The Los Angeles Times
Israel Seeks to Align Public Expectations With Reality
Officials have stepped back from their rhetoric in the early days of the conflict. Hezbollah can be weakened but not destroyed, they now say.
By Laura King, Times Staff Writer
July 27, 2006
JERUSALEM — Even before Wednesday's bruising day on the battlefields of south Lebanon, Israel's leaders had begun scaling back public expectations of a decisive — or a quick — victory over the guerrillas of Hezbollah.
Heading into the confrontation, senior Israeli officials had declared that the Shiite Muslim militia would be dealt a blow from which it could not recover. Its arsenal would be destroyed and its fighters driven out of south Lebanon, the officials said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-expectations27jul27,0,3881991.story?coll=la-home-headlines
L.A. Area Leads in Employers That Aren't
By Molly Selvin and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Times Staff Writers
July 27, 2006
One hundred workers count on Betsy Briones for their paychecks. But not one of them works for her.
Briones is a so-called nonemployer, relying exclusively on contract or temporary workers. This arrangement, which allows employers to avoid the soaring costs of health insurance and other benefits, is booming in California, according to a Census Bureau report to be released today.
The 63-year-old Briones runs a busy referral agency for in-home care workers out of her Los Angeles residence, placing caregivers with elderly or disabled clients. All of her caregivers are independent contractors and are responsible for obtaining their own benefits, she said.
Los Angeles County — a hotbed for small business — seems to be the capital of this "free agent nation." It has more nonemployers than any other U.S. county, although their ranks are now growing even faster in the Inland Empire, according to the census report.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nonemployers27jul27,0,3579401.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Ohio Landowners Win Eminent Domain Case
State's high court rules that a Cincinnati suburb can't seize property to help boost its economy.
By P.J. Huffstutter, Times Staff Writer
July 27, 2006
CHICAGO — Ohio's highest court ruled Wednesday that cities could not use eminent domain to seize private property in order to use the land for economic development.
In 2002, the working-class Cincinnati suburb of Norwood demanded that dozens of property and business owners sell off their holdings in order to turn a neighborhood of about 70 middle-class homes into a $125-million retail and office complex. The development was expected to bring in millions of dollars in tax revenue.
The state's lower courts had upheld Norwood's claim to obtain the property via eminent domain, but three landowners petitioned the Ohio Supreme Court.
Although economic issues can be considered in eminent domain cases, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that they could not be the only reason to take private property from owners.
"I feel vindicated … and I can't wait to move back home," Joy Gamble said. She and her husband, Carl, were forced to leave their home in February 2005. Until recently, they had been living in the basement of their daughter's Kentucky home.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-eminent27jul27,0,7903784.story?track=mostviewed-homepage
Jonah Goldberg: We Don't Need Beavis and Butt-head Voters
A proposed $1-million lottery to amp up voting would cheapen citizenship.
July 27, 2006
I DON'T KNOW about you, but when that Mega Millions jackpot gets really high I like to go down to the local convenience store and ask the good folks waiting for hours to buy a fistful of tickets, "Hey, do you think Condi Rice should cut a deal with Bashar Assad?" Or, "Excuse me sir, I know you're busy filling out those little ovals for the same 78 numbers you play every week, but I was wondering whether you think reimportation of Canadian drugs is a good idea?" I mean, where else can you find the distilled genius of the vox populi than a line of people at the 7-Eleven who have a lot of time to spare during working hours?
Nowhere, according to Dr. Mark Osterloh of Tucson. Which is why he wants to get the Lotto crowd to vote by turning elections into giant lotteries. His idea, which has received undue national attention, is simple: If you vote, you're automatically entered in a drawing for $1 million — and perhaps some fabulous consolation prizes too! His proposal will be on the November ballot in Arizona, and he hopes it will revolutionize the country by enlisting the lottery-line crowd to fix our democracy. He even has a slogan: "Who wants to be a millionaire? Vote!"
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg27jul27,0,593611.column?coll=la-opinion-center
Iraqi Leader Speaks Half the Truth
Yes, Maliki's country is on the frontlines of the War on Terror, but it's also degenerating into a Shiite-Sunni civil war.
July 27, 2006
IRAQI PRIME MINISTER Nouri Maliki's speech before Congress on Wednesday could have been written by a White House speechwriter. The Shiite leader, who took office in May, eloquently thanked the American people "for supporting our people in ousting dictatorship." He then spent most of the rest of his address placing the Iraq conflict in the context of the global war on terror.
It was all very rousing — Churchillian almost — and it is tempting to buy into this narrative. There are terrorists aligned with Al Qaeda at the core of the resilient Sunni insurgency in Iraq who are desperately trying to sabotage the creation of a more democratic state. We can argue that ongoing American sacrifices to help Maliki's government are therefore worthy, noble even, regardless of what we thought of the initial decision to go to war.
Alas, there are two competing narratives — both rooted in reality — emerging from Iraq. Besides Maliki's story of an insurgency made up of foreign terrorists and Saddam Hussein loyalists taking on a nascent democracy, the competing tale is one of an escalating civil war pitting the Shiite majority against the disempowered Sunni population.
The top terrorist in Iraq, Abu Musab Zarqawi, was killed more than a month ago, but the violence in the country has intensified. Although the world's attention has been diverted, far more Iraqis have died in the last two weeks than have Lebanese, and Maliki's fledgling government is losing control. The Bush administration is now forced to redeploy thousands of troops into Baghdad in an attempt to stabilize the capital, neighborhood by neighborhood.
The question is whether U.S. forces are going to be helping a pluralistic government survive a terrorist insurgency, or whether they are going to get caught up in a civil war — one in which the government is an instrument for the Shiites to exact revenge on the Sunnis. Far more important than the prime minister's platitudes about our alliance in the global war on terror were his acknowledgment that armed militias are "the other impediment" to stability and his pledge to disband them "without exception."
There are alarming indications of ties between government forces and Shiite militias such as the Al Mahdi group and the Badr Brigade And episodes such as the July 9 systematic killing of dozens of Sunnis in the Jihad neighborhood of Baghdad are as damaging to Iraq's prospects as any terrorist bomb.
It isn't clear whether the window of opportunity to avert an all-out civil war has closed, but Iraq is certainly on the verge. For either Maliki or his Washington sponsors to pretend that the crisis is merely a question of terrorism could precipitate, not prevent, the worst-case scenario.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-iraq27jul27,0,997160.story?coll=la-opinion-center
Israel: One Nation Under Attack
In 1982, many Israelis protested their military's involvement in Lebanon. This time they're united.
By Michael B. Oren
July 26, 2006
IN 1982, FOLLOWING the massacre of 800 Palestinian civilians in Beirut, about 500,000 Israelis took to the streets.
Although the Palestinians had been killed by a Christian militia and not by Israeli troops, the demonstrators demanded the ouster of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, who had sent the militiamen into the Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps.
The protesters were also furious about a war that was intended not, as the government originally claimed, to defend northern Israel from Palestinian rockets but to alter the balance of power in Lebanon, a goal they considered optional. As a result of the rally, Sharon was forced to resign.
Twenty-four years later, the Israel Defense Forces are back in Lebanon, occupying swaths of the south and bombing Beirut. Hundreds of Lebanese civilians have been killed — by Israelis, not by their proxies — and immense damage caused. Much of the world and the media are as critical of Israel's conduct in this war as they were in the previous one, insisting that the Israeli attacks have been "disproportionate."
Yet, in contrast to 1982, Israelis today are overwhelmingly supporting their army's actions. And apart from expressing regret over the loss of civilian lives, they show no sign of wavering. Israeli flags and banners proclaiming "Be of Strength and Courage!" (a biblical quote) literally line the streets.
Why? What makes this Lebanon war different from the last one?
To begin with, Israelis, too, are under fire this time. During the last few weeks, Hezbollah has shot more than 2,500 rockets and mortars at Israel, killing at least 17 civilians, wounding 500 and forcing more than half a million people to flee. The attacks from Lebanon coincided with aggression from Gaza, where Hamas terrorists fired about 1,000 Kassam rockets at Israeli towns and farms.
On both fronts, Israeli soldiers were the victims of unprovoked ambushes and kidnappings. And these attacks have come despite the fact that Israel is no longer occupying any part of either Lebanon or Gaza. The war, Israelis now know, is not about borders but about the existence of the Jewish state.
Israelis also know that Hezbollah cares nothing about civilian casualties on either side. On the contrary, Hezbollah wants Israel to cause the maximum amount of collateral damage among Lebanese in order to expose Israel to international condemnation. That's why Hezbollah missile launchers are routinely deployed in civilian neighborhoods.
As a rule, Israeli forces warn Lebanese civilians to leave the battle areas, but eventually they have no option but to destroy these structures or risk losing more Israeli lives to the rockets fired at them. The Israeli air force must also knock out the roads, runways and bridges that Hezbollah uses to replenish its arsenal.
More pressing than the need to defend Israel's heartland, however, is the need to protect Lebanon from Syria and Iran. Counterintuitive though it sounds, Israelis understand that the only way to save Lebanon is by bombing it.
After languishing for years under Syrian occupation, Lebanon has been hijacked by the Syrian-supplied and Iranian-directed Hezbollah. The Lebanese government and army are powerless to control this force, much less disarm it. Hezbollah's burgeoning power not only permits Syria to continue its occupation of the country but, more perilously, it enables Iran to realize its dream of establishing an unbroken arc of Shiite militancy from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.
An Iranian takeover of Lebanon not only threatens Israel's security but also that of moderate Sunni states throughout the region, and it endangers Europeans and Americans.
In mounting its counteroffensive against Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel is drawing a line in the sand against the Iranian leaders who have sworn to wipe it off the map and who, for that purpose, are developing nuclear power.
Israel's purpose is not retribution but survival.
In 1982, Israel's objective was to install a pro-Israeli government in Beirut. But its goal today is to prevent Lebanon from becoming a fully armed outpost of Iran.
Needed to help accomplish that is a robust international force to secure Lebanon's borders from all foreign encroachments, disarm all illegal militias and establish the sovereignty of the democratically elected government in Beirut.
Sharon, who eventually returned to politics and became the first Israeli prime minister to recognize the Palestinians' right to statehood and to uproot Israeli settlements, now lies in a coma. He leaves behind a legacy of one Lebanon war that most Israelis opposed — but also a sense of sobriety and resolve that has persuaded Israelis to support this Lebanon war and steeled their determination to win.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-oren26jul26,0,5135940.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
Arab News
Israel’s Blackmail by Bombs Will Not Succeed
Dr. Azmi Bishara, abishara@knesset.gov.il
In the first part of this article which appeared yesterday I said Terje Roed-Larsen’s visit to Lebanon was not a fact-finding mission because the Norwegian diplomat and UN secretary-general’s special representative on Middle East is not only the Israeli Labor Party’s man on the conflict with the Palestinians, he is also the spokesman of the Israeli position with respect to the Lebanese resistance.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=84729&d=24&m=7&y=2006
Editorial: Dampening Expectations
24 July 2006
Even before she begins her Middle East talks today aimed at ending the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had already lowered expectations of a speedy end to the fighting, ruling out a quick cease-fire as a “false promise.” If anything, Rice apparently, and shockingly, remains opposed to an immediate cease-fire. The dampening of expectations is one thing. The extraordinary US sentiment, that the Israeli bombardment is not enough, is quite another — and worrying to the extreme. For the US to not oppose, but rather condone this blatant aggression on Lebanon is a shameful indictment on the blind, total and unconditional US support Israel enjoys, never more than when an Arab party is on the other side of the conflict.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=85833&d=24&m=7&y=2006
Will Olmert’s Stupidity Open a Window of Opportunity?
Gwynne Dyer, Arab News
Can good come from evil? Is it possible that out of the current carnage in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and northern Israel could come a sober recognition on all sides that victory is impossible and that compromise is necessary? It would be nice.
It’s clear by now how this outbreak of organized cruelty and destruction is not going to end. Israel has already had almost two weeks to pound Hezbollah into smithereens from the air, and it hasn’t accomplished even ten percent of the task. Hundreds of innocent Lebanese civilians have died (together with lots of Lebanese Army soldiers who were asleep in their barracks, the very soldiers that Israel allegedly wants to replace Hezbollah’s militia in the border areas). But few of Hezbollah’s fighters have been killed, and its rockets continue to rain on northern Israeli cities.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=84710&d=24&m=7&y=2006
Gaza Palestinians Fire Rockets Despite Reports of Cease-Fire
Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News
GAZA CITY, 24 July 2006 — Despite reports earlier that Palestinians in Gaza had agreed to halt firing rockets into Israel, they fired five rockets at Israel early yesterday.
Palestinian officials said yesterday that the main fighter groups, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, reached an agreement to stop firing rockets if Israel calls off the Gaza offensive it launched last month when Hamas-linked groups captured a soldier in a raid on an Israeli military post. The groups denied an agreement had been reached.
Under the reported deal, the rocket fire was supposed to end at midnight Saturday. But early yesterday morning, Palestinians launched five homemade rockets into Israel, causing no injuries.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=80249&d=24&m=7&y=2006
Shoura Condemns Israeli Brutality on the Lebanese
Arab News
RIYADH, 24 July 2006 — In a statement released yesterday, the Shoura Council condemned Israel’s brutal attacks on the Lebanese and Palestinian people and denounced the targeting of civilian infrastructure in Lebanon as a flagrant violation of international law.
The council called on the world community to condemn Israeli aggressions against Lebanon and Palestine. The statement called for Israel to take the responsibility of compensating for the destruction it has caused in Lebanon.
The council commended the Kingdom’s efforts to bring an end to the miseries of the Lebanese and Palestinian people. The Saudi leadership has been locked in discussion with world leaders on the issue since the escalation of Israeli aggression in the region.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=84262&d=24&m=7&y=2006
UN Slams Israel Over Lebanon Brutality
Nayla Razzouk, Agence France Presse
United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, center, talks to reporters in a devastated neighborhood of south Beirut on Sunday. (Reuters)
BEIRUT, 24 July 2006 — The UN relief chief condemned Israel yesterday for “violating humanitarian law” over its blistering raids on Lebanon as the Jewish state killed more civilians in another wave of attacks.
As Israel tightened its grip on a strategic border village seized in south Lebanon, Syria fueled fears the fighting could spread by issuing a warning that it would intervene if Israel dared to launch an all-out invasion of Lebanon.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=85835&d=24&m=7&y=2006
23 Gazans Massacred in the Deadliest Day
Hisham Abu Taha, Arab News
GAZA CITY, 27 July 2006 — In one of the bloodiest days since Israel began its offensive in the Gaza Strip one month ago, 23 Gazans were massacred in airstrikes and tank shelling on northeast Gaza City yesterday. More than 40 Palestinian were wounded, officials said.
Most of the dead were fighters, Palestinians said, but two children were among the civilian fatalities. Three of the wounded were in critical condition, Health Ministry official Mo’aweya Hassanein added.
Palestinian security officials said dozens of Israeli armored vehicles and bulldozers rolled into Gaza City’s Al-Shaaf neighborhood in the early hours of yesterday, amid intensive gunfire. Witnesses said that an Israeli Army tank fired shells during the pre-dawn advance into the neighborhood, killing and wounding Palestinian fighters and civilians.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=85891&d=27&m=7&y=2006
Hezbollah Inflicts Heavy Casualties on Israeli Troops
Sam F. Ghattas, Associated Press
BEIRUT, 27 July 2006 — Hezbollah inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli troops as they battled for a key hilltop town in southern Lebanon for a fourth day yesterday, with as many as 14 soldiers reported killed. Israel has faced fiercer resistance than expected as it advances across the border in its campaign against the group.
Lebanese officials, meanwhile, confirmed that four UN observers were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their post the night before. Three bodies were pulled out of the ruins, but workers were still trying to reach the fourth, the UN observer force said.
In Rome, US, European and Arab officials holding crisis talks on Lebanon failed to agree on details for a cease-fire to end 15 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced intense pressure for Washington to change its stance and call for an immediate halt to the violence.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=85889&d=27&m=7&y=2006
Yes, We Are Witnessing War Crimes in Lebanon
Abeer Mishkhas, abeermishkhas@arabnews.com
A recent picture on the front page of The Independent was worth the proverbial thousand words. Actually, it was more powerful than all the words in the world. It was a picture of a mother and her son, both drenched in blood, the mother lying on the floor, obviously dying, with her eyes turned to her son.
The look in her eyes was of someone who knows the worst is yet to come and that her son, who looked about 10 or 12 years old, would have to face a cruel life without her. The son, holding her hand, was obviously facing his own moment of shock and agony; his tears were flowing and fear was written all over his face. The picture haunted everyone who saw the paper on that sad morning. The headline under the picture was “War Crimes?” and I have to say if that was not a war crime, then there is no hope for justice in this world.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=85899&d=27&m=7&y=2006
Good Response to Charity Telethon
Mohammed Rasooldeen & Ali Al-Zahrani, Arab News
Abdullah Al-Dosary with his two-year-old son makes the first donation in Riyadh on Wednesday. (AN photo by Iqbal Hossain)
JEDDAH/RIYADH, 27 July 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah donated SR10 million to the Saudi telethon that kick-started yesterday to help people in Lebanon who have been afflicted by the Israeli bombardment, reported the Saudi Press Agency.
Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, donated SR5 million to the campaign while Interior Minister Prince Naif contributed SR2 million.
In Riyadh, Saudis and expatriates came yesterday in large numbers to the Prince Faisal ibn Fahd Stadium in Malaz to make their donations in cash and kind in the fund-raiser Telethon for the people of Lebanon suffering at the hands of brutal Israeli forces.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=85888&d=27&m=7&y=2006
SR2bn Al-Baha Projects Unveiled by Abdullah
Arab News
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah presses the button to open a number of new development projects worth more than SR2 billion for the Al-Baha region as Interior Minister Prince Naif looks on in Aqiq on Wednesday. (SPA)
AL-BAHA, 27 July 2006 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah laid foundation stones for more than SR2 billion worth of development projects at various locations in Al-Baha region yesterday, reported the Saudi Press Agency.
Two children welcomed the king with bouquets, showering his path with flower petals at Aqiq where the function was held.
King Abdullah began the series of inaugurations by first opening new projects worth SR500 million for the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVT). They include a technical college at Al-Qelwah, a higher institute for technology for women, and seven institutes of vocational training, Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, chairman of the GOTEVT, said.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=85887&d=27&m=7&y=2006
Short Story Program for Young Women
Huda Al-Shayeb, Arab News
QATIF, 27 July 2006 — Budding women writers have completed a month-long short-story writing program under the tutorship of the celebrated Saudi writer Zahra Musa Al-Naser. It was a one-of-its-kind course organized by the Cultural Youth Forum in the Eastern Region.
Twenty-six girls finished the course. It was held once a week for a month. Girls who achieved 100 percent attendance were awarded certificates.
The Cultural Youth Forum is a new initiative by young people in the Eastern Province. Among the many activities the forum organizes are short-story writing competitions held every two months. Entrants are given topics relating to social issues such as the rights of children, unemployment and nationality.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=85896&d=27&m=7&y=2006
Women Get a Taste of the Art of Sculpting
Ebtihal Mubarak, Arab News
Ali Al-Tokhais sculpting for the women participating in his workshop. (AN photo by Abdullah Bazuhair)
JEDDAH, 27 July 2006 — Around 20 women in black abayas enthusiastically gripped their stone, pieces of marble and electric saws as they set out to learn more about sculpture. The House of Artists in Jeddah has organized the first women’s sculpture workshop.
The four-day workshop began on Saturday and was open to anyone interested, whether members of the house or the public, said house secretary Abdul Mannan Hashem. He added that the workshop was one of the house’s summer activities and that the next one would deal with Arabic calligraphy.
The famous Saudi sculptor Ali Al-Tokhais is in charge of the workshop. He said that he had given many lectures and workshops in the past but this was his first for women.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=85893&d=27&m=7&y=2006
San Francisco Chronicle
That was the wave that was
Freakish weather patterns called culprit in Bay Area's longest string of hot days
Glen Martin, Chronicle Environment Writer
Thursday, July 27, 2006
The Great Heat Wave of 2006 was not just an epic meteorological event -- it was an epochal one, unprecedented in the north state's weather annals, meteorologists agree.
It has been hotter for longer than ever before, and the weather patterns that caused the scorching temperatures were positively freakish. The region's last significant heat wave -- in 1972 -- lasted just two days, and never in the past has the Bay Area suffered through as many consecutive days of temperatures above 110.
"We've had several one-day wonders over the years," said Cordelia-based consulting meteorologist Mike Pechner, "but nothing of this extent and duration. It has been truly extraordinary."
"From an historical perspective, what happened in the nine Bay Area counties was particularly noteworthy," he said. "We didn't set many all-time temperature records in the Bay Area, but we did set records for the number of consecutive days with temperatures above 110."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/27/WEATHERPAST.TMP
S.F. leaps the first hurdle in U.S. Olympic bid
Carrie Sturrock and Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, July 27, 2006
San Francisco's strong international standing helped make it one of three finalists -- along with Los Angeles and Chicago -- for the U.S. bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
The U.S. Olympic Committee announced its short list Wednesday. It rejected Philadelphia and Houston more than two months after the committee visited all five cities.
The committee will make a final decision in late fall on whether to bid for the 2016 games. If it does go forward, it will pick the U.S. contender in March. In 2009, the International Olympic Committee will choose among world cities the one that will host the 2016 Games.
Should San Francisco be selected as the U.S. candidate, the city will need to raise $20 million in private funds over the next several years to craft a competitive bid, city officials said.
The committee considered international opinion more heavily than ever before in deciding which cities to put on the short list, committee officials said. While the officials didn't mention the war in Iraq or other conflicts in the Middle East, they said the U.S. profile and standing in the world has changed.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/27/OLYMPICS.TMP
Turmoil follows Iraq's new leader
VISIT TO D.C.: Anger mounts in Capitol over al-Maliki's refusal to condemn Hezbollah
Marc Sandalow, Washington Bureau Chief
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
(07-26) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's address before a joint session of Congress this morning, originally intended to provide a powerful image of Iraq's stability, is likely instead to provoke reminders of the region's escalating violence.
The visit of Iraq's first constitutionally elected prime minister coincides with mounting carnage in southern Lebanon and the most deadly run in Iraq since the United States toppled Saddam Hussein more than three years ago.
President Bush announced that more U.S. troops would be positioned in Baghdad, standing beside the Iraqi leader at a White House news conference Tuesday that lacked the optimism or claims of progress that have marked previous sessions.
And in the Capitol, anger over al-Maliki's refusal to condemn Hezbollah for its missile attacks on Israel prompted several prominent Democrats to demand that his invitation to speak before Congress be withdrawn, some suggesting they would not attend, in protest.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/26/MNG3HK5LK51.DTL
Al-Qaida Vows Reprisal for Israeli Attacks
By WILLA THAYER, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, July 27, 2006
(07-27) 03:45 PDT CAIRO, Egypt (AP) --
Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader warned in a new videotape released Thursday that the terrorist group would not stand idly by while Israeli bombardments "burn our brothers" in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
In the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Ayman al-Zawahri, second in command to Osama bin Laden, said that al-Qaida now saw "all the world as a battlefield open in front of us."
The Egyptian-born physician said the Hezbollah and Palestinian battles against Israel would not be ended with "cease-fires or agreements." The fighting began last month following a Palestinian cross-border raid in which an Israeli soldier was captured, then expanded to Lebanon after Hezbollah militants captured two other soldiers in a raid earlier this month.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/07/27/international/i034549D69.DTL
SAN JOSE
Mayor and aide plead not guilty
Gonzales faces 6 felony counts, Guerra 3 -- all about corruption
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Indicted San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales and his chief budget aide, Joe Guerra, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to corruption charges stemming from the city's 2000 garbage contract.
Gonzales said little during his brief appearance before Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James Emerson in a San Jose courtroom. When asked to enter a plea, Gonzales said simply, "Not guilty, sir."
He did not respond to reporters' questions as he stepped into a sport utility vehicle waiting in front of the courthouse.
The mayor of the Bay Area's largest city maintains that he broke no laws and has refused the City Council majority's call to resign.
The mayor's attorney, Allen Ruby, has said he intends to challenge the indictment as legally insufficient, saying last month, "Even if you assume all the facts in this indictment are true, there was no crime."
Ruby declined to comment Wednesday on the issue, citing a gag order that Emerson imposed on Monday.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/27/SJMAYOR.TMP
GOP Candidate Says Criticism Was a Joke
By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
(07-26) 16:18 PDT Annapolis, Md. (AP) --
Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele on Wednesday called President Bush his "homeboy," reversed course on having the president campaign for him and said he was joking when he described his Republican affiliation as a scarlet letter.
The Maryland lieutenant governor, under fire for his comments, told WBAL radio that his remarks were supposed to be off the record with a handful of reporters. Instead, Steele's campaign confirmed Tuesday that he was the unnamed Senate candidate who had assailed the Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congress in a story in The Washington Post.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/07/26/politics/p123541D70.DTL
GUT CHECK
Jerry Porter is already testing coach Art Shell
Nancy Gay
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Suffice to say, this is not the best way to make an impression on the new boss.
Let's say the new guy in charge wants you to stick around after work. The company is in pretty bad shape and the boss needs everyone to put in some extra time, to help get the business pointed in the right direction.
Raiders coach Art Shell, who is demanding effort, commitment and discipline now that he's taking over a franchise that death-spiraled to 13-35 the past three seasons, expected 100 percent attendance at every minicamp, meeting and organized team activity this past offseason.
He also hoped star employees -- Randy Moss, Jerry Porter, for instance -- would work out religiously at the facility, to set a positive tone. To be the examples.
From the start, Porter was adamant that wasn't going to happen.
Yes, believe what you have heard. There is a huge rift between Porter, the Raiders' sometimes spectacular, often annoying and always baffling wide receiver, and Shell, the Hall of Fame tackle and coach who couldn't care less if Porter has a nice spread this month in "Dubs Magazine."
On Tuesday, Porter spelled it out succinctly. He and Shell aren't on the same page.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/26/SPG6RK5L0N1.DTL
Homes sought for turkey chick survivors
Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
(07-26) 16:24 PDT SAN MATEO -- Officials at the Peninsula Humane Society are searching for homes for 40 turkey chicks that survived an airline flight on which 9,000 other baby turkeys died.
On July 13, a commercial breeder shipped 11,000 of the newborn chicks from Detroit to San Francisco International Airport using Northwest Airlines.
"They had specifically requested the boxes go on two separate flights," said Scott Delucchi, a spokesman for the Peninsula Humane Society and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in San Mateo. "But someone decided to put them all on the same flight."
The boxes containing the chicks, en route to a Fresno farm, were crammed into the cargo space, and thousands of the birds suffocated before they made it to SFO.
Of the surviving chicks, 2,000 were taken to their initial destination
-- Zacky Farms in Fresno -- where they will be raised for consumption.
The airline later came across 40 live chicks that somehow had been left behind and contacted the Humane Society for help.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/26/MNGBHK4KRM7.DTL
Jury Finds Yates Not Guilty in Drownings
By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, July 27, 2006
(07-27) 03:51 PDT HOUSTON (AP) --
After being acquitted by reason of insanity in her children's bathtub drowning deaths, Andrea Yates won't spend her life in prison — but she will be committed to a state mental hospital.
One day after her acquittal, Yates will learn Thursday where she will be held until she is no longer deemed a threat. It will likely be North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, a maximum-security state facility, said her lead attorney, George Parnham.
Yates' ex-husband, Russell Yates, called the verdict "a miracle."
"This means a woman who we perceive to be also a victim in all this, just like our children are, is going to get a better quality of life for herself for the balance of her life," Yates said outside the courthouse.
Four years ago, another jury convicted Yates of the 2001 murders, but an appeals court overturned the conviction last year because of erroneous testimony from a prosecution witness.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2006/07/26/national/a111842D27.DTL
Washington's top court upholds same-sex marriage ban
Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
(07-26) 09:07 PDT OLYMPIA, WASH. -- A narrowly divided Washington state supreme court upheld the state's ban on gay marriages today, dashing activists' hopes for a ruling that could have changed the landscape of same-sex marriages around the nation.
The 5-4 ruling upheld the state's Defense of Marriage Act, which defines the institution as a relationship between one man and one woman.
The majority opinion said the state constitution and case law demanded such a decision, arguing that the definition of gay marriage should be left to the legislature or voters. In doing so, the court left open the possibility that gay marriages could someday be allowed in the state.
"While same-sex marriage may be the law at a future time, it will be because the people declare it to be, not because five members of this court have dictated it," Justice Barbara Madsen wrote in the opinion.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/26/MNG4VK5PT54.DTL
And without a diploma...
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
ON TUESDAY, many high-school seniors from the Class of 2006 who failed to graduate in June because they have yet to pass the new high-school exit exam sat down to try to pass the test again.
At the very same time, attorneys representing the state Department of Education battled attorneys representing students who had met all their graduation requirements except for a passing grade on the exit exam.
The good news is that figures released last week show that more than 90 percent of the students who made it through to their senior year passed the exam in this first year that it was a requirement for graduation.
But what about the 40,173 students -- 9.1 percent of last spring's graduating class -- who flunked the exam?
State officials tell us that half of them would have failed to graduate anyway, because they had flunked courses or had not met other graduation requirements. They point out that "only" about 20,000 students -- or 5 percent of all high-school seniors -- failed to receive their diploma solely because they had not passed the exit exam.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/07/26/EDGOBIPVN61.DTL
Two Bush bashes
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
A TROUBLING but little-known power used by President Bush to thwart laws he dislikes received a one-two punch this week. It was about time.
Both a panel of the American Bar Association and the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee are going after the White House's use of signing statements. The statements allow the president to sign a law, then add written reservations, often days or weeks later, that effectively undercut the law's intent.
It's a tactic that should unnerve anyone who believes in the Constitution's system of checks and balances and the rule of law. Until recently, official Washington hardly uttered any protest, giving ground before a powerful executive branch.
Traditionally, a president vetoes a bill with which he disagrees. But not this president, who last week vetoed his first measure -- one expanding stem-cell research -- after more than 5 years in office. He hasn't needed to reach for his veto pen, because signing statements go one better.
The signing-statement process first lets the law go on the books, then permits the president to assert his right to ignore provisions that conflict with his powers of office. Torture bans, scientific reporting, foreign policy, job specs for appointees -- all these drew signing statements from Bush that disregarded congressional intentions.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/07/26/EDGOBIPVNA1.DTL
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