married. Women pay taxes. They join the military. They serve in elected offices. They are professionals across the spectrum, cashiers, waitresses, flight attendants and very, very frequently single parents.
Women seek enjoyment and social fulfillment no different than their male counterparts and god damn it they like sex, too. Sexuality is a woman's right and an obligation to herself. That sexuality should never be oppressed or exploited but allowed to be expressed in the manner a woman feels comfortable. We consent to sex and expect to have rape taken seriously in all areas of life.
Reproductive freedom and responsible parenting is where sexuality needs to focus and not the 'idea' that a woman's life is better defined in childbirth without recourse to prevent it or stop it. A child is not a child until it is born. A woman, in my opinion, is socially raped when she does not have the options she needs to carry out life's goals in a manner she understands and chooses.
Whether married, single or divorced a woman's body is her own. I don't see 'CHOICE' as an option so much as a requirement in today's world and certainly not in any free society that values quality of life. The Oppression of Enforced Pregnancy is a social crime and should never be allowed again in this country or any other civilized country. Pregnancy is a medical condition requiring the attendance of a doctor and not a definition of womanhood.
Men and women are different and we should celebrate that difference but not by oppressing women into unwanted pregnancies.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
I have been all over this subject.
From clitorectomies in Africa to the history of the Salem Witch Trials and there is only one thing in common.
Societies covet women's bodies and their right to their autonomous life for the sake of ritual.
I don't care whether the ritual is 'sex object' or 'religious icon' the concept is the same; a woman's body belongs to society and not her.
We are never going back there again !
Composition to follow.
Societies covet women's bodies and their right to their autonomous life for the sake of ritual.
I don't care whether the ritual is 'sex object' or 'religious icon' the concept is the same; a woman's body belongs to society and not her.
We are never going back there again !
Composition to follow.
"I Am Woman" performed by Helen Reddy. Lyrics and Music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
You can bend but never break me '
cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul
I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman Oh,
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
You can bend but never break me '
cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul
I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand
Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman Oh,
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman
Where is the Rooster?
This isn't the Rooster. This is witch. It is also an irresponsible journalist as is the entire FOX news team.
That's not the Rooster either !
That is a ship of the desert otherwise known as a camel.
No. Not dessert. DESERT !
That's not a Rooster. That's Aaron.
Then again.
Hm.
No. No. We don't go there.
Where is the Rooster, Aaron?
So, what do you think? Bird flu maybe?
This is not a Rooster. This is how lake effects snow begin.
November 24, 2005.
Sault St. Marie, Michigan.
Current hourly weather conditions are PTCLDY, temperature of 1F, dew point -6F, relative humidity of 72%, winds are N15G23, barometric pressure 29.30R.Taken at Sault Ste Marie,MI - webcam image.
Now that is not a Rooster. That is the product of lake effect snows.
November 26, 2005. Wyandotte, Michigan.
4 feet of snow from Nov 23 to 24.
Morning Papers - It's Origins
Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Saturday, Nov. 26, the 330th day of 2005. There are 35 days left in the year.
1825, the first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, was formed at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.
1832, public streetcar service began in New York City. The fare: 12 1/2 cents.
1832 Mary Edwards Walker, American physician and feminist was born.
1883 Sojourner Truth, born Isabell Bomefree, an abolitionist and women's rights activist, dies in Battle Creek, MI. Explaining why she re-named herself, "The Lord gave me Truth because I was to declare the truth to the people."
1906 Theodore Roosevelt visits Panama, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to travel abroad.
1922 Creator of the comic strip "Peanuts," Charles Schultz is born.
1939 Singer Annie M. Bullock, known as "Tina Turner", who will win three Grammy awards, including record of the year for "what's Love Got to Do With It?" and star in films, is born in Brownsville, TN.
1940, the half million Jews of Warsaw, Poland, were forced by the Nazis to live within a walled ghetto.
1942, President Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing, beginning Dec. 1.
1942, the motion picture "Casablanca," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York.
1943, during World War II, the HMT Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,038 men were killed, including 1,015 American troops.
1950, China entered the Korean conflict, launching a counteroffensive against soldiers from the United Nations, the U.S. and South Korea.
1965 France successfully launches the Diamant-A rocket into space, becoming the world's third space power after the Soviet Union and the United States.
1970 Charles Gordone becomes first Black playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize for "No Place To Be Somebody".
1973, President Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she'd accidentally caused part of the 18 1/2-minute gap in a key Watergate tape.
1985, the space shuttle Atlantis roared into the nighttime sky over Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying seven astronauts on a seven-day mission.
Ten years ago: Senior U.S. officials declared the Dayton treaty on Bosnia was final, rejecting demands from Bosnian Serbs that provisions relating to the future of Sarajevo be changed.
Two men set fire to a subway token booth in Brooklyn, N.Y., fatally burning the clerk inside.
Five years ago: Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore in the state's presidential balloting by a 537-vote margin.
Haiti held its presidential election; former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide won by a huge margin.
One year ago: Leading Iraqi politicians called for a six-month delay in the Jan. 30 election because of spiraling violence; President Bush said, "The Iraqi Election Commission has scheduled elections in January, and I would hope they'd go forward in January." (The vote took place as scheduled.)
Missing in Action
1967 BRENNAN HERBERT O. O NEILL NE
1967 CONDIT DOUGLAS C. FOREST GROVE OR REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04 JAN 93
1968 HARTNESS GREGG DALLAS TX
1971 BEUTEL ROBERT D. TREMONT IL
1971 STEADMAN JAMES E. FORT COLLINS CO
November 25
1966 GARDNER GLENN V. SAN BERNARDINO CA JUMPED OVERBOARD
1966 NIEHOUSE DANIEL L. 04/12/67 ON PRG DIC LIST
1967 ABRAMS LEWIS HERBERT MONTCLAIR NJ RADIO CONTACT LOST REMAINS RETURNED 06/26/97
1967 HOLDEMAN ROBERT EUGENE WINCHESTER IN REMAINS RETURNED 06/26/97
1967 MIDGETT DEWEY A. CHESAPEAKE VA "ON PASS, ON WAY TO BEACH (AWOL)"
1967 SEARFUS WILLIAM HENRY LOS ANGELES CA
1968 FRANCISCO SAN D. BURBANK WA VOICE CONTACT ON GROUND
1968 MORRISON JOSEPH C. LEXINGTON KY VOICE CONTACT ON GROUND 11/92 - I.D'D IN PICTURES RELEASED BY VIETNAMESE-SHOWN DEAD AT CRASH SITE
1968 STAMM ERNEST ALBERT MEDFORD OR 03/13/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1968 THUM RICHARD COBB CLEVELAND HEIGHTS OH 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1971 THOMAS JAMES R. FORT WALTON BEACH FL
November 24
1963 CAMACHO ISSAC (IKE) EL PASO TX 07/13/65 ESCAPED ALIVE IN 98
1963 CODY HOWARD RUDOLPH GULFPORT MS
1963 MC CLURE CLAUDE DONALD CHATTANOOGA TN 11/28/65 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA
1963 RORABACK KENNETH M. BALDWIN NY 09/29/65 EXECUTED ON DIC LIST
1963 SMITH GEORGE E.(SMITTY) CHESTER WV 11/28/65 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA
1967 FOLEY BRENDAN P. NEW YORK NY NO RADIO CONTACT SAR NEG
1967 MAYERCIK RONALD M. EDISON NJ NO RADIO CONTACT SAR NEG
1969 BALAMONTI MICHAEL D. GLEN FALLS NY REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 BROWN EARL C. STANLEY NC REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 - IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 COMER HOWARD B. JR. JACKSONVILLE FL
1969 DE WISPELAERE REXFORD J. PENFIELD NY REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 FELLENZ CHARLES R. MARSHFIELD WI REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 GANLEY RICHARD O. KEENE NH REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 GREWELL LARRY I. TACOMA WA REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 MATTHES PETER R. TOLDEO OH REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95 BROTHER DOES NOT ACCEPT ID
1969 WHITE JAMES B. ST PETERSBURG FL
1969 WRIGHT DONALD L. MT SAVAGE MD REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1970 MC INTOSH IAN CANADA
Mom's Turkey Soup Recipe
Every Thanksgiving my mother takes what's left of the entire turkey and makes a delicious turkey soup that we enjoy for days.
The first step is to make the stock, which should get started right after dinner.
Making Stock
1) Remove all the usable turkey meat from the turkey carcass to save for making sandwiches later or for adding to the soup.
2) Put the leftover bones and skin into a large stock pot and cover with water. Add any drippings that weren't used to make gravy, any veggies like celery, onion, or garlic (not stuffing) that had been in the cavity of the turkey, and any giblets (except liver) that haven't been used already.
3) Add salt and pepper, about 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper. It sort of depends on how big your turkey is. You can always add salt to the soup later.
4) Bring to a boil and reduce heat to bring the stock to a high simmer.
5) Simmer uncovered at least 4 hours, occassionally skimming off the foam that comes to the surface. If you have started this soup in the evening, after 4 hours of simmering, turn off the heat, cover, and leave on the stove for the night. In the morning, turn the heat back on and bring to a high simmer for at least 10 minutes.
6) Remove the bones and strain the stock.
7) If making stock for future use in soup you may want to reduce the stock by simmering a few hours longer to make it more concentrated and easier to store.
Making the Turkey Soup
Prepare the turkey soup much as you would a chicken soup. With your stock already made, add chopped carrots, onions, and celery in equal parts. Add some parsley, a couple cloves of garlic. You can add rice or noodles (or not if you want the low carb version). Take some of the remaining turkey meat you reserved earlier, shred it into bite sized pieces and add to the soup. You may also want to add some chopped tomatoes, either fresh or canned. Add seasoning - poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram and/or a bouillion cube. Add salt and pepper to taste.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000151moms_turkey_soup.php
Western Morning News
ICE TRAPS 1,000 ON THE MOOR
More News Back to home page
11:00 - 26 November 2005
More than 1,000 people were trapped on an icy moor yesterday as gritters failed to combat the widely forecast Arctic blast.
A rescue operation continued late into the night. Emergency services battled to reach motorists on Bodmin Moor using four wheel drive vehicles, taking them to safety at hastily set up rescue centres. Ben Henwood, his wife Cara and their baby son Joseph (top left) were among those who were rescued. Mr Henwood said: "We were trying to go over the hill but we got stuck. A JCB type digger then dragged us out and took us to the nearby Tesco store."
As predicted, heavy snow swept across large parts of Devon and Cornwall, causing a spate of accidents which claimed two lives. And there was anger when it was revealed that gritters in Cornwall only began work at 2am.
Hundreds of children were stranded and were forced to spend the night at their schools.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144298&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144141&home=yes&contentPK=13573823&localNewsNodeId=144659
STANDSTILL AS THE BIG FREEZE ARRIVES
More News Back to home page
DAVID WILCOCK AND HAZEL MCALLISTER
11:00 - 26 November 2005
Hundreds of schoolchildren faced spending last night in their classrooms because of the appalling conditions.
Heavy snow and then ice meant that parents' cars and school buses were caught up in roads chaos, and were being advised by Highways officers and the police to avoid travel.
Education leaders decided that keeping children safe in the schools was the better option rather than trying to get them home.
Trevor Cooper, director of education services for Cornwall County Council, said: "We are concerned children are having to stay later at school but they are being looked after. The children are safer there rather than getting picked up and going out in road conditions which are very dangerous."
At one school, RAF helicopters were called to airlift food and supplies to staff and students.
Up to 300 students at Treviglas Community College in Newquay were trapped without food or drink.
Squadron Leader Dave Webster, from RAF St Mawgan, said they were helping those trapped at the school. "We have been asked to help 250 to 300 children who are trapped there without food or hot drinks," he said.
But he warned the helicopters might get grounded by bad weather as the night drew on. He said the snow was expected to become fog, then low cloud, making flying very difficult.
Treviglas was not the only school affected. Penair, Truro and Richard Lander Schools in Truro all still had pupils staying in classrooms last night.
Jean Ovington works at the Village Store in Newquay. Her two daughters, aged 21 and 16, were stranded more than 12 miles away at Truro College.
She said last night: "I only hope they can come back home tomorrow. They are quite grown up, but I still worry about them.
"Cars have been skidding on the main road out here and I've been told by customers who've been coming in here that lots of cars have been abandoned."
A number of students from Bodmin College, including 21 from the Greenfield Unit attached to the college, were also planning to spend the night at the college as they were unable to get home.
With buses and taxis not running and parents unable to collect them, the students were being given hot food and drinks. Sleeping bags and camp beds had been collected from the Bodmin Guide HQ to give them some comfort overnight. Medical supplies were being collected from the local doctor's surgery for those students unable to get home to vital medication.
The students were being supervised by a number of staff who also could not get home. Some had tried and had turned back. Students were watching videos in a classroom or some of the more hardy went outside to make a snowman.
Cornwall County Council education spokesman Trevor Cooper said about 1,000 youngsters were still stuck in schools last night, but that number was decreasing gradually.
It was possible that in one or two cases, youngsters would have to stay at their school overnight, but food and water was available.
He said youngsters were safer at school, supervised and in the warm and dry, than taking a chance outside in dangerous conditions.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144298&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144141&home=yes&contentPK=13573826&localNewsNodeId=144659
New York Times
Rise in Gases Unmatched by a History in Ancient Ice
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Shafts of ancient ice pulled from Antarctica's frozen depths show that for at least 650,000 years three important heat-trapping greenhouse gases never reached recent atmospheric levels caused by human activities, scientists are reporting today.
The measured gases were carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Concentrations have risen over the last several centuries at a pace far beyond that seen before humans began intensively clearing forests and burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.
The sampling and analysis were done by the European Program for Ice Coring in Antarctica, and the results are being published today in the journal Science.
The evidence was found in air bubbles trapped in successively older ice samples extracted from a nearly two-mile-deep hole drilled in a remote spot in East Antarctica called Dome C.
Experts familiar with the findings who were not involved with the research said the samples provided a vital long-term view of variations in the atmosphere and Antarctic climate. They say the data will help test and improve computer models used to forecast how accumulating greenhouse emissions will affect the climate.
Some climate experts not involved in the research said the findings also confirmed that the buildup of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe emissions was taking the atmosphere into uncharted territory.
The longest previous record of carbon dioxide fluctuations, compiled from ice cores collected at the Russian research station at Vostok, in East Antarctica, goes back slightly more than 400,000 years.
"They've now pushed back two-thirds of a million years and found that nature did not get as far as humans have," said Richard B. Alley, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University who is an expert on ice cores. "We're changing the world really hugely - way past where it's been for a long time."
James White, a geology professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, not involved with the study, said that although the ice-age evidence showed that levels of carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases rose and fell in response to warming and cooling, the gases could clearly take the lead as well.
"CO2 and climate are like two people handcuffed to each other," he said. "Where one goes, the other must follow. Leadership may change, or they may march in step, but they are never far from each other. Our current CO2 levels appear to be far out of balance with climate when viewed through these results, reinforcing the idea that we have significant modern warming to go."
The new data from the ice cores also provides the first detailed portrait of conditions during ice-age cycles that occurred more than 400,000 years ago - a point in Earth's two-million-year history of cold periods and warm intervals after which some unknown influence lengthened ice ages and shortened and amplified the warm periods.
Both before and after that transition, the ice record shows, there was always a tight relationship between amounts of the greenhouse gases and air temperature.
While the overall climate pattern has been set by rhythmic variations in Earth's orientation to the Sun, the records show that carbon dioxide and methane consistently made the interglacial climate warmer than it would otherwise have been, said Thomas Stocker, one of the researchers and a physicist at the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Last year, the same cores provided new evidence that the current warm period, the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago, is similar to the longer warm periods that were typical before 400,000 years ago, and could last at least another 16,000 years.
The European team is analyzing deeper, older sections of the Dome C ice cores, and the researchers said they might be able to take the climate record back 800,000 years, possibly providing information about yet another early warm interval similar to the Holocene.
The new long-term record is essentially creating a subset of climate science, letting scientists compare different warm periods. They can then sort out influences, including greenhouse gases, said Gavin A. Schmidt, a climate modeler at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/science/earth/25core.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1133010051-28E9yv9VmB2ee34JkWcDww
European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA)
EPICA is a multinational European project for deep ice core drilling in Antarctica. Its main objective is to obtain full documentation of the climatic and atmospheric record archived in Antarctic ice by drilling and analyzing two ice cores and comparing these with their Greenland counterparts. Evaluation of these records will provide information about the natural climate variability and mechanisms of rapid climatic changes during the last glacial epoch. More
http://www.esf.org/esf_article.php?activity=1&article=85&domain=3
The European Science Foundation promotes high quality science at a European level. It acts as a catalyst for the development of science by bringing together leading scientists and funding agencies to debate, plan and implement pan-European initiatives.
http://www.esf.org/index.php?language=0
NOAA Paleoclimatology
Welcome to the Paleoclimatology Branch. Paleoclimatology is the study of past climate, for times prior to instrumental weather measurements. Paleoclimatologists use clues from natural "proxy" sources such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, and ocean and lake sediments to understand natural climate variability. NOAA Paleoclimatology operates the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology and the Applied Research Center for Paleoclimatology, with the goal to provide data and information scientists need to understand natural climate variability as well as future climate change. Our international partners include the Past Global Changes Program of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, and the World Data Center system of the International Council of Scientific Unions. We also partner with several institutes around the world to promote the use of paleo data.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/
Battle Lines Set as New York Acts to Cut Emissions
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: November 26, 2005
ALBANY, Nov. 23 - New York is adopting California's ambitious new regulations aimed at cutting automotive emissions of global warming gases, touching off a battle over rules that would sharply reduce carbon dioxide emissions while forcing the auto industry to make vehicles more energy efficient over the next decade.
Stricter automotive rules are intended to curb greenhouse gas emissions from traffic-choked places like the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
The rules, passed this month by a unanimous vote of the State Environmental Board, are expected to be adopted across the Northeast and the West Coast. But the auto industry has already moved to block the rules in New York State, and plans to battle them in every other state that follows suit.
Environmentalists say the regulations will not lead to the extinction of any class of vehicle, but simply pressure the industry to sell more of the fuel-saving technologies they have already developed, including hybrid systems that use a combination of electricity and gasoline. And that, they say, will curtail one of the main contributors to global warming.
"The two biggest contributors to global warming are power plants and motor vehicles," said David Doniger, a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "If you deal with them, you deal with more than two-thirds of the problem."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/nyregion/26emissions.html?hp&ex=1133067600&en=c30a789fd51df52c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Small Leak at Indian Point Eludes Diver and Cameras
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: November 26, 2005
BUCHANAN, N.Y. - A drop of radioactive water leaks every minute from the pool that stores the spent fuel rods at Indian Point 2 here. The water is captured in a plastic sheet and then channeled into a plastic bottle for disposal. It adds up to a quart or two a day.
Federal officials and the plant's owners say there is no danger from the leaking water, which contains tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. But plant operators have still not pinpointed the source. And because the plant was built when detection systems were not required, the leak went unnoticed until discovered almost by chance when workers excavating around the pool noticed dampness in the surrounding dirt.
The leak, which was found in September, has been the latest worry for local officials and nearby residents concerned about the Indian Point nuclear reactors. It comes on top of repeated failures in tests of the plant's sirens, which are meant to warn of an emergency. Federal security experts also began a reassessment of the plant's security in September, which they have declined to discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/nyregion/26nuclear.html
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (of Britain)
The NDA is a non-departmental public body, set up in April 2005 under the Energy Act 2004 to take strategic responsibility for the UK’s nuclear legacy. Our core objective is to ensure that the 20 civil public sector nuclear sites under our ownership are decommissioned and cleaned up safely, securely, cost effectively and in ways that protect the environment for this and future generations.
We will lead the development of a unified and coherent decommissioning strategy, working in partnership with regulators and site licensees to achieve best value, optimum impact on local communities, and the highest environmental standards.
http://www.nda.gov.uk/About_the_NDA--Purpose_(9).aspx?pg=9
The NDA's vision is to be a world leader in safe, secure and environmentally sound nuclear clean-up. Engaging openly and transparently with our stakeholders will be critical to our success in achieving this ambition.
Our work will have implications for many people: from local communities to foreign companies. Existing employees may have specific concerns about how the new arrangements will affect them. Contracting firms may wish to bid for the many opportunities available in the new clean-up market. And all will want assurance that safety, security and environmental standards are maintained at the highest level.
Whatever your particular interest in clean-up, we hope to address your concerns as our work progresses.
http://www.nda.gov.uk/Stakeholder--Introduction_(31).aspx?pg=31
Spill in China Brings Danger, and Cover-Up
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: November 26, 2005
HARBIN, China, Nov. 25 - A toxic 50-mile band of contaminated river water slowly washed through this frigid provincial capital on Friday, leaving schools and many businesses closed, forcing millions of people to spend a third straight day without running water and raising fears of a long-term environmental disaster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/international/asia/26china.html?hp
Native Foods Nourish Again
By KIM SEVERSON
Published: November 23, 2005
Last week, Noland Johnson pulled the season's final crop of tepary beans from the piece of desert he farms on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, about 120 miles southwest of Tucson.
The beans look a little like a flattened black-eyed pea. The white ones cook up creamy. The brown ones, which Mr. Johnson prefers, are best simmered like pinto beans.
As late as the 1930's, Tohono O'odham farmers grew more than 1.5 million pounds a year and no one in the tribe had ever heard of diabetes. By the time Mr. Johnson got into the game four years ago, an elder would be lucky to find even a pound of the beans, and more than half of the adults in the tribe had the kind of diabetes attributed to poor diet.
While researchers investigate the link between traditional desert foods and diabetes prevention, Mr. Johnson grows his beans, pulling down 14,000 pounds this fall. Most will sell for about $2.50 a pound at small stores on the reservation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/dining/23nati.html
Sex and Chess. Is She a Queen or a Pawn?
Published: November 27, 2005
VANESS REID, a 16-year-old student from Sydney, Australia, runs cross-country, plays touch football, enjoys in-line skating, swims and goes bodyboarding. She also has a cerebral side: she plays competitive chess. She represented Australia at a tournament in Malaysia in 2002 and played in a tournament in New Zealand this year.
Alexandra Kosteniuk sells photographs of herself on a Web site.
While Ms. Reid is clearly no novice at the game, she isn't exactly taking it by storm. She is not on the World Chess Federation's list of the world's 50 top female players. In fact she is ranked 47,694th among both men and women. But Ms. Reid, who has auburn hair, light-blue eyes and a winning smile, is arguably the top player in the world based on a more subjective criterion: her looks. A Web site called World Chess Beauty Contest (www.1wcbc.com) ranks her as the world's most beautiful woman in the game.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/fashion/sundaystyles/27CHESS.html
The Anger and Shock of a City's Slave Past
By FELICIA R. LEE
Published: November 26, 2005
They have the awkwardness of amateur home videos: background noise, long silences, people looking away from the camera. But inside a booth at the New-York Historical Society, visitors to the exhibition "Slavery in New York" are recording their reactions, creating snapshot reflections on race and history in the nation's largest city.
"It allows our young people to understand, really, how this city was born and who carried the brunt of the prosperity that we see in New York, not only then but now," a black man from "Harlem, New York," said of the show, the largest in the museum's 201-year history. The man, who appeared to be in his 30's, said he wanted to know what businesses in the city today derived profits in the past from selling human beings.
A white lawyer went into the booth twice to sort out his feelings. "This has just been devastating," he said. As he looked at the exhibition's array of documents, he said, he realized that the some of the laws used to isolate and dehumanize enslaved black New Yorkers became custom after the laws vanished and "contributed to the way whites look at blacks," even today.
"It's striking for any of us who are New Yorkers to realize that the ground we touch, every institution, is affected by slavery," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/arts/design/26slav.html
A Revolutionary Channels His Inner Michael Moore
By NAZILA FATHI
Published: November 26, 2005
TEHRAN
FOR years, Massoud Dehnamaki was known widely as the feared enforcer of conservative rules that restricted freedom for women and society.
In recent years, however, he has emerged as Iran's Michael Moore, having directed a documentary on the taboo issue of prostitution and another forthcoming film on soccer as a metaphor of political struggle.
“I was always concerned about justice in society.”
- MASSOUD DEHNAMAKI
Reformists and conservatives alike harshly criticized Mr. Dehnamaki for making the first movie, "Poverty and Prostitution." Conservatives were furious that one of their own had not only highlighted an un-Islamic social pathology but seemed to sympathize with the prostitutes. Reformists believed he deliberately exaggerated the problem to make a case against easing Islamic law.
In an interview in his basement office in downtown Tehran, Mr. Dehnamaki said both camps had gotten it wrong, and denied that his views had undergone a radical transformation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/international/middleeast/26dehnamaki.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1133006814-6jqymYP5LZ8tytAwjztW3w
Korean Leaves Cloning Center in Ethics Furor
By JAMES BROOKE
Published: November 25, 2005
TOKYO, Nov. 24 - The South Korean researcher who won world acclaim as the first scientist to clone a human embryo and extract stem cells from it apologized Thursday for lying over the sources of some human eggs used in his work and stepped down as director of a new research center.
Hwang Woo Suk, the South Korean stem cell researcher who won world acclaim as the first scientist to clone a dog, Snuppy.
After months of denying rumors that swirled around his Seoul laboratory, the researcher, Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, confirmed that in 2002 and 2003, when his work had little public support, two of his junior researchers donated eggs and a hospital director paid about 20 other women for their eggs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/international/asia/25clone.html
Even Supporters Doubt President as Issues Pile Up
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: November 26, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 22 - Leesa Martin never considered President Bush a great leader, but she voted for him a year ago because she admired how he handled the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Selena Smith, an advertising agency director in Atlanta. "The war is more important to me now. What’s the plan? Give us something to hang our teeth on," she said.
"I don’t know if it’s any one thing as much as it is everything. It’s kind of snowballed," said Leesa Martin, a market researcher in Columbus, Ohio.
Then came the past summer, when the death toll from the war in Iraq hit this state particularly hard: 16 marines from the same battalion killed in one week. She thought the federal government should have acted faster to help after Hurricane Katrina. She was baffled by the president's nomination of Harriet E. Miers, a woman she considered unqualified for the Supreme Court, and disappointed when he did not nominate another woman after Ms. Miers withdrew.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/politics/26voices.html?hp&ex=1133067600&en=b1e80c1962e6090a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Bush Warms to Putin's Nuclear Offer on Iran
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:06 a.m. ET
BUSAN, South Korea (AP) -- President Bush told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that the United States supports a proposal from Moscow that could deny Iran the ability to produce nuclear weapons.
''It may provide a way out,'' National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said of the Russian plan, discussed during an hourlong meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents that ranged across a variety of difficult topics.
Putin is often criticized in the West for rolling back democratic progress by imposing state control of national broadcasters, scrapping elections for regional governors, and dismantling the Yukos oil company giant after its former CEO opposed the Russian leader.
U.S. officials' concerns have grown with the introduction of legislation last week in Russia's State Duma by members of Putin's party that would keep foreign non-governmental organizations from operating offices in Russia and deny foreign funds to Russian organizations that engage in certain political activities.
Two former vice presidential candidates, Republican Jack Kemp and Democrat John Edwards, had urged Bush to bring up the issue with Putin. ''If this proposal comes into force, the government will clearly have in its hands the authority to close down public organizations simply because it finds their views and activities inconvenient,'' Kemp and Edwards wrote Bush. They are co-chairmen of a Council on Foreign Relations task force on Russia.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush raised the matter with Putin but would not describe what he said. ''Sometimes there are issues that can be more productively discussed out of public view,'' he said.
The Bush-Putin session on the sidelines of the annual conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum emphasized their shared fight against terrorism, Moscow's aspiration to join the World Trade Organization by the end of the year, and the campaigns to stop North Korea and Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Russia, a key Iranian ally, has refused to support Bush's eagerness to go to the U.N. Security Council with suspicions Iran is trying to build a nuclear arsenal. Also, over U.S. objections, Russia is building a nuclear reactor for a power plant in Iran and says it believes Iran's assurances the plant is for civilian energy use alone.
But Bush praised Putin for several steps Russia has taken that ''would reduce the proliferation risks'' in Iran, Hadley said.
Russia has helped bring Tehran back into European-led negotiations over its enrichment of uranium and reached agreement with Iran that any spent fuel rods from the plant would be sent back to Russia. And Bush expressed support for a Russian plan that would allow Iran to convert uranium but move the enrichment process to a facility to be built for Iran in Russia, Hadley said.
In theory, that would deny Iran the capacity to produce weapons-grade uranium needed for nuclear weapons.
Though Iran has ''not surprisingly'' so far rejected the idea, Hadley said: ''We think that doesn't end it. This will be an issue we will return to.''
The pace of democratic progress under Putin's leadership has increasingly become a sour note in Bush's meetings with his Russian counterpart, clouding a relationship that quickly moved to a first-name basis and became stronger after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
But appearing in a hotel suite for their fifth meeting of the year, the pair projected only warm smiles and friendly chitchat. ''Hey Vladimir. How are you? Looking good,'' Bush said, tapping the Russian on the back.
''The dynamic in the room was very positive, very loose,'' White House counselor Dan Bartlett said.
As Bush and Putin projected solidarity, a crack appeared in the united front presented a day earlier by the president and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. Catching the White House by surprise, the South Korean Defense Ministry announced Friday it will include plans to bring home about a third of its 3,200 troops in Iraq when it seeks parliamentary approval for extending the deployment.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said the South Korean government will make a decision on troop deployment levels based on the situation in Iraq and domestic demands.
National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said no notice had been given to the Bush administration on an issue -- South Korea's contributions to the military coalition in Iraq -- that had been a positive topic of discussion in Bush and Roh's talks Thursday.
At the APEC meetings that got underway Friday in this port city, the 21 leaders were focusing on two items important to Bush. The leaders were hoping to make a strong statement capitalizing on their combined clout -- the countries represent nearly half of global trade -- to reinvigorate stalled talks on a worldwide free-trade pact. New WTO talks are set for next month in Hong Kong.
They also were pledging united efforts to reduce the risk of a global flu pandemic.
Outside at barricades near the meeting, riot police sprayed high-powered water hoses Friday to hold back about 4,000 demonstrators chanting ''No Bush! No APEC.'' Some demonstrators threw rocks and bamboo sticks at the police. The rally lasted several hours and 11 officers were injured, police said.
Bush was to attend the final APEC sessions Saturday, meet separately with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and then fly to Osan Air Base south of Seoul to speak to U.S. troops. Later in the weekend, he was to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing and stop in Mongolia to finish his four-country Asian swing.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Bush-Asia.html?hp&ex=1132376400&en=7b2ce3198fab6736&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Bombers Kill at Least 65 Inside Two Shiite Mosques in Iraq
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Nov. 18 - At least 65 people died in the Eastern Iraqi town of Khanaqin today after suicide bombers detonated explosives inside two Shiite mosques during Friday prayers.
Suicide bombers also killed at least six people near the Hamrah Hotel, a Baghdad hotel popular with international journalists. The dead were believed to be all Iraqis.
The attack in Khanaqin, about 90 miles northeast of Baghdad near the Iran border, occurred when the two mosques were full of worshippers, according to an Interior ministry official.
A third suicide bomber targeted a nearby bank in the town, which is mostly Kurdish and Shiite.
A member of the local council told Reuters that the death toll could eventually exceed 100 people.
Earlier this month, 30 people were killed at a Shiite mosque in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad.
The bombing today outside the Hamrah Hotel in central Baghdad destroyed a barrier wall designed to protect the hotel and blew out windows, but did not appear to cause structural damage.
A minivan rammed into the wall, creating a hole, Brig. Gen. Karl Horst told reporters. A flatbed truck tried to make its way through the hole to the hotel, but got stuck in rubble and exploded. "What we have here appears to be two suicide car bombs that attempted to breach the security wall in the vicinity of the hotel complex," Gen. Horst told reporters at the scene, according to The A.P.
Gunfire followed the blasts, which came less than a minute apart and could be heard throughout central Baghdad. An apartment complex next to the hotel was completely destroyed.
The death toll is likely to rise as authorities sift through rubble.
About 20 cars were destroyed and dozens of firefighters and soldiers searched for residents trapped beneath wreckage, Reuters reported. Distraught women in black veils slapped their heads as they surveyed the destruction.
Saad al-Ezi, a reporter who said he works for The Boston Globe, told The A.P. that he was inside the hotel during the attack.
"They were trying to penetrate by displacing the blast barriers behind the hotel and then get to the hotel," he said. "I woke up to a huge explosion which broke all the glass and displaced all the window and doors frames."
The Hamrah Hotel, which houses bureaus for the Chicago Tribune and several British newspapers, is one of the few places in Baghdad outside the Green Zone - the heavily guarded complex that is the American headquarters here - where westerners live.
Two other Baghdad hotels housing international reporters, the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, were the target of a suicide bombings in October.
In other violence, at least 32 insurgents were killed during battles with Iraqi and American forces in western Iraq, according to the United States military.
Timothy Williams contributed reporting from New York for this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/international/middleeast/18cnd-Iraq.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
Bombers Kill at Least 65 Inside Two Shiite Mosques in Iraq
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Nov. 18 - At least 65 people died in the Eastern Iraqi town of Khanaqin today after suicide bombers detonated explosives inside two Shiite mosques during Friday prayers.
Suicide bombers also killed at least six people near the Hamrah Hotel, a Baghdad hotel popular with international journalists. The dead were believed to be all Iraqis.
The attack in Khanaqin, about 90 miles northeast of Baghdad near the Iran border, occurred when the two mosques were full of worshippers, according to an Interior ministry official.
A third suicide bomber targeted a nearby bank in the town, which is mostly Kurdish and Shiite.
A member of the local council told Reuters that the death toll could eventually exceed 100 people.
Earlier this month, 30 people were killed at a Shiite mosque in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad.
The bombing today outside the Hamrah Hotel in central Baghdad destroyed a barrier wall designed to protect the hotel and blew out windows, but did not appear to cause structural damage.
A minivan rammed into the wall, creating a hole, Brig. Gen. Karl Horst told reporters. A flatbed truck tried to make its way through the hole to the hotel, but got stuck in rubble and exploded. "What we have here appears to be two suicide car bombs that attempted to breach the security wall in the vicinity of the hotel complex," Gen. Horst told reporters at the scene, according to The A.P.
Gunfire followed the blasts, which came less than a minute apart and could be heard throughout central Baghdad. An apartment complex next to the hotel was completely destroyed.
The death toll is likely to rise as authorities sift through rubble.
About 20 cars were destroyed and dozens of firefighters and soldiers searched for residents trapped beneath wreckage, Reuters reported. Distraught women in black veils slapped their heads as they surveyed the destruction.
Saad al-Ezi, a reporter who said he works for The Boston Globe, told The A.P. that he was inside the hotel during the attack.
"They were trying to penetrate by displacing the blast barriers behind the hotel and then get to the hotel," he said. "I woke up to a huge explosion which broke all the glass and displaced all the window and doors frames."
The Hamrah Hotel, which houses bureaus for the Chicago Tribune and several British newspapers, is one of the few places in Baghdad outside the Green Zone - the heavily guarded complex that is the American headquarters here - where westerners live.
Two other Baghdad hotels housing international reporters, the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, were the target of a suicide bombings in October.
In other violence, at least 32 insurgents were killed during battles with Iraqi and American forces in western Iraq, according to the United States military.
Timothy Williams contributed reporting from New York for this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/international/middleeast/18cnd-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1132376400&en=3624ad74a83bf438&ei=5094&partner=homepage
G.O.P. Forces Nearly $50 Billion in Budget Cuts Through House
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Friday, Nov. 18 - House Republican leaders were dealt a rare defeat Thursday as Democrats and 22 Republicans teamed up to kill a major health and education spending measure.
The 224-to-209 rejection of the $142.5 billion in spending on an array of social programs was the first time since the early days of the Republican takeover of the House a decade ago that the majority had come out on the losing end of such a vote.
Hours after the loss on the spending front, the leadership early this morning forced through a separate measure making nearly $50 billion in budget cuts over five years after massaging the plan to reduce opposition from Republican moderates. The vote was 217 to 215.
The struggle on the spending measure underlined the divide over spending policy confounding House Republicans as they struggle to provide relief for hurricane victims while placating party members alarmed about growth in federal spending.
It also focused attention once again on the difficulties of a leadership team that has been somewhat off balance since September, when Representative Tom DeLay was forced to step aside as majority leader after he was indicted in Texas.
In rebelling against the spending measure, Democrats and some Republicans said it fell woefully short of fulfilling federal commitments.
They pointed, for example, to $900 million in health care cuts that took a toll on the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and on rural health care. They opposed the elimination of $8 billion to prepare for a potential flu pandemic. And they pointed to a provision that would strip money from a variety of popular education programs and leave Pell Grants to college students frozen, as part of the first reduction in education spending in a decade.
"The Republican bill to fund our nation's investments in health, education and other important programs betrayed our nation's values and its future," Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said.
The narrow passage of the budget cuts this morning came after a couple of false starts in recent weeks and a bitter debate.
"Today we are simply slowing the future growth of government," said Representative Chris Chocola, Republican of Indiana, as the House opened debate. Mr. Chocola said the reductions, if translated to a typical family budget of $50,000, represented a savings of $50.
President Bush's press office issued a statement from Pusan, South Korea, where the president was meeting with leaders of Southeast Asia, praising the action on the budget cuts.
"I applaud the Republican Members of the House who passed a significant savings package that will restrain spending and keep us on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009," the statement said. "We will continue to fund our priorities in a fiscally responsible way and ensure that taxpayer money is spent wisely or not spent at all. I urge the House and Senate to reach agreement promptly on a spending-reduction package that I can sign into law this year."
Democrats said it was unfair to reduce spending on programs like food stamps and health care for the poor to offset the costs of the hurricanes.
"This is the cruelest lie of all," said Representative Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat who lost his home to Hurricane Katrina, "that the only way you can help people who have lost everything is by hurting somebody else."
In another indication of the turmoil in Congress, a tentative deal to extend the government's antiterrorism powers appeared in some jeopardy Thursday, as Senate Democrats threatened a filibuster in an effort to block the legislation.
In the Senate, Republicans claimed a victory early Friday morning as senators voted 64 to 33 to approve a $60 billion tax-cutting package. Republicans defeated Democratic efforts to impose a temporary tax on the sale of oil priced over $40 a barrel. Under the bill, energy companies would have been taxed 50 percent on profits not reinvested in increasing domestic oil and gas supplies.
Members of both parties said the health and education spending measure fell victim to a unusual confluence of legislative circumstances. Pressured by conservatives to show dedication to spending discipline, negotiators stripped the bill of special local projects sought by members, a decision that cut into support, because House members who were already unhappy with the cuts had no other incentive to back the bill.
"The combination of that was too much for them to swallow," Representative Jerry Lewis, Republican of California, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said.
Some Republicans sat stunned on the House floor after the vote, which threw a wrench into Republican plans to finish the spending measures and leave for the Thanksgiving break. Senior lawmakers were debating whether to reopen negotiations to fashion a bill that could pass, keep the programs operating under a yearlong stop-gap bill or try to add the measure to a must-pass Pentagon spending bill.
The defeat averted a Senate vote on the bill, which even the chief Senate negotiator, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, opposed. "There is a totally insufficient allocation on that bill, beyond any question," Mr. Specter said.
Over all, the House measure that was defeated called for spending more than $600 billion. But the vast majority of that money flows automatically through Medicare and other mandatory programs, so the battle was over the $142.5 billion for discretionary programs, an amount $164 million less than current levels.
The 22 Republicans opposing the bill represented a cross-section of ideologies and had a variety of reasons for objecting. Representative Bill Thomas, Republican of California, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he objected because of an unexpected acceleration in the timetable for halting Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for sexual impotence drugs.
Among Republicans from Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, only two broke ranks to oppose the bill. They were Representatives Nancy L. Johnson and Rob Simmons, both of Connecticut.
House supporters of the bill said that it provided a satisfactory level of federal support for health and education programs and that new fiscal restraint was called for, given the resources needed for the Gulf Coast hurricanes and the war in Iraq.
"Maybe it is not as much as you like," said Representative Ralph Regula, Republican of Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee responsible for the measure. "But there is a lot of good in there."
Democrats said the measure, which would have ended more than 20 programs and prevented the start of eight new ones, would shortchange Americans who need assistance at the very time the House and Senate were advancing new tax cuts that would benefit the more affluent.
"This is the day when the price of Republican tax cuts for the wealthy becomes quite clear," said Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/politics/18cnd-spend.html?hp&ex=1132376400&en=13f7c1ef9ea47b4a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Ignore the Man Behind That Memo
Published: November 16, 2005
Judge Samuel Alito Jr.'s insistence that the Constitution does not protect abortion rights is not the only alarming aspect of a newly released memo he wrote in 1985. That statement strongly suggests that Judge Alito is far outside the legal mainstream and that senators should question him closely about it. They should be prepared to reject his nomination to the Supreme Court if he cannot put to rest the serious concerns that the memo, part of a job application, raises about his worthiness to join the court.
When Judge Alito applied for a job with the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan, he submitted a Personal Qualifications Statement that outlined his approach to the law. That statement raises three major concerns:
First, he has extreme views on the law. Judge Alito said he was particularly proud of his work on cases that tried to establish that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." He did not merely oppose Roe v. Wade in the abstract - he worked to reverse it. He also noted his "disagreement with Warren Court decisions" in many important areas, including reapportionment. The reapportionment cases established the one-person-one-vote doctrine, which requires that Congressional and legislative districts include roughly equal numbers of people. They played a key role in making American democracy truly representative, and are almost uniformly respected by lawyers and scholars.
Second, Judge Alito does not respect precedent. Judicial nominees who appear extreme often claim that because they respect precedent, they will vote to reaffirm decisions they disagree with. When Justice Clarence Thomas, then a judge, was nominated for the Supreme Court, he told the Senate about his deep respect for precedent - and then immediately began voting to overturn important precedents when he joined the court. The Senate has specific reason to be skeptical about Judge Alito. Not only did he work to overturn Roe v. Wade, but he also said he had been inspired to go to law school by his opposition to Warren Court precedents - presumably by a desire to see them overturned.
Third, he is an ideologue. The White House has tried to present Judge Alito as an impartial judge without strong political views. But he said just the opposite in the 1985 statement. "I am and always have been a conservative," he wrote. He called himself a "life-long registered Republican" who contributed to "Republican candidates and conservative causes," including the National Conservative Political Action Committee, the super-PAC of the Reagan era. He strongly suggested that he would have been active in Republican politics if the law had not prohibited him, as a federal employee, from doing that.
Judge Alito is already trying to distance himself from the memo. He cannot say it was merely a lawyer's representation of an employer's views because it was undeniably a statement of his personal beliefs. He cannot call it an excess of youth because he was 35 when he wrote it. According to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat, Judge Alito told her yesterday that when he had written it he had merely been "an advocate seeking a job."
This is not very credible because the statement is entirely consistent with his full career. On the bench, Judge Alito has voted to uphold extreme limits on abortion and on other important rights, like freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Equally alarming is the notion that he fudged the truth to tell a potential employer what it wanted to hear. Senators should certainly keep this in mind when they try to decide whether to believe how he describes his views at his confirmation hearing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/opinion/16wed1.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fEditorials
Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: November 19, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Republicans and Democrats shouted, howled and slung insults on the House floor on Friday as a debate over whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq descended into a fury over President Bush's handling of the war and a leading Democrat's call to bring the troops home.
Speaker Dennis Hastert and Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt are seeking to tamp down the furor over a key Democrat's proposal to quickly withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
The battle boiled over when Representative Jean Schmidt, an Ohio Republican who is the most junior member of the House, told of a phone call she had just received from a Marine colonel back home.
"He asked me to send Congress a message: stay the course," Ms. Schmidt said. "He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/national/19military.html?ei=5094&en=22fde8be5c871982&hp=&ex=1132462800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1132407036-aqMNid9ogtfdUFTc+j/xOQ
For a G.M. Family, the American Dream Vanishes
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: November 19, 2005
FLINT, Mich. - Four generations of the Roy family relied on General Motors for their prosperity.
Over more than seven decades, the company's wages bought the Roys homes, cars and once-unimaginable comforts, while G.M.'s enviable medical and pension benefits have kept them secure in their retirements.
But the G.M. that was once an unassailable symbol of the nation's industrial might is a shadow of its former self, and the post-World War II promise of blue-collar factory work being a secure path to the American dream has faded with it.
After a long slide, it now looks like the end of an era. "General Motors, when I got in there, it was like I'd died and went to heaven," said Jerry Roy, 49 - who started at G.M. in 1977 and now works on an assembly line at a plant operated by Delphi, the bankrupt former G.M. parts unit that was spun off in 1999.
When Mr. Roy was hired at G.M., nearly three decades ago, his salary more than doubled from his job at a local supermarket. He traded in his five-year-old Buick for a new Chevy and since then he has done well enough to buy a pleasant house on a lake near Flint.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/business/businessspecial2/19generations.html?hp&ex=1132462800&en=cbda8d1c25ceee66&ei=5094&partner=homepage
New Orleans Utility Struggles to Relight a City of Darkness
By GARY RIVLIN
Published: November 19, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 18 - From his temporary headquarters on the top floor of the Hyatt Regency here, Daniel F. Packer, the chief executive of Entergy New Orleans, has a perfect vantage point for viewing the problem confronting his beleaguered utility company: lights twinkling in dozens of neighborhoods, but darkness spread across 40 percent of the city.
Daniel F. Packer, chief executive of Entergy New Orleans, outside his temporary headquarters. His company is pleading for a federal bailout.
Those vast stretches of New Orleans without access to electrical power represent the magnitude of work the utility must perform before the city can recover. Nearly three months after Hurricane Katrina, the afflicted areas include not only devastated sections of town like the Lower Ninth Ward but also neighborhoods that suffered relatively little water and wind damage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/national/nationalspecial/19power.html?hp&ex=1132462800&en=7dbcce835ab17239&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Iraqi Qaeda Leader Is Said to Vow Attacks on Jordan
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: November 19, 2005
AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 18 - The top leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has threatened to chop off the head of King Abdullah II and to attack tourist sites throughout Jordan, according to an audio recording posted Friday on a Web site. He also insisted that he never intended to attack a Muslim wedding in the triple suicide blasts that killed more than 60 people here last week.
A police officer in Amman, Jordan, watched Friday as a demonstration supporting the government passed by. Tens of thousands marched in reaction to the bombings of three hotels in the city last week.
The speaker on the recording, reportedly Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, appeared determined to answer critics of the attack from Jordan and elsewhere who have been outraged that he sent suicide bombers into the wedding reception.
"We want to assure you," Jordan's Muslim population is told, "that you are more beloved to us than ourselves."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/international/middleeast/19zarqawi.html?hp
DeLay Ex-Aide to Plead Guilty in Lobby Case
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: November 19, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Michael Scanlon, a former top official for Representative Tom DeLay and onetime partner of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has agreed to plead guilty in a deal with federal prosecutors, according to his lawyer. The deal reveals a broadening corruption investigation involving top members of Congress.
Criminal papers filed in federal court outlined a conspiracy that not only named Mr. Scanlon but also mentioned a congressman, identified only as Representative No. 1, as part of the exchange of favors from clients funneled to lobbyists and officials.
This was the first time that a member of Congress, identified by lawyers in the case as Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, has been implicated in criminal papers as part of the inquiry, which has sprawled from Indian casinos to the lucrative lobbying firms of Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon and then reached to the Republican leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/politics/19lobby.html?hp&ex=1132462800&en=2eb9cfeb888cb870&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Pakistan Times
US Turns Biggest Contributor: Donors Pledge 5.4 billion Dollars to Pakistan
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The International Donors' Conference Saturday pledged 5.4 billion dollars as assistance to the Quake-hit areas of Pakistan. At the end of day-long moot Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said it is almost near the level the country needs for relief and rehabilitation of the affected people. "The rough total we have as of now is 5.4 billion dollars," Aziz said while wrapping up the conference of about 70 countries, international financial agencies and aid groups. Pakistan had said it needed 5.2 billion dollars for reconstruction and ongoing relief after the October-8 quake that killed more than 83,000 people and made about three million homeless just before the onset of winter.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top.htm
Annan visits Azad Kashmir; Terms Situation as Serious
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan has described the situation in quake affected areas of Pakistan as serious and enormous and appealed to the donors community to respond generously for reconstruction and recovery.
He was addressing a news conference at Thori Camp near Muzaffarabad Friday along with President Pervez Musharraf after meeting the affected people and inspecting the arrangements made there.
He expressed the hope that the international community will support the affected people in a big way regardless of the distance as he said no one should be indifferent to the sufferings of these people.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top1.htm
US ship arrives with supplies for quake victims of Pakistan
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
KARACHI: US Navy ship the Pearl Harbour ferrying 140 tons of urgently needed earthquake donations arrived at Karachi port on second relief trip in a week. The ship has brought blankets and nonperishable food items donated by Pakistanis living in the United Arab Emirates.
The US carrier was greeted on arrival by a group of Pakistani disaster assistance volunteers who participated in the offloading of relief supplies. The 13 Pakistani youth, ages 15-21, were accompanied by a small group of their parents.
The young Pakistanis, who are currently volunteering in the nation’s relief efforts, spent a year studying at US high schools while living with American host families as part of the US State Department’s "Partnerships for Learning Youth Exchange and Study" programme.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top2.htm
Govt of Pakistan to ensure transparency in donations’ utilization: PM
PakistanTimes.net Staff report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said the government would ensure transparency in the utilization of donations by various countries and agencies for the post-quake relief and reconstruction efforts.
Talking to UNDP Administrator, Kemal Dervis who called on him here at the PM House, he said the funds would be audited by the Auditor General of Pakistan and an external auditor.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top3.htm
Benazir’s Swiss trial to figure in PPP London meeting
Pakistan Times Wire Service
ISLAMABAD: The trial in a Swiss court of Pakistan's ex-Prime Minister Ms Benazir Bhutto will figure in a meeting of the Central Executive Committee and Federal Council of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in London on November-27.
Ms Benazir is proceeding to Geneva to appear in the Swiss court in connection with the money laundering case on November-22.
This will be her second appearance. Not only government circles but many analysts believe that the verdict in the case will decide the political fate of the PPP chairperson.
For the past some time, Ms Benazir is taking the case very seriously. However, her spouse Asif Zardari hasn’t appeared before the court because of his continued illness.
By the time she would preside over the high level PPP meeting in the British capital, she would have appeared in the Swiss court. She would brief PPP leaders about the court proceedings.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top12.htm
Five injured by blast in NW Pakistan
Pakistan Times Wire Service
MANSEHRA: Five persons were injured on Friday in an explosion when relief workers were removing debris of a police station in Balakot.
Engineers were supervising the evacuation, when explosives went off under the rubble.
Five persons who sustained injuries were identified as Bilal, Wahid, Firoz, Said Rahman and an unidentified person.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top11.htm
China-US for reconciliation between Pakistan, India
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
BEIJING (China): China and United States both want to see reconciliation between Pakistan and India and make South Asia free of confrontation, said a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Liu Jianchao.
"We have a common position in regard to peace and development in South Asia", he said when asked about the impact of growing Sino-USA relationship on security situation in the region.
He said President George W. Bush’s visit to Beijing, starting from Saturday will increase consensus, expand exchange and cooperation and promote Sino-US constructive and cooperative relations in 21st century in an all-round way.
The talks to be held between the leadership of the two countries during the visit will cover wide-ranging issues of regional and international interest, he said adding," I cannot say what specific matters the two sides would going to discuss."
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top4.htm
India holds war games near Pakistan's border
Pakistan Times Wire Service
NEW DELHI (India): India’s military Friday staged a grand finale to major military manoeuvres, showcasing newly-acquired T-90 battle tanks and warplanes close to the border with Pakistan in the Thar desert.
The Indian military said New Delhi gave advance notice of the 14-day exercises codenamed "Operation Desert Strike" to Pakistan in line with a pact between the nuclear-armed rivals, who are engaged in a slow-moving peace process to end their decades-old feud over Kashmir.
"Such exercises show our capability and ability," said Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He said, however, the war games were not designed to intimidate India’s neighbours.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top16.htm
Do You Think...
The newest Indo-Pakistan Communiqué shall fetch durable Peace in South Asia?
Yes
3418 vote(s)
43.43%
No
4453 vote(s)
56.57%
Total number of vote(s): 7871
http://interactives.alxnet.com/cgi-bin/slither/Driver.py/InterActives/Poll/Poll.process
Shall Humanism Dominate?
By the Editor
KEEPING in view of the awful plight of Quake-hit people in Pakistan, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has drawn the attention of the world community towards the colossal losses that Pakistan has suffered as a result of the October 8 devastating earthquake and urged the affluent nations to come forward with financial assistance for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the affected areas.
Talking to newsmen on his arrival in Islamabad to attend the November-19 Donors’ Conference, he hoped that the world will respond generously and willingly to obviate the crisis.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/editorial.htm
Link TV to the Middle East
http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/streamsArchive/
Link TV to Iran
http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/countries/mosiran.php3
continued …
"Okeydoke"
History
Today is Saturday, Nov. 26, the 330th day of 2005. There are 35 days left in the year.
1825, the first college social fraternity, Kappa Alpha, was formed at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.
1832, public streetcar service began in New York City. The fare: 12 1/2 cents.
1832 Mary Edwards Walker, American physician and feminist was born.
1883 Sojourner Truth, born Isabell Bomefree, an abolitionist and women's rights activist, dies in Battle Creek, MI. Explaining why she re-named herself, "The Lord gave me Truth because I was to declare the truth to the people."
1906 Theodore Roosevelt visits Panama, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to travel abroad.
1922 Creator of the comic strip "Peanuts," Charles Schultz is born.
1939 Singer Annie M. Bullock, known as "Tina Turner", who will win three Grammy awards, including record of the year for "what's Love Got to Do With It?" and star in films, is born in Brownsville, TN.
1940, the half million Jews of Warsaw, Poland, were forced by the Nazis to live within a walled ghetto.
1942, President Roosevelt ordered nationwide gasoline rationing, beginning Dec. 1.
1942, the motion picture "Casablanca," starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, had its world premiere at the Hollywood Theater in New York.
1943, during World War II, the HMT Rohna, a British transport ship carrying American soldiers, was hit by a German missile off Algeria; 1,038 men were killed, including 1,015 American troops.
1950, China entered the Korean conflict, launching a counteroffensive against soldiers from the United Nations, the U.S. and South Korea.
1965 France successfully launches the Diamant-A rocket into space, becoming the world's third space power after the Soviet Union and the United States.
1970 Charles Gordone becomes first Black playwright to win the Pulitzer Prize for "No Place To Be Somebody".
1973, President Nixon's personal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, told a federal court that she'd accidentally caused part of the 18 1/2-minute gap in a key Watergate tape.
1985, the space shuttle Atlantis roared into the nighttime sky over Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying seven astronauts on a seven-day mission.
Ten years ago: Senior U.S. officials declared the Dayton treaty on Bosnia was final, rejecting demands from Bosnian Serbs that provisions relating to the future of Sarajevo be changed.
Two men set fire to a subway token booth in Brooklyn, N.Y., fatally burning the clerk inside.
Five years ago: Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris certified George W. Bush the winner over Al Gore in the state's presidential balloting by a 537-vote margin.
Haiti held its presidential election; former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide won by a huge margin.
One year ago: Leading Iraqi politicians called for a six-month delay in the Jan. 30 election because of spiraling violence; President Bush said, "The Iraqi Election Commission has scheduled elections in January, and I would hope they'd go forward in January." (The vote took place as scheduled.)
Missing in Action
1967 BRENNAN HERBERT O. O NEILL NE
1967 CONDIT DOUGLAS C. FOREST GROVE OR REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04 JAN 93
1968 HARTNESS GREGG DALLAS TX
1971 BEUTEL ROBERT D. TREMONT IL
1971 STEADMAN JAMES E. FORT COLLINS CO
November 25
1966 GARDNER GLENN V. SAN BERNARDINO CA JUMPED OVERBOARD
1966 NIEHOUSE DANIEL L. 04/12/67 ON PRG DIC LIST
1967 ABRAMS LEWIS HERBERT MONTCLAIR NJ RADIO CONTACT LOST REMAINS RETURNED 06/26/97
1967 HOLDEMAN ROBERT EUGENE WINCHESTER IN REMAINS RETURNED 06/26/97
1967 MIDGETT DEWEY A. CHESAPEAKE VA "ON PASS, ON WAY TO BEACH (AWOL)"
1967 SEARFUS WILLIAM HENRY LOS ANGELES CA
1968 FRANCISCO SAN D. BURBANK WA VOICE CONTACT ON GROUND
1968 MORRISON JOSEPH C. LEXINGTON KY VOICE CONTACT ON GROUND 11/92 - I.D'D IN PICTURES RELEASED BY VIETNAMESE-SHOWN DEAD AT CRASH SITE
1968 STAMM ERNEST ALBERT MEDFORD OR 03/13/74 REMAINS RETURNED
1968 THUM RICHARD COBB CLEVELAND HEIGHTS OH 09/30/77 REMAINS RETURNED BY SRV
1971 THOMAS JAMES R. FORT WALTON BEACH FL
November 24
1963 CAMACHO ISSAC (IKE) EL PASO TX 07/13/65 ESCAPED ALIVE IN 98
1963 CODY HOWARD RUDOLPH GULFPORT MS
1963 MC CLURE CLAUDE DONALD CHATTANOOGA TN 11/28/65 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA
1963 RORABACK KENNETH M. BALDWIN NY 09/29/65 EXECUTED ON DIC LIST
1963 SMITH GEORGE E.(SMITTY) CHESTER WV 11/28/65 RELEASED IN CAMBODIA
1967 FOLEY BRENDAN P. NEW YORK NY NO RADIO CONTACT SAR NEG
1967 MAYERCIK RONALD M. EDISON NJ NO RADIO CONTACT SAR NEG
1969 BALAMONTI MICHAEL D. GLEN FALLS NY REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 BROWN EARL C. STANLEY NC REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 - IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 COMER HOWARD B. JR. JACKSONVILLE FL
1969 DE WISPELAERE REXFORD J. PENFIELD NY REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 FELLENZ CHARLES R. MARSHFIELD WI REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 GANLEY RICHARD O. KEENE NH REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 GREWELL LARRY I. TACOMA WA REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1969 MATTHES PETER R. TOLDEO OH REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95 BROTHER DOES NOT ACCEPT ID
1969 WHITE JAMES B. ST PETERSBURG FL
1969 WRIGHT DONALD L. MT SAVAGE MD REMAINS RETURNED 11/93 IDENTIFIED 10/95
1970 MC INTOSH IAN CANADA
Mom's Turkey Soup Recipe
Every Thanksgiving my mother takes what's left of the entire turkey and makes a delicious turkey soup that we enjoy for days.
The first step is to make the stock, which should get started right after dinner.
Making Stock
1) Remove all the usable turkey meat from the turkey carcass to save for making sandwiches later or for adding to the soup.
2) Put the leftover bones and skin into a large stock pot and cover with water. Add any drippings that weren't used to make gravy, any veggies like celery, onion, or garlic (not stuffing) that had been in the cavity of the turkey, and any giblets (except liver) that haven't been used already.
3) Add salt and pepper, about 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper. It sort of depends on how big your turkey is. You can always add salt to the soup later.
4) Bring to a boil and reduce heat to bring the stock to a high simmer.
5) Simmer uncovered at least 4 hours, occassionally skimming off the foam that comes to the surface. If you have started this soup in the evening, after 4 hours of simmering, turn off the heat, cover, and leave on the stove for the night. In the morning, turn the heat back on and bring to a high simmer for at least 10 minutes.
6) Remove the bones and strain the stock.
7) If making stock for future use in soup you may want to reduce the stock by simmering a few hours longer to make it more concentrated and easier to store.
Making the Turkey Soup
Prepare the turkey soup much as you would a chicken soup. With your stock already made, add chopped carrots, onions, and celery in equal parts. Add some parsley, a couple cloves of garlic. You can add rice or noodles (or not if you want the low carb version). Take some of the remaining turkey meat you reserved earlier, shred it into bite sized pieces and add to the soup. You may also want to add some chopped tomatoes, either fresh or canned. Add seasoning - poultry seasoning, sage, thyme, marjoram and/or a bouillion cube. Add salt and pepper to taste.
http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000151moms_turkey_soup.php
Western Morning News
ICE TRAPS 1,000 ON THE MOOR
More News Back to home page
11:00 - 26 November 2005
More than 1,000 people were trapped on an icy moor yesterday as gritters failed to combat the widely forecast Arctic blast.
A rescue operation continued late into the night. Emergency services battled to reach motorists on Bodmin Moor using four wheel drive vehicles, taking them to safety at hastily set up rescue centres. Ben Henwood, his wife Cara and their baby son Joseph (top left) were among those who were rescued. Mr Henwood said: "We were trying to go over the hill but we got stuck. A JCB type digger then dragged us out and took us to the nearby Tesco store."
As predicted, heavy snow swept across large parts of Devon and Cornwall, causing a spate of accidents which claimed two lives. And there was anger when it was revealed that gritters in Cornwall only began work at 2am.
Hundreds of children were stranded and were forced to spend the night at their schools.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144298&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144141&home=yes&contentPK=13573823&localNewsNodeId=144659
STANDSTILL AS THE BIG FREEZE ARRIVES
More News Back to home page
DAVID WILCOCK AND HAZEL MCALLISTER
11:00 - 26 November 2005
Hundreds of schoolchildren faced spending last night in their classrooms because of the appalling conditions.
Heavy snow and then ice meant that parents' cars and school buses were caught up in roads chaos, and were being advised by Highways officers and the police to avoid travel.
Education leaders decided that keeping children safe in the schools was the better option rather than trying to get them home.
Trevor Cooper, director of education services for Cornwall County Council, said: "We are concerned children are having to stay later at school but they are being looked after. The children are safer there rather than getting picked up and going out in road conditions which are very dangerous."
At one school, RAF helicopters were called to airlift food and supplies to staff and students.
Up to 300 students at Treviglas Community College in Newquay were trapped without food or drink.
Squadron Leader Dave Webster, from RAF St Mawgan, said they were helping those trapped at the school. "We have been asked to help 250 to 300 children who are trapped there without food or hot drinks," he said.
But he warned the helicopters might get grounded by bad weather as the night drew on. He said the snow was expected to become fog, then low cloud, making flying very difficult.
Treviglas was not the only school affected. Penair, Truro and Richard Lander Schools in Truro all still had pupils staying in classrooms last night.
Jean Ovington works at the Village Store in Newquay. Her two daughters, aged 21 and 16, were stranded more than 12 miles away at Truro College.
She said last night: "I only hope they can come back home tomorrow. They are quite grown up, but I still worry about them.
"Cars have been skidding on the main road out here and I've been told by customers who've been coming in here that lots of cars have been abandoned."
A number of students from Bodmin College, including 21 from the Greenfield Unit attached to the college, were also planning to spend the night at the college as they were unable to get home.
With buses and taxis not running and parents unable to collect them, the students were being given hot food and drinks. Sleeping bags and camp beds had been collected from the Bodmin Guide HQ to give them some comfort overnight. Medical supplies were being collected from the local doctor's surgery for those students unable to get home to vital medication.
The students were being supervised by a number of staff who also could not get home. Some had tried and had turned back. Students were watching videos in a classroom or some of the more hardy went outside to make a snowman.
Cornwall County Council education spokesman Trevor Cooper said about 1,000 youngsters were still stuck in schools last night, but that number was decreasing gradually.
It was possible that in one or two cases, youngsters would have to stay at their school overnight, but food and water was available.
He said youngsters were safer at school, supervised and in the warm and dry, than taking a chance outside in dangerous conditions.
http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=144298&command=displayContent&sourceNode=144141&home=yes&contentPK=13573826&localNewsNodeId=144659
New York Times
Rise in Gases Unmatched by a History in Ancient Ice
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Shafts of ancient ice pulled from Antarctica's frozen depths show that for at least 650,000 years three important heat-trapping greenhouse gases never reached recent atmospheric levels caused by human activities, scientists are reporting today.
The measured gases were carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Concentrations have risen over the last several centuries at a pace far beyond that seen before humans began intensively clearing forests and burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.
The sampling and analysis were done by the European Program for Ice Coring in Antarctica, and the results are being published today in the journal Science.
The evidence was found in air bubbles trapped in successively older ice samples extracted from a nearly two-mile-deep hole drilled in a remote spot in East Antarctica called Dome C.
Experts familiar with the findings who were not involved with the research said the samples provided a vital long-term view of variations in the atmosphere and Antarctic climate. They say the data will help test and improve computer models used to forecast how accumulating greenhouse emissions will affect the climate.
Some climate experts not involved in the research said the findings also confirmed that the buildup of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping smokestack and tailpipe emissions was taking the atmosphere into uncharted territory.
The longest previous record of carbon dioxide fluctuations, compiled from ice cores collected at the Russian research station at Vostok, in East Antarctica, goes back slightly more than 400,000 years.
"They've now pushed back two-thirds of a million years and found that nature did not get as far as humans have," said Richard B. Alley, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University who is an expert on ice cores. "We're changing the world really hugely - way past where it's been for a long time."
James White, a geology professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, not involved with the study, said that although the ice-age evidence showed that levels of carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases rose and fell in response to warming and cooling, the gases could clearly take the lead as well.
"CO2 and climate are like two people handcuffed to each other," he said. "Where one goes, the other must follow. Leadership may change, or they may march in step, but they are never far from each other. Our current CO2 levels appear to be far out of balance with climate when viewed through these results, reinforcing the idea that we have significant modern warming to go."
The new data from the ice cores also provides the first detailed portrait of conditions during ice-age cycles that occurred more than 400,000 years ago - a point in Earth's two-million-year history of cold periods and warm intervals after which some unknown influence lengthened ice ages and shortened and amplified the warm periods.
Both before and after that transition, the ice record shows, there was always a tight relationship between amounts of the greenhouse gases and air temperature.
While the overall climate pattern has been set by rhythmic variations in Earth's orientation to the Sun, the records show that carbon dioxide and methane consistently made the interglacial climate warmer than it would otherwise have been, said Thomas Stocker, one of the researchers and a physicist at the University of Bern in Switzerland.
Last year, the same cores provided new evidence that the current warm period, the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago, is similar to the longer warm periods that were typical before 400,000 years ago, and could last at least another 16,000 years.
The European team is analyzing deeper, older sections of the Dome C ice cores, and the researchers said they might be able to take the climate record back 800,000 years, possibly providing information about yet another early warm interval similar to the Holocene.
The new long-term record is essentially creating a subset of climate science, letting scientists compare different warm periods. They can then sort out influences, including greenhouse gases, said Gavin A. Schmidt, a climate modeler at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/science/earth/25core.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1133010051-28E9yv9VmB2ee34JkWcDww
European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA)
EPICA is a multinational European project for deep ice core drilling in Antarctica. Its main objective is to obtain full documentation of the climatic and atmospheric record archived in Antarctic ice by drilling and analyzing two ice cores and comparing these with their Greenland counterparts. Evaluation of these records will provide information about the natural climate variability and mechanisms of rapid climatic changes during the last glacial epoch. More
http://www.esf.org/esf_article.php?activity=1&article=85&domain=3
The European Science Foundation promotes high quality science at a European level. It acts as a catalyst for the development of science by bringing together leading scientists and funding agencies to debate, plan and implement pan-European initiatives.
http://www.esf.org/index.php?language=0
NOAA Paleoclimatology
Welcome to the Paleoclimatology Branch. Paleoclimatology is the study of past climate, for times prior to instrumental weather measurements. Paleoclimatologists use clues from natural "proxy" sources such as tree rings, ice cores, corals, and ocean and lake sediments to understand natural climate variability. NOAA Paleoclimatology operates the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology and the Applied Research Center for Paleoclimatology, with the goal to provide data and information scientists need to understand natural climate variability as well as future climate change. Our international partners include the Past Global Changes Program of the International Geosphere Biosphere Programme, and the World Data Center system of the International Council of Scientific Unions. We also partner with several institutes around the world to promote the use of paleo data.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/
Battle Lines Set as New York Acts to Cut Emissions
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: November 26, 2005
ALBANY, Nov. 23 - New York is adopting California's ambitious new regulations aimed at cutting automotive emissions of global warming gases, touching off a battle over rules that would sharply reduce carbon dioxide emissions while forcing the auto industry to make vehicles more energy efficient over the next decade.
Stricter automotive rules are intended to curb greenhouse gas emissions from traffic-choked places like the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
The rules, passed this month by a unanimous vote of the State Environmental Board, are expected to be adopted across the Northeast and the West Coast. But the auto industry has already moved to block the rules in New York State, and plans to battle them in every other state that follows suit.
Environmentalists say the regulations will not lead to the extinction of any class of vehicle, but simply pressure the industry to sell more of the fuel-saving technologies they have already developed, including hybrid systems that use a combination of electricity and gasoline. And that, they say, will curtail one of the main contributors to global warming.
"The two biggest contributors to global warming are power plants and motor vehicles," said David Doniger, a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "If you deal with them, you deal with more than two-thirds of the problem."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/nyregion/26emissions.html?hp&ex=1133067600&en=c30a789fd51df52c&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Small Leak at Indian Point Eludes Diver and Cameras
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: November 26, 2005
BUCHANAN, N.Y. - A drop of radioactive water leaks every minute from the pool that stores the spent fuel rods at Indian Point 2 here. The water is captured in a plastic sheet and then channeled into a plastic bottle for disposal. It adds up to a quart or two a day.
Federal officials and the plant's owners say there is no danger from the leaking water, which contains tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. But plant operators have still not pinpointed the source. And because the plant was built when detection systems were not required, the leak went unnoticed until discovered almost by chance when workers excavating around the pool noticed dampness in the surrounding dirt.
The leak, which was found in September, has been the latest worry for local officials and nearby residents concerned about the Indian Point nuclear reactors. It comes on top of repeated failures in tests of the plant's sirens, which are meant to warn of an emergency. Federal security experts also began a reassessment of the plant's security in September, which they have declined to discuss.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/nyregion/26nuclear.html
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (of Britain)
The NDA is a non-departmental public body, set up in April 2005 under the Energy Act 2004 to take strategic responsibility for the UK’s nuclear legacy. Our core objective is to ensure that the 20 civil public sector nuclear sites under our ownership are decommissioned and cleaned up safely, securely, cost effectively and in ways that protect the environment for this and future generations.
We will lead the development of a unified and coherent decommissioning strategy, working in partnership with regulators and site licensees to achieve best value, optimum impact on local communities, and the highest environmental standards.
http://www.nda.gov.uk/About_the_NDA--Purpose_(9).aspx?pg=9
The NDA's vision is to be a world leader in safe, secure and environmentally sound nuclear clean-up. Engaging openly and transparently with our stakeholders will be critical to our success in achieving this ambition.
Our work will have implications for many people: from local communities to foreign companies. Existing employees may have specific concerns about how the new arrangements will affect them. Contracting firms may wish to bid for the many opportunities available in the new clean-up market. And all will want assurance that safety, security and environmental standards are maintained at the highest level.
Whatever your particular interest in clean-up, we hope to address your concerns as our work progresses.
http://www.nda.gov.uk/Stakeholder--Introduction_(31).aspx?pg=31
Spill in China Brings Danger, and Cover-Up
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: November 26, 2005
HARBIN, China, Nov. 25 - A toxic 50-mile band of contaminated river water slowly washed through this frigid provincial capital on Friday, leaving schools and many businesses closed, forcing millions of people to spend a third straight day without running water and raising fears of a long-term environmental disaster.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/international/asia/26china.html?hp
Native Foods Nourish Again
By KIM SEVERSON
Published: November 23, 2005
Last week, Noland Johnson pulled the season's final crop of tepary beans from the piece of desert he farms on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, about 120 miles southwest of Tucson.
The beans look a little like a flattened black-eyed pea. The white ones cook up creamy. The brown ones, which Mr. Johnson prefers, are best simmered like pinto beans.
As late as the 1930's, Tohono O'odham farmers grew more than 1.5 million pounds a year and no one in the tribe had ever heard of diabetes. By the time Mr. Johnson got into the game four years ago, an elder would be lucky to find even a pound of the beans, and more than half of the adults in the tribe had the kind of diabetes attributed to poor diet.
While researchers investigate the link between traditional desert foods and diabetes prevention, Mr. Johnson grows his beans, pulling down 14,000 pounds this fall. Most will sell for about $2.50 a pound at small stores on the reservation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/dining/23nati.html
Sex and Chess. Is She a Queen or a Pawn?
Published: November 27, 2005
VANESS REID, a 16-year-old student from Sydney, Australia, runs cross-country, plays touch football, enjoys in-line skating, swims and goes bodyboarding. She also has a cerebral side: she plays competitive chess. She represented Australia at a tournament in Malaysia in 2002 and played in a tournament in New Zealand this year.
Alexandra Kosteniuk sells photographs of herself on a Web site.
While Ms. Reid is clearly no novice at the game, she isn't exactly taking it by storm. She is not on the World Chess Federation's list of the world's 50 top female players. In fact she is ranked 47,694th among both men and women. But Ms. Reid, who has auburn hair, light-blue eyes and a winning smile, is arguably the top player in the world based on a more subjective criterion: her looks. A Web site called World Chess Beauty Contest (www.1wcbc.com) ranks her as the world's most beautiful woman in the game.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/fashion/sundaystyles/27CHESS.html
The Anger and Shock of a City's Slave Past
By FELICIA R. LEE
Published: November 26, 2005
They have the awkwardness of amateur home videos: background noise, long silences, people looking away from the camera. But inside a booth at the New-York Historical Society, visitors to the exhibition "Slavery in New York" are recording their reactions, creating snapshot reflections on race and history in the nation's largest city.
"It allows our young people to understand, really, how this city was born and who carried the brunt of the prosperity that we see in New York, not only then but now," a black man from "Harlem, New York," said of the show, the largest in the museum's 201-year history. The man, who appeared to be in his 30's, said he wanted to know what businesses in the city today derived profits in the past from selling human beings.
A white lawyer went into the booth twice to sort out his feelings. "This has just been devastating," he said. As he looked at the exhibition's array of documents, he said, he realized that the some of the laws used to isolate and dehumanize enslaved black New Yorkers became custom after the laws vanished and "contributed to the way whites look at blacks," even today.
"It's striking for any of us who are New Yorkers to realize that the ground we touch, every institution, is affected by slavery," he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/arts/design/26slav.html
A Revolutionary Channels His Inner Michael Moore
By NAZILA FATHI
Published: November 26, 2005
TEHRAN
FOR years, Massoud Dehnamaki was known widely as the feared enforcer of conservative rules that restricted freedom for women and society.
In recent years, however, he has emerged as Iran's Michael Moore, having directed a documentary on the taboo issue of prostitution and another forthcoming film on soccer as a metaphor of political struggle.
“I was always concerned about justice in society.”
- MASSOUD DEHNAMAKI
Reformists and conservatives alike harshly criticized Mr. Dehnamaki for making the first movie, "Poverty and Prostitution." Conservatives were furious that one of their own had not only highlighted an un-Islamic social pathology but seemed to sympathize with the prostitutes. Reformists believed he deliberately exaggerated the problem to make a case against easing Islamic law.
In an interview in his basement office in downtown Tehran, Mr. Dehnamaki said both camps had gotten it wrong, and denied that his views had undergone a radical transformation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/international/middleeast/26dehnamaki.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1133006814-6jqymYP5LZ8tytAwjztW3w
Korean Leaves Cloning Center in Ethics Furor
By JAMES BROOKE
Published: November 25, 2005
TOKYO, Nov. 24 - The South Korean researcher who won world acclaim as the first scientist to clone a human embryo and extract stem cells from it apologized Thursday for lying over the sources of some human eggs used in his work and stepped down as director of a new research center.
Hwang Woo Suk, the South Korean stem cell researcher who won world acclaim as the first scientist to clone a dog, Snuppy.
After months of denying rumors that swirled around his Seoul laboratory, the researcher, Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, confirmed that in 2002 and 2003, when his work had little public support, two of his junior researchers donated eggs and a hospital director paid about 20 other women for their eggs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/25/international/asia/25clone.html
Even Supporters Doubt President as Issues Pile Up
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: November 26, 2005
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 22 - Leesa Martin never considered President Bush a great leader, but she voted for him a year ago because she admired how he handled the terrorist attacks of 2001.
Selena Smith, an advertising agency director in Atlanta. "The war is more important to me now. What’s the plan? Give us something to hang our teeth on," she said.
"I don’t know if it’s any one thing as much as it is everything. It’s kind of snowballed," said Leesa Martin, a market researcher in Columbus, Ohio.
Then came the past summer, when the death toll from the war in Iraq hit this state particularly hard: 16 marines from the same battalion killed in one week. She thought the federal government should have acted faster to help after Hurricane Katrina. She was baffled by the president's nomination of Harriet E. Miers, a woman she considered unqualified for the Supreme Court, and disappointed when he did not nominate another woman after Ms. Miers withdrew.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/politics/26voices.html?hp&ex=1133067600&en=b1e80c1962e6090a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Bush Warms to Putin's Nuclear Offer on Iran
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:06 a.m. ET
BUSAN, South Korea (AP) -- President Bush told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that the United States supports a proposal from Moscow that could deny Iran the ability to produce nuclear weapons.
''It may provide a way out,'' National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said of the Russian plan, discussed during an hourlong meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents that ranged across a variety of difficult topics.
Putin is often criticized in the West for rolling back democratic progress by imposing state control of national broadcasters, scrapping elections for regional governors, and dismantling the Yukos oil company giant after its former CEO opposed the Russian leader.
U.S. officials' concerns have grown with the introduction of legislation last week in Russia's State Duma by members of Putin's party that would keep foreign non-governmental organizations from operating offices in Russia and deny foreign funds to Russian organizations that engage in certain political activities.
Two former vice presidential candidates, Republican Jack Kemp and Democrat John Edwards, had urged Bush to bring up the issue with Putin. ''If this proposal comes into force, the government will clearly have in its hands the authority to close down public organizations simply because it finds their views and activities inconvenient,'' Kemp and Edwards wrote Bush. They are co-chairmen of a Council on Foreign Relations task force on Russia.
National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush raised the matter with Putin but would not describe what he said. ''Sometimes there are issues that can be more productively discussed out of public view,'' he said.
The Bush-Putin session on the sidelines of the annual conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum emphasized their shared fight against terrorism, Moscow's aspiration to join the World Trade Organization by the end of the year, and the campaigns to stop North Korea and Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Russia, a key Iranian ally, has refused to support Bush's eagerness to go to the U.N. Security Council with suspicions Iran is trying to build a nuclear arsenal. Also, over U.S. objections, Russia is building a nuclear reactor for a power plant in Iran and says it believes Iran's assurances the plant is for civilian energy use alone.
But Bush praised Putin for several steps Russia has taken that ''would reduce the proliferation risks'' in Iran, Hadley said.
Russia has helped bring Tehran back into European-led negotiations over its enrichment of uranium and reached agreement with Iran that any spent fuel rods from the plant would be sent back to Russia. And Bush expressed support for a Russian plan that would allow Iran to convert uranium but move the enrichment process to a facility to be built for Iran in Russia, Hadley said.
In theory, that would deny Iran the capacity to produce weapons-grade uranium needed for nuclear weapons.
Though Iran has ''not surprisingly'' so far rejected the idea, Hadley said: ''We think that doesn't end it. This will be an issue we will return to.''
The pace of democratic progress under Putin's leadership has increasingly become a sour note in Bush's meetings with his Russian counterpart, clouding a relationship that quickly moved to a first-name basis and became stronger after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
But appearing in a hotel suite for their fifth meeting of the year, the pair projected only warm smiles and friendly chitchat. ''Hey Vladimir. How are you? Looking good,'' Bush said, tapping the Russian on the back.
''The dynamic in the room was very positive, very loose,'' White House counselor Dan Bartlett said.
As Bush and Putin projected solidarity, a crack appeared in the united front presented a day earlier by the president and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. Catching the White House by surprise, the South Korean Defense Ministry announced Friday it will include plans to bring home about a third of its 3,200 troops in Iraq when it seeks parliamentary approval for extending the deployment.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said the South Korean government will make a decision on troop deployment levels based on the situation in Iraq and domestic demands.
National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said no notice had been given to the Bush administration on an issue -- South Korea's contributions to the military coalition in Iraq -- that had been a positive topic of discussion in Bush and Roh's talks Thursday.
At the APEC meetings that got underway Friday in this port city, the 21 leaders were focusing on two items important to Bush. The leaders were hoping to make a strong statement capitalizing on their combined clout -- the countries represent nearly half of global trade -- to reinvigorate stalled talks on a worldwide free-trade pact. New WTO talks are set for next month in Hong Kong.
They also were pledging united efforts to reduce the risk of a global flu pandemic.
Outside at barricades near the meeting, riot police sprayed high-powered water hoses Friday to hold back about 4,000 demonstrators chanting ''No Bush! No APEC.'' Some demonstrators threw rocks and bamboo sticks at the police. The rally lasted several hours and 11 officers were injured, police said.
Bush was to attend the final APEC sessions Saturday, meet separately with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and then fly to Osan Air Base south of Seoul to speak to U.S. troops. Later in the weekend, he was to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing and stop in Mongolia to finish his four-country Asian swing.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Bush-Asia.html?hp&ex=1132376400&en=7b2ce3198fab6736&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Bombers Kill at Least 65 Inside Two Shiite Mosques in Iraq
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Nov. 18 - At least 65 people died in the Eastern Iraqi town of Khanaqin today after suicide bombers detonated explosives inside two Shiite mosques during Friday prayers.
Suicide bombers also killed at least six people near the Hamrah Hotel, a Baghdad hotel popular with international journalists. The dead were believed to be all Iraqis.
The attack in Khanaqin, about 90 miles northeast of Baghdad near the Iran border, occurred when the two mosques were full of worshippers, according to an Interior ministry official.
A third suicide bomber targeted a nearby bank in the town, which is mostly Kurdish and Shiite.
A member of the local council told Reuters that the death toll could eventually exceed 100 people.
Earlier this month, 30 people were killed at a Shiite mosque in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad.
The bombing today outside the Hamrah Hotel in central Baghdad destroyed a barrier wall designed to protect the hotel and blew out windows, but did not appear to cause structural damage.
A minivan rammed into the wall, creating a hole, Brig. Gen. Karl Horst told reporters. A flatbed truck tried to make its way through the hole to the hotel, but got stuck in rubble and exploded. "What we have here appears to be two suicide car bombs that attempted to breach the security wall in the vicinity of the hotel complex," Gen. Horst told reporters at the scene, according to The A.P.
Gunfire followed the blasts, which came less than a minute apart and could be heard throughout central Baghdad. An apartment complex next to the hotel was completely destroyed.
The death toll is likely to rise as authorities sift through rubble.
About 20 cars were destroyed and dozens of firefighters and soldiers searched for residents trapped beneath wreckage, Reuters reported. Distraught women in black veils slapped their heads as they surveyed the destruction.
Saad al-Ezi, a reporter who said he works for The Boston Globe, told The A.P. that he was inside the hotel during the attack.
"They were trying to penetrate by displacing the blast barriers behind the hotel and then get to the hotel," he said. "I woke up to a huge explosion which broke all the glass and displaced all the window and doors frames."
The Hamrah Hotel, which houses bureaus for the Chicago Tribune and several British newspapers, is one of the few places in Baghdad outside the Green Zone - the heavily guarded complex that is the American headquarters here - where westerners live.
Two other Baghdad hotels housing international reporters, the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, were the target of a suicide bombings in October.
In other violence, at least 32 insurgents were killed during battles with Iraqi and American forces in western Iraq, according to the United States military.
Timothy Williams contributed reporting from New York for this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/international/middleeast/18cnd-Iraq.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
Bombers Kill at Least 65 Inside Two Shiite Mosques in Iraq
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Nov. 18 - At least 65 people died in the Eastern Iraqi town of Khanaqin today after suicide bombers detonated explosives inside two Shiite mosques during Friday prayers.
Suicide bombers also killed at least six people near the Hamrah Hotel, a Baghdad hotel popular with international journalists. The dead were believed to be all Iraqis.
The attack in Khanaqin, about 90 miles northeast of Baghdad near the Iran border, occurred when the two mosques were full of worshippers, according to an Interior ministry official.
A third suicide bomber targeted a nearby bank in the town, which is mostly Kurdish and Shiite.
A member of the local council told Reuters that the death toll could eventually exceed 100 people.
Earlier this month, 30 people were killed at a Shiite mosque in the town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad.
The bombing today outside the Hamrah Hotel in central Baghdad destroyed a barrier wall designed to protect the hotel and blew out windows, but did not appear to cause structural damage.
A minivan rammed into the wall, creating a hole, Brig. Gen. Karl Horst told reporters. A flatbed truck tried to make its way through the hole to the hotel, but got stuck in rubble and exploded. "What we have here appears to be two suicide car bombs that attempted to breach the security wall in the vicinity of the hotel complex," Gen. Horst told reporters at the scene, according to The A.P.
Gunfire followed the blasts, which came less than a minute apart and could be heard throughout central Baghdad. An apartment complex next to the hotel was completely destroyed.
The death toll is likely to rise as authorities sift through rubble.
About 20 cars were destroyed and dozens of firefighters and soldiers searched for residents trapped beneath wreckage, Reuters reported. Distraught women in black veils slapped their heads as they surveyed the destruction.
Saad al-Ezi, a reporter who said he works for The Boston Globe, told The A.P. that he was inside the hotel during the attack.
"They were trying to penetrate by displacing the blast barriers behind the hotel and then get to the hotel," he said. "I woke up to a huge explosion which broke all the glass and displaced all the window and doors frames."
The Hamrah Hotel, which houses bureaus for the Chicago Tribune and several British newspapers, is one of the few places in Baghdad outside the Green Zone - the heavily guarded complex that is the American headquarters here - where westerners live.
Two other Baghdad hotels housing international reporters, the Palestine and Sheraton hotels, were the target of a suicide bombings in October.
In other violence, at least 32 insurgents were killed during battles with Iraqi and American forces in western Iraq, according to the United States military.
Timothy Williams contributed reporting from New York for this article.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/international/middleeast/18cnd-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1132376400&en=3624ad74a83bf438&ei=5094&partner=homepage
G.O.P. Forces Nearly $50 Billion in Budget Cuts Through House
By CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, Friday, Nov. 18 - House Republican leaders were dealt a rare defeat Thursday as Democrats and 22 Republicans teamed up to kill a major health and education spending measure.
The 224-to-209 rejection of the $142.5 billion in spending on an array of social programs was the first time since the early days of the Republican takeover of the House a decade ago that the majority had come out on the losing end of such a vote.
Hours after the loss on the spending front, the leadership early this morning forced through a separate measure making nearly $50 billion in budget cuts over five years after massaging the plan to reduce opposition from Republican moderates. The vote was 217 to 215.
The struggle on the spending measure underlined the divide over spending policy confounding House Republicans as they struggle to provide relief for hurricane victims while placating party members alarmed about growth in federal spending.
It also focused attention once again on the difficulties of a leadership team that has been somewhat off balance since September, when Representative Tom DeLay was forced to step aside as majority leader after he was indicted in Texas.
In rebelling against the spending measure, Democrats and some Republicans said it fell woefully short of fulfilling federal commitments.
They pointed, for example, to $900 million in health care cuts that took a toll on the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and on rural health care. They opposed the elimination of $8 billion to prepare for a potential flu pandemic. And they pointed to a provision that would strip money from a variety of popular education programs and leave Pell Grants to college students frozen, as part of the first reduction in education spending in a decade.
"The Republican bill to fund our nation's investments in health, education and other important programs betrayed our nation's values and its future," Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland said.
The narrow passage of the budget cuts this morning came after a couple of false starts in recent weeks and a bitter debate.
"Today we are simply slowing the future growth of government," said Representative Chris Chocola, Republican of Indiana, as the House opened debate. Mr. Chocola said the reductions, if translated to a typical family budget of $50,000, represented a savings of $50.
President Bush's press office issued a statement from Pusan, South Korea, where the president was meeting with leaders of Southeast Asia, praising the action on the budget cuts.
"I applaud the Republican Members of the House who passed a significant savings package that will restrain spending and keep us on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009," the statement said. "We will continue to fund our priorities in a fiscally responsible way and ensure that taxpayer money is spent wisely or not spent at all. I urge the House and Senate to reach agreement promptly on a spending-reduction package that I can sign into law this year."
Democrats said it was unfair to reduce spending on programs like food stamps and health care for the poor to offset the costs of the hurricanes.
"This is the cruelest lie of all," said Representative Gene Taylor, a Mississippi Democrat who lost his home to Hurricane Katrina, "that the only way you can help people who have lost everything is by hurting somebody else."
In another indication of the turmoil in Congress, a tentative deal to extend the government's antiterrorism powers appeared in some jeopardy Thursday, as Senate Democrats threatened a filibuster in an effort to block the legislation.
In the Senate, Republicans claimed a victory early Friday morning as senators voted 64 to 33 to approve a $60 billion tax-cutting package. Republicans defeated Democratic efforts to impose a temporary tax on the sale of oil priced over $40 a barrel. Under the bill, energy companies would have been taxed 50 percent on profits not reinvested in increasing domestic oil and gas supplies.
Members of both parties said the health and education spending measure fell victim to a unusual confluence of legislative circumstances. Pressured by conservatives to show dedication to spending discipline, negotiators stripped the bill of special local projects sought by members, a decision that cut into support, because House members who were already unhappy with the cuts had no other incentive to back the bill.
"The combination of that was too much for them to swallow," Representative Jerry Lewis, Republican of California, chairman of the Appropriations Committee, said.
Some Republicans sat stunned on the House floor after the vote, which threw a wrench into Republican plans to finish the spending measures and leave for the Thanksgiving break. Senior lawmakers were debating whether to reopen negotiations to fashion a bill that could pass, keep the programs operating under a yearlong stop-gap bill or try to add the measure to a must-pass Pentagon spending bill.
The defeat averted a Senate vote on the bill, which even the chief Senate negotiator, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, opposed. "There is a totally insufficient allocation on that bill, beyond any question," Mr. Specter said.
Over all, the House measure that was defeated called for spending more than $600 billion. But the vast majority of that money flows automatically through Medicare and other mandatory programs, so the battle was over the $142.5 billion for discretionary programs, an amount $164 million less than current levels.
The 22 Republicans opposing the bill represented a cross-section of ideologies and had a variety of reasons for objecting. Representative Bill Thomas, Republican of California, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, said he objected because of an unexpected acceleration in the timetable for halting Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for sexual impotence drugs.
Among Republicans from Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, only two broke ranks to oppose the bill. They were Representatives Nancy L. Johnson and Rob Simmons, both of Connecticut.
House supporters of the bill said that it provided a satisfactory level of federal support for health and education programs and that new fiscal restraint was called for, given the resources needed for the Gulf Coast hurricanes and the war in Iraq.
"Maybe it is not as much as you like," said Representative Ralph Regula, Republican of Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee responsible for the measure. "But there is a lot of good in there."
Democrats said the measure, which would have ended more than 20 programs and prevented the start of eight new ones, would shortchange Americans who need assistance at the very time the House and Senate were advancing new tax cuts that would benefit the more affluent.
"This is the day when the price of Republican tax cuts for the wealthy becomes quite clear," said Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/18/politics/18cnd-spend.html?hp&ex=1132376400&en=13f7c1ef9ea47b4a&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Ignore the Man Behind That Memo
Published: November 16, 2005
Judge Samuel Alito Jr.'s insistence that the Constitution does not protect abortion rights is not the only alarming aspect of a newly released memo he wrote in 1985. That statement strongly suggests that Judge Alito is far outside the legal mainstream and that senators should question him closely about it. They should be prepared to reject his nomination to the Supreme Court if he cannot put to rest the serious concerns that the memo, part of a job application, raises about his worthiness to join the court.
When Judge Alito applied for a job with the Justice Department under President Ronald Reagan, he submitted a Personal Qualifications Statement that outlined his approach to the law. That statement raises three major concerns:
First, he has extreme views on the law. Judge Alito said he was particularly proud of his work on cases that tried to establish that "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." He did not merely oppose Roe v. Wade in the abstract - he worked to reverse it. He also noted his "disagreement with Warren Court decisions" in many important areas, including reapportionment. The reapportionment cases established the one-person-one-vote doctrine, which requires that Congressional and legislative districts include roughly equal numbers of people. They played a key role in making American democracy truly representative, and are almost uniformly respected by lawyers and scholars.
Second, Judge Alito does not respect precedent. Judicial nominees who appear extreme often claim that because they respect precedent, they will vote to reaffirm decisions they disagree with. When Justice Clarence Thomas, then a judge, was nominated for the Supreme Court, he told the Senate about his deep respect for precedent - and then immediately began voting to overturn important precedents when he joined the court. The Senate has specific reason to be skeptical about Judge Alito. Not only did he work to overturn Roe v. Wade, but he also said he had been inspired to go to law school by his opposition to Warren Court precedents - presumably by a desire to see them overturned.
Third, he is an ideologue. The White House has tried to present Judge Alito as an impartial judge without strong political views. But he said just the opposite in the 1985 statement. "I am and always have been a conservative," he wrote. He called himself a "life-long registered Republican" who contributed to "Republican candidates and conservative causes," including the National Conservative Political Action Committee, the super-PAC of the Reagan era. He strongly suggested that he would have been active in Republican politics if the law had not prohibited him, as a federal employee, from doing that.
Judge Alito is already trying to distance himself from the memo. He cannot say it was merely a lawyer's representation of an employer's views because it was undeniably a statement of his personal beliefs. He cannot call it an excess of youth because he was 35 when he wrote it. According to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat, Judge Alito told her yesterday that when he had written it he had merely been "an advocate seeking a job."
This is not very credible because the statement is entirely consistent with his full career. On the bench, Judge Alito has voted to uphold extreme limits on abortion and on other important rights, like freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Equally alarming is the notion that he fudged the truth to tell a potential employer what it wanted to hear. Senators should certainly keep this in mind when they try to decide whether to believe how he describes his views at his confirmation hearing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/opinion/16wed1.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fEditorials
Uproar in House as Parties Clash on Iraq Pullout
By ERIC SCHMITT
Published: November 19, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Republicans and Democrats shouted, howled and slung insults on the House floor on Friday as a debate over whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq descended into a fury over President Bush's handling of the war and a leading Democrat's call to bring the troops home.
Speaker Dennis Hastert and Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt are seeking to tamp down the furor over a key Democrat's proposal to quickly withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.
The battle boiled over when Representative Jean Schmidt, an Ohio Republican who is the most junior member of the House, told of a phone call she had just received from a Marine colonel back home.
"He asked me to send Congress a message: stay the course," Ms. Schmidt said. "He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/national/19military.html?ei=5094&en=22fde8be5c871982&hp=&ex=1132462800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1132407036-aqMNid9ogtfdUFTc+j/xOQ
For a G.M. Family, the American Dream Vanishes
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: November 19, 2005
FLINT, Mich. - Four generations of the Roy family relied on General Motors for their prosperity.
Over more than seven decades, the company's wages bought the Roys homes, cars and once-unimaginable comforts, while G.M.'s enviable medical and pension benefits have kept them secure in their retirements.
But the G.M. that was once an unassailable symbol of the nation's industrial might is a shadow of its former self, and the post-World War II promise of blue-collar factory work being a secure path to the American dream has faded with it.
After a long slide, it now looks like the end of an era. "General Motors, when I got in there, it was like I'd died and went to heaven," said Jerry Roy, 49 - who started at G.M. in 1977 and now works on an assembly line at a plant operated by Delphi, the bankrupt former G.M. parts unit that was spun off in 1999.
When Mr. Roy was hired at G.M., nearly three decades ago, his salary more than doubled from his job at a local supermarket. He traded in his five-year-old Buick for a new Chevy and since then he has done well enough to buy a pleasant house on a lake near Flint.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/business/businessspecial2/19generations.html?hp&ex=1132462800&en=cbda8d1c25ceee66&ei=5094&partner=homepage
New Orleans Utility Struggles to Relight a City of Darkness
By GARY RIVLIN
Published: November 19, 2005
NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 18 - From his temporary headquarters on the top floor of the Hyatt Regency here, Daniel F. Packer, the chief executive of Entergy New Orleans, has a perfect vantage point for viewing the problem confronting his beleaguered utility company: lights twinkling in dozens of neighborhoods, but darkness spread across 40 percent of the city.
Daniel F. Packer, chief executive of Entergy New Orleans, outside his temporary headquarters. His company is pleading for a federal bailout.
Those vast stretches of New Orleans without access to electrical power represent the magnitude of work the utility must perform before the city can recover. Nearly three months after Hurricane Katrina, the afflicted areas include not only devastated sections of town like the Lower Ninth Ward but also neighborhoods that suffered relatively little water and wind damage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/national/nationalspecial/19power.html?hp&ex=1132462800&en=7dbcce835ab17239&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Iraqi Qaeda Leader Is Said to Vow Attacks on Jordan
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Published: November 19, 2005
AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 18 - The top leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has threatened to chop off the head of King Abdullah II and to attack tourist sites throughout Jordan, according to an audio recording posted Friday on a Web site. He also insisted that he never intended to attack a Muslim wedding in the triple suicide blasts that killed more than 60 people here last week.
A police officer in Amman, Jordan, watched Friday as a demonstration supporting the government passed by. Tens of thousands marched in reaction to the bombings of three hotels in the city last week.
The speaker on the recording, reportedly Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, appeared determined to answer critics of the attack from Jordan and elsewhere who have been outraged that he sent suicide bombers into the wedding reception.
"We want to assure you," Jordan's Muslim population is told, "that you are more beloved to us than ourselves."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/international/middleeast/19zarqawi.html?hp
DeLay Ex-Aide to Plead Guilty in Lobby Case
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
Published: November 19, 2005
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 - Michael Scanlon, a former top official for Representative Tom DeLay and onetime partner of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, has agreed to plead guilty in a deal with federal prosecutors, according to his lawyer. The deal reveals a broadening corruption investigation involving top members of Congress.
Criminal papers filed in federal court outlined a conspiracy that not only named Mr. Scanlon but also mentioned a congressman, identified only as Representative No. 1, as part of the exchange of favors from clients funneled to lobbyists and officials.
This was the first time that a member of Congress, identified by lawyers in the case as Representative Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio, has been implicated in criminal papers as part of the inquiry, which has sprawled from Indian casinos to the lucrative lobbying firms of Mr. Abramoff and Mr. Scanlon and then reached to the Republican leadership.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/19/politics/19lobby.html?hp&ex=1132462800&en=2eb9cfeb888cb870&ei=5094&partner=homepage
The Pakistan Times
US Turns Biggest Contributor: Donors Pledge 5.4 billion Dollars to Pakistan
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The International Donors' Conference Saturday pledged 5.4 billion dollars as assistance to the Quake-hit areas of Pakistan. At the end of day-long moot Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said it is almost near the level the country needs for relief and rehabilitation of the affected people. "The rough total we have as of now is 5.4 billion dollars," Aziz said while wrapping up the conference of about 70 countries, international financial agencies and aid groups. Pakistan had said it needed 5.2 billion dollars for reconstruction and ongoing relief after the October-8 quake that killed more than 83,000 people and made about three million homeless just before the onset of winter.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top.htm
Annan visits Azad Kashmir; Terms Situation as Serious
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan has described the situation in quake affected areas of Pakistan as serious and enormous and appealed to the donors community to respond generously for reconstruction and recovery.
He was addressing a news conference at Thori Camp near Muzaffarabad Friday along with President Pervez Musharraf after meeting the affected people and inspecting the arrangements made there.
He expressed the hope that the international community will support the affected people in a big way regardless of the distance as he said no one should be indifferent to the sufferings of these people.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top1.htm
US ship arrives with supplies for quake victims of Pakistan
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
KARACHI: US Navy ship the Pearl Harbour ferrying 140 tons of urgently needed earthquake donations arrived at Karachi port on second relief trip in a week. The ship has brought blankets and nonperishable food items donated by Pakistanis living in the United Arab Emirates.
The US carrier was greeted on arrival by a group of Pakistani disaster assistance volunteers who participated in the offloading of relief supplies. The 13 Pakistani youth, ages 15-21, were accompanied by a small group of their parents.
The young Pakistanis, who are currently volunteering in the nation’s relief efforts, spent a year studying at US high schools while living with American host families as part of the US State Department’s "Partnerships for Learning Youth Exchange and Study" programme.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top2.htm
Govt of Pakistan to ensure transparency in donations’ utilization: PM
PakistanTimes.net Staff report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said the government would ensure transparency in the utilization of donations by various countries and agencies for the post-quake relief and reconstruction efforts.
Talking to UNDP Administrator, Kemal Dervis who called on him here at the PM House, he said the funds would be audited by the Auditor General of Pakistan and an external auditor.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top3.htm
Benazir’s Swiss trial to figure in PPP London meeting
Pakistan Times Wire Service
ISLAMABAD: The trial in a Swiss court of Pakistan's ex-Prime Minister Ms Benazir Bhutto will figure in a meeting of the Central Executive Committee and Federal Council of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in London on November-27.
Ms Benazir is proceeding to Geneva to appear in the Swiss court in connection with the money laundering case on November-22.
This will be her second appearance. Not only government circles but many analysts believe that the verdict in the case will decide the political fate of the PPP chairperson.
For the past some time, Ms Benazir is taking the case very seriously. However, her spouse Asif Zardari hasn’t appeared before the court because of his continued illness.
By the time she would preside over the high level PPP meeting in the British capital, she would have appeared in the Swiss court. She would brief PPP leaders about the court proceedings.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top12.htm
Five injured by blast in NW Pakistan
Pakistan Times Wire Service
MANSEHRA: Five persons were injured on Friday in an explosion when relief workers were removing debris of a police station in Balakot.
Engineers were supervising the evacuation, when explosives went off under the rubble.
Five persons who sustained injuries were identified as Bilal, Wahid, Firoz, Said Rahman and an unidentified person.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top11.htm
China-US for reconciliation between Pakistan, India
PakistanTimes.net Staff Report
BEIJING (China): China and United States both want to see reconciliation between Pakistan and India and make South Asia free of confrontation, said a spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Liu Jianchao.
"We have a common position in regard to peace and development in South Asia", he said when asked about the impact of growing Sino-USA relationship on security situation in the region.
He said President George W. Bush’s visit to Beijing, starting from Saturday will increase consensus, expand exchange and cooperation and promote Sino-US constructive and cooperative relations in 21st century in an all-round way.
The talks to be held between the leadership of the two countries during the visit will cover wide-ranging issues of regional and international interest, he said adding," I cannot say what specific matters the two sides would going to discuss."
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top4.htm
India holds war games near Pakistan's border
Pakistan Times Wire Service
NEW DELHI (India): India’s military Friday staged a grand finale to major military manoeuvres, showcasing newly-acquired T-90 battle tanks and warplanes close to the border with Pakistan in the Thar desert.
The Indian military said New Delhi gave advance notice of the 14-day exercises codenamed "Operation Desert Strike" to Pakistan in line with a pact between the nuclear-armed rivals, who are engaged in a slow-moving peace process to end their decades-old feud over Kashmir.
"Such exercises show our capability and ability," said Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He said, however, the war games were not designed to intimidate India’s neighbours.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/top16.htm
Do You Think...
The newest Indo-Pakistan Communiqué shall fetch durable Peace in South Asia?
Yes
3418 vote(s)
43.43%
No
4453 vote(s)
56.57%
Total number of vote(s): 7871
http://interactives.alxnet.com/cgi-bin/slither/Driver.py/InterActives/Poll/Poll.process
Shall Humanism Dominate?
By the Editor
KEEPING in view of the awful plight of Quake-hit people in Pakistan, the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has drawn the attention of the world community towards the colossal losses that Pakistan has suffered as a result of the October 8 devastating earthquake and urged the affluent nations to come forward with financial assistance for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the affected areas.
Talking to newsmen on his arrival in Islamabad to attend the November-19 Donors’ Conference, he hoped that the world will respond generously and willingly to obviate the crisis.
http://www.pakistantimes.net/2005/11/20/editorial.htm
Link TV to the Middle East
http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/streamsArchive/
Link TV to Iran
http://www.linktv.org/mosaic/countries/mosiran.php3
continued …
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