The Rooster
Friday, December 08, 2006
€1m wash-out
December 8,2006Crossmolina, North Mayo County, Ireland
THE clean-up has commenced in Crossmolina as the North Mayo town comes to terms with the worst flooding since 1989, leaving €1 million worth of damage in its wake.
Twelve hours of uninterrupted rainfall caused the River Deel in Crossmolina to burst its banks and take the town by siege in the early hours of Sunday morning. Twenty premises were evacuated as flood waters rose to a depth of 3ft in some areas. Chapel Street, Church Street, Erris Street and parts of Main Street were underwater within an hour of the river bursting its banks.
Crossmolina counting the cost of a very wet weekend (click on)
By: Anna-Marie Flynn
ARINGING telephone broke the silence of the early morning in Fr Michael Reilly’s house, Crossmolina, on Sunday last. It wasn’t an unusual occurrence - people need the services of the local curate from time to time --but this call is one Fr Reilly will never forget.
A member of the local Fire Brigade was on the line, informing the priest that the River Deel had burst its banks and flash flooding was rapidly submerging the town.
“It was 6.30 am in the morning when the Fire Brigade rang me to tell me that most of Chapel Street was severely affected at that stage,” he told the Western People as he assessed the damage yesterday morning (Monday).
The River Deel burst its banks at approximately 5am on Sunday morning, causing an estimated •1 million to the town. Within an hour the centre of Crossmolina was under water, with Chapel Street, Erris Street and Church Street the worst areas hit. Twenty houses were flooded to a depth of 2ft and with three streets underwater, emergency services fought to keep the rising waters under control.
Morning Papers - continued
BBC
Hezbollah chief 'plotting coup'
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has accused the leader of the Hezbollah militant movement of plotting a coup.
He pointed to comments by Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah that the opposition would form an interim government without the existing administration.
Mr Siniora said these were tantamount to a plot to overthrow the government.
In another development, a Sunni preacher led thousands of Sunni and Shia anti-government protesters in a show of unity during Friday prayers.
The preacher, Fathi Yakan, praised the protesters for trying to stop what he called the American project in Lebanon - a reference to western support for Mr Siniora's government.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6162083.stm
Seoul charges North Korea 'spies'
South Korean prosecutors have indicted five people on charges of spying for North Korea.
Prosecutors say it is the biggest espionage case since the two neighbours began a process of reconciliation at a key summit in 2000.
The five include an American of Korean origin, Jang Min-ho, who is accused of recruiting the others and passing information to North Korea.
Pyongyang denounced the case as a "calculated plot" to smear North Korea.
Pro-Pyongyang image
Prosecutors in Seoul say Jang Min-ho set up the spy ring after visiting North Korea in 1989, and is alleged to have met North Korean agents at least seven times in China and Thailand.
He and the other four are accused of passing on "national secrets" such as US troop movements in South Korea and the personal details of hundreds of politicians.
"The suspects spied in an organised way after receiving instructions from North Korea," Ahn Chang-ho at Seoul's Central District Prosecutors' Office said.
"This is the biggest spy case" since the 2000 rapprochement, he added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6220316.stm
Fiji suspended from Commonwealth
The Commonwealth has suspended Fiji's membership in protest at the recent military coup, the fourth in 19 years.
The decision followed a meeting of foreign ministers from Commonwealth countries in London.
The coup, which saw military chief Cmdr Bainimarama oust PM Laisenia Qarase, has already been condemned by the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
It has also failed to win the backing of Fiji's influential Council of Chiefs and religious groups.
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon announced the suspension after an emergency meeting of the Commonwealth's Ministerial Action Group.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6161587.stm
Malaria 'speeds spread of Aids'
There may be a link between malaria and the spread of the Aids virus across Africa, research by scientists working in Kenya suggests.
The study, published in the journal Science, says the way the two diseases interact can help them spread faster.
When people with Aids contract malaria, it causes a surge of HIV virus in their blood, making them more likely to infect a partner, the research says.
Meanwhile people weakened by HIV are more likely to catch malaria.
The diseases are two of the biggest killers in Africa.
Viral surge
Scientists studying the rapid spread of HIV-Aids in the city of Kisumu in Kenya found the spread of HIV was happening more quickly than they would expect just through risky sexual behaviour.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6220072.stm
Condoms 'too big' for Indian men
A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.
The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.
It has led to a call for condoms to be provided in smaller sizes designed for Indian men.
The two-year study was carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Representative
Over 1,200 volunteers from the length and breadth of the country had their penises measured precisely, down to the last millimetre.
The scientists even checked their sample was representative of India as a whole in terms of class, religion and urban and rural dwellers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6161691.stm
St Paul's tomb unearthed in Rome
Archaeologists working for the Vatican have unearthed a sarcophagus containing what they believe are the remains of St Paul the Apostle.
The tomb dates back to at least AD390 and was found in a crypt under a basilica in Rome.
It has long been thought that the crypt contained the tomb of St Paul but the altar had hidden it.
St Paul was an influential early Christian who travelled widely in the Mediterranean area in the 1st Century.
Excavations at the site began in 2002 and were completed last month.
Ancient pilgrims
The basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls is the largest church in Rome after St Peter's.
For the past three years, archaeologists have been excavating underneath the altar to remove two huge slabs of marble and now, for the first time in almost 1,700 years, the sarcophagus of St Paul is on public view.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6219656.stm
Citizen journalism is gaining ground in dangerous places.
Last month the website Alive in Baghdad won a crop of "Vloggie" industry awards for showing the human face behind Iraq's daily toll of deaths and kidnappings. The site offers a series of short films documenting the lives of Iraqis in their own words.
These range from a piece on family men trying to protect their neighbourhood from death squads, to an interview with car bomb survivors. [Both are shown on this page.]
The founder of Alive in Baghdad is Brian Conley, a 26-year-old American journalist and film-maker.
He went to Baghdad and gave equipment and training to the small team of Iraqis who now produce a new short film every week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6195960.stm
Are firms ignoring their ethical responsibility?
Should firms take more of an ethical responsibility?Workers in Bangladesh get paid as little as five pence an hour making clothes for UK firms Asda, Primark and Tesco, a report says.Anti-poverty group War on Want is accusing the companies of exploiting the workers who often spend 80 hours a week in factories.All three businesses deny the allegations and stress that their suppliers are closely monitored and any abuse was unacceptable.
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=4923&&&edition=2&ttl=20061208151945
US adds more jobs than expected
The US economy beat forecasts by adding 132,000 jobs last month, but the unemployment rate rose to 4.5%, according to Labor Department figures.
November's extra 132,000 jobs was a marked improvement from the 79,000 new positions in October, and higher than market predictions of 110,000.
Although the unemployment rate edged up, it was still just above October's 4.4% five-year low.
Analysts said the data showed that the US economic slowdown remained mild.
'Strengthening economy'
"These numbers are very benign, and are definitely consistent with a soft-landing scenario," said economist Ned Riley, of Riley Asset Management.
Analysts said a main factor in the unemployment rate going up was thousands of jobseekers re-entering the labour market looking for work ahead of the key holiday season.
Overall the figures show that the US jobs market remains in good shape despite a definite slump in the housing sector and weak American car sales.
"The report is considerably stronger than expected," said Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research.
"There are several signs of strengthening economic activity."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6162127.stm
'Dirty War' extradition approved
A Uruguayan judge has approved the extradition to Argentina of six former military and police officers to face trial on human rights charges.
The men are accused of abducting for torture 11 Uruguayan dissidents in Argentina in the 1970s.
The kidnappings were part of South America's so-called Dirty War, in which military governments collaborated to persecute their opponents.
The six men, all currently in custody in Uruguay, deny the charges.
They have the right to appeal against the extradition order.
The judge, Juan Carlos Fernandez Lecchini, said the men would be extradited on the condition that they could not be condemned to serve life in prison, which is banned in Uruguay.
The abductions of which they are accused include the high-profile case of Maria Claudia Garcia, who was the daughter-in law of a famous Argentine poet, Juan Gelman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6161131.stm
US opens new Guantanamo camp jail
The US has begun moving terror suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay into a new $37m (£19m) maximum-security prison.
Forty-two prisoners were transferred from another high-security facility on the US naval base in eastern Cuba, the Associated Press reported.
The new 178-cell prison will allow commanders to close the wire-fence camp originally built for early detainees.
The US holds some 430 men at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of links to al-Qaeda or the Taleban, most without charge.
UN human rights investigators and foreign governments have called on the US government to close the entire detention centre.
But the new facility has been built to provide more permanent secure accommodation for those judged to be "enemy combatants" and detained by the US military.
Guard security
The new facility is designed to limit contact between detainees and reduce the risks of attacks on staff, AP reported.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6219942.stm
MPs warn over US fighter jet deal
The UK should not agree to a US deal to buy the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter unless the US releases details allowing independent operation, MPs have warned.
The defence committee said an assurance was needed from the US "by the end of the year" that all the technical information would be given to the UK.
The $276.5bn (£140bn) Anglo-US project will supply the armed forces of the US, Britain and several other countries.
Earlier this year, the government expressed concerns about the deal.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the world's most expensive military project, is expected to take to the skies for its maiden test flight next week.
'Plan B'
The US will account for the lion's share of the Lockheed Martin-designed plane, with 2,400 in service by 2027, while the UK is expected to take delivery of 138 fighters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6219122.stm
Canada upholds gay marriage law
Canadian MPs have rejected a proposal by the governing Conservative party to overturn a law allowing gay marriage.
Twelve Conservative MPs, including several members of the cabinet, joined Liberals and Canada's other opposition parties to defeat the motion 175-123.
During his successful election campaign earlier this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to bring the law back before parliament.
Canada is one of just five countries where gay marriage is legal.
The law was passed after intense debate in July 2005.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6219914.stm
Bush 'must adopt all Iraq plan'
The main authors of the report that aims to change US strategy in Iraq have urged President George Bush to follow all of their recommendations.
Former Secretary of State James Baker said the 79 points they put forward were not a "fruit salad" to be picked over, but a comprehensive strategy.
Mr Bush has said that he would "seriously consider" the report.
However, he appears already to have ruled out some proposals, like talking unconditionally to Syria and Iran.
He also appeared to rule out the the phasing out of the US combat role in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6220022.stm
US agrees on India nuclear bill
US Congress negotiators have agreed on a law which will allow the US to export civilian nuclear fuel to India.
The bill will still have to be approved by both houses of Congress. The House of Representatives is due to consider it on Friday.
The deal offers India US nuclear technology in exchange for inspectors' access to Indian civilian reactors.
The accord has been hailed as historic by some, but critics say it will damage non-proliferation efforts.
The exact details of the new law are not yet known.
'Compromise bill'
The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Washington says lawmakers have reportedly fine-tuned the language and softened certain conditions in the nuclear agreement in order to accommodate the Indian government's reservations about the deal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6219998.stm
Chavez in Argentina trade talks
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has arrived in Argentina for talks with President Nestor Kirchner.
Mr Chavez is expected to discuss Venezuela's integration into regional trading bloc Mercosur.
It is the latest stop in a regional tour for Mr Chavez following his sweeping re-election victory on Sunday.
He held talks on regional integration and joint energy projects in Brazil on Thursday and will attend a regional summit in Bolivia that starts Friday.
After his meeting with the left-leaning Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mr Chavez said that "Venezuela wants to extend its arms to Brazil and South America".
'Decadent government'
The two presidents agreed to resume technical studies of a plan to build a 5,600 mile (9,000km) gas pipeline which would stretch from Venezuela to Argentina.
The project's critics say it will destroy Amazon rainforest and cost much more than estimated.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6219874.stm
US move sparks terrorism denial
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay have denied terrorists are operating in the area where their borders meet, after a fresh anti-terror move by the US.
On Wednesday the US Treasury froze the assets of nine people and two companies alleged to have transferred millions of dollars through the "Triple Frontier".
The US said members of Hezbollah were engaged in illegal activites there.
But the South American nations said Washington had not provided any "new information" to support the claims.
The so-called Triple Frontier has a reputation as a centre for drug trafficking and money laundering.
The US Treasury alleged that those targeted by its sanctions had provided financial aid to a "specially designated global terrorist" named Assad Ahmad Barakat, who has been cited for his support of the Hezbollah leadership.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6218144.stm
US Democrats mull climate change
The issue of climate change and global warming hardly registered on the political radar in the United States during the recent Congressional elections.
On 7 November however, the Democratic Party secured both houses of Congress and that political shift is likely to mean a change of emphasis over key environmental issues.
The US is the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter but the country has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol that sets limits on those gases.
Instead President George W Bush has emphasised the need for innovations that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
"America is addicted to oil," he said in this year's State of the Union address.
"Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy, the best way to break this addiction is through technology."
Democratic hope
Now that the Democratic Party has taken control of both houses of Congress there is hope amongst senior Democrats that they will be able convince the president that caps on greenhouse gases are needed as well.
"We have an opportunity to put an emphasis on issues of clean energy, renewable energy, global warming, climate change, in a way that wasn't possible during the last several years," says the incoming Democratic Party head of the Senate energy committee, Jeff Bingaman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6200748.stm
Flatulence leads US jet to divert
An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Nashville after passengers reported the smell of sulphur from burning matches.
The matches were found on the seat of a woman who had attempted to conceal the odour of flatulence with the matches, Nashville airport authorities said.
All 99 passengers and five crew left the plane while it was searched.
The woman was questioned by the FBI but released without charge and allowed to board another American Airlines flight.
"It was determined that she was trying to conceal body odour," said Lynne Lowrance of the Nashville Airport Authority.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6213644.stm?ls
Seminole tribe in Hard Rock deal
British entertainment company Rank Group has agreed to sell its Hard Rock Cafe chain to an American Indian tribe for $965m (£490m).
The business is being bought by the Seminole tribe of Florida, which already runs Hard Rock-branded hotels and casinos in Tampa and Hollywood.
The Hard Rock business made a pre-tax profit of £35m in 2005 and has 132 outlets worldwide.
Rank will now focus on online and phone betting, casinos and bingo clubs.
It has sold off a number of leisure businesses in recent years, including Butlin's, Warner Holidays, Odeon Cinemas, Pinewood Studios and pub chain Tom Cobleigh.
No surrender
Rank said it would pass £350m of the sale proceeds to shareholders via a special dividend.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6216292.stm
Challenging times for Mexico's new leader
As Mexico prepares for the presidential inauguration of Felipe Calderon on 1 December, the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Mexico City reports on the challenges the conservative politician faces.
Over the din of Mexico City's incessant traffic there is another, more alluring, noise. It is the haunting sound of whistles and you can hear them everywhere.
They come from the city's knife sharpeners. They whistle, you bring out your knives. Porfillo Martinez is one of them. His multi-tonal whistle is audible from several blocks away. Porfillo has been putting exquisitely sharp edges to the blades of the capital's cutlery for 27 years.
He has attached a circular grinding stone to the back of his bicycle. He props his bike onto its stand and then, using the pedals, he spins the stone and applies the edge of the knife. As he does it, he talks politics - presidential politics.
"I'm just not sure about Felipe Calderon," he says.
"I don't think he's for Mexico's poor people who worry about the price of milk and petrol," says Porfillo, who earns less than US$10 (£5) a day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6158945.stm
I had said this from the beginning. The exploitation of a mine for all possible money lead to negligence of the very HUMAN BEINGS that would bring the coal to the surface. The apparatus to capture gases from the ground for market came before the lives of the people that worked there. The gas extraction apparatus acted as a lightning rod to ‘ground.’ The ‘ground’ in this case was the inside of the mine where dust and gas ignited and caused an explosion that would trap twelve men for longer than their oxygen supply provided. Not surprised, just disgusted.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076929
Lightning not ruled out as Sago probe continues
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Investigators are still considering whether lightning played a role in the Jan. 2 explosion at Upshur County's Sago Mine that left 12 miners dead and another with carbon monoxide poisoning, state legislators learned at a Thursday briefing.
The ongoing probe is also checking whether the mine's underground rail line conducted an electrical charge, said J. Davitt McAteer, who was appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin to oversee the state's investigation of the Sago disaster.
Federal scientists, meanwhile, are testing dense, 40-inch-thick foam blocks like those used to seal off an abandoned part of the Sago Mine. Because several of those seals were destroyed, investigators have not ruled out that the explosion occurred in the sealed section.
Given these and other questions, McAteer said some of the Sago widows asked Wednesday for a delay to the scheduled March 14 public hearing on the deadly accident.
"I think that's a fair call," McAteer told the half-dozen lawmakers assembled for the briefing. "We will have some answers, but we won't have them all."
http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WPN/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834333406
Letters to the Editor
News Virginian
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Bush cutbacks to mining regulators are time bombs, just like Sago
I am writing to focus on the mining disaster that occurred in nearby West Virginia at the Sago mine.
So much coverage on TV was about the fact that the men were reported to be alive when actually they were dead. There was a mistake made. But let’s look at why this happened in the first place.
The fault for this disaster lies squarely on the Bush administration. More than 170 positions in the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) have been eliminated since Bush took office in 2001.
http://www.newsvirginian.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNV/MGArticle/WNV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128769241738
Allen: Bid didn't focus on issues, his record
WASHINGTON -- Sen. George Allen is taking the lion's share of the blame for his razor-thin election loss that helped turn over control of the Senate to Democrats.
His re-election campaign didn't focus enough on issues and his record, unlike his bids for governor in 1993 and for the Senate in 2000, the Virginia Republican said yesterday.
Allen said he has been approached with exciting job options in the private sector that he will look at more closely in January. He added that he has made no decision about a possible comeback try for the governorship of Virginia. "This campaign, I wish I had done better, our campaign had done better, in making sure the campaign was focused for the voters on issues, ideas, and my record of performance," Allen said.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077164
Allen spent twice as much in loss
But Webb, the winner in Senate race, benefited from a late surge in donations
Outgoing U.S. Sen. George Allen spent twice as much money as Democrat Jim Webb in his losing bid for re-election.
However, Webb raised more than double the amount of his Republican rival in the final push of one of the nation's fiercest races, according to federal election reports due yesterday.
Allen, a first-term incumbent, spent just more than $16 million, while Webb spent about $8 million and won by 9,329 votes out of nearly 2.4 million cast.
Webb brought in more than $2.4 million between Oct. 19 and Nov. 27, according to the reports. Allen generated just more than $1.1 million during that period.
During the closing weeks of the bitter contest, Webb spent about $4 million mostly on television advertising -- while the Allen campaign plunked down more than $3.2 million. Each side reported a small amount of leftover cash -- $205,000 for Webb, almost $176,000 for Allen.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077868
Yamin's new smile gets him in People
Elliott Yamin has a new reason to smile - $50,000 in dental work.
His new smile, courtesy of Beverly Hills dentist David Frey, puts him on the cover of the Dec. 18 issue of People, right below the "Jen and Vince Split" and "Eva & Tony Surprise Engagement" stories.
Inside are two full pages of before and after pictures of Yamin, Richmond's contribution to this year's "American Idol" competition. Yamin, talking about his new look, was also interviewed on Wednesday's edition of "Extra."
Over his three months in the spotlight on "Idol," where he finished third, the singer earned much praise for his natural talent - but also the suggestion that he could use a makeover, especially when it came to his crooked teeth.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192073368
Three Va. gun shops named in NYC suit
Out-of-state effort to control crime again targets illegal firearm sales
BY REX BOWMAN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
New York City is trying to curb its violent crime by once again going after gun dealers in other states, including Virginia.
New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday that the city has filed suit against 12 gun dealers in five states -- including three gun shops in Virginia -- in an effort to stem the flow of illegally purchased guns into the city.
Bloomberg filed a similar suit in May against 15 gun dealers in the five states -- Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and South Carolina -- alleging that they illegally sold guns that ended up in the hands of people who committed violent crimes in New York.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077877&path=%21news&s=1045855934842
Henricus stands in for Jamestown as 'Nova' unravels Pocahontas legend
Another costly dirt delay," joked a crew member while filming halted, ever so briefly, on "Pocahontas Lived Here."
Dirt was applied to the back of an actor's legs - this was supposed to be a group of early Jamestown settlers scrambling to survive - and Captain John Smith continued his harangue of idlers.
The setting for this future episode of PBS' "Nova" wasn't Jamestown but Henricus Historical Park, a re-creation of the 1611 Citie of Henricus located 20 miles south of Richmond near Dutch Gap.
"We're very compact," explained Pete McKee, site manager and acting director of Henricus. With its partially recreated English settlement and American Indian encampment, "we're Jamestown without the crowds."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192073231&path=%21flair&s=1045855936229
FEMA denies housing money to Battery Park residents
Richmond sought to recoup cost to house victims of flooding
BY MICHAEL MARTZ
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied a request by Richmond to reimburse more than $198,000 that the city spent to house people in hotels and apartments after their North Side neighborhoods were flooded Sept. 1.
The costs were part of more than $42 million in public assistance that Richmond had sought under the disaster declaration issued by President Bush in late September, but FEMA determined the housing expenses weren't eligible for reimbursement under the program.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192075686&path=%21news&s=1045855934842
Agassi, Graf return to serve
Genworth Classic features couple along with Davenport, Blake
Richmond Times-Dispatch
When the husband and wife team of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf played mixed doubles together last year in the Genworth Children's Advantage Classic, it marked the first time they had tried to mesh on the court.
That's not always an easy task for spouses, especially when each of them was the best in the business during their pro careers.
"Yeah, it was the first fight we'd ever been in, too," Agassi said, chuckling. "She looked at me a little sideways when I missed a volley, but other than that, it was fine."
Graf and Agassi edged Anna Kournikova and Andy Roddick 8-7 a year ago and will team up again tonight against Lindsay Davenport and James Blake in an eight-game pro set to kick off the second annual exhibition at Virginia Commonwealth University's Siegel Center. The match begins at 7:30 p.m.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077375
Closure of Ford plant explained
Many factors worked against Norfolk site, executive tells group
Ford Motor Co.'s Norfolk truck-assembly plant fell victim to forces beyond the control of state and local officials and its employees, a company executive said yesterday in Richmond.
Joseph R. Hinrichs, Ford's vice president, North America manufacturing, said the deci- sion to close the plant was one of the toughest that executives have made as part of a restructuring aimed at returning the automobile maker to profitability.
The 82-year-old factory, which employs 2,400 people, is one of the company's best-performing plants, Hinrichs said. "Unfortunately, it had a lot of things working against it," he said, speaking at a Virginia Chamber of Commerce event.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076869
Nintendo investigating Wii strap problem
Some players report damage from remote coming out of hands
The Associated Press
TOKYO -- The maker of the Wii video-game console said yesterday that it is investigating reports of problems with a strap that secures the machines' remote-controller to the player's wrist.
Players hold the Wii's wandlike remote to mimic the motions of a tennis racket, golf club or sword, depending on the game.
At least two Web sites have been set up to collect photos that purportedly show damage such as broken glass and TVs resulting from the strap coming off players as they swung around the controller, at times causing the remote to fly out of their hands.
"Some people are getting a lot more excited than we'd expected," Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata said. "We need to better communicate to people how to deal with Wii as a new form of entertainment."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076903
Deportation: Families ripped apart
Whenever someone knocks on the door, Beatriz Marquez's 2½- year- old son gets excited.
"Daddy coming?" Anthony asks repeatedly in Spanish. "No, Daddy is working," she tells him.
The little boy has been waiting for his father to come home for more than three months. The last time he saw Victor Orellana, he was in handcuffs on his way to jail.
Orellana, 28, who was in the U.S. illegally, was deported to El Salvador in October, a month and a half after he was detained at his home in Henrico County by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
During the most recent fiscal year, 186,641 immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally were deported. Of those, 1,576 lived in Virginia and the nation's capital.
Marquez and her children are living the consequences of her husband's deportation, and she is not alone.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076978
Tacky christmas Lights Tour Map
Click here for an interactive map of the houses on the Tacky Christmas Lights tour. Scroll over the markers for hours, details and directions. Make sure Flash is enabled on your system to view the interactive map.
Need a Light? Try the Tacky christmas lights
You asked for it, Richmond, and we deliver. It’s the Times-Dispatch's 17th annual Tacky Christmas Lights Tour list. Still the cheapest date in town ... as long as you do the driving. Check out the new addresses added to the list.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/HTMLPage/RTD_HTMLPage&c=HTMLPage&cid=1031779455900
Michael Moore Today
How many more families have to go through this? It's time to quit and bring them home. Because they all know it's a senseless war. Our soldiers know they're there for a senseless reason. I don't care what anyone else says." -- Pamela Fiscus, mother of Sgt. Keith E. Fiscus, Killed Saturday in Iraq
Family Mourns Soldier's Death
6-ABC
December 7, 2006 - The mother of Sgt. Keith Fiscus of Townsend, Delaware talked to Action News Thursday about the loss of her son in Iraq.
A week ago Pamela Fiscus heard from her son Army Sgt. Keith Fiscus, who was doing a second tour in Baghdad. On Saturday she received the horrifying news that he'd been killed as a result of injuries sustained when a roadside bomb blew up near his vehicle.
His father has no words... the entire family is devastated and wants people to know what a fine, patriotic human being the 26-year-old soldier was.
Sgt. Fiscus was due to leave Iraq in February. His family has been told that Keith and a fellow soldier were on their way to clear a roadside bomb when their Humvee triggered another bomb.
With the political controversy more bitter than ever about President Bush's handling of the war, the Fiscus family has a message for the White House.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8589
"He kept telling me it was gonna be a safe mission." (VIDEO)
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/fiscusfamily.mov
'Breakfast with Dennis' ...in search of peace with Cindy Sheehan
Little did I know, as Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh) and I were driving through the streets of a Cleveland, Ohio, another American city that looks like it is preparing for the onslaught of a very cold winter on that gray morning, that he would be presenting me with a clear, reasonable, and obvious plan for bringing American troops out of what is rapidly becoming total anarchy in Iraq.
The previous evening, Dennis and I both spoke at the US Labor Against the War conference in Cleveland. During his impassioned speech (not too many people know that Dennis is an inspired orator, and each time I hear him speak, I feel like searching for the nearest baptismal font or river to be baptized for something, anything), Dennis hinted at what would be just the thing to give our troops a one way ticket home from the quicksands of Iraq.
Dennis gets the fact that Nov. 7th was a peaceful overthrow of war-time politics as usual. He realizes that America did not turn out in flocks to vote for the Democrats, because the Democrats have no clear, and yes, even, very confused platforms and polices, but Americans voted for a new direction in this country, especially a direction that leads us out of Iraq. Dennis gets it, but I am not sure too many more of our elected officials understand this concept. We voted against BushCo and their penchant for torture, murder, pandemonium, and anti-democracy posturing all over the world.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=785
Howard Zinn on the Colbert Report
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/index.jhtml
U.S. soldiers in Iraq welcome new plans
By Will Weissert / Associated Press
RAMADI, Iraq - American troops in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq welcomed plans for change Wednesday as the Pentagon prepared for a new chief and a bipartisan commission urged a new war strategy. But many of the soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment were skeptical they'll be going home anytime soon, despite a high-level U.S. panel's recommendation that most combat troops leave Iraq by early 2008.
"There's no way we're leaving in two years, no matter what any recommendation says," Spc. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster, Calif., said. He thought 2012 was more realistic.
Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic.
"It's just a study group. It's not really going to affect the president. I don't see any major changes happening until presidential elections start," Wiacik said. "I think both sides will promise to get troops out and give timelines then, but not before."
The U.S. Army troops, based in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, are still reeling from learning two months ago that their tour was being extended until at least February.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8580
Panel: Bush's Iraq policies have failed
By Anne Plummer Flaherty and David Espo / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush's war policies have failed in almost every regard, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded Wednesday, and it warned of dwindling chances to change course before crisis turns to chaos with dire implications for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.
Nearly four years, $400 billion and more than 2,900 U.S. deaths into a deeply unpopular war, violence is bad and getting worse, there is no guarantee of success and the consequences of failure are great, the high-level panel of five Republicans and five Democrats said in a bleak accounting of U.S. and Iraqi shortcomings.
It said the United States should find ways to pull back most of its combat forces by early 2008 and focus U.S. troops on training and supporting Iraqi units. The U.S. should also begin a "diplomatic offensive" by the end of the month and engage adversaries Iran and Syria in an effort to quell sectarian violence and shore up the fragile Iraqi government, the report said.
It followed by a day the sobering appraisal of Robert Gates, who was confirmed Wednesday as Bush's new Pentagon chief, that the United States is not winning in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8579
Cut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do
...a letter from Michael Moore
Friends,
Monday, November 27th, marked the day that we had been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II.
That's right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it's taken the world's only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.
And we haven't even done THAT. After 1,347 days, in the same time it took us to took us to sweep across North Africa, storm the beaches of Italy, conquer the South Pacific, and liberate all of Western Europe, we cannot, after over 3 and 1/2 years, even take over a single highway and protect ourselves from a homemade device of two tin cans placed in a pothole. No wonder the cab fare from the airport into Baghdad is now running around $35,000 for the 25-minute ride. And that doesn't even include a friggin' helmet.
Is this utter failure the fault of our troops? Hardly. That's because no amount of troops or choppers or democracy shot out of the barrel of a gun is ever going to "win" the war in Iraq. It is a lost war, lost because it never had a right to be won, lost because it was started by men who have never been to war, men who hide behind others sent to fight and die.
Let's listen to what the Iraqi people are saying, according to a recent poll conducted by the University of Maryland:
** 71% of all Iraqis now want the U.S. out of Iraq.
** 61% of all Iraqis SUPPORT insurgent attacks on U.S. troops.
Yes, the vast majority of Iraqi citizens believe that our soldiers should be killed and maimed! So what the hell are we still doing there? Talk about not getting the hint.
There are many ways to liberate a country. Usually the residents of that country rise up and liberate themselves. That's how we did it. You can also do it through nonviolent, mass civil disobedience. That's how India did it. You can get the world to boycott a regime until they are so ostracized they capitulate. That's how South Africa did it. Or you can just wait them out and, sooner or later, the king's legions simply leave (sometimes just because they're too cold). That's how Canada did it.
The one way that DOESN'T work is to invade a country and tell the people, "We are here to liberate you!" -- when they have done NOTHING to liberate themselves. Where were all the suicide bombers when Saddam was oppressing them? Where were the insurgents planting bombs along the roadside as the evildoer Saddam's convoy passed them by? I guess ol' Saddam was a cruel despot -- but not cruel enough for thousands to risk their necks. "Oh no, Mike, they couldn't do that! Saddam would have had them killed!" Really? You don't think King George had any of the colonial insurgents killed? You don't think Patrick Henry or Tom Paine were afraid? That didn't stop them. When tens of thousands aren't willing to shed their own blood to remove a dictator, that should be the first clue that they aren't going to be willing participants when you decide you're going to do the liberating for them.
A country can HELP another people overthrow a tyrant (that's what the French did for us in our revolution), but after you help them, you leave. Immediately. The French didn't stay and tell us how to set up our government. They didn't say, "we're not leaving because we want your natural resources." They left us to our own devices and it took us six years before we had an election. And then we had a bloody civil war. That's what happens, and history is full of these examples. The French didn't say, "Oh, we better stay in America, otherwise they're going to kill each other over that slavery issue!"
The only way a war of liberation has a chance of succeeding is if the oppressed people being liberated have their own citizens behind them -- and a group of Washingtons, Jeffersons, Franklins, Gandhis and Mandellas leading them. Where are these beacons of liberty in Iraq? This is a joke and it's been a joke since the beginning. Yes, the joke's been on us, but with 655,000 Iraqis now dead as a result of our invasion (source: Johns Hopkins University), I guess the cruel joke is on them. At least they've been liberated, permanently.
So I don't want to hear another word about sending more troops (wake up, America, John McCain is bonkers), or "redeploying" them, or waiting four months to begin the "phase-out." There is only one solution and it is this: Leave. Now. Start tonight. Get out of there as fast as we can. As much as people of good heart and conscience don't want to believe this, as much as it kills us to accept defeat, there is nothing we can do to undo the damage we have done. What's happened has happened. If you were to drive drunk down the road and you killed a child, there would be nothing you could do to bring that child back to life. If you invade and destroy a country, plunging it into a civil war, there isn’t much you can do ‘til the smoke settles and blood is mopped up. Then maybe you can atone for the atrocity you have committed and help the living come back to a better life.
The Soviet Union got out of Afghanistan in 36 weeks. They did so and suffered hardly any losses as they left. They realized the mistake they had made and removed their troops. A civil war ensued. The bad guys won. Later, we overthrew the bad guys and everybody lived happily ever after. See! It all works out in the end!
The responsibility to end this war now falls upon the Democrats. Congress controls the purse strings and the Constitution says only Congress can declare war. Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi now hold the power to put an end to this madness. Failure to do so will bring the wrath of the voters. We aren't kidding around, Democrats, and if you don't believe us, just go ahead and continue this war another month. We will fight you harder than we did the Republicans. The opening page of my website has a photo of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, each made up by a collage of photos of the American soldiers who have died in Bush's War. But it is now about to become the Bush/Democratic Party War unless swift action is taken.
This is what we demand:
1. Bring the troops home now. Not six months from now. NOW. Quit looking for a way to win. We can't win. We've lost. Sometimes you lose. This is one of those times. Be brave and admit it.
2. Apologize to our soldiers and make amends. Tell them we are sorry they were used to fight a war that had NOTHING to do with our national security. We must commit to taking care of them so that they suffer as little as possible. The mentally and physically maimed must get the best care and significant financial compensation. The families of the deceased deserve the biggest apology and they must be taken care of for the rest of their lives.
3. We must atone for the atrocity we have perpetuated on the people of Iraq. There are few evils worse than waging a war based on a lie, invading another country because you want what they have buried under the ground. Now many more will die. Their blood is on our hands, regardless for whom we voted. If you pay taxes, you have contributed to the three billion dollars a week now being spent to drive Iraq into the hellhole it's become. When the civil war is over, we will have to help rebuild Iraq. We can receive no redemption until we have atoned.
In closing, there is one final thing I know. We Americans are better than what has been done in our name. A majority of us were upset and angry after 9/11 and we lost our minds. We didn't think straight and we never looked at a map. Because we are kept stupid through our pathetic education system and our lazy media, we knew nothing of history. We didn't know that WE were the ones funding and arming Saddam for many years, including those when he massacred the Kurds. He was our guy. We didn't know what a Sunni or a Shiite was, never even heard the words. Eighty percent of our young adults (according to National Geographic) were not able to find Iraq on the map. Our leaders played off our stupidity, manipulated us with lies, and scared us to death.
But at our core we are a good people. We may be slow learners, but that "Mission Accomplished" banner struck us as odd, and soon we began to ask some questions. Then we began to get smart. By this past November 7th, we got mad and tried to right our wrongs. The majority now know the truth. The majority now feel a deep sadness and guilt and a hope that somehow we can make make it all right again.
Unfortunately, we can't. So we will accept the consequences of our actions and do our best to be there should the Iraqi people ever dare to seek our help in the future. We ask for their forgiveness.
We demand the Democrats listen to us and get out of Iraq now.
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.commmflint@aol.com
Click to download: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=202
Will It Work on the Battlefield?
By Michael R. Gordon / New York Times
The military recommendations issued yesterday by the Iraq Study Group are based more on hope than history and run counter to assessments made by some of its own military advisers.
Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States has struggled in vain to tamp down the violence in Iraq and to build up the capacity of Iraq’s security forces. Now the study group is positing that the United States can accomplish in little more than one year what it has failed to carry out in three.
In essence, the study group is projecting that a rapid infusion of American military trainers will so improve the Iraqi security forces that virtually all of the American combat brigades may be withdrawn by the early part of 2008.
“By the first quarter of 2008, subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq,” the study group says.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8586
Some study recommendations run counter to Iraq's political reality
By Nancy A. Youssef and Hannah Allam / McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The proposals made Wednesday by the Iraq Study Group would require many Iraqi politicians to abandon years of work and some of their most deeply held positions in an effort to bring an end to violence in the country.
Even then, success would be uncertain. Some of the group's recommendations already have been tried in Iraq, without positive results.
The U.S. already has spent billions trying to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, its ambassador has invested hours setting deadlines for the Iraqi government to take more control over its state and the militias are so emboldened that not even the top cleric here can rein them in.
Although the group's visits to Baghdad - exclusively in the heavily fortified Green Zone - were brief, the 142-page report's assessment of the situation here is sound. It correctly portrays the complexity of rivalries between Sunni and Shiite Muslims as well as among Shiites. It accurately pegs Iraq's security and economic difficulties and offers a refreshingly honest assessment of the country's army and police force.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8581
Panel: U.S. underreported Iraq violence
By Robert Burns / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - U.S. military and intelligence officials have systematically underreported the violence in Iraq in order to suit the Bush administration's policy goals, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group said.
In its report on ways to improve the U.S. approach to stabilizing Iraq, the group recommended Wednesday that the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense make changes in the collection of data about violence to provide a more accurate picture.
The panel pointed to one day last July when U.S. officials reported 93 attacks or significant acts of violence. "Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence," it said.
"The standard for recording attacks acts as a filter to keep events out of reports and databases." It said, for example, that a murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack, and a roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn't hurt U.S. personnel doesn't count, either. Also, if the source of a sectarian attack is not determined, that assault is not added to the database of violence incidents.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8588
Soldier killed in firefight, raising to 11 the number of Americans killed in a day
BAGHDAD (AP) — The toll in one of the U.S. military's deadliest days in Iraq rose to 11 when the military said Thursday that another soldier had died in fighting west of Baghdad.
At least seven Iraqis — six policemen and a 7-year-old girl — were killed in a series of bombings and shootings.
The U.S. soldier was shot Wednesday while manning a machine gun nest on the roof of an outpost in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the capital of the volatile Anbar province, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.
The death came on the same day that 10 other U.S. troops were killed in four separate incidents in Iraq, and a blue-ribbon panel in Washington recommended gradually shifting U.S. forces from a combat to a training role.
The military released details about five of the other troops killed on Wednesday, saying they were Task Force Lightning soldiers who were struck by a roadside bomb while conducting combat operations in the vicinity of the northern city of Kirkuk. The soldiers were assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8587
Birds Just Won't Listen to Military Noise-Maker
By James Barron / New York Times
Uncle Sam does not want the crowd that hangs out at the military recruiting center in Times Square. Nor does Uncle Sam believe that this crowd should be all it can be.
Morning after morning, hours after reveille, the crowd mills about aimlessly. It checks out the Paramount Building across the street. It enjoys a morning snack. It watches the traffic, and the people.
This crowd is a flock of pigeons. As the recruiters have discovered, these pigeons are nothing like old soldiers. They neither die nor fade away. They spend their days hunkered down on the roof of the recruiting center, despite the military’s efforts to drive them off.
Last month the contractor who maintains the little metal-and-glass building between 43rd and 44th Streets installed a noise-producing contraption that was supposed to shoo the pigeons away.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8583
Al Gore on Iraq: “This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States.”
By: John Amato on Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 at 10:57 AM - PST
Gore: Well, the report this morning is actually one of several studies. There's one in the Pentagon. There has reportedly been one in the White House itself is (garbled) up. They're all basically saying the same thing, Matt–this is an utter disaster. This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States and now we as a nation have to find a way, in George Mitchell’s words—"to manage a disaster." but—I would urge the president not to try to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for this mistake and instead recognize it’s not about him. It’s about our country and we all have to find a way to get our troops home and to prevent a regional conflagration there.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/12/06/al-gore-on-iraq-this-was-the-worst-strategic-mistake-in-the-entire-history-of-the-united-states/
Panel: Bush's Iraq policies have failed
By Anne Plummer Flaherty and David Espo / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush's war policies have failed in almost every regard, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded Wednesday, and it warned of dwindling chances to change course before crisis turns to chaos with dire implications for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.
Nearly four years, $400 billion and more than 2,900 U.S. deaths into a deeply unpopular war, violence is bad and getting worse, there is no guarantee of success and the consequences of failure are great, the high-level panel of five Republicans and five Democrats said in a bleak accounting of U.S. and Iraqi shortcomings.
It said the United States should find ways to pull back most of its combat forces by early 2008 and focus U.S. troops on training and supporting Iraqi units. The U.S. should also begin a "diplomatic offensive" by the end of the month and engage adversaries Iran and Syria in an effort to quell sectarian violence and shore up the fragile Iraqi government, the report said.
It followed by a day the sobering appraisal of Robert Gates, who was confirmed Wednesday as Bush's new Pentagon chief, that the United States is not winning in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8579
Bringing Bush the Bad News on Iraq
Analysis: The Iraq Study Group won't provide answers, but it will suggest that the Administration moderate its expectations in the Middle East
By Tony Karon / TIME
The American public has been promised many a "turning point" in Iraq, only for its hopes to be dashed: The transfer of authority to an appointed Iraqi government, then to an elected one; the constitutional referendum and then a second election; meetings between the President and Iraqi leaders, security sweeps by combined U.S.-Iraqi forces, and more — none have delivered on the promise of transforming a slow moving catastrophe into a triumph. And it may be precisely that history of disappointments that prompted the Iraq Study Group to carefully manage public expectations, to the point that the American public is well aware that the proposals it will present to President Bush on Wednesday will offer no quick fix to the crisis the U.S. faces in Iraq.
Indeed, the composition and process of the group led by former Secretary of State James Baker and — as Baker always hastens to point out, lest its bipartisan character be overlooked — former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton suggests that its primary purpose is to achieve in Washington that which remains elusive in Baghdad: a national consensus on the way forward. And it was that point that President Bush chose to emphasize in his own response, stressing that it provides a basis for seeking "common ground."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8576
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
The following document articulates the broad strategy the President set forth in 2003 and provides an update on our progress as well as the challenges remaining.
"The United States has no intention of determining the precise form of Iraq's new government. That choice belongs to the Iraqi people. Yet, we will ensure that one brutal dictator is not replaced by another. All Iraqis must have a voice in the new government, and all citizens must have their rights protected.
Rebuilding Iraq will require a sustained commitment from many nations, including our own: we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary, and not a day more."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/iraq_strategy_nov2005.html
Marine’s dad blasts handling of war
By Craig S. Semon / Worcester Telegram
STURBRIDGE, MA — John E. Booth is upset about the Iraq war, not just because he lost his son but because he feels the war is being mishandled.
His son, Marine 1st Lt. Joshua L. Booth, 23, of Sturbridge, a platoon leader in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Echo Company, was deployed in September to AnBar Province in Iraq. Before his deployment, he was stationed at the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. He was killed Oct. 17 by a sniper’s bullet in Haditha, Iraq.
Mr. Booth said he doesn’t solely blame the sniper for taking his son’s life, but also two key members in the Bush administration. He feels the hands of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld are stained with the blood of his son and other service men and women.
“While it was an American-hating, jihadist, Islamic-terrorist sniper that pulled the trigger that killed my son, it was the arrogant, spineless, cowardly policies of the Cheney-Rumsfeld team that set him up as an erect, immobile target,” Mr. Booth said. “I pray that we as a people do not so uselessly bleed our young dry ever again. As Gen. Douglas MacArthur once said, ‘Only the dead have seen the end of war, but when we commit our men to battle in war there is no substitute for victory.’ In this case, obviously, victory was never defined.”
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8574
Three universities await decision on Bush library
By Angela K. Brown / Associated Press
WACO, Texas - In the competition to lure the George W. Bush Presidential Library where global issues will be studied, Baylor University's international education programs make it the natural choice, a professor told a community group Wednesday.
"It's the right place at the right time for this to occur," William A. Mitchell, director of Baylor's Center for International Education, told the crowd of about 90. He was the fourth speaker in the Presidential Library Lecture Series, which began earlier this year in Waco.
While awaiting the decision, which could be announced as soon as year's end, Baylor continues plans for another speaker in the series. In contrast, the other two finalists, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas, have never publicly discussed their proposals or other aspects of trying to land the library.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8584
Casualties in Iraq
The Human Cost of Occupation
Edited by Michael Ewens :: Contact
American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 2921
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list) 2784
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 2455
Since Handover (6/29/04): 2055
Since Election (1/31/05): 1485
American Wounded 21778
In Combat with some returning to battle : 22000 – 100,000 (estimated)
URGENT FUNDRAISING APPEAL DECEMBER 2006
PLEASE SUPPORT US TO CONTINUE THE IRAQ BODY COUNT
The avalanche of deaths in Iraq grows ever greater
In January 2003 a small volunteer team started methodically counting all non-combatants reported killed in the invasion and military occupation of Iraq. Not even the most pessimistic of us predicted that nearly four years later we would still be adding the dead and injured to our database on a daily basis.
As the world knows, the violence now takes more innocent lives every day than at any time after May 2003. Media-reported incidents involving civilian casualties at a specific place and time now exceed 200 deaths on the worst days. Our workload has never been higher, and during the past year most of our resources have been put into streamlining our methods so that we can keep up with the escalating violence. While some official Iraqi agencies are now providing regular monthly totals, they do not capture the full details available through analysis of press and media reports. Our work humanises the total by collecting as much detail on each individual victim as possible. Some of this is published in our database. More (such as name, age, gender, occupation, marital status, and perpetrator) is being kept for when funds allow an upgrade of the publicly available data base.
Our work continues to ensure that civilian casualties in Iraq cannot be ignored or forgotten. Our continually updated and detailed information has become indispensable to individuals and organisations all over the world. Yet our work is threatened through lack of funds.
Since our last appeal, nearly a year ago, contributions have become few and far between. We are committed to continuing this work for as long as people are being killed in Iraq's post-invasion violence. But we need a matching commitment from those who make use of our data. If you come to this site regularly, please consider making a donation now, or next time you visit the site. Help us continue the work, and to improve and expand it.
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
Study Claims Iraq's 'Excess' Death Toll Has Reached 655,000
By David Brown / Washington Post
A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.
The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by other groups, including Iraq's government.
It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times the estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group.
The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media and civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq's mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8080
continued …
Hezbollah chief 'plotting coup'
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has accused the leader of the Hezbollah militant movement of plotting a coup.
He pointed to comments by Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah that the opposition would form an interim government without the existing administration.
Mr Siniora said these were tantamount to a plot to overthrow the government.
In another development, a Sunni preacher led thousands of Sunni and Shia anti-government protesters in a show of unity during Friday prayers.
The preacher, Fathi Yakan, praised the protesters for trying to stop what he called the American project in Lebanon - a reference to western support for Mr Siniora's government.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6162083.stm
Seoul charges North Korea 'spies'
South Korean prosecutors have indicted five people on charges of spying for North Korea.
Prosecutors say it is the biggest espionage case since the two neighbours began a process of reconciliation at a key summit in 2000.
The five include an American of Korean origin, Jang Min-ho, who is accused of recruiting the others and passing information to North Korea.
Pyongyang denounced the case as a "calculated plot" to smear North Korea.
Pro-Pyongyang image
Prosecutors in Seoul say Jang Min-ho set up the spy ring after visiting North Korea in 1989, and is alleged to have met North Korean agents at least seven times in China and Thailand.
He and the other four are accused of passing on "national secrets" such as US troop movements in South Korea and the personal details of hundreds of politicians.
"The suspects spied in an organised way after receiving instructions from North Korea," Ahn Chang-ho at Seoul's Central District Prosecutors' Office said.
"This is the biggest spy case" since the 2000 rapprochement, he added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6220316.stm
Fiji suspended from Commonwealth
The Commonwealth has suspended Fiji's membership in protest at the recent military coup, the fourth in 19 years.
The decision followed a meeting of foreign ministers from Commonwealth countries in London.
The coup, which saw military chief Cmdr Bainimarama oust PM Laisenia Qarase, has already been condemned by the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
It has also failed to win the backing of Fiji's influential Council of Chiefs and religious groups.
Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon announced the suspension after an emergency meeting of the Commonwealth's Ministerial Action Group.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6161587.stm
Malaria 'speeds spread of Aids'
There may be a link between malaria and the spread of the Aids virus across Africa, research by scientists working in Kenya suggests.
The study, published in the journal Science, says the way the two diseases interact can help them spread faster.
When people with Aids contract malaria, it causes a surge of HIV virus in their blood, making them more likely to infect a partner, the research says.
Meanwhile people weakened by HIV are more likely to catch malaria.
The diseases are two of the biggest killers in Africa.
Viral surge
Scientists studying the rapid spread of HIV-Aids in the city of Kisumu in Kenya found the spread of HIV was happening more quickly than they would expect just through risky sexual behaviour.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6220072.stm
Condoms 'too big' for Indian men
A survey of more than 1,000 men in India has concluded that condoms made according to international sizes are too large for a majority of Indian men.
The study found that more than half of the men measured had penises that were shorter than international standards for condoms.
It has led to a call for condoms to be provided in smaller sizes designed for Indian men.
The two-year study was carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Representative
Over 1,200 volunteers from the length and breadth of the country had their penises measured precisely, down to the last millimetre.
The scientists even checked their sample was representative of India as a whole in terms of class, religion and urban and rural dwellers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6161691.stm
St Paul's tomb unearthed in Rome
Archaeologists working for the Vatican have unearthed a sarcophagus containing what they believe are the remains of St Paul the Apostle.
The tomb dates back to at least AD390 and was found in a crypt under a basilica in Rome.
It has long been thought that the crypt contained the tomb of St Paul but the altar had hidden it.
St Paul was an influential early Christian who travelled widely in the Mediterranean area in the 1st Century.
Excavations at the site began in 2002 and were completed last month.
Ancient pilgrims
The basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls is the largest church in Rome after St Peter's.
For the past three years, archaeologists have been excavating underneath the altar to remove two huge slabs of marble and now, for the first time in almost 1,700 years, the sarcophagus of St Paul is on public view.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6219656.stm
Citizen journalism is gaining ground in dangerous places.
Last month the website Alive in Baghdad won a crop of "Vloggie" industry awards for showing the human face behind Iraq's daily toll of deaths and kidnappings. The site offers a series of short films documenting the lives of Iraqis in their own words.
These range from a piece on family men trying to protect their neighbourhood from death squads, to an interview with car bomb survivors. [Both are shown on this page.]
The founder of Alive in Baghdad is Brian Conley, a 26-year-old American journalist and film-maker.
He went to Baghdad and gave equipment and training to the small team of Iraqis who now produce a new short film every week.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/6195960.stm
Are firms ignoring their ethical responsibility?
Should firms take more of an ethical responsibility?Workers in Bangladesh get paid as little as five pence an hour making clothes for UK firms Asda, Primark and Tesco, a report says.Anti-poverty group War on Want is accusing the companies of exploiting the workers who often spend 80 hours a week in factories.All three businesses deny the allegations and stress that their suppliers are closely monitored and any abuse was unacceptable.
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=4923&&&edition=2&ttl=20061208151945
US adds more jobs than expected
The US economy beat forecasts by adding 132,000 jobs last month, but the unemployment rate rose to 4.5%, according to Labor Department figures.
November's extra 132,000 jobs was a marked improvement from the 79,000 new positions in October, and higher than market predictions of 110,000.
Although the unemployment rate edged up, it was still just above October's 4.4% five-year low.
Analysts said the data showed that the US economic slowdown remained mild.
'Strengthening economy'
"These numbers are very benign, and are definitely consistent with a soft-landing scenario," said economist Ned Riley, of Riley Asset Management.
Analysts said a main factor in the unemployment rate going up was thousands of jobseekers re-entering the labour market looking for work ahead of the key holiday season.
Overall the figures show that the US jobs market remains in good shape despite a definite slump in the housing sector and weak American car sales.
"The report is considerably stronger than expected," said Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research.
"There are several signs of strengthening economic activity."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6162127.stm
'Dirty War' extradition approved
A Uruguayan judge has approved the extradition to Argentina of six former military and police officers to face trial on human rights charges.
The men are accused of abducting for torture 11 Uruguayan dissidents in Argentina in the 1970s.
The kidnappings were part of South America's so-called Dirty War, in which military governments collaborated to persecute their opponents.
The six men, all currently in custody in Uruguay, deny the charges.
They have the right to appeal against the extradition order.
The judge, Juan Carlos Fernandez Lecchini, said the men would be extradited on the condition that they could not be condemned to serve life in prison, which is banned in Uruguay.
The abductions of which they are accused include the high-profile case of Maria Claudia Garcia, who was the daughter-in law of a famous Argentine poet, Juan Gelman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6161131.stm
US opens new Guantanamo camp jail
The US has begun moving terror suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay into a new $37m (£19m) maximum-security prison.
Forty-two prisoners were transferred from another high-security facility on the US naval base in eastern Cuba, the Associated Press reported.
The new 178-cell prison will allow commanders to close the wire-fence camp originally built for early detainees.
The US holds some 430 men at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of links to al-Qaeda or the Taleban, most without charge.
UN human rights investigators and foreign governments have called on the US government to close the entire detention centre.
But the new facility has been built to provide more permanent secure accommodation for those judged to be "enemy combatants" and detained by the US military.
Guard security
The new facility is designed to limit contact between detainees and reduce the risks of attacks on staff, AP reported.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6219942.stm
MPs warn over US fighter jet deal
The UK should not agree to a US deal to buy the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter unless the US releases details allowing independent operation, MPs have warned.
The defence committee said an assurance was needed from the US "by the end of the year" that all the technical information would be given to the UK.
The $276.5bn (£140bn) Anglo-US project will supply the armed forces of the US, Britain and several other countries.
Earlier this year, the government expressed concerns about the deal.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the world's most expensive military project, is expected to take to the skies for its maiden test flight next week.
'Plan B'
The US will account for the lion's share of the Lockheed Martin-designed plane, with 2,400 in service by 2027, while the UK is expected to take delivery of 138 fighters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6219122.stm
Canada upholds gay marriage law
Canadian MPs have rejected a proposal by the governing Conservative party to overturn a law allowing gay marriage.
Twelve Conservative MPs, including several members of the cabinet, joined Liberals and Canada's other opposition parties to defeat the motion 175-123.
During his successful election campaign earlier this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper promised to bring the law back before parliament.
Canada is one of just five countries where gay marriage is legal.
The law was passed after intense debate in July 2005.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6219914.stm
Bush 'must adopt all Iraq plan'
The main authors of the report that aims to change US strategy in Iraq have urged President George Bush to follow all of their recommendations.
Former Secretary of State James Baker said the 79 points they put forward were not a "fruit salad" to be picked over, but a comprehensive strategy.
Mr Bush has said that he would "seriously consider" the report.
However, he appears already to have ruled out some proposals, like talking unconditionally to Syria and Iran.
He also appeared to rule out the the phasing out of the US combat role in Iraq.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6220022.stm
US agrees on India nuclear bill
US Congress negotiators have agreed on a law which will allow the US to export civilian nuclear fuel to India.
The bill will still have to be approved by both houses of Congress. The House of Representatives is due to consider it on Friday.
The deal offers India US nuclear technology in exchange for inspectors' access to Indian civilian reactors.
The accord has been hailed as historic by some, but critics say it will damage non-proliferation efforts.
The exact details of the new law are not yet known.
'Compromise bill'
The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Washington says lawmakers have reportedly fine-tuned the language and softened certain conditions in the nuclear agreement in order to accommodate the Indian government's reservations about the deal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6219998.stm
Chavez in Argentina trade talks
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has arrived in Argentina for talks with President Nestor Kirchner.
Mr Chavez is expected to discuss Venezuela's integration into regional trading bloc Mercosur.
It is the latest stop in a regional tour for Mr Chavez following his sweeping re-election victory on Sunday.
He held talks on regional integration and joint energy projects in Brazil on Thursday and will attend a regional summit in Bolivia that starts Friday.
After his meeting with the left-leaning Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Mr Chavez said that "Venezuela wants to extend its arms to Brazil and South America".
'Decadent government'
The two presidents agreed to resume technical studies of a plan to build a 5,600 mile (9,000km) gas pipeline which would stretch from Venezuela to Argentina.
The project's critics say it will destroy Amazon rainforest and cost much more than estimated.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6219874.stm
US move sparks terrorism denial
Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay have denied terrorists are operating in the area where their borders meet, after a fresh anti-terror move by the US.
On Wednesday the US Treasury froze the assets of nine people and two companies alleged to have transferred millions of dollars through the "Triple Frontier".
The US said members of Hezbollah were engaged in illegal activites there.
But the South American nations said Washington had not provided any "new information" to support the claims.
The so-called Triple Frontier has a reputation as a centre for drug trafficking and money laundering.
The US Treasury alleged that those targeted by its sanctions had provided financial aid to a "specially designated global terrorist" named Assad Ahmad Barakat, who has been cited for his support of the Hezbollah leadership.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6218144.stm
US Democrats mull climate change
The issue of climate change and global warming hardly registered on the political radar in the United States during the recent Congressional elections.
On 7 November however, the Democratic Party secured both houses of Congress and that political shift is likely to mean a change of emphasis over key environmental issues.
The US is the world's largest greenhouse gas polluter but the country has refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol that sets limits on those gases.
Instead President George W Bush has emphasised the need for innovations that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
"America is addicted to oil," he said in this year's State of the Union address.
"Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy, the best way to break this addiction is through technology."
Democratic hope
Now that the Democratic Party has taken control of both houses of Congress there is hope amongst senior Democrats that they will be able convince the president that caps on greenhouse gases are needed as well.
"We have an opportunity to put an emphasis on issues of clean energy, renewable energy, global warming, climate change, in a way that wasn't possible during the last several years," says the incoming Democratic Party head of the Senate energy committee, Jeff Bingaman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6200748.stm
Flatulence leads US jet to divert
An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Nashville after passengers reported the smell of sulphur from burning matches.
The matches were found on the seat of a woman who had attempted to conceal the odour of flatulence with the matches, Nashville airport authorities said.
All 99 passengers and five crew left the plane while it was searched.
The woman was questioned by the FBI but released without charge and allowed to board another American Airlines flight.
"It was determined that she was trying to conceal body odour," said Lynne Lowrance of the Nashville Airport Authority.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6213644.stm?ls
Seminole tribe in Hard Rock deal
British entertainment company Rank Group has agreed to sell its Hard Rock Cafe chain to an American Indian tribe for $965m (£490m).
The business is being bought by the Seminole tribe of Florida, which already runs Hard Rock-branded hotels and casinos in Tampa and Hollywood.
The Hard Rock business made a pre-tax profit of £35m in 2005 and has 132 outlets worldwide.
Rank will now focus on online and phone betting, casinos and bingo clubs.
It has sold off a number of leisure businesses in recent years, including Butlin's, Warner Holidays, Odeon Cinemas, Pinewood Studios and pub chain Tom Cobleigh.
No surrender
Rank said it would pass £350m of the sale proceeds to shareholders via a special dividend.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6216292.stm
Challenging times for Mexico's new leader
As Mexico prepares for the presidential inauguration of Felipe Calderon on 1 December, the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Mexico City reports on the challenges the conservative politician faces.
Over the din of Mexico City's incessant traffic there is another, more alluring, noise. It is the haunting sound of whistles and you can hear them everywhere.
They come from the city's knife sharpeners. They whistle, you bring out your knives. Porfillo Martinez is one of them. His multi-tonal whistle is audible from several blocks away. Porfillo has been putting exquisitely sharp edges to the blades of the capital's cutlery for 27 years.
He has attached a circular grinding stone to the back of his bicycle. He props his bike onto its stand and then, using the pedals, he spins the stone and applies the edge of the knife. As he does it, he talks politics - presidential politics.
"I'm just not sure about Felipe Calderon," he says.
"I don't think he's for Mexico's poor people who worry about the price of milk and petrol," says Porfillo, who earns less than US$10 (£5) a day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6158945.stm
I had said this from the beginning. The exploitation of a mine for all possible money lead to negligence of the very HUMAN BEINGS that would bring the coal to the surface. The apparatus to capture gases from the ground for market came before the lives of the people that worked there. The gas extraction apparatus acted as a lightning rod to ‘ground.’ The ‘ground’ in this case was the inside of the mine where dust and gas ignited and caused an explosion that would trap twelve men for longer than their oxygen supply provided. Not surprised, just disgusted.
Richmond Times Dispatch
Lightning blamed for Sago blast
The Associated Press
Dec 8, 2006
FAIRMONT, W.Va. - State investigators have determined that a lightning strike sparked the methane gas explosion deep inside the Sago Mine, where 12 coal miners died in January, a union official said.
Lightning had been suspected from the beginning, and a state investigation ruled out other causes for the explosion, said Dennis O'Dell, the labor union's health and safety coordinator.
One miner was killed by the Jan. 2 blast, and 12 others were trapped underground for 41 hours. When rescuers reached them, only one man was alive.
The state Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Training plans to release its report on the Sago Mine disaster on Monday, but office director Ron Wooten spoke about the report's conclusions last week to several members of the United Mine Workers, O'Dell said.
Gov. Joe Manchin III plans to brief the families of the dead miners before the release of the report.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076929
Lightning not ruled out as Sago probe continues
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Investigators are still considering whether lightning played a role in the Jan. 2 explosion at Upshur County's Sago Mine that left 12 miners dead and another with carbon monoxide poisoning, state legislators learned at a Thursday briefing.
The ongoing probe is also checking whether the mine's underground rail line conducted an electrical charge, said J. Davitt McAteer, who was appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin to oversee the state's investigation of the Sago disaster.
Federal scientists, meanwhile, are testing dense, 40-inch-thick foam blocks like those used to seal off an abandoned part of the Sago Mine. Because several of those seals were destroyed, investigators have not ruled out that the explosion occurred in the sealed section.
Given these and other questions, McAteer said some of the Sago widows asked Wednesday for a delay to the scheduled March 14 public hearing on the deadly accident.
"I think that's a fair call," McAteer told the half-dozen lawmakers assembled for the briefing. "We will have some answers, but we won't have them all."
http://www.potomacnews.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WPN/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834333406
Letters to the Editor
News Virginian
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Bush cutbacks to mining regulators are time bombs, just like Sago
I am writing to focus on the mining disaster that occurred in nearby West Virginia at the Sago mine.
So much coverage on TV was about the fact that the men were reported to be alive when actually they were dead. There was a mistake made. But let’s look at why this happened in the first place.
The fault for this disaster lies squarely on the Bush administration. More than 170 positions in the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) have been eliminated since Bush took office in 2001.
http://www.newsvirginian.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNV/MGArticle/WNV_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128769241738
Allen: Bid didn't focus on issues, his record
WASHINGTON -- Sen. George Allen is taking the lion's share of the blame for his razor-thin election loss that helped turn over control of the Senate to Democrats.
His re-election campaign didn't focus enough on issues and his record, unlike his bids for governor in 1993 and for the Senate in 2000, the Virginia Republican said yesterday.
Allen said he has been approached with exciting job options in the private sector that he will look at more closely in January. He added that he has made no decision about a possible comeback try for the governorship of Virginia. "This campaign, I wish I had done better, our campaign had done better, in making sure the campaign was focused for the voters on issues, ideas, and my record of performance," Allen said.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077164
Allen spent twice as much in loss
But Webb, the winner in Senate race, benefited from a late surge in donations
Outgoing U.S. Sen. George Allen spent twice as much money as Democrat Jim Webb in his losing bid for re-election.
However, Webb raised more than double the amount of his Republican rival in the final push of one of the nation's fiercest races, according to federal election reports due yesterday.
Allen, a first-term incumbent, spent just more than $16 million, while Webb spent about $8 million and won by 9,329 votes out of nearly 2.4 million cast.
Webb brought in more than $2.4 million between Oct. 19 and Nov. 27, according to the reports. Allen generated just more than $1.1 million during that period.
During the closing weeks of the bitter contest, Webb spent about $4 million mostly on television advertising -- while the Allen campaign plunked down more than $3.2 million. Each side reported a small amount of leftover cash -- $205,000 for Webb, almost $176,000 for Allen.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077868
Yamin's new smile gets him in People
Elliott Yamin has a new reason to smile - $50,000 in dental work.
His new smile, courtesy of Beverly Hills dentist David Frey, puts him on the cover of the Dec. 18 issue of People, right below the "Jen and Vince Split" and "Eva & Tony Surprise Engagement" stories.
Inside are two full pages of before and after pictures of Yamin, Richmond's contribution to this year's "American Idol" competition. Yamin, talking about his new look, was also interviewed on Wednesday's edition of "Extra."
Over his three months in the spotlight on "Idol," where he finished third, the singer earned much praise for his natural talent - but also the suggestion that he could use a makeover, especially when it came to his crooked teeth.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192073368
Three Va. gun shops named in NYC suit
Out-of-state effort to control crime again targets illegal firearm sales
BY REX BOWMAN
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
New York City is trying to curb its violent crime by once again going after gun dealers in other states, including Virginia.
New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced yesterday that the city has filed suit against 12 gun dealers in five states -- including three gun shops in Virginia -- in an effort to stem the flow of illegally purchased guns into the city.
Bloomberg filed a similar suit in May against 15 gun dealers in the five states -- Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and South Carolina -- alleging that they illegally sold guns that ended up in the hands of people who committed violent crimes in New York.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077877&path=%21news&s=1045855934842
Henricus stands in for Jamestown as 'Nova' unravels Pocahontas legend
Another costly dirt delay," joked a crew member while filming halted, ever so briefly, on "Pocahontas Lived Here."
Dirt was applied to the back of an actor's legs - this was supposed to be a group of early Jamestown settlers scrambling to survive - and Captain John Smith continued his harangue of idlers.
The setting for this future episode of PBS' "Nova" wasn't Jamestown but Henricus Historical Park, a re-creation of the 1611 Citie of Henricus located 20 miles south of Richmond near Dutch Gap.
"We're very compact," explained Pete McKee, site manager and acting director of Henricus. With its partially recreated English settlement and American Indian encampment, "we're Jamestown without the crowds."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192073231&path=%21flair&s=1045855936229
FEMA denies housing money to Battery Park residents
Richmond sought to recoup cost to house victims of flooding
BY MICHAEL MARTZ
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied a request by Richmond to reimburse more than $198,000 that the city spent to house people in hotels and apartments after their North Side neighborhoods were flooded Sept. 1.
The costs were part of more than $42 million in public assistance that Richmond had sought under the disaster declaration issued by President Bush in late September, but FEMA determined the housing expenses weren't eligible for reimbursement under the program.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192075686&path=%21news&s=1045855934842
Agassi, Graf return to serve
Genworth Classic features couple along with Davenport, Blake
Richmond Times-Dispatch
When the husband and wife team of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf played mixed doubles together last year in the Genworth Children's Advantage Classic, it marked the first time they had tried to mesh on the court.
That's not always an easy task for spouses, especially when each of them was the best in the business during their pro careers.
"Yeah, it was the first fight we'd ever been in, too," Agassi said, chuckling. "She looked at me a little sideways when I missed a volley, but other than that, it was fine."
Graf and Agassi edged Anna Kournikova and Andy Roddick 8-7 a year ago and will team up again tonight against Lindsay Davenport and James Blake in an eight-game pro set to kick off the second annual exhibition at Virginia Commonwealth University's Siegel Center. The match begins at 7:30 p.m.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192077375
Closure of Ford plant explained
Many factors worked against Norfolk site, executive tells group
Ford Motor Co.'s Norfolk truck-assembly plant fell victim to forces beyond the control of state and local officials and its employees, a company executive said yesterday in Richmond.
Joseph R. Hinrichs, Ford's vice president, North America manufacturing, said the deci- sion to close the plant was one of the toughest that executives have made as part of a restructuring aimed at returning the automobile maker to profitability.
The 82-year-old factory, which employs 2,400 people, is one of the company's best-performing plants, Hinrichs said. "Unfortunately, it had a lot of things working against it," he said, speaking at a Virginia Chamber of Commerce event.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076869
Nintendo investigating Wii strap problem
Some players report damage from remote coming out of hands
The Associated Press
TOKYO -- The maker of the Wii video-game console said yesterday that it is investigating reports of problems with a strap that secures the machines' remote-controller to the player's wrist.
Players hold the Wii's wandlike remote to mimic the motions of a tennis racket, golf club or sword, depending on the game.
At least two Web sites have been set up to collect photos that purportedly show damage such as broken glass and TVs resulting from the strap coming off players as they swung around the controller, at times causing the remote to fly out of their hands.
"Some people are getting a lot more excited than we'd expected," Nintendo Co. President Satoru Iwata said. "We need to better communicate to people how to deal with Wii as a new form of entertainment."
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076903
Deportation: Families ripped apart
Whenever someone knocks on the door, Beatriz Marquez's 2½- year- old son gets excited.
"Daddy coming?" Anthony asks repeatedly in Spanish. "No, Daddy is working," she tells him.
The little boy has been waiting for his father to come home for more than three months. The last time he saw Victor Orellana, he was in handcuffs on his way to jail.
Orellana, 28, who was in the U.S. illegally, was deported to El Salvador in October, a month and a half after he was detained at his home in Henrico County by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
During the most recent fiscal year, 186,641 immigrants who were in the U.S. illegally were deported. Of those, 1,576 lived in Virginia and the nation's capital.
Marquez and her children are living the consequences of her husband's deportation, and she is not alone.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192076978
Tacky christmas Lights Tour Map
Click here for an interactive map of the houses on the Tacky Christmas Lights tour. Scroll over the markers for hours, details and directions. Make sure Flash is enabled on your system to view the interactive map.
Need a Light? Try the Tacky christmas lights
You asked for it, Richmond, and we deliver. It’s the Times-Dispatch's 17th annual Tacky Christmas Lights Tour list. Still the cheapest date in town ... as long as you do the driving. Check out the new addresses added to the list.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/HTMLPage/RTD_HTMLPage&c=HTMLPage&cid=1031779455900
Michael Moore Today
How many more families have to go through this? It's time to quit and bring them home. Because they all know it's a senseless war. Our soldiers know they're there for a senseless reason. I don't care what anyone else says." -- Pamela Fiscus, mother of Sgt. Keith E. Fiscus, Killed Saturday in Iraq
Family Mourns Soldier's Death
6-ABC
December 7, 2006 - The mother of Sgt. Keith Fiscus of Townsend, Delaware talked to Action News Thursday about the loss of her son in Iraq.
A week ago Pamela Fiscus heard from her son Army Sgt. Keith Fiscus, who was doing a second tour in Baghdad. On Saturday she received the horrifying news that he'd been killed as a result of injuries sustained when a roadside bomb blew up near his vehicle.
His father has no words... the entire family is devastated and wants people to know what a fine, patriotic human being the 26-year-old soldier was.
Sgt. Fiscus was due to leave Iraq in February. His family has been told that Keith and a fellow soldier were on their way to clear a roadside bomb when their Humvee triggered another bomb.
With the political controversy more bitter than ever about President Bush's handling of the war, the Fiscus family has a message for the White House.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8589
"He kept telling me it was gonna be a safe mission." (VIDEO)
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/splash/fiscusfamily.mov
'Breakfast with Dennis' ...in search of peace with Cindy Sheehan
Little did I know, as Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh) and I were driving through the streets of a Cleveland, Ohio, another American city that looks like it is preparing for the onslaught of a very cold winter on that gray morning, that he would be presenting me with a clear, reasonable, and obvious plan for bringing American troops out of what is rapidly becoming total anarchy in Iraq.
The previous evening, Dennis and I both spoke at the US Labor Against the War conference in Cleveland. During his impassioned speech (not too many people know that Dennis is an inspired orator, and each time I hear him speak, I feel like searching for the nearest baptismal font or river to be baptized for something, anything), Dennis hinted at what would be just the thing to give our troops a one way ticket home from the quicksands of Iraq.
Dennis gets the fact that Nov. 7th was a peaceful overthrow of war-time politics as usual. He realizes that America did not turn out in flocks to vote for the Democrats, because the Democrats have no clear, and yes, even, very confused platforms and polices, but Americans voted for a new direction in this country, especially a direction that leads us out of Iraq. Dennis gets it, but I am not sure too many more of our elected officials understand this concept. We voted against BushCo and their penchant for torture, murder, pandemonium, and anti-democracy posturing all over the world.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=785
Howard Zinn on the Colbert Report
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/index.jhtml
U.S. soldiers in Iraq welcome new plans
By Will Weissert / Associated Press
RAMADI, Iraq - American troops in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq welcomed plans for change Wednesday as the Pentagon prepared for a new chief and a bipartisan commission urged a new war strategy. But many of the soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment were skeptical they'll be going home anytime soon, despite a high-level U.S. panel's recommendation that most combat troops leave Iraq by early 2008.
"There's no way we're leaving in two years, no matter what any recommendation says," Spc. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster, Calif., said. He thought 2012 was more realistic.
Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic.
"It's just a study group. It's not really going to affect the president. I don't see any major changes happening until presidential elections start," Wiacik said. "I think both sides will promise to get troops out and give timelines then, but not before."
The U.S. Army troops, based in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, are still reeling from learning two months ago that their tour was being extended until at least February.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8580
Panel: Bush's Iraq policies have failed
By Anne Plummer Flaherty and David Espo / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush's war policies have failed in almost every regard, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded Wednesday, and it warned of dwindling chances to change course before crisis turns to chaos with dire implications for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.
Nearly four years, $400 billion and more than 2,900 U.S. deaths into a deeply unpopular war, violence is bad and getting worse, there is no guarantee of success and the consequences of failure are great, the high-level panel of five Republicans and five Democrats said in a bleak accounting of U.S. and Iraqi shortcomings.
It said the United States should find ways to pull back most of its combat forces by early 2008 and focus U.S. troops on training and supporting Iraqi units. The U.S. should also begin a "diplomatic offensive" by the end of the month and engage adversaries Iran and Syria in an effort to quell sectarian violence and shore up the fragile Iraqi government, the report said.
It followed by a day the sobering appraisal of Robert Gates, who was confirmed Wednesday as Bush's new Pentagon chief, that the United States is not winning in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8579
Cut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do
...a letter from Michael Moore
Friends,
Monday, November 27th, marked the day that we had been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II.
That's right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it's taken the world's only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.
And we haven't even done THAT. After 1,347 days, in the same time it took us to took us to sweep across North Africa, storm the beaches of Italy, conquer the South Pacific, and liberate all of Western Europe, we cannot, after over 3 and 1/2 years, even take over a single highway and protect ourselves from a homemade device of two tin cans placed in a pothole. No wonder the cab fare from the airport into Baghdad is now running around $35,000 for the 25-minute ride. And that doesn't even include a friggin' helmet.
Is this utter failure the fault of our troops? Hardly. That's because no amount of troops or choppers or democracy shot out of the barrel of a gun is ever going to "win" the war in Iraq. It is a lost war, lost because it never had a right to be won, lost because it was started by men who have never been to war, men who hide behind others sent to fight and die.
Let's listen to what the Iraqi people are saying, according to a recent poll conducted by the University of Maryland:
** 71% of all Iraqis now want the U.S. out of Iraq.
** 61% of all Iraqis SUPPORT insurgent attacks on U.S. troops.
Yes, the vast majority of Iraqi citizens believe that our soldiers should be killed and maimed! So what the hell are we still doing there? Talk about not getting the hint.
There are many ways to liberate a country. Usually the residents of that country rise up and liberate themselves. That's how we did it. You can also do it through nonviolent, mass civil disobedience. That's how India did it. You can get the world to boycott a regime until they are so ostracized they capitulate. That's how South Africa did it. Or you can just wait them out and, sooner or later, the king's legions simply leave (sometimes just because they're too cold). That's how Canada did it.
The one way that DOESN'T work is to invade a country and tell the people, "We are here to liberate you!" -- when they have done NOTHING to liberate themselves. Where were all the suicide bombers when Saddam was oppressing them? Where were the insurgents planting bombs along the roadside as the evildoer Saddam's convoy passed them by? I guess ol' Saddam was a cruel despot -- but not cruel enough for thousands to risk their necks. "Oh no, Mike, they couldn't do that! Saddam would have had them killed!" Really? You don't think King George had any of the colonial insurgents killed? You don't think Patrick Henry or Tom Paine were afraid? That didn't stop them. When tens of thousands aren't willing to shed their own blood to remove a dictator, that should be the first clue that they aren't going to be willing participants when you decide you're going to do the liberating for them.
A country can HELP another people overthrow a tyrant (that's what the French did for us in our revolution), but after you help them, you leave. Immediately. The French didn't stay and tell us how to set up our government. They didn't say, "we're not leaving because we want your natural resources." They left us to our own devices and it took us six years before we had an election. And then we had a bloody civil war. That's what happens, and history is full of these examples. The French didn't say, "Oh, we better stay in America, otherwise they're going to kill each other over that slavery issue!"
The only way a war of liberation has a chance of succeeding is if the oppressed people being liberated have their own citizens behind them -- and a group of Washingtons, Jeffersons, Franklins, Gandhis and Mandellas leading them. Where are these beacons of liberty in Iraq? This is a joke and it's been a joke since the beginning. Yes, the joke's been on us, but with 655,000 Iraqis now dead as a result of our invasion (source: Johns Hopkins University), I guess the cruel joke is on them. At least they've been liberated, permanently.
So I don't want to hear another word about sending more troops (wake up, America, John McCain is bonkers), or "redeploying" them, or waiting four months to begin the "phase-out." There is only one solution and it is this: Leave. Now. Start tonight. Get out of there as fast as we can. As much as people of good heart and conscience don't want to believe this, as much as it kills us to accept defeat, there is nothing we can do to undo the damage we have done. What's happened has happened. If you were to drive drunk down the road and you killed a child, there would be nothing you could do to bring that child back to life. If you invade and destroy a country, plunging it into a civil war, there isn’t much you can do ‘til the smoke settles and blood is mopped up. Then maybe you can atone for the atrocity you have committed and help the living come back to a better life.
The Soviet Union got out of Afghanistan in 36 weeks. They did so and suffered hardly any losses as they left. They realized the mistake they had made and removed their troops. A civil war ensued. The bad guys won. Later, we overthrew the bad guys and everybody lived happily ever after. See! It all works out in the end!
The responsibility to end this war now falls upon the Democrats. Congress controls the purse strings and the Constitution says only Congress can declare war. Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi now hold the power to put an end to this madness. Failure to do so will bring the wrath of the voters. We aren't kidding around, Democrats, and if you don't believe us, just go ahead and continue this war another month. We will fight you harder than we did the Republicans. The opening page of my website has a photo of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, each made up by a collage of photos of the American soldiers who have died in Bush's War. But it is now about to become the Bush/Democratic Party War unless swift action is taken.
This is what we demand:
1. Bring the troops home now. Not six months from now. NOW. Quit looking for a way to win. We can't win. We've lost. Sometimes you lose. This is one of those times. Be brave and admit it.
2. Apologize to our soldiers and make amends. Tell them we are sorry they were used to fight a war that had NOTHING to do with our national security. We must commit to taking care of them so that they suffer as little as possible. The mentally and physically maimed must get the best care and significant financial compensation. The families of the deceased deserve the biggest apology and they must be taken care of for the rest of their lives.
3. We must atone for the atrocity we have perpetuated on the people of Iraq. There are few evils worse than waging a war based on a lie, invading another country because you want what they have buried under the ground. Now many more will die. Their blood is on our hands, regardless for whom we voted. If you pay taxes, you have contributed to the three billion dollars a week now being spent to drive Iraq into the hellhole it's become. When the civil war is over, we will have to help rebuild Iraq. We can receive no redemption until we have atoned.
In closing, there is one final thing I know. We Americans are better than what has been done in our name. A majority of us were upset and angry after 9/11 and we lost our minds. We didn't think straight and we never looked at a map. Because we are kept stupid through our pathetic education system and our lazy media, we knew nothing of history. We didn't know that WE were the ones funding and arming Saddam for many years, including those when he massacred the Kurds. He was our guy. We didn't know what a Sunni or a Shiite was, never even heard the words. Eighty percent of our young adults (according to National Geographic) were not able to find Iraq on the map. Our leaders played off our stupidity, manipulated us with lies, and scared us to death.
But at our core we are a good people. We may be slow learners, but that "Mission Accomplished" banner struck us as odd, and soon we began to ask some questions. Then we began to get smart. By this past November 7th, we got mad and tried to right our wrongs. The majority now know the truth. The majority now feel a deep sadness and guilt and a hope that somehow we can make make it all right again.
Unfortunately, we can't. So we will accept the consequences of our actions and do our best to be there should the Iraqi people ever dare to seek our help in the future. We ask for their forgiveness.
We demand the Democrats listen to us and get out of Iraq now.
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.commmflint@aol.com
Click to download: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=202
Will It Work on the Battlefield?
By Michael R. Gordon / New York Times
The military recommendations issued yesterday by the Iraq Study Group are based more on hope than history and run counter to assessments made by some of its own military advisers.
Ever since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the United States has struggled in vain to tamp down the violence in Iraq and to build up the capacity of Iraq’s security forces. Now the study group is positing that the United States can accomplish in little more than one year what it has failed to carry out in three.
In essence, the study group is projecting that a rapid infusion of American military trainers will so improve the Iraqi security forces that virtually all of the American combat brigades may be withdrawn by the early part of 2008.
“By the first quarter of 2008, subject to unexpected developments in the security situation on the ground, all combat brigades not necessary for force protection could be out of Iraq,” the study group says.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8586
Some study recommendations run counter to Iraq's political reality
By Nancy A. Youssef and Hannah Allam / McClatchy Newspapers
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The proposals made Wednesday by the Iraq Study Group would require many Iraqi politicians to abandon years of work and some of their most deeply held positions in an effort to bring an end to violence in the country.
Even then, success would be uncertain. Some of the group's recommendations already have been tried in Iraq, without positive results.
The U.S. already has spent billions trying to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure, its ambassador has invested hours setting deadlines for the Iraqi government to take more control over its state and the militias are so emboldened that not even the top cleric here can rein them in.
Although the group's visits to Baghdad - exclusively in the heavily fortified Green Zone - were brief, the 142-page report's assessment of the situation here is sound. It correctly portrays the complexity of rivalries between Sunni and Shiite Muslims as well as among Shiites. It accurately pegs Iraq's security and economic difficulties and offers a refreshingly honest assessment of the country's army and police force.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8581
Panel: U.S. underreported Iraq violence
By Robert Burns / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - U.S. military and intelligence officials have systematically underreported the violence in Iraq in order to suit the Bush administration's policy goals, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group said.
In its report on ways to improve the U.S. approach to stabilizing Iraq, the group recommended Wednesday that the director of national intelligence and the secretary of defense make changes in the collection of data about violence to provide a more accurate picture.
The panel pointed to one day last July when U.S. officials reported 93 attacks or significant acts of violence. "Yet a careful review of the reports for that single day brought to light 1,100 acts of violence," it said.
"The standard for recording attacks acts as a filter to keep events out of reports and databases." It said, for example, that a murder of an Iraqi is not necessarily counted as an attack, and a roadside bomb or a rocket or mortar attack that doesn't hurt U.S. personnel doesn't count, either. Also, if the source of a sectarian attack is not determined, that assault is not added to the database of violence incidents.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8588
Soldier killed in firefight, raising to 11 the number of Americans killed in a day
BAGHDAD (AP) — The toll in one of the U.S. military's deadliest days in Iraq rose to 11 when the military said Thursday that another soldier had died in fighting west of Baghdad.
At least seven Iraqis — six policemen and a 7-year-old girl — were killed in a series of bombings and shootings.
The U.S. soldier was shot Wednesday while manning a machine gun nest on the roof of an outpost in Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the capital of the volatile Anbar province, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.
The death came on the same day that 10 other U.S. troops were killed in four separate incidents in Iraq, and a blue-ribbon panel in Washington recommended gradually shifting U.S. forces from a combat to a training role.
The military released details about five of the other troops killed on Wednesday, saying they were Task Force Lightning soldiers who were struck by a roadside bomb while conducting combat operations in the vicinity of the northern city of Kirkuk. The soldiers were assigned to 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8587
Birds Just Won't Listen to Military Noise-Maker
By James Barron / New York Times
Uncle Sam does not want the crowd that hangs out at the military recruiting center in Times Square. Nor does Uncle Sam believe that this crowd should be all it can be.
Morning after morning, hours after reveille, the crowd mills about aimlessly. It checks out the Paramount Building across the street. It enjoys a morning snack. It watches the traffic, and the people.
This crowd is a flock of pigeons. As the recruiters have discovered, these pigeons are nothing like old soldiers. They neither die nor fade away. They spend their days hunkered down on the roof of the recruiting center, despite the military’s efforts to drive them off.
Last month the contractor who maintains the little metal-and-glass building between 43rd and 44th Streets installed a noise-producing contraption that was supposed to shoo the pigeons away.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8583
Al Gore on Iraq: “This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States.”
By: John Amato on Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 at 10:57 AM - PST
Gore: Well, the report this morning is actually one of several studies. There's one in the Pentagon. There has reportedly been one in the White House itself is (garbled) up. They're all basically saying the same thing, Matt–this is an utter disaster. This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States and now we as a nation have to find a way, in George Mitchell’s words—"to manage a disaster." but—I would urge the president not to try to separate out the personal issues of being blamed in history for this mistake and instead recognize it’s not about him. It’s about our country and we all have to find a way to get our troops home and to prevent a regional conflagration there.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/12/06/al-gore-on-iraq-this-was-the-worst-strategic-mistake-in-the-entire-history-of-the-united-states/
Panel: Bush's Iraq policies have failed
By Anne Plummer Flaherty and David Espo / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - President Bush's war policies have failed in almost every regard, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group concluded Wednesday, and it warned of dwindling chances to change course before crisis turns to chaos with dire implications for terrorism, war in the Middle East and higher oil prices around the world.
Nearly four years, $400 billion and more than 2,900 U.S. deaths into a deeply unpopular war, violence is bad and getting worse, there is no guarantee of success and the consequences of failure are great, the high-level panel of five Republicans and five Democrats said in a bleak accounting of U.S. and Iraqi shortcomings.
It said the United States should find ways to pull back most of its combat forces by early 2008 and focus U.S. troops on training and supporting Iraqi units. The U.S. should also begin a "diplomatic offensive" by the end of the month and engage adversaries Iran and Syria in an effort to quell sectarian violence and shore up the fragile Iraqi government, the report said.
It followed by a day the sobering appraisal of Robert Gates, who was confirmed Wednesday as Bush's new Pentagon chief, that the United States is not winning in Iraq.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8579
Bringing Bush the Bad News on Iraq
Analysis: The Iraq Study Group won't provide answers, but it will suggest that the Administration moderate its expectations in the Middle East
By Tony Karon / TIME
The American public has been promised many a "turning point" in Iraq, only for its hopes to be dashed: The transfer of authority to an appointed Iraqi government, then to an elected one; the constitutional referendum and then a second election; meetings between the President and Iraqi leaders, security sweeps by combined U.S.-Iraqi forces, and more — none have delivered on the promise of transforming a slow moving catastrophe into a triumph. And it may be precisely that history of disappointments that prompted the Iraq Study Group to carefully manage public expectations, to the point that the American public is well aware that the proposals it will present to President Bush on Wednesday will offer no quick fix to the crisis the U.S. faces in Iraq.
Indeed, the composition and process of the group led by former Secretary of State James Baker and — as Baker always hastens to point out, lest its bipartisan character be overlooked — former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton suggests that its primary purpose is to achieve in Washington that which remains elusive in Baghdad: a national consensus on the way forward. And it was that point that President Bush chose to emphasize in his own response, stressing that it provides a basis for seeking "common ground."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8576
National Strategy for Victory in Iraq
The following document articulates the broad strategy the President set forth in 2003 and provides an update on our progress as well as the challenges remaining.
"The United States has no intention of determining the precise form of Iraq's new government. That choice belongs to the Iraqi people. Yet, we will ensure that one brutal dictator is not replaced by another. All Iraqis must have a voice in the new government, and all citizens must have their rights protected.
Rebuilding Iraq will require a sustained commitment from many nations, including our own: we will remain in Iraq as long as necessary, and not a day more."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/iraq/iraq_strategy_nov2005.html
Marine’s dad blasts handling of war
By Craig S. Semon / Worcester Telegram
STURBRIDGE, MA — John E. Booth is upset about the Iraq war, not just because he lost his son but because he feels the war is being mishandled.
His son, Marine 1st Lt. Joshua L. Booth, 23, of Sturbridge, a platoon leader in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Echo Company, was deployed in September to AnBar Province in Iraq. Before his deployment, he was stationed at the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. He was killed Oct. 17 by a sniper’s bullet in Haditha, Iraq.
Mr. Booth said he doesn’t solely blame the sniper for taking his son’s life, but also two key members in the Bush administration. He feels the hands of Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld are stained with the blood of his son and other service men and women.
“While it was an American-hating, jihadist, Islamic-terrorist sniper that pulled the trigger that killed my son, it was the arrogant, spineless, cowardly policies of the Cheney-Rumsfeld team that set him up as an erect, immobile target,” Mr. Booth said. “I pray that we as a people do not so uselessly bleed our young dry ever again. As Gen. Douglas MacArthur once said, ‘Only the dead have seen the end of war, but when we commit our men to battle in war there is no substitute for victory.’ In this case, obviously, victory was never defined.”
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8574
Three universities await decision on Bush library
By Angela K. Brown / Associated Press
WACO, Texas - In the competition to lure the George W. Bush Presidential Library where global issues will be studied, Baylor University's international education programs make it the natural choice, a professor told a community group Wednesday.
"It's the right place at the right time for this to occur," William A. Mitchell, director of Baylor's Center for International Education, told the crowd of about 90. He was the fourth speaker in the Presidential Library Lecture Series, which began earlier this year in Waco.
While awaiting the decision, which could be announced as soon as year's end, Baylor continues plans for another speaker in the series. In contrast, the other two finalists, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas, have never publicly discussed their proposals or other aspects of trying to land the library.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8584
Casualties in Iraq
The Human Cost of Occupation
Edited by Michael Ewens :: Contact
American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 2921
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list) 2784
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 2455
Since Handover (6/29/04): 2055
Since Election (1/31/05): 1485
American Wounded 21778
In Combat with some returning to battle : 22000 – 100,000 (estimated)
URGENT FUNDRAISING APPEAL DECEMBER 2006
PLEASE SUPPORT US TO CONTINUE THE IRAQ BODY COUNT
The avalanche of deaths in Iraq grows ever greater
In January 2003 a small volunteer team started methodically counting all non-combatants reported killed in the invasion and military occupation of Iraq. Not even the most pessimistic of us predicted that nearly four years later we would still be adding the dead and injured to our database on a daily basis.
As the world knows, the violence now takes more innocent lives every day than at any time after May 2003. Media-reported incidents involving civilian casualties at a specific place and time now exceed 200 deaths on the worst days. Our workload has never been higher, and during the past year most of our resources have been put into streamlining our methods so that we can keep up with the escalating violence. While some official Iraqi agencies are now providing regular monthly totals, they do not capture the full details available through analysis of press and media reports. Our work humanises the total by collecting as much detail on each individual victim as possible. Some of this is published in our database. More (such as name, age, gender, occupation, marital status, and perpetrator) is being kept for when funds allow an upgrade of the publicly available data base.
Our work continues to ensure that civilian casualties in Iraq cannot be ignored or forgotten. Our continually updated and detailed information has become indispensable to individuals and organisations all over the world. Yet our work is threatened through lack of funds.
Since our last appeal, nearly a year ago, contributions have become few and far between. We are committed to continuing this work for as long as people are being killed in Iraq's post-invasion violence. But we need a matching commitment from those who make use of our data. If you come to this site regularly, please consider making a donation now, or next time you visit the site. Help us continue the work, and to improve and expand it.
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
Study Claims Iraq's 'Excess' Death Toll Has Reached 655,000
By David Brown / Washington Post
A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.
The estimate, produced by interviewing residents during a random sampling of households throughout the country, is far higher than ones produced by other groups, including Iraq's government.
It is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December. It is more than 10 times the estimate of roughly 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group.
The surveyors said they found a steady increase in mortality since the invasion, with a steeper rise in the last year that appears to reflect a worsening of violence as reported by the U.S. military, the news media and civilian groups. In the year ending in June, the team calculated Iraq's mortality rate to be roughly four times what it was the year before the war.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8080
continued …
While in Australia :: Horror fire forecast ahead
December 7, 2006
London, Ontario, Canada
Photographer states :: ... Fortunately there were no reported fatalities.
Sydney Morning Herald
A weather expert has predicted hot and windy conditions forecast for Sunday will pose a threat to life and property, as fires continue to rage throughout Victoria.
"Whilst temperatures will rise tomorrow, I think the winds will only be about 20-30 kmh at most, so in a relative sense moderate winds,'' Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Scott Williams told the age.com.au.
He believes temperatures will rise again on Sunday and a change Sunday night could produce gusty winds up to 60 kmh.
"Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning with the wind change coming through I think poses the greatest threat to life and property in that the fire front will change direction and behaviour as a result of that change.
"It's fairly nasty, there's no doubting that.''
DSE spokesman Kevin Monk said firefighters were preparing for severe fire conditions on the weekend.
"It's really tomorrow and Sunday that are going to be the extreme days although it will reach extreme in the north west of the state (today) and we still have firefighters monitoring those fires that were in the Casterton area," he said.
Residents prepare to flee
Victorian residents in fire-affected areas are preparing to evacuate their properties ahead of the bushfires that are expected to increase in size and ferocity over the weekend.
Darren Peverill lives on a 120 acre property between Briagolong and Munro and is today busy preparing for the blaze. His wife and six-month-old son will leave the home first thing tomorrow morning.
"They've opted to leave - well I've sort of talked them into it,'' Mr Peverill told theage.com.au this morning as his wife was preparing to evacuate.
"I've got quite a few brothers and brother-in-law who will come and help me out and she'll (his wife) go back into a safe area which is Sale - hopefully Sale's safe anyway."
"We're right in the firing line. My viewing distance is about seven kilometres I suppose, so that's about the notice I would get, I would see the fire coming about seven kilometres away but I think the conditions will get worse ... I don't think I will see it coming at all. It will just happen.''
'I expect it to be very hard'
A third of the 40 residents of Woods Point, about 120km north east of Melbourne, have evacuated, with those remaining preparing to fight any fires.
Commercial Hotel keeper Kirrily Pay was one of those staying in town.
"We're just doing last-minute jobs around the place to prepare for it and then we're waiting for the wind to change,'' she said.
"Right now there's no wind but the smoke's very thick in town.''
Ms Pay said residents were concerned about tomorrow's extreme weather conditions.
"I've never been in this situation before. I expect the flames, I expect it to be very hard.
"Everyone's adrenalin is running.''
NZ firefighters deployed
Firefighters called in from New Zealand, New South Wales and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade are being deployed this morning to help Country Fire Authority volunteers.
NZ's 45 alpine firefighting specialists are heading to Benalla, while 100 NSW Rural Fire Service personnel will assist in Gippsland and north-east Victoria.
Temperatures in the high 30s tomorrow, combined with hot northerly winds, threaten to push more fires together and create one massive blaze with the potential to burn up to 600,000 hectares.
Fires destroy 150,000 hectares
Seven fires are burning to the north of Heyfield totalling approximately 13,500 hectares.
The Edi Upper/Black Rangefire merged with the Black Range/Rose River fire. Mount Howitt and Macalister Springs fires have merged with the Ovens fire and now encompasses more than 74,000 hectares.
The Darling-Cynthia fire, north west of Dargo, is currently burning out of control and covers an area of over 30,000 hectares.
The majority of fires in the Mt. Terrible/Jamieson area have joined, covering an area of about 8700 hectares.
The West King fire has now covered 10,000 hectares and continues to burn.
"The situation is quite grave. There is a lot of fire out there caused by lightning and it is extremely dry," CFA duty officer Gary Weir told theage.com.au this morning.
So far the Victorian fires have burnt more than 150,000 hectares.
LATEST INFORMATION
For updated bushfire information, call Victorian Bushfire Information Line on freecall 1800 240 667 or visit dse.vic.gov.au/fires or cfa.vic.gov.au.
Callers who are deaf, hard of hearing or have a speech/communication impairment may call the TTY service on 1800 122 969.
People planning to visit areas that are fire affected should visit the Parks Victoria website at parkweb.vic.gov.au or ring the hotline on 131963.
theage.com.au, with Jane Holroyd
The Bravest of the Brave risk standing against the tide and take it on the chin. Now, about Human Induced Global Warming ...
December 8, 2006
Op-Ed Columnist
They Told You So
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Shortly after U.S. forces marched into Baghdad in 2003, The Weekly Standard published a jeering article titled, “The Cassandra Chronicles: The stupidity of the antiwar doomsayers.” Among those the article mocked was a “war novelist” named James Webb, who is now the senator-elect from Virginia.
The article’s title was more revealing than its authors knew. People forget the nature of Cassandra’s curse: although nobody would believe her, all her prophecies came true.
And so it was with those who warned against invading Iraq. At best, they were ignored. A recent article in The Washington Post ruefully conceded that the paper’s account of the debate in the House of Representatives over the resolution authorizing the Iraq war — a resolution opposed by a majority of the Democrats — gave no coverage at all to those antiwar arguments that now seem prescient.
At worst, those who were skeptical about the case for war had their patriotism and/or their sanity questioned. The New Republic now says that it “deeply regrets its early support for this war.” Does it also deeply regret accusing those who opposed rushing into war of “abject pacifism?”
Now, only a few neocon dead-enders still believe that this war was anything but a vast exercise in folly. And those who braved political pressure and ridicule to oppose what Al Gore has rightly called “the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States” deserve some credit.
Unlike The Weekly Standard, which singled out those it thought had been proved wrong, I’d like to offer some praise to those who got it right. Here’s a partial honor roll:
Former President George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, explaining in 1998 why they didn’t go on to Baghdad in 1991: “Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”
Representative Ike Skelton, September 2002: “I have no doubt that our military would decisively defeat Iraq’s forces and remove Saddam. But like the proverbial dog chasing the car down the road, we must consider what we would do after we caught it.”
Al Gore, September 2002: “I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century.”
Barack Obama, now a United States senator, September 2002: “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”
Representative John Spratt, October 2002: “The outcome after the conflict is actually going to be the hardest part, and it is far less certain.”
Representative Nancy Pelosi, now the House speaker-elect, October 2002: “When we go in, the occupation, which is now being called the liberation, could be interminable and the amount of money it costs could be unlimited.”
Senator Russ Feingold, October 2002: “I am increasingly troubled by the seemingly shifting justifications for an invasion at this time. ... When the administration moves back and forth from one argument to another, I think it undercuts the credibility of the case and the belief in its urgency. I believe that this practice of shifting justifications has much to do with the troubling phenomenon of many Americans questioning the administration’s motives.”
Howard Dean, then a candidate for president and now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, February 2003: “I firmly believe that the president is focusing our diplomats, our military, our intelligence agencies, and even our people on the wrong war, at the wrong time. ... Iraq is a divided country, with Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions that share both bitter rivalries and access to large quantities of arms.”
We should honor these people for their wisdom and courage. We should also ask why anyone who didn’t raise questions about the war — or, at any rate, anyone who acted as a cheerleader for this march of folly — should be taken seriously when he or she talks about matters of national security.
Op-Ed Columnist
They Told You So
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Shortly after U.S. forces marched into Baghdad in 2003, The Weekly Standard published a jeering article titled, “The Cassandra Chronicles: The stupidity of the antiwar doomsayers.” Among those the article mocked was a “war novelist” named James Webb, who is now the senator-elect from Virginia.
The article’s title was more revealing than its authors knew. People forget the nature of Cassandra’s curse: although nobody would believe her, all her prophecies came true.
And so it was with those who warned against invading Iraq. At best, they were ignored. A recent article in The Washington Post ruefully conceded that the paper’s account of the debate in the House of Representatives over the resolution authorizing the Iraq war — a resolution opposed by a majority of the Democrats — gave no coverage at all to those antiwar arguments that now seem prescient.
At worst, those who were skeptical about the case for war had their patriotism and/or their sanity questioned. The New Republic now says that it “deeply regrets its early support for this war.” Does it also deeply regret accusing those who opposed rushing into war of “abject pacifism?”
Now, only a few neocon dead-enders still believe that this war was anything but a vast exercise in folly. And those who braved political pressure and ridicule to oppose what Al Gore has rightly called “the worst strategic mistake in the history of the United States” deserve some credit.
Unlike The Weekly Standard, which singled out those it thought had been proved wrong, I’d like to offer some praise to those who got it right. Here’s a partial honor roll:
Former President George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, explaining in 1998 why they didn’t go on to Baghdad in 1991: “Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land.”
Representative Ike Skelton, September 2002: “I have no doubt that our military would decisively defeat Iraq’s forces and remove Saddam. But like the proverbial dog chasing the car down the road, we must consider what we would do after we caught it.”
Al Gore, September 2002: “I am deeply concerned that the course of action that we are presently embarking upon with respect to Iraq has the potential to seriously damage our ability to win the war against terrorism and to weaken our ability to lead the world in this new century.”
Barack Obama, now a United States senator, September 2002: “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”
Representative John Spratt, October 2002: “The outcome after the conflict is actually going to be the hardest part, and it is far less certain.”
Representative Nancy Pelosi, now the House speaker-elect, October 2002: “When we go in, the occupation, which is now being called the liberation, could be interminable and the amount of money it costs could be unlimited.”
Senator Russ Feingold, October 2002: “I am increasingly troubled by the seemingly shifting justifications for an invasion at this time. ... When the administration moves back and forth from one argument to another, I think it undercuts the credibility of the case and the belief in its urgency. I believe that this practice of shifting justifications has much to do with the troubling phenomenon of many Americans questioning the administration’s motives.”
Howard Dean, then a candidate for president and now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, February 2003: “I firmly believe that the president is focusing our diplomats, our military, our intelligence agencies, and even our people on the wrong war, at the wrong time. ... Iraq is a divided country, with Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions that share both bitter rivalries and access to large quantities of arms.”
We should honor these people for their wisdom and courage. We should also ask why anyone who didn’t raise questions about the war — or, at any rate, anyone who acted as a cheerleader for this march of folly — should be taken seriously when he or she talks about matters of national security.
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