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Four Marines Killed; U.S. Toll Now 3,114
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Four U.S. Marines were killed in fighting in Anbar province, the military said Thursday. The Marines, who were assigned to Multi-National Force - West, died Wednesday from wounds sustained due to enemy action in two separate incidents in the insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, according to a statement. The deaths raised to at least 3,114 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile, said U.S. officials were investigating a previously undisclosed Jan. 31 incident involving a civilian helicopter. A military official in Washington said the helicopter either crashed or was forced to land by gunfire. The passengers and crew were rescued by another U.S. helicopter, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
If confirmed, it would be the sixth helicopter to crash or be forced down in Iraq since Jan. 20, prompting the U.S. military to review flight operations. The most recent crash occurred Wednesday when a Marine CH-46 Sea Knight went down northwest of Baghdad, killing seven people.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9165


Contract worker killed in Iraq
Donald Tolfree of St. Charles killed Monday
By Terry Camp / WJRT
SAGINAW COUNTY - A Mid-Michigan community is stunned over the death of a contract worker in Iraq. Donald Tolfree, 52, who lived in St. Charles, was killed in Iraq on Monday.
His daughter says he was working for KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton.
Tolfree's daughter spoke by phone Thursday and she is not sure exactly what happened to her dad, who was driving trucks across Iraq.
"I've known Don all my life," said friend Wayne Fuller. "We grew up together."
Tolfree was a 1973 graduate of Chesaning High School. He was a truck driver.
In early January, Tolfree left for Iraq to drive trucks for Houston-based Halliburton subsidiary KBR, the largest contractor in the war-torn country.
"He never had (any) bad words to say about anyone," Fuller said. "He was always smiling and laughing and joking around. I just couldn't believe it."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9170



AWOL Soldier To Spend 10 Months In Jail
Associated Press
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- A soldier who went AWOL before his second deployment to Iraq said he expects to be sentenced to less than a year in prison under a pretrial agreement with military prosecutors.
Spc. Mark Wilkerson of Colorado Springs said he agreed to plead guilty to desertion and missing a troop movement in exchange for a sentence of up to 10 months, The Gazette reported in Tuesday's editions.
He was to be sentenced at a Feb. 22 court-martial at Fort Hood, Texas, where he has been since surrendering in August.
Wilkerson, 23, was deployed to Iraq at the start of the March 2003 invasion. He said he applied for conscientious objector status after he returned because his views of the war changed.
His request was denied and he was told his appeal would not be considered until his unit returned from another deployment starting in January 2005. He said he fled in December 2004.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9166


British soldier killed in Iraq
Guardian
A roadside bomb has killed one British soldier and wounded three others in southern Iraq, the British military said.
The attack occurred around 1pm local time at an junction about three miles south-east of Basra, said a spokeswoman for British forces in Iraq.
The soldier was not immediately identified.
The latest casualty bring to 101 the number of British military deaths attributed to hostile action since the invasion in 2003, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Another 31 deaths were due to road accidents, illness, natural causes or unexplained causes, the ministry said - for a total of at least 132 since the beginning of the war.
Britain has about 7,500 troops in Iraq, based mostly in Iraq's second-largest city of Basra, 340 miles south-east of Baghdad.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9171


3 U.S. soldiers killed in Anbar province
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three U.S. soldiers were killed in fighting in Iraq's western Anbar province, the military said Friday.
The soldiers, who were assigned to Multi-National Force — West, died Thursday from wounds sustained while conducting combat operations in the insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, the military said in a statement.
Their names were withheld pending notification of relatives.
The deaths raised to at least 3,117 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9168



Democrats note Cheney incident on their calendar
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent out the Democrats' 2007 calendar this week, which includes the House vote schedule, holidays, commemorative days, the dates when key economic data is published, the anniversaries of key acts of Congress and other special events.
The e-mail from Pelosi's office reads, "Attached is a calendar for 2007 that has been prepared by Speaker Pelosi's office. It was originally e-mailed out to Democratic offices in mid-December, but we wanted to e-mail it out again to ensure that all offices had seen it. We hope this calendar helps Democratic offices to plan press events and other activities for their member throughout the year."
Included in the calendar is a Feb. 11 entry reminding House members of the anniversary of the day Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot fellow hunter Harry Whittington at the Armstrong Ranch.
The item reads simply, "Cheney hunting accident (2006)."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9167


Farewell: Centerville soldier laid to rest
By Joe Burns / The Cape Codder
CENTERVILLE, MA -- “Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
John F. Kennedy uttered those immortal words in his inaugural address, and 46 years later, on a biting cold February morning at the Hyannis church were JFK came to pray, a community came together to say goodbye to a young Centerville soldier who gave his life for his country.
Sgt. Alexander Fuller, 21, was killed in Iraq on Jan. 26 while leading a convoy. On Feb. 6 he was laid to rest. St, Francis Xavier Church in Hyannis was filled to capacity as family, friends, public officials and strangers who felt for the fallen soldier and those left behind, came to bid a final goodbye.
“I’m here to pay my respects,” said Paul Hamel of Centerville, a Korean War veteran who stood in the cold, across the street from the church.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9169


Slideshow

http://util.wickedlocal.com/multimedia/capecodder/fullerfuneral/

An Iraqi policeman mans a machine gun as he oversees traffic at a vehicle checkpoint in Baghdad's Shite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. U.S. officials confirmed the new security operation which will involve about 90,000 Iraqi and American troops and is seen by many as a last chance to curb Iraq's sectarian war was under way after a delayed start. (AP Photo/Adil al-Khazali)

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/iraq/082701iraqplane/im:/070208/481/bag11602081218



US strike kills 8 Kurd soldiers in northern Iraq
By Ibon Villelabeitia Fri Feb 9, 11:25 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A U.S. air strike killed eight Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers and wounded six others in northern
Iraq on Friday in what appeared to be a "friendly fire" incident, Kurdish officials said.
The U.S. military said American forces hunting suspected al Qaeda militants killed five armed men during a raid in the northern city of Mosul after American ground forces received small-arms fire from a bunker near the targeted building.
The men, who had ignored warnings in Arabic and Kurdish to put down their weapons, turned out to be Kurdish policemen, the military said in a statement, adding that U.S. forces expressed their "deepest sympathies" to the families of the victims.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd who is also a close U.S. ally, has asked the Americans for more information on the incident, which comes as Kurdish soldiers prepare to deploy in Baghdad as part of a U.S.-backed plan to secure the capital.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/iraq_dc;_ylt=Al6Pl0HIuvaDspPOFtEq1SjlWMcF



7 GOP Senators Back War Debate
Lawmakers Had Blocked Action on Troop Resolution
By Shailagh Murray / Washington Post
Senate Republicans who earlier this week helped block deliberations on a resolution opposing President Bush's new troop deployments in Iraq changed course yesterday and vowed to use every tactic at their disposal to ensure a full and open debate.
In a letter distributed yesterday evening to Senate leaders, John W. Warner (Va.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and five other GOP supporters of the resolution threatened to attach their measure to any bill sent to the floor in the coming weeks. Noting that the war is the "most pressing issue of our time," the senators declared: "We will explore all of our options under the Senate procedures and practices to ensure a full and open debate."
The letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was not more specific about the Republican senators' strategy for reviving the war debate. But under the chamber's rules, senators have wide latitude in slowing the progress of legislation and in offering amendments, regardless of whether they have anything to do with the bill.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9164



The Site of the Week

Listen to a tribute to Molly Ivins

Molly Ivins Dies at 62 After Bout with Breast Cancer
by Robert Siegel and Wade Goodwyn

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7115608


Thre Los Angeles Times

U.N. nuclear agency plans to cancel some aid to Iran
The cuts, expected to be approved in March, end all technical assistance on certain projects.
By Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writer
February 10, 2007
TEHRAN — The U.N. nuclear agency signaled Friday that it was preparing to cancel technical aid on nearly half its nuclear cooperation projects with Iran, a significant step toward implementing sanctions aimed at halting the nation's controversial uranium enrichment program.
In a report to the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors in Vienna, the agency leadership recommended stopping all assistance on projects that could contribute to enrichment and reprocessing work prohibited under a sanctions resolution adopted by the U.N. Security Council in December.
The cuts, expected to be approved by the agency's board of directors in March, end all technical aid for "safe and reliable nuclear power generation," for strategic planning and for a nuclear technology center under development. But they leave intact assistance for medicine development, radioactive waste disposal, wastewater treatment and agriculture.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-irannuke10feb10,1,3112681.story?coll=la-headlines-world



Camouflaged defense spending
The government should stop deceptively pretending that war costs are separate from the Pentagon's budget.
AT THE SAME TIME that President Bush requested more than $700 billion for the Pentagon budget this week, he managed to create the impression that he was asking for the much smaller amount of $481 billion. The trick he used — socking about $235 billion into two "emergency supplemental" funding requests for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — didn't fool the public for very long. But the longer the White House and Congress continue to treat "war-related" funding as a separate item from the budget for the Department of Defense, the harder it will be to control a ballooning federal budget.
Here's how the supplemental shell game works. The official defense budget for 2008 comes to $481 billion. That's a 10% increase over last year and a 62% increase over 2001. And it conveniently fails to include a supplemental request of $141.7 billion, which brings the 2008 defense total to $622.7 billion. On top of that, the president requested a 2007 supplemental in the amount of $93.4 billion, bringing this week's entire defense "budget authority request" to $716 billion (the figure of actual outlays is even higher because it includes billions already committed to the Pentagon).

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-derugy10feb10,0,5657155.story?coll=la-home-commentary


Taking deep breath of freedom
After 20 years in prison for a killing that a key witness now says he didn't commit, Timothy Atkins wants only some fresh air.
A lifelong heavy drug user, frequently homeless or in jail, Denise Powell was a hard person to track down.
Researchers for the California Innocence Project spent months searching for Powell — who was only in intermittent contact with her own family. Their goal was to finally document on the record what Powell had been openly admitting for years: Her testimony implicating Timothy Atkins for murder was false.
When researcher Wendy Koen finally found Powell in early 2005, in rehab after a recent arrest, she confessed without hesitation.
"She was ready to talk. She'd been wanting to talk for years," Koen said. "She said, 'I was young and stupid. I didn't know it would come to this. I lied.' "
Thus began the final step in Atkins' 20-year campaign to prove his innocence. On Friday morning, Atkins, now 39, walked out of Los Angeles County Jail and into the arms of his family, free for the first time since his teens.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-innocent10feb10,0,3314761.story?coll=la-home-headlines


Added troops yield few results yet in Baghdad
Gates hopes to speed the influx of forces, but a senior official says that may be impossible. Iraqis are growing impatient.
BAGHDAD — A month after the Bush administration announced a "surge" in troops for Baghdad, Iraqis are still waiting for anything to change.
Fewer than 20% of the additional Iraqi and American troops have arrived so far. And the roughly 5,000 that have arrived have yet to make a visible impact in this sprawling city of 6 million people, where thousands of paramilitary gunmen patrol the streets.
U.S. officials are trying to manage expectations both domestically and in Iraq, continually asserting that the new forces will slowly take up positions in the capital over the coming months.
But after one of the bloodiest weeks since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, Iraqis are increasingly impatient. A series of high-profile attacks on both civilians and security forces killed more than 1,000 Iraqis and at least 33 U.S. troops in the first nine days of the month.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-surge10feb10,0,5491534.story?coll=la-home-headlines



Vietnamese voters at epicenter of O.C. political earthquake
With just 7 ballots separating them, Trung Nguyen and Janet Nguyen take nearly half of those cast for supervisor. They relied on ethnic loyalties and the absentee vote.
The two Republicans named Nguyen entered the race for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors as blips on the establishment's screen: He an obscure school board member, she a neophyte councilwoman.
Against them stood candidates anointed by the Republican and Democratic machines — as well as the wisdom that in immigrant-rich central Orange County, party loyalties won elections.
When the votes for the 1st District race were tallied this week, the Nguyens, who are not related, had easily eclipsed the two favorites by shrewdly courting ethnic loyalties and the absentee vote.
Between them, the two bitter rivals won nearly half of the 46,000 votes cast in the Tuesday special election, with Trung Nguyen defeating Janet Nguyen by just seven ballots. She has asked for a recount. But whoever prevails will be Orange County's first Vietnamese American supervisor, demonstrating the emergence of Vietnamese political power.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-viet10feb10,0,1138179.story?coll=la-home-headlines



Reaping a profit from the air
As concern grows over global warming, farmers and corporations are responding by trading carbon credits through a Chicago exchange.
When Doug Gronau looks out the window of his Iowa farmhouse, he sees a profitable investment in the effort to stop global warming.
Most people see cornfields.
His cropland, which he is prohibited from tilling, is a greenhouse gas credit, packaged and sold on the Chicago Climate Exchange. An anonymous trader snapped up the field's ability to absorb carbon dioxide to offset — on paper — a tiny portion of the carbon dioxide emitted by some distant factory.
Gronau, 57, expects a check for $2,800.
"That may not sound like a lot," he said, "but farming is hard and it adds to your margin."
The Chicago Climate Exchange is the first and only legally binding carbon emissions market in North America. In the absence of federal controls on greenhouse gas emissions, it applies an axiom of economic theory to the problem of global warming: People in search of profit can be expected to do just about anything for a buck — even save the planet.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-carbon10feb10,0,2739818.story?coll=la-home-headlines


Far apart under one roof
New York — CHANA Taub peered through a narrow gap in the recently built sheetrock wall that sliced her three-story house in two. Straining to look at what used to be her living room, she worried that her husband was lurking on the other side.
"I can't be near him," she whispered, just in case he was eavesdropping. "If I see him, I run the other way."
Chana and Simon Taub are in the middle of a spiteful divorce. Out of stubbornness — and a determination not to lose the house to the other — both refused to give up the place they shared for 18 years. In one of New York's strangest divorce battles, a judge ordered construction of the wall to keep the quarreling couple apart while under the same roof.
The wall went up in December as neighbors gathered outside to watch. The sand-colored barrier on the first floor separates the living room from a spiral staircase leading to the second and third floors. The second floor is divided in half by a locked glass and mahogany door that has been barricaded with plywood.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-divorce10feb10,0,1437470.story?coll=la-home-headlines


Sex offenders released before Prop. 83 can live near schools, parks, judge rules
A federal jurist says the ban can't be applied to those who had already served their sentences.
By Jenifer Warren, Times Staff Writer
February 10, 2007
SACRAMENTO — A federal judge Friday ruled that a voter-approved crackdown on sex offenders may not be applied retroactively, meaning thousands of offenders who have done their prison time probably will not be barred from living near California schools and parks.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence K. Karlton said there was no clear evidence that Proposition 83, dubbed Jessica's Law by promoters, was intended to govern those whose crimes occurred in the past.
"The court finds that the law does not apply to individuals who were convicted and who were paroled, given probation or released from incarceration prior to its effective date," Karlton wrote in his 11-page order.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-offenders10feb10,0,4024192.story?coll=la-home-headlines



Hospital's account of 'dumping' case disputed
LAPD and shelter officials contradict the facility's explanation for how a paraplegic homeless patient was left in a gutter on skid row.
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, accused by authorities in at least two incidents of dumping homeless patients, said Friday that its own preliminary investigation into why a hospital-hired van left a paraplegic man on a skid row street this week found that the actions were not in keeping with hospital policy.
The hospital offered its own account of how the patient ended up on skid row Thursday, but the Los Angeles Police Department and a homeless-shelter official disputed key portions of the explanation.
Meanwhile, the city attorney's office said it is expanding its ongoing investigation of the hospital, which has previously been accused of dumping homeless patients, to include the Thursday incident, which was met Friday with widespread disgust and outrage from civic leaders.
"This is obviously shameless," said City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo, whose office criminally charged Kaiser hospitals three months ago in a similar dumping case. "We were thinking the hospitals in this city had gotten the message," he added. "They continue to flout the law."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping10feb10,0,7983871.story?coll=la-home-headlines



How Smith's death hit Page
THIS column is either part of the problem or a thought on its solution.
We comment; you decide.
The late Murray Kempton once described editorial writers as "the people who come down from the hill after the battle to shoot the wounded." Nowadays, media analysts are the guys who follow behind them, going through the pockets of the dead looking for loose change.
So, yes, this column is about Anna Nicole Smith.
Friday morning, less than 24 hours after she died in a Florida hotel room, the Drudge Report — our media culture's digital arbiter of all things tacky and prurient — had 12 items posted on the onetime topless dancer. That would account for some of the media frenzy surrounding her death. It's a little-known fact, but certain sectors of the broadcast media have long believed that if a dozen items on Anna Nicole Smith ever were posted on Drudge simultaneously, it would herald the onset of the apocalypse.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/cl-et-rutten10feb10,0,4288851.story?coll=la-home-headlines



Paraplegic allegedly 'dumped' on skid row
L.A. police say man was dropped off in front of dozens of witnesses by van linked to Hollywood Presbyterian hospital.
A paraplegic man wearing a soiled hospital gown and a broken colostomy bag was found crawling in a gutter in skid row in Los Angeles on Thursday after allegedly being dumped in the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van, police said.
The incident, witnessed by more than two dozen people, was described by police as a particularly outrageous case of "homeless dumping" that has plagued the downtown area.
"I can't think of anything colder than that," said LAPD Det. Russ Long, who called the case the most egregious of its kind that he has seen in his career. "There was no mission around, no services. It's the worst area of skid row."
Los Angeles Police Department detectives said they connected the van to Hollywood Presbyterian after witnesses wrote down a phone number on the van and took down its license-plate number.
They are questioning officials from the hospital, which the LAPD had accused in an earlier dumping case that is now under investigation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping9feb09,0,7452706.story?track=mostviewed-homepage


Pimp that electric vehicle
The Times John O'Dell reports that some Northern California firms are trying to create high-performance and ever Hummer-like electric cars:

Environmentally friendly cars don't have to be slow and stodgy. ZAP, a Santa Rosa, Calif.-based importer of electric scooters and a small, short-distance electric car, aims to launch a 155-mph all-wheel-drive electric sport utility vehicle next year. If it comes to market, the $60,000 ZAP-X would join a select group of high-performance electric vehicles led by a two-seat sports car from Tesla Motors Inc. of San Carlos, Calif. The $92,000 Tesla Roadster is capable of accelerating from a dead stop to 60 mph in four seconds and has a top speed of more than 130 mph.A third Northern California start-up, Wrightspeed Inc. of Burlingame, has announced plans for a $120,000 electric roadster that boasts a zero-to-60 time of 3.8 seconds.

An environmental group also ranked what it considers the most earth-friendly cars on the road.

Meanwhile, the Sacramento Bee editorial board is glad no more hybrids are being allow on the carpool lanes:

Carpool lanes were created not just to help clean the air but also to relieve congestion. The more that otherwise solo drivers left their own cars at home and took the bus, a van pool or joined two or three others in a carpool, the more congestion was eased for everyone else. These real carpoolers were justifiably rewarded by being allowed to zip along in relatively unclogged special lanes. By opening the lanes to solo drivers of hybrid vehicles, legislators degraded the carpool ethic itself. As one driver told the Los Angeles Times recently, "This is why I spent over 25 grand on a car -- just to get the (carpool lane) sticker."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/bottleneck/



Would Obama be 'the black president'?
Some African American activists doubt that he'd stand firmly behind their causes. 'He would be the multicultural president,' one says.
By Peter Wallsten, Times Staff Writer
February 10, 2007
CHICAGO — Illinois state Sen. Rickey Hendon served eight years alongside Barack Obama in the state Capitol and plans to endorse him today when Obama launches a bid for the White House. But that does not mean Hendon has set aside the long-simmering doubts that he and other black leaders hold about a man who could become the first African American to occupy the Oval Office.
"I can endorse someone now and change my mind next week," Democrat Hendon said from Springfield, Ill., where U.S. Sen. Obama (D-Ill.) will kick off his campaign at the old state Capitol. "I'm going to look at how he runs his campaign. I'm going to look closely to see if he raises the issues that are important to my people."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama10feb10,0,7292039.story?coll=la-home-nation



Putin Blasts U.S. for Its Use of Force
By DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer
6:34 AM PST, February 10, 2007
MUNICH, Germany -- Russian President Vladimir Putin blasted the United States Saturday for the "almost uncontained" use of force in the world, and for encouraging other countries to acquire nuclear weapons.
In what his spokesman acknowledged were his harshest attacks on the U.S. since taking office in 2000, Putin also criticized U.S. plans for missile defense systems and NATO's expansion.
Putin told a security forum attracting top officials that "we are witnessing an almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations" and that "one state, the United States, has overstepped its national borders in every way.
"This is very dangerous, nobody feels secure anymore because nobody can hide behind international law," Putin told the gathering.
Putin did not elaborate on specifics and did not mention the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.
But he voiced concern about U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in eastern Europe -- likely in Poland and the Czech Republic -- and the expansion of NATO as possible challenges to Russia.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top11feb10,0,645316.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines



No Deal Reached in N.Korea Nuke Talks
By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer
3:56 AM PST, February 10, 2007
BEIJING -- Negotiators on North Korea's nuclear programs engaged in intense diplomacy on Saturday but a deal that would see the communist state take its first real steps to disarm remained elusive. Japan's top envoy told reporters that a resolution had yet to be reached, though talks continue on Sunday.
"Unfortunately, as of today we have not reached a conclusion. We are boiling down our problems but there is not conclusion in sight for several issues," said Kenichiro Sasae.
U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said the negotiations boiled down to one or two unspecified sticking points after overcoming what he had considered "tough" issues.
"I am hopeful we can get through this," Hill said earlier Saturday. "But with the North Koreans you never know what is important, so we will have to see. ... If we live in a logical, rational world, we will get through this."
Representatives from China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the U.S. spent Saturday in various meetings, discussing a Chinese draft agreement outlining moves for North Korea to disarm and what sort of aid and guarantees it would get in return.
Host China held bilateral meetings with all countries, and other talks were held among the delegations, a South Korean official said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top12feb10,0,1038533.story?coll=la-ap-topnews-headlines


How to Get Wall Street to Hug a Tree
Environmentalists and investment bankers are working together to put a price tag on nature. The new 'greens' think that human beings are ready to start paying for Mother Nature's services—and that calculating their financial worth will save the planet.
By David Wolman, David Wolman is the author of "A Left-Hand Turn Around the World" and has written for Wired, Newsweek Discover and other magazines.
Gretchen Daily, an ecologist at Stanford University, wears butterfly-patterned socks. She's a careful recycler and bikes to work. She composts.
So what's she doing hanging out with guys from Goldman Sachs?
As a tried-and-true "green," she believes she doesn't have a choice.
"Time is running short," she says. "Appealing to moral sense isn't enough anymore. We have to make conservation fit mainstream business calculations."
In her fourth-floor office in the Herrin Labs just off Stanford's main quad, Daily, a professor of biological sciences and director of the tropical research program at Stanford's Center of Conservation Biology, shows me what she means. She clicks open a series of digital maps compiled for a meeting in New York with Goldman Sachs. The maps' rich purple-and-blue hues convey information about California's Central Coast eco-region, which stretches from Santa Barbara north to Napa County and includes San Francisco Bay. Daily explains how each image tells a story of the terrain's value—not property value as a real estate agent would figure it but value in terms of service to mankind. Where the terrain offers a high degree of flood protection, for example, the map is the brightest purple; where the flood-protecting function is comparatively low, the color is light blue. The ecosystems providing the most overall value to people are shaded to indicate highest priority.
If Daily and her colleagues can get Wall Street on board, the maps will also be shaded to indicate financial worth.

http://www.latimes.com/features/magazine/west/la-tm-greenies06feb11,0,7457674.story?coll=la-home-magazine


The DAWN

Probe into Nato 'incursion'
By Saleem Shahid
QUETTA, Feb 8: The authorities are investigating an incident in which a man was killed and two others injured allegedly by Nato and Afghan forces who had crossed into Pakistani territory in the Zhob district.
The incident reportedly occurred in Karez Qamaruddin village, a remote area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border
Local people claimed that Nato and Afghan troops had crossed into Pakistani area and attacked Killi Haji Qamar early on Wednesday morning.
However, according to agency reports, Nato officials have denied the allegation and said that no Nato force was deployed in that area.
But a man claiming to have been injured in the attack said that Nato and Afghan soldiers had entered at least 600 meters inside Pakistani territory, adding that they were in three pick-up trucks and two armoured vehicles and they tried to search the village for Taliban and Al Qaeda suspects.
The man, Mohammad Khan, was talking to reporters in the Civil Hospital in Zhob. He said that the troops started firing on them when they refused to allow them to search their homes. He named the man killed in the firing as Mohammad Ismail.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/top4.htm



$5.4bn power plan approved
By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The government on Thursday approved a plan to set up 11 power projects to cope with expected energy shortage of about 2000MW in coming years.
A mix of hydel-, coal- and gas-based projects, the $5.4 billion power projects would generate about 4,200 MW of electricity in three to seven years.
A meeting of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) presided over by Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi decided to issue letters of interest to AES Corporation of the United States and Mitsui Corporation of Japan to conduct feasibility studies and then set up two power projects of 1000-1200MW each to be based on imported coal.
The coal-based projects would take about five years to start production with an estimated cost of $2.5 billion. The sponsors would be required to complete their feasibility studies in about one year and then complete construction of projects in about four years.
The board directed Wapda to instal a 100MW power plant in Khuzdar on a fast-track basis to improve the power supply situation in Balochistan, particularly in the Khuzdar area.
The meeting also approved a decision of the prime minister to set up another 450MW power plant based on low quality gas from the Uch field in Balochistan, instead of Sindh. These two projects are estimated to cost about $550 million.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/top2.htm



Baitullah denies role in suicide bombings
By Alamgir Bhitani
TANK, Feb 8: Militant commander Baitullah Mehsud has denied involvement in recent incidents of suicide attacks in the NWFP and Islamabad and challenged the government to produce any evidence of his involvement.
"I have no hand in the suicide attacks. But if the government has any evidence, proving my involvement, it should be brought before public," he told tribal mediators at an undisclosed location in the restive South Waziristan Agency on Wednesday night.
After the recent spate of terrorist acts in the country, the agency's administration formed a 21-member jirga, headed by tribal Senator Saleh Shah, to hold talks with Baitullah Mehsud who had vowed to avenge the Jan 16 Zamazola airstrike in which his 10 supporters were killed and eight others injured.
"Yes, I still stand by my words to avenge the Zamazola air strike, because it was quite painful and I was deeply hurt. As far as the suicide attacks are concerned, I have nothing to do with these incidents," Senator Shah quoted Baitullah as saying.
The senator told journalists that Baitullah, who had signed a peace deal with the government in February 2005, denied his involvement in the suicide bombings in Peshawar, Islamabad, Dera Ismail Khan and Tank and told the jirga that he had never accepted responsibility for the attacks.
"I was willing to abide by the peace deal but the government breached it by killing innocent people in Zamazola," the senator quoted the military commander as saying.
Baitullah Mehsud also criticised a statement of President Pervez Musharraf about "eliminating me". "It will not be the murder of an individual, but of the entire Waziristan Agency," claimed Baitullah.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/top5.htm



Disappearances new form of abuse: HRCP
By Jamal Shahid
ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has accused the government and its security apparatus of exercising a 'horrific pattern' of forced disappearances of its opponents, and described it as a 'new form of human rights abuse' in the country.
The commission's annual report for 2006 launched on Thursday described the forced disappearances 'a highly disturbing trend', which was increasing at an alarming rate. Citizens across the country were being picked up by intelligence agencies and taken to be detained in secret locations while some had been handed over to the US, the report said.
Spread over 340 pages, the report details the rights issues in 18 separate categories, ranging from law and administration of justice to law and order situation, rape and other atrocities against women, rights of children, restrictions of political participation, rights of labour, and issues of health and environment.
However, the report's real emphasis was on the deteriorating situation in Balochistan and Waziristan, the use of military to curb political and religious militancy, and abduction and disappearance of opponents, mainly from the violence-hit areas.
According to the report, the trend of organised disappearances started around 2001 and since then at least 400 persons had gone missing. However, the commission feared the figure was only 'the tip of the iceberg'.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/top3.htm



Musharraf's ME plan acknowledged by US
By Anwar Iqbal
WASHINGTON, Feb 8: President Gen Pervez Musharraf is trying to "band together" Arab and Muslim states to address the Israeli-Palestinian issue and to bridge the threatening Shia-Sunni divide in the Islamic community, says the US State Department.
This is the first US official description of the initiative that Gen Musharraf launched late last month, visiting nine Arab and Muslim states on a mission that even the Pakistani government has not yet defined.
"President Musharraf has made some recent trips around the globe to Arab Muslim states and some non-Arab Muslim states to talk about a couple of … issues," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a briefing in Washington.
"One, how they can band together to address the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and two, also how to, in some way, address the divide within the Muslim community between the Sunni and Shia."
When asked to comment on the initiative, he said: "Any initiatives by responsible parties such as Pakistan or Indonesia or Egypt or Turkey in trying to tackle some of these tough issues in a responsible way are welcome."
The spokesman, however, said that he would defer any specific comment "until we have a better understanding of what it is that is being proposed. As I understand it now, it's still taking shape."
Gen Musharraf stirred world-wide speculations by visiting nine Muslim and Arab capitals one after another while senior government officials in Islamabad described the move as a Middle East peace initiative but gave no details.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/top7.htm



Iran proposes IPI summit
By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, Feb 8: Iran has proposed a tripartite summit with India and Pakistan to agree on a gas pipeline deal but the suddenness of the idea has prompted New Delhi to reserve comment, Indian news reports said on Thursday.
"The summit proposal — which took External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his delegation somewhat by surprise — was made by Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a joint press conference (in Tehran on Wednesday)," The Hindu said in a Front Page report.
Mr Mottaki apparently unexpectedly offered during the Indian foreign minister's ongoing visit to Tehran to host the summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Gen Pervez Musharraf and President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to sign a final agreement on the 2,700-km long pipeline.
Because President Gen Musharraf had only recently visited Tehran for a closely watched meeting with President Ahmedinejad, it is thought that perhaps the idea for the pipeline summit was discussed first between the two.
Whether the move succeeds or gets shot down by India will become clear when Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri arrives in Delhi for a four-day visit on Feb 20, official sources said.
The official reason for Mr Kasuri's visit being whispered on Thursday highlights bilateral agreements, including nuclear risk reduction and the release of each other's detained inmates. If an agreement is also reached on an early visit by the Indian prime minister to Islamabad, the Delhi Saarc summit in April could be a major beneficiary, possibly signalling Gen Musharraf's participation.
As far as The Hindu report goes, Indian officials told the newspaper that Dr Singh could visit Iran this year if ongoing negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement and a double tax avoidance agreement could be concluded quickly. Further movement on their energy and economic fronts was also a factor.
While Mr Mottaki chose to refer to the project as the "peace pipeline," Mr Mukherjee preferred the formal description of 'Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline,' The Hindu observed.


Iran warns of retaliatory strikes on US interests
TEHRAN, Feb 8: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday warned that Iran would hit back at American interests worldwide if the United States attacked the Islamic republic to thwart its nuclear programme.
"They should not intimidate the Iranian people with these things, since the United States has previously attacked Iran," Khamenei said, referring to repeated speculation that Washington plans to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.
"The enemies understand well that the Iranian nation will give a comprehensive response to the aggressors and their interests worldwide," Ayatollah Khamenei added, according to state-run television.
His comments came on the second and final day of war games by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, who on Thursday successfully test-fired a land-to-sea missile with a range of 350 kilometres.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/top11.htm



Peace process can help resolve Kashmir dispute
By Our Correspondent
WASHINGTON, Feb 8: The India-Pakistan peace process could ultimately lead to an understanding between the two neighbours on the Kashmir dispute, according to ambassador Dennis Kux.
An expert on South Asia and a former US ambassador, Mr Kux was the main speaker at a Kashmir Day seminar on Capitol Hill on Wednesday where several speakers described Kashmir as an issue that could lead to a nuclear disaster in South Asia.
Mr Kux termed the Siachen dispute "the most resolvable" conflict in the region but said he did not understand why the two nations had not yet been able to solve it.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/09/top13.htm



Lebanese army told to be on alert
BEIRUT, Feb 8: Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on Thursday ordered the Lebanese army to respond to any new Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty after an overnight cross-border clash.
"Siniora was in contact with the army command... and gave clear orders for the confrontation of any Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty," the state National News Agency reported.
It said Siniora met early on Thursday with Gier Pedersen, the United Nations representative in Lebanon, over the overnight exchange of shots between Lebanese and Israeli troops at the border.
"Siniora informed Pedersen that the Lebanese government rejects these new Israeli aggressions on Lebanese sovereignty," said the agency.
"It is a violation of the Blue Line," the line drawn by the United Nations delineating the Lebanese-Israeli border.
"It is a new violation in addition to the Israeli air violations of Lebanese sovereignty which never stopped after the ceasefire declared last August" ended Israel's war against the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement.
Late on Wednesday, the Lebanese army fired at Israeli troops at the border and Israeli forces returned fire. No casualties were reported on either side.
The incident was sparked by Israeli sappers moving in to clear unexploded ordnance, both sides said.—AFP



Olmert rejects appeal to stop excavation
JERUSALEM, Feb 8: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rejected an appeal by his defence minister to halt excavation work near Jerusalem's most important holy site, the Haaretz daily newspaper reported on Thursday.
The work has angered Palestinians.
"A thorough examination of the matter would reveal that nothing about the work under way will harm anyone, and there is no truth in the contentions against the work," the newspaper quoted Olmert's office as saying.
Defence Minister Amir Peretz had made a written appeal to Olmert.-—Reuters


The Jerusalem Post

Aquifer that provides 20% of water could become unusable
By Zafrir Rinat , Haaretz Correspondent
One of Israel's three sources for fresh water, the coastal aquifer, is in danger of becoming unusable because of contamination, according to data collected by the Water Authority and the Health Ministry.
The data shows that over the past decade, 160 wells were shut down (because of various kinds of contamination) from an overall figure of 1,000 wells, which provide about 20 percent of the country's annual water consumption.
The main sources of contamination are: untreated sewage, salination stemming from the penetration of sea water, agricultural fertilizers and industrial pollutants, including heavy metals and carcinogenic organic products.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/823797.html


'Quartet will not accept new PA gov't'
By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
Iranian influence over Hamas will preclude the Quartet from approving a Palestinian national unity government, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter predicted on Thursday.
He spoke just before Fatah and Hamas leaders announced in Mecca that they had struck a deal on a government that would not require Hamas to abide by previous agreements signed between the PLO and Israel. This agreement violates the Quartet's three principles for recognizing a government which include recognizing Israel, abiding by past agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and renouncing violence.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on the last day of a four-day North American trip, Dichter said that the Saudi-brokered Palestinian cease-fire talks in Mecca "are one of the main issues" that he discussed with his American counterparts during the less than 48 hours in Washington.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359818436&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Lebanese army to keep Hizbullah arms
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT, Lebanon
Lebanon's defense minister said on Friday that a truckload of ammunition belonging to the Hizbullah seized the previous day in an east Beirut suburb, would be used by the Lebanese army in case of future Israeli attacks.
Defense Minister Elias Murr said the ammunitions would not be returned to the Hizbullah as the militants demanded after the seizure Thursday.
"The truck and the weapons are now in the south ... and we will use them tomorrow morning if there is an Israeli violation," Murr said after talks with the new commander of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1170359822382&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Lebanon won't submit complaint to UN
Lebanon reneged Friday on its plan to file a complaint against Israel to the United Nations Security Council over Wednesday's flare-up on the northern border, after UNIFIL accepted Israel's version of events.
IDF tanks shelled a Lebanese army position after the Israeli troops came under fire during an operation to clear mines on the Israeli side of the border two days after five explosive devices were discovered in the area.
Lebanon's Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat told Al Jazeera that "for the moment there is no need to file a complaint. The main message we conveyed to Israel was that we will not sit down and shake hands over violations of our sovereignty."
UNIFIL accepted Israel's version of the episode after inspecting the area and came to the conclusion that an Israeli bulldozer did not cross the Blue Line, the border drawn by the United Nations after Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1170359820070&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


'Border clash was an isolated incident'
By YAAKOV KATZ AND HERB KEINON
A day after clashes erupted between IDF troops and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), a top officer in the Northern Command told The Jerusalem Post Thursday that Hizbullah - as a result of the border flare-up - had readied itself in preparation for additional violence.
The officer stressed, however, that Hizbullah did not appear like it was ready to attack Israel and that the border incident seemed to pass as an isolated incident.
Late Wednesday night, IDF troops searching for Hizbullah bombs inside Israel, although past the northern border security fence, came under fire from nearby Lebanese army troops. In response, an IDF tank fired two shells at an LAF position.
"There is a tense quiet," Deputy Northern Command chief Brig.-Gen. Alon Friedman said Thursday. "All the sides are on the ready, including the LAF and Hizbullah."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359816411&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


US: Too soon to judge Palestinian deal
The United States said Friday it is too soon to tell whether plans for a unified Palestinian government will meet international conditions for legitimacy and financial aid.
"We still haven't seen enough of the details on this to give you an answer," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
Casey said there is no change in the US position that Hamas is a terrorist organization with whom it will not deal and no change in US support for Abbas now that he has agreed to govern alongside the militants.
Casey also said he knows of no plans to scrub or change Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's planned trip to meet with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert later this month.
European Union officials said Friday they were cautiously optimistic about a Palestinian power-sharing deal reached by Hamas and Fatah, but said it was too early to lift an international aid embargo against the Hamas-led government.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359820165&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


NATO seeks more ME training partners
NATO pushed ahead Friday with plans to develop military training with Israel and six Arab nations as part of efforts to boost security cooperation.
"Terrorism, failed states and weapons of mass destruction proliferation are issues we all have to deal with," said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer at a meeting of alliance defense ministers and counterparts from the seven North African and Middle Eastern nations.
Ministers agreed that a special training faculty at NATO's college in Rome should be opened for officers from the seven nations by the end of the year.
De Hoop Scheffer welcomed plans for some of the nations to join NATO's counter-terrorism patrols in the Mediterranean Sea and hold more joint exercises and intensified political contacts.
However, he insisted that the Western alliance has no plans to open bases in the region.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359822515&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


The 'education' of Ethiopian wives
When the TV news would tell of an Ethiopian immigrant who had murdered his wife, "Shoshana" recalls that her ex-husband would say, "Good for him. I'll bet he suffered just like I do. One day I'll do the same thing."
Beaten, cursed and publicly humiliated by her husband, who suspected her of sleeping with every man she said hello to, Shoshana once made a noose for herself and wrote a suicide note, but gave up the plan when her husband discovered it and howled with laughter. When his death threats escalated, she left the house with her two children, called the police and went to a battered woman's shelter in the center of the country. Her husband never went to prison, largely because she refused to testify against him. "He said he'd kill me if I put him in jail," she explains.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1170359811318&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Haaretz

State Department: New PA gov't must meet international demands
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
If the Palestinian Authority wants to have a "broader relationship" with the internationalcommunity, it must recognize Israel, renounce terrorism and accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in response to a deal on a Palestinian unity government reached Thursday night.
The deal between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, which was reached after two days of intensive negotiations in the Saudi city of Mecca, sets out the principles of the unity government, including an ambiguous promise that it will "respect" previous peace deals with Israel, delegates said. The Mecca accord does not address the other two international requirements.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/823843.html


Text of Mecca Accord for Palestinian coalition government
By The Associated Press
MECCA - Under the Palestinians' Mecca Accord, the mainstream Fatah movement and the militant group Hamas agreed on forming a new coalition government that will respect previous peace deals with Israel.
The accord came in the form of a letter from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, designating Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to form the government.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/823792.html


Four Qassams strike western Negev, no damage reported
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
Four Qassam rockets were fired at the western Negev on Friday, two landing next to the
Karmi crossing, and the other two next to the Gaza security fence. There are no reports of damage or injuries at this time.
On Thursday, three rockets were at the Negev, with one striking the industrial zone in South Ashkelon . No damage was caused, but one bystander was rushed to the city's Barzilai Hospital to be treated for shock.
The remaining rockets landed in open fields and in a water-retention facility at Kibbutz Niram, with no damage reported.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/824069.html


Russia jails five teenagers for killing Jewish man
By Reuters
A Russian court sentenced five teenagers to between five and 10 years in jail on Friday for beating a Jewish man to death in a cemetery with a metal cross, media reported.
The court said that in 2005 when they were aged from 12 to 17, the five escorted the 21-year-old victim to the cemetery before attacking him. The agency quoted a court official in the Ural mountains region of Sverdlovsk as saying the murder was racially motivated.
Racism has flourished in Russia since the Soviet collapse, with skinheads killing dozens of dark-skinned foreigners over the past several years.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/824074.html


Hundreds attend reinterment of murdered French Jewish man
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
Hundreds of people participated Friday in a reinterment ceremony in Jerusalem for Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old French Jew kidnapped and fatally tortured by a gang exactly a year ago.
Halimi was laid to rest at the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem.
When Halimi's kidnappers were arrested, they told French police they had selected a Jewish victim because they believed Jews are wealthy. The case shocked the 500,000-strong Jewish community in France and the general public.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/823844.html


ANALYSIS: New PA government creates a real problem for Israel
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
The new Palestinian unity government creates a real problem for Israel. It will be headed by a senior Hamas figure, Ismail Haniyeh. Moreover, it will not recognize Israel and does not pretend to meet the Quartet's conditions, as one Hamas leader said.
Yet the same time, it is not a Hamas government, and Hamas will not have a majority in the cabinet. The finance minister-designate, Salem Fayad, is the White House's darling. The foreign minister-designate, academic Ziad Abu Amar, has lectured at many American universities and does not have extremist positions on Israel. And the interior minister, who commands the security forces, will be an independent rather than a Hamas member, though he will be appointed on Hamas' recommendation.
Under these circumstances, Israel and the U.S. will have trouble demanding that the international economic boycott of the Palestinian government remain in place.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/824039.html


Minimum to lift economic siege
By Zvi Bar'el
For a while, it seemed as though Khaled Meshal was the Palestinian president, rather than Mahmoud Abbas.
In his speech, Meshal stressed the commitment to stop the bloodshed among the Palestinian factions and continued cooperation with Abbas. He did not utter a word about the political issues the two had agreed upon.
In the government appointment letter, Abbas called on Ismail Haniyeh to honor (not to commit to) the signed agreements (without saying with whom) and to honor the international decisions and the Arab League's resolutions.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/823814.html



The Cheney Observer

The Libby Trial: Time Magazine Reporter Testifies Karl Rove First Revealed Identity of CIA Operative Valerie Plame
We end today's program with the latest on the trial of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Former Time Magazine reporter Matt Cooper testified Wednesday that it was President Bush's political advisor, Karl Rove, who first revealed the CIA status of Valerie Plame. Cooper is the second reporter to testify at Libby's perjury and obstruction trial. On Tuesday, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller was called to the witness stand. In her second day of testimony, Miller acknowledged that she had conversations with other government officials and could not be "absolutely certain" that she first heard about Plame from Libby. One of Libby's lawyers told the judge that the defense plans to call the managing editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson, to discredit Miller.
The government's other witnesses who have testified in the trial so far include Ari Fleischer, the former White House Press Secretary and Catherine Martin, Dick Cheney's former spokesperson. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said Wednesday that the government expected to finish presenting its case early next week.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/01/1532228#transcript



The Christian Right and the Rise of American Fascism
by Chris Hedges
11/15/04
Third World Traveler
(This is an article by Chris Hedges that no major publication will print.)
Dr. James Luther Adams, my ethics professor at Harvard Divinity School , told us that when we were his age, he was then close to 80, we would all be fighting the "Christian fascists."
The warning, given to me 25 years ago, came at the moment Pat Robertson and other radio and televangelists began speaking about a new political religion that would direct its efforts at taking control of all institutions, including mainstream denominations and the government. Its stated goal was to use the United States to create a global, Christian empire. It was hard, at the time, to take such fantastic rhetoric seriously, especially given the buffoonish quality of those who expounded it. But Adams warned us against the blindness caused by intellectual snobbery. The Nazis, he said, were not going to return with swastikas and brown shirts. Their ideological inheritors had found a mask for fascism in the pages of the Bible.

http://t155.bgtoyou.com/The-Christian-Right-and-the-Rise-of-American-Fascism/



Delay Pays More than $450,000 In Legal Expenses
(February 1, 2007)--Republican Tom DeLay's congressional committee reports paying more than $454,000 for legal expenses in the last quarter of 2006.
Details come from PoliticalMoneyLine, a Web site that tracks campaign fund-raising and spending.
The embattled former US House majority leader quit Congress in June.
The Houston-area lawmaker faces charges in Austin as part of an investigation into the allegedly illegal use of funds for state legislative races.
DeLay has denied the allegations.
Members of Congress filed 2006 year-end reports this week.
Election Commission: www.fec.gov



Investigation closed into NASA chief's comments about DeLay
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The feds have closed a review of whether NASA's chief administrator broke the law by urging an audience to support former U-S House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
But the Office of Special Counsel sent a warning letter to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin -- saying he should have used better judgment in his remarks.
The review found Griffin did not break a law against using official authority to influence an election.
The Office of Special Counsel investigated Griffin's remarks last March to an audience at a Rotary Club banquet in Houston, near DeLay's district.
Griffin had been introduced by the Republican congressman, who at the time was seeking re-election and remains under indictment for alleged violations of campaign-finance rules.
DeLay quit Congress in June.
A spokesman says Griffin had no intention of making a political endorsement.

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=6007085&nav=0w0v


Brownback has been parading around conservative corners and reactionary rallies stumping that he is the only Reaganesque full-fledged Conservative in the running.
This ideological nonsense has won him at least one supporter.
As you can see in the quote, DeLay hasn't come to terms with his poison-pill status. We knew he was corrupt, but this stupid? Wow.

http://bluetiderising.blogspot.com/2007/02/tom-delay-endorses-brownback.html



DeLay warns former colleagues against endorsing presidential hopefuls early
By Susan Crabtree
As GOP presidential contenders scramble to cast themselves as conservatives to appeal to primary voters, former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) yesterday cautioned right-leaning Republican lawmakers against endorsing a candidate with nearly two years to go before the election.
DeLay issued his words of warning hours after former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) publicly endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican presidential nomination.
"I'm a little surprised that Hastert endorsed this early," DeLay said in an interview. "It's not usually what Denny does — he's usually very methodical and thinks things through, although he may have already in the last few months."
Although DeLay gave up his seat over the summer following his indictment in a campaign-finance case and continues to fight conspiracy and money-laundering charges, he remains influential in conservative circles. He recently formed the Grassroots Action and Information Network, an online organization dedicated to fostering conservative beliefs and countering the liberal voices in the blogosphere and elsewhere on the Web.

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/TheHill/News/Frontpage/012407/delay.html



Law & Order: Coulter 'Causes' Murder,
Has Drinks With Limbaugh
The plot of tonight's (Friday) Law & Order on NBC will revolve around a "right-wing" character who is clearly inspired by Ann Coulter and who brags about having a drink with "Rush." In a 20 second promo aired this week for the February 2 episode that will air at 10pm EST/PST, the announcer touts how "a controversial speaker causes a campus shooting." A detective calls the Coulter character "a real pain in the a[ss]-" before the promo cuts to a scene of her excusing herself from the DA's office: "I've got drinks with Rush."

http://www.proudtobecanadian.ca/index/weblog/comments/video_ann_coulter_causes_murder_in_tonights_law_order/#When:18:17:01Z



Life is Harsher in New Guantanamo Unit
All expressed a desperate desire for sunlight, fresh air and someone to speak to, located on the U.S. military base in southeastern Cuba, where the U.S. holds nearly 400 men suspected of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
Wells Dixon, who represents clients held at Guantanamo, predicted the lack of human interaction in Camp 6 will cause detainees to lose their grip on reality.
"It will very soon become an insane asylum," he told The Associated Press in a phone interview after he returned from the base.
It's very hard to believe most here are not on charges and no one at the prison has been convicted.
Camp 6 was built for $37 million by KBR, a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton Co. Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock options have risen 3281 percent in the last year, ...and they are still soaring!

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/105886/Life_is_Harsher_in_New_Guantanamo_Unit



Life harsher for detainees in Guantanamo 's newest prison unit
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba : Detainee Abdul Helil Mamut's good behavior earned him a spot in a medium-security compound at the Guantanamo Bay prison, where he slept in a barracks, shared leisurely meals with other prisoners and could spend more than half the day in an outdoor recreation area.
But in December, Mamut was transferred along with dozens of other prisoners from Camp 4 to the maximum-security Camp 6, the newest section of Guantanamo Bay's military prison.
Billed by the government as a modern addition that improves the lives of detainees, the new unit houses 160 men — more than a third of the total at Guantanamo — and is similar to the highest-security U.S. prisons, even though no one at the prison has been convicted of a crime.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/03/news/CB-GEN-Guantanamo-Harder-Time.php



Changing the Subject: From Bush's Mess in Mesopotamia to the Peril in Persia
President Bush faces a rebellion among the American people and Congress against his call for a surge of troops that will escalate the killing in his Iraq war of choice.

So Bush is now attempting to change the subject from the monumental mess of his making in Mesopotamia to an even more monstrous peril in Persia.

Iraq and Iran are contemporary names for the ancient civilizations known as Mesopotamia and Persia.

Bush lacks public and Congressional support to widen the war in Iraq. His oft-stated cause for war---that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction for imminent use against the U.S. and was complicit in the 9/11 attacks---has proven to be fabrication. Bush appears puppet-like under the influence of Vice-President Cheney and his cabal of neo-con warmongers, the principle architects of the imperialistic mis-adventure in Iraq. We are facing another fear driven, made-up run-up to an even more costly war against Iran to divert our attention from the debilitating debacle in Iraq that has taken such a terrible toll in lives, suffering and money, and to make more money for oil and war profiteers.

By February 1, 2007, Bush/Cheney's Iraq War had killed 3088 U.S. military personnel, 130 Brits and 123 more coalition troops.

770 U.S. civilian contractors were also killed by January 28th. Bush/Cheney's war of folly has killed about 655,000 Iraqis, according to a study led by Gilbert Burnham of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. By January 28, 2007, 23,114 U.S. military personnel had been wounded in action.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=12027


Bush Budget Hikes War Funding
(02-02) 19:14 PST WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Keeping troops in Iraq for another year and a half will cost nearly a quarter-trillion dollars — about $800 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. — under the budget President Bush will submit to Congress Monday.
Bush will ask for $100 billion more for military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year and seek $145 billion for 2008, a senior Pentagon official said Friday. Those requests come on top of about $344 billion spent for Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
At the same time, Bush's budget request will propose cost curbs on Medicare providers, a cap on subsidy payments to wealthier farmers and an increase to $4,600 in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students.
Bush's proposal, totaling almost $3 trillion for the budget year starting Oct. 1, will kick off a major debate with the new Democratic-controlled Congress. Democrats are sure to press for more money for domestic programs, and they've signaled they won't consider renewing Bush's tax cuts until closer to 2010, when they are to expire.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/02/02/national/w132010S83.DTL


Libby's Approximate Date
As astute readers have noted, there is a key detail from the note Libby wrote in June 2003 recording the information Cheney had just passed along, that Plame worked in the Counter-Proliferation Department of the CIA.
The day recorded in the date was changed. And it has a squiggly line indicating an approximation.
This suggests the possibility that Libby changed the date to make it less incriminating. And that he added the squiggly line to further obscure the date. Which of course leads me to suspect that the date might have real significance.
Now, before I lay out four scenarios explaining the sensitivity of the date, let me just say--it gets worse.
You see, Libby admitted to the FBI that this was dated after the fact (and somewhere, though I can't find it, someone admits that the day was changed).

http://mparent7777.blogspot.com/2007/02/libbys-approximate-date.html


May 29: At one of two Deputies meetings both attended, Libby asks Grossman about the Wilson trip. Grossman asks Armitage (who knows nothing), then asks Kansteiner and Ford, who know it was Joe. Grossman asked for a report. …

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/files/us_v_libby_gx104_plame_cp.pdf


CIA-Gate Scandal Resurfaces
Washington , Feb 2 (Prensa Latina) Former top aid of US President George W. Bush, Lewis Libby, arranged with VP Richard Cheney to punish US diplomats critical of the US war on Iraq.
Federal sources said Libby, top defendant in the CIA-gate scandal, planned with Cheney to leak to the press the name of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, wife of ex Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
The action generated a political crisis four years back that led to a judicial probe.
The Washington Times said the collusion surfaced in the testimony by FBI officer Deborah Bond who claims to have evidence that they discredited Wilson for criticizing President Bush.
The revelation confirms allegations by defense attorney Theodore Wells that Libby was sacrificed to protect Bush's political strategist Karl Rove.
Wells described Libby as a disciplined executive that followed orders. He was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, for which he could get 30 years in jail.

http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7BC4FECF50-0BCE-42A7-8005-C109D6AD1698%7D)&language=EN


Clint Eastwood on Bush’s approach of converting people to Democracy: “Naive”

By: John Amato on Friday, February 9th, 2007 at 7:03 AM - PST
Clint was at Pebble Beach with Neil Cavuto and spent some time talking about his films, Iraq and George Bush. Cavuto kept prodding Clint in that swarmy style he has about the big, bad "Hollywood liberal" theme, but Clint gently steered him away from it.
Eastwood on Bush:…(H)e genuinely believes–I just don't happen to believe with him–on making…converting people to a democracy overnight or even in a ten year period. I just think that's a little bit naive to approach it that way…
Remember when Million Dollar Baby came out and the Michael Medveds of the world attacked it because of the euthanasia aspect of the film? Eastwood replied that there was no agenda, other than to tell a good story and make you think. Cavuto only wanted to keep pushing Eastwood to defend scenes which didn't relect the FoxNews conservative/jingoistic viewpoint of the world and Eastwood easily brushed them aside.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/02/09/clint-eastwood-on-bushs-approach-of-converting-people-to-democracy-naive/


Towards a Sociological Understanding of American Islamophobia
The widespread harassment, imprisonment, and deportation targeting Arabs and Muslims has been called the “new McCarthyism”.[1] Yet U.S. government officials maintain that this new “war on terrorism” is not against any specific group but those who seek to attack innocent civilians and hate “our freedoms” and “way of life”.[2] In this article, I seek to determine if there is a systematic persecution of Muslims buttressed by widespread intolerance. Since there is essentially no serious scholarly treatment of this topic, I will also examine the usefulness of current sociological models used to understand racism.
Historical Background: Early Manifestations
There is a strong link between treatment of Arabs and Muslims in America and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Official government suspicion of the entire “Arabic speaking population” as potential terrorists in America began with the Nixon administration following the Munich affair at the 1972 Olympics. “Operation Boulder”, a systematic violation of constitutionally-guaranteed rights of U.S. citizens with Middle-Eastern descent, was justified by the supposed objective of thwarting Palestinian terrorist attacks, even though the only successful and attempted verified acts of domestic terrorism in connection with the Arab-Israeli conflict were committed against Arabs and Muslims by the Jewish Defense League (JDL).[3]

http://www.studentsforahumansociety.org/?p=60


NBC newsman wraps up testimony
February 08, 2007 15:50 EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The prosecution is resting its case against a former White House aide, following some courtroom drama involving a Sunday morning T-V host.
Tim Russert of "Meet the Press" was the last prosecution witness in the Lewis Libby trial. Libby is accused of lying to investigators tracing the source of a leak about a C-I-A operative.
Along with being a newsman, Russert is also a law school graduate. And during a tense cross-examination, he was able to avoid several traps put out by Libby's lawyer, who tried criticizing Russert's ethics.
Still, Russert looked uncomfortable at times. That includes when he was asked why he willingly talked to the F-B-I about a chat with Libby -- then gave a sworn statement saying it was a confidential talk that he wouldn't testify about. At one point, Libby's lawyer demanded a "yes or no" answer.

http://www.wlos.com/template/inews_wire/wires.national/36c5d8af-www.wlos.com.shtml


“Did You Tell Mr. Libby That Wilson’s Wife Worked at the CIA?” “No.” (Byron York)
National Review ^ 2-8-07 Byron York
Posted on 02/08/2007 4:25:17 PM PST by STARWISE
Tim Russert testifies at the Libby trial.
Tim Russert’s testimony at the perjury and obstruction of justice trial of Lewis Libby presented a dilemma for the left-wing netroots critics of the Bush administration who have come to the federal courthouse in Washington to watch the proceedings.
On the one hand, they can’t stand Libby and, even more, Libby’s old boss, Vice President Dick Cheney. But on the other hand, they can’t stand Tim Russert, either. Whose side to take?
Neither, of course. But what became clear by the close of court yesterday was this: Yes, the netroots types hate Cheney and Libby. But they really hate Tim Russert.
“Tim Russert hobbled into the courtroom this afternoon on crutches,” noted Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post. (He broke his ankle several weeks ago.)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1781637/posts


Prosecutors Rest In Libby Perjury Trial
POSTED: 4:18 pm EST February 8, 2007
UPDATED: 4:50 pm EST February 8, 2007
WASHINGTON -- The prosecution has rested its case against a former White House aide, following some courtroom drama involving a Sunday morning TV host.
Tim Russert, of "Meet the Press," was the last prosecution witness in the Lewis Libby trial. Libby is accused of lying to investigators tracing the source of a leak about a CIA operative.
Along with being a newsman, Russert is also a law school graduate. And during a tense cross-examination, he was able to avoid several traps put out by Libby's lawyer, who tried criticizing Russert's ethics.

http://www.wmtw.com/politics/10965341/detail.html


Washington riveted by Libby trial
The prosecution was winding up on Thursday in a perjury trial that has gripped Washington for the past three weeks and seen a parade of witnesses from the Bush administration and the United States media. On Monday it will be the turn of defence lawyers representing Lewis Libby, the former chief of staff to the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, who is also due to give evidence.
At the US district court on Constitution Avenue, within sight of Congress and close to the White House, members of the capital's elite have been shuffling in and out, offering insights into the workings of the notoriously secretive Bush administration. The case has revealed the closeness of the politicians, officials and media and the trade-offs between them.
If Libby is found guilty of perjury, it will be a major embarrassment to the already weakened President George Bush. Libby denies five criminal charges for which he could be fined and jailed.

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleid=298559


Libby defense plans to call top journalists to the stand
Lawyers for I. Lewis Libby Jr. will try to use some of the country's top journalists to rebut the potentially damaging testimony of their colleagues when Mr. Libby begins his defense next week against charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
Among the journalists the Libby defense plans to call is the managing editor of the New York Times, Jill Abramson, who could cast doubt on the testimony last week of a former Times reporter, Judith Miller.
The most well-known journalist the defense plans to call is the assistant managing editor of the Washington Post, Bob Woodward, who first rose to stardom during the Watergate scandal. He has said he learned of Ms. Plame in June 2003 — a month before her identity became public — from the deputy secretary of state at the time, Richard Armitage.
Lawyers for Mr. Libby also want to question an NBC News correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, about a televised interview she gave in October 2003 in which she said she and other journalists were aware that Ms. Plame worked for the CIA before that information was first reported in a July 14, 2003, column by Robert Novak. She later backed off that statement, saying she either misspoke or was confused.
Source: Russell Berman.
The New York Sun

http://www.spj.org/pressnotes.asp?REF=18390



Cheney Testifies, Found in Contempt
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The prosecution in the I. Lewis Libby case called Vice President Dick Cheney to the stand today to testify about comments attributed to him during the federal investigation of leaks involving CIA agent Valerie Plame. OP News Service obtained this exclusive transcript from an unnamed "live blogger" covering the trial in real time.
Judge: Clerk, please swear the Vice President in.
Clerk: Will you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?
Cheney: Go [explicative] yourself.
Judge: Mr. Vice President, please answer the question.
Cheney: It is NOT a legitimate question. You and Wolf Blitzer are impertinate [explicative].
Judge: Sir, be that as it may, I must insist you answer the question or I will find you in contempt.
Cheney: Contempt? That's rich! I'm the [explicative] President, um Vice President, of the United [explicative] States of America. I shoot people in the [explicative] face before breaking for cocktails at the club. And those are just the people I'm found of. You should see what I do to the enemies of America!
Judge: Sir, please!
Cheney: Yeah! OK, I'll tell my version of the truth.

http://omnipotentpoobah.blogspot.com/2007/02/cheney-testifies-found-in-contempt.html


Timothy P. Carney: Sweeping Boeing’s bank under the rug
Timothy P. Carney, The Examiner
Read more by Timothy P. Carney
Feb 9, 2007 12:00 AM (19 hrs ago)
Current rank: # 580 of 14,689 articles
WASHINGTON - President Bush’s budget proposes cutting nearly all funding for the favorite government agency of many American big businesses — and they’re just thrilled.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States is a federal agency that loans money and guarantees loans to foreign governments and companies to help the foreign buyers buy American goods.
In recent years, Congress has appropriated more than $900 million for Ex-Im, but this year, the president’s budget calls for only $1 million, a 99 percent reduction. This is hardly a step by the president to abolish corporate welfare, but rather a move to reduce the scrutiny of corporate welfare by making Ex-Im self-financing.
Ex-Im is a posterboy for corporate welfare. Its mission is to transfer money from U.S. taxpayers, through foreign buyers, and ultimately into the pockets of American companies. While the agency touts its support for small business, a vast majority of its money goes to subsidize sales by the largest corporations in America.

http://www.examiner.com/a-556142~Timothy_P__Carney__Sweeping_Boeing_s_bank_under_the_rug.html


Bolivia: Evo’s report card
[Cochabamba, Bolivia] Seven years ago the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba exploded onto the world’s business pages because of its rejection of a World Bank-backed plan to privatise its water services. When the San Francisco-based utility Bechtel put tariffs up by 50% without any improvement in service quality, the citizens decided enough was enough. Their resistance not only saw the end of Bechtel’s Bolivian adventures [the company eventually settled for 30 cents], but led to the rejection of other privatisation deals across the country.
Evo Morales, who earned his stripes as a union leader in the province of Cochabamba, was instrumental in leading the popular affront against lop-sided foreign private contracts. A year into power, Bolivia’s first ever indigenous president has made steps to reorder Bolivia’s economy towards a more equitable investment pattern. But not only is changing entrenched economic structures harder than his leftist supporters had expected, Mr. Morales’ attempts at reform are also leaving him with growing domestic opposition. Last month, a nationwide debate over greater regional autonomy spilled over on the streets of Cochabamba. Two people died and 160 were injured in the ensuing violence.

http://ethicalcorporation.blogspot.com/2007/02/bolivia-evos-report-card.html


War Profiteering Exposed To The Light Of Day
by Thomas L. Walsh
For at least three years, the "liberal media" slept soundly for the most part as the Bush administration created its unfathomable mess in Iraq.
Now, within the last year, the din of the media objecting to its ham-fisted incompetence in all things to do with Iraq has become a deafening crescendo, obliterating almost any other news.
While the administration's hard-shelled support base has by now dropped below thirty per cent, there remains one group of silent, unwavering, and immensely powerful supporters who remain firmly at the president's side.
I am speaking of the many corporations who have unquestioningly funded his election campaigns, as a means of bolstering and continuing their avaricious war profiteering.
Yes folks, this war and its uniquely Republican method of steering billions, not millions of taxpayers' dollars toward the dreamy GOP philosophy of privatization, has been an unprecedented boon for these corporations.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_thomas_l_070208_war_profiteering_exp.htm


THE OPPORTUNIST 'PRIVATE CONTRACTORS' IN IRAQ SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THERE. It was an illegal war that true patriots should have never participated in, but, where money is more important that the honor and dignity of a country,mercenaries take over and expect 'the country' to follow in some kind of misconceived definition of patriotic purpose. I don't think so.


Army Says It Will Withhold $19.6 Million From Halliburton, Citing Potential Contract Breach
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 — The Army announced during a House oversight committee hearing on Wednesday that it would withhold $19.6 million from the Halliburton Company after recently discovering that the contractor had hired the company Blackwater USA to provide armed security guards in Iraq, a potential breach of its government contract.
The Army has said that its contracts with Halliburton, which has a five-year, $16 billion deal to support American military operations in Iraq, generally barred the company and its subcontractors from using private armed guards. But in a statement, Halliburton disagreed with the Army’s interpretation and suggested that there was nothing to prohibit Halliburton’s subcontractors from hiring such guards.
The announcement came during a hearing of the House Government Oversight Committee that included emotional testimony about the killing of four Blackwater employees in Falluja, Iraq, in 2004.
In an e-mail message made public in the hearing and written only hours before the four were killed, another Blackwater worker told the company to end the “smoke and mirror show” and provide its employees in the war zone with adequate weapons and armored vehicles.
“I need ammo,” the worker, Tom Powell, said in an e-mail message dated March 30, 2004, to supervisors at Blackwater, which is based in North Carolina. “I need Glocks and M4s — all the client body armor you got,” he wrote. “Guys are in the field with borrowed stuff and in harm’s way.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/washington/08waxman.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1171080406-D4Ng5AiAdi0+JLGBKhCtIQ

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