Michael Moore Today
Escalate Yourself This Weekend!
Anti-War Groups Plan Surge on Washington
By Aaron Glantz / IPS
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 24 - Peace activists from around the United States will converge on Washington Saturday for what organisers hope will be the largest demonstration to date against the Iraq war.
"We expect a turnout in the six figures," said Tom Andrews, a former Democratic congressman who now runs the group Win Without War, which is organising the march along with True Majority, Working Assets, the RainbowPUSH Coalition, the National Organisation for Women and the national umbrella group United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ).
UFPJ's Leslie Cagan told IPS that the level of energy in the antiwar movement has spiked since the November election, when voters ended Republican majorities in both houses of Congress.
"The voters of this country figured out that they could use the November elections as a vehicle to voice their opposition to the war," Cagan said. "What happened there was that the voters gave Congress a mandate to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9079
"...the voters gave Congress a mandate to end the war in Iraq and bring the troops home."
"The 110th Congress must stand up to the president."
United for Peace and Justice
March on Washington, January 27, 2007
Assemble on the National Mall,
between 3rd and 7th Streets, at 11 am.
Rally 11am-1pm.
March will kick off at 1pm.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
MARCH ROUTE, MAPS & LOGISTICS
Weather: Predicted to be 48 F and sunny! However, because there might be some precipitation in Washington, DC, before Saturday, the Mall could be a little muddy. So you may wish to wear boots, or at least bring an extra pair of socks.
Confirmed speakers: Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Danny Glover, Jane Fonda, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Reps. Kucinich, Waters, and Woolsey, Bob Watada, and more ...
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
Transportation Center for January 27
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/ride.php
Have Housing
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/housing.php
Spread the Word About the January 27th Mobilization!
On Jan. 27, 2007, we are bringing the Mandate for Peace to Washington DC. You can help ensure that the new Congress gets the message by spreading the word far and wide. Help us make this the biggest and loudest demonstration for peace possible!
Here's how you can get involved:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3437
Jan. 27-29 Schedule of Events
Below is a schedule for the events of the Jan. 27-29 mobilization in Washington DC. Further details will be added as they are finalized, so please keep checking back here.
EVENTS ORGANIZED BY UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE (Please scroll down for information on the Interfaith Service, the Veterans For Peace action on Thursday, CodePink's Walk in Their Shoes installation, and other actions being organized during the weekend.)
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3489
Jan. 27 March Route, Parking, Logistics, What to Bring, Etc.
Scroll down and look to the right-hand side of the page for a link to a printer-friendly version of this page.)
MAP OF ASSEMBLY AREA
Click here to download a map of the assembly area on the Mall, and contingent formation locations.
MARCH ROUTE
After an arduous and long process of negotiating with the U.S. Capitol Police, a final route for the march on Jan. 27th has been agreed to. Here are the details:
1 pm -- March steps off from 3rd Street and Jefferson Drive, NW. We will take 3rd Street north to Constitution, the east on Constitution to 1st Street, NE, then south to East Capital Street. At that point we will make a U-turn in the street and head north on 1st Street to Constitution. The march will proceed west on Constitution to 1st Street, NW, where we will head south, passing between the Reflecting Pool and the West Lawn of the Capitol. The march will pick up Maryland Ave., heading west until it intersects with Independence and then going west to 4th Street. We will then turn north on 4th and end up back on the Mall.
Yes, the march will double back on itself. This means that unlike other marches, most of us will have a chance to see and be inspired by the stream of contingents from all over the nation. We will be on three sides of the Capitol building sending our message loud and clear: This war must end now!
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3499
Democratic senators won't join Iraq war protest in Washington
By Jeff Zeleny / International Herald Tribune
WASHINGTON -- Tens of thousands of demonstrators are set to arrive in the capital this weekend for the largest anti-war march since Democrats gained control of Congress, staging the first of several protests to persuade lawmakers to do more than simply speak out against President George W. Bush's policies in Iraq.
But do not look for senators to be standing among the protesters on the National Mall. Despite the consensus building around a resolution to oppose sending more troops to Iraq, even the most liberal among Democratic senators do not appear eager to align themselves with a traditional anti-war protest.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9087
Cheney increasingly on the defensive
By Ron Hutcheson / McClatchy Newspapers
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, often considered the hidden power behind the White House throne, is increasingly out in the open and on the defensive.
He's scheduled to testify at the perjury trial of his former top aide; congressional Democrats want to probe his role in the White House; and his unprecedented clout may be waning. Once widely considered a source of wisdom and experience in the White House, the vice president has become a frequent target of criticism.
On Wednesday, a testy Cheney sparred with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer over Iraq and al-Qaida and insisted that Bush administration policies have succeeded in both cases. While he's acknowledged mistakes in Iraq, he bristled when Blitzer suggested that Cheney had lost credibility because of blunders there.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9070
The Boston Globe
North Pole temperature exceeds Boston's
By Michael Grillo
Boston.com Staff
January 26, 2007
Looking to get some relief from today's icy cold temperatures? Take a trip to Anchorage, Alaska or even the North Pole.
Both locations today reached a balmy 24 and 10.5 degrees, respectively, compared to Boston's high of 12 degrees.
Bostonians are feeling the chill of single-digit temperatures with wind chills as low as -15 degrees as an arctic air mass makes its way through the region.
Temperatures in the single-digits swept into many New England cities this morning: 3 in Worcester; 9 in Hartford, Conn.; 3 in Concord, N.H.; and -3 in Bangor, Maine.
International Falls, located near the Canadian border in Minnesota and notorious for some of America's coldest weather, was 23 degrees at about 11 a.m. Even the Arctic was considerably warmer than New England: the temperature in Nuuk, a city on the coast of Greenland, reached 36 degrees today.
In Europe, it was 21 degrees in Prague; 30 in Helsinki, Finland; 28 in Oslo, Norway; and 30 in Geneva, Switzerland.
But if those hot spots don't warm your cockles, check out flights to the Bahamas (73 degrees) or Buenos Aires where it's summer and a pleasant 71.
http://www.boston.com/news/weather/articles/2007/01/26/north_pole_temperature_exceeds_bostons/?p1=MEWell_Pos1
Troops died after, not in, sneak attack
By Steven R. Hurst and Qassim Abdul-Zahra
Associated Press Writers
January 26, 2007
BAGHDAD, Iraq --Four American soldiers were abducted during a sophisticated sneak attack last week in the Shiite holy city of Karbala and their bodies were found up to 25 miles away, according to new information obtained by The Associated Press.
The brazen assault, 50 miles south of Baghdad on Jan. 20, was conducted by nine to 12 militants posing as an American security team. They traveled in black GMC Suburban vehicles -- the type used by U.S. government convoys -- had American weapons, wore new U.S. military combat fatigues, and spoke English.
In a written statement, the U.S. command reported at the time that five soldiers were killed while "repelling the attack." Now, two senior U.S. military officials as well as Iraqi officials say four of the five were captured and taken from the governor's compound alive. Three of them were found dead and one mortally wounded later that evening in locations as far as 25 miles east of the governor's office.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/01/26/us_soldiers_not_killed_in_sneak_attack/
Cold turns boiling water to snow and keeps the MBTA up all night
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff, and Amanda I. Bergeron, Globe Correspondent
On days as cold as today on the top of Mount Washington, a pan of boiling water thrown into the air will turn to snow before it hits the ground.
Crowbars used to clear ice off meteorological instruments snap in half like twigs.
Neil Lareau, the weather observer on duty today atop the mountain, wore three ski-masks, a pair of goggles, and a Gore-Tex hood just to step outside to take the temperature.
That's because a new record low for Jan. 26 was set today at the Mount Washington Observatory when it stayed 32.5 degrees below zero for more than four hours this morning. Add sustained winds of 67 mph, and the wind chill at the summit hit minus 83 degrees.
"We live for days like today," said Lareau, 26, who is one of six people stationed at the observatory this week. "We kind of thrive on having this reputation for the world's worst weather."
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/city_region/breaking_news/2007/01/cold_turns_boil.html
Hamas rallies across West Bank and Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip --In the year since Islamic Hamas swept parliamentary elections, Palestinians have sunk deeper into poverty, their government has been ostracized by the international community and hundreds have died in violence.
Yet the militant movement remains popular and its chief rival, moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is reluctant to force a showdown, either by disbanding the government or setting a date for early elections.
Hamas marked the one-year anniversary of its upset victory in Palestinian elections on Friday with celebrations that were dramatically scaled back after a new outbreak of deadly factional violence, including a deadly attack on a group of Hamas militiamen on Thursday night and retaliation that spilled over into Friday, killing nine people.
Tensions were so high that Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas bowed out of a planned appearance at a rally in Jebaliya, apparently fearing it would be too dangerous to travel there. In the end, only several thousand Hamas supporters gathered in Jebaliya to celebrate Hamas' ascent to power.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/01/26/hamas_rally_across_west_bank_and_gaza/
Calif. bans toxic dry-cleaning chemical
By Samantha Young
Associated Press Writer
January 26, 2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif. --By 2023, California will completely ban the most common chemical used by dry cleaners. Under the newly enacted ban, perchloroethylene is to be phased out starting next year. The state is still debating what the alternative will be. Dry cleaning businesses are upset.
The regulation by the California Air Resources Board begins to phase out the toxic chemical next year, banning dry cleaners from buying machines that rely on the solvent. State officials say the fluid causes a variety of cancers.
The state's 3,400 dry cleaners who now use it must get rid of machines that are 15 years or older by July 2010.
"That's the wave of the future -- nontoxic, non-smog forming," said Annette Kondo, spokeswoman for the Coalition for Clean Air, a California environmental group. "We think this is going to ripple down to other states across the country."
Environmental and health advocates embraced the new rule, though they had urged the air board to accelerate the ban because of the chemical's health effects as a potential carcinogen. The solvent has contaminated one in 10 wells in California.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/26/california_bans_dry_cleaning_chemical/
Mass. housing market ends worst year in decade
Prices, sales tumble in December; condos are sole bright spot
By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff | January 26, 2007
Massachusetts house prices tumbled 5.4 percent in December, in a sour endnote to the worst year for the state's housing market in a decade.
Amid new evidence the state is still struggling to emerge from the housing downturn, economists said it is likely prices for single-family houses will continue to decline this year. Single-family sales for 2006 were 41,593, which was the lowest total since 1996, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which released its monthly market report yesterday.
"We're working through the correction," said Larissa Duzhansky, an economist with Global Insight, a Lexington economics and consulting firm. She predicted, "We're going to see home prices going down in 2007."
http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/01/26/mass_housing_market_ends_worst_year_in_decade/?p1=MEWell_Pos2
Bob Seger
He's a father now, but triumphant return shows he's still a
By Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff | January 26, 2007
When Bob Seger laughs, it sounds exactly as you might it imagine it would.
It's a deep, rusty chuckle that starts in his belly and fights its way through the nicotine-coated throat famous for a whole mess of songs familiar to anyone who has ever listened to a classic-rock station or seen a truck commercial.
At 61, Seger is a jolly soul who laughs often. At his good fortune -- more than 50 million albums sold, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame acclaim, a concert tour drawing rave reviews that comes to the TD Banknorth Garden tomorrow and the DCU Center on Tuesday. At the senior moments, he and his manager of 40 years, "Punch" Andrews, have been experiencing lately. At his ability, after an 11-year hiatus, to record an album as rock solid as his recently released "Face the Promise." And, unlike a lot of artists his age, at hearing his songs on the radio with his kids in the car.
"Oh yeah," he says in his friendly bellow on the phone from his home in Detroit. "I know every nook and cranny of all of 'em, and it's fun to hear 'em on the radio, we usually turn it up every time!"
http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2007/01/26/bob_seger/
God's gay child
January 15, 2007
LOVE AND let love.
God gave me a gift, a wonderful son who happens to be gay. God does not give inferiors gifts. God does not make mistakes. This little boy that God gave to me is now a fine young man. But my son is treated like a second-class citizen by my church. Maybe my state constitution will treat him likewise. I pray that it will not.
If you had a gay loved one in your family you would be a better person. You would be sensitive to the discrimination gays endure. You would realize that they, too, are entitled to mutual love.
God will continue to send gay babies. We must take them into our hearts and our lives. That would please God.
DOROTHY DONAHUE
Norwell
Old Romney debate clip is now a hit on the Web
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
January 11, 2007
WASHINGTON -- A video recording of former Governor Mitt Romney expressing liberal views became an Internet sensation in the political world yesterday, prompting Romney to call a conservative webcast to say that he has "grown a bit wiser" in the past 13 years
He also accused opponents of his nascent presidential campaign of attacking him because of his record fighting for conservative causes.
The five-minute clip from an October 1994 debate against Senator Edward M. Kennedy shows Romney endorsing a series of liberal viewpoints and includes statements of support for abortion rights and gay rights. The clip was viewed more than 12,000 times on Youtube.com yesterday by 10 p.m.
Last night, Romney called in to the conservative Internet broadcast "The Glenn and Helen Show" to react to the distribution of what his presidential exploratory committee called "ancient footage."
"I'm grayer, I'm a little heavier, and I hope I've grown a bit wiser as well," Romney said. "Of course, I was wrong on some issues back then. I'm not embarrassed to admit that. I think most of us learn with experience. I know I certainly have."
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/01/11/old_romney_debate_clip_is_now_a_hit_on_the_web/
Patrick highlights black heritage more as governor
By Glen Johnson, AP Political Writer | January 26, 2007
BOSTON --Deval Patrick was on the cusp of becoming the first black governor of Massachusetts, yet during his campaign last year he was reluctant to talk about such a groundbreaking prospect.
Since then, the Democrat has been far more willing to publicly embrace his African-American heritage.
When a woman told him on his way into his inaugural ball it was the most integrated event she had ever seen in Boston, Patrick told the crowd of 15,000 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, "Get used to that!"
Patrick's transformation began even before he took the oath of office. It started when he placed his left hand on a Bible as he raised his right to be sworn in.
The book used at the inauguration was the so-called Mendi Bible, which slaves who commandeered the ship "Amistad" gave to former President John Quincy Adams for securing their freedom after he argued their case all the way to the Supreme Court in 1841.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/26/patrick_highlights_black_heritage_more_as_governor/
Sculpture lovely to look at, and thought-provoking, too
By Ken Johnson, Globe Staff | January 26, 2007
Would you like to see a miracle? I'm talking about a 1-foot square slab of marble whose surface has been transformed into a vision of the Virgin Mary seated in the clouds with her infant son in her lap and cherubic angels in fluttering attendance. It's carved in low relief with breathtaking delicacy, and it looks as though the stone had melted away, leaving only this dreamy, uncannily luminous mirage.
Made between 1425 and 1435 by Donatello, who was, next to Michelangelo, the greatest sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, "Madonna of the Clouds" welcomes visitors right at the start of "Donatello to Giambologna: Italian Renaissance Sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston," an excellent, medium-size exhibition.
For the show, curators dusted off and gathered together almost every piece of Italian Renaissance sculpture the museum owns, including works in stone, bronze, wood, and clay. It also borrowed some items from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and, from a private collection, a fascinating array of tabletop-scale bronzes.
http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2007/01/26/sculpture_lovely_to_look_at_and_thought_provoking_too/
R.I. newspapers to be sold for $7.6m
Journal Register Co. agreed to sell three daily newspapers and its weekly newspaper group in Rhode Island for $7.6 million.
The Pennsylvania company publishes 27 daily newspapers including the New Haven Register and 368 non-daily publications.
The company identified the buyer as R.I.S.N. Operations Inc. A phone number for R.I.S.N. supplied by the Journal Register Co. belongs to Horizon Publications of Marion, Ill., which owns and operates daily and weekly publications in 16 states and two Canadian provinces, including the Newport Daily Express of Newport, Vt., according to Horizon's website. A spokesman at Horizon declined comment.
Properties in the sale included the Call of Woonsocket, the Times of Pawtucket, Kent County Daily Times in West Warwick, and its weekly group, the Southern Rhode Island Newspaper Group.
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/01/ri_newspapers_s.html
Priest defrocked after rape conviction
January 26, 2007
BOSTON --A Roman Catholic priest who's in prison for raping a teenage boy in the 1980s has been defrocked by the Vatican, the Boston Archdiocese said Friday.
Paul William Hurley, of Sandwich, can no longer perform public ministry, except for offering absolution to the dying, and will not receive financial support from the archdiocese, the archdiocese said in a statement.
Hurley was placed on administrative leave in 2001 after the allegation of sexual misconduct. He was convicted in June of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old South Boston boy in 1987 and 1988 in the rectory of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Cambridge, where Hurley was assigned.
Hurley was sentenced in July to four years in prison.
Church law requires that priests be permanently removed from ministry if an act of sexual abuse of a minor is admitted or proven through a church investigation.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/26/priest_defrocked_after_rape_conviction/
Norway may ease ban on stem cell study
January 26, 2007
OSLO, Norway --Norway's government on Friday proposed lifting a national ban on using human embryonic stem cells for research, saying the change might help find cures to a broad range of diseases.
Embryonic stem cells have the ability to become any tissue in the body, leading scientists to see them as a possible source of medical breakthroughs.
Current Norwegian law, from 2003, bars use of fertilized eggs or stem cells taken from them in research and requires eggs left over after assisted pregnancies to be destroyed.
The proposed law would allow research on such eggs under strict legal and ethical limits, including consent from the parents and approval from a national ethics panel, the government proposal said.
"The government believes if is important to use the opportunities offered by science to gain knowledge that can be used to treat serious illnesses in the future," Minister of Health and Care Services Silvia Brustad said in presenting the legislation.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/01/26/norway_may_ease_stem_cell_research_ban/
Standard Register to close Vermont plant
January 26, 2007
DAYTON, Ohio --Standard Register Co., a provider of document services, on Friday said it will close a facility in Middlebury, Vt., and transfer equipment and production operations to three other U.S. plants.
The Middlebury plant, which employs about 112 people and produces business forms, will continue to perform limited production through March.
Standard Register is providing all affected employees with severance and job-finding assistance. Most workers will be able to apply for open positions at other facilities, with relocation assistance.
The redistribution of manufacturing assets to its Murfreesboro, Tenn., York, Pa. and Fayetteville, Ark. plants will move production closer to customers' locations, Standard Register said.
Shares of Standard Register rose 10 cents to $12.64 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Novell gets second warning from Nasdaq
Novell Inc. of Waltham received a second noncompliance letter from the Nasdaq Stock Market due to its late fiscal 2006 annual report.
Novell received the first noncompliance notice in September because it didn't file its third-quarter report. Novell delayed filing both reports pending the completion of the view of historical stock-based compensation practices.
In January, Novell had a hearing before the Nasdaq panel regarding the first noncompliance letter. The panel granted the company's request for continued listing as long as on or before March 1, Novell provides information regarding the stock-option review, and on or before March 13, the company files its quarterly report and any necessary restatements.
http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2007/01/novell_gets_sec.html
Examining the path to YouTube stardom
By Jake Coyle
AP Entertainment Writer
January 26, 2007
NEW YORK --So you want to be a viral video star.
Now that web sites like YouTube have created a democratized platform for celebrity, anyone who uploads a video has a chance to become a sensation. And we've seen deals follow with TV networks and record labels.
Sounds easy, right? Except that more than 70 million videos are watched on YouTube daily. In that enormous digital wilderness, most videos fall without a sound.
To reach the pinnacle of YouTube celebrity, your video must generally rank among either the most-viewed or most-subscribed lists, which each include only 100 videos, arranged daily, weekly, monthly and by all-time.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/01/26/examining_the_path_to_youtube_stardom/
Googling YouTube
Source: Ars Technica
When Google bought YouTube last fall you may have wondered, what happens to Google Video? Well here's an answer. Go on Google Video today and do a search and you'll get both Google and YouTube videos in your search results (often mostly YouTube). Google is aiming to make Google Video be the place you'll go to "search for the world's online video content, irrespective of where it may be hosted." Ars Technica says it's only a matter of time before GooTube tells copyright holders "Hey, why don't you sell your video on the same pages as these uploaded clips." Instant upsell.
http://www.boston.com/business/blog/filter/
N.Y. scanners spark union cries of "geoslavery"
By Michelle Nichols | January 26, 2007
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Every morning Dennis Colson, a surveyor at New York City's Department of Design and Construction, begins his work day by placing his hand on a scanner to log his time and attendance at the office.
The use of hand geometry and other biometric data, like facial and iris recognition, is not new -- the University of Georgia pioneered the use of hand geometry when it installed scanners in its student dining hall in 1974.
But the planned roll-out of hand geometry scanners in all New York City government agencies has sparked union cries of "geoslavery" and assertions that technology developed for security will be used to track, label and control workforces.
"It's frustrating, it's kind of an insult," Colson, 53, told Reuters. "They are talking about going to voice and retina scanners and that's an invasion of privacy in that they can track you wherever you go."
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/01/26/ny_scanners_spark_union_cries_of_geoslavery/
'God' references are removed from movie
By Giovanna Dell'Orto, Associated Press Writer | January 25, 2007
ATLANTA --So much for God and country, at least during some in-flight showings of the Oscar-nominated movie "The Queen." That's because all mentions of God are bleeped out of a version of the film given to some commercial airlines.
Even in these politically correct times, censoring references to God in the film wasn't a statement of some kind. Rather, it was the mistake of an overzealous and inexperienced employee for a California company that edits movies selected for onboard entertainment.
The rookie censor was told to edit out all profanities -- including any blasphemy -- for the version of the movie distributed to Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, Air New Zealand, and other carriers.
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/01/25/god_references_are_removed_from_movie/
Mistrial after lawyer falters at closing
January 26, 2007
FARMVILLE, Va. --A judge declared a mistrial in an attempted-murder case after the defense lawyer said he couldn't continue his closing statement because he had lost his train of thought. Judge Ernest P. Gates Sr. also suggested that attorney James E. Sheffield seek medical help.
Gates declared the mistrial Thursday in the case of a man accused of shooting a police officer in the leg in 2005.
Sheffield, 74, a former judge, returned from a recess to say that he could not continue the closing argument.
Russell Smith, charged with attempted capital murder, malicious wounding and use of a firearm, offered to finish the job himself.
"This is about me," he told Gates.
The judge warned against it, and Smith requested the mistrial.
Drunk man goes for unexpected train ride
January 26, 2007
FARGO, N.D. --A drunk man who tried to climb over a freight train stopped at a downtown crossing ended up going for a ride when the train took off. The 23-year-old man called 911 from his cell phone early Friday when the train reached the Casselton area west of Fargo because he was cold and wanted off, said Cass County Deputy Sheriff Shawn Getz.
Dispatchers called BNSF Railway, which alerted the train conductor.
"A few miles west of Casselton they were able to stop the train and (the man) got off," Getz said.
Authorities said the man did not require any medical treatment, and the railroad did not press charges. The man was taken to a detox center, Getz said.
Church hosts 'porn and pancakes' event
January 26, 2007
ONTARIO, N.Y. --It's not your typical church breakfast. An event billed as "Porn and Pancakes" is being hosted by a church in rural upstate New York.
The breakfast discussion on the pornography industry in America is planned next month at the Living Word Assembly of God Church in the town of Ontario, about ten miles east of Rochester.
A billboard advertisement near the church shows the words "Porn and Pancakes" written in syrup on a stack of flapjacks.
Organizers told a Rochester TV station that the event on February 10th will be an honest discussion about pornography and its impact on society. The discussion will be led by Triple-X Church, a group of youth ministers who travel the country talking about porn and the porn industry.
The pastor of the Wayne County church and churches from Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse have asked about hosting "Porn and Pancakes" events.
On the Net:
http://www.livingwordag.com/
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2007/01/26/church_hosts_porn_and_pancakes_event/
Polite nude jogger shocks hikers, bikers
January 25, 2007
SARATOGA, Calif. --Who was that undressed man? That's the question startled hikers, bikers and horseback riders are asking about a jogger seen streaking through an open space preserve wearing nothing but sneakers, glasses and a black tam hat.
"He passed me and said `Good evening,'" said equestrian Sue Bowdoin, who spotted the naked man, middle-aged and sporting a pale paunch, while riding her horse, Randy, on a trail in Fremont Older Open Space Preserve last summer. "I thought: Ugh!"
Although numerous park users have reported seeing the exhibitionist over the last year-and-a-half, rangers have been unable to identify and arrest him for exposing himself, said Gordon Baillie of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
By most accounts, the man is polite and does nothing other than run in the buff.
A woman who saw him said he looked scared and backed away after she cornered him with her horse and told him he was offending people.
People who use the park regularly have not reported recent sightings in the cold weather, but they theorize he may be incognito because he is clothed. With dark hair, sweaty red skin and lack of body hair, he is easily recognizable, Bowdoin said.
"He's frumpy. Plain. Not in good physical shape," Bowdoin said. "It's not a pretty sight.'
Scientist develops caffeinated doughnuts
January 26, 2007
DURHAM. N.C. --That cup of coffee just not getting it done anymore? How about a Buzz Donut or a Buzzed Bagel? That's what Doctor Robert Bohannon, a Durham, North Carolina, molecular scientist, has come up with. Bohannon says he's developed a way to add caffeine to baked goods, without the bitter taste of caffeine. Each piece of pastry is the equivalent of about two cups of coffee.
While the product is not on the market yet, Bohannon has approached some heavyweight companies, including Krispy Kreme, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks about carrying it.
Twins give birth to sons within hours
January 25, 2007
AUBURN, Ind. --Nicole Cramer had little idea when she went to the hospital to see her twin sister's newborn son that within hours, she would give birth to a son of her own.
Her sister, Naomi Sale, had scheduled a Caesarean section on Tuesday morning and gave birth to Ethan Alexander at 8:29 a.m. Cramer, also nine months pregnant, visited Sale and her new nephew in the hospital but was having contractions and didn't stay long.
"I thought, after I did the C-section, on my way home, 'I wonder if her sister would go into labor?'" said Dr. Thaddeus Weghorst, the obstetrician for both women.
Within hours, Cramer was in the delivery room of DeKalb Memorial Hospital.
After a 1 1/2-hour labor, Cramer delivered Carter Nathaniel Birchfield.
"This solidifies the theory on the bond between twins," Weghorst said. "Even their uteri have a bond."
Cramer and Sale celebrate their 23rd birthdays Jan. 29. They were due to give birth within a day of each other at the end of January, but Weghorst's office didn't figure out they were twins until they were eight months along.
The sisters explained, in unison, that they usually had their appointments on the same day, but at different times.
Weghorst, who has been in practice for eight years, said the close deliveries were a first for him.
"I've delivered two sets of twins in the same day, but never this," he said.
The Jordan Times
Improper use of heaters leads to rise in fatalities, injuries
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN — The number of fatalities and injuries as a result of improper use of gas, wood and kerosene heaters has risen dramatically this year with officials warning of a further rise if safety measures are not properly applied by citizens.
Lieutenant Colonel Farid Shareh, head of the Public Relations Department at the Civil Defence Department (CDD), said the majority of incidents were a direct result of the public’s failure to abide by safety procedures.
During the Eid holiday, seven people, including three children, died in separate gas heater incidents in Amman and other governorates. Reports of fatalities continued after the 9-day vacation with incidents of individuals dying in their sleep because they left these heaters on overnight without proper ventilation.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews4.htm
4 dead in Beirut cast shadow over aid pledges
Paris conference pledges $7.6 billion
BEIRUT (Reuters) — Four people were shot dead in clashes between pro- and anti-government activists in Lebanon on Thursday, overshadowing a $7.6 billion aid deal by international donors to shore up the US-backed government.
Two opposition students and two other people were shot dead and 100 were injured, many by gunfire, at Beirut's Arab University, security sources said.
The Lebanese army declared a night curfew in Beirut after the clashes and leaders of both sides appealed for calm.
A campaign led by Hizbollah and Shiite and Christian allies against the government, which is struggling to recover from last year's war with Israel, has raised tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Lebanon, still recovering from a 1975-90 civil war.
Fighting started between students with sticks and stones on the university campus then spilled into nearby streets. It developed into exchanges of gunfire from assault rifles and pistols involving students and residents from both sides.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news1.htm
Israel, Jordan, Palestinians agree on economic zone — Peres
DAVOS (AP) — Israel's foreign minister reached out to the Palestinian president in an emotional speech Thursday as he sat next to her at the World Economic Forum, saying lasting peace is the dream of her people and promising that a future Palestinian state is "not an illusion... It's achievable". Tzipi Livni made clear, however, that her government would not compromise on its need for security and urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to compromise with extremists, a reference to the Hamas government's refusal to disavow its call for Israel's destruction.
But Livni, turning to face Abbas, also made a personal and impassioned plea for dialogue to begin.
"I would like to negotiate, to speak, to meet, to talk," she said. On finding peace, she said: "There is nothing I want more ... this is part of our dream, this is part of our goal." Abbas, for his part, said he was confident that the peace process could be put back on track. "We are ready as of now to start serious negotiations," he said during the public session. Afterward, the two warmly shook hands. They are to meet one-on-one at a hotel near the forum on Friday. "We are creating this momentum ... to put the train on the track and push it after that," Abbas told the Associated Press.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news2.htm
Young Global Leaders brief Queen Rania on dignity project
AMMAN (JT) — Her Majesty Queen Rania joined Young Global Leaders (YGL) for a briefing on their recent projects, including the launch of the Global Dignity Project, at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday.
Discussions focused on the YGLs' role in using their expertise and experience in helping their local communities as well as the global community.
One project recently launched by the YGLs is the dignity project, which seeks to raise global awareness of the universal right of every human being to lead a dignified life, and compel people around the globe to move to action in implementing these rights.
People from all over the world are welcome to sign the Dignity Principles on their website (http://www.globaldignity.org).
The Dignity Principles are based on both ethics and enlightened self-interest, the YGLs told the Queen.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews2.htm
34 killed, but Maliki vows to pursue gunmen
BAGHDAD (Reuters) — Bombs killed at least 34 people in Baghdad on Thursday but Iraq's prime minister vowed a crackdown in the capital would leave gunmen nowhere to hide.
In a speech to parliament, Nouri Maliki urged politicians on all sides to support his security plan, backed by 17,000 US reinforcements and seen by many as a last chance to halt sectarian violence in the capital.
"There will be no safe haven — no school, no home, no [Sunni] mosque or Shiite mosque. They will all be raided if they are turned into a launchpad for terrorism, even the headquarters of political parties," he said.
Maliki said his determination had already borne fruit.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news3.htm
As Iraq war drags on, comparisons with Vietnam grow
WASHINGTON (AP) — Another Vietnam? Defenders of President George W. Bush’s Iraq war policy have long shrugged off such comparisons. But as the war heads towards the four-year mark and a newly-empowered Democratic Congress takes aim at presidential spending for more troops, the comparisons are becoming more frequent.
Despite Bush’s State of the Union appeal for Congress to give his new war strategy a chance, congressional Democrats joined by some Republicans are forging ahead with a resolution opposing Bush’s plan to send more troops to Iraq.
Congress has clear constitutional authority to declare war and set spending levels. Yet limiting troops or war spending has never been easy. In Vietnam, it took years.
Nine years after Congress in its Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorised President Lyndon B. Johnson to escalate the Vietnam War, Congress voted in 1973 to cut off remaining funds for combat operations in Southeast Asia. By then, President Richard Nixon had already withdrawn most ground troops.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news9.htm
On winning the peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Jonathan Power
Pervez Musharraf, president and military strongman of Pakistan, opened his eyes wide, sat bolt upright on his sofa, and said: “I never thought of that.” He repeated the phrase and looked, I dare suggest, a little bewildered.
In many years of interviewing top leaders I have never before felt the sensation of catching someone totally off balance. Yet all I had asked was: “Why don’t you talk to your enemies, the Taleban and Al Qaeda?”
In two hours of conversation there was no effort, as is usual with senior Pakistani officials, to persuade me that the Taleban and Al Qaeda were being defeated or that the war in Afghanistan was going well. Indeed, there was an absence of bravado and a receptivity to new, so far unconsidered, ideas.
Pakistan is the hub of the Anglo-American/NATO war against Al Qaeda and the Taleban. The British have here their largest embassy in the world. The city is full to the brim with American secret agents and senior military people. But the truth is the war in Afghanistan is going badly. The Taleban are gaining the upper hand, financially fuelled by proceeds from growing poppy, which they now encourage in a reverse of policy when they were in power, when they ruled that it was un-Islamic. Al Qaeda, too, high up in the mountains of Pakistan, is rebuilding its strength.
Katsav — Israel’s bland president facing disgrace
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israeli President Moshe Katsav, whose leave of absence over a looming rape indictment was approved by parliament on Thursday, is a bland bureaucrat who rose from impoverished origins as an immigrant from Iran to assume the nation's top job.
After more than four hours of debate, a Knesset committee approved by a vote of 13 to 11 that Katsav be suspended from office for three months because of the allegations — the most serious ever levelled against an Israeli leader.
Katsav requested the leave of absence after the attorney general said on Tuesday that he intended to indict him on a slew of charges including rape, sexual harassment and abuse of power.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news5.htm
Mortars hit Somalia’s international airport, killing 2
MOGADISHU (AP) — Gunmen launched mortars on Mogadishu International Airport, killing at least two people a day after powerful troops from neighbouring Ethiopia began withdrawing from this chaotic nation.
Also Wednesday, US defence officials said the United States launched an air strike earlier this week in Somalia against suspected terrorist targets — the second such attack this month.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the strike was carried out in secret by an Air Force AC-130 gunship earlier this week, provided few details and were uncertain whether the intended target was killed.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news7.htm
UK consultancy to provide technical assistance for water management
By Hana Namroqa
AMMAN — The Ministry of Water and Irrigation on Thursday signed a 1.175-million euro agreement with the European Commission for improving management of water and wastewater services in the country.
Under the deal, signed by Minister of Water and Irrigation Thafer Alem and Head of the European Commission Delegation in Amman Patrick Renauld, the Ian Pope Associates (IPA) Energy + Water Consulting will provide the ministry with technical assistance for the project.
As part of the EU-funded agreement, an audit unit to monitor the water sector’s performance will be created if approved by the government.
In addition, the British consulting company will provide technical assistance to the programme management unit (PMU) at the ministry to help it implement all water-related projects, Renauld said during the signing ceremony.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/homenews/homenews6.htm
The new cold war — Middle East style
Rami G. Khouri
Lebanon and Palestine are the most dramatic examples of the new ideological battle that now defines much of the Middle East, where local players and medium-strength regional powers often interact with one another in parallel with foreign powers’ interests and goals.
While tensions were increasing in Beirut last weekend in anticipation of the January 23 national strike by the Hizbollah-led opposition against the Siniora-Hariri-led government, in nearby Damascus, the leaders of the two major Palestinian political groups, Hamas and Fateh, were meeting under Syrian auspices to try and solve their dispute over who rules Palestine and defines its foreign policy vis-Ã -vis Israel.
If you were too young to remember the cold war between the American- and Soviet-led global camps, study this dynamic closely, because it is a miniature regional version of the former global contest. It is possible that the Middle East-anchored new cold war we are living through these days may persist for many years, or it may be over in two or three years, depending on how both sides harness and use their competitive assets. For now, we can only identify some of the new rules and realities of the regional confrontation.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/opinion/opinion2.htm
