November 26, 2005.
Idaho.
Photographer states :: Our first significant snowstorm blew in from the northwest last night. Snowflakes near the camera are illuminated by flash.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Mornign Papers - continued ...
Agriculture On-Line
The weather in the Farm Belt (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
DJ US Cash Grain Outlook:Storms, Prices Limit Interior Trade
9:47 AM, November 28, 2005
CENTRAL CITY, Neb. (Dow Jones)--A combination of inclement weather anddepressed prices severely limited cash grain trade in key areas of the U.S.interior Monday. Local basis premiums were largely unchanged. The first major winter storm of the season was producing snow and ice across the central to northern Plains, plus thunderstorms from Florida to the Great Lakes. With blowing snow and wind gusts of over 50 miles an hour creating near-blizzard conditions and very treacherous roads, winter storm watches and warnings were in effect from eastern Colorado to northern Minnesota. High winds were also buffeting many other areas of the southern Plains and Deep South, restraining travel by high-profile grain trucks. "I had to crack the door of my pickup open with a screwdriver this morning,because it was encased in ice," said a Nebraska elevator operator. "I can'timagine there are many farmers that want to get a grain truck out on these roads, just to sell at these prices." Although cash corn markets have rebounded slightly this month, national average prices remain within pennies of 5-year lows. Meantime, spot soybeanvalues are the most depressed of the month, while soft red winter wheat priceslanguish at a 2 1/2 year low. Hard wheat markets have also reached down toprices not seen since September or October. With mediocre demand offsetting limited country movement, interior basis premiums were largely unchanged Monday, aside from an average decline of 3/4 cent in SRW wheat values. Meanwhile, grain futures continued to weaken overnight, shaving cashcontracts by 7 3/4 cents for soybeans, plus some 2-3 cents for winter wheat and 1 cent for corn. "Large domestic supplies and concern over the spread of bird flu continues to keep pressure on the market," said Doane Agricultural Services. March oats ended e-CBOT trade with gains of 1 1/4 cents, while rice and spring wheat were left untraded.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/futuresource/FutureSourceStoryIndex.jhtml?storyId=34600110
Survey: U.S. soybean crop produces near record low protein content
Agriculture Online
11/23/2005, 8:41 AM CST
A quality survey of the U.S. soybean crop shows that the 2005 crop vegetable oil content was at record high levels, but protein contents were next to the worst in the survey's 20-year history. The survey was funded by the American Soybean Association and conducted by Iowa State University
Based on 13% moisture , the average U.S. protein contents in a bushel of soybeans were 34.92% and 19.41% oil.
The protein content is approximately 0.5 percentage points below a 35.38% average, and the oil is approximately 0.8 percentage points above the long-term U.S. average of 18.65 % oil, according to the survey.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml;jsessionid=EWZDVQULIN4NVQFIBQNR5VQ?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1132758047788.xml
Iraq becomes No. 2 U.S. wheat customer
By Mike McGinnis
Agriculture Online Markets Editor
11/23/2005, 3:27 PM CST
With an improved trade environment and financing tools, Iraq has become the second largest buyer of U.S. wheat. Nigeria, which buys more than 2.0 million metric tons, is the No. 1 U.S. wheat customer.
Iraq, still subsidizing food for their citizens, uses the U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat to make bread, said Dawn Forsythe, U.S. Wheat Associates spokesperson.
In 2005, between June 1 and November 22, Iraq purchased the most wheat ever from the U.S., at 1.9 million metric tons. That compares with just 370,000 metric tons in 2004.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1132781913423.xml
Citizen ag journalists share harvest reports from the field
By Cheryl Rainford
Agriculture Online News Editor
10/15/2005, 3:00 PM CDT
In the October issue of Successful Farming magazine, Agriculture Online News Editor Cheryl Rainford invited readers to become citizen ag journalists this harvest season. Farmers from across the country and around the world sent photos and updates on their yields. See what they said in this series of slideshows.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1131140735591.xml
Michael Moore Today
Senator urges Bush to explain war
By Jackie Frank / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee urged President George W. Bush on Sunday to go before the American public to explain his plan for the war in Iraq.
Virginia Sen. John Warner told NBC's "Meet the Press," said such a public address would be helpful to hold on to public support during the next six months while Iraq sets up its own government and gains the ability to maintain its security.
Bush, who has been out of public sight since he arrived on November 22 at his Crawford, Texas ranch for a Thanksgiving break, has been facing waning support for the war and the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5015
Bush to tackle illegal immigration
WACO, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Monday tackles the thorny problem of illegal immigration on the Mexico border with his own Republican Party split over whether undocumented workers already in the United States should be allowed to stay.
Fueled by fears of terrorists slipping into the country, escalating violence and drug smuggling, Americans have become increasingly worried about illegal immigration. More than three-quarters think the government is not doing enough to control the borders, according to a CBS News poll last month.
In Tucson, Arizona, on Monday and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday, Bush will focus on border security, portraying his temporary worker program -- which some Republicans say rewards lawbreakers -- as a way to relieve pressure on enforcement by bringing illegal immigrants "out of the shadows."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5017
Use of Chemical in Iraq Ignites Debate
Critics say civilians died in incendiary attacks. U.S. asserts white phosphorus was only used on insurgents.
By John Daniszewski and Mark Mazzetti / Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD — Omar Ibrahim Abdullah went for a walk to get away from the heavy fighting in Fallouja a little over a year ago and, by his account, came across such a grotesque sight that he's been unable to banish it from his memory.
The United States had mounted a full-scale offensive to pacify the rebel-controlled Iraqi city, and Abdullah said he was eager to escape the Askari district, where he lived. He walked south toward the Euphrates River and stumbled on dozens of burned bodies that he said were colored black and red.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5020
Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort
By Anne Gearan / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.
In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5021
19 Days and Counting: Where’s Scotty?
Where did White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan go? The last time McClellan gave an on-the-record press briefing from the White House press podium was 19 days ago.
On November 14, PR Week reported that McClellan was on his way out:
A White House correspondent, who asked not to be identified, predicts McClellan, who replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in summer 2003, will soon be leaving his post. “I’m expecting very big changes,” the correspondent says.
On November 18, McClellan issued a written statement attacking Rep. John Murtha’s call for a drawdown in Iraq. McClellan said Murtha was “surrender[ing] to the terrorists.” Both Bush and Cheney had to later publicly step back from McClellan’s attacks.
We called the White House to ask whether there would be a press briefing today, and the press assistant checked the schedule and informed us there was not one scheduled. When asked whether there would be a press briefing any time this week, the press office informed us that there was nothing scheduled because the President would be traveling.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/28/wheres-scottie/
Calif. Congressman Admits Taking Bribes
By Elliot Spagat / Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges, admitting taking $2.4 million in bribes in a case that grew from an investigation into the sale of his home to a wide-ranging conspiracy involving payments in cash, vacations and antiques.
Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.
Cunningham answered "yes, Your Honor" when asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted bribes from someone in exchange for his performance of official duties.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5019
Ex-PM: Abuse as bad as Saddam era
CNN
LONDON, England -- Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein if not worse, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said.
"People are doing the same as (in) Saddam's time and worse," Allawi said in an interview published in Britain on Sunday.
"It is an appropriate comparison," Allawi told The Observer newspaper. "People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5014
LEFTOVERS
George emerges from his Texas compound today to talk about immigration and border security in Arizona. He'll be walking a fine line between the Hispanic vote he's been wooing for years and the Conservative base he's supposed to represent. But obviously he'd rather jump into that quagmire than back into the Iraq fire.
Let's play along. Here's what's going on in immigration these days:
A while ago George proposed a guest worker program which would essentially allow "illegals" to work in America for a few years legally. Conservatives call this "backdoor amnesty." Congress was supposed to discuss the plan this year but they didn't like it and put it off until next year (just in time for the election).
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=552
Help Displaced Gulf Coast Residents Return Home
Two and a half months after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, the Bush Administration is doing little to create the conditions needed for the region’s low-income African American, Native American, and immigrant residents to return home.
With the region’s infrastructure, housing stock, and economy badly damaged, few of those displaced can return to the Gulf Coast without assurances that basic needs will be met. At a minimum, they need decent, affordable housing; well-paying jobs; services like electricity, clean water, and health care; and a voice in determining how their cities are rebuilt. But according to local organizers and media reports, when it comes to helping the region’s low-income communities of color, the federal government is continuing the same pattern of inaction and delay it exhibited when Katrina first struck.
http://unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3140
It's time for a nation to return the favor
The Times-Picayune
The federal government wrapped levees around greater New Orleans so that the rest of the country could share in our bounty.
Americans wanted the oil and gas that flow freely off our shores. They longed for the oysters and shrimp and flaky Gulf fish that live in abundance in our waters. They wanted to ship corn and soybeans and beets down the Mississippi and through our ports. They wanted coffee and steel to flow north through the mouth of the river and into the heartland.
They wanted more than that, though. They wanted to share in our spirit. They wanted to sample the joyous beauty of our jazz and our food. And we were happy to oblige them.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/covington.php?id=60
San Francisco Chronicle
We're In For A Soaking
The first big storm of the season is upon us, with rain expected off and on Tuesday.
http://sfgate.com/weather/
Delicious Dungeness
Seafood lovers 'feel crabby' in Bay Area -- and hungry, too
Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Dozens of boats, their holds full of delectable Dungeness, delivered the first big crab catch of the season to Bay Area ports Monday. Seafood lovers were ecstatic.
"People are coming in specifically for it -- we've had a lot of reservations," said John Konstin, the owner of San Francisco's venerable John's Grill restaurant. "There were 12 crabs waiting for our purveyor at the docks. There's nothing like chowder, fresh crab and a bottle of Chardonnay for lunch."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/CRABS.TMP
High court revisits state abortion laws
At issue is N.H. statute that parents must be notified
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
The first abortion case to come before the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts will test whether the justices are willing to give states nearly unlimited power to regulate and restrict the operation.
At issue when the court hears arguments Wednesday will be a New Hampshire law requiring that parents be notified before girls under 18 can have an abortion, the same requirement that California voters rejected earlier this month.
The New Hampshire law does not involve a direct attack on Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established women's constitutional right to abortion. But if the court endorses the Bush administration's position in the case, virtually any restriction short of an outright ban on abortion will be protected from legal challenge until after it takes effect -- and then could be challenged only in individual cases rather than across the board.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/ABORTION.TMP
Motorcycling SF officer's leg severed in hit-and-run
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, November 28, 2005
A San Francisco police officer remains hospitalized today after having his left leg severed when an alleged hit-and-run motorist ran into his motorcycle as the officer was on his way to an assignment in the Bayview District.
Eric Batchelder, 31, a five-year veteran, had civilian clothing on over his patrol uniform when he was hit shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, police said. He was on a private motorcycle, but was considered on duty at the time.
Batchelder, assigned to Mission Station, was driving south on Potrero Avenue when a 1970 Dodge Charger heading the other way hit him as the car was turning onto westbound 20th Street.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/28/MNGILFVAE96.DTL
Liquor store owner's ordeal
Arson, kidnapping in Oakland -- 6 sought in previous attack
Henry K. Lee and Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
The owner of one of two West Oakland corner markets vandalized last week for selling alcohol to African Americans was kidnapped shortly before his store burned in an arson fire Monday, police said.
The owner of New York Market, Tony Hamdan, was found safe about 12 hours after the fire gutted his store. Later Monday, Oakland police said they had identified six of the men who had destroyed liquor displays and toppled shelves at another market shortly before midnight Wednesday.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/STORE.TMP
A deadly tale of underground rap
Vallejo's Mac Dre was shot in a dispute over money, and that led to 2 reprisal slayings and a third related killing, police say
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Vallejo rapper Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks wasn't on MTV, on magazine covers or in movies. But his clever, hardcore rhymes had an underground following, and when he was killed on a Kansas City freeway last November, hip-hop radio stations mourned him at length. Mac Dre was big enough for that.
Police investigators say Hicks, 34, was shot in a financial dispute, but the rumor mill said something sexier: that a West-Midwest rap war had flared and that a notorious Kansas City rapper dubbed "Fat Tone" had taken out Hicks. In the world of hip-hop, police say, bad blood often means good business.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/MACDRE.TMP
Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
Monday, November 28, 2005
(11-28) 20:01 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.
In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/28/national/w144121S92.DTL
Haaretz
Abbas delays Fatah vote over widespread fraud
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas suspended primary elections of his ruling Fatah movement on Tuesday over widespread fraud in Gaza and the West Bank, a party official said.
The primaries, ahead of a January parliamentary election in which Islamic group Hamas poses a strong challenge, were Fatah's first. They have been seen as a key step for Abbas to assert his control.
"Abbas has instructed the election committee to stop the entire election process in all areas as a result of the widespread fraud," Ahmed al-Deek, a senior Fatah official, told Reuters.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651396.html
Political chess: Reichman to Kadima, Yechimovicz to Labor
By Nir Hasson, Mazal Mualem and David Ratner, Haaretz Correspondents, The Associated Press and Haaretz Service
In the latest move on the Israeli political chessboard, Professor Uriel Reichman announced Tuesday that he is leaving his position as chairman of the board of the Shinui party, and will join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima faction.
Sharon and Reichman, chairman of the Constitution for Israel Movement, have agreed that Reichman will be the party's candidate for education minister, and will also addres the issue of changing the system of government.
The new party wants to see a "presidential" system, in which voters choose the prime minister and legislators on an individual basis and not as part of a party list, with Knesset members elected according to specific regions of the country.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/650995.html
Court asked to recognize non-Orthodox conversions in Israel
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Religious Action Center on Tuesday morning petitioned the High Court of Justice with a request that immigrants who undergo Reform or Conservative conversion be recognized as Jews and entitled to Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
Only Orthodox conversions to Judaism are recognized today under the Law of return. The Reform movement is asking the High Court to end this monopoly.
The petitions were filed by attorney Nicole Maor against the Interior Ministry in the name of seven people who are undergoing conversion through Israel's Reform movement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651418.html
Israeli-Palestinian soccer 'peace team' to face Barcelona's stars
By Reuters and Haaretz Service
The joint Israeli-Palestinian soccer "peace team," sponsored by Shimon Peres' Center for Peace, flew to Spain on Sunday for a friendly match against Spain's leading team Barcelona Tuesday evening.
The "peace team" includes Israeli internationals and Palestinian players from the West Bank.
Most of the 27-member team, which was accompanied by a host of local sports and political dignitaries, flew from Tel Aviv for the match Tuesday, which comes at the end of a two-day Euro-Mediterranean summit in Barcelona. Leaders of all 25 European Union member states and 10 of Mediterranean neighbors are meeting in the city to discuss closer regional cooperation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651372.html
Eight Palestinians arrested in overnight West Bank raid
By Nir Hasson and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, and Reuters
Israel Defense Forces arrested eight Palestinians suspected of terror involvement late Monday night in the West Bank.
Six Islamic Jihad and two Hamas gunmen were arrested in raids near Jenin, Tul Karm and Hebron.
Earlier, a Palestinian gunman hurled an explosive device at an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday evening.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651042.html
Russia's chief rabbi meets with anti-Semitic nationalists
By Yossi Melman
Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar met this week with Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Dmitri Rogozin, the heads of two Russian nationalist parties that disseminate anti-Semitic propaganda.
The meetings outraged the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "Through these meetings, the chief rabbi confers legitimacy on people and parties known for clearly anti-Semitic positions," said one ministry official.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/649280.html
The Boston Globe
Arkansas father killed by tornado
By Daniel Connolly, Associated Press Writer November 29, 2005
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. --Tommy Hamilton and Melissa Gonzales had just tied the knot after the recent birth of their son. Along with the baby, Hamilton had three sons from a previous marriage and Gonzales brought two girls to the union.
"It was kind of a Brady Bunch thing," said Jerry Denton, Hamilton's co-worker.
Less than a week after their marriage, Hamilton, 33, was killed Sunday when the family van drove into a tornado as they returned to their western Arkansas home after a Thanksgiving weekend trip.
Officials said the twister was packing winds estimated at 170 mph -- strong enough to lift the van into the air and hurl it into the highway median.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/11/29/arkansas_father_killed_by_tornado/
Study: Midwest warming may harm ducks
November 28, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS --The gradual warming of the Upper Midwest could cut the duck population in half as early as 2050, according to a new study published in the journal BioScience.
The study looked at how climate change could affect the Upper Midwest, where North America's best duck breeding grounds are, over the next 50 to 100 years.
The area, known as the prairie pothole region, produces 50 percent to 80 percent of the continent's ducks and contains an estimated 5 million small ponds spread across the Dakotas, western Minnesota and Iowa, northeastern Montana and three Canadian provinces. Even though the area is notorious for wet and dry spells, it is large enough for waterfowl to adapt and migrate to other ponds with enough water and cover.
That would end if climate change increases average temperatures across the entire prairie pothole region, said Carter Johnson, a professor of ecology at South Dakota State University who co-authored the study.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/11/28/study_midwest_warming_may_harm_ducks/
Tap water in Chinese city declared safe
A young boy fills a water container from a tanker truck in a street in Harbin, in northeast China's Heilongjiang province Monday Nov. 28, 2005. Harbin's water supply resumed Sunday after a five day cut, but authorities warned that the water was not yet drinkable, forcing thousands to continue to depend on trucked-in water. The city's water supply was cut for five days in order to prevent contamination by a toxic spill in the Songhua river. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
By Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer November 29, 2005
HARBIN, China --Officials on Tuesday said this city's water was again safe to drink after being shut down for five days because of a pollution scare in a nearby river, but residents remained wary about taking their first sips.
Running water was turned back on in Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province, on Sunday after supplies were shut down for 3.8 million people following a Nov. 13 explosion at a nearby chemical plant that spewed toxins in the Songhua River.
Officials initially warned that the water wasn't immediately safe to drink after lying in underground pipes for five days.
"Harbin's water is now safe to use and drink," Xiu Tinggong, vice director of the city's health inspection bureau, said on local television Tuesday. "Everybody can rest assured that the water is safe."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/11/29/china_says_tainted_water_now_safe_to_drink/
Judge increases Bulger's pension
State told to factor in housing fee, annuity
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff November 29, 2005
Former University of Massachusetts president William Bulger won a significant victory in his battle to boost his pension yesterday when a Superior Court judge ruled that the state must include in its calculations items it had discounted as perks.
The ruling increases Bulger's annual pension by about $29,000, to an estimated $208,000, according to state officials, by forcing the state to include in its calculations a housing allowance and a portion of an annuity he received as UMass president.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/29/judge_increases_bulgers_pension/
Debate over gay clergy is testing many faiths
Vatican expected to announce ban
By Charles A. Radin, Globe Staff November 29, 2005
After three years of tortuous debate, leaked documents, and rumors, the Vatican appears ready today to formally ban most gays from Catholic seminaries and from ordination as priests. But Catholics are far from the only major denomination wrestling with the issue of homosexuals' fitness to serve as religious leaders.
Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Jews -- all are deeply divided on the matter. Many clergy and scholars say that ordination of gays is the most explosive issue in religion in the United States. It has the potential, they say, to create irreparable schisms between those who see the struggle as a continuation of efforts to secure full rights for minorities and women and others who find the Bible's statements against homosexuality too absolute and negative to be subject to reinterpretation.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/29/debate_over_gay_clergy_is_testing_many_faiths/
Vatican publishes gay priest document
By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer November 29, 2005
VATICAN CITY --The Vatican on Tuesday published its long-awaited document on gays in the priesthood, saying that men with "deep-seated" gay tendencies shouldn't be ordained but that those with "transitory" tendencies could be if they had overcome them for three years.
The official release of the "Instruction" from the Congregation for Catholic Education came a week after an Italian Catholic news agency posted a leaked copy on its Web site. As a result, the document's contents were already known.
Reaction has been mixed, with conservatives saying it may help reverse the "gay culture" that has grown in many U.S. seminaries. Liberal critics have complained that the restrictions will create morale problems among existing priests and lead to an even greater priest shortage in the United States.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/11/29/vatican_publishes_gay_priest_document/
Slaying of teenage girl leaves small town in shock
November 29, 2005
FAYETTE, Maine --Maine State Police detectives investigating the weekend slaying of a 14-year-old girl that shocked residents of this quiet central Maine community are advising people in the area to be cautious.
Authorities have refused to discuss specifics surrounding the killing of Marlee Johnston, including the cause of death, or to comment on any leads or potential suspects.
"We have leads we're following up," Detective Sgt. Anna Love said Monday. "We are reviewing the evidence . . . and will be doing that over the next days, weeks, however long it takes."
Love said it would prudent for people to be cautious by locking their doors and having a companion when walking in isolated areas.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/11/29/slaying_of_teenage_girl_leaves_small_town_in_shock/
Anti-nuclear protest delays Blair energy review
A fisherman walks past the Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent. Picture taken October 3, 2005. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)
By Mike Peacock and Katherine Baldwin November 29, 2005
LONDON (Reuters) - Anti-nuclear protesters staged a rooftop demonstration on Tuesday in a hall where British Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to launch a major review of Britain's future energy needs, forcing him to deliver his speech elsewhere.
Speculation is rife that Blair favors a new generation of nuclear power stations to help fill a looming energy gap.
The Greenpeace protesters, dressed in suits to mix in with the business audience, clambered into the rafters of the conference center shortly before Blair was due to speak, dropping leaflets, saying: "Nuclear: Wrong Answer."
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) chief Digby Jones refused a Greenpeace demand to allow them to speak before Blair -- or have their activists disrupt his delivery.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/11/29/blair_expected_to_favor_nuclear_in_energy_review/
U.S. farmers use pesticide despite treaty
Organically grown strawberries are seen for sale on Aug. 12, 2005, at a roadside stand in Watsonville, Calif. California, which grows more than 85 percent of the nation's strawberries and other methyl bromide-dependent crops, launched regulations last year to improve its strictest-in-the-nation protections for farmworkers and others. Organic techniques are too costly and substitute chemicals are not as effective, growers say. Methyl bromide's survival demonstrates the difficulty of banishing a powerful pesticide that helps deliver what both farmers and consumers want: abundant, pest-free and affordable produce. (AP Photo/Rita Beamish)
By Rita Beamish, Associated Press Writer November 28, 2005
WATSONVILLE, Calif. --Shoppers rifle through store shelves brimming with succulent tomatoes and plump strawberries, hoping to enjoy one last round of fresh fruit before the Western growing season ends. There is no hint of a dark side to the blaze of red.
Strawberries are a painful subject for Guillermo Ruiz. The farm worker believes his headaches, confusion and vision trouble stem from a decade working in the fields with methyl bromide, a pesticide that protects the berries with stunning efficiency.
Cheri Alderman, a teacher whose classroom borders a farm, fears her students could inhale a dangerous whiff of the fumigant as it drifts from the adjacent strawberry field. "A little dribble of poison is still poison," she says.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2005/11/28/us_farmers_use_pesticide_despite_treaty/
continued …
The weather in the Farm Belt (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
DJ US Cash Grain Outlook:Storms, Prices Limit Interior Trade
9:47 AM, November 28, 2005
CENTRAL CITY, Neb. (Dow Jones)--A combination of inclement weather anddepressed prices severely limited cash grain trade in key areas of the U.S.interior Monday. Local basis premiums were largely unchanged. The first major winter storm of the season was producing snow and ice across the central to northern Plains, plus thunderstorms from Florida to the Great Lakes. With blowing snow and wind gusts of over 50 miles an hour creating near-blizzard conditions and very treacherous roads, winter storm watches and warnings were in effect from eastern Colorado to northern Minnesota. High winds were also buffeting many other areas of the southern Plains and Deep South, restraining travel by high-profile grain trucks. "I had to crack the door of my pickup open with a screwdriver this morning,because it was encased in ice," said a Nebraska elevator operator. "I can'timagine there are many farmers that want to get a grain truck out on these roads, just to sell at these prices." Although cash corn markets have rebounded slightly this month, national average prices remain within pennies of 5-year lows. Meantime, spot soybeanvalues are the most depressed of the month, while soft red winter wheat priceslanguish at a 2 1/2 year low. Hard wheat markets have also reached down toprices not seen since September or October. With mediocre demand offsetting limited country movement, interior basis premiums were largely unchanged Monday, aside from an average decline of 3/4 cent in SRW wheat values. Meanwhile, grain futures continued to weaken overnight, shaving cashcontracts by 7 3/4 cents for soybeans, plus some 2-3 cents for winter wheat and 1 cent for corn. "Large domestic supplies and concern over the spread of bird flu continues to keep pressure on the market," said Doane Agricultural Services. March oats ended e-CBOT trade with gains of 1 1/4 cents, while rice and spring wheat were left untraded.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/futuresource/FutureSourceStoryIndex.jhtml?storyId=34600110
Survey: U.S. soybean crop produces near record low protein content
Agriculture Online
11/23/2005, 8:41 AM CST
A quality survey of the U.S. soybean crop shows that the 2005 crop vegetable oil content was at record high levels, but protein contents were next to the worst in the survey's 20-year history. The survey was funded by the American Soybean Association and conducted by Iowa State University
Based on 13% moisture , the average U.S. protein contents in a bushel of soybeans were 34.92% and 19.41% oil.
The protein content is approximately 0.5 percentage points below a 35.38% average, and the oil is approximately 0.8 percentage points above the long-term U.S. average of 18.65 % oil, according to the survey.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml;jsessionid=EWZDVQULIN4NVQFIBQNR5VQ?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1132758047788.xml
Iraq becomes No. 2 U.S. wheat customer
By Mike McGinnis
Agriculture Online Markets Editor
11/23/2005, 3:27 PM CST
With an improved trade environment and financing tools, Iraq has become the second largest buyer of U.S. wheat. Nigeria, which buys more than 2.0 million metric tons, is the No. 1 U.S. wheat customer.
Iraq, still subsidizing food for their citizens, uses the U.S. hard red winter (HRW) wheat to make bread, said Dawn Forsythe, U.S. Wheat Associates spokesperson.
In 2005, between June 1 and November 22, Iraq purchased the most wheat ever from the U.S., at 1.9 million metric tons. That compares with just 370,000 metric tons in 2004.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1132781913423.xml
Citizen ag journalists share harvest reports from the field
By Cheryl Rainford
Agriculture Online News Editor
10/15/2005, 3:00 PM CDT
In the October issue of Successful Farming magazine, Agriculture Online News Editor Cheryl Rainford invited readers to become citizen ag journalists this harvest season. Farmers from across the country and around the world sent photos and updates on their yields. See what they said in this series of slideshows.
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/ag/story/data/1131140735591.xml
Michael Moore Today
Senator urges Bush to explain war
By Jackie Frank / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee urged President George W. Bush on Sunday to go before the American public to explain his plan for the war in Iraq.
Virginia Sen. John Warner told NBC's "Meet the Press," said such a public address would be helpful to hold on to public support during the next six months while Iraq sets up its own government and gains the ability to maintain its security.
Bush, who has been out of public sight since he arrived on November 22 at his Crawford, Texas ranch for a Thanksgiving break, has been facing waning support for the war and the lowest job approval ratings of his presidency.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5015
Bush to tackle illegal immigration
WACO, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Monday tackles the thorny problem of illegal immigration on the Mexico border with his own Republican Party split over whether undocumented workers already in the United States should be allowed to stay.
Fueled by fears of terrorists slipping into the country, escalating violence and drug smuggling, Americans have become increasingly worried about illegal immigration. More than three-quarters think the government is not doing enough to control the borders, according to a CBS News poll last month.
In Tucson, Arizona, on Monday and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday, Bush will focus on border security, portraying his temporary worker program -- which some Republicans say rewards lawbreakers -- as a way to relieve pressure on enforcement by bringing illegal immigrants "out of the shadows."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5017
Use of Chemical in Iraq Ignites Debate
Critics say civilians died in incendiary attacks. U.S. asserts white phosphorus was only used on insurgents.
By John Daniszewski and Mark Mazzetti / Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD — Omar Ibrahim Abdullah went for a walk to get away from the heavy fighting in Fallouja a little over a year ago and, by his account, came across such a grotesque sight that he's been unable to banish it from his memory.
The United States had mounted a full-scale offensive to pacify the rebel-controlled Iraqi city, and Abdullah said he was eager to escape the Askari district, where he lived. He walked south toward the Euphrates River and stumbled on dozens of burned bodies that he said were colored black and red.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5020
Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort
By Anne Gearan / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.
In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5021
19 Days and Counting: Where’s Scotty?
Where did White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan go? The last time McClellan gave an on-the-record press briefing from the White House press podium was 19 days ago.
On November 14, PR Week reported that McClellan was on his way out:
A White House correspondent, who asked not to be identified, predicts McClellan, who replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in summer 2003, will soon be leaving his post. “I’m expecting very big changes,” the correspondent says.
On November 18, McClellan issued a written statement attacking Rep. John Murtha’s call for a drawdown in Iraq. McClellan said Murtha was “surrender[ing] to the terrorists.” Both Bush and Cheney had to later publicly step back from McClellan’s attacks.
We called the White House to ask whether there would be a press briefing today, and the press assistant checked the schedule and informed us there was not one scheduled. When asked whether there would be a press briefing any time this week, the press office informed us that there was nothing scheduled because the President would be traveling.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/28/wheres-scottie/
Calif. Congressman Admits Taking Bribes
By Elliot Spagat / Associated Press
SAN DIEGO - Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and tax charges, admitting taking $2.4 million in bribes in a case that grew from an investigation into the sale of his home to a wide-ranging conspiracy involving payments in cash, vacations and antiques.
Cunningham, 63, entered pleas in U.S. District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud, and tax evasion for underreporting his income in 2004.
Cunningham answered "yes, Your Honor" when asked by U.S. District Judge Larry Burns if he had accepted bribes from someone in exchange for his performance of official duties.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5019
Ex-PM: Abuse as bad as Saddam era
CNN
LONDON, England -- Human rights abuses in Iraq are as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein if not worse, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has said.
"People are doing the same as (in) Saddam's time and worse," Allawi said in an interview published in Britain on Sunday.
"It is an appropriate comparison," Allawi told The Observer newspaper. "People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=5014
LEFTOVERS
George emerges from his Texas compound today to talk about immigration and border security in Arizona. He'll be walking a fine line between the Hispanic vote he's been wooing for years and the Conservative base he's supposed to represent. But obviously he'd rather jump into that quagmire than back into the Iraq fire.
Let's play along. Here's what's going on in immigration these days:
A while ago George proposed a guest worker program which would essentially allow "illegals" to work in America for a few years legally. Conservatives call this "backdoor amnesty." Congress was supposed to discuss the plan this year but they didn't like it and put it off until next year (just in time for the election).
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=552
Help Displaced Gulf Coast Residents Return Home
Two and a half months after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, the Bush Administration is doing little to create the conditions needed for the region’s low-income African American, Native American, and immigrant residents to return home.
With the region’s infrastructure, housing stock, and economy badly damaged, few of those displaced can return to the Gulf Coast without assurances that basic needs will be met. At a minimum, they need decent, affordable housing; well-paying jobs; services like electricity, clean water, and health care; and a voice in determining how their cities are rebuilt. But according to local organizers and media reports, when it comes to helping the region’s low-income communities of color, the federal government is continuing the same pattern of inaction and delay it exhibited when Katrina first struck.
http://unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3140
It's time for a nation to return the favor
The Times-Picayune
The federal government wrapped levees around greater New Orleans so that the rest of the country could share in our bounty.
Americans wanted the oil and gas that flow freely off our shores. They longed for the oysters and shrimp and flaky Gulf fish that live in abundance in our waters. They wanted to ship corn and soybeans and beets down the Mississippi and through our ports. They wanted coffee and steel to flow north through the mouth of the river and into the heartland.
They wanted more than that, though. They wanted to share in our spirit. They wanted to sample the joyous beauty of our jazz and our food. And we were happy to oblige them.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/covington.php?id=60
San Francisco Chronicle
We're In For A Soaking
The first big storm of the season is upon us, with rain expected off and on Tuesday.
http://sfgate.com/weather/
Delicious Dungeness
Seafood lovers 'feel crabby' in Bay Area -- and hungry, too
Glen Martin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Dozens of boats, their holds full of delectable Dungeness, delivered the first big crab catch of the season to Bay Area ports Monday. Seafood lovers were ecstatic.
"People are coming in specifically for it -- we've had a lot of reservations," said John Konstin, the owner of San Francisco's venerable John's Grill restaurant. "There were 12 crabs waiting for our purveyor at the docks. There's nothing like chowder, fresh crab and a bottle of Chardonnay for lunch."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/CRABS.TMP
High court revisits state abortion laws
At issue is N.H. statute that parents must be notified
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
The first abortion case to come before the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts will test whether the justices are willing to give states nearly unlimited power to regulate and restrict the operation.
At issue when the court hears arguments Wednesday will be a New Hampshire law requiring that parents be notified before girls under 18 can have an abortion, the same requirement that California voters rejected earlier this month.
The New Hampshire law does not involve a direct attack on Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established women's constitutional right to abortion. But if the court endorses the Bush administration's position in the case, virtually any restriction short of an outright ban on abortion will be protected from legal challenge until after it takes effect -- and then could be challenged only in individual cases rather than across the board.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/ABORTION.TMP
Motorcycling SF officer's leg severed in hit-and-run
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, November 28, 2005
A San Francisco police officer remains hospitalized today after having his left leg severed when an alleged hit-and-run motorist ran into his motorcycle as the officer was on his way to an assignment in the Bayview District.
Eric Batchelder, 31, a five-year veteran, had civilian clothing on over his patrol uniform when he was hit shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, police said. He was on a private motorcycle, but was considered on duty at the time.
Batchelder, assigned to Mission Station, was driving south on Potrero Avenue when a 1970 Dodge Charger heading the other way hit him as the car was turning onto westbound 20th Street.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/28/MNGILFVAE96.DTL
Liquor store owner's ordeal
Arson, kidnapping in Oakland -- 6 sought in previous attack
Henry K. Lee and Christopher Heredia, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
The owner of one of two West Oakland corner markets vandalized last week for selling alcohol to African Americans was kidnapped shortly before his store burned in an arson fire Monday, police said.
The owner of New York Market, Tony Hamdan, was found safe about 12 hours after the fire gutted his store. Later Monday, Oakland police said they had identified six of the men who had destroyed liquor displays and toppled shelves at another market shortly before midnight Wednesday.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/STORE.TMP
A deadly tale of underground rap
Vallejo's Mac Dre was shot in a dispute over money, and that led to 2 reprisal slayings and a third related killing, police say
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Vallejo rapper Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks wasn't on MTV, on magazine covers or in movies. But his clever, hardcore rhymes had an underground following, and when he was killed on a Kansas City freeway last November, hip-hop radio stations mourned him at length. Mac Dre was big enough for that.
Police investigators say Hicks, 34, was shot in a financial dispute, but the rumor mill said something sexier: that a West-Midwest rap war had flared and that a notorious Kansas City rapper dubbed "Fat Tone" had taken out Hicks. In the world of hip-hop, police say, bad blood often means good business.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/11/29/MACDRE.TMP
Ex-Powell Aide Criticizes Detainee Effort
By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
Monday, November 28, 2005
(11-28) 20:01 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
A top aide to former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees arose from White House and Pentagon officials who argued that "the president of the United States is all-powerful" and the Geneva Conventions irrelevant.
In an Associated Press interview, former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson also said President Bush was "too aloof, too distant from the details" of postwar planning. Underlings exploited Bush's detachment and made poor decisions, Wilkerson said.
Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. He said Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because "otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/11/28/national/w144121S92.DTL
Haaretz
Abbas delays Fatah vote over widespread fraud
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas suspended primary elections of his ruling Fatah movement on Tuesday over widespread fraud in Gaza and the West Bank, a party official said.
The primaries, ahead of a January parliamentary election in which Islamic group Hamas poses a strong challenge, were Fatah's first. They have been seen as a key step for Abbas to assert his control.
"Abbas has instructed the election committee to stop the entire election process in all areas as a result of the widespread fraud," Ahmed al-Deek, a senior Fatah official, told Reuters.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651396.html
Political chess: Reichman to Kadima, Yechimovicz to Labor
By Nir Hasson, Mazal Mualem and David Ratner, Haaretz Correspondents, The Associated Press and Haaretz Service
In the latest move on the Israeli political chessboard, Professor Uriel Reichman announced Tuesday that he is leaving his position as chairman of the board of the Shinui party, and will join Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's new Kadima faction.
Sharon and Reichman, chairman of the Constitution for Israel Movement, have agreed that Reichman will be the party's candidate for education minister, and will also addres the issue of changing the system of government.
The new party wants to see a "presidential" system, in which voters choose the prime minister and legislators on an individual basis and not as part of a party list, with Knesset members elected according to specific regions of the country.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/650995.html
Court asked to recognize non-Orthodox conversions in Israel
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel Religious Action Center on Tuesday morning petitioned the High Court of Justice with a request that immigrants who undergo Reform or Conservative conversion be recognized as Jews and entitled to Israeli citizenship under the Law of Return.
Only Orthodox conversions to Judaism are recognized today under the Law of return. The Reform movement is asking the High Court to end this monopoly.
The petitions were filed by attorney Nicole Maor against the Interior Ministry in the name of seven people who are undergoing conversion through Israel's Reform movement.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651418.html
Israeli-Palestinian soccer 'peace team' to face Barcelona's stars
By Reuters and Haaretz Service
The joint Israeli-Palestinian soccer "peace team," sponsored by Shimon Peres' Center for Peace, flew to Spain on Sunday for a friendly match against Spain's leading team Barcelona Tuesday evening.
The "peace team" includes Israeli internationals and Palestinian players from the West Bank.
Most of the 27-member team, which was accompanied by a host of local sports and political dignitaries, flew from Tel Aviv for the match Tuesday, which comes at the end of a two-day Euro-Mediterranean summit in Barcelona. Leaders of all 25 European Union member states and 10 of Mediterranean neighbors are meeting in the city to discuss closer regional cooperation.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651372.html
Eight Palestinians arrested in overnight West Bank raid
By Nir Hasson and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents, and Reuters
Israel Defense Forces arrested eight Palestinians suspected of terror involvement late Monday night in the West Bank.
Six Islamic Jihad and two Hamas gunmen were arrested in raids near Jenin, Tul Karm and Hebron.
Earlier, a Palestinian gunman hurled an explosive device at an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday evening.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/651042.html
Russia's chief rabbi meets with anti-Semitic nationalists
By Yossi Melman
Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar met this week with Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Dmitri Rogozin, the heads of two Russian nationalist parties that disseminate anti-Semitic propaganda.
The meetings outraged the Israeli Foreign Ministry. "Through these meetings, the chief rabbi confers legitimacy on people and parties known for clearly anti-Semitic positions," said one ministry official.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/649280.html
The Boston Globe
Arkansas father killed by tornado
By Daniel Connolly, Associated Press Writer November 29, 2005
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. --Tommy Hamilton and Melissa Gonzales had just tied the knot after the recent birth of their son. Along with the baby, Hamilton had three sons from a previous marriage and Gonzales brought two girls to the union.
"It was kind of a Brady Bunch thing," said Jerry Denton, Hamilton's co-worker.
Less than a week after their marriage, Hamilton, 33, was killed Sunday when the family van drove into a tornado as they returned to their western Arkansas home after a Thanksgiving weekend trip.
Officials said the twister was packing winds estimated at 170 mph -- strong enough to lift the van into the air and hurl it into the highway median.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/11/29/arkansas_father_killed_by_tornado/
Study: Midwest warming may harm ducks
November 28, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS --The gradual warming of the Upper Midwest could cut the duck population in half as early as 2050, according to a new study published in the journal BioScience.
The study looked at how climate change could affect the Upper Midwest, where North America's best duck breeding grounds are, over the next 50 to 100 years.
The area, known as the prairie pothole region, produces 50 percent to 80 percent of the continent's ducks and contains an estimated 5 million small ponds spread across the Dakotas, western Minnesota and Iowa, northeastern Montana and three Canadian provinces. Even though the area is notorious for wet and dry spells, it is large enough for waterfowl to adapt and migrate to other ponds with enough water and cover.
That would end if climate change increases average temperatures across the entire prairie pothole region, said Carter Johnson, a professor of ecology at South Dakota State University who co-authored the study.
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2005/11/28/study_midwest_warming_may_harm_ducks/
Tap water in Chinese city declared safe
A young boy fills a water container from a tanker truck in a street in Harbin, in northeast China's Heilongjiang province Monday Nov. 28, 2005. Harbin's water supply resumed Sunday after a five day cut, but authorities warned that the water was not yet drinkable, forcing thousands to continue to depend on trucked-in water. The city's water supply was cut for five days in order to prevent contamination by a toxic spill in the Songhua river. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
By Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press Writer November 29, 2005
HARBIN, China --Officials on Tuesday said this city's water was again safe to drink after being shut down for five days because of a pollution scare in a nearby river, but residents remained wary about taking their first sips.
Running water was turned back on in Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province, on Sunday after supplies were shut down for 3.8 million people following a Nov. 13 explosion at a nearby chemical plant that spewed toxins in the Songhua River.
Officials initially warned that the water wasn't immediately safe to drink after lying in underground pipes for five days.
"Harbin's water is now safe to use and drink," Xiu Tinggong, vice director of the city's health inspection bureau, said on local television Tuesday. "Everybody can rest assured that the water is safe."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/11/29/china_says_tainted_water_now_safe_to_drink/
Judge increases Bulger's pension
State told to factor in housing fee, annuity
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff November 29, 2005
Former University of Massachusetts president William Bulger won a significant victory in his battle to boost his pension yesterday when a Superior Court judge ruled that the state must include in its calculations items it had discounted as perks.
The ruling increases Bulger's annual pension by about $29,000, to an estimated $208,000, according to state officials, by forcing the state to include in its calculations a housing allowance and a portion of an annuity he received as UMass president.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/29/judge_increases_bulgers_pension/
Debate over gay clergy is testing many faiths
Vatican expected to announce ban
By Charles A. Radin, Globe Staff November 29, 2005
After three years of tortuous debate, leaked documents, and rumors, the Vatican appears ready today to formally ban most gays from Catholic seminaries and from ordination as priests. But Catholics are far from the only major denomination wrestling with the issue of homosexuals' fitness to serve as religious leaders.
Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Jews -- all are deeply divided on the matter. Many clergy and scholars say that ordination of gays is the most explosive issue in religion in the United States. It has the potential, they say, to create irreparable schisms between those who see the struggle as a continuation of efforts to secure full rights for minorities and women and others who find the Bible's statements against homosexuality too absolute and negative to be subject to reinterpretation.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/11/29/debate_over_gay_clergy_is_testing_many_faiths/
Vatican publishes gay priest document
By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Writer November 29, 2005
VATICAN CITY --The Vatican on Tuesday published its long-awaited document on gays in the priesthood, saying that men with "deep-seated" gay tendencies shouldn't be ordained but that those with "transitory" tendencies could be if they had overcome them for three years.
The official release of the "Instruction" from the Congregation for Catholic Education came a week after an Italian Catholic news agency posted a leaked copy on its Web site. As a result, the document's contents were already known.
Reaction has been mixed, with conservatives saying it may help reverse the "gay culture" that has grown in many U.S. seminaries. Liberal critics have complained that the restrictions will create morale problems among existing priests and lead to an even greater priest shortage in the United States.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/11/29/vatican_publishes_gay_priest_document/
Slaying of teenage girl leaves small town in shock
November 29, 2005
FAYETTE, Maine --Maine State Police detectives investigating the weekend slaying of a 14-year-old girl that shocked residents of this quiet central Maine community are advising people in the area to be cautious.
Authorities have refused to discuss specifics surrounding the killing of Marlee Johnston, including the cause of death, or to comment on any leads or potential suspects.
"We have leads we're following up," Detective Sgt. Anna Love said Monday. "We are reviewing the evidence . . . and will be doing that over the next days, weeks, however long it takes."
Love said it would prudent for people to be cautious by locking their doors and having a companion when walking in isolated areas.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/11/29/slaying_of_teenage_girl_leaves_small_town_in_shock/
Anti-nuclear protest delays Blair energy review
A fisherman walks past the Dungeness nuclear power station in Kent. Picture taken October 3, 2005. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)
By Mike Peacock and Katherine Baldwin November 29, 2005
LONDON (Reuters) - Anti-nuclear protesters staged a rooftop demonstration on Tuesday in a hall where British Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to launch a major review of Britain's future energy needs, forcing him to deliver his speech elsewhere.
Speculation is rife that Blair favors a new generation of nuclear power stations to help fill a looming energy gap.
The Greenpeace protesters, dressed in suits to mix in with the business audience, clambered into the rafters of the conference center shortly before Blair was due to speak, dropping leaflets, saying: "Nuclear: Wrong Answer."
Confederation of British Industry (CBI) chief Digby Jones refused a Greenpeace demand to allow them to speak before Blair -- or have their activists disrupt his delivery.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/11/29/blair_expected_to_favor_nuclear_in_energy_review/
U.S. farmers use pesticide despite treaty
Organically grown strawberries are seen for sale on Aug. 12, 2005, at a roadside stand in Watsonville, Calif. California, which grows more than 85 percent of the nation's strawberries and other methyl bromide-dependent crops, launched regulations last year to improve its strictest-in-the-nation protections for farmworkers and others. Organic techniques are too costly and substitute chemicals are not as effective, growers say. Methyl bromide's survival demonstrates the difficulty of banishing a powerful pesticide that helps deliver what both farmers and consumers want: abundant, pest-free and affordable produce. (AP Photo/Rita Beamish)
By Rita Beamish, Associated Press Writer November 28, 2005
WATSONVILLE, Calif. --Shoppers rifle through store shelves brimming with succulent tomatoes and plump strawberries, hoping to enjoy one last round of fresh fruit before the Western growing season ends. There is no hint of a dark side to the blaze of red.
Strawberries are a painful subject for Guillermo Ruiz. The farm worker believes his headaches, confusion and vision trouble stem from a decade working in the fields with methyl bromide, a pesticide that protects the berries with stunning efficiency.
Cheri Alderman, a teacher whose classroom borders a farm, fears her students could inhale a dangerous whiff of the fumigant as it drifts from the adjacent strawberry field. "A little dribble of poison is still poison," she says.
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2005/11/28/us_farmers_use_pesticide_despite_treaty/
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