Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
Facts Were Being Fixed
Strategy included blue paint, assassination
Bush Was Set on Path to War, Memo by British Adviser Says
By Don Van Natta Jr. / New York Times
LONDON — In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush's public ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war.
But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times.
"Our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning," David Manning, Mr. Blair's chief foreign policy adviser at the time, wrote in the memo that summarized the discussion between Mr. Bush, Mr. Blair and six of their top aides.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6327
...in a recent White House News Conference...
Helen. After that brilliant performance at the Grid Iron, I am -- (laughter.
Q You're going to be sorry. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Well, then, let me take it back. (Laughter.)
Q I'd like to ask you, Mr. President, your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis, wounds of Americans and Iraqis for a lifetime. Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war? From the moment you stepped into the White House, from your Cabinet -- your Cabinet officers, intelligence people, and so forth -- what was your real reason? You have said it wasn't oil -- quest for oil, it hasn't been Israel, or anything else. What was it?
THE PRESIDENT: I think your premise -- in all due respect to your question and to you as a lifelong journalist -- is that -- I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect --
Q Everything --
THE PRESIDENT: Hold on for a second, please.
Q -- everything I've heard --
THE PRESIDENT: Excuse me, excuse me. No President wants war. Everything you may have heard is that, but it's just simply not true. My attitude about the defense of this country changed on September the 11th. We -- when we got attacked, I vowed then and there to use every asset at my disposal to protect the American people. Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen. You know, we used to think we were secure because of oceans and previous diplomacy. But we realized on September the 11th, 2001, that killers could destroy innocent life. And I'm never going to forget it. And I'm never going to forget the vow I made to the American people that we will do everything in our power to protect our people.
Part of that meant to make sure that we didn't allow people to provide safe haven to an enemy. And that's why I went into Iraq -- hold on for a second --
Q They didn't do anything to you, or to our country.
THE PRESIDENT: Look -- excuse me for a second, please. Excuse me for a second. They did. The Taliban provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where al Qaeda trained --
Q I'm talking about Iraq --
THE PRESIDENT: Helen, excuse me. That's where -- Afghanistan provided safe haven for al Qaeda. That's where they trained. That's where they plotted. That's where they planned the attacks that killed thousands of innocent Americans.
I also saw a threat in Iraq. I was hoping to solve this problem diplomatically. That's why I went to the Security Council; that's why it was important to pass 1441, which was unanimously passed. And the world said, disarm, disclose, or face serious consequences --
Q -- go to war --
THE PRESIDENT: -- and therefore, we worked with the world, we worked to make sure that Saddam Hussein heard the message of the world. And when he chose to deny inspectors, when he chose not to disclose, then I had the difficult decision to make to remove him. And we did, and the world is safer for it.
THE UNITED NATIONS INSPECTORS WERE NEVER 'THROWN OUT OF IRAQ.' GEORGE WALKER BUSH ACTED PRE-MATURELY BEFORE the United Nations Security Council voted regarding the findings of the UN Inspectors and against the legislature of the United States House and Senate which clearly stated invasion of Iraq was a last resort. Once the invasion was launched there was no turning back. Bush knew he would not be impeached because the Republicans had a clear majority in the House and the Senate could not act independently to impeach.
Saddam didn't have comprehensive records of his weapon history for the United Naitons. But the United Nations inspectors were finding absolutely NOTHING in the way of a trace of evidence of biolgoical, chemical or nuclear weapons. There was no reason for comprensive records that might have reflected errors anyway. WOULD YOU TRUST the records of Saddam Hussein OR the findings of UN Inspectors receiving payment from a neutral country? All the demands for Iraq's Records of WMD was the only 'pickable' point. Yesterday in a speech George Walker Bush stated the reason for the increasing civil war was Saddam Hussein's prior regime.
Bush Blames Saddam for Current Sectarian Division in Iraq
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-03-29-voa57.cfm
Previous to his diversion from his own failures he stated the Iraqi people would receive the invasion with open arms and welcoming applause. Who in the USA knew those statements and expectations were "W"rong all along. NOW, he expects the Ameican public to be fools again, as if this is a new revelation?
Bush is a criminal both domestically and internationally.
Q Thank you, sir. Secretary Rumsfeld -- (laughter.)
Q Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: You're welcome. (Laughter.) I didn't really regret it. I kind of semi-regretted it. (Laughter.)
Q -- have a debate.
THE PRESIDENT: That's right. Anyway, your performance at the Grid Iron was just brilliant -- unlike Holland's, was a little weak, but -- (laughter.)
Sorry.
Q Secretary Rumsfeld has said that if civil war should break out in Iraq, he's hopeful that Iraqi forces can handle it. If they can't, sir, are you willing to sacrifice American lives to keep Iraqis from killing one another?
THE PRESIDENT: I think the first step is to make sure a civil war doesn't break out.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060321-4.html
Transcript: Bin Laden determined to strike in US
The following is a transcript of the August 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing entitled Bin Laden determined to strike in US. Parts of the original document were not made public by the White House for security reasons.
Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Laden implied in U.S. television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and "bring the fighting to America."
After U.S. missile strikes on his base in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden told followers he wanted to retaliate in Washington, according to a -- -- service.
An Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ) operative told - - service at the same time that bin Laden was planning to exploit the operative's access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike.
The millennium plotting in Canada in 1999 may have been part of bin Laden's first serious attempt to implement a terrorist strike in the U.S.
Convicted plotter Ahmed Ressam has told the FBI that he conceived the idea to attack Los Angeles International Airport himself, but that in ---, Laden lieutenant Abu Zubaydah encouraged him and helped facilitate the operation. Ressam also said that in 1998 Abu Zubaydah was planning his own U.S. attack.
Ressam says bin Laden was aware of the Los Angeles operation. Although Bin Laden has not succeeded, his attacks against the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 demonstrate that he prepares operations years in advance and is not deterred by setbacks. Bin Laden associates surveyed our embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam as early as 1993, and some members of the Nairobi cell planning the bombings were arrested and deported in 1997.
Al Qaeda members -- including some who are U.S. citizens -- have resided in or traveled to the U.S. for years, and the group apparently maintains a support structure that could aid attacks.
Two al-Qaeda members found guilty in the conspiracy to bomb our embassies in East Africa were U.S. citizens, and a senior EIJ member lived in California in the mid-1990s.
A clandestine source said in 1998 that a bin Laden cell in New York was recruiting Muslim-American youth for attacks.
We have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting, such as that from a ---- service in 1998 saying that Bin Laden wanted to hijack a U.S. aircraft to gain the release of "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman and other U.S.-held extremists.
Nevertheless, FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.
The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related. CIA and the FBI are investigating a call to our embassy in the UAE in May saying that a group or bin Laden supporters was in the U.S. planning attacks with explosives.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/10/august6.memo/
Four influential Latino peace activists will lead a 241 mile quest for peace!
Citizens for Pablo
Main Contacts:
Pablo Paredes (619) 857-4947
pablopare@gmail.com
Victor Paredes (917) 864-9179
vicparedes@msn.com
On March 12, 2006 Fernando Suarez del Solar, Pablo Paredes, Camilo Mejia and Aidan Delgado will lead a coalition of the willing across a 241 mile quest for peace that aims at raising Latino voice of opposition to the War in Iraq. The March will run from Tijuana, Mexico all the way to The Mission district of San Francisco making strategic, symbolic and ceremonial stops along the way. The 241 mile march is inspired by Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March protesting British imperialism and will serve as a loud cry for an end to the bloodshed in Iraq.
Latinos represent nearly 15% of the US population, 11% of the US military and an estimated 20% of the fallen service members in the first months of the invasion of Iraq. The Latino population is a growing force in the US and their voice must be an active part of the more than 60% of US citizens that oppose the war in Iraq. That’s why on March 12th, 4 Latinos of different ages, nationalities and hometowns will come together to lead the Latino community in a loud and definitive call for an end to the war in Iraq. Because of their unique experiences with this war; Fernando, Pablo, Camilo and Aidan are dedicated to working to end the bloodshed in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5919
On March 12, 2006 Fernando Suarez del Solar, Pablo Paredes, Camilo Mejia and Aidan Delgado will lead a coalition of the willing across a 240+ mile quest for peace that aims at raising Latino voice of opposition to the War in Iraq. The March will run from Tijuana, Mexico all the way to The Mission district of San Francisco making strategic, symbolic and ceremonial stops along the way. The 241 mile march is inspired by Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March protesting British imperialism and will serve as a loud cry for an end to the bloodshed in Iraq.
http://www.swiftsmartveterans.com/
'If you start looking at them as humans, then how are you gonna kill them?'
They are a publicity nightmare for the US military: an ever-growing number of veterans of the Iraq conflict who are campaigning against the war. To mark the third anniversary of the invasion this month, a group of them marched on Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. Inigo Gilmore and Teresa Smith joined them
Guardian
At a press conference in a cavernous Alabama warehouse, banners and posters are rolled out: "Abandon Iraq, not the Gulf coast!" A tall, white soldier steps forward in desert fatigues. "I was in Iraq when Katrina happened and I watched US citizens being washed ashore in New Orleans," he says. "War is oppression: we could be setting up hospitals right here. America is war-addicted. America is neglecting its poor."
A black reporter from a Fox TV news affiliate, visibly stunned, whispers: "Wow! That guy's pretty opinionated." Clearly such talk, even three years after the Iraq invasion, is still rare. This, after all, is the Deep South and this soldier less than a year ago was proudly serving his nation in Iraq.
The soldier was engaged in no ordinary protest. Over five days earlier this month, around 200 veterans, military families and survivors of hurricane Katrina walked 130 miles from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans to mark the third anniversary of the Iraq war. At its vanguard, Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group formed less than two years ago, whose very name has aroused intense hostility at the highest levels of the US military.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6354
New York: Grandmothers Against the War
NYC Anti-War Organization Holds Weekly Vigils
Grandmothers Against the War Vigil in Front of Rockefeller Center (left to right: Judith Cartisano, lawyer; Joan Wile, founder; Margaret Taylor, retired judge; Joan Slomanson, writer; unknown 5th vigiler)
Grandmothers Against the War, founded in November 2003, holds a peace vigil every Wednesday in front of Rockefeller Center. The highly publicized group has been demanding an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Grandmothers Against the War also participates regularly in other anti-war activities and performs its original song material for Theatres Against the War.
Please contact Joan Wile to become involved:
E-Mail:
joan.wile@grandmothersagainstthewar.org
http://www.grandmothersforpeace.org/directory/chapters/us-ny-new.york.city/
GUARANTEE YOU, Barbara Bush is not a member !
Freeway Bloggers Impeachment Project
http://www.freewayblogger.com/impeachment_project2.htm
During the most demanding presidential moments in USA history, Bush was alerted to the attacks of 911 by Andy Card while he sat the front of a classroom reading "My Pet Goat." We all know the result of that.
Bush names Bolten chief of staff
Long-time aide replaces Card in White House shakeup
By Jeffry Bartash / MarketWatch
WASHINGTON - President Bush named long-time aide Joshua Bolten as his new chief of staff on Tuesday in the first major White House shakeup since Bush was re-elected.
Some Republicans have urged the president to bring in fresh blood after a series of political missteps that have weakened the White House and sent Bush's poll numbers to new lows.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6338
U.S. must act for Agent Orange victims, veterans say
By Ho Binh Minh / Reuters
HANOI - Vietnam War veterans and social activists from several countries demanded on Wednesday that Washington take responsibility for victims of the Agent Orange defoliant used by the U.S. military.
The call for U.S. action came at the end of a two-day conference in Hanoi where deformed children were shown as dramatic evidence of the effects of 20 million gallons of herbicides, including Agent Orange, poured on the country.
"We demand that the United States government be held responsible for making contributions to overcoming the consequences of toxic chemicals," the closing statement said.
Last March, a federal court dismissed a suit on behalf of millions of Vietnamese who charged the United States committed war crimes by its use of Agent Orange, which contains dioxin, to deny communist troops ground cover.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6360
THE REPUBLICANS have no comprehensive policy other than Bush's 'Guest Worker Program.' They never consider the issue with any brevity. On the other hand the Democrats in the Senate Judicary Committee have a five year plan that includes the anticipation of 1.5 million new citizens. Hello?
G.O.P. Risking Hispanic Votes on Immigration
By David D. Kirkpatrick / New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 29 — The battle among Republicans over immigration policy and border security is threatening to undercut a decade-long effort by President Bush and his party to court Hispanic voters, just as both parties are gearing up for the 2006 elections.
"I believe the Republican Party has hurt itself already," said the Rev. Luis Cortes, a Philadelphia pastor close to President Bush and the leader of a national organization of Hispanic Protestant clergy members, saying he delivered that message to the president last week in a meeting at the White House.
To underscore the contested allegiance of Hispanic voters, Mr. Cortes said, he also took a delegation of Hispanic ministers to meet with the leaders of both parties last week, including what he called a productive discussion with Howard Dean, the Democratic chairman.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=6361
Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Feinstein Measure Establishing a Pilot Earned Adjustment Program for
Agriculture Workers
March 27, 2006
Print version
Washington, DC – The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved an amendment sponsored byU.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)that would establish apilot earned adjustment program for agriculture workers.
“The thrust of this proposal is to create a legalized workforce for the agriculture industry,” Senator Feinstein said. “This is a pilot earned adjustment program. It would sunset after 5 years. It’s a workable program. It will provide the agriculture industry with a legal workforce and offer agriculture workers a path to citizenship. So I’m hopeful that this proposal will receive broad, bipartisan support.”
Following is a summary of the bill.
Pilot program to allow certain undocumented agricultural workers to legalize their immigration status in the United States and to modify the current H2A program.
The first step requires that undocumented agricultural workers apply for a “blue card” if they can demonstrate that they have worked in American agriculture for at least 150 work days within the previoustwo years before 12/31/05.
The second step requires that after a “blue card” holder can demonstrate that they have worked in American agriculture for an additional 150 work days per year for 3 years, or 100 work days per year for 5 years, they will then be eligible for a green card.
Employment will be verified through employer issued itemized statements, pay stubs, W-2 forms, employer letters, contracts or agreements, employer sponsored health care, time cards or payment of taxes.
This program will becapped at 1.5 million blue cards in fiveyears (without a per year cap) and sunset after five years.
Individuals may participate in employment other than agriculture so long as the worker satisfies the 100 or 150 workdays each year.
Blue card holders (including spouses and children) will be allowed to travel in and out of the United States.
Spouses of blue card workers will be eligible to apply for their own work permit and their employment will not be limited to agricultural employment.
Aliens participating in the program will be required to pay a fine of $500, show that they are current on their taxes, and that they have not been convicted of any crime that involves bodily injury, the threat of serious bodily injury, or harm to property in excess of $500.
The Department of Homeland Security will determine the adequate application fee necessary to offset the costs of this pilot program.
To avoid backlogs, aliens who receive a green card under this program will be exempt from the overall numerical limitations on visas (i.e., 675,000 visas) and the country numerical limitations for Mexico, India, China and the Philippines.
H2A modifications shall be those contained in the AgJOBS bill and shall include a study to determine an appropriate cap.
http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-agworker327.htm
Senator Feinstein's Website
http://feinstein.senate.gov/
She also co-authored an emergency measure regarding levees in California. Mr. Pombo is a Republican that needs reform and obviously with Senator Feinstein mentoring efforts might get it. He regularly attacks protection laws such as The Endangered Species Act. It is a personal vendetta for him. We are hoping he never returns to the House with elections pending. Senator Feinstein was smart to be involved in a plan that could have implicated devastation to the environment as well as protections for levees.
Feinstein, Pombo Request Coordinated
Emergency Response & Evacuation Plan for Bay Delta
March 29, 2006
Print version
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.) sent a letter to government officials today requesting the design of a comprehensive, coordinated emergency response and evacuation plan to implement should disaster ever strike California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta. The Bay Delta levees are among the nation's most vital levees, protecting and providing water for 23 million Californians.
"The Bay Delta needs to be prepared with an emergency response and evacuation plan should a major levee breach imperil hundreds of thousands of people," Senator Feinstein said. "The lesson of Katrina has to be that we recognize potential threats to the lives of our citizens before they happen, and move aggressively to have a full plan in place to prevent panic and fatalities."
"We are doing everything humanly possible to identify and repair the weaknesses facing the Bay Delta levees," Chairman Pombo said. "However, an emergency response and evacuation plan must be put in place in case the unthinkable happens. We can not and will not let the devastation that occurred in New Orleans come to pass in the Bay Delta."
Chairman Pombo and Senator Feinstein directed their concerns and request of an emergency response and communications plan to Homeland Security Director, Michael Chertoff; Acting Director of FEMA, R. David Paulison; and the Director of California Office of Emergency Preparedness, Henry Renteria. The letter requests plans, capabilities, and preparations be made including: pre-positioning of materials during heavy rains, rapid response of government contractors and emergency personnel, immediate closure of levee breaks and coordinated evacuation routes for mass exodus.
http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-evacuation.htm
Send Me Your Health Care Horror Stories... an appeal from Michael Moore
Friends,
How would you like to be in my next movie? I know you've probably heard I'm making a documentary about the health care industry (but the HMOs don't know this, so don't tell them — they think I'm making a romantic comedy).
If you've followed my work over the years, you know that I keep a pretty low profile while I'm making my movies. I don't give interviews, I don't go on TV and I don't defrost my refrigerator. I do keep my website updated on a daily basis (there's been something like 4,000,000 visitors just this week alone) and the rest of the time I'm... well, I can't tell you what I'm doing, but you can pretty much guess. It gets harder and harder sneaking into corporate headquarters, but I've found that just dying my hair black and wearing a skort really helps.
Back to my invitation to be in my movie. Have you ever found yourself getting ready to file for bankruptcy because you can't pay your kid's hospital bill, and then you say to yourself, "Boy, I sure would like to be in Michael Moore's health care movie!"?
Or, after being turned down for the third time by your HMO for an operation they should be paying for, do you ever think to yourself, "Now THIS travesty should be in that 'Sicko' movie!"?
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=193
NO LONG TERM PRESENCE IN IRAQ. The USA cannot afford to 'sponsor' Iraq forever. The clash between cultures in a profoundly Fundamental Islamic Region will cause more problems than it can possibly prevent. We need to leave Iraq to the Iraqis.
BBC
Iraq bases spur questions over US plans
By Becky Branford
BBC News
The US is spending millions of dollars upgrading a select few air bases
The Pentagon has requested hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funds for military construction in Iraq, fanning the debate about US long-term intentions there.
The money will add to an existing bill of $1.3bn for military construction in the Middle East and South Asia - primarily Iraq and Afghanistan - in the last five years.
Much of the 2006 emergency funding is earmarked for beefing up security and facilities at just a handful of large airbases in Iraq.
This has prompted some to wonder whether the US has plans to maintain a permanent military presence - something the government has repeatedly denied.
But those concerned include the US House Appropriations Committee, which has demanded a "master plan" for base construction from the Pentagon before the money can be spent.
In a 13 March report accompanying the emergency spending legislation, it said the money was "of a magnitude normally associated with permanent bases".
A week later, after top US General John Abizaid refused to rule out a long-term presence, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to the bill stating its opposition to permanent bases.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4834032.stm
NO MORE CONTAMINATED HALLIBURTON GARBAGE. The Iraqi people should be so lucky. Then USA generals ponder the reasons for attacks on military instillations. They should share their clean water and they might not be attacked.
Stars and Stripes
Six bases in Iraq to produce their own drinking water
Benefits include reducing truck travel over dangerous roadways
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, March 30, 2006
Jeff Schogol / S&S
Bottles speed by at the water plant at Camp Anaconda, which produces water for the camp and surrounding bases. Six major U.S. bases in Iraq are expected to be producing their own drinking water by summer, military officials said.
CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq — Six major U.S. bases in Iraq are expected to be producing their own drinking water by summer, cutting an estimated 20,000 trips by trucks from Iraq’s dangerous roads each year, according to the managers of the water distribution plant at Camp Anaconda.
Camp Anaconda is the first base to produce its own drinking water, with Camp Victory expected to produce its own water in April, followed in short order by camps Speicher, TQ, Q’-West and Al Asad, managers said.
The move is not intended to turn Camp Anaconda into a permanent base, said Maj. Michael Clancy, engineer for the 3rd Corps Support Command at Anaconda. The unit is headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, and is the Army’s only forward-deployed corps support command.
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=36119
The Australian
Glenda 'bigger than Larry'
March 30, 2006
THE cyclone bearing down on northern Western Australia is bigger than the storm that flattened Darwin in 1974 and about as powerful as the cyclone that devastated north Queensland last week.
Cyclone Glenda was today lashing the Pilbara coastline with destructive gales, as its eye threatens to cross the coast this evening just west of Karratha and Dampier, about 1540 km north of Perth.
Wind gusts of up to 280km/h had been recorded near the centre of category four Glenda, which could grow stronger before it crosses the coast, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Bruce Buckley said.
"It could intensify just a touch, and it could briefly reach category five, but it is more likely to cross the coast as a category four," Mr Buckley said.
Glenda is the third, and the biggest, cyclone to impact the Pilbara region this season, and is on a par with category five Larry which created disaster areas across north Queensland last week.
"The difference is minuscule. We've got Glenda as a very high category four and analysis shows Larry was a very high four or low category five when it crossed, so they are definitely in the same ballpark," he said.
"Glenda is probably a slightly larger cyclone in terms of the physical size of it."
Glenda is also bigger than cyclone Tracy which flattened Darwin in 1974.
"Tracy was an extremely small system, Glenda is a much larger system, affecting a much greater area, and it is a stronger cyclone than Tracy was as well."
Glenda was the sixth cyclone of the WA cyclone season, which runs between November and April.
It is among the strongest ever to hit WA, as powerful as Bobby and Orson, he said.
Category four cyclone Bobby passed near Onslow in 1995, damaging homes and causing widespread flooding.
Category five Orson passed near Dampier in 1989, causing widespread structural damage at Pannawonica.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18653994%255E12377,00.html
Olmert claims mandate for pullout
Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent
March 30, 2006
THE surge to power of the fledgling Kadima party has set Israel on course towards the most dramatic shift in its 58-year history, the pullout of up to 60,000 Jewish settlers from the occupied West Bank.
Kadima leader and Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will be sworn in as the Jewish state's 12th prime minister after the party he inherited from fallen leader Ariel Sharon in January picked up 28 seats in the new parliament.
The result fell short of Kadima's expectations, but gives it enough of a bloc to take a dominant role in the coalition that forms the next government.
Immediately after exit-poll figures were released, Mr Olmert claimed he had won a mandate to deliver on his key platform, the unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlements from the West Bank that would allow Israel to draw its final borders without consulting the Palestinians.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18649723%255E601,00.html
Chinese leader backs uranium sales to India
Rowan Callick, China correspondent
March 30, 2006
CHINESE Premier Wen Jiabao has given conditional backing for India's acquisition of uranium for the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
"India is a friendly neighbour of China, which approves India's co-operating with other countries in nuclear power generation," Mr Wen told The Australian in an exclusive interview on the eve of his arrival in Australia on Saturday.
Australia is to send a delegation to New Delhi and Washington to seek out details of a nuclear technology-sharing agreement struck by US President George W.Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh three weeks ago which could pave the way for the eventual sale of uranium by Australia and other US allies to the subcontinental nuclear power.
Australia, with 40 per cent of the world's uranium reserves, is a potential leading partner in supplying uranium to India, as it will be to China when Mr Wen signs two ground-breaking agreements next week.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18650271%255E601,00.html
Baghdad signals end to trading impasse
Cath Hart
March 30, 2006
BAGHDAD has asked to buy 500,000 tonnes of Australian wheat from the newly formed consortium Wheat Australia, signalling an end to a trade impasse created by the AWB scandal.
Wheat Australia confirmed yesterday that the Iraq Grains Board had signed a contract but said the terms were still being considered by the consortium.
Wheat Australia, a consortium of the east coast's GrainCorp, Western Australia's Co-operative Bulk Handling and ABB, the former Australian Barley Board, was formed earlier this month after Baghdad banned imports of wheat from AWB until the Cole inquiry finishes.
After almost three weeks of negotiations Iraq Grains Board spokesman Khalil Assi told the Dow Jones news service significant progress had been made toward restoring wheat trade with Australia.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18650300%255E601,00.html
Revelations and betrayal
The contents of the Gospel of Judas promise to tantalise, reports religious affairs writer Jill Rowbotham
March 30, 2006
REVILED and despised Judas - history's least favourite disciple - could be on the verge of a moral makeover. Far-fetched? Sure, but with the release of the English version of an antique document called the Gospel of Judas imminent, its publisher, the National Geographic Society, is tantalisingly tight-lipped, so anything is possible.
All that secrecy will end next week when there will be a press conference in Washington to reveal all. Not about the gospel but about the society's plans for its roll-out. Only one thing is clear already: the society's television channel is airing promotional material about a documentary to be shown across the world on April 9.
It is a fair bet the society's magazine will be full of it and there will be at least one book, given the only profit out of the deal will be from those sources: the papyrus document will eventually be returned to Egypt, where it was discovered in about 1980. It is a third or fourth century Coptic-language copy of the Greek original version of the gospel written about AD 150.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18646661%255E28737,00.html>
Crowds hamper police after shootings
March 30, 2006
TWO people were arrested last night at the site of a fatal double-shooting after hundreds of neighbours flooded the street.
Two young men were gunned down on Blaxcell Street, in Granville, western Sydney, about 11.15pm (AEDT) yesterday.
One man died where he fell while the second was taken with several gunshot wounds to Westmead Hospital where he died a few hours later.
Their identities are yet to be released but both men were believed to be in their 20s, police said.
Granville police Inspector Gary Sims today said a crowd of about 200 people emerged on the street soon after the shooting, hampering police efforts to investigate.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18652699%255E1702,00.html
US Army relaxes tattoo rules
From correspondents in Washington
March 30, 2006
THE US Army, which missed its recruiting goal last year, has relaxed its bans on certain types of tattoos in a bid to attract new soldiers who otherwise would have been barred from serving.
The Army will now allow new recruits and all its current soldiers to have tattoos on their hands and back of their necks as long as they are not "extremist, indecent, sexist or racist", Army officials said today.
The Army said it continues to prohibit tattoos anywhere on the head, face or throat area.
But it will allow women recruits and soldiers to sport "permanent makeup" in the form of indelible eye-liner, eyebrows and lip makeup.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18652377%255E1702,00.html
US bans Hamas contact
From correspondents in Washington
March 30, 2006
THE United States has ordered its diplomats and contractors to cut off contacts with Palestinian ministries after a Hamas-led government was sworn in, the State Department said today.
A directive, distributed to diplomats and other officials in the region by email, instructed them with immediate effect not to have contacts with Hamas-appointed government ministers or those who work for them, whether they are members of the Islamic militant group or not, officials said.
Hamas is formally committed to the destruction of Israel and is classed by the US government as a terrorist organisation. It won a landslide victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections in January.
"We will not have contact with members of Hamas, no matter what title they may have," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18652261%255E1702,00.html
Australia demands Iraq shooting probe
March 30, 2006
AUSTRALIA will insist on a prompt and appropriate investigation by Iraqi authorities into the shooting death of an Australian resident in Baghdad.
University of Baghdad Professor Kays Juma, 72, was killed by security guards who opened fire when the professor's vehicle got too close to a convoy of 4WDs ferrying private contractors, The Herald Sun reported today.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) confirmed only that an Iraqi man with Australian residency had been shot and killed on Saturday after an incident at a checkpoint in Baghdad. His identity was not revealed.
"The Australian embassy in Baghdad is seeking advice on who is responsible for conducting an investigation into the incident and will register our strong interest with the relevant authorities to ensure the matter is investigated appropriately and promptly," a DFAT spokesman said.
The spokesman said initial speculation that the security guard who fired the fatal shots was Australian were incorrect.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18652257%255E1702,00.html
Storm brews over Britney sculpture
From correspondents in New York
March 30, 2006
A LIFE-SIZE nude sculpture of US pop singer Britney Spears giving birth on a bearskin rug has attracted angry mail from both sides of the US abortion debate, ahead of its exhibit in New York next month.
The sculpture by artist Daniel Edwards, titled Monument to Pro-Life, will be shown at the Capla Kesting Fine Art Gallery in Brooklyn starting April 7.
"We've received hate mail. There's nothing we haven't got on this, and it continues," gallery owner Lincoln Capla said.
While pro-choice advocates have condemned the sculpture's anti-abortion message, the anti-abortion lobby has expressed some disquiet over the graphic nature of the work.
What the gallery termed an "idealised depiction" of Spears giving birth shows the pop star kneeling on her hands and knees, with widened hips and a posterior view that reveals the crowning of the baby's head.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18652236%255E1702,00.html
Barry Rubin: Election seals triumph of Sharon's strategy
Kadima's mould-breaking victory is a consequence of the party's success in projecting pragmatism as the best option for Israel in dealing with the Palestinians
March 30, 2006
ACTING Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon's political heir, has won a strong mandate in Israel's election. The Labour Party, under populist Amir Peretz, has made a respectable second-place finish and will be his coalition partner. But this is not just another election. It is a revolution in Israeli politics, the most important change in the country's strategic and party system in 30 years.
To figure out Israel's election, or even to comprehend Israel, you have to understand my friends Gilad and Asher. On the surface, it would be hard to find two more different Israelis. Yet both of them voted for Kadima, and that is the key to that party's meaning and the reasons for its victory.
Gilad is a former chef and now reasonably successful real estate broker who is not particularly interested in politics despite his background. His father was an important left-wing politician and he grew up on a kibbutz, one of the co-operative farming communities that are a mainstay of the Israeli Left. Gilad's small and militantly secular family was part of the European-origin (Ashkenazic) elite, though they never had much money.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18646469%255E7583,00.html
Terrorist desperate to die as a martyr
March 30, 2006
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia: In a last-minute twist to the Zacarias Moussaoui case, prosecutors have revealed the al-Qa'ida conspirator last month offered to testify against himself in his own death penalty trial as he did not want to rot in jail.
The bombshell is the firmest evidence yet that the only man charged in the US in connection with the 9/11 attacks hopes for martyrdom through execution.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema set today for closing arguments on whether Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty. The jury must decide whether the 37-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan descent will be executed or imprisoned for life.
The jurors heard yesterday that on the eve of his death penalty trial last month, Moussaoui met with prosecutors and offered to testify for them in exchange for better jail conditions. The al-Qa'ida operative withdrew the offer when he realised he had the right to testify on his own behalf.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18649818%255E2703,00.html
Warlord Taylor caught in Nigeria
March 30, 2006
ABUJA: Liberian warlord Charles Taylor, who vanished in Nigeria after authorities reluctantly agreed to transfer him to a war crimes tribunal, has been arrested trying to cross into Cameroon.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, on a visit to the US, last night ordered Taylor's "immediate repatriation" to Liberia.
Information Minister Frank Nweke said Taylor was captured by security forces in the northeastern border town of Gamboru, nearly 1000km from the villa in southern Calabar state from which he disappeared on Monday night.
That was three days after Nigeria, which had granted asylum to the fast-talking, US-educated economist under a 2003 agreement that helped end Liberia's 14-year civil war, reluctantly bowed to pressure to surrender Taylor to face justice before a UN-backed Sierra Leone tribunal.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18649822%255E2703,00.html
The Times Picayune
Teachers earn bonuses for student performance
By Barri Bronston
East Jefferson bureau
Some Jefferson Parish public school teachers are almost $3,000 richer, an award for raising student achievement as part of an experimental program linking their pay to academic performance.
At most schools, teacher salaries are linked in their union contract to their longevity and their level of college education. But in the fall of 2004, the Louisiana Teacher Advancement Program began at Hazel Park/Hilda Knoff Elementary School in River Ridge and Frederick Douglass Elementary in Gretna, offering faculty bonuses based on their students’ scores on standardized tests, the entire school’s scores and peer reviews. Successful teachers received their pay-outs this month.
Both schools improved their student performance during the two-year trial, and indeed both exceeded the growth of the Jefferson school system as a whole, suggesting the program works. Hazel Park, however, fared substantially better than Douglass, said Joan Gremillion, Jefferson’s director of curriculum, instruction and professional learning.
“We had hoped for better results, but we are pleased with the experiment and will continue to support it at Hazel Park,” she said. Douglass has been closed since Hurricane Katrina and is scheduled to be turned into an adult education center later this year.
Hazel Park’s School Performance Score climbed from 93.2 in the spring of 2004 to 96.3 in the spring of 2005, on a scale topping out at a theoretical 250. The score is based on a formula recognizing the Iowa and LEAP standardized tests, attendance rates and dropout rates.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_03_29.html
Federal report says Charity, University hospitals too badly damaged to repair
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — Charity and University hospitals in New Orleans were so badly damaged by the flooding from Hurricane Katrina — and in such poor condition before the storm — that spending money on repairs doesn’t make sense, a federal government report released this week concludes.
The finding by the Government Accountability Office would seem to bolster Louisiana State University’s contention that the Charity facility, the flagship of the state’s public hospital system run by the university, should be rebuilt from the ground up.
“Since the facilities were severely damaged and were already outdated, proceeding with federal funding for repairs may be wasting tens of millions of dollars,” the March 28 report says.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_03_29.html
Bills fail to change voting rules for New Orleans election
3/29/2006, 5:38 p.m. CT
By DOUG SIMPSON
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson went to the state Capitol on Wednesday with his campaign to make it easier for displaced New Orleans residents to vote in the April 22 mayor's race, but he got no help from a Senate committee.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-24/114367585162590.xml&storylist=louisiana
Three N.O. police officers indicted by grand jury
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Two fired New Orleans police officers and one current officer were indicted Wednesday in the videotaped beating of a retired teacher in the French Quarter last fall.
The Oct. 8 beating of Robert Davis, 64, was caught on video by an Associated Press Television News crew covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The three officers were charged with battery and other offenses.
Davis spent more than an hour testifying about the beating, which left him lying on the street, hands cuffed and blood flowing from his head and face. Afterward, he told reporters that he still has headaches and back problems and even had to interrupt his testimony to take medicine.
The retired elementary school teacher said he was "a private citizen here on business returning to my home. There was no need for what happened."
Davis said he had returned to the storm-struck city to check on his property and was looking for a place to buy cigarettes in the French Quarter when police grabbed him.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/breaking/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_localbreakingnews/archives/2006_03_29.html
FBI investigating St. Bernard contracts
By Karen Turni Bazile
St. Bernard/Plaquemines bureau
The FBI has launched a multi-faceted investigation into post-Hurricane Katrina spending in St. Bernard Parish, examining public contracts including a $370 million debris pick up deal that parish officials granted without bids five days after the storm and gave again to the same firm later last year despite receiving lower offers, according to interviews with competitors and a parish official who have been questioned by federal agents.
Agents are also probing into parish spending on temporary trailers, employee overtime, and a no-bid contract for removal of hazardous waste and sewage, the interviews indicate.
Contractor Lamont “Whip” Murphy, whose Murphy Construction Inc. was one of 11 firms that unsuccessfully sought the debris contract, said the FBI questioned him and a business partner a few weeks ago, seeking details on the way the debris contract was awarded.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_03_29.html
Tuition-free Catholic school to close
By Steve Ritea
Staff writer
Bishop Perry Catholic Middle School, the tuition-free campus serving primarily low-income African-American students, will permanently close July 21, officials announced Wednesday, saying 70 percent of its financial backers have disappeared since Hurricane Katrina.
School president Ken Ducote said the school's board arrived at the difficult decision after being faced with the stark reality that trying to stay open would be too much of a financial risk.
While the school received several one-time grants since the storm, "when you have to apply for grants just to stay open, then you run the risk of having to close midyear if those grants don't come through," Ducote said.
The school expected to have a shortfall of at least $150,000 next year. Ducote said most of the donors the school counted on to finance its $600,000 a year operating budget have left town since the storm
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_03_29.html
New Orleans City Park asking for state help to keep park open
3/29/2006, 10:09 a.m. CT
The Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — New Orleans' hurricane ravaged City Park is asking state lawmakers for a short-term bailout — a $2.4 million infusion of cash — or park officials say they will have to close the largest urban park in Louisiana by September.
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?/base/news-24/114364918062780.xml&storylist=louisiana
State's car removal contract also raises question
By James Varney
Staff writer
The featured local company in a proposed $62 million state contract to remove abandoned cars from southern Louisiana lists a flood-ruined 9th Ward address as its headquarters and has a disconnected phone, according to public documents and a cursory investigation by a state senator.
The Department of Environmental Quality contract remains unsigned after negotiations between it and TruSource Facility Services of Georgia and L&L Steel Builders Inc. of 1939 Desire Street in New Orleans, state officials said. It is that contract that the City of New Orleans requested to join this week, following days of questions about its decision to not sell tens of thousands of hurricane-wrecked vehicles to crushers but instead pay a company $23 million to clear the cityscape of the blight.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_03_29.html
N.O. seeks inclusion in state car-removal contract - sort of
By James Varney
Staff writer
In a letter sent Tuesday to Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality, the city of New Orleans asked to be included in a state contract for the removal of flood-wrecked cars and boats.
At first blush, the letter from Chief Administrative Officer Brenda Hatfield appears to resolve a controversy that has bedeviled City Hall for more than a week, as questions swirled around the decision by Mayor Ray Nagin last year to award the vehicle removal contract to the highest bidder.
But in the second paragraph, Hatfield wrote the city would continue to use its own tow trucks and a privately contracted company to deal with cars left abandoned and waterlogged after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. What’s more, Hatfield expressed some doubt as to whether the state contract she was asking to join would even work.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_03_29.html
Former Lutcher police chief sentenced for crack distribution
The former police chief of Lutcher who pleaded guilty last year to distribution of crack cocaine has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison, authorities said.
Corey Pittman, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Helen G. Berrigan on Wednesday to 92 months. After his release he'll be under federal supervision for three years.
Pittman pleaded guilty in December to three counts of distribution of 56.1 grams of crack cocaine. Pittman, at the time the elected police chief of Lutcher, was caught in a sting by federal agents and the St. James Parish Sheriff's Office. On three occasions, agents said, he sold crack to an undercover agent, authorities said.
Pittman formally resigned from his post in February.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_03_29.html
Nature
Something nasty in the water?
Fluoride leaching from rocks is turning kids' teeth brown.
Emma Marris
High levels of fluoride over many years doesn't exactly lead to sparkling white teeth.
Credit NAS
The maximum allowable limit of fluoride in US drinking water is too high, according to a report from the National Academies' research unit this week.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently enforces a limit of 4 milligrams of fluoride per litre of water, and advises a lower limit of 2 mg/l for children younger than nine years for aesthetic reasons.
But the Academy report says that these rules don't seem to be good enough. Children are drinking water in areas where fluoride is at about 4 mg/l, and some 10% of them have an ugly condition known as severe enamel fluorosis, where teeth are mottled brown and pitted. Most on the panel agreed that this affliction, which is found around the world, goes beyond the aesthetic and can be considered an "adverse health effect".
The 450-page report also noted that there are some conflicting data on whether or not high levels of fluoride can be correlated with bone cancers.
The EPA, which commissioned the Academy study, says it will now get down to the business of re-evaluating its maximum limit. At the moment, says report co-author Charles Poole, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the United States's maximum limits are higher than that of many other countries.
Not about fluoridation
The report only looked into high levels of fluoride, well above the 0.7-1.2 mg/l amount that is intentionally added to water in some communities to help prevent cavities. This practice, known as fluoridation, has long been a subject of controversy. The higher limits of 2-4 mg/l are usually only reached in areas where fluoride naturally leaks out from surrounding rocks into the water or where it is an industrial pollutant.
"We thought about calling our report 'Not About Fluoridation' and stamping NAF as a little acronym on every page," jokes Poole.
Some vocal groups claim the risk to teeth and bones outweigh the benefits of fluoridation. This is contrasted by the majority of scientific opinion, says John Stamm, a dentist and epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina. "Fluoridation is overwhelmingly supported by the dental profession and public health agencies," he says.
http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060320/full/060320-9.html
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