November 8, 2006
Snohomish River Valley, Washington
Photographer states :: Hydroponic Farming. Water they farming in the Snohomish River Valley these days? This farmer doesn't need to go to the bank to float alone.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
It all looks pretty serious to me
November 8, 2006
Snohomish River Valley, Washington
Photographer states :: Hydroponic Farming. Water they farming in the Snohomish River Valley these days? This farmer doesn't need to go to the bank to float alone.
Morning Papers - continued
The Boston Globe
A third death reported in Northwest storms
By Associated Press November 9, 2006
PORTLAND, ORE. -- The body of a woman who disappeared on a storm-battered beach was found yesterday, the third death recorded in a wave of stormy weather in the Pacific Northwest that smashed rainfall records and that threatened hundreds of homes, authorities said.
A search continued for the woman's friend, who was not immediately identified.
The storm had abated yesterday after sending rivers over their banks Monday and Tuesday, causing millions of dollars in damage.
The governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski, declared an emergency in coastal Tillamook County, where about 100 people were evacuated because of rising water in the area.
The two women were last seen walking on the beach on Tuesday, near Gleneden Beach.
Lieutenant Vicky Ryan of the Depoe Bay Fire District said she saw the women and "cautioned them to not go out on the beach because of the high water."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/09/a_third_death_reported_in_northwest_storms/
2006 general election results
Here are the unofficial results of the general election, held Nov. 7, 2006. Winners declared by the Associated Press are denoted by a check mark
http://www.boston.com/news/special/politics/2006_elections/general_results/
State says it will take control of city voting
Calls shortage of ballots latest in pattern of woes
By Michael Levenson and Matt Viser, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Secretary of State William F. Galvin declared yesterday that he will seize control of the Boston Election Department because the city has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to conduct fair and smooth elections.
The extraordinary move followed reports that the city ran out of ballots Tuesday at about 30 precincts in Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and East Boston, heavily minority areas where voters turned out in droves to support Deval L. Patrick for governor.
City officials acknowledged they have a policy of distributing only enough ballots for 50 percent of registered voters at each polling place and then delivering more ballots from City Hall as they are needed.
Officials said the longstanding practice saves time and effort. There had been little reason to change it, they said, because ballots have not run out in the past. But the policy apparently resulted in shortages Tuesday night, when Election Department drivers got stuck in traffic and the city was forced to speed surplus ballots to the polls in police cruisers.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/articles/2006/11/09/state_says_it_will_take_control_of_city_voting/
Patrick says election may lift state's image
Assesses impact on race relations
Governor-elect Deval L. Patrick met yesterday at the State House with Governor Mitt Romney. (Globe Staff Photo / David L. Ryan)
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Governor-elect Deval L. Patrick, who will become the first black governor of Massachusetts when he takes office in January, said yesterday that his election marked a historical moment that could help the state shake its reputation as a hostile environment for people of color.
Patrick, who at times during the campaign was reluctant to talk about race, was asked by reporters yesterday what his election meant for him and for the state, which, largely because of divisive fights over school integration in the 1970s, has a rocky history of black-white relations.
"It's a profound thing to be witness to, and a central part of, this historical moment," Patrick said in his first post-victory press conference, at the Omni Parker House. "And I think if people around the country are looking at Massachusetts and thinking about Massachusetts differently than they have in the past, then good for us."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/articles/2006/11/09/patrick_says_election_may_lift_states_image/
Rumsfeld goes at 'critical' time in war
Bush hails Gates's 'fresh perspective'
Donald Rumsfeld’s departure from the Pentagon was cheered by both Democratic and Republican critics of US policy in Iraq. (Brendan Smialowski/ Getty Images)
By Michael Kranish and Farah Stockman, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush, a day after a Democratic "thumping" in the midterm elections, said he would replace his embattled secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, with his father's former CIA director, Robert M. Gates. But while the president hailed Gates's "fresh perspective," he and Gates provided no indication of how Iraq policy would change.
Just a week earlier, Bush had said Rumsfeld was doing a "fantastic job" and should stay for the remainder of his presidency.
Bush, asked at a White House press conference whether the message of the election was to bring US troops home from Iraq, responded: "I'd like our troops to come home, too, but I want them to come home with victory." He said his goal is to enable a self-sufficient Iraq to defend itself and not become a terrorist haven.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/09/rumsfeld_goes_at_critical_time_in_war/
Israeli shelling in Gaza brings agony and rage
Hamas ends truce after killing of 18
By Anne Barnard and Sa'id Ghazali, Globe Correspondent November 9, 2006
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip -- By yesterday afternoon, when he knew that at least 16 members of his family had died in what Israeli officials suspect was an errant Israeli shelling, Ramez al-Atamna was in shock.
His eyes glazed, his voice drained of emotion, he recited the painful losses: His wife Manal. His brother Samir. Two daughters, 3 years old and 7 months. His father, his stepmother, his grandmother, a sister still in high school. His son Abdullah, 7, lay in a hospital bed beside him, an elastic bandage wrapped around the stump of his amputated left foot.
"My son, he is all I have left of my family," said Ramez, 30, clapping his hands and wiping them against each other in a gesture of finality and resignation.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/09/israeli_shelling_in_gaza_brings_agony_and_rage/
For $34m, Citigroup gets naming rights to Wang Center
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Looking to become a major player in the Boston market quickly, New York-based Citigroup has purchased the naming rights to the Wang Center for the Performing Arts for about $34 million.
The deal means the Tremont Street arts center, which operates the 3,600-seat Wang Theatre, the 1,600-seat Shubert Theatre, and an arts program for students, could be renamed as soon as next week. Citigroup will pay the Wang over 15 years, a dramatic infusion of money for the once-booming nonprofit arts presenter, which has struggled to balance its budget -- and fill seats -- in recent years.
While officials of the center wouldn't reveal the new name, workers last evening were putting up banners that read Citibank Center for the Performing Arts.
Citigroup's announcement occurs as the company opens its first two Citibank branches in Boston, with plans for 30 more within a year. It hopes to gain a toehold in a market dominated by Bank of America and Citizens Financial.
Rights to rename the Wang Center outpace arrangements at similar arts institutions in Miami, Raleigh, N.C., and Calgary, Alberta.
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/11/09/for_34m_citigroup_gets_naming_rights_to_wang_center/
Bush signals a shift toward bipartisanship
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush strode into the East Room of the White House yesterday a humbled man. The nation, he acknowledged, had serious concerns about his war and his leadership. The trademark Bush cockiness was gone as he offered Democrats a trophy for their congressional victories: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"The timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon," the president said. "The message yesterday was clear: The American people want their leaders in Washington to set aside partisan differences, conduct ourselves in an ethical manner, and work together to address the challenges facing our nation."
The bombshell was received as a peace offering by wary Democrats in Congress, who had made clear on the campaign trail and in the first 12 hours of their victory that bringing about change at the Defense Department was among their top priorities.
Though Bush said he had decided to oust Rumsfeld before Tuesday's congressional elections, the timing of his announcement left the unmistakable impression that he was willing to accommodate Democrats who have long called for Rumsfeld's head.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/09/bush_signals_a_shift_toward_bipartisanship/
Blind mice see after cell transplant
Study offers clues to eye regeneration
By Gareth Cook, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Researchers announced yesterday that they have restored vision in mice by implanting new light-sensing cells in their eyes, a scientific first that offers hope to millions of blind people.
The team, based in London, said it has discovered a way to transplant the cells that provide night vision, known as "rods," from a healthy mouse into blind ones. The cells took root in the retina, and the mice's pupils then dilated when exposed to light.
A similar approach, the scientists said, might be used to replace the cells that provide daytime color vision.
The finding is dramatic because it offers a way around a devastating biological fact: When the eye's light-sensing cells die, as they do in many forms of blindness, new ones do not grow in their place. The new technique, reported in today's issue of the journal Nature, is not ready to be tried in humans, the researchers cautioned.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/09/blind_mice_see_after_cell_transplant/
State of emergency extended in Iraq
Violence brings 66 more deaths
By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press November 9, 2006
BAGHDAD -- Beset by rampant sectarian violence, Iraq's parliament voted yesterday to extend the country's state of emergency for 30 more days, as at least 66 more Iraqis were killed or found dead.
Yesterday's deaths included those of eight soccer players and fans cut down by a pair of mortar rounds that slammed onto a field in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.
The US military, meanwhile, announced the deaths of a soldier and a Marine, raising the number of American forces killed this month in Iraq to 21 in the first eight days of November.
Lawmakers present for a closed-door meeting attended by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki voted unanimously to extend the emergency measures, said legislators Ammar Touama and Kamal al-Saidi.
The state of emergency has been renewed every month since it was first authorized in November 2004. It allows for a nighttime curfew and gives the government extra powers to make arrests without warrants and launch police and military operations.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/09/state_of_emergency_extended_in_iraq/
Winds of rage, winds of change
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist November 9, 2006
DONALD RUMSFELD just got the Michael Brown treatment.
One moment he was doing a heckuva job. The next minute, he was out as secretary of defense, just as Brown was out as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In Brown's case, it took the disastrous fallout from Hurricane Katrina for President Bush to cut him loose, after first lavishing him with praise. In Rumsfeld's case, hurricane strength rage at Bush and his Iraq war policy swept through the country on Election Day. Angry voters tossed Republicans out of office. This time, the winds of change rattled the White House, too, and Rumsfeld had to go.
Last week, Bush said Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney were doing "fantastic" jobs. At a press conference yesterday, the president explained that statement by saying he did not want to inject "a major military decision" into Tuesday's election. Win or lose on Election Day, Bush insisted, Rumsfeld would be leaving because the situation in Iraq needed "fresh eyes."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/11/09/winds_of_rage_winds_of_change/
Legislators again delay gay marriage vote
By Scott Helman and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
State lawmakers today again delayed a contentious vote on a proposed gay-marriage ban geared for the 2008 ballot, a move that could kill its chances of ever going to the voters.
The House and Senate, meeting in a special joint session, recessed before taking up a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have limited the legal definition of marriage to the union between one man and one woman. Lawmakers voted to adjourn the session until Jan. 2, the last official day of the legislative session.
The 109-87 vote to recess could deal a crushing blow to opponents of same-sex marriage looking to override the landmark court decision three years ago that put Massachusetts on the vanguard of gay rights.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in a 4-3 decision in 2003 that gays and lesbians could legally marry under the state constitution.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/11/legislators_aga_1.html
The Guardian Unlimited
Thank you, America
Leader
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Guardian
For six years, latterly with the backing of both houses of a markedly conservative Republican Congress, George Bush has led an American administration that has played an unprecedentedly negative and polarising role in the world's affairs. On Tuesday, in the midterm US congressional elections, American voters rebuffed Mr Bush in spectacular style and with both instant and lasting political consequences. By large numbers and across almost every state of the union, the voters defeated Republican candidates and put the opposition Democrats back in charge of the House of Representatives for the first time in a dozen years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942821,00.html
Chad Says Arab Tribe Kills 128 in Attack
Wednesday November 8, 2006 1:46 AM
NDJAMENA, Chad (AP) - A small clash between ethnic Arab and ethnic African villagers along Chad's border with Darfur escalated into a large-scale attack in which Arabs killed 128 Africans, government officials said Tuesday.
The extent of the Oct. 31 violence had not been clear until a Cabinet delegation reached the remote region Monday to investigate and to call for calm, the officials said.
While the delegation did not link the violence to unrest in Sudan's Darfur, Arab-African clashes there have undermined stability across a region that includes eastern Chad and the northern Central African Republic.
Delegation members said a fight broke out in Amtiman in southeastern Chad on Oct. 31 between two small groups after a member of one group insulted the other. It was not clear which side started the confrontation. Six people were killed in the initial fight. Later the same day, members of the Arab group organized an attack on Africans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6198662,00.html
The cost of war: Rumsfeld ousted in US poll fallout
Architect of Iraq conflict steps down as Bush faces prospect of double defeat
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday November 9, 2006
George Bush sacrificed his right-hand man in the war in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld, as his administration scrambled yesterday to find its footing after a bruising defeat in an election which Democrats claimed amounted to a referendum on America's role in the conflict.
With media reports late last night claiming that the Democrats had won both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time since 1994, the president accepted the resignation of the man who had become synonymous with the Iraq war, the broader "war on terror", and the doctrine of pre-emptive attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942974,00.html
Polite smiles, but political realities will test truce
Julian Borger in Washington and Ed Pilkington in Evansville, Indiana
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Guardian
When George Bush and Nancy Pelosi meet for lunch in the White House today they will be an odd couple. They evidently do not like each other and are from different planets ideologically, but they each have a lot to gain by working together.
That is the new reality in Washington. The president is still in search of a legacy, and the Speaker-elect of the House of Representatives will have to prove to the voters that Democrats can achieve concrete results. They are now locked together like sumo wrestlers, each trying to make the other budge while trying not to fall over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942982,00.html
Republican defeat means the Iraqi insurgency has won
Belligerent, ill-conceived interventionism has come to an end. For level-headed Americans it was a good day
Simon Jenkins
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Guardian
The ugly American mark two is dead. Overnight six years of glib European identification of "American" with rightwing fantasism is over. The gun-toting, pre-Darwinian Bushite, the tomahawk-wielding, Halliburton-loving, Beltway neocon calling abortion murder and torturing Arabs as "Islamofascists" has been laid to rest, and by a decision of the American people. Another McCarthy raised its head over the western horizon and has been slapped down. It is a good day for level-headed Americans.
… American politics is suddenly open and interesting. California's Nancy Pelosi is poised to become the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives and thus third in line to the White House. She has already promised to cooperate with a shattered Republican party to salvage something from Bush's remaining administration. Round her is an array of plausible Democrats with their eye on 2008: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, a reborn Al Gore and a reputed "10% of the Senate" claim to be considering the presidential nomination.
They all have one item of unfinished business. A CNN exit poll of swing issues suggested Iraq, terrorism, the economy and corruption were of equal concern to voters, with the Republicans scoring badly on them all. The politics of fear has lost all its post-9/11 traction. Republicans mouthing dire threats of "Islamicists" under every bed are simply scorned. The most ferocious television ad I saw had a voice incanting that Americans were less popular, terrorism was worse, people were less safe, gasoline was more expensive, soldiers were dying and Osama bin Laden was still free - all because of the Iraq war.
Over 60% of electors want US troops withdrawn from Iraq now or soon. Reports from Baghdad indicate expectation and relief that American policy in that country is about to change. The US army wants to leave. The government ran on a pro-war ticket and suffered a resounding rebuff. At this point the insurgency knows it has won, however long it takes the occupying power to go. Retreat in good order is the best hope. An era of ill-conceived, belligerent interventionism has come to an end - by democratic decision, thank goodness.
simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942895,00.html
From Russia with hate
An extreme nationalist movement is gearing up to march in Moscow in defiance of an official ban, writes Tom Parfitt
Friday November 3, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
He wears a knee-length leather coat, has a fondness for black shirts and greets friends with the forearm-to-forearm Roman handshake favoured by skinheads.
Alexander Belov may not be quite what western governments had in mind when they urged the development of civil society in Russia. But as head of the ultra-right Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI), the 30-year-old Muscovite can claim to head one of Russia's fastest growing grassroots organisations.
While many charities and human rights groups say the Kremlin has deliberately stunted their growth, Belov's organisation is flourishing.
With a well organised network of at least 20,000 activists, it has tapped into the rising xenophobia in Russian society, which bubbled closer to the surface after a politically charged spat with neighbouring Georgia last month.
"The rights of Russians are being infringed in their own land, and we intend to stop it," said Belov in an interview with Guardian Unlimited yesterday at a Czech restaurant in central Moscow.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1939144,00.html
The bruiser who became a political liability
Defence secretary angered military by refusing to acknowledge mistakes over Iraq
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday November 9, 2006
Days before the election, George Bush told journalists that there was no way Donald Rumsfeld would leave his job during the president's administration. But, as Mr Rumsfeld famously once observed, "Stuff happens."
What happened was a sudden shift in the terms of trade in American politics; Mr Rumsfeld became too heavy a liability for a president struggling to salvage a legacy. Even while insisting Mr Rumsfeld was doing a "fantastic job", Mr Bush said he had been thinking of replacing him before Tuesday's Democrat victory.
Article continues
That may well be true. Concern about the conduct of the Iraq war and a lack of faith in Mr Rumsfeld were one of few issues uniting Democrats and Republicans in a polarised political scene. A string of Republican candidates made Mr Rumsfeld's dismissal part of their platforms, and it was the first demand out of the lips of the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The defence secretary is paying not just the price for a war that is going badly; he alarmed his former supporters in Congress and in the administration by his apparent conviction that it was on the right course.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942951,00.html
Hamas says death of 18 civilians will be avenged
Rory McCarthy in Beit Hanoun
Thursday November 9, 2006
The leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas called on his fighters yesterday to "activate resistance" hours after an Israeli artillery strike killed 18 civilians, mostly women and children, from a single family in Gaza.
Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, promised retaliation after a wave of artillery shells landed before dawn on a residential street in Beit Hanoun. Several homes were hit, all belonging to one family.
The attack sparked international condemnation and came a day after the Israeli military ended a six-day operation in Beit Hanoun that claimed more than 50 lives. More than 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military in the past five months. "Our condemnation will not be in words but in deeds," Mr Meshaal said. "All Palestinian groups are urged to activate resistance ."
Hamas agreed a truce that began 18 months ago, but it expired at the end of last year. Hamas militants have since fired rockets into Israel, but the call to arms risks a return to suicide bombings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1942963,00.html
Democrats control both houses after Virginia win
Bush congratulates party as Republican senator concedes defeat in crucial seat
Ed Pilkington in New York
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Democrats have sealed the prize that few had dared to hope for - a full sweep of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, taking them out of the political wilderness and into a position of real power for the first time in 12 years.
Their final victory was sealed tonight when the Republican senator of Virginia admitted defeat in Tuesday's midterm elections, handing the Democrats control of the Senate and thus of both Houses of Congress, which they last enjoyed in 1994. The party will now be able to shape key policies from the Iraq war to the budget deficit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1944291,00.html
President pays the price but this could be Iraq turning point
Simon Tisdall
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Democrats' election successes will greatly intensify pressure on President George Bush to find a quick way through and out of the Iraq morass. But it remains unclear whether he has the skill, the clout and the imagination to do it.
The huge human, economic and diplomatic cost of Mr Bush's ham-fisted attempt at Middle East nation-building was instantly inflated overnight as the political reckoning came in. After voters gave them the benefit of the doubt two years ago, the president and his congressional allies are now paying the price for a lamentable history of false prospectuses, bungled plans and lethal executive incompetence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942813,00.html
George's dragons
Thursday November 9, 2006
There are indeed some distinctive British (or should I say English?) values, notably fair play, respect for the underdog and compassion. So why has there been no statement of condolence from our president in Downing Street to his friend President Bush in the White House (Democrats pile pressure on Bush, November 8)?
Bernard Crick
Edinburgh
With the results of the election and losing control of the House, it is almost comical that only now are the Republicans speaking of the need for "bipartisanship". It is an about-face, as they virtually ignored the wishes of the Democrats in Congress; it was their way or no way.
Claude Gruener
Austin
Texas, USA
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942866,00.html
'Internet rape' paedophile jailed
Staff and agencies
Thursday November 9, 2006
A paedophile who took remote control of teenage girls' computers from his home and terrorised them into sending intimate images of themselves was jailed today for 10 years.
Posing as a teenage boy on internet chatrooms, Adrian Ringland, 36, would first get his victims' email addresses. He would then send them an email containing a virus that allowed him to hack into their computers.
Targeting girls on both sides of the Atlantic, he would visibly take control of their PCs, moving cursors around, switching on printers and, in one case, opening and closing the CD-Rom drawer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1943793,00.html
Grief turns to rage as Beit Hanoun buries its dead
· Militants call for revenge at funeral of 18 victims
· Olmert blames artillery strike on 'technical failure
Rory McCarthy in Beit Hanoun
Thursday November 9, 2006
Thousands of Palestinians crowded the streets of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza today, some firing guns into the air, as they buried 18 members of a single family who died in an Israeli artillery strike.
As ambulances brought the dead from hospital morgues into the town, one distraught man carried in the air the body of a small child wrapped in white cloth. The child’s head hung exposed as he walked through the chanting crowd.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said a “technical failure” was to blame for the strike before dawn yesterday in which several artillery shells hit houses in a residential street in Beit Hanoun.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1943909,00.html
Olmert blames 'mistake' for Beit Hanoun deaths
Staff and agencies
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, today said the barrage of shells that killed 18 civilians in their Gaza Strip homes had been "a mistake".
Mr Olmert called for an immediate meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
His words came after tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun to bury the victims of yesterday's attack.
Stretchers carried the bodies from 18 ambulances that had taken them from hospital morgues through the artillery-damaged apartment buildings where they died.
Chants of "God is greater than Israel and America", punctuated by the firing of gunshots into the air, rang out. A relative of one victim fired a gun into the air, shouting: "I will revenge."
A cemetery under construction in Beit Hanoun was opened to accommodate the victims because no other cemetery had enough land to allow them to be buried together. A Palestinian flag flew over each grave as two Israeli drones buzzed overhead.
Mr Olmert expressed regret over the bloodshed, and said he had personally looked into the cause of the artillery strike.
"I'm very uncomfortable with this event. I'm very distressed," he said. "This particular case ... was a mistake. It was not a planned attack. It was a technical failure of the Israeli artillery. I checked it, and I verified it."
He expressed a desire to meet Mr Abbas, adding: "He will be surprised when he will sit with me of how far we are prepared to go. I can offer him a lot."
However, he stressed that Israel would continue its military operations in Gaza for as long as Palestinian rocket attacks persisted, warning that more tragedies were possible.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1943541,00.html
The New York Times
Rumsfeld Resigns as Defense Secretary After Big Election Gains for Democrats
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: November 8, 2006
WASHINGTON — Faced with the collapse of his Republican majority in Congress, President Bush responded swiftly today by announcing the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and vowing to work with Democrats ‘’to find common ground” on the war in Iraq and domestic issues.
With Democrats having recaptured the House and control of the Senate hinging on the outcome of a single unsettled contest in Virginia, Mr. Bush, sounding alternately testy and conciliatory at a White House news conference, said he was “obviously disappointed.” He portrayed the results as a cumulative “thumpin’ ” of Republicans, and conceded that as head of the party, he bore some responsibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09BUSHCND.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=90b2a0d9c77157ea&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Gates Faces Major Challenges at Helm of Pentagon
By THOM SHANKER and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: November 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — If he is confirmed as defense secretary, Robert M. Gates would take control of a military whose ground forces are stretched and strained by a costly and bloody war and whose officers yearn to give unvarnished military advice without fear of reprisal.
Addressing their needs, hearing their views and gaining their trust are widely viewed as crucial first steps toward any change Mr. Gates has in mind for prosecuting the war in Iraq.
“Task No. 1 is to generate the strategy for victory in Iraq,” said one senior officer who served under Donald H. Rumsfeld. “A critical enabler of that, in my view, is getting the right information from the right people. One source — one source — of right information is the senior uniformed military who have to be empowered to speak the truth.”
It may not be easy for Mr. Gates to repair the strained communications with the uniformed military, said another officer, who recalled that sessions with the outgoing defense secretary have been nicknamed “the wire-brush treatment” because of Mr. Rumsfeld’s brusque style of questioning. Like others, this officer spoke on condition of anonymity out of military tradition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/world/middleeast/09militarycnd.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=05e36003827bcc02&ei=5094&partner=homepage
In Virginia, Webb Is Confident
By JOHN BRODER and IAN URBINA
Published: November 8, 2006
RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 8 — Jim Webb, the Democratic Senate candidate in Virginia, claimed victory Wednesday in the final battle for Senate control, but his slim margin over Senator George Allen, the Republican, left both the race and Congress unsettled.
While Mr. Allen refused to concede the race, Mr. Webb expressed confidence that his lead would survive state scrutiny or a legal challenge, aides said.
The party that wins the race will lead the Senate for the next two years. According to the official tally from the Virginia State Board of Elections, with 99.9 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Webb had a lead of about 6,700 votes out of about 2.3 million votes cast.
Virginia officials began canvassing each county before certifying the election, with both sides monitoring the process. Some members of Mr. Allen’s camp suggested that he would challenge the vote count, in which the winning margin amounts to less than one-half of one percent of the votes cast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/08cnd-virginia.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=25747ed16ef092ae&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Tolerable or Awful: The Roads Left in Iraq
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 8, 2006
I had to submit this column before knowing the results of yesterday’s election, but here is one thing I know already: this needs to be our last election about Iraq.
The Iraq war has turned into a sucking chest wound for our country — infecting its unity at home and its standing abroad. No one can predict what Iraq will look like 10 years from now. I wish it well. But in the near term, it is clear, nothing that we’ll feel particularly proud of, nothing that we’ll feel justifies the vast expenditure of lives and treasure, is going to come out of Iraq.
Our only two options left today in Iraq are “tolerable” and “awful.” “Good” is no longer on the menu. When you read stories from Iraq saying that all we need to do is get rid of all the police there, get one-third of the soldiers in the Iraqi Army to actually report to duty regularly, and replace all the ministers who are corrupt, you know why “good” is not on the menu anymore.
It’s time to make a final push for the tolerable, and if that fails, quit Iraq and insulate ourselves and our allies from the awful. This can’t go on.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/opinion/08friedman.html?hp
The Democratic House
There was only one explanation for the crazy-quilt combination of victories around the country that gave the Democrats control of the House of Representatives last night: an angry shout of repudiation of the Bush White House and the abysmal way the Republican majority has run Congress.
It was a satisfying expression of the basic democratic principle of accountability. A government that performs badly is supposed to be punished by the electorate. And this government has performed badly on so many counts.
The Republicans created their defeat by focusing obsessively on the right-wing “base,” ostracizing not only the Democrats but their own party’s more moderate legislators. The conflict between the extremist House and the conservative Senate created a phony center, far to the right of the general public’s idea of where the middle ought to be. Yesterday, moderate Republicans in heavily Democratic states were done in by their party’s excesses. In Rhode Island, more than 60 percent of the voters told pollsters that they liked their Republican senator, Lincoln Chafee. But he was soundly defeated anyway.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/opinion/08wed5.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Rumsfeld’s Departure
Whatever this election accomplished -- and it remains to be seen if it ended the rancor and distrust that define current American politics -- voters made it crystal clear that they want a change in direction in Iraq. Democratic and Republican leaders alike agreed that it had to begin with replacing Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.
President Bush showed that he had heard the second half of that message and finally rid himself of the man whose bad judgments and inept leadership had done so much to create the mess in Iraq. But it still was not clear that he has yet heard the first, and more important part of the message. At his press conference, Mr. Bush was still talking about victory in precisely the same terms he had used before the election, and offered no clear sense that he was prepared to open his mind to a real change in strategy.
The challenge for Mr. Rumsfeld’s chosen successor, Robert Gates, who was a deputy national security adviser to Mr. Bush’s father and then served as Director of Central Intelligence, will be to make Mr. Bush realize how desperate the situation is in Iraq and that the conduct of the war should be dictated by reality and not ideology.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/opinion/08rum-ed.html
Democrat Wins Senate Race in Montana
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: November 8, 2006
The Democratic challenger in Montana, Jon Tester, won his closely contested race for the United States Senate today, leaving only Virginia to face an uncertain outcome in an election that is not expected to be decided for days or weeks.
But the Republican, Senator Conrad Burns, said that there were still some votes to be counted and that “there is no need to rush a conclusion when the votes are this close.”
Mr. Tester’s victory means that the Senate will at the least be tied 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, but effectively the Republicans would remain in control in that case because Vice President Dick Cheney has a tie-breaking vote.
The battle for the Senate drew attention today after the House came out clearly in Democratic hands after Tuesday’s election. But the uncertainty of the race in Virginia — and until earlier today Montana — left open the prospect of vote recounts that were likely to be lengthy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09senatecnd.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=9cdb9b1d44e4e94e&ei=5094&partner=homepage
House Calls: 11 Seats Still Undecided
By Sarah Wheaton
Democrats have won 228 House seats at this point, Republicans 196. But plenty of the season’s most-watched races are still up in the air as of 4:00 p.m.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=639
Israeli Shelling Kills 18 Gazans; Anger Boils Up
By IAN FISHER and STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: November 9, 2006
BEIT HANUN, Gaza Strip, Nov. 8 — Israeli tank shells killed 18 Palestinians, including 8 children and 6 women, at a cluster of houses here on Wednesday, one of the largest single losses of life in Gaza in years.
Some Hamas leaders called for a suicide-bombing retaliation inside Israel and, unusually, for the United States to be taught “hard lessons” as well.
“Nothing happened,” mumbled Isra Athamnah, 5 years old, who was pocked with shrapnel and in shock. The news that her widowed mother, Sanaa, 35, was dead and that she was now an orphan did not sink in.
Others described how a tank shell had hit a home here in northern Gaza, sending members of the extended Athamnah family outside before dawn. The next volleys struck them as they crowded in a narrow alley between the houses. The dead ranged from less than a year old to 70 years old, witnesses said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/world/middleeast/09mideast.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=1e8040a19508cae1&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Justices Hear Arguments on Late-Term Abortion
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — There were moments on Wednesday, during Supreme Court arguments on a federal law that bans a disputed method of abortion, that the proceedings seemed more like a medical school seminar than an appellate argument.
Such familiar constitutional concepts as the right to privacy were not mentioned during the two hours, but the methods doctors use to dilate a pregnant woman’s cervix were discussed in detail, repeatedly.
What exactly was the procedure that the law, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, sought to prohibit, the justices wanted to know. When, if ever, was the procedure necessary? What would be the impact of banning it? What alternatives were available to women seeking second-trimester abortions and to doctors performing them?
Among the justices most interested in the medical details was the one whom both sides consider most likely to be in a position to control the outcome, Anthony M. Kennedy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/washington/09scotus.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=ea245370e1500404&ei=5094&partner=homepage
World Sees Vote as Rejection of Iraq Policy
By ALAN COWELL
Published: November 8, 2006
LONDON, NOV. 8 — As word of the American midterm election results and, later, the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld spread across the globe, criticism of the United States turned less shrill, less gloating, more textured than in the past. But no one seemed to feel that the vote was about anything but Baghdad.
“This was the bill to the White House for their disaster in Iraq,” said Jürgen Trittin, deputy leader of Germany’s Green party.
It was not, of course, a presidential vote — though some thought it should have been. But the tone of criticism seemed more conciliatory than on previous occasions when President Bush has stumbled, in part because his power is now seen as waning irrevocably.
“Before, Bush wasn’t looking to be liked” by the Europeans, Giovanni Sartori, an Italian political analyst, said in a telephone interview. “For Europe, it’s good news, because America will be forced to be less of a solitary aggressor.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/world/09global.html
Democrats See Surge in Power at State Level
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: November 8, 2006
CHICAGO, Nov. 8 — Democratic gains in Congress and among the nation’s governors were matched on Tuesday by a huge surge closer to the grass roots — in the state legislatures, where more than 275 seats and nine legislative chambers from Iowa to Oregon switched overnight from Republican to Democratic hands.
With those legislative victories combined with the six new Democratic governors elected on Tuesday, Democrats are now the one-party government in 15 states — including New Hampshire for the first time since 1874, and Colorado for the first time since 1960. No party has controlled as many as 15 states since the Republicans achieved that exact number after the 1994 election.
But what was equally remarkable, said Tim Storey, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group, is that the gains occurred everywhere in the country, even in the South, where Democrats lost ground in every statehouse election since 1982 — until Tuesday. The gains there were tiny, about 20 legislative seats spread across 14 states, but the direction, Mr. Storey said, was the important thing.
“I think it’s very significant; they’d been losing ground and they turned it around,” Mr. Storey said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09statehousecnd.html
Billionaires Fight to Buy The Los Angeles Times
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT and SHARON WAXMAN
Published: November 9, 2006
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8 — David Geffen spends more time schmoozing an elite cadre of journalists than just about any other mogul in Hollywood.
The billionaire often invites them to his sprawling estate in the heart of Beverly Hills, where De Koonings and Pollocks hang on the walls. In September, his guest was Leo Wolinsky, a managing editor of The Los Angeles Times, and they broached the delicate question of whether Mr. Geffen might try to buy the struggling newspaper.
If Mr. Geffen gets his way, he will be spending a lot more time with journalists.
Lately his name has been prominently linked with a potential purchase of The Times, fueled in part by his recent sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of paintings from his world-class collection.
In addition, his wooing of Mr. Wolinsky, with whom he has a continuing dialogue, has made him a favorite potential owner among many top editors.
But if he wants the nation’s fourth-largest newspaper, he will have to fight for it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/business/media/09paper.html?oref=login
Suicide Bomber Kills 42 Pakistani Soldiers
By CARLOTTA GALL and SALMAN MASOOD
Published: November 9, 2006
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 8 — A suicide bomber detonated explosives on a military training ground in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday morning, killing at least 42 army recruits and wounding about 20 more in the deadliest terrorist attack against the Pakistani military on record, government officials said.
Suspicion immediately fell on Pakistani militants who had vowed vengeance for an airstrike on a madrasa, or religious school, that killed 83 people near the Afghan border in the Bajaur district on Oct. 30.
The Pakistani military claimed responsibility for that attack, which it said was against militants in terrorist training. But residents and opposition politicians contend that the strike was conducted by an American drone aircraft, though the Pakistani government denies it.
The sudden escalation of casualties in Pakistan’s fight against militants is likely to further polarize public opinion, which is already broadly opposed to President Pervez Musharraf’s cooperation with the United States and his military campaign against tribes in border regions. It may also raise questions in the military about the campaign, in which about 600 soldiers have been killed in the past two years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/world/asia/09pakistan.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=bb33caf6ab0e1a47&ei=5094&partner=homepage
U.S. Rejects Referendum for Rebel Georgia Region
By REUTERS
Published: November 8, 2006
Filed at 9:36 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States rejects an independence referendum planned for Sunday in the separatist South Ossetia region of Georgia, the State Department said on Wednesday.
``These actions will only serve to exacerbate tensions and divert attention from the need to peacefully resolve the conflict,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
Georgian forces and Russian-backed separatists in the rebel province are in a tense armed confrontation over the region.
``We call on Tskhinvali and Tbilisi to engage in direct talks to find a peaceful solution that defines the status of South Ossetia within Georgia's internationally recognized borders, while affording South Ossetia significant autonomy within a unified Georgia,'' McCormack said.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-georgia-ossetia-usa.html
In California, Ecologists Retrace a Pioneer’s Footsteps
By AMANDA T. HAWN
Published: November 7, 2006
LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — On Sept. 8, 1923, Joseph Dixon and Leo Wilson hiked with packhorses to an alpine meadow near the base of Lassen Peak in Northern California. The trip was difficult; the two men, researchers from the University of California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, were soon snowed out of their campsite
Eighty-three years later to the day, Jim Patton and John Perrine — also researchers from the museum, which is now part of what has since become the University of California, Berkeley — enjoyed an easier arrival in the same meadow. Parking their cars, the two men stepped out onto a carpet of corn lilies and wild mint to continue what their predecessors had started: one of the largest wildlife-distribution studies ever.
The tidy parallels in time, place and purpose between the scientists of yesteryear and those of today are no accident. They are, rather, part of a major undertaking called the Grinnell Resurvey Project.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/science/earth/07grin.html?ref=science
Polling Places Report Snags, but Not Chaos
By IAN URBINA
Published: November 8, 2006
Touch-screen voting machines would not start, poll workers did not know how to run optical scanners and tempers flared over who was registered, as voters in many states went to the polls on Tuesday only to find that casting their vote this year could be as much a challenge as a responsibility.
With dozens of states enforcing new voter registration laws and a widespread rollout of new electronic voting equipment, voters faced scattered difficulties, especially in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, where some voting machines had faulty software. But the problems did not lead to the voting gridlock some had feared.
Still, in hundreds of precincts in Florida, Indiana and Ohio, machine and poll worker problems led election officials to turn to paper ballots; and lawyers went to court in hopes of extending voting hours in precincts in several states, including Colorado, Indiana and Ohio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/08voting.html
Elections Bring New Landscape to Capitol
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and PHILIP SHENON
Published: November 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — Washington awoke to a vastly reshaped political landscape today, as Republicans grappled with their losses and Democrats, who recaptured the House of Representatives after 12 years and still harbor hopes of taking back the Senate, laid plans to govern.
By early morning, Democrats had picked up at least 28 seats in the House, leaving them firmly in control. The balance of power in the Senate rested on a knife-edge, with one race in Virginia remained too close to call.
The realignment brought an end to the long-held Republican dream of a permanent majority in Washington.
“We’re going to take a two-year hiatus,” Representative Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told reporters at a morning press briefing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/08cnd-elect.html
Despite Court Ruling, Christie’s Pulls Painting From Auction
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: November 8, 2006
Hours before it was to be one of the stars of Christie’s fall auction tonight, a blue-period painting by Picasso was withdrawn from the sale because of a claim that it had been sold under duress in Nazi Germany.
This afternoon, as the 6:30 p.m. auction was approaching, Christie’s in New York announced that it had withdrawn the painting, “Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto,” also known as “The Absinthe Drinker,” from its semi-annual Impressionist and Modern Art sale.
The decision to withdraw the painting came a day after a federal court judge allowed the sale to go ahead since it did not have jurisdiction in the case and as lawyers for Julius H. Schoeps, an heir to the painting’s original owner, went to state Supreme Court in Manhattan to press their claim that Mr. Schoeps was the Picasso’s rightful owner. Mr. Schoeps, a historian, lives in Berlin.
Mr. Schoeps’s complaint seeks at least $60 million in damages or the immediate return of the painting from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, its current owner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/arts/09picasso.html
Rumsfeld Resigns; Bush Vows to ‘Find Common Ground’; Focus Is on Virginia
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — Faced with the collapse of his Republican majority in Congress, President Bush responded swiftly on Wednesday by announcing the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and vowing to work with Democrats “to find common ground” on the war in Iraq and domestic issues.
With Democrats having recaptured the House and control of the Senate depending on the outcome of a single unsettled contest in Virginia, Mr. Bush, sounding alternately testy and conciliatory at a White House news conference, said he was “obviously disappointed.” He portrayed the results as a cumulative “thumping” of Republicans and conceded that as head of the party, he bore some responsibility.
In Virginia, though Senator George Allen had not conceded Wednesday night, the Democrat, Jim Webb, was confident enough of victory to begin talking about transition. Mr. Allen’s defeat would mean that the Democrats would control the Senate for the first time since 2002 and would control both houses of Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/us/politics/09elect.html?ei=5094&en=eca88a31da08f650&hp=&ex=1163134800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1163065812-jU+csv2DFiAOc6NIU5PPnQ
continued ...
A third death reported in Northwest storms
By Associated Press November 9, 2006
PORTLAND, ORE. -- The body of a woman who disappeared on a storm-battered beach was found yesterday, the third death recorded in a wave of stormy weather in the Pacific Northwest that smashed rainfall records and that threatened hundreds of homes, authorities said.
A search continued for the woman's friend, who was not immediately identified.
The storm had abated yesterday after sending rivers over their banks Monday and Tuesday, causing millions of dollars in damage.
The governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski, declared an emergency in coastal Tillamook County, where about 100 people were evacuated because of rising water in the area.
The two women were last seen walking on the beach on Tuesday, near Gleneden Beach.
Lieutenant Vicky Ryan of the Depoe Bay Fire District said she saw the women and "cautioned them to not go out on the beach because of the high water."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/09/a_third_death_reported_in_northwest_storms/
2006 general election results
Here are the unofficial results of the general election, held Nov. 7, 2006. Winners declared by the Associated Press are denoted by a check mark
http://www.boston.com/news/special/politics/2006_elections/general_results/
State says it will take control of city voting
Calls shortage of ballots latest in pattern of woes
By Michael Levenson and Matt Viser, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Secretary of State William F. Galvin declared yesterday that he will seize control of the Boston Election Department because the city has repeatedly demonstrated an inability to conduct fair and smooth elections.
The extraordinary move followed reports that the city ran out of ballots Tuesday at about 30 precincts in Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and East Boston, heavily minority areas where voters turned out in droves to support Deval L. Patrick for governor.
City officials acknowledged they have a policy of distributing only enough ballots for 50 percent of registered voters at each polling place and then delivering more ballots from City Hall as they are needed.
Officials said the longstanding practice saves time and effort. There had been little reason to change it, they said, because ballots have not run out in the past. But the policy apparently resulted in shortages Tuesday night, when Election Department drivers got stuck in traffic and the city was forced to speed surplus ballots to the polls in police cruisers.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/articles/2006/11/09/state_says_it_will_take_control_of_city_voting/
Patrick says election may lift state's image
Assesses impact on race relations
Governor-elect Deval L. Patrick met yesterday at the State House with Governor Mitt Romney. (Globe Staff Photo / David L. Ryan)
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Governor-elect Deval L. Patrick, who will become the first black governor of Massachusetts when he takes office in January, said yesterday that his election marked a historical moment that could help the state shake its reputation as a hostile environment for people of color.
Patrick, who at times during the campaign was reluctant to talk about race, was asked by reporters yesterday what his election meant for him and for the state, which, largely because of divisive fights over school integration in the 1970s, has a rocky history of black-white relations.
"It's a profound thing to be witness to, and a central part of, this historical moment," Patrick said in his first post-victory press conference, at the Omni Parker House. "And I think if people around the country are looking at Massachusetts and thinking about Massachusetts differently than they have in the past, then good for us."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/politics/candidates/articles/2006/11/09/patrick_says_election_may_lift_states_image/
Rumsfeld goes at 'critical' time in war
Bush hails Gates's 'fresh perspective'
Donald Rumsfeld’s departure from the Pentagon was cheered by both Democratic and Republican critics of US policy in Iraq. (Brendan Smialowski/ Getty Images)
By Michael Kranish and Farah Stockman, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush, a day after a Democratic "thumping" in the midterm elections, said he would replace his embattled secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, with his father's former CIA director, Robert M. Gates. But while the president hailed Gates's "fresh perspective," he and Gates provided no indication of how Iraq policy would change.
Just a week earlier, Bush had said Rumsfeld was doing a "fantastic job" and should stay for the remainder of his presidency.
Bush, asked at a White House press conference whether the message of the election was to bring US troops home from Iraq, responded: "I'd like our troops to come home, too, but I want them to come home with victory." He said his goal is to enable a self-sufficient Iraq to defend itself and not become a terrorist haven.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/09/rumsfeld_goes_at_critical_time_in_war/
Israeli shelling in Gaza brings agony and rage
Hamas ends truce after killing of 18
By Anne Barnard and Sa'id Ghazali, Globe Correspondent November 9, 2006
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip -- By yesterday afternoon, when he knew that at least 16 members of his family had died in what Israeli officials suspect was an errant Israeli shelling, Ramez al-Atamna was in shock.
His eyes glazed, his voice drained of emotion, he recited the painful losses: His wife Manal. His brother Samir. Two daughters, 3 years old and 7 months. His father, his stepmother, his grandmother, a sister still in high school. His son Abdullah, 7, lay in a hospital bed beside him, an elastic bandage wrapped around the stump of his amputated left foot.
"My son, he is all I have left of my family," said Ramez, 30, clapping his hands and wiping them against each other in a gesture of finality and resignation.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/09/israeli_shelling_in_gaza_brings_agony_and_rage/
For $34m, Citigroup gets naming rights to Wang Center
By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Looking to become a major player in the Boston market quickly, New York-based Citigroup has purchased the naming rights to the Wang Center for the Performing Arts for about $34 million.
The deal means the Tremont Street arts center, which operates the 3,600-seat Wang Theatre, the 1,600-seat Shubert Theatre, and an arts program for students, could be renamed as soon as next week. Citigroup will pay the Wang over 15 years, a dramatic infusion of money for the once-booming nonprofit arts presenter, which has struggled to balance its budget -- and fill seats -- in recent years.
While officials of the center wouldn't reveal the new name, workers last evening were putting up banners that read Citibank Center for the Performing Arts.
Citigroup's announcement occurs as the company opens its first two Citibank branches in Boston, with plans for 30 more within a year. It hopes to gain a toehold in a market dominated by Bank of America and Citizens Financial.
Rights to rename the Wang Center outpace arrangements at similar arts institutions in Miami, Raleigh, N.C., and Calgary, Alberta.
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/11/09/for_34m_citigroup_gets_naming_rights_to_wang_center/
Bush signals a shift toward bipartisanship
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON -- President Bush strode into the East Room of the White House yesterday a humbled man. The nation, he acknowledged, had serious concerns about his war and his leadership. The trademark Bush cockiness was gone as he offered Democrats a trophy for their congressional victories: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
"The timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon," the president said. "The message yesterday was clear: The American people want their leaders in Washington to set aside partisan differences, conduct ourselves in an ethical manner, and work together to address the challenges facing our nation."
The bombshell was received as a peace offering by wary Democrats in Congress, who had made clear on the campaign trail and in the first 12 hours of their victory that bringing about change at the Defense Department was among their top priorities.
Though Bush said he had decided to oust Rumsfeld before Tuesday's congressional elections, the timing of his announcement left the unmistakable impression that he was willing to accommodate Democrats who have long called for Rumsfeld's head.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/11/09/bush_signals_a_shift_toward_bipartisanship/
Blind mice see after cell transplant
Study offers clues to eye regeneration
By Gareth Cook, Globe Staff November 9, 2006
Researchers announced yesterday that they have restored vision in mice by implanting new light-sensing cells in their eyes, a scientific first that offers hope to millions of blind people.
The team, based in London, said it has discovered a way to transplant the cells that provide night vision, known as "rods," from a healthy mouse into blind ones. The cells took root in the retina, and the mice's pupils then dilated when exposed to light.
A similar approach, the scientists said, might be used to replace the cells that provide daytime color vision.
The finding is dramatic because it offers a way around a devastating biological fact: When the eye's light-sensing cells die, as they do in many forms of blindness, new ones do not grow in their place. The new technique, reported in today's issue of the journal Nature, is not ready to be tried in humans, the researchers cautioned.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/11/09/blind_mice_see_after_cell_transplant/
State of emergency extended in Iraq
Violence brings 66 more deaths
By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press November 9, 2006
BAGHDAD -- Beset by rampant sectarian violence, Iraq's parliament voted yesterday to extend the country's state of emergency for 30 more days, as at least 66 more Iraqis were killed or found dead.
Yesterday's deaths included those of eight soccer players and fans cut down by a pair of mortar rounds that slammed onto a field in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood.
The US military, meanwhile, announced the deaths of a soldier and a Marine, raising the number of American forces killed this month in Iraq to 21 in the first eight days of November.
Lawmakers present for a closed-door meeting attended by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki voted unanimously to extend the emergency measures, said legislators Ammar Touama and Kamal al-Saidi.
The state of emergency has been renewed every month since it was first authorized in November 2004. It allows for a nighttime curfew and gives the government extra powers to make arrests without warrants and launch police and military operations.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/11/09/state_of_emergency_extended_in_iraq/
Winds of rage, winds of change
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist November 9, 2006
DONALD RUMSFELD just got the Michael Brown treatment.
One moment he was doing a heckuva job. The next minute, he was out as secretary of defense, just as Brown was out as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In Brown's case, it took the disastrous fallout from Hurricane Katrina for President Bush to cut him loose, after first lavishing him with praise. In Rumsfeld's case, hurricane strength rage at Bush and his Iraq war policy swept through the country on Election Day. Angry voters tossed Republicans out of office. This time, the winds of change rattled the White House, too, and Rumsfeld had to go.
Last week, Bush said Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney were doing "fantastic" jobs. At a press conference yesterday, the president explained that statement by saying he did not want to inject "a major military decision" into Tuesday's election. Win or lose on Election Day, Bush insisted, Rumsfeld would be leaving because the situation in Iraq needed "fresh eyes."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/11/09/winds_of_rage_winds_of_change/
Legislators again delay gay marriage vote
By Scott Helman and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
State lawmakers today again delayed a contentious vote on a proposed gay-marriage ban geared for the 2008 ballot, a move that could kill its chances of ever going to the voters.
The House and Senate, meeting in a special joint session, recessed before taking up a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have limited the legal definition of marriage to the union between one man and one woman. Lawmakers voted to adjourn the session until Jan. 2, the last official day of the legislative session.
The 109-87 vote to recess could deal a crushing blow to opponents of same-sex marriage looking to override the landmark court decision three years ago that put Massachusetts on the vanguard of gay rights.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in a 4-3 decision in 2003 that gays and lesbians could legally marry under the state constitution.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2006/11/legislators_aga_1.html
The Guardian Unlimited
Thank you, America
Leader
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Guardian
For six years, latterly with the backing of both houses of a markedly conservative Republican Congress, George Bush has led an American administration that has played an unprecedentedly negative and polarising role in the world's affairs. On Tuesday, in the midterm US congressional elections, American voters rebuffed Mr Bush in spectacular style and with both instant and lasting political consequences. By large numbers and across almost every state of the union, the voters defeated Republican candidates and put the opposition Democrats back in charge of the House of Representatives for the first time in a dozen years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942821,00.html
Chad Says Arab Tribe Kills 128 in Attack
Wednesday November 8, 2006 1:46 AM
NDJAMENA, Chad (AP) - A small clash between ethnic Arab and ethnic African villagers along Chad's border with Darfur escalated into a large-scale attack in which Arabs killed 128 Africans, government officials said Tuesday.
The extent of the Oct. 31 violence had not been clear until a Cabinet delegation reached the remote region Monday to investigate and to call for calm, the officials said.
While the delegation did not link the violence to unrest in Sudan's Darfur, Arab-African clashes there have undermined stability across a region that includes eastern Chad and the northern Central African Republic.
Delegation members said a fight broke out in Amtiman in southeastern Chad on Oct. 31 between two small groups after a member of one group insulted the other. It was not clear which side started the confrontation. Six people were killed in the initial fight. Later the same day, members of the Arab group organized an attack on Africans.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6198662,00.html
The cost of war: Rumsfeld ousted in US poll fallout
Architect of Iraq conflict steps down as Bush faces prospect of double defeat
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday November 9, 2006
George Bush sacrificed his right-hand man in the war in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld, as his administration scrambled yesterday to find its footing after a bruising defeat in an election which Democrats claimed amounted to a referendum on America's role in the conflict.
With media reports late last night claiming that the Democrats had won both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time since 1994, the president accepted the resignation of the man who had become synonymous with the Iraq war, the broader "war on terror", and the doctrine of pre-emptive attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942974,00.html
Polite smiles, but political realities will test truce
Julian Borger in Washington and Ed Pilkington in Evansville, Indiana
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Guardian
When George Bush and Nancy Pelosi meet for lunch in the White House today they will be an odd couple. They evidently do not like each other and are from different planets ideologically, but they each have a lot to gain by working together.
That is the new reality in Washington. The president is still in search of a legacy, and the Speaker-elect of the House of Representatives will have to prove to the voters that Democrats can achieve concrete results. They are now locked together like sumo wrestlers, each trying to make the other budge while trying not to fall over.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942982,00.html
Republican defeat means the Iraqi insurgency has won
Belligerent, ill-conceived interventionism has come to an end. For level-headed Americans it was a good day
Simon Jenkins
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Guardian
The ugly American mark two is dead. Overnight six years of glib European identification of "American" with rightwing fantasism is over. The gun-toting, pre-Darwinian Bushite, the tomahawk-wielding, Halliburton-loving, Beltway neocon calling abortion murder and torturing Arabs as "Islamofascists" has been laid to rest, and by a decision of the American people. Another McCarthy raised its head over the western horizon and has been slapped down. It is a good day for level-headed Americans.
… American politics is suddenly open and interesting. California's Nancy Pelosi is poised to become the first woman Speaker of the House of Representatives and thus third in line to the White House. She has already promised to cooperate with a shattered Republican party to salvage something from Bush's remaining administration. Round her is an array of plausible Democrats with their eye on 2008: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, a reborn Al Gore and a reputed "10% of the Senate" claim to be considering the presidential nomination.
They all have one item of unfinished business. A CNN exit poll of swing issues suggested Iraq, terrorism, the economy and corruption were of equal concern to voters, with the Republicans scoring badly on them all. The politics of fear has lost all its post-9/11 traction. Republicans mouthing dire threats of "Islamicists" under every bed are simply scorned. The most ferocious television ad I saw had a voice incanting that Americans were less popular, terrorism was worse, people were less safe, gasoline was more expensive, soldiers were dying and Osama bin Laden was still free - all because of the Iraq war.
Over 60% of electors want US troops withdrawn from Iraq now or soon. Reports from Baghdad indicate expectation and relief that American policy in that country is about to change. The US army wants to leave. The government ran on a pro-war ticket and suffered a resounding rebuff. At this point the insurgency knows it has won, however long it takes the occupying power to go. Retreat in good order is the best hope. An era of ill-conceived, belligerent interventionism has come to an end - by democratic decision, thank goodness.
simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942895,00.html
From Russia with hate
An extreme nationalist movement is gearing up to march in Moscow in defiance of an official ban, writes Tom Parfitt
Friday November 3, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
He wears a knee-length leather coat, has a fondness for black shirts and greets friends with the forearm-to-forearm Roman handshake favoured by skinheads.
Alexander Belov may not be quite what western governments had in mind when they urged the development of civil society in Russia. But as head of the ultra-right Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI), the 30-year-old Muscovite can claim to head one of Russia's fastest growing grassroots organisations.
While many charities and human rights groups say the Kremlin has deliberately stunted their growth, Belov's organisation is flourishing.
With a well organised network of at least 20,000 activists, it has tapped into the rising xenophobia in Russian society, which bubbled closer to the surface after a politically charged spat with neighbouring Georgia last month.
"The rights of Russians are being infringed in their own land, and we intend to stop it," said Belov in an interview with Guardian Unlimited yesterday at a Czech restaurant in central Moscow.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,1939144,00.html
The bruiser who became a political liability
Defence secretary angered military by refusing to acknowledge mistakes over Iraq
Julian Borger in Washington
Thursday November 9, 2006
Days before the election, George Bush told journalists that there was no way Donald Rumsfeld would leave his job during the president's administration. But, as Mr Rumsfeld famously once observed, "Stuff happens."
What happened was a sudden shift in the terms of trade in American politics; Mr Rumsfeld became too heavy a liability for a president struggling to salvage a legacy. Even while insisting Mr Rumsfeld was doing a "fantastic job", Mr Bush said he had been thinking of replacing him before Tuesday's Democrat victory.
Article continues
That may well be true. Concern about the conduct of the Iraq war and a lack of faith in Mr Rumsfeld were one of few issues uniting Democrats and Republicans in a polarised political scene. A string of Republican candidates made Mr Rumsfeld's dismissal part of their platforms, and it was the first demand out of the lips of the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The defence secretary is paying not just the price for a war that is going badly; he alarmed his former supporters in Congress and in the administration by his apparent conviction that it was on the right course.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942951,00.html
Hamas says death of 18 civilians will be avenged
Rory McCarthy in Beit Hanoun
Thursday November 9, 2006
The leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas called on his fighters yesterday to "activate resistance" hours after an Israeli artillery strike killed 18 civilians, mostly women and children, from a single family in Gaza.
Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, promised retaliation after a wave of artillery shells landed before dawn on a residential street in Beit Hanoun. Several homes were hit, all belonging to one family.
The attack sparked international condemnation and came a day after the Israeli military ended a six-day operation in Beit Hanoun that claimed more than 50 lives. More than 350 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military in the past five months. "Our condemnation will not be in words but in deeds," Mr Meshaal said. "All Palestinian groups are urged to activate resistance ."
Hamas agreed a truce that began 18 months ago, but it expired at the end of last year. Hamas militants have since fired rockets into Israel, but the call to arms risks a return to suicide bombings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1942963,00.html
Democrats control both houses after Virginia win
Bush congratulates party as Republican senator concedes defeat in crucial seat
Ed Pilkington in New York
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Democrats have sealed the prize that few had dared to hope for - a full sweep of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, taking them out of the political wilderness and into a position of real power for the first time in 12 years.
Their final victory was sealed tonight when the Republican senator of Virginia admitted defeat in Tuesday's midterm elections, handing the Democrats control of the Senate and thus of both Houses of Congress, which they last enjoyed in 1994. The party will now be able to shape key policies from the Iraq war to the budget deficit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1944291,00.html
President pays the price but this could be Iraq turning point
Simon Tisdall
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Democrats' election successes will greatly intensify pressure on President George Bush to find a quick way through and out of the Iraq morass. But it remains unclear whether he has the skill, the clout and the imagination to do it.
The huge human, economic and diplomatic cost of Mr Bush's ham-fisted attempt at Middle East nation-building was instantly inflated overnight as the political reckoning came in. After voters gave them the benefit of the doubt two years ago, the president and his congressional allies are now paying the price for a lamentable history of false prospectuses, bungled plans and lethal executive incompetence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942813,00.html
George's dragons
Thursday November 9, 2006
There are indeed some distinctive British (or should I say English?) values, notably fair play, respect for the underdog and compassion. So why has there been no statement of condolence from our president in Downing Street to his friend President Bush in the White House (Democrats pile pressure on Bush, November 8)?
Bernard Crick
Edinburgh
With the results of the election and losing control of the House, it is almost comical that only now are the Republicans speaking of the need for "bipartisanship". It is an about-face, as they virtually ignored the wishes of the Democrats in Congress; it was their way or no way.
Claude Gruener
Austin
Texas, USA
http://www.guardian.co.uk/midterms2006/story/0,,1942866,00.html
'Internet rape' paedophile jailed
Staff and agencies
Thursday November 9, 2006
A paedophile who took remote control of teenage girls' computers from his home and terrorised them into sending intimate images of themselves was jailed today for 10 years.
Posing as a teenage boy on internet chatrooms, Adrian Ringland, 36, would first get his victims' email addresses. He would then send them an email containing a virus that allowed him to hack into their computers.
Targeting girls on both sides of the Atlantic, he would visibly take control of their PCs, moving cursors around, switching on printers and, in one case, opening and closing the CD-Rom drawer.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1943793,00.html
Grief turns to rage as Beit Hanoun buries its dead
· Militants call for revenge at funeral of 18 victims
· Olmert blames artillery strike on 'technical failure
Rory McCarthy in Beit Hanoun
Thursday November 9, 2006
Thousands of Palestinians crowded the streets of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza today, some firing guns into the air, as they buried 18 members of a single family who died in an Israeli artillery strike.
As ambulances brought the dead from hospital morgues into the town, one distraught man carried in the air the body of a small child wrapped in white cloth. The child’s head hung exposed as he walked through the chanting crowd.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said a “technical failure” was to blame for the strike before dawn yesterday in which several artillery shells hit houses in a residential street in Beit Hanoun.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1943909,00.html
Olmert blames 'mistake' for Beit Hanoun deaths
Staff and agencies
Thursday November 9, 2006
The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, today said the barrage of shells that killed 18 civilians in their Gaza Strip homes had been "a mistake".
Mr Olmert called for an immediate meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.
His words came after tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun to bury the victims of yesterday's attack.
Stretchers carried the bodies from 18 ambulances that had taken them from hospital morgues through the artillery-damaged apartment buildings where they died.
Chants of "God is greater than Israel and America", punctuated by the firing of gunshots into the air, rang out. A relative of one victim fired a gun into the air, shouting: "I will revenge."
A cemetery under construction in Beit Hanoun was opened to accommodate the victims because no other cemetery had enough land to allow them to be buried together. A Palestinian flag flew over each grave as two Israeli drones buzzed overhead.
Mr Olmert expressed regret over the bloodshed, and said he had personally looked into the cause of the artillery strike.
"I'm very uncomfortable with this event. I'm very distressed," he said. "This particular case ... was a mistake. It was not a planned attack. It was a technical failure of the Israeli artillery. I checked it, and I verified it."
He expressed a desire to meet Mr Abbas, adding: "He will be surprised when he will sit with me of how far we are prepared to go. I can offer him a lot."
However, he stressed that Israel would continue its military operations in Gaza for as long as Palestinian rocket attacks persisted, warning that more tragedies were possible.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1943541,00.html
The New York Times
Rumsfeld Resigns as Defense Secretary After Big Election Gains for Democrats
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: November 8, 2006
WASHINGTON — Faced with the collapse of his Republican majority in Congress, President Bush responded swiftly today by announcing the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and vowing to work with Democrats ‘’to find common ground” on the war in Iraq and domestic issues.
With Democrats having recaptured the House and control of the Senate hinging on the outcome of a single unsettled contest in Virginia, Mr. Bush, sounding alternately testy and conciliatory at a White House news conference, said he was “obviously disappointed.” He portrayed the results as a cumulative “thumpin’ ” of Republicans, and conceded that as head of the party, he bore some responsibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09BUSHCND.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=90b2a0d9c77157ea&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Gates Faces Major Challenges at Helm of Pentagon
By THOM SHANKER and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: November 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — If he is confirmed as defense secretary, Robert M. Gates would take control of a military whose ground forces are stretched and strained by a costly and bloody war and whose officers yearn to give unvarnished military advice without fear of reprisal.
Addressing their needs, hearing their views and gaining their trust are widely viewed as crucial first steps toward any change Mr. Gates has in mind for prosecuting the war in Iraq.
“Task No. 1 is to generate the strategy for victory in Iraq,” said one senior officer who served under Donald H. Rumsfeld. “A critical enabler of that, in my view, is getting the right information from the right people. One source — one source — of right information is the senior uniformed military who have to be empowered to speak the truth.”
It may not be easy for Mr. Gates to repair the strained communications with the uniformed military, said another officer, who recalled that sessions with the outgoing defense secretary have been nicknamed “the wire-brush treatment” because of Mr. Rumsfeld’s brusque style of questioning. Like others, this officer spoke on condition of anonymity out of military tradition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/world/middleeast/09militarycnd.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=05e36003827bcc02&ei=5094&partner=homepage
In Virginia, Webb Is Confident
By JOHN BRODER and IAN URBINA
Published: November 8, 2006
RICHMOND, Va., Nov. 8 — Jim Webb, the Democratic Senate candidate in Virginia, claimed victory Wednesday in the final battle for Senate control, but his slim margin over Senator George Allen, the Republican, left both the race and Congress unsettled.
While Mr. Allen refused to concede the race, Mr. Webb expressed confidence that his lead would survive state scrutiny or a legal challenge, aides said.
The party that wins the race will lead the Senate for the next two years. According to the official tally from the Virginia State Board of Elections, with 99.9 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Webb had a lead of about 6,700 votes out of about 2.3 million votes cast.
Virginia officials began canvassing each county before certifying the election, with both sides monitoring the process. Some members of Mr. Allen’s camp suggested that he would challenge the vote count, in which the winning margin amounts to less than one-half of one percent of the votes cast.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/08cnd-virginia.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=25747ed16ef092ae&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Tolerable or Awful: The Roads Left in Iraq
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 8, 2006
I had to submit this column before knowing the results of yesterday’s election, but here is one thing I know already: this needs to be our last election about Iraq.
The Iraq war has turned into a sucking chest wound for our country — infecting its unity at home and its standing abroad. No one can predict what Iraq will look like 10 years from now. I wish it well. But in the near term, it is clear, nothing that we’ll feel particularly proud of, nothing that we’ll feel justifies the vast expenditure of lives and treasure, is going to come out of Iraq.
Our only two options left today in Iraq are “tolerable” and “awful.” “Good” is no longer on the menu. When you read stories from Iraq saying that all we need to do is get rid of all the police there, get one-third of the soldiers in the Iraqi Army to actually report to duty regularly, and replace all the ministers who are corrupt, you know why “good” is not on the menu anymore.
It’s time to make a final push for the tolerable, and if that fails, quit Iraq and insulate ourselves and our allies from the awful. This can’t go on.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/opinion/08friedman.html?hp
The Democratic House
There was only one explanation for the crazy-quilt combination of victories around the country that gave the Democrats control of the House of Representatives last night: an angry shout of repudiation of the Bush White House and the abysmal way the Republican majority has run Congress.
It was a satisfying expression of the basic democratic principle of accountability. A government that performs badly is supposed to be punished by the electorate. And this government has performed badly on so many counts.
The Republicans created their defeat by focusing obsessively on the right-wing “base,” ostracizing not only the Democrats but their own party’s more moderate legislators. The conflict between the extremist House and the conservative Senate created a phony center, far to the right of the general public’s idea of where the middle ought to be. Yesterday, moderate Republicans in heavily Democratic states were done in by their party’s excesses. In Rhode Island, more than 60 percent of the voters told pollsters that they liked their Republican senator, Lincoln Chafee. But he was soundly defeated anyway.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/opinion/08wed5.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Rumsfeld’s Departure
Whatever this election accomplished -- and it remains to be seen if it ended the rancor and distrust that define current American politics -- voters made it crystal clear that they want a change in direction in Iraq. Democratic and Republican leaders alike agreed that it had to begin with replacing Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.
President Bush showed that he had heard the second half of that message and finally rid himself of the man whose bad judgments and inept leadership had done so much to create the mess in Iraq. But it still was not clear that he has yet heard the first, and more important part of the message. At his press conference, Mr. Bush was still talking about victory in precisely the same terms he had used before the election, and offered no clear sense that he was prepared to open his mind to a real change in strategy.
The challenge for Mr. Rumsfeld’s chosen successor, Robert Gates, who was a deputy national security adviser to Mr. Bush’s father and then served as Director of Central Intelligence, will be to make Mr. Bush realize how desperate the situation is in Iraq and that the conduct of the war should be dictated by reality and not ideology.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/opinion/08rum-ed.html
Democrat Wins Senate Race in Montana
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: November 8, 2006
The Democratic challenger in Montana, Jon Tester, won his closely contested race for the United States Senate today, leaving only Virginia to face an uncertain outcome in an election that is not expected to be decided for days or weeks.
But the Republican, Senator Conrad Burns, said that there were still some votes to be counted and that “there is no need to rush a conclusion when the votes are this close.”
Mr. Tester’s victory means that the Senate will at the least be tied 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, but effectively the Republicans would remain in control in that case because Vice President Dick Cheney has a tie-breaking vote.
The battle for the Senate drew attention today after the House came out clearly in Democratic hands after Tuesday’s election. But the uncertainty of the race in Virginia — and until earlier today Montana — left open the prospect of vote recounts that were likely to be lengthy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09senatecnd.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=9cdb9b1d44e4e94e&ei=5094&partner=homepage
House Calls: 11 Seats Still Undecided
By Sarah Wheaton
Democrats have won 228 House seats at this point, Republicans 196. But plenty of the season’s most-watched races are still up in the air as of 4:00 p.m.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=639
Israeli Shelling Kills 18 Gazans; Anger Boils Up
By IAN FISHER and STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: November 9, 2006
BEIT HANUN, Gaza Strip, Nov. 8 — Israeli tank shells killed 18 Palestinians, including 8 children and 6 women, at a cluster of houses here on Wednesday, one of the largest single losses of life in Gaza in years.
Some Hamas leaders called for a suicide-bombing retaliation inside Israel and, unusually, for the United States to be taught “hard lessons” as well.
“Nothing happened,” mumbled Isra Athamnah, 5 years old, who was pocked with shrapnel and in shock. The news that her widowed mother, Sanaa, 35, was dead and that she was now an orphan did not sink in.
Others described how a tank shell had hit a home here in northern Gaza, sending members of the extended Athamnah family outside before dawn. The next volleys struck them as they crowded in a narrow alley between the houses. The dead ranged from less than a year old to 70 years old, witnesses said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/world/middleeast/09mideast.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=1e8040a19508cae1&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Justices Hear Arguments on Late-Term Abortion
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — There were moments on Wednesday, during Supreme Court arguments on a federal law that bans a disputed method of abortion, that the proceedings seemed more like a medical school seminar than an appellate argument.
Such familiar constitutional concepts as the right to privacy were not mentioned during the two hours, but the methods doctors use to dilate a pregnant woman’s cervix were discussed in detail, repeatedly.
What exactly was the procedure that the law, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, sought to prohibit, the justices wanted to know. When, if ever, was the procedure necessary? What would be the impact of banning it? What alternatives were available to women seeking second-trimester abortions and to doctors performing them?
Among the justices most interested in the medical details was the one whom both sides consider most likely to be in a position to control the outcome, Anthony M. Kennedy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/washington/09scotus.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=ea245370e1500404&ei=5094&partner=homepage
World Sees Vote as Rejection of Iraq Policy
By ALAN COWELL
Published: November 8, 2006
LONDON, NOV. 8 — As word of the American midterm election results and, later, the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld spread across the globe, criticism of the United States turned less shrill, less gloating, more textured than in the past. But no one seemed to feel that the vote was about anything but Baghdad.
“This was the bill to the White House for their disaster in Iraq,” said Jürgen Trittin, deputy leader of Germany’s Green party.
It was not, of course, a presidential vote — though some thought it should have been. But the tone of criticism seemed more conciliatory than on previous occasions when President Bush has stumbled, in part because his power is now seen as waning irrevocably.
“Before, Bush wasn’t looking to be liked” by the Europeans, Giovanni Sartori, an Italian political analyst, said in a telephone interview. “For Europe, it’s good news, because America will be forced to be less of a solitary aggressor.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/world/09global.html
Democrats See Surge in Power at State Level
By KIRK JOHNSON
Published: November 8, 2006
CHICAGO, Nov. 8 — Democratic gains in Congress and among the nation’s governors were matched on Tuesday by a huge surge closer to the grass roots — in the state legislatures, where more than 275 seats and nine legislative chambers from Iowa to Oregon switched overnight from Republican to Democratic hands.
With those legislative victories combined with the six new Democratic governors elected on Tuesday, Democrats are now the one-party government in 15 states — including New Hampshire for the first time since 1874, and Colorado for the first time since 1960. No party has controlled as many as 15 states since the Republicans achieved that exact number after the 1994 election.
But what was equally remarkable, said Tim Storey, a senior fellow at the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group, is that the gains occurred everywhere in the country, even in the South, where Democrats lost ground in every statehouse election since 1982 — until Tuesday. The gains there were tiny, about 20 legislative seats spread across 14 states, but the direction, Mr. Storey said, was the important thing.
“I think it’s very significant; they’d been losing ground and they turned it around,” Mr. Storey said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09statehousecnd.html
Billionaires Fight to Buy The Los Angeles Times
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT and SHARON WAXMAN
Published: November 9, 2006
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8 — David Geffen spends more time schmoozing an elite cadre of journalists than just about any other mogul in Hollywood.
The billionaire often invites them to his sprawling estate in the heart of Beverly Hills, where De Koonings and Pollocks hang on the walls. In September, his guest was Leo Wolinsky, a managing editor of The Los Angeles Times, and they broached the delicate question of whether Mr. Geffen might try to buy the struggling newspaper.
If Mr. Geffen gets his way, he will be spending a lot more time with journalists.
Lately his name has been prominently linked with a potential purchase of The Times, fueled in part by his recent sale of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of paintings from his world-class collection.
In addition, his wooing of Mr. Wolinsky, with whom he has a continuing dialogue, has made him a favorite potential owner among many top editors.
But if he wants the nation’s fourth-largest newspaper, he will have to fight for it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/business/media/09paper.html?oref=login
Suicide Bomber Kills 42 Pakistani Soldiers
By CARLOTTA GALL and SALMAN MASOOD
Published: November 9, 2006
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 8 — A suicide bomber detonated explosives on a military training ground in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday morning, killing at least 42 army recruits and wounding about 20 more in the deadliest terrorist attack against the Pakistani military on record, government officials said.
Suspicion immediately fell on Pakistani militants who had vowed vengeance for an airstrike on a madrasa, or religious school, that killed 83 people near the Afghan border in the Bajaur district on Oct. 30.
The Pakistani military claimed responsibility for that attack, which it said was against militants in terrorist training. But residents and opposition politicians contend that the strike was conducted by an American drone aircraft, though the Pakistani government denies it.
The sudden escalation of casualties in Pakistan’s fight against militants is likely to further polarize public opinion, which is already broadly opposed to President Pervez Musharraf’s cooperation with the United States and his military campaign against tribes in border regions. It may also raise questions in the military about the campaign, in which about 600 soldiers have been killed in the past two years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/world/asia/09pakistan.html?hp&ex=1163048400&en=bb33caf6ab0e1a47&ei=5094&partner=homepage
U.S. Rejects Referendum for Rebel Georgia Region
By REUTERS
Published: November 8, 2006
Filed at 9:36 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States rejects an independence referendum planned for Sunday in the separatist South Ossetia region of Georgia, the State Department said on Wednesday.
``These actions will only serve to exacerbate tensions and divert attention from the need to peacefully resolve the conflict,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
Georgian forces and Russian-backed separatists in the rebel province are in a tense armed confrontation over the region.
``We call on Tskhinvali and Tbilisi to engage in direct talks to find a peaceful solution that defines the status of South Ossetia within Georgia's internationally recognized borders, while affording South Ossetia significant autonomy within a unified Georgia,'' McCormack said.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-georgia-ossetia-usa.html
In California, Ecologists Retrace a Pioneer’s Footsteps
By AMANDA T. HAWN
Published: November 7, 2006
LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — On Sept. 8, 1923, Joseph Dixon and Leo Wilson hiked with packhorses to an alpine meadow near the base of Lassen Peak in Northern California. The trip was difficult; the two men, researchers from the University of California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, were soon snowed out of their campsite
Eighty-three years later to the day, Jim Patton and John Perrine — also researchers from the museum, which is now part of what has since become the University of California, Berkeley — enjoyed an easier arrival in the same meadow. Parking their cars, the two men stepped out onto a carpet of corn lilies and wild mint to continue what their predecessors had started: one of the largest wildlife-distribution studies ever.
The tidy parallels in time, place and purpose between the scientists of yesteryear and those of today are no accident. They are, rather, part of a major undertaking called the Grinnell Resurvey Project.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/07/science/earth/07grin.html?ref=science
Polling Places Report Snags, but Not Chaos
By IAN URBINA
Published: November 8, 2006
Touch-screen voting machines would not start, poll workers did not know how to run optical scanners and tempers flared over who was registered, as voters in many states went to the polls on Tuesday only to find that casting their vote this year could be as much a challenge as a responsibility.
With dozens of states enforcing new voter registration laws and a widespread rollout of new electronic voting equipment, voters faced scattered difficulties, especially in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, where some voting machines had faulty software. But the problems did not lead to the voting gridlock some had feared.
Still, in hundreds of precincts in Florida, Indiana and Ohio, machine and poll worker problems led election officials to turn to paper ballots; and lawyers went to court in hopes of extending voting hours in precincts in several states, including Colorado, Indiana and Ohio.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/08voting.html
Elections Bring New Landscape to Capitol
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and PHILIP SHENON
Published: November 8, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — Washington awoke to a vastly reshaped political landscape today, as Republicans grappled with their losses and Democrats, who recaptured the House of Representatives after 12 years and still harbor hopes of taking back the Senate, laid plans to govern.
By early morning, Democrats had picked up at least 28 seats in the House, leaving them firmly in control. The balance of power in the Senate rested on a knife-edge, with one race in Virginia remained too close to call.
The realignment brought an end to the long-held Republican dream of a permanent majority in Washington.
“We’re going to take a two-year hiatus,” Representative Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, told reporters at a morning press briefing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/08cnd-elect.html
Despite Court Ruling, Christie’s Pulls Painting From Auction
By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: November 8, 2006
Hours before it was to be one of the stars of Christie’s fall auction tonight, a blue-period painting by Picasso was withdrawn from the sale because of a claim that it had been sold under duress in Nazi Germany.
This afternoon, as the 6:30 p.m. auction was approaching, Christie’s in New York announced that it had withdrawn the painting, “Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto,” also known as “The Absinthe Drinker,” from its semi-annual Impressionist and Modern Art sale.
The decision to withdraw the painting came a day after a federal court judge allowed the sale to go ahead since it did not have jurisdiction in the case and as lawyers for Julius H. Schoeps, an heir to the painting’s original owner, went to state Supreme Court in Manhattan to press their claim that Mr. Schoeps was the Picasso’s rightful owner. Mr. Schoeps, a historian, lives in Berlin.
Mr. Schoeps’s complaint seeks at least $60 million in damages or the immediate return of the painting from the Andrew Lloyd Webber Art Foundation, its current owner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/arts/09picasso.html
Rumsfeld Resigns; Bush Vows to ‘Find Common Ground’; Focus Is on Virginia
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and JIM RUTENBERG
Published: November 9, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — Faced with the collapse of his Republican majority in Congress, President Bush responded swiftly on Wednesday by announcing the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and vowing to work with Democrats “to find common ground” on the war in Iraq and domestic issues.
With Democrats having recaptured the House and control of the Senate depending on the outcome of a single unsettled contest in Virginia, Mr. Bush, sounding alternately testy and conciliatory at a White House news conference, said he was “obviously disappointed.” He portrayed the results as a cumulative “thumping” of Republicans and conceded that as head of the party, he bore some responsibility.
In Virginia, though Senator George Allen had not conceded Wednesday night, the Democrat, Jim Webb, was confident enough of victory to begin talking about transition. Mr. Allen’s defeat would mean that the Democrats would control the Senate for the first time since 2002 and would control both houses of Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/us/politics/09elect.html?ei=5094&en=eca88a31da08f650&hp=&ex=1163134800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1163065812-jU+csv2DFiAOc6NIU5PPnQ
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