January 2, 2006.

Roosevelt, Washington under the blanket of clouds holding temperatures at 47 degrees Fahrenheit.

January 1, 2006.

Beach Blvd., Pacifica, California.

January 5, 2006.

Torrebelvicino, Italy.

Eight degrees below Zero !

Morning Papers - continued ...

The News and Observer

'Road to Nowhere' condemned
U.S. senator likes cash payment
Completing the so-called "Road to Nowhere" through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina is a "terrible idea," Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander said Thursday.
"I have hiked the path [where] that proposed road would go," the Republican said after an appearance in Oak Ridge. "It would tear up the Great Smoky Mountains."
Alexander, who maintains a home on the other side of the Smokies near Townsend, said he still supports a $52 million cash settlement to Swain County, N.C., in lieu of completing the 38-mile North Shore Road from Fontana Dam to Bryson City, N.C.
The National Park Service released a draft environmental impact statement Wednesday that identified five alternatives to resolve the road dispute, which dates to the construction of Fontana Dam in 1943.

http://www.newsobserver.com/664/story/385305.html


Photographer's 'Amnesia' is art
From Staff Reports
CARRBORO -- "Amnesia in Black & White," a collection of photographs by Geneva Sophia, will be on view at Carrboro Town Hall today through Feb. 28.
Sophia was enrolled in the Beijing Language and Culture University in 2004 when a student struck her with a brick, leaving her with short-term memory loss. During her rehabilitation, her mother took her on drives in the country, and they eventually bought Sophia a camera so she could capture this beauty.
The exhibit is a record of Sophia's first memories of her new life.
Carrboro Town Hall is at 301 W. Main St.

http://www.newsobserver.com/664/story/385348.html


Airfares are ready to take off
Fuel costs up; competition's down; airlines seek profits
Airfares are poised to soar.
Sky-high fuel costs and fewer competitors mean the higher prices that passengers paid during the holidays aren't going away. In fact, fares are expected to climb steadily in 2006.
As the nation's largest airlines emerge from bankruptcy or try to get back on solid financial ground, they are raising prices, adding fees, cutting routes and making other moves that will hurt consumers.
The demise of discount carrier Independence Air -- it shut down Thursday night after filing for bankruptcy -- could foreshadow significant rate increases in some markets.

http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/385469.html


Tax jump at pump sized up
David Bracken, Staff Writer
Like many motorists in North Carolina, Wanda Washington of Butner wants to know why the price of gasoline jumped 15 cents at her local service station on Dec. 30.
Did the increase have anything to do with the 2.8 cent per gallon hike in the state's fuel tax rate? Were oil companies simply taking advantage of that rate hike to make a quick buck?
On Thursday, a special legislative panel, called the Joint Select Committee on Energy and Fuel Costs, attempted to respond to questions like those. The committee was created last week after constituents complained to their representatives about the state's largest gas tax increase in 16 years.

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/385445.html



Surviving miner gets 2nd oxygen treatment
By DANIEL LOVERING, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The lone survivor of a coal mine explosion underwent two oxygen treatments and remained under sedation as he struggles to recover from brain damage and other injuries, doctors said Friday.
Doctors stressed it would take time before the extent of the brain damage is known.
Randal McCloy Jr. was taken by ambulance Thursday from West Virginia University's Ruby Memorial Hospital to Allegheny General Hospital, where he remained in critical condition Friday.
Dr. Richard Shannon, who is leading the team of doctors treating the miner, said McCloy's first oxygen treatments went well. Doctors said McCloy has shown some movements when his medications are reduced at times.

http://dwb.newsobserver.com/24hour/nation/story/3042761p-11736687c.html


Grammy-winning singer Lou Rawls dies
By JEFF WILSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Lou Rawls, the velvet-voiced singer who started as a church choir boy and went on to record such classic tunes as "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine," died Friday of cancer. He was 72.
Rawls died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was hospitalized last month for treatment of lung and brain cancer, said his publicist, Paul Shefrin. His wife, Nina, was at his bedside when he died.
Rawls' family and Shefrin said the singer was 72, although other records indicate he was 70.

http://dwb.newsobserver.com/24hour/entertainment/story/3047402p-11741661c.html


Sharon improves but still in coma
By RAVI NESSMAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon showed "significant improvement" after five hours of emergency brain surgery Friday, with doctors stopping the bleeding and relieving the pressure inside his skull, a hospital official said.
Sharon, 77, remains in serious condition, said Hadassah Hospital director Dr. Shlomo Mor-Yosef. Sharon was returned to intensive care after the surgery and a subsequent brain scan. He will remain in a medically induced coma until Sunday.
Sharon was rushed to the operating room Friday morning after a brain scan detected further bleeding and increasing pressure.

http://dwb.newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/3044165p-11737807c.html



Attorneys file clemency petition for condemned N.C. man
The Associated Press
EDEN, N.C. -- A man scheduled to be executed later this month deserves clemency because both the state's child welfare and justice systems failed him, his attorneys said in a petition this week.
Perrie Dyon Simpson, 43, is scheduled to be executed Jan. 20 for the 1984 murder in Reidsville of 92-year-old retired Baptist preacher Jean E. Darter.
A confessed murderer, Simpson spent the first half of his life as a ward of the state, shuffled among at least 22 foster homes since he was 10 days old. And the second half he spent on death row.
If the residents of North Carolina knew the horrible circumstances of Simpson's upbringing and young adult life, "they would support granting Perrie life without parole," said Polly Sizemore of Greensboro, one of Simpson's three attorneys.

http://dwb.newsobserver.com/news/ncwire_news/story/2870135p-9326478c.html


Job growth slows in December
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Job growth slowed in December -- following a big hiring spurt in November -- with employers expanding payrolls by just 108,000, underscoring the sometimes choppy path traveled by job seekers.
The Labor Department's fresh snapshot of the nation's jobs climate, released today, also showed that the unemployment rate dipped from 5 percent in November to 4.9 percent in December, as some people left the labor market for any number of reasons.
The 108,000 gain in payrolls registered in December followed a big pickup of 305,000 jobs added in November, according to revised figures released today. That was the most since April 2004 and was even stronger than the 215,000 job gains first estimated for November a month ago.
But October's payrolls turned out to be a bit weaker -- showing an increase of 25,000, versus 44,000 previously reported. Still, given that was a month where the lingering effects of the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes were still being felt, the lackluster performance could be explained.
December's gain of 108,000 jobs was about half of what economists were expecting. Before the release of the report, they were forecasting employers to add around 200,000 positions during the month.

http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/385550.html


True blue test ahead
N.C. State will try to trump history when it takes on the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill on Saturday
Chip Alexander, Staff Writer
Before N.C. State fans salivate too much over the Wolfpack's 12-1 basketball start, its best under coach Herb Sendek, perhaps a bit of sobering history should be noted. The Pack's 1988-1989 team was 12-1, only to lose at North Carolina in its next game. State also was 12-1 in 1981-82, only to lose to North Carolina in its next game. And State's next game this season? At North Carolina on Saturday, naturally.
A year ago, when the Pack went to Chapel Hill, it was rudely dispatched by the Tar Heels 95-71. In the second half, the Heels' Marvin Williams had a showboating dunk and nearly everyone else in Carolina blue enjoyed themselves.
Asked this week what he most remembered about that game, State's Andrew Brackman said, "Watching every play on SportsCenter, none with red in it."

http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/385441.html


Daily Times (Pakistan)

Heavy snowfall paralyses life in Northern Areas
GILGIT: The hilly areas of Gilgit and Baltistan are in the grip of severe cold where snowfall has been recorded from three to five feet after Sunday’s rainfall. Reports indicated that the inhabitants living in the high altitude areas of Astore, Hunza, Nagar, Ghizer and Babusar, Sust, Chupurson, Phander, Teru, Chilim, Minimurg, Gultari, Immit and Naltar are completely bounded by the snowfall that had also disconnected access to these areas. The reports revealed that residents in these areas are experiencing acute shortage of food, fuel and medicine. In Gulatari at least one dozen children have been reported dead in the last week due to the severe cold. This remote village is situated along the Line of Control and remains cut off from the rest of the country in November. In the freezing temperature, people also face fuel shortage because of lack of firewood. Telephone service is also disturbed in many parts, the reports said. People in the main towns of the region said that life had become unbearable for them due to shortage of natural gas and firewood. They said a kilogramme of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was being sold at Rs 60 and 40 kilogramme of firewood costs Rs 250. They said that the cold spell had also caused water shortage in some areas as water freezes the pipes and sometimes it ruptures pipelines. The continuous load shedding and no electricity in some areas are other factors that act as catalysts to the cold. staff report

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_24


Respiratory infections increasing as rain, snow buffet quake zone
MUZAFFARABAD: Heavy rain and snow buffeted Pakistan’s earthquake-hit areas for a second day on Monday, grounding helicopter aid flights and blocking roads as doctors reported increasing respiratory infections among survivors.
Aid workers have warned that cold weather in the Himalayan foothills, where temperatures have already fallen below freezing, may claim more lives after the October 8 magnitude-7.6 quake, which left about 87,000 dead and 3.5 million homeless.
No deaths due to the cold have so far been reported. Staff at a Muzaffarabad field hospital said it treated 249 patients on Sunday for cold-related illnesses, 30 percent of them with respiratory tract infections.
Seven of the patients had “severe chest infection”, an early sign of pneumonia, said Dr Hafizur Rahman.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_8



Up to 35 children die of pneumonia
GILGIT: Up to 35 children have died of pneumonia in three mountain villages in Azad Kashmir since last week after heavy snowfalls in which temperatures plummeted as low as minus 30 Celsius, a local official said on Tuesday.
Regional Health Director Hasan Khan Abacha said 28 children had died in the remote Gultari area on the Line of Control. Fida Mohammad Nashad, who represents the Northern Areas regional council, put the number at 35 and appealed for help. “I have written to the civilian and military authorities to ask them to do something,” he said. Abacha said deaths occurred in three villages – Matayal, Karbosh and Bunyal – after temperatures dropped to minus 30 Celsius in heavy snow that cut all road links and prevented helicopter flights.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\04\story_4-1-2006_pg1_6


Commanders back Musharraf on dams
* President says govt writ will be imposed in Balochistan
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The top army brass on Tuesday endorsed President General Pervez Musharraf’s water management strategy and backed his plan to construct major water reservoirs.The Pakistan Army’s corps commanders were briefed in detail about the water situation and the government’s plans to build dams at the 94th Corps Commanders Conference chaired by the president at General Headquarters (GHQ).

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\04\story_4-1-2006_pg1_1


Zionism is fascism: Iranian president
TEHRAN: Iran’s hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fired another salvo at Israel by calling the Jewish state “anti-Islamic in nature” and comparing Zionism to fascism. He also said that Israel was the result of European “ethnic cleansing”. “In fact the Europeans have practiced ethnic cleansing against the Jews in Europe by expelling the Jews from all the European states,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. “They have shot two targets with a single bullet — they have built a Jewish camp among the Islamic nations and got rid of the Jews from the whole of Europe.. “The Zionist regime is a part of Europe, which was broken away from Europe and is anti-Islamic in nature,” he said. The outspoken hardliner suggested that the international outrage sparked by previous comments in which he said that Holocaust denial was “scientific debate” and that Israel should be “wiped off the map” was because he had touched a sensitive nerve He asked why Palestinians who played no party in the killing of Jews in World War II should have been forced to make way for a Jewish state. “Why don’t the Europeans who perpetrated the crime pay the price themselves?” he asked. The president rejected suggestions his comments were anti-Semitic, insisting Iran made a distinction between Judaism and Zionism. Ahmadinejad, an ultra-conservative who won a shock election victory in June, has caused international outrage with a series of anti-Israeli remarks. “Zionism is a Western ideology and a colonialist idea and right now it massacres Muslims with direct guidance and help from the United States and a part of Europe ... Zionism is basically a new form of fascism,” he added. agencies

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_3


PAC sub-committee meeting: Embassies’ phone bills cause Rs 850m loss to Pakistan
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday took notice of excessive telephone calls made by Pakistani embassies, which had caused a Rs 850 million loss to the national exchequer.
Chaired by MNA Riaz Fatiyana, the meeting asked authorities concerned to inquire into the issue and act against people responsible for the loss.
The sub-committee was discussing the audit-para of 1991-92 and 1995-96. The committee expressed concern over why action was not taken against officials concerned.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\04\story_4-1-2006_pg1_5


Submarine Internet cable inaugurated: Pakistan to be linked with India through Wagah: PM
* Country to have five international links by June 2006
KARACHI: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Monday that Pakistan will be linked to India with a cable laid through the Wagah border as part of an international cable system.
“All work in this regard has been completed at our end. We are waiting for the Indian government to grant permission to its telecom carriers, which we hope will be soon,” Aziz said at the inaugural ceremony of the South-East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe 4 (SEA-ME-WE 4) cable at a local hotel.
SEA-ME-WE 4 is a consortium of 16 international telecommunication companies for a new cable system linking Asia with Europe via the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. It has terminal stations in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Italy, Tunisia, Algeria and France. The prime minister said that PTCL has invested $30.41 million in the project.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_1



US soldier hurt in Kandahar
KANDAHAR: A suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car near a US military convoy in a southern Afghan city Monday, killing himself and wounding an American soldier and two passers-by, officials said.
The convoy was attacked as it drove through the city of Kandahar, a former Taliban stronghold and the site of a string of recent suicide bombings. Charred parts of the car the bomber used were strewn around the area.
One US soldier was only slightly hurt, said Sergeant JC Woodring, a US military spokesman in the capital, Kabul. Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid identified the wounded passers-by as a woman and a child. Both were taken to a local hospital. Police and Afghan soldiers, as well as US and Canadian troops, cordoned off the area.
The blast follows a string of suicide attacks and comes days after a top Taliban rebel commander, Mullah Dadullah, claimed that more than 200 insurgents were willing to kill themselves in assaults on US forces and their allies. Afghanistan’s government dismissed the claim as propaganda, though President Hamid Karzai said last month that he expects attacks to continue.
Last year was the deadliest in Afghanistan since US-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for harboring Osama bin Laden. ap

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_4



7 Iraqi police recruits killed in suicide hit
BAGHDAD: A suicide car bomber targeted a bus of police recruits north of Baghdad on Monday, killing seven people, while gunmen in the capital killed five labourers, police said.
Iraq’s Kurdish president met with the Shia prime minister in northern Iraq for talks over the formation of the country’s next government. At least three police recruits were killed by the car bomb, and another four people also died, although officials couldn’t immediately identify whether they were police recruits or civilians. Thirteen people were wounded, the Diyala police said. The bus had been travelling to a training centre in northern Baqouba, 60 kilometres northeast of Baghdad.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_7



Sunni groups threaten to take the ‘Ghazi Ilm Din road’
* Leaders warn of countrywide strikes if alleged blasphemer cleric from FATA not punished
Staff Report
LAHORE: A national convention of Sunni clerics has threatened the government with severe repercussions if it did not take immediate action against alleged ‘blasphemer’ Munir Shakir.
The ‘Ulema-o-Mashaikh’ convention, held at the Jamia Naeemia, arranged by the Difa-e-Ahle-Sunnah Mahaz (Sunni Front), protested against alleged ‘blasphemer’ Munir Shakir from FATA, who is accused of passing derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his descendants.
The gathering said that all Sunni organisations would hold a long march towards Islamabad and would cordon off important buildings after Eid if the cleric was not arrested and sentenced before Eid. The speakers also announced that they would arrange rallies and demonstrations in major cities of the country.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_12


US doctors pledge 1,000 shelters for quake victims
RAWALAKOT: A team of US doctors has announced 1,000 shelters for the earthquake victims. The team visited Poonch in AJK on the invitation of Arif Shahid, the secretary general of the National Liberation Front (NLF). The team had provided medical equipments and medicines worth 4million to the field hospitals run by various NGOs in the district. Dr Ralf G Kown, the head of the US team, along with his colleagues met the quake victims and discussed relief operations. He assured them full support in the relief and reconstruction efforts. Shahid thanked US doctors and praised their support, adding that NLF had distributed food, clothes and other relief goods in the affected areas. nni

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_37



US mosque to raise funds for Sangla churches
WASHINGTON: A local area mosque has announced a fund-raising effort for the rebuilding of churches destroyed by a mullah-incited mob in Sangla some months earlier. The fund-raising event, a dinner, will be held on January 21 at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society centre, popularly known as the ADAMS Centre. The keynote speaker is Dr Akbar Ahmed of the American University. Other speakers include Reverend Clark Lobenstine, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, and Imam Mohamed Magid, executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society. Interfaith groups have been invited to contribute to the effort. khalid hasan

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_43



COMMENT: Who is more civilised: Iran or the West? —Ijaz Hussain
As for why the EU should condemn Ahmadinejad’s remarks as uncivilised, the answer is that dominant civilisations always feel entitled to fix the norms of international behaviour. That explains why the Romans considered the non-Romans as “barbarians” and why the Americans today look upon those who do not go along with their worldview of international peace and security as “rogue”, “evil” or “terrorist”
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president has a remarkable knack of shooting himself in the foot. He did so last October by calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map”. This led to an uproar in the West against Iran. The dust had hardly settled when he did it again, describing the Nazi Holocaust during World War II as a “myth”. He also proposed relocation of the Jewish state to Europe, the US, Canada or Alaska. The Western countries described the statement variously as “outrageous”, “perverse “ and “shocking”.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\04\story_4-1-2006_pg3_5



120 dead as bombers wreak havoc in Iraq
BAGHDAD: At least 120 people, including five US soldiers, were killed in bomb attacks across Iraq on Thursday, fuelling sectarian tensions as the country waits to form a new government.
In Iraq’s bloodiest day for months, twin suicide bombers struck the restive Sunni city of Ramadi and the Shiite holy city of Karbala, while a roadside bomb hit a US military patrol. More that 200 people were also wounded in the onslaught, which politicians said was meant to impede the setting up a government of national unity in the wake of elections to establish the first long-term parliament since the fall of Saddam Hussein in April 2003.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\06\story_6-1-2006_pg1_1



Eight killed in S Waziristan
Staff Report
WANA: Masked gunmen have killed eight tribesmen, including seven of a family, in two separate incidents in South Waziristan, administration officials and eyewitnesses said on Thursday.
Seven men of the Karikhel sub-tribe were shot dead a few metres from a paramilitary force base in Wana, eyewitnesses said. Seventy-year-old Abdullah Jan along with three sons and three grandsons were killed when attackers from another vehicle shot at their car at 7:30am in Wana Bazaar.
Jan’s son Musa, who was among the dead, allegedly used to be a bandit. Tribal sources said that Musa was on the Taliban “hit list” and his killing was not a surprise. Local Taliban killed scores of bandits in North Waziristan last month. In Ladah’s Karama area, assailants killed a tribesman as he left home Wednesday evening, residents said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\06\story_6-1-2006_pg1_5



Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline: US against deal
* ADB experts say project feasible
WASHINGTON: The United States said it was “absolutely opposed” to a natural gas pipeline project linking Iran with Pakistan and India, even though an Asian Development Bank (ADB) expert saw it feasible.
Iran is reportedly nearing a deal with the two neighbours for the 2,600-kilometre pipeline costing more than $7 billion.
“The US government supports multiple pipelines from that (the Caspian) region but remains absolutely opposed to pipelines involving Iran,” senior State Department official Steven Mann told a forum in Washington late Wednesday.
The US accuses Iran of trying to build a nuclear bomb and being a state sponsor of terror. Mann, the special negotiator for Eurasian conflicts in the State Department’s bureau of European affairs, spoke after an ADB expert told the forum that the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and another pipeline linking Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan were both feasible.
Dan Millison, ADB’s senior energy specialist, said at the meeting organised by Johns Hopkins University that his assessment was based purely on economic grounds and demand from energy-guzzling India and Pakistan.
He said that generally, “piped gas was economically favourable versus LNG”.
“TAP (the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan project) and the Iran-Pakistan-India options appear viable and competitive versus LNG,” Millison said. Mann said any success of the Turkmenistan-sourced project depended on long term market and supply reliability and participation of “heavy hitters” from the private sector.
India, Pakistan and Iran have said they hope to conclude a deal by June 2006 despite US opposition. They plan to hold further talks in February in Tehran. India has said construction of the pipeline should start in 2007 and be operational by 2011. Millison said although the trans-Afghan gas pipeline was shorter and less costly, as of last month, India and Pakistan were “moving forward” with the Iran project.
A multilateral institution official, who attended the Washington meeting, said a key question was whether India and Pakistan were prepared to go ahead with the project despite US opposition. He thought India might forge ahead but a US official beside him said New Delhi might not sacrifice its “long term interest” with Washington. afp

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\06\story_6-1-2006_pg1_6



Cruel husbands must pay dower in Khula cases: SC
By Akhtar Amin
PESHAWAR: The Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled on Thursday that while a woman divorcing her husband under ‘Khula’ provision has to forgo dower and maintenance in a no-fault case, a woman seeking separation on account of cruelty to her is entitled to both.
A two-member bench of the Supreme Court’s Peshawar Registry, consisting of Justices Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan and Nasirul Mulk, upheld Peshawar High Court and Family Court verdicts in two similar cases. In the first case, a woman dissolved the marriage because her husband was cruel and the court ordered her former husband to pay for her maintenance. In the second case the court rejected a woman’s petition for dower and maintenance because she was not alleging maltreatment.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\06\story_6-1-2006_pg1_2


The Cheney Observer

Santorum in Charge of Lobbying Reform, Fox Running Hen House
Now that Jack Abramoff has plead guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the federal corruption probe, which may involve as many as two dozen members of Congress and congressional staffers, the National Review Online reports that Republicans have decided to "get ahead of" the Abramoff story by proposing lobbying reform. And who has Bill Frist put in charge of lobbying reform? Mr. "K Street Project" himself, Rick Santorum.
If you're still not familiar with the K Street Project, it was conceived of by Tom Delay and is run by Rick Santorum with the help of people like Grover Norquist and lobbyists like, drum roll please... JACK ABRAMOFF. The main goal of the K Street Project is to use the power of Republican control of Congress and the White House to convince lobbying firms to hire Republicans, often former congressional staff members, for positions of power. The K Street Project has been extremely successful in accomplishing that goal.

http://santorumexposed.com/serendipity/index.php



Saudi prince’s reasons for $40m gift to US universities
WASHINGTON: Saudi Pince Alwaleed bin Talal, who recently gifted $20 million each to Harvard University and Georgetown University in Washington to advance the study of Islam, says the money was given to “bridge the gap between West and East”.
The prince is worth more than $20 billion, with major holdings in Four Seasons Hotels, Saks Fifth Avenue and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. Asked in an interview published in the New York Times on Sunday why his gift was restricted to one area, he replied that the gift was unrestricted, adding, “The studies that concern me and fit my overall global vision - they’re Islamic studies. As you know, ever since 9/11, we have been trying to bridge the gap between West and East.”
Asked about his $10 million check to New York city after 9/11, which was returned by the mayor, the prince replied, “By the way, my check was taken to the bank and cashed. The problem was with my statement. I accepted that. Subject closed.”

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\03\story_3-1-2006_pg7_45



Wednesday, January 04, 2006

WASHINGTON DIARY: A tale of two empires —Dr Manzur Ejaz
Bush’s imperial war — recognised as such even by extreme conservative columnist, George F Will — has a stunning similarity to Aurangzeb’s ventures: both Bush and Aurangzeb represent fundamentalist religious evangelism. Furthermore, Bush, like Aurangzeb, has forced extreme conservative agendas at home while undertaking conquest of foreign lands to enhance the empire. The question is whether or not Bush’s empire building will meet the same fate as that of Aurangzeb’s?
Like the 18th century decline of the Mughal empire, this was another year of tests and diminishing returns for Bush’s US. When Emperor Alamgir Aurangzeb died in 1707, after fighting a war in the South and North, no one knew that the Mughal empire was withering away. The lame duck Mughal rule lingered on for another 150 years but never returned to its previous zenith. Sociologists have noted that during the Mughal decay the number of gloomy and insane citizens rose exponentially. The Bush administration’s imperial war at home and abroad, has similarly left Americans much gloomier than ever.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\01\04\story_4-1-2006_pg3_3


Blanco puts foot down about trailers
Time for decisions, governor tells N.O.
Friday, January 06, 2006
By James Varney
Staff writer
Seeking to break what she called an unacceptable logjam, Gov. Kathleen Blanco proposed a kind of summit Thursday with city leaders at which they could resolve lingering issues that have held up the delivery and installation of travel trailers in New Orleans.
Blanco pitched a series of tete-a-tetes, staggered, small-group meetings that would represent a last-ditch effort to jump-start the trailer issue, which most authorities consider a critical component of New Orleans' resurrection.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1136530689233490.xml



Lower 9th Ward activists chase away bulldozer crew
Razing of homes after storm disputed
Friday, January 06, 2006
By Gwen Filosa
Gordon Russell and Bruce Eggler%%par%%Staff writers
With a cell phone crooked in her ear and scores of activists cheering her on in the 2000 block of Reynes Street, lawyer Tracie Washington sent a backhoe and its crew packing from the Lower 9th Ward Thursday morning.
It was more than a seemingly symbolic victory for Washington and her group, the Peoples Hurricane Relief Fund, which is representing homeowners in the Lower 9th Ward and will ask a federal judge today to stop up to 2,500 demolitions of homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters. The teardowns apparently are being contemplated by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration.

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1136532813233490.xml



Illegal Alien Workers Nabbed in New Orleans
January 05, 2006 06:28 AM EST
by Jim Kouri - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin complained repeatedly about illegal aliens being hired during the reconstruction effort in that ravaged city as a result of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
Nagin is concerned that New Orleans residents would be overlooked for jobs with contractors and subcontractors hiring illegal immigrants from Mexico at lower wages.
As a result, federal agents were deployed to apprehend illegal workers and in one case they arrested 14 illegal aliens working for a contractor at a petrochemical plant in New Orleans.
The arrested workers were scheduled to work at the Conoco Phillips Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, La. All of the arrested workers possessed counterfeit social security cards and identity documents.

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=11269



New Orleans hires firm to find Mardi Gras sponsors
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A Los Angeles-area media buying firm has been retained by the city to do something for Mardi Gras that's never been done before - recruit corporate sponsors. MediaBuys LLC will screen potential sponsors and present a list of candidates to Mayor Ray Nagin, who ultimately will make the decision on which companies are the best fit. The company also will coordinate a national campaign in which various groups encourage travelers to visit New Orleans for Carnival.
"Much like New York continued after 9/11 with the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, Mardi Gras has to continue in New Orleans. If they cancel, Katrina wins," said Ken Rose, head of business development for MediaBuys. "We think it's important for everyone to stand behind this and get involved."
Sandy Shilstone, president and chief executive of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp., said she could not comment on the deal with MediaBuys because she had not seen the proposal. The city began toying with the idea of looking for a first-ever corporate sponsor of Mardi Gras when it realized that it couldn't cover the cost of police overtime and sanitation. Ernest Collins, arts and entertainment director for the City of New Orleans, said that a number of companies have expressed interest in becoming presenting sponsors of Mardi Gras. As a presenting sponsor, the company's name would not preface the event, but rather be associated with it, like the Essence Music Festival presented by Coca-Cola.
If New Orleans ends up with several presenting sponsors, as is likely, the city might actually make money on the event.
"Definitely. I'm confident that we'll cover our costs, and I'm hopeful that we'll go beyond that to do some additional things of importance for the City of New Orleans," Collins said. Presenting sponsors could be announced as early as Jan. 9, Collins said.
MediaBuys has waived its standard retainer fees and reduced its commission to work on the event. It says that many companies will be contributing pro bono to promoting Mardi Gras because they believe that the event will help New Orleans get back on its feet.
"The show must go on," Rose said.
Terms of the contract with MediaBuys were not released.

http://www.deridderdailynews.com/articles/2006/01/05/news/news7.txt


The tumultuous and tawdry travels of Neil Bush
Scandal-plagued Bush brother returns to spotlight with Russian fugitive and Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Over the past six months, Neil Bush, the son of former President George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Bush, and the younger brother of President George W. Bush, has been shepherded around several former Soviet republics by a man wanted for fraud by Russian authorities, and has showed up in the Philippines and Taiwan at the side of a self-styled messiah.
If people know anything at all about the star-crossed Neil Bush, it likely relates to either his role in the failed Silverado Savings and Loan scandal during the 1980s -- which cost taxpayers more than $1 billion -- or, more recently, the lurid details of his divorce from his wife of 23 years.

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=20162


Venezuela’s Bolivarian Moment: Its Promise and Perils
by Stephen Lend
January 5, 2006
Venezuela today, under its democratically elected President, Hugo Chavez Frias, is imbued with the spirit of Bolivarianism and his Bolivarian Revolution. It's based on the vision of Simon Bolivar, the Caracas-born 17th and 18th century general who defeated the Spanish, liberated half of South America and believed in the redistributive policies that characterize the Chavez government. It also hopes to overcome what Bolivar perceptively characterized as the imperial curse "to plague Latin America with misery in the name of liberty

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan06/Lendman05.htm



J. Edgar Hoover With Supercomputers
by Ray McGovern
On Dec. 19, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Director of National Intelligence Gen. Mike Hayden held a press conference in which they once again misled the American people.
Gonzales and Hayden answered questions about reports that the National Security Agency (NSA), which Hayden directed from 1999 to 2005, was eavesdropping on Americans via a special program in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The implications for privacy – and our system of checks and balances – are immense.

http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=8349



Prosecutor should be bound by same grand jury secrecy rules
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/5/06
Patrick Fitzgerald, a federal prosecutor with 17 years' experience in the enforcement of criminal law, wrapped up his two-year grand jury investigation of the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson Oct. 28. Wilson was a CIA officer, classified for her own protection and that of the public in general, a circumstance not widely known outside the intelligence community.
Her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former American ambassador, was employed by the CIA to investigate allegations concerning efforts by the former government of Iraq to acquire uranium yellowcake, a processed form of uranium ore, from Niger. He reported to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, who was then collecting information for the CIA about the yellowcake efforts. The report disclosed Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status, information Libby provided to certain newspaper reporters. Later, Libby testified before Fitzgerald's grand jury, in the course of which he is alleged to have lied about his contacts with the reporters.

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060105/OPINION/601050423/1030/POLITICS



Amstar Group acquires Hilton Pasadena hotel
By Kevin Smith Staff Writer
PASADENA - Amstar Group, a Denver-based real estate private-equity firm, announced Wednesday that it has acquired the Hilton Pasadena hotel.
Amstar purchased the 296-room facility for $65 million in an all-cash transaction from The Carlyle Group, another private-equity firm, and Davidson Hotel Co.
The hotel will retain the Hilton flag and Davidson will stay on as an equity investor to manage the property, officials said.

http://www.whittierdailynews.com/business/ci_3372335



Vought announces CEO's retirement
By Bob Cox
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
The financially ailing Vought Aircraft Industries announced Thursday that its chief executive, Tom Risley, will resign effective Jan. 31 and retire after a career that spanned nearly 38 years with the Dallas company and its predecessors.
Risley, 55, will be replaced by Elmer Doty, current vice president and general manager of the giant defense contractor BAE Systems’ Ground Systems Division.
Risley’s departure was announced to Vought employees Wednesday after it was disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He will retire Feb. 28.
Risley’s resignation comes as Vought, owned by the Washington D.C.-based Carlyle Group has reported increased losses in recent quarters as it struggled to implement a company-wide reorganization. It also follows a major revamping of the company’s board of directors in September.
Vought reported losses of $214.1 million for the first nine months of its fiscal year, which ended Sept. 25. That was more than double the $80.1 million loss reported in the same period of 2004.
Risley, a Fort Worth resident, was traveling today and could not be reached for comment. Company spokesman Lynne Warne said she could not comment.
According to the company’s news release, Risley told employees: “We have had many successes, wins and unique challenges over the last three years. Our path forward as a company remains challenging, but in the end, it will be the employees who make this endeavor successful.”
Risley was appointed president and CEO of Vought in January 2002. He began his career in 1968, working in the west Dallas manufacturing plant when the company was part of LTV Corp. Risley rose through the ranks and held positions in engineering administration, financial management and program operations on a number of military and commercial programs.
Prior to being named CEO, he was Vought’s chief operating officer after the company was purchased from Northrop Grumman Corp. in 2000 in a leverage buyout. Vought has lost money every year since the Carlyle Group bought the company from Northrop Grumman in 2000
Vought is a leading subcontractor to major aircraft manufacturers such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Airbus. The company produces large structural components for military and commercial aircraft, including fuselage and tail sections for Boeing jetliners and the C-17 military transport, wings for Gulfstream business jets and wing components for Airbus jets. The company employs about 4,000 workers at its plants in west Dallas and Grand Prairie.
Risley launched a major reorganization of the company, including plans to close factories in Nashville and Stuart, Fla., early in 2004. He negotiated with state officials to obtain a $35 million grant to help defray costs of the moves in exchange for a promise to create 3,000 new jobs by 2010.
Vought has moved significant amounts of work to Dallas from Nashville and Hawthorne, Calif., but has struggled to meet production rates and incurred higher than expected costs. Last month, Risley said the Nashville and Stuart plants would remain open and continue to perform the remaining work due to changes in the business environment and the high costs of relocation, but said the company would stand by its jobs creation commitment to Texas.
Doty was named to his post at what was then United Defense Ground Systems Division in April 2001. British aerospace and defense conglomerate BAE Systems purchased the company, which produces combat vehicles and artillery, last year from the Carlyle Group.
He joined United Defense’s former parent, FMC, in 1979 as engineering manager for its Agricultural Machinery Division and moved on to a series of higher positions with FMC and later United Defense. He holds a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri. He and his wife, Sandra, reside in York, Pa.
Aerospace industry financial analysts and investment bankers said Risley’s resignation and the recent overhaul of Vought’s board of directors may be a sign that Carlyle executives want to see a rapid and significant improvement in Vought’s financial results so that it can be sold or taken public in the next year or two.
“I’d say more likely than not the Carlyle Group has stepped in and said it wants better performance,” said William Alderman, a New York investment banker who specializes in deals involving the aerospace industry.
Aerospace industry analyst Peter Arment, of JSA Research in Providence, R.I., said he “wouldn’t be surprised to see (Vought) going public within the next year.”

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/13558154.htm



After Abramoff, a GOP Scramble
DeLay's House Colleagues Anticipate a Leadership Shake-Up
By Jonathan Weisman and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 6, 2006; Page A01
An internal battle is underway among House Republicans to permanently replace Rep. Tom DeLay (Tex.) as majority leader and put in place a new leadership lineup that is better equipped to deal with the growing corruption scandal.
Acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt (Mo.) will ask House Republicans to make his temporary tenure permanent early next month if, as is likely, DeLay is unable to clear his name in the gathering corruption and campaign finance scandals, according to a member of the GOP leadership and several leadership aides.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/05/AR2006010502449.html


It is only money and careers ruined by selfish people. "W'rong. It effects us all.

Tyco acknowledges past payment to Abramoff
Manufacturer admits it was source of $1.6 million pocketed by lobbyist
WASHINGTON - Tyco International, whose former CEO became a symbol of corporate corruption, acknowledged Thursday it is the Jack Abramoff client referred to as “Company A” in court documents describing the lobbyist’s scheme to funnel millions of dollars in lobbying fees to himself.
Tyco hired Abramoff in 2003 to lobby for it on a tax issue, said company spokeswoman Sheri Woodruff. She declined to comment further on the New Jersey-based company’s relationship with Abramoff or on the lobbyist’s activities.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10728590/


Tyco denies bankruptcy rumor, but shares fall 30% to 7-year lows
BOSTON (Reuters) — Shares of Tyco International (TYC) fell 30% Thursday, to lows not seen since 1995, as the conglomerate denied rumors that it was seeking counsel for a bankruptcy filing. A stock market trader said the shares were being slammed by a rumor that Tyco was seeking a bankruptcy filing. But Tyco spokesman Gary Holmes said the rumor is "absolutely not true."
"We have absolutely not hired counsel for bankruptcy or restructuring, and we're not considering it," Holmes said. "It's irresponsible to suggest so."
Holmes said he did not know the source of the rumor.
Tyco shares stood at $7, down $3, shortly after midday on the New York Stock Exchange. Tyco shares last traded below $8 in late 1995.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/2002-07-25-tyco-rumor_x.htm



Tyco names new CEO, shares surge
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Tyco (TYC) appointed Motorola president Edward D. Breen as its new chairman and chief executive, a move it hopes will help restore confidence in the company.
Breen replaced Dennis Kozlowski, who resigned June 3, a day before being indicted in New York on sales tax evasion charges related to the purchase of works of art.
Investors cheered the news, which came after the markets closed Thursday. In extended trading, Tyco shares shot up $2.46, or nearly 30%, to $10.71. The jump followed a 17.5% drop during regular trading amid rumors Tyco was considering filing for bankruptcy.
"The appointment of Ed Breen as chairman and CEO is a defining moment for Tyco," lead director and interim chief executive John Fort said in a statement. "Ed has a superb record of tackling very difficult and complex business challenges, creating effective strategies and methodically executing on his plans."

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2002-07-26-tyco-ceo_x.htm



Making the Best of the Tyco Mess
By ELIZABETH OLSEN
Published: December 25, 2005
Before its former chief executive, L. Dennis Kozlowski, was convicted of fraud in a trial that made his name synonymous with corporate greed, Tyco International agreed to pay $5 million to the state of New Hampshire, where it was once based, to settle allegations that shareholders and the public were hurt by the company's misdeeds.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/business/yourmoney/25suits.html?ex=1136696400&en=54167dd0945f1d0b&ei=5070



Editor’s Note: As each year winds to a close, The Inquirer and Mirror chooses the top news stories and newsmakers that impacted the lives of those people who call Nantucket home, be it year-round or only for a brief time. We also take a look back on a month-by-month basis at the highs and lows, the joy and heartbreak, that made up the daily fabric of island life as recorded in the pages of the I&M….

...The line stretched out the door of the Boys & Girls Club for the entire three-hour appearance by the precious hardware, as Nantucket became the 338th town in Massachusetts visited by the 2004 Red Sox World Series trophy.

Former Tyco International CEO Dennis Kozlowski, who owns a $12 million Squam compound and has donated millions of dollars to island charities, was convicted on 22 of 23 counts of larceny and fraud for allegedly looting the multinational company of more than $600 million during his tenure at the top. He was sentenced in September to at least eight years in state prison.

Following a request for invoices, purchase orders and other spending-related documents by The Inquirer and Mirror, county officials have informed Sheriff Richard Bretschneider that future spending by his department woulud be subject to increased scrutiny to ensure all expenditures follow the guidelines set forth under state law….

http://www.ack.net/2005Chronology010506.html


Records on nonprofit tied to DeLay sought
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - A Texas prosecutor issued subpoenas Thursday for records of a contribution to a nonprofit organization linked to Rep. Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is seeking records about a $500,000 contribution made by the National Republican Congressional Committee to US Family Network, a now-disbanded nonprofit advocacy group for conservative ideas. Those subpoenaed include Ed Buckham, a close adviser and former chief of staff to DeLay who founded US Family Network, and Sally Vastola, NRCC executive director.
The Washington Post recently reported that donations to the nonprofit came from Abramoff, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges in a congressional corruption investigation. He has pledged to assist the Justice Department in its probe.
DeLay, R-Texas, has denied through a spokesman that donations to US Family Network influenced his legislative agenda. DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, was not immediately available but has dismissed previous subpoenas filed by Earle for Abramoff-related records as fishing expeditions.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13558339.htm



Zeitlist: Politics
Scandalous! A Year of Republican Treachery
by DOUG IRELAND
You could wait for the book, or check out the darkest shadows of the past 12 months right here:
Duke of California
In the Department of Plain Old-Fashioned Boodling, let’s start with California’s own Congressman Duke Cunningham, who tearfully pleaded guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes from a defense contractor, and is now in the slammer. Don’t forget that 32 other GOP congressmen took campaign cash from that same bribe-giving contractor and have shed no tears.
Noe’s Way
In Ohio, the sewer of political corruption, Governor Bob Taft pleaded “no contest” to taking bribes and favors from an indicted top Republican fund-raiser named Tom Noe. Taft had put the state’s workers’ compensation fund in the hands of Noe, who turned around and invested it in rare coins, as millions disappeared. Many of Taft’s top staffers also wrongfully accepted Noe’s favors and “loans,” as did a GOP congressman. Noe was also indicted for illegal bundling of campaign cash for Dubya. The entire Ohio Republican Party is reeling from this scandal.
Doctor Is Out
In Washington, the wealthy Dr. Bill Frist, the Senate Republican leader, is now under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for making a second fortune through illegal insider trading in the stock of the scandal-plagued company his family owns HCA (Hospital Corporation of America, America’s largest hospital conglomerate) — which had previously been fined a record-breaking $1.7 billion for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.
Generous Jack
Then there’s the jolly little band of Republican boodlers who clustered around indicted megalobbyist Jack Abramoff with their hands out. Abramoff is now singing to prosecutors after his indicted henchmen snitched on him — and by the time Abramoff is done naming names, there’ll be a hail of indictments of congressmen and at least three senators, like Idaho’s Conrad Burns, a major recipient of Abramoff’s largess. This will be as big, or bigger, than the S&L scandal back in the ’80s.
Abramoff’s biggest buddy and water carrier, House Republican Leader Tom “the Hammer” DeLay, is already under indictment in a different scandal — illegally laundering corporate campaign cash for Texas legislators who gerrymandered the Democrats out of six U.S. House seats. If Abramoff gives up his man DeLay, the majority leader will be in double jeopardy.
Legal Outlaws
Of course, there’s an old saying in Washington: The real scandal isn’t what’s illegal, the real scandal is what’s legal! At the top of the list of legal boodlers has to be Halliburton, Dick Cheney’s old company. When a Pentagon procurement officer blew the whistle on deliberate Halliburton cost overruns in Iraq that bilked hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars, Bush’s man Rumsfeld punished not Halliburton but the whistle blower! And then the Bushies turned around and gave Halliburton juicy post–Hurricane Katrina reconstruction contracts — even as they threw the poorest victims of Katrina out of their hotel and motel rooms and onto the streets. Scandalous, but legal.
Payola
Also quite legal is Washington’s pay-to-play revolving door, where retired solons are paid lavishly as lobbyists to distribute campaign cash to their former colleagues in return for special legislative favors. In fact, 43 percent of the 198 lawmakers who have left for the private sector since 1998 have become lobbyists, according to a new study by the public-interest group Public Citizen. Example: When Louisiana Republican Billy Tauzin stepped down as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he used to regulate the drug industry among other things, he took a job heading a drug-industry lobby that reportedly pays him $2.5 million per year. Scandalous but legal. But there’s so much of this sort of thing that a cynical and blinkered press gives it short shrift, and most voters don’t ever hear about it.
Big Brother
All the others are only about money. The biggest scandal in the long run is the Republicans’ shredding of the Bill of Rights. Bush’s recent admission that he ordered spying on American citizens by the National Security Agency without a court order — clearly an impeachable crime — is only the tip of the iceberg. Just two weeks ago, NBC got hold of a 400-page Pentagon memorandum revealing that, under Rumsfeld, the military had been spying on anti-war and other protest groups and individuals, accumulating a huge database through this surveillance of Americans exercising their free speech rights. Many of those targeted were student or religious groups. My fave among the Pentagon’s spying targets: the gay group at the University of California at Santa Cruz, which — to protest military recruitment on campus because of the anti-gay “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that has only increased the number of gays expelled from the armed forces — decided to stage a “kiss-in.” When the Pentagons’ gumshoes reported this, their superiors deemed the kiss-in a “credible threat” of... terrorism! Bush’s FBI has also been caught massively investigating anti-war, environmental and student groups — including those dangerous folks at PETA — as possible “terrorists.” But the Pentagon’s and FBI’s spying hasn’t gotten nearly the media attention of Bush’s illegal electronic eavesdropping. Americans fought a revolution against one King George for the right to criticize their government when they thought it necessary. This Republican administration thinks it has royal prerogatives to brush aside the Constitution’s guarantees of that right if it wants to. And if that isn’t scandalous, what is?
Doug Ireland can be reached through his blog, DIRELAND, at http://direland.typepad.com/direland/

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/06/07/politics-scandalous.php



US First Lady to Attend Inauguration
President-elect Ellen Sirleaf “Delighted”
Published: 05 January, 2006
MONROVIA, January 5 -- The White House in Washington, D.C. announced yesterday that the First Lady of the United States of America, Mrs. Laura Bush, is to represent her husband, President George W. Bush, at the Inauguration of Madam Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as the first woman President of the Republic of Liberia.
Madam Sirleaf is also the first woman ever to be elected President of an African country.
According to the White House announcement, Mrs. Bush is to be accompanied by one of the most prominent women in the American republic, the Secretary of State, Dr. Condolezza Rice.
Dr. Rice, who is also one of the world's most powerful women, is the first African-American women to hold that most senior of positions in an American administration.

http://www.liberianobserver.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/1335/US_First_Lady_to_Attend_Inauguration.html



NSA spy plot fuels call to censure Bush, Cheney
Revelations that President George W. Bush ordered the National Security Agency to engage in massive spying on law-abiding people, in flagrant violation of federal law, have ignited a firestorm of angry demands that he and Vice President Dick Cheney be censured or even impeached.
Asked about the NSA spying, Rep. John L. Lewis (D-Ga.) told a radio interviewer Dec. 19 that he would vote for impeachment if a resolution is introduced in the House. “It’s a very serious charge, but he violated the law,” said Lewis, a veteran of the 1960s civil rights movement. “He deliberately, systematically violated the law. He is not king, he is president.”
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) sent an open letter to four presidential scholars asking their views on whether Bush committed an “impeachable offense” in ordering the NSA wiretapping without a warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
Boxer had appeared Dec. 18 on a television interview program with John Dean, the former White House counsel who exposed Richard Nixon’s Watergate cover-up. Dean said Bush “is the first president to admit an impeachable offense.” In her letter, Boxer wrote, “I take very seriously Mr. Dean’s comments as I view him to be an expert on presidential abuse of power. … Unchecked surveillance of American citizens is troubling to both me and many of my constituents. … I am expecting a full airing of this matter by the Senate in the very near future.”

http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/8329/1/302



Florida Supreme Court declares vouchers unconstitutional
BILL KACZOR
Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Supreme Court threw out the state's voucher system that allows some children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, saying Thursday that it violates the state constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public schools.
The 5-2 opinion struck down the Opportunity Scholarship Program, championed by Gov. Jeb Bush, effective at the end of the current school year. It was the nation's first statewide system of school vouchers in 1999.
About 700 children across Florida are using the program to attend a private or parochial school after transferring from public schools the state deems failing. It is part of a broader accountability program Bush instigated as one of his top priorities, including testing at virtually every level and a school grading system that offers performance-based rewards and punishments.

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/13556951.htm



UC's Los Alamos contract not yet a done deal
Failed suitor Lockheed Martin could file protest of award, awaits Energy Department briefing on reasons for decision
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
The naming of a University of California/Bechtel-led team last month to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory might not be the last word on who runs the birthplace of the bomb.
Executives at Lockheed Martin, the defense contractor that led a competing team with the University of Texas, have been smarting at losing the Los Alamos contract and talking privately about a protest.
Lockheed spokeswoman Wendy Owen said consideration of a contract protest is "speculative," at least until a meeting Friday when the firm's executives will try to learn why they lost.
Officials of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration planned a joint briefing on the contract decision for the UC/Bechtel-led team and the Lockheed/UT-led team. But according to a source, Lockheed asked for a separate briefing, a possible signal that the firm is weighing a challenge to the contract award.
"Until we have a chance to understand the award criteria, we haven't made a decision," Owen said Wednesday.
Challenging a contract award can carry political risk. By filing a protest, a losing contractor is saying federal contracting officials and their

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_3373539



Ah, how sweet. The No Bid Heritage Foundation.

Oroville Tale-Ings

… January 1956
The Bechtel Report on the Feather River Project constitutes a strong foundation on which to build an appeal for public funds to finance the giant water program, supporters of the project pointed out today. First, the report plainly states that the project is "financially feasible." Irreproachable sources are cited in support of this position. Secondly, the report says just as plainly that the State of California is going to need this project, and many more, to meet the continuing demands of a rapidly growing state. The Bechtel Report says the project should be financed by general obligation bonds, which must be passed by a vote of the people. However, it says the net profit from operation of the project should be "specifically pledged" to retire these bonds.

http://www.orovillemr.com/Stories/0,1413,157~26686~3191620,00.html



Some "Dated" Material

The Meeting
I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, has told federal investigators that he met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003, and discussed CIA operative Valerie Plame, according to legal sources familiar with Libby's account.
The meeting between Libby and Miller has been a central focus of the investigation by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald as to whether any Bush administration official broke the law by unmasking Plame's identity or relied on classified information to discredit former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, according to sources close to the case as well as documents filed in federal court by Fitzgerald.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/08/opinion/main765075.shtml



Some Americans Say Rove Behind CIA Leak
(Angus Reid Global Scan) – Some adults in the United States believe White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove might be to blame for the possible leak of an undercover Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer’s identity, according to a poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates published in Newsweek. 45 per cent of respondents believe Rove is guilty of a serious offence.
In July, Newsweek quoted Robert Luskin—Rove’s lawyer—as saying the White House deputy chief of staff discussed the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame with Time reporter Matthew Cooper. In the U.S., the deliberate exposure of a covert agent is a criminal offence. Commentator Robert Novak was the first to disclose Plame’s identity in a July 2003 column.
On Jul. 13, U.S. president George W. Bush referred to the incident, saying, "I would like this to end as quickly as possible so we know the facts, and if someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." On Aug. 1, Bush defended Rove, declaring, "Karl’s got my complete confidence. He’s a valuable member of my team."

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/8424



Federal worker criticizes Halliburton
U.S. contract awarder testifies to Congress.
Published Sunday, August 7, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - In the world as Bunnatine Greenhouse sees it, people do the right thing. They stand up for the greater good, and they speak up when things go wrong. She believes God has a purpose for each life, and she prays every day for that purpose to be made evident.
These days she is praying her heart out because she is in a great deal of trouble.
Bunnatine Greenhouse is the principal assistant responsible for contracting ("PARC" in the alphabet soup of military acronyms) in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Lest the title fool, she is responsible for awarding billions upon billions in taxpayers’ money to private companies hired to resurrect war-torn Iraq and to feed, clothe, shelter and do the laundry of U.S. troops stationed there.
She has rained a mighty storm upon herself for standing up before members of Congress and live on C-SPAN to proclaim things are just not right in this staggeringly profitable business.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Aug/20050807News026.asp



Shell to sell InterGen’s US, Turkish power plants
AMSTERDAM: Oil group Royal Dutch Shell Plc has agreed to sell more power plants belonging to its InterGen joint venture for an undisclosed sum and should have exited the venture by the year-end.
Shell said on Friday it planned to sell three InterGen power plants in the United States to Kelson Holding LLC, a unit of Harbert Management Corporation. It will also sell three InterGen plants in Turkey to its local partner construction firm Enka Insaat and is restructuring its plant in Colombia.
Shell, the world’s third-largest listed oil group by market capitalisation, and US construction firm Bechtel agreed in April to sell 10 power plants at their InterGen venture to a partnership between AIG Highstar Capital II L.P. and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan for $1.75 billion.
The sale of these 10 plants — located in Britain, the Netherlands, Mexico, the Philippines, China and Australia — was completed, Shell said in a statement on Friday. It said of the US and Turkish sales announced on Friday,

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-8-2005_pg5_23



Scientists wary of expanding taconite tailings use
Highway workers are putting the finishing touches on an interchange near Virginia, Minnesota here that includes more than a million tons of an extra-hard rock blasted and crushed from the region's taconite mines.
For several decades, taconite tailings -- the leftovers from a mining process that separates iron ore from rock -- have been used in highways and other construction projects on the Iron Range. Millions of tons of the waste rock remain, and a University of Minnesota study suggests they be used in other parts of Minnesota and eventually in other states.
But concerns about the presence of asbestos-like fibers in taconite dust are deeply ingrained on the Range, and scientists disagree whether it's been proven the tailings are safe. Three decades ago, on what is considered the east Range, scientists found asbestos-like fibers in tailings that had been dumped into Lake Superior. Subsequent studies showed those fibers caused cancer in animals.
Consequently, tailings on the east Range can't be moved away from the mines, but west Range mines -- there are five in operation -- face no such restrictions.
The university study concluded that west Range tailings are safe. But two veteran scientists with the federal Environmental Protection Agency said a more comprehensive and long-term review must be conducted before it can be determined whether west Range waste rock is harmless.
"There's no basis for thinking there are significant (harmful) fibers from that source of material," Duluth-based EPA chemist Phil Cook said. However, he said, "we can't be absolute in our statements."
Some former miners say highway and construction workers are already exposed to harmful dust when the tailings are used in Range projects. And they fear that particles could be released into the air when blacktop is worn down or roads are reconstructed, putting the public at risk.
"I don't want them to use the stuff until they can prove definitively that there's nothing hazardous in it," said Joseph Scholar, a retired miner from Eveleth who suffers from asbestos pleural disease.
Scholar, 82, blames his poor health on the taconite dust he inhaled on the job.
The three-year university study, by the Duluth-based Natural Resources Research Institute, suggests the tailings could be marketed to regions where gravel pits are emptying as suburbs expand. The institute studied tailings from the five west Range mines for signs of asbestos or asbestos-like fibers and issued a report concluding the rock is safe.
The study, the most comprehensive review of taconite tailings from the west Range, was funded by the state Transportation Department. The NRRI studies uses for Minnesota's natural resources.
Asbestos is a fibrous mineral known to be toxic. NRRI researchers found no signs of asbestos, specifically, though they did detect small amounts of other mineral fibers of a similar shape. Asbestos is known to cause lung scarring or lung disease, such as mesothelioma, which has been found on the Range.
"Based on what we know, (the tailings) really don't appear to be generating problematic particles," Larry Zanko, the center's director, told The Associated Press. Noting that the tailings have been mixed into roads on the Range for four decades, he said, "If there is a health effect, you would think we would see it."
The state Health Department, in a 2003 study, concluded that commercial asbestos was the likely cause of 17 cases of mesothelioma among Range mine workers, though it didn't rule out taconite dust as a factor.
The NRRI also touts the use of tailings as a "green option" -- or environmentally friendly -- because cities and counties could use them in their road construction instead of digging new gravel pits.
Jonathan Holmes, the manager of a Virginia mine run by Mittal Steel, said taconite tailings sell for between 85 cents and $1 per ton. On a recent afternoon, a loader from a local contractor dug into a hill of tailings at the mine and piled them into a dump truck, to be shipped off to a construction project.
"The biggest thing is getting it into a market like the Twin Cities," he said.
Holmes said Mittal believes the tailings are free of asbestos because -- unlike parts of the east Range, where pockets of asbestos minerals have been found -- "we don't have the mineralogy for it here."
John Armstrong, a spokesman for U.S. Steel, which runs two west Range mines, said transporting taconite tailings to other parts of the Midwest is not yet feasible. But, he said, "If someone wants it, we are happy to sell it."
Neither U.S. Steel nor Mittal Steel are currently studying the makeup of taconite tailings. Phone calls and e-mails left with a spokeswoman and spokesman for Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. -- which runs the other two mines on the west Range -- were not returned.
Cook and Dr. Aubrey Miller, the EPA's chief medical toxicologist in Denver, told the AP that not enough is known about the long-term health effects of asbestos-like fibers and that tests conducted on west Range rock are incomplete.
Cook conducted the research in the 1970s that found asbestos-like fibers in Lake Superior. The fibers made their way into drinking water in communities along the lake's North Shore. He also conducted the animal tests that found cancer.
"Let's say the 1960s is the time when lots of people were exposed (to dust from tailings)," he said. "That's not necessarily sufficient time to see the eventual incidence of the disease."
Miller, who has studied asbestos in Libby, Mont. -- where asbestos from the W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite plant is blamed by some health authorities for killing some 200 people and injuring several others -- also believes it hasn't been determined whether the west Range rock is safe.
"Some of the parameters (the NRRI) is using to determine that the material is safe -- such as the size and shape of the asbestos -- are inadequate parameters to make that decision," he said.
"If they had used those same parameters and assumptions (from their work on west Range rock) in Libby, it would have been determined that the asbestos was nontoxic," Miller said.
Don Fosnacht, the director of the NRRI, responded by saying there is a "night and day" difference between what the NRRI found and the types of fibers known to have caused health problems in Libby.
Officials with three state regulatory bodies -- the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the Transportation Department and the Department of Natural Resources -- said their agencies have had informal conversations with the NRRI about its tailings research but did not take part in the study.
Some ex-miners say state or federal regulators should get involved in a study.
Lewis Jagunich, 85, of Gilbert also suffers from asbestos pleural disease. He and Scholar have long argued that their ailments were caused by taconite dust in the west Range mines they worked in for decades.
"I think it's the same stuff that they found going into Lake Superior," Jagunich said.
Neither U.S. Steel nor Mittal Steel have immediate plans to ship tailings off of the Range. For now, their best customers are nearby.
Already, 2 million tons of tailings have been used on the interchange project along Highways 53 and 169 in Virginia. It's thought to be the largest such use of taconite tailings on a single project in Minnesota.
By Gregg Aamot, Associated Press Writer

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=104254



Crossfire War: Middle East; Baghdad Joins Islamic Axis
By Willard Payne
Night Watch: NEW YORK - More powerful roadside bombs are being used in attacking the occupation forces in Iraq. The New York Times reported today that advanced roadside bombs are being designed in Iran and shipped from there. This is an expected result of Iran having absorbed Iraq’s new government led by a Shiite who has studied Shiite religious theory in Qom and blessed by Tehran’s spiritual agent Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
When the Iran/Iraq War ended in 1988 the news mentioned Tehran had a team waiting to take over Baghdad. We now see that team in action. First, however Iran wanted a similar military base network that Bechtel Group constructed for Saudi Arabia during the 1980’s, bases that were shown off during the Gulf War and were said to be nuclear bomb proof.
Late summer-early fall ‘88 CBS News Radio in Chicago, WBBM mentioned Secretary of State George Schultz was holding secret negotiations with Iran attempting to guarantee an American investment position in Iran after the death of Khomeini. I assume Iran had a couple of requests. First: make up for the mistake by the U. S. Cruiser Vincennes, who in July 1988, while on station in the Persian Gulf, shot down by mistake an Iranian commercial airliner. The Lockerbie incident that December made up for that.
The second request: do damage to Iraq’s military. Saddam, being no stranger to working with the West had no choice but to agree to invade Kuwait and when the time came he would leave Iraq. The man on trial is far to young. The day after the Gulf War ended in 1991, CNN showed the London branch office of Bechtel Group, Hyde Park, invited to Iran. George Schultz is a former President of Bechtel. The completion of the base-network is the real reason for Saddam’s removal.
Now with the absorbing of Baghdad it is now reported these new roadside bombs first appeared about two months ago. That would coincide with the meeting of Iraq’s Defense Minister with Iran’s Defense Minister Adm. Ali Shamkani in Teheran.
Reuters reports that U. S. commanders in Iraq are surprised because they realize Iran being able to do so requires the cooperation between Iran’s Shiites and Iraq’s Sunnis and there is still sectarian violence between them in Iraq. But what the U. S./UK, and all the blink-tanks in both countries refuse to acknowledge is the unifying influence the occupation crisis is providing for a lot of the Islamic world.
More of them began to answer the call for unity as a result of the Khomeini revolution of 1979 replacing the Shah, who had been willing to work with the West. Khomeini was in Paris when the Shah was overthrown. The French provided Khomeini with the massive communication assistance he required in order to become the Shah’s most prominent opponent. This is the type of interference and manipulation the Islamic world has long been opposed to.
The West is beginning to experience more obvious fulfillment of the Shah’s warning that the end of his regime would spell the end of Western influence in the region. Now the U. S.-EU seem to be seriously under the delusion they can negotiate Iran into only peaceful uses of nuclear energy. If the West’s takes its worried proposals seriously then the Shah’s warning is accurate. The West’s response to Iran is not any real threat at all to the Council of Guardians, nor is the threat of sanctions that can be easily circumvented.
Of course Islamic unity will never be perfect. There will always be sectarian violence and extremists who feel inspired to overthrow Islamic governments and re-establish the Caliphate. But Islamic governments know that their population, howver openly moderate, secretly want to see the West, Russia and India defeated, societies they view as an enemy of Islam. The occupation of Iraq is a unifying war, even more than the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union or the Palestinian crisis. Only the next war with India or Israel can equal the inspirational impact, and the Expediency Council of Iran and the House of Saud intend to embrace those conflicts also. That is why Riyadh conducted ground forces maneuvers with Pakistan last December.
An intelligence officer, quoted on condition of anonymity, in discussing this new weapon, "These are among the most sophisticated and most lethal devices we’ve seen. It’s very serious." Some shipments may have been transported over the Iranian border by Hizbollah or Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. The bombs are similar to the ones used by Hizbollah against Israel.
U. S. officials stated, blindly, they had no evidence of the Iranian government’s involvement. The U. S./UK are deathly afraid of war with Iran. That is much more shooting than they had planned, and against an enemy they have constructed military bases for. The Council of Guardians are running rings around them. The West is compleltely out of its depth. London and Washington put their foreign policy up for sale and Iran purchased it. With the EU being Iran’s leading trade partner and with Russia still justifying supplying Iran’s nuclear program, it proves Tehran’s procurement policy is still productive.

http://newsblaze.com/story/20050806163528nnnn.nb/newsblaze/OPINIONS/Opinions.html

continued …

January 1, 2006.

Sonoma, California Clydesdales.

January 3, 2006.

On US Highway 36 where it travels through Boulder, Colorado; 70 mile per hour wind guts picked up a tractor tailer, with questionable contents and weight, off the road and dropped it on the side of that road. There is no report about the driver. But it looks like he or a person to help is standing outside the cab. Also noted a car is on the scene.

I was once lead driver of a team that lead three semis in a coast to coast perishable goods enterprise. In other words, we were 'gypsies' carrying produce in refigerator trucks. We worked for brokers NOT companies. At any rate, a holiday came and I took my "ET" sheets out of the cab along with a stuffed ET that keep me company as a gift from my children and headed home for a couple of weeks. My co-driver, whom we shared no romance, named "Bobby" decided to take it alone and continue to run the route.

I received a telephone call three days later stating Bobby was hospitalized in Texas when he was dropped just as illustrated in this picture at the side of Interstate 20. Tractor Trailers have a wide profile and high clearence. It is the perfect design for strong winds to lift it off the road and carry it. Bobby was loaded with produce wieghing nearly 80,000 pounds on his way to California. So much for being weighted down.