San Francisco Chronicle
First draft of Kerouac's Beat bible, 'On the Road,' arrives in San Francisco, the very city it sanctified
Last week, an airtight black suitcase passed through a security checkpoint at the Indianapolis International Airport on its way to San Francisco. A guard ordered the case opened and found inside a tattered and frayed scroll of yellowed paper 119 feet and 8 inches long.
"Oh I know what this is," the baggage screener said to Jim Canary, a conservator who was accompanying the artifact. "This is one of them religious scrolls, ain't it?"
Not a bad observation. The scroll was in fact the manuscript of one of the most famous and iconic novels of the 20th century, Jack Kerouac's stream-of-consciousness Beat generation bible, "On the Road," which is on exhibit for the next three months at the San Francisco Public Library.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/18/DDG06GO86G1.DTL
Newsom: fare theft at Muni
Mayor says cable car conductors skim cash payments from riders
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he is convinced cable car conductors are stealing fare money -- and that the Municipal Railway needs to change the way it collects cash to stop the thefts.
Newsom said he believes conductors are skimming fares from cash-paying riders because on three occasions he rode the cable cars and handed over his $5 cash fare but never received the required receipt.
The mayor said that another time he observed a conductor collecting five or six fares on a packed cable car "and didn't give one receipt for any of them." And, he added, "that's just one moment" in time.
"I am convinced, based on my own personal experience, (the money) is not going to Muni, but it's going in the pockets of some of our well-meaning operators," Newsom said.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/19/NEWSOM.TMP
A nightmarish neighbor: noisy, nosy, now in jail
Police say they hauled guns, ammo, drugs from his home
Don Bertone is not your usual problem neighbor, San Francisco authorities say.
For three years, Bertone, who once worked for the city Housing Authority and ran for the Board of Supervisors in 2000, has wreaked all sorts of havoc in an otherwise quiet community in the southeastern part of the city known as Little Hollywood, officials and his neighbors said Wednesday.
Bertone, 54, just doesn't play loud music, authorities say. At all hours of the day and night, he has blasted police radio broadcasts, shrill oscillating tones, Spanish dance tunes and other noise from speakers he installed on the outside of his home at 336 Lathrop Ave. Police said they could hear the racket from 100 yards away.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/19/SFNOISE.TMP
Statewide flu plan ready for public input
Worst case sees millions sick, 35,000 dead in California
California health authorities on Wednesday unveiled a new blueprint for dealing with their worst nightmare -- the potential outbreak of an influenza pandemic capable of killing 35,000 state residents, sickening millions, and leaving the social fabric of cities and towns in tatters.
For 18 months, teams led by the California Department of Health Services have been revamping the state's last pandemic plan, a 30-page document that was released three days before Sept. 11, 2001.
Although the prior plan slipped quickly from public awareness during that national trauma, the spread of avian influenza from Southeast Asia to Turkey this past year has lent a new sense of urgency.
"An influenza pandemic could be the greatest public health challenge of our time," said Sandra Shewry, director of California's State Department of Health Services.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/01/19/FLU.TMP
Yahoo shares tumble after 83 percent profit rise fails to match lofty Wall Street estimate
Yahoo Inc.'s shares dropped more than 12 percent Wednesday as investors expressed their disappointment with the Internet powerhouse's inability to reap bigger gains as advertisers shift more of their spending to the Web.
The selloff came after Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company reported late Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled, but fell shy of analyst expectations.
It marked the second consecutive quarter in which Yahoo reported earnings growth that investors interpreted as a sign that the company isn't capitalizing on the online advertising boom as well as its rival, online search engine leader Google Inc.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/18/financial/f071533S99.DTL
Laura Bush needs to get real. Or maybe we need to 'get real' over Laura Bush. Everyone always paints her as this benign little lady at the president's side. She can sling the hash when it comes down to it. Laura cannot possibly disagree with Hillary. The Democrats and their constituency has been ignored oppressed and ridiculed with the latest attacks regarding Representative Murtha. Those insults against Murtha are completely baseless and everyone knows it. Now, Laura Bush is her husband's ally to continue the victimization of half this nation. Laura is no benign person who is pulled out of the shadows every time Georgie runs into issues. If she is going to become political then she needs to ADDRESS THE ISSUE and the aesthetics surrounding the issues. I don't consider 'field trips' by Laura Bush for photo ops equivalent to Democracy. The House and Senate have been NOTHING but partisan. Laura Bush cannot deny that. Perhaps Laura can debate the issues with the Senators Clinton and Obama. The Bush Record on Civil Rights is deplorable. Their record on the Environment doesn't exist. Their record on the economy is deplorable and I would like Laura Bush to explain the mounting National Debt and Tax Breaks to the wealthy. I want Laura Bush to explain how the Sago Mine was allowed to exist in it's dangerous condition. If Laura is going to be political then let's get on with it ! Maybe Al Gore needs to join the debate as well.
First Lady Assails Sen. Clinton for Remark
Laura Bush criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday for suggesting that the Republican-controlled House is run like a plantation where dissenting voices are ignored.
"It think it's ridiculous — it's a ridiculous comment," Mrs. Bush told reporters when asked about the remark during a return flight to Washington following her four-day swing through West Africa.
Clinton made the comment in Harlem at an event honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. She said the GOP was running the House "like a plantation" because ideas from the minority Democrats were not respected. The White House on Tuesday called the senator's comments "way out of line."
Mrs. Bush, who said her next trip likely will be to New Orleans to visit schools damaged in the hurricane, also reacted to a comment by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin that stirred controversy. Nagin had said: "This city will be chocolate at the end of the day." He later apologized.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/18/national/w092542S39.DTL
Obama Backs Clinton's Criticism of GOP
Sen. Barack Obama and other black Democrats are defending Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's description of the House of Representatives as a "plantation." First lady Laura Bush says Clinton's remark was "ridiculous."
Clinton, D-N.Y., a potential presidential candidate for 2008, did not retreat from the "plantation" remark, telling reporters the term accurately describes the "top-down" way the GOP runs Congress.
Obama said Wednesday he felt her choice of words referred to a "consolidation of power" in Washington that squeezes out the voters.
The Illinois senator told CNN's "American Morning" he believed that Clinton was merely expressing concern that special interests play such a large role in writing legislation that "the ordinary voter and even members of Congress who aren't in the majority party don't have much input."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/01/18/national/w090702S64.DTL
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Over 3,200 Katrina victims still missing, 400 addresses to be rechecked
More Than 3,200 Still Missing From Katrina
By Michelle Roberts / Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- More than 3,200 people are officially still unaccounted for nearly five months after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, and the state medical examiner wants the search to resume for those missing from the most devastated neighborhoods.
A total of nearly 11,500 people were reported missing to the Find Family National Call Center, a center run by federal and state workers. The reports included people from throughout the Gulf Coast area, but most were from Louisiana.
As of Wednesday, all but about 3,200 had been located, the agency said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5577
Alumni group offers cash to students who report 'radical' professors at UCLA
LOS ANGELES (AP) - An alumni group is offering students up to $100 US per class to supply tapes and notes exposing professors who allegedly express extreme left-wing political views at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The Bruin Alumni Association says it is concerned about professors who use lecture time to press positions against President George W. Bush, the military and multinational corporations, among other things. Its website has a list of what it calls the college's 30 most radical professors.
"We're just trying to get people back on a professional level of things," said the group's president and founder, Andrew Jones, a 2003 UCLA graduate and former chairman of the student Bruin Republicans.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5573
US torture undermines global rights drive: report
By Paul Eckert / Reuters
WASHINGTON - A human rights group said on Wednesday that torture and other abuses committed by the United States in its war on terrorism have damaged American credibility and hurt the global human rights cause.
In a survey of world conditions, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said Washington should appoint a special prosecutor and Congress should set up an independent panel to investigate U.S. abuses. The annual report covered rights developments in more than 70 countries.
"The U.S. government's use and defense of torture and inhumane treatment played the largest role in undermining Washington's ability to promote human rights," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5574
SYRIA? SYRIA? WHAT THE HECK?
McClellan On Extraordinary Rendition To Syria: “That’s A New One”
At today’s press conference Scott McClellan claimed he has never heard reports that the United States sent detainees to Syria, where they were tortured:
QUESTION: There are allegations that we sent people to Syria to be tortured…
MCCLELLAN: To Syria?
QUESTION: Yes. You’ve never heard of any allegations like that?
MCCLELLAN: No, I’ve never heard that one. That’s a new one.
QUESTION: Syria? You haven’t heard that?
MCCLELLAN: That’s a new one.
QUESTION: Well, I can assure you it’s been well publicized. My question is…
MCCLELLAN: By what, bloggers?
Actually it was reported on page A1 of the Washington Post more than two years ago:
A Canadian citizen who was detained last year at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as a suspected terrorist said Tuesday he was secretly deported to Syria and endured 10 months of torture in a Syrian prison.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/18/mcclellan-extraordinary-rendition/
Missile brought down US chopper in Iraq
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A Russian-made surface-to-air missile launched by anti-American insurgents brought down a US military helicopter that crashed in Iraq on Monday, US television reported, citing unnamed Pentagon officials.
The ABC News network said the shootdown represented "a troubling new development" because there are hundreds and possibly thousands of SA-7 missiles that remain unaccounted for in Iraq.
The AH-64 Apache went down north of Baghdad, killing its two crew members and becoming the third US helicopter to be shot down in 10 days.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5575
Veterans groups accuse Pentagon of planning to cut health benefits
By Dale Eisman / Virginian-Pilot
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon hopes to reap billions of dollars to pay for ships, aircraft and other weapons by doubling or tripling health insurance premiums paid by military retirees and driving 600,000 of those pensioners out of the military medical system, a coalition of veterans organizations charges.
Groups representing more than 1 million military pensioners - those who served at least 20 years - are organizing a telephone and letter-writing campaign to block the idea if it surfaces in Congress or to persuade the Bush administration to abandon it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5572
Called-up reservists sue over expenses
Class action lawsuit seeks reimbursement for travel, food and lodging
By Ron Allen / NBC News
Retired Army Captain Louis Tortorella signed up again, right after 9/11. His Massachusetts National Guard unit helped protect sites like reservoirs and military bases.
"I've always learned and appreciated that the military treats everyone equal," Tortorella says. "We all wear the same uniform and defend the same country."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5570
High-level, 2002 intelligence assessment reported Niger's yellowcake supply to be secure
2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim
By Eric Lichtblau / New York Times
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 - A high-level intelligence assessment by the Bush administration concluded in early 2002 that the sale of uranium from Niger to Iraq was "unlikely" because of a host of economic, diplomatic and logistical obstacles, according to a secret memo that was recently declassified by the State Department.
Among other problems that made such a sale improbable, the assessment by the State Department's intelligence analysts concluded, was that it would have required Niger to send "25 hard-to-conceal 10-ton tractor-trailers" filled with uranium across 1,000 miles and at least one international border.
The analysts' doubts were registered nearly a year before President Bush, in what became known as the infamous "16 words" in his 2003 State of the Union address, said that Saddam Hussein had sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5565
Report from February, 2002 Mission:
What Joseph Wilson Didn't Find in Africa;
"In short, there's simply too much oversight over too small an industry for a sale to have transpired."
Published on Sunday, July 6, 2003 by the New York Times
What I Didn't Find in Africa
by Joseph C. Wilson 4th
Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?
Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.
For 23 years, from 1976 to 1998, I was a career foreign service officer and ambassador. In 1990, as chargé d'affaires in Baghdad, I was the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein. (I was also a forceful advocate for his removal from Kuwait.) After Iraq, I was President George H. W. Bush's ambassador to Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe; under President Bill Clinton, I helped direct Africa policy for the National Security Council.
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0706-02.htm
2003 State of the Union:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
Excerpts from the State of the Union regarding Iraq
Excerpt from President's Remarks
Click here for full transcript
Our nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean Peninsula and not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq. A brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth, will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the United States. (Applause.)
Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, even while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date has restrained him from his pursuit of these weapons -- not economic sanctions, not isolation from the civilized world, not even cruise missile strikes on his military facilities.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-23.html
"Our Hearts Are With You"
Ex-CBS Anchor Cronkite, Who Called for U.S. to Leave Vietnam in '68, Says the Same Now of Iraq
By David Bauder / Associated Press
PASADENA, Calif. Jan 15, 2006 — Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.
"It's my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.
Now 89, the television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America" has been off the "CBS Evening News" for nearly a quarter-century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.
Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=584
Bush's Expansion Leaves Workers Behind, Creating a Conflict With the Fed
Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- American workers have rarely taken home a smaller share of the nation's prosperity, a condition that is undermining bipartisan support for free trade and creating friction between President George W. Bush's administration and the Federal Reserve.
After 16 consecutive quarters of economic growth, pay is rising at a slower rate than in any similar expansion since the end of World War II. Companies are paying less of their cash gains in the form of wages and salaries than at any time since the Great Depression, according to government figures.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5571
Called-up reservists sue over expenses
Class action lawsuit seeks reimbursement for travel, food and lodging
By Ron Allen / NBC News
Retired Army Captain Louis Tortorella signed up again, right after 9/11. His Massachusetts National Guard unit helped protect sites like reservoirs and military bases.
"I've always learned and appreciated that the military treats everyone equal," Tortorella says. "We all wear the same uniform and defend the same country."
But now he's part of a class-action lawsuit that seeks $73 million in reimbursed expenses and damages. The suit against the Massachusetts National Guard and the Pentagon aims to include between 1,000-1,500 soldiers who were activated by the state's Guard from September 11, 2001 to the present.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5570
Pentagon forbids troops to buy better body armor
by occams hatchet
Mon Jan 16, 2006 at 11:33:31 AM PDT
In a comment thread two days ago, Margot linked to an article at Soldiers for the Truth that stated that U.S. soldiers were recently ordered not to purchase or use alternative body armor. In view of what has come to light about the shortcomings of the standard government-issue armor, I was somewhat taken aback at her comment, and read the article she linked to. I was shocked, to say the least:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/16/133331/558
SOV™ Flexible Body Armor
"Moves when you Move"
Developments in body armor over the last thirty years are numerous, but very few actually have revolutionized the industry. The last two major developments were the introduction of Kevlar and Spectra products which significantly lowered weights compared to ballistic nylon. Now, Pinnacle Armor presents a revolutionary technology called DRAGON SKIN®, the first practical, FLEXIBLE BODY ARMOR that defeats rifle rounds.
http://www.pinnaclearmor.com/body-armor/sov.php
EPA report shows no hazardous waste, chemical spills from Katrina
Associated Press
BILOXI, Miss. - A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report shows no hazardous waste or chemical spills at or near eight Mississippi Gulf Coast plants in the path of Hurricane Katrina.
Some environmentalists say the report is misleading.
EPA investigators took soil and sediment samples around the eight sites and compared the amounts of chemicals in those samples to known levels before the storm. They also compared the results to guidelines developed for lifelong exposure deemed by officials to be safe for people.
"Based on the sampling results, EPA does not believe these sites were impacted by Hurricane Katrina," the report said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5569
Sen. Clinton: House 'has been run like a plantation'
New York senator call Bush Administration 'one of the worst'
NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton on Monday blasted the Bush administration as "one of the worst" in U.S. history and compared the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to a plantation where dissenting voices are squelched.
Speaking during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, Clinton also offered an apology to a group of Hurricane Katrina survivors "on behalf of a government that left you behind, that turned its back on you." Her remarks were met with thunderous applause by a mostly black audience at the Canaan Baptist Church of Christ in Harlem.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5552
White House accuses Gore of hypocrisy
By Nedra Pickler / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The White House accused former Vice President Al Gore of hypocrisy Tuesday for his assertion that President Bush broke the law by eavesdropping on Americans without court approval.
"If Al Gore is going to be the voice of the Democrats on national security matters, we welcome it," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in a swipe at the Democrat, who lost the 2000 election to Bush.
Gore, in a speech Monday, called for an independent investigation of the administration program that he says broke the law by listening in - without warrants - on Americans suspected of talking with terrorists abroad.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5557
In Desperation, Gonzales Smears Gore
Here’s Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on the Larry King Live show last night:
I would say that with respect to comments by the former vice president it’s my understanding that during the Clinton administration there was activity regarding the physical searches without warrants, Aldrich Ames as an example.
I can also say that it’s my understanding that the deputy attorney general testified before Congress that the president does have the inherent authority under the Constitution to engage in physical searches without a warrant and so those would certainly seem to be inconsistent with what the former vice president was saying today.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/01/17/gonzales-smears-gore/
WORST PRESIDENT EVER (PICTURE)
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/blbushworstpresident.htm
Statement by Former Vice President Al Gore
WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement by former Vice President Al Gore:
"The Administration's response to my speech illustrates perfectly the need for a special counsel to review the legality of the NSA wiretapping program. The Attorney General is making a political defense of the President without even addressing the substantive legal questions that have so troubled millions of Americans in both political parties.
"There are two problems with the Attorney General's effort to focus attention on the past instead of the present Administration's behavior. First, as others have thoroughly documented, his charges are factually wrong. Both before and after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was amended in 1995, the Clinton/Gore Administration complied fully and completely with the terms of the law.
"Second, the Attorney General's attempt to cite a previous administration's activity as precedent for theirs -- even though factually wrong -- ironically demonstrates another reason why we must be so vigilant about their brazen disregard for the law. If unchecked, their behavior would serve as a precedent to encourage future presidents to claim these same powers, which many legal experts in both parties believe are clearly illegal.
"The issue, simply put, is that for more than four years, the executive branch has been wiretapping many thousands of American citizens without warrants in direct contradiction of American law. It is clearly wrong and disrespectful to the American people to allow a close political associate of the president to be in charge of reviewing serious charges against him.
"The country needs a full and independent investigation into the facts and legality of the present Administration's program."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5559
Bush: Worst President Ever?
By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real. Posted May 20, 2005.
Herbert Hoover may have triggered the Great Depression, but he didn't invade another nation on false pretenses, authorize torture of prisoners, or try to stack the courts.
For the record, I don't like George Bush. And I don't like most of the people who work for George Bush. So, diehard Republicans can just brush aside my remarks as so much partisan blather.
But by now I suppose very few diehard Republicans ever read what I write. So do me a favor -- e-mail this to the diehards in your family and circle of friends. Ask them to tell me why I am wrong about this:
George Bush is the worst president of the United States of America, ever. Hands down.
And here are just a few reasons why I believe that statement is true.
http://www.alternet.org/story/22057/
Sydney Morning Herald
US forces admit holding Iraqi women prisoners
US forces in Iraq have admitted holding eight female prisoners, after the abductors of an American journalist threatened to kill her unless the authorities freed all Iraqi women within 72 hours.
Concern is growing for Jill Carroll with her newspaper and family making pleas for her release.
"We have eight females. They are being held for the same reasons as the others, namely that they are a threat to security," said Lieutenant Aaron Henninger, a spokesman for the US military detentions operation. Some 14,000 men are held at Abu Ghraib and other jails on suspicion of insurgent activity.
Carroll, 28, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped in Baghdad on January 7.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/us-holding-eight-iraqi-women-prisoners/2006/01/19/1137553700265.html
Olmert offers to resume peace talks where Sharon left off
JERUSALEM: Israel's acting Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, is willing to resume peace talks with the Palestinians if they meet longstanding Israeli demands to break up armed factions.
But Palestinian elections on January 25 could further complicate peace efforts. The Islamic faction Hamas is expected to do well and might become part of the Palestinian government.
Hamas, which has carried out many attacks against Israel, says it will not lay down its weapons after the poll. Israel insists it will not deal with Hamas, which it labels a terrorist organisation.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/olmert-offers-to-resume-peace-talks-where-sharon-left-off/2006/01/18/1137553646149.html
A whale of a time
A sailor's insistence on giving his five children as many as four surprise lifeboat drills a day saved their lives when the family launch sank after hitting a whale off New Zealand's Bay of Islands.
Valentine Picton's youngsters, aged from 4 to 15, were asleep about 7.30am yesterday morning when he yelled "lifejackets!", the New Zealand Herald reported.
It said the pyjama-clad children raced from their bunks to the stern of the 15-metre boat and had donned their lifejackets in what Picton said was about 40 seconds.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/whale-sinks-boat-not-family/2006/01/19/1137553687746.html
NASA ecstatic over star dust
NASA is "ecstatic" and surprised over the condition and visibility of comet particles contained inside the tightly sealed canister that returned from a far-flung corner of the solar system on Sunday.
The Stardust capsule was opened late on Tuesday at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston after a top security transport from the Dugway Proving Grounds in western Utah, where it ended its seven-year four-billion-kilometre journey to the comet Wild 2.
Bill Jeffs, a spokesman for NASA, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that some of the particles were so large they could be seen by the naked eye. He said NASA officials were "ecstatic" and "surprised" by the condition of the particles.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/nasa-ecstatic-over-particles/2006/01/19/1137553685820.html
Corby's 20-year sentence reinstated
By Mark Forbes and AAP
January 19, 2006 - 7:45PM
Schapelle Corby's original 20-year sentence for smuggling marijuana into Indonesia has been reinstated.
Corby was granted a five-year sentence reduction in October after she appealed the original sentence.
Despite the reduction, she told lawyers to keep fighting to have the conviction overturned.
However, court officials confirmed this evening that the original sentence had been reimposed on January 12 after an appeal from prosecutors.
Corby's lawyers and prosecutors did not know about the latest decision until late today.
Her Bali lawyer, Erwin Siregar, said he had been told about the Indonesian Supreme Court's decision to reinstate the sentence.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/general/corbys-20year-sentence-reinstated/2006/01/19/1137553705401.html
Corby's brother on drug charge
A Queensland court's been told convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's half brother broke into a home because he believed the occupants had information that could help his sister's bid for freedom.
James Sioeli Kisina, 18, from Loganlea, south of Brisbane, was remanded in custody after a brief appearance today at Beenleigh Magistrates Court.
Police claim Kisina and two of his friends stole a large quantity of cannabis and cash during a home invasion in Rochedale in Brisbane's south on Tuesday.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/corbys-brother-on-drug-charge/2006/01/19/1137553692261.html
Riot charge analyst's 'reputation in tatters'
January 19, 2006 - 4:04PM
A finance analyst accused of kicking a man in the stomach during the Cronulla race riot has been granted bail in a Sydney court.
Peter Higgs, 33, of Engadine, appeared in Sutherland Local Court today charged with riot, affray and offensive behaviour.
Higgs allegedly kicked a man in the stomach, knocking him to the ground as the man fled from an unruly crowd at Cronulla's Dunningham Park on December 11.
The court was told the crowd was in a "frenzy", its members lashing out at the man with their legs and fists as he ran to police for protection.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/riot-charge-analysts-reputation-in-tatters/2006/01/19/1137553700131.html
Sydney tunnel collapse: no one cause
Geological factors have been blamed for the partial collapse late last year of Sydney's Lane Cove Tunnel, severely damaging a unit block and forcing the evacuation of about 50 residents.
The tunnel gave way during construction on November 2, opening a 10-metre hole beneath an adjacent unit block in a major embarrassment to the NSW Government, already reeling from anger over the Cross City Tunnel.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sydney-tunnel-collapse-no-one-cause/2006/01/19/1137553696217.html
The high cost of losing our religion
The rebels of the 1970s failed to understand the power of the church as a social force writes Julia Baird.
IN 1970, a Sydney University student, Irina Dunn, was reading a 19th-century philosophy text on atheism for her English honours course when she stumbled across a phrase: "A man needs God like a fish needs a bicycle."
Being, as she later described herself, "a bit of a smart-arse", she changed the words to "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle" and graffitied it on two toilet doors: one at Sydney University and another at a wine bar in Woolloomooloo.
From there it was telegraphed almost immediately to the rest of the Western world.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/the-high-cost-of-losing-our-religion/2006/01/18/1137553646213.html
Guilty by association, racial science makes a bid for rehabilitation
January 19, 2006
Page 1 of 2
… but there is a danger that unreflective denial of race will be replaced by equally uncritical acceptance, writes Marek Kohn.
RACIAL science has discovered the art, and the power, of flattery. A paper published last year, Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence, argued that Ashkenazi Jews were considerably more intelligent than other Europeans, because their history of moneylending and other financial occupations favoured genes associated with cleverness.
The principle was essentially the same as the one underlying The Bell Curve, in which Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein suggested that black people might be innately less intelligent than white people, that race is biologically real and that some races are intellectually superior to others. But the public reaction was strikingly different. There was none of the outrage that followed The Bell Curve's appearance in 1994. Instead there were thoughtful commentaries on the paper's arguments, and an undertone of complacency.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/racial-science-makes-a-bid-for-rehabilitation/2006/01/18/1137553646219.html
Apple acts on iTunes
Apple has sought to defuse controversy surrounding the MiniStore data collection technology in the latest version of iTunes, as it simplifies the process for customers wanting to opt out of the service.
The MiniStore feature was rolled out in version 6.0.2 of iTunes. It tracks songs in customer playlists so as to send customers other relevant song recommendations.
Although the feature can be deactivated, consumers complained they were not warned about it before downloading the new version, and had not received adequate explanation of how much data was being collected about them or their purchases.
Privacy has emerged as a highly sensitive topic in music media ever since a disastrous attempt by Sony BMG to introduce copy protection software on music CDs that caused technical problems for customers.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking/apple-acts-on-itunes-privacy-concerns/2006/01/19/1137553690775.html
continued …
