Michael Moore Today
“Sicko” trailer
How do you pre-approve an emergency ambulance ride with your insurance? This and many more questions are sure to be raised when Michael Moore's documentary 'Sicko' takes on the health care industry.
http://us.video.aol.com/player/launcher?pmmsid=1911879
Michael Moore CNN Sicko
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoBxTGc6iHI
Chat with Michael Moore about 'SiCKO'
by Michael Moore
Mon May 21, 2007 at 08:57:06 AM PDT
Hello! I'm blogging from Cannes today. Things are pretty crazy around here.
The response to "SiCKO" has been overwhelming. I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks for all the support I received last Friday when I posted my letter to Secretary Paulson here, regarding his attempt to go after me for shooting a scene from "SiCKO" in Cuba. Leave it to those knuckleheads in the Bush administration to once again use our government agencies for political purposes.
Anyway, I promised I would be back to chat, so here I am.
Okay, here we go!
Before we begin, I would like to comment on some recent developments that have occurred regarding the Bush Administration’s investigation of ‘SiCKO.’
I offer these thoughts more in sadness than in anger.
Yesterday, the New York Post indicated that the Bush Administration is now investigating the individual 9/11 workers featured in ‘SiCKO’ for getting medical attention.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/21/11576/5857
May 22nd, 2007 10:43 am'
Sicko' spawns Moore fever in Cannes
By Jill Lawless / Associated Press
CANNES, France - In Cannes, Michael Moore is a rock star — mobbed by fans, assailed by cameras and forced to wolf down a plate of pasta between his latest interview and his next live TV appearance.
Moore's documentary "Sicko" — a ferocious attack on the U.S. health care industry — is the talk of the film festival, and he is hot property. Moore caught his breath Monday to tell The Associated Press about the urgent need to reform America's health system, and why he thinks the Bush administration is out to get him.
"It's a government that's funded by the pharmaceutical companies and the health insurers, so I'm not surprised they're coming after me," said Moore, who is being investigated by the U.S. Treasury Department for traveling to Cuba for one of the segments in his film.
"I'm surprised they're doing it so soon. I didn't think they'd want to draw attention to the movie this early on."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9825
May 22nd, 2007 10:01 am
Is There a Docu in the House? Moore Unspools a Second Opinion
By William Booth / Washington Post
CANNES, France, May 21 -- Michael Moore, hero or antichrist, punching bag/gas bag, Bush hater or truth teller. We're not going to settle this one today. And that's the point. The revolutionary filmmaker, who shattered all box-office records for a documentary with his last effort, "Fahrenheit 9/11," has returned to the Cannes Film Festival with another log to throw on the bonfire, his new film, "Sicko." Perhaps the most improbable 116 minutes ever conceived, it is a film about . . . health insurance!
"It's crazy. Like, what were we thinking? Like, 'Honey, it's Friday night; why don't we go down to the mall and watch a movie about Blue Cross coverage?' Or a guy asking some girl on a date, 'Hey. Hey. I got us two tickets to a health-care documentary, wanna go?' It's about hospital waiting rooms -- in Canada."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9823
May 20th, 2007 9:42 am
Michael Moore makes triumphant Cannes return with provocative documentary 'Sicko'
By Jill Lawless / Associated Press
CANNES, France --"Sicko," Michael Moore's attack on the U.S. health care system, got a warm welcome at Cannes Saturday that marked the director's triumphant return to the film festival and a respite from the controversy his work has started at home.
More than 2,000 people applauded loudly after the film's first Cannes screening at the packed Grand Theatre Lumiere, the main festival auditorium.
"I know the storm awaits me back in the United States," said Moore as he absorbed the enthusiastic response of critics and journalists.
The movie doesn't open until late June, but it has already been criticized by conservative politicians in the United States over scenes in which the filmmaker takes ailing 9/11 rescuers to Cuba for treatment.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9820
Michael Moore hopes 'Sicko' disgusts you
The documentary filmmaker wants Americans to change the healthcare system.
By John Horn / Los Angeles Times
CANNES, FRANCE — Michael Moore and his movies have always been hard to miss. But with "Sicko," his acidic new documentary about healthcare, there's suddenly less of the filmmaker and his usual methods.
Not wanting the limelight, Moore is forgoing the competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where he won the top prize with 2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11." In "Sicko," he isn't chasing down insurance and pharmaceutical executives for confrontational interviews. The famously outsized filmmaker, having spent several years studying healthcare, even has lost 25 pounds — "One way to fight the system," he says, "is to take better care of yourself." But what's most striking about "Sicko" is that Moore's current target is much harder to pinpoint.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9824
May 20th, 2007 8:02 am
Rose Ann DeMoro: "Sicko" Diagnoses a Cure for the Nation
By Rose Ann DeMoro / HuffingtonPost.com
Perhaps the exponents of expediency just haven't met the rescue heroes of September 11 still plagued by debilitating respiratory illnesses, but unable to get the healthcare they need in the country they volunteered to help in our hour of despair.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9818
May 12th, 2007 4:05 am
Moore blasts Bush over film-trip probe
By David Germain / Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Filmmaker Michael Moore has asked the Bush administration to call off an investigation of his trip to Cuba to get treatment for ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers for a segment in his upcoming health-care expose, "Sicko."
Moore, who made the hit documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" assailing President Bush's handling of Sept. 11, said in a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Friday that the White House may have opened the investigation for political reasons.
"For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community," Moore said in the letter, which he posted on the liberal Web site Daily Kos. "These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves, without coverage and without care.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9786
American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 3431
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
Public Punditry Contest!
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2007/03/public-punditry-contest.html
The Nightwatchman
http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
by Jeremy ScahillMarch 2007 - ISBN: 156025979
http://www.nationbooks.org/book.mhtml?t=scahill
Dishonorable Deceptions (The Grandmotherly Type) – A Journalist Investigation
Army Recruiters Caught on Hidden CameraThe United States Army insists that it's not so desperate that it would recruit the mentally ill. But now an exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has the Army investigating three of its recruiters.
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/category.asp?C=99556
The Fargo – Moorehead Forum
River tours delayed for high water
High water has forced River Keepers of Fargo-Moorhead to delay S.S. Ruby boat tours on Memorial Day.
Once water levels drop, the boat tours and canoe and kayak rentals will be available.
S.S. Ruby, which debuted in 2001, is a custom-designed pontoon tour boat that travels several miles of the Red River, according the River Keepers’ Web site.
The boat, nicknamed “The Gem of the North,” is owned and operated by group.
No date has been set to start the tours.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166621&freebie_check&CFID=35758604&CFTOKEN=38600091&jsessionid=8830a7bf6b3096168523
Fargo to enact watering restrictions
Beginning Memorial Day and ending Labor Day, Fargo residents’ water use is restricted because of high demand, city officials said in a news release issued this morning.
“We need residents to help conserve our water supply, especially in the summer months when the demand for water rises significantly,” said Ron Hendricksen, water plant superintendent, in a press release.
Residents whose street address ends with an odd number can water their lawn on odd-numbered days. Those with addresses ending in even numbers can water on even-numbered days.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166620
Cuba could buy N.D. spuds
Jon Knutson, The Forum
Published Thursday, May 24, 2007
North Dakota officials are optimistic Cuba will agree to buy potatoes grown in the state.
But several barriers - including obtaining travel visas for Cuban inspectors who would come to North Dakota - must be overcome first.
State Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson is in Havana, Cuba, with an 18-person delegation of state officials and agricultural producers who hope to sell potatoes and several other ag commodities to the Cubans.
Cuba wants to diversify its source of imported seed and tablestock potatoes by buying North Dakota spuds, Johnson said.
America's 45-year embargo stops most trade between the two countries.
Read more about the trade trip in Friday's Forum.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166619
Gasp prices
Lindsey Heilman wants to drive home to Bismarck during the Memorial Day weekend, but gas prices are just too high.
“I’m sick of ’em,” said the 21-year-old Minnesota State University Moorhead student. “I would like to go home more often, but I just can’t.”
Gas prices nationwide have reached record highs, even after adjusting for inflation.
Statistics show North Dakota’s gas prices normally hover at or below the national average. But as of Wednesday morning, North Dakota’s average price of $3.36 per gallon was the 12th-highest of all states.
That level was also 4 cents above the national average, according to GasBuddy.com, a Web site that keeps track of daily gas prices across the United States.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166596§ion=news
Gas expense comparison tool (page down to heading Gasp prices)
http://www.in-forum.com/index.cfm
or page down to find on this page
http://www.in-forum.com/specials/
Wahpeton soldier mourned
WAHPETON, N.D. – Friends of Army Staff Sgt. David Kuehl remembered the 1999 graduate of Wahpeton High School on Wednesday as a quiet, hardworking man who got along with everyone.
He was also devoted to being a good soldier, they said, a job Kuehl was fulfilling when he was killed in Iraq, according to a statement released by his family.
“We prayed this day would never come, unfortunately, we were notified Tuesday that David lost his life during combat while bravely serving his country,” the family said in a written statement.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166594§ion=news
Power of poultry litter
Benson, Minn. - The gray, sandy mix of turkey droppings and other bits and pieces flowing through Greg Langmo’s fingers back onto the floor of his barn isn’t just funky dirt, it’s fuel.
With 16,000 hens gobbling around him, Langmo is standing on a 15-inch layer of turkey litter – some 750 tons of the stuff – that represents a new source of energy.
It will help fuel a $200 million power plant due to begin full-scale production next month. The
55-megawatt Fibrominn LLC plant will be the first poultry litter-fired power plant in the United States, tapping a novel source of renewable energy to produce enough power for 50,000 homes. Its developers are planning similar plants in other major poultry states.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166568§ion=business
Parents warned about movie ratings
The big movies this summer may not be the best for young eyes.
While “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Spider-Man 3” action figures and school supplies dot store shelves, both movies are rated PG-13. According to the Motion Picture Association, a PG-13 rating indicates parents should “be very careful about the attendance of their under-teenage children.”
While some parents may think the latest blockbuster is too violent for their children, others may decide it’s OK. Either way, they should take an active role in their child’s summer movie schedule before the film rolls.
“I would definitely keep in mind the rating system, but use additional resources to look at those ratings as well as the content of movies,” says Rachel Blumhardt, a counselor with the Village Family Service Center in Fargo.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166558§ion=valleyrr
‘Bug’ should be squashed
“Bug” is a different kind of woman-in-peril movie starring Ashley Judd, which has long been its own specific genre.
Judd is indeed in peril here once again, following “Kiss the Girls” and “Twisted” and the like, but she gets to prove she can actually act with some depth, and not just look pretty under strain. Whatever unexpected ability she shows in the early scenes of this paranoid thriller go utterly to waste, however, as the film spirals ridiculously out of control by the end.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166567§ion=valleyrr
Heffelfinger speaks about balancing priorities by U.S. attorneys
By AMY FORLITI Associated Press Writer The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS
A day after testimony in Washington revealed that party politics were a factor in the hiring of Tom Heffelfinger's successor as U.S. attorney for Minnesota, he said Thursday that U.S. attorneys need to balance federal and local priorities while remaining unbiased in order to be effective.
"An effective U.S. attorney must maintain his or her focus both on the national priorities and their local federal needs," he said. "To do otherwise would either undermine the national public safety, local public safety or both."
The testimony Wednesday of former Justice Department White House liason Monica Goodling also revealed that there was concern that Heffelfinger may have been spending too much time on American Indian issues.
Heffelfinger's speech, before members of the Hennepin County Bar Association, came a week after the public learned that his name was on a January 2006 list of U.S. attorneys who might be considered for removal.
Heffelfinger announced in February of last year that he would resign, and has maintained that it was a personal decision and he was unaware of any concerns the attorney general might have had with his performance.
"I did spent a lot of time on it," Heffelfinger said Wednesday of the American Indian issue. "That's what I was instructed to do" by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. Given the higher rates of violence suffered by American Indians, Heffelfinger said, the time was warranted, but it didn't take away from other priorities.
Heffelfinger oversaw his office's investigation into the 2005 shooting that claimed 10 lives on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in far northern Minnesota. He said Wednesday he wasn't surprised by Goodling's testimony.
"I was very pointed in my dealings with main Justice to continually bring to their attention the need for focus on Native American public safety issues, because of the level of violence," Heffelfinger said.
George Goggleye Jr., chairman of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, said he believes Heffelfinger is an honorable man who fought hard to reduce crime on native lands.
"Not all the high profile crimes happen in Indian Country, but when they do, yeah, he gave us attention because that's his job," Goggleye said. "To be criticized ... as a result of it, that really raises some eyebrows in Indian Country."
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PAU8O80
Conn. AG accuses Best Buy of overcharging customers
Connecticut's attorney general announced a lawsuit Thursday against Best Buy Co. Inc., accusing the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer of deceiving customers with in-store computer kiosks and overcharging them.
The lawsuit accuses Best Buy of denying deals found at the company's Web site, http://www.BestBuy.com. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a lookalike internal Web site.
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PAT8CG1
Target shareholders reject disclosure of political contributions
The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS
Target Corp. shareholders on Thursday rejected a proposal that it disclose political contributions.
The proposal by the pension for firefighters in Kansas City, Mo., won 23 percent of shareholder votes at the company's annual meeting on Thursday.
The company had opposed it, saying it already follows federal, state, and local laws for disclosing political contributions.
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PATR080
N.C. Judge OKs Witness Oaths Using Quran
By STEVE HARTSOE Associated Press Writer The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
RALEIGH, N.C.
Witnesses and jurors being sworn in at state courthouses can take their oath using any religious text, not just the Bible, a judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Paul Ridgeway said both common law and state Supreme Court precedent allow witnesses and jurors to use the text "most sacred and obligatory upon their conscience."
The ruling came after the American Civil Liberties Union argued that limiting that text to the Bible alone was unconstitutional because it favored Christianity over other religions.
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PAUVI02
Study Questions Analysis in JFK Slaying
By JUAN A. LOZANO Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
HOUSTON
New testing on the type of ammunition used in the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy raises questions about whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, according to a study by researchers at Texas A&M University.
However, lead researcher Cliff Spiegelman stresses the study doesn't necessarily support the conspiracy theorists who for decades have doubted Oswald was the lone gunman.
"We're not saying there was a conspiracy. All we're saying is the evidence that was presented as a slam dunk for a single shooter is not a slam dunk," said Spiegelman, a Texas A&M statistics professor and an expert in bullet-lead analysis.
The Warren Commission concluded in 1964 that Oswald fired three shots at Kennedy's motorcade from the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. The U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations agreed in 1979, and found that the two bullets that hit Kennedy came from Oswald's rifle.
The committee's findings were based in part on the testimony of former chemist Vincent Guinn, who said recovered fragments came from only two bullets. Guinn testified the bullets Oswald used, Western-Winchester Cartridge Co. Mannlicher-Carcano bullets, were so unique that it would be possible to distinguish one from another even if they both came from the same box.
But Spiegelman and his fellow researchers, who tested 30 of the same type of bullets, found fragments were not nearly so rare and that bullets within the same box could match one another. One of the test bullets also matched one or more of the assassination fragments…
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PAUSE80
Leak Shuts Down Newly Restarted Reactor
By JAY REEVES Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.
A burst pipe forced the shutdown of a nuclear reactor Thursday, two days after it was restarted for the first time in more than two decades.
The pipe caused 600 gallons of fluid to spill at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant. The liquid was not radioactive and posed no public-safety threat, and no one was hurt, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
The Tennessee Valley Authority restarted the Unit 1 reactor Tuesday following a 22-year shutdown over concerns about safety and management. The reactor is not generating power during testing, but the plant's other two reactors remain online at Browns Ferry, on the Tennessee River in far-north Alabama.
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PAUHO01
Angry Atheists Are Hot Authors
By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
The time for polite debate is over. Militant, atheist writers are making an all-out assault on religious faith and reaching the top of the best-seller list, a sign of widespread resentment over the influence of religion in the world among nonbelievers.
Christopher Hitchens' book, "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," has sold briskly ever since it was published last month, and his debates with clergy are drawing crowds at every stop.
Sam Harris was a little-known graduate student until he wrote the phenomenally successful "The End of Faith" and its follow-up, "Letter to a Christian Nation." Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and Daniel Dennett's "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" struck similar themes - and sold.
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PATDP00
Advocates Worry About Proposed Fines
By GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO Associated Press Writer The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
ATLANTA
Illegal immigrants could fall prey to loan sharks and other unscrupulous lenders if they have to pay $5,000 in fines and thousands more in fees and back taxes as required under the immigration reform measure now before Congress, some advocates are warning.
Many immigrants work low-wage jobs and have virtually no assets. As a result, they often have poor credit and are forced to borrow on the street.
"We're real concerned about the potential for fraud," said Beatriz Ibarra, who studies Hispanic finances for the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy group and a tepid supporter of the draft legislation. "They'll find a way to pay, but how?"
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PATAB00
Other Views: By any name, it’s amnesty
By Cal Thomas, Published Thursday, May 24, 2007
I wish I could believe the president and those senators who claim their agreement on immigration legislation will “fix” the problems of open borders and illegal aliens. I can’t, because the public has had no input into the measure; the last time Congress “fixed” the problem, it got worse; and it appears Democrats and Republicans care more about harvesting votes for their respective parties than doing what’s best for their fellow citizens.
The bill would allow for the hiring of 18,000 additional border patrol agents, construction of 370 miles of fence and 200 miles of vehicle barriers, ground-based radar, camera towers and aerial vehicles. Employers would have to electronically verify new hires within 18 months and all existing employees within three years. The priority of border security first, legalization second sounds good.
Only after the border is secured, say the senators and White House, will the guest-worker program kick in. Again, I wish I could believe this, but when it comes to immigration, I don’t trust either party. It’s a safe bet that once the U.S. government legalizes the illegals, many will not abide by the conditions. What then?
http://www.in-forum.com/Opinion/articles/166550
Hundreds Mourn Eldest of King Children
By ERRIN HAINES Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
ATLANTA
Hundreds gathered Thursday to mourn Yolanda "Yoki" Denise King, the eldest daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who carried his legacy through her art and activism.
Her sister, Bernice, and brothers Martin and Dexter each lit a candle in her memory. Several veterans of the civil rights struggle attended, including Rep. John Lewis, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew and the Rev. Joseph Lowery.
Yolanda King died May 15 in California after collapsing.
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PAT4J80
Ohio Executes Man for Killing Cellmate
By JULIE CARR SMYTH Associated Press Writer The Associated Press - Thursday, May 24, 2007
LUCASVILLE, Ohio
An overweight inmate was executed by injection Thursday after a delay of more than an hour while prison medical staff struggled to find suitable veins in his arms.
The execution of Christopher Newton, who had killed a cellmate in 2001 and insisted on the death sentence, had been set to begin at 10 a.m.
But members of the medical staff at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility struggled to find veins in each arm, said Leo Jennings, a spokesman for the attorney general.
http://www.in-forum.com/ap/index.cfm?page=view&id=D8PASFN80
Forum Editorial: Clean up ag imports from China
Published Thursday, May 24, 2007
Americans are facing an unprecedented food crisis because of lack of controls on raw food products and processed foods from China. The federal Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture are so far behind the Chinese imports curve that only a tiny percentage of food coming from the world’s most populous country is inspected before it hits the grocery shelves.
The inspection system is so inadequate that even pet food containing Chinese ingredients and processed in Canada got into the United States and sickened or killed hundreds of animals. The pet food was infused with melamine, a toxic substance that indicates the food contains high-quality protein. Pet owners in the United States bought top-name food for their animals and got poison. Just this week Chinese toothpaste sold in Central America was found to contain a deadly chemical. No word yet if the toothpaste is marketed in the United States.
But it’s not just about pet food and toothpaste.
In recent weeks livestock originating in China has been quarantined either for disease or chemical contaminants banned in U.S. livestock. A report a few weeks ago found catfish fillets from fish raised in China’s giant aquatic farms were tainted with bacteria and heavy metals.
http://www.in-forum.com/Opinion/articles/166549
Scott Fergen, Fargo, letter: Loss of businesses serious for Moorhead
Published Thursday, May 24, 2007
It would seem to me that if people like Lauri Shanks (Moorhead city councilwoman) and Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, are going to promote a smoking ban in bars in Moorhead that they could come up with some out-of-the-box thinking to support the loss of business that will unquestionably be felt by these businesses. It’s been a long time since Moorhead business had any representation.
Just look at downtown Moorhead compared to downtown Fargo. Downtown Moorhead looks like a ghost town, and it’s about to get worse.
I would be willing to bet that Moorhead representatives and lawmakers end up supporting those downtown Fargo smoke-filled restaurants at some point. It might be the only option.
Tagine a taste of Africa
A tagine is a Moroccan stew. It may be made of meat or poultry and vegetables cooked with preserved lemons, olives, garlic and spices. But there are also vegetarian versions. All are most often served with couscous.
The vessel in which tagines are made is also called a tagine. It is composed of plate below with a high lid that curves upward. Some are decorative and just made for serving. Others are made for use on the stovetop and in the oven and still others must be used only in the oven.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166465§ion=columnists&columnist=Andrea%20Hunter%20Halgrimson
Rev. Falwell’s undeniably divisive but successful legacy
Jane Ahlin, The Forum
Published Sunday, May 20, 2007
Jane Ahlin teaches English as an adjunct faculty member at MSUM. A former commentator for KDSU (ND Public Radio), she has written for The Forum opinion pages since 1989. Her column appears Sundays in The Forum.
A few years ago while talking to a young couple with a pre-school-age daughter who were from the South, the subject of TV programs for kids came up. We were laughing about a few that were new since the time the young couple (and my children) were kids, such as “Dora” and “Barney.” Then I mentioned “Teletubbies,”and I saw a quick look pass between the two of them
“We don’t let her watch ‘Teletubbies,’ the husband finally said. “It’s got some hidden stuff that’s not good.”
Nothing more on the subject was said, but I couldn’t help thinking, “Score another one for Rev. Jerry Falwell.” Although I didn’t “get” why Falwell, who died this past week, insisted Tinky Winky, a purple blobby figure with a triangle on its head and a red bag on its arm, was a covert public television attempt at foisting off a “homosexual agenda” on children, it was clear the young couple did. What I saw as homophobic silliness, they saw as threat. And we were all too polite to discuss why we saw things so differently.
Decrying Tinky Winky wasn’t the most outrageous of Falwell’s remarks over the years, of course. In melding politics with pulpit, his legacy includes truly offensive things. For instance, his remark after 9/11 about God lifting protection from America because of feminists and gays, etc., was bizarre and hateful.
http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=166262§ion=columnists&columnist=Jane%20Ahlin
Sydney Morning Herald
Water crisis 'may hit energy supply next year'
THE impact of the long drought on the security of Australia's electricity supply will be discussed at a meeting of energy ministers today where a detailed report will be presented by the national body responsible for electricity marketing.
The report is expected to spell out the risk to power supplies posed by water shortages for cooling power generators and hydro-electricity in all the eastern states, including NSW.
The water crisis could cause some power shortages next year unless action is taken, according to forecasts by the National Electricity Marketing Management Corporation.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/water-crisis-may-hit-energy-supply-next-year/2007/05/24/1179601579582.html
Saving energy: homes to lead way
Home » Environment » Article
Saving energy: homes to lead way
Wendy Frew Environment ReporterMay 25, 2007
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A PROJECT being launched in Wollongong today is aimed at showing that big energy savings can be made in homes, taking pressure off the electricity system and cutting power bills and greenhouse gas emissions.
The program, which includes more than $100,000 in household rebates for energy-efficient appliances and electricity systems, comes as state and federal energy ministers meet to discuss the impact of the drought on power supplies.
The Home Energy Challenge, run by Big Switch Projects and funded by the NSW Government's Energy Savings Fund, is offering residents in two Wollongong suburbs, Woonona and Bulli, rebates and discounts on energy products and services.
As many as 1000 home owners will be affected.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/saving-energy-homes-to-lead-way/2007/05/24/1179601579591.html
Leslie pair aid men in Abu Dhabi
THREE eastern suburbs businessmen are at the mercy of the strict United Arab Emirates court system after being arrested for drug use, intoxication, indecent exposure and sexual harassment offences on a flight to Abu Dhabi.
And in a sign of the legal and public strife the men may face, their lawyer, Ross Hill, and spokesman, Sean Mulcahy, are the same men who acted for the model Michelle Leslie during her trial on drugs charges in Bali two years ago.
Two of the detained men, Jeremy Snaith, 37, and David Evans, 39, are directors of Jupiter Mines, an Australian minerals company. The identity of the third man is unknown.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sydney-businessmen-held-in-abu-dhabi/2007/05/24/1179601579632.html
Torrential rains wreak havoc in Spain
Huge hailstones pummeled villages in central Spain and torrential storms wreaked havoc in much of the country, damaging crops, disrupting rail services and killing one person, officials said.
A string of intense downpours has also flooded tunnels and streets in Madrid and forced the evacuation of hundreds of people since the bad weather started early this week.
A man died in Pontevedra in northwest Galicia province when a wall collapsed on him.
The rain has been most intense in Madrid and the surrounding area, and in the regions of Castilla-Leon to the north and Castilla-La Mancha to the south.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Torrential-rains-wreak-havoc-in-Spain/2007/05/24/1179601580361.html
Pope admits crimes of Christian colonisation
CONFRONTED with continued anger in Latin America, Pope Benedict has acknowledged that the Christian colonisation of Indian populations was not as rosy as he portrayed in a speech this month in Brazil.
The Pope did not apologise, as some indigenous and Latin American leaders have demanded. However, he did say it was impossible to ignore the dark "shadows" and "unjustified crimes" that accompanied the evangelisation of the New World by Catholic priests in the 15th and 16th centuries.
"It is not possible to forget the sufferings and injustices inflicted by the colonisers on the indigenous population, whose fundamental human rights were often trampled upon," the Pope said in his weekly public audience in St Peter's Square on Wednesday. "Certainly, the memory of a glorious past cannot ignore the shadows that accompanied the work of evangelising the Latin American continent."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/pope-admits-crimes-of-christian-colonisation/2007/05/24/1179601579676.html
Court says exiled islanders can go home
HUNDREDS of Indian Ocean islanders driven from their homeland by Britain 40 years ago have won a battle that could see them set sail for an emotional return within days.
The Court of Appeal in London on Wednesday found the British Government guilty of "abuse of power" for trying to prevent the Chagos Islanders from reclaiming land leased from under their feet by Britain to the US in the 1960s.
Three judges upheld a ruling in the islanders' favour last year, and ordered the Government to pay their legal costs.
Lord Justice Sedley wrote: "Few things are more important to a social group than its sense of belonging, not only to each other but to a place. What has sustained peoples in exile, from Babylon onwards, has been the possibility of one day returning home.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/court-says-exiled-islanders-can-go-home/2007/05/24/1179601579670.html
Bush spins old tales to back rationale for war
THE US President, George Bush, has offered two-year-old intelligence about Osama bin Laden's links to al-Qaeda agents in Iraq to try to bolster his long-held contention that Iraq is a central front in the "war on terror".
Bin Laden had told his operative, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to form a cell to conduct attacks outside Iraq, with the US as his "No. 1 priority", Mr Bush said. There was also intelligence that one of bin Laden's deputies, Abu Faraj al-Libi, speculated that if the effort was successful, "al-Qaeda might one day prepare the majority of its external operations from Iraq".
Mr Bush's remarks at the Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut on Wednesday are part of an apparent campaign to portray the violence in Iraq as primarily a function of al-Qaeda, as fighting terrorists is seen as more acceptable than policing a civil war.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bush-spins-old-tales-to-back-rationale-for-war/2007/05/24/1179601579650.html
Waterfront site still seeping chemicals
GROUNDWATER around the site where the State Government is planning a $2.5 billion expansion of the city is contaminated with cyanide and carcinogenic chemicals at levels exceeding national guidelines for the protection of aquatic systems.
Documents obtained by the Herald under freedom of information laws show several studies have already been made of an old factory where the Australian Gas Light Company turned coal into gas to illuminate the city streets.
They show maps of where materials classed as hazardous waste are still buried in gas holders underneath Hickson Road, next to the wharves of East Darling Harbour, below Millers Point.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/waterfront-site-still-seeping-chemicals/2007/05/25/1179601585776.html
Modern day slavery scandal rocks New York
A millionaire couple accused of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves in their luxurious New York home for years - viciously inflicting abuse for perceived offences - have been indicted on federal slavery charges.
Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, who operate a worldwide perfume business out of their home in Long Island, New York, with factories in Singapore and Bahrain, were arrested last week after one of their servants was found wandering outside a doughnut shop.
Naturalised US citizens from India, they had their passports confiscated when they were arrested.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/05/24/1179601521848.html
Two-way radio resurfaces as lifeline for trapped miners
IT HAS been sitting on the shelf, unwanted, for years. But now, in the wake of an American disaster that claimed 12 lives, the technology is tipped to earn Australia $100 million over the next decade.
The CSIRO announced yesterday that it had signed a licensing deal to develop a commercial version of the world's first effective two-way radio that will allow coalminers trapped deep underground to contact the world above. Existing underground communication systems either depend on cables that can be cut by cave-ins, or are one-way systems only allowing the surface to call the miner.
In 2000 radio physicists and electronic engineers at the CSIRO's Wireless Technologies Laboratory, at Marsfield, completed initial work on a far more sophisticated two-way radio.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/twoway-radio-resurfaces-as-lifeline-for-trapped-miners/2007/05/24/1179601579563.html
China coal mine blast kills 13
A coal mine explosion in southeastern China has killed 13 miners believed to have been intoxicated by poisonous gas, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Local officials had said 36 miners were underground when the blast occurred at the Xinglong Mine in Sichuan Province, but that more than 20 were rescued, Xinhua said in an earlier report.
"We rushed to the scene and set up rescue teams. In the afternoon, about 30 rescuers went down the shaft," Xinhua later quoted Xiao Ronghua, Party Chief of Luxian County, as saying.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/China-coal-mine-blast-kills-13/2007/05/24/1179601582947.html
28 killed in Siberian mine blast
A gas explosion ripped through a Siberian mine today, killing at least 28 people in the latest in a grim catalogue of Russian mining disasters.
It comes just weeks after a gas explosion in Ulyanovskaya, a nearby mine owned by the same company, Yuzhkuzbassugol, killed 110 people in the worst Russian mining accident in decades.
"Twenty-eight people died and 11 others are missing," a spokeswoman for Russia's emergency situations ministry said following today's blast.
She said 178 miners had been rescued, of whom six were injured.
The methane gas explosion happened during the morning shift at the Yubileynaya mine near the city of Novokuznetsk in west Siberia's Kemerovo region while 217 miners were below ground, officials said.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/28-killed-in-siberian-mine-blast/2007/05/24/1179601566945.html
Borat to write travel guide
Borat Sagdiyev, the ever eloquent fictional ambassador from Kazakhstan has a book, with two titles, coming out this autumn: Borat: Touristic Guidings To Minor Nation of US and A. and Borat: Touristic Guidings To Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
"There is one and only Borat and we are honoured to have him join our pantheon of international writers," Suzanne Herz, publisher of Flying Dolphin Press, an imprint of Random House, Inc's Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, said in a statement yesterday.
"There is no doubt he will deliver a brilliant book."
http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/borat-to-write-travel-guide/2007/05/24/1179601544829.html
Sun Princess becomes permanent resident
Showing how popular cruising has become, Princess Cruises has announced it will base its superliner, Sun Princess, here in Australia full time.
The 77,000-ton Sun Princess will be the largest cruise ship ever to be based here when she arrives in Sydney in November.
Carrying 1,950 passengers, Sun Princess will offer cruises from three home ports - Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle - including the longest ever round-trip voyage from Australia, a 75-night Grand Pacific World Cruise.
The decision to base a ship fulltime in Australia was a first for the US cruise company. The Sun Princess, which is usually based in Alaska, had originally been scheduled to sail from Australia for a five-month summer season only.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/sun-princess-becomes-permanent-resident/2007/05/24/1179601543726.html
Tourist 'greenhouse levy' slammed by industry
The tourism industry has slammed a suggestion by a think tank that airline passengers be slugged with a $30 greenhouse levy to help offset emissions.
A report by the Australia Institute said airlines were a major contributor to climate change due to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases being generated by a growing air travel market.
"We have projected aviation emissions out to 2050 and we found that if we don't do something about aviation, aviation emissions could account for up to half of our emissions in 2050," report author Andrew Macintosh told ABC Radio.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/tourist-greenhouse-levy-slammed-by-industry/2007/05/23/1179601477718.html
Annual whale migration begins
A pod of whales seen frolicking off Tasmania's east coast has marked the start of their annual migration to warmer water.
Six southern right whales and one humpback have been spotted since last week on their way to mainland coastal areas in eastern Australia to breed.
Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW) said both species swim thousands of kilometres each year from their summer feeding grounds in Antarctica.
DPIW spokesman Warwick Brennan said Tasmania was the first part of the Australian coastline to witness the spectacle.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/annual-whale-migration-begins/2007/05/23/1179601471991.html
Warm winter expected for Queensland
Cold weather has finally arrived in southern Queensland but meteorologists are still predicting a warmer than average winter for the state.
Brisbane and surrounding areas recorded their lowest temperatures so far this year - up to seven degrees celsius below average in some areas.
"It's the first touch of winter we've had but it's no biggie," a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said.
Stanthorpe, south-west of Brisbane, recorded the lowest temperature in the state with minus-two degrees, while minimum temperatures of seven and eight degrees were recorded at Logan, south of Brisbane, and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast respectively.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/warm-winter-expected/2007/05/23/1179601474325.html
Mum falls 400m short of Everest summit
Adelaide mother-of-three Katie Sarah's on her way down from Mount Everest after falling 400m short of becoming the fourth Australian woman to stand on the summit.
The 38-year-old reached 8450m before turning back for base camp after heavy snowfall and high winds.
Ms Sarah was part of a group of five adventurers led by Adelaide mountaineer Duncan Chessell.
Mr Chessell and fellow climbers Chris Nagel from NSW, James Bingham from the UK and American Eric Remza have made the final journey while Victorian doctor Rob North has also turned back.
Ms Sarah's husband Tim says his wife will be proud regardless having only become interested in climbing five years ago.
AAP
Cheney plays happy grandad to lesbian daughter's son
US VICE-PRESIDENT Dick Cheney's daughter Mary has given birth to perhaps the most anticipated baby in contemporary US politics — her first child, Samuel David Cheney, whom she will raise with her long-time lesbian partner Heather Poe.
The 3.8-kilogram boy is the sixth grandchild for Mr Cheney. The Vice-President and his wife Lynne, both beaming, posed for a photo with the baby just hours after his birth at Washington's Sibley Hospital.
And that, it seems, will be that for now in terms of public comment from the family about the baby who launched a lively debate when Mary Cheney, 38, first discussed her pregnancy in December.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/24/1179601573586.html?from=top5
iPod sex toy arouses Apple's ire
A vibrating sex toy accessory for the iPod appears to have got Apple's legal team all hot and bothered.
Adult store Ann Summers, seller of the "iGasm", told the British tabloid News of the World that Apple's legal team had threatened it with legal action over its advertising posters.
"Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum and bass track or chill with the ambient classic," reads a marketing brief for the £30 ($72) iGasm, which plugs into any music player and vibrates in sync with the beat.
Apple says the iGasm ads, which show a female silhouette listening to an iPod with a cord snaking into her underwear, are a rip-off of its own iPod ads.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/05/24/1179601537754.html?from=top5
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