Morning Papers - continued...

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono prays during a ceremony in Jakarta, on 17 Aug. By President's initiative, Indonesia has proposed that eight countries home to some 80 percent of the world's tropical rainforests join diplomatic ranks amid rising climate change concerns.

Indonesia proposes rainforest nations climate group
12 hours ago
JAKARTA (AFP) — Indonesia has proposed that eight countries home to some 80 percent of the world's tropical rainforests join diplomatic ranks amid rising climate change concerns, a senior official said Saturday.
"This is the initiative of our president, in order that they be able to play an important role in the diplomacy of global warming," the spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told AFP.
"It's important for the eight countries to have a joint consensus on their contribution to efforts to control global warming," spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said, adding that the group would look at how forest conservation can happen in tandem with economic development.
Indonesia will open a meeting of the eight countries on September 24 in New York in parallel with the UN's annual plenary session, he added.
The eight countries are Brazil, Cameroon, Congo, Costa Rica, Gabon, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea, but more could join, Djalal separately told the Jakarta Post.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gq5vMw9zcrH4ZhMk6kH11xi7Oryw



UN climate change talks reach consensus on greenhouse gas reduction
13:15, September 01, 2007
Industrial nations reached consensus on Friday to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.The consensus was reached at the fourth round of climate change talks under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held Aug. 27-31 in Vienna.Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, welcomed the outcome, saying the setting of the goal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions created a fundamental framework for the further discussion of relevant topics at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNCCC), due to be held in Bali, Indonesia, in December.He added that the consensus showed the common will of all parties involved to further impel the work for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, but "more needs to be done by the global community."Delegates taking part in the talks said that although the consensus is a non-binding pact, and can only serve as reference for the upcoming UNCCC, it is an important middle tache and would be conducive to making further progress in Bali.Delegates from more than 100 countries and regions, including China, attended the five-day talks in Vienna.The fourth round of climate change talks in Vienna was aimed at helping explore new mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions after the United Nations Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6252751.html



Climate change is a hot topic
More than 100 nations meeting in Vienna have been struggling to strike a balance between what rich and poor countries must do to cut greenhouse gas emissions and slow global warming.Leon Charles of Grenada, who is helping oversee the talks said a key goal is forging a rough consensus on emissions targets that industrialised countries can formally agree to at a summit in Bali later this year. Meanwhile, a report by the United Nations body dealing with climate change says that spending more money on energy efficiency is the easiest way of slowing global warming. The UN report, presented to a climate conference in Vienna, suggests that the world will need to spend an extra two hundred billion dollars a year by 2030 to keep emissions of greenhouse gases at their current levels. And this money needs to be spent principally in the developing world…

http://www.cbc.bb/content/view/12360/45/


Climate change talks seek to extend Kyoto
An UN meeting in Vienna has revealed disaccords on how to tackle climate change beyond the Kyoto agreement. A new proposal to set a 25-40% emissions reduction target below 1990 levels by 2020, is facing strong resistance from major industrial states.
At an international climate meeting, the EU and other developing nations, such as China and India, have highlighted the need to limit global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels as a prerequisite to avoid "dangerous" climate change. In a report issued today, Friday 31 August, the EU urged all industry nations to use a stringent 25-40% range in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions from 1990 levels by 2020 as a guide for future talks on a post-Kyoto agreement. The proposal, however, has met strong resistance from other developed nations, including Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, and Switzerland….

http://www.r744.com/news/news_ida187.php

The two USA newsprint I read so far on this topic are The Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, both sought to make the UN and the countries moving toward concensus to be baffoons that could not agree on anything. This is the lousy journalism of The Washington Post (Bush Propaganda); I thought for a minute I was reading The Washington Times. If this is the level of discord the USA newspapers are presenting imagine the lack of validity there is about the Iraq War and otherwise. But, basically, the global environmental community is getting close to the goals we need and the speed at which those goals are beginning to be identified is rather incredible.:

U.N. Climate Talks End in Cloud of Discord (click here)
Industrialized, Developing Nations Still at Odds Over How and When to Cut Emissions
By John Ward AndersonWashington Post Foreign ServiceSaturday, September 1, 2007; Page A20
PARIS, Aug. 31 -- A five-day U.N. conference on climate change ended in Vienna on Friday with significant disagreements remaining about how countries should reduce greenhouse gas emissions and daunting estimates about the price tag for combating global warming.
Some industrialized countries balked at adopting language in the conference's final statement that would have set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. They agreed in the end that this target would be a nonbinding starting point for future discussion....

continued...

Okay, here's the deal. See that 'black area' above the storm now west of the Lesser Antilles? 12 hour loop

September 1, 2007

1930z

UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite GOES East

That dark patch of air will lengthen and follow the tropical storm into the Caribbean Sea. If one observe the 12 hour loop now it is highly notable that the 'darker air mass' increases in size with the movement of "Felix." That air mass is a high pressure phenomena sometimes called "The Bermuda High" (click here). That air mass will act as a guide to the direction of "Felix." So, it is my estimation the storm will track just south of that 'high pressure system.' Okay, there is one other thing.

If one notes in the satellite photo image above, there is another low pressure system in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. It has the potential to become another tropical storm as it is connected to the turbulence in the Pacific. There is also the continued turbulence along the Mexican Gulf Coast.

All those systems are very dangerous storms when people aren't prepared for them. Let's work on 'no deaths' from tropical storms in the North and West Hemisphere and the Asian Pacific islands and coastal land masses need to do the same. Also consider, sea level rise is a reality even today and it will increase 'standard' estimates of tidal surges.

Felix becomes sixth name storm of the 2007 season

Tropical Storm Henriette Intermediate Advisory Number 3A (click here)
NOAA/NWS via BBSNews 2007-08-31 - [5:00 am PDT Intermediate Advisory] -- A Tropical Storm Warning Is Now In Effect Along Portions Of The Pacific Coast Of Mexico From Lagunas De Chacahua To Punta San Telmo. A Tropical Storm Warning Means That Tropical Storm Conditions Are Expected Within The Warning Area Within The Next 24 Hours.
A Tropical Storm Watch Remains In Effect From West Of Punta San Telmo To Manzanillo. A Tropical Storm Watch Means That Tropical Storm Conditions Are Possible Within The Watch Area, Generally Within 36 Hours.
Interests Elsewhere Along The Pacific Coast Of Mexico Should Closely Monitor The Progress Of This System....





Projected paths so far take "Felix" from Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico.



New tropical system heading for Windward Islands (click here)
Published on Friday, August 31, 2007
MIAMI, USA: A well-organised area of low pressure, associated with a tropical wave, is centered about 300 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands and is moving westward at about 15 mph. Shower and thunderstorm activity has been increasing, and a tropical depression could form later Friday morning.
According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, as the system passes through the Windward Islands later Friday, it will be accompanied by showers and thunderstorms, and winds with gusts to tropical storm force.
Interests in the Windward Islands are advised to monitor the progress of this system.
A US Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system on Friday afternoon.

WellPoint insider promoted to CEO - No one asked her party affiliation. Give you one guess.

Angela Braly — a general counsel and public relations executive — will become the public face of the nation's largest health insurer, WellPoint (WLP), and the only female CEO among the nation's 50 largest companies.
Current President and CEO Larry Glasscock said Monday he will remain chairman, but he will retire from daily management of the company on June 1. Glasscock, 58, cited family reasons for his departure but did not elaborate.
Replacing him is Braly, 45, an executive at WellPoint or one of its subsidiaries since 1999. She currently serves as executive vice president, general counsel and chief public affairs officer for the Indianapolis-based firm but is not well-known outside the company.
A half-decade of rapidly rising premiums has left consumers and employers struggling to afford coverage and a growing number of Americans uninsured. The situation has renewed efforts in Washington and the states to find ways to cover more of the uninsured.
Congress is considering expanding existing state and federal health programs, particularly for children. Other reform ideas run the ideological gamut, from tax credits to help some people buy insurance to ending private insurance in favor of a universal system overseen by the government... (click title to entry)

Michael Moore Today

http://www.michaelmoore.com/




$48,000,000,000

WellPoint chief is high on Forbes' powerful-women list
By Daniel Lee / Indianapolis Star
Angela Braly, it appears, wields more power than Queen Elizabeth or presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The chief executive of Indianapolis-based WellPoint ranked a lofty No. 16 on Forbes' list of the world's most powerful women. Braly, 46, took the helm of WellPoint, the nation's largest health benefits company with about 35 million members, in June for the retiring Larry Glasscock.
"Underneath the friendly veneer is a hardheaded negotiator and workaholic who grew up professionally in the health-care-industrial complex and is not about to roll over for the likes of Michael Moore," the magazine's Web site, forbes.com, said of Braly, a lawyer known for public policy expertise.
Moore scorches WellPoint and other health insurers in his latest film, "Sicko." With 47 million Americans without health insurance and medical costs continuing to rise, health care has emerged as a top domestic issue.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10193


"...not about to roll over for the likes of Michael Moore."

"No company benefits more than WellPoint from the current health care mess." -- Forbes Magazine

This Won't Hurt a Bit
No company benefits more than WellPoint from the current health care mess. New chief executive Angela Braly is trying to put a kind face on this controversial business.
Forbes
Two months into her job as chief executive of health insurance giant WellPoint, Angela Braly, number 16 on FORBES’ list of the World’s Most Powerful Women, is on a listening tour in New Haven, Conn. She makes a halfhour stop in the office of Marna Borgstrom, the head of the Yale-New Haven Hospital. Yale offers a WellPoint plan to its 20,000 hospital employees, who each get full coverage—unlike many of the patients who use the hospital. Borgstrom is worried about the cost of caring for uninsured folks and deadbeats. She favors some kind of government intervention.
Braly makes the case that the American system could be worse, the if-it-ain’t-broke argument. “In China they roll you out of the hospital if you run out of cash,” Braly tells Borgstrom. She’s skeptical that government can come to the rescue and predicts that Medicare will run out of money in 2014, five years sooner than forecasted: “I think partnering [among insurers, health providers and employers] on cost and quality is the only solution.” Braly plugs WellPoint’s incentive policy—paying hospitals more when patients have fewer complications. She also describes a new bonus system that pays WellPoint workers more if the overall health of its 34 million members goes up. As the meeting ends, the two women wish each other luck, their views apparently unchanged.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10189


Contact Us
Members If you have questions about your health plan, please call the toll-free phone number on the back of your ID card to reach one of our customer service representatives. InvestorsContact one of our investor representatives.JobsLearn about career opportunities with the WellPoint family of companies.MediaIf you are a journalist, contact our Corporate Communications department. VendorsWellPoint's supplier registration process will automatically enter your information into our prospective supplier database. Learn more.

http://www.wellpoint.com/contact/default.asp



BLUE CROSS OF CALIFORNIA AND WELLPOINT HEALTH NETWORKSTO PAY U.S. $9.25M TO SETTLE ALLEGATIONS OF MEDICARE FRAUD
FLASHBACK: WASHINGTON, DC – Blue Cross of California (BCC) and its parent company, WellPoint Health Networks, have agreed to pay the United States $9,250,000 to resolve allegations that BCC defrauded Medicare, the Justice Department announced today. BCC, which was under contract with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to process Medicare claims in California until December 2000 (Medicare Part A fiscal intermediary) is alleged to have knowingly falsified data regarding its performance of cost report audits for Medicare.
Blue Cross of California carried out watchdog services for the government with respect to Medicare fraud. BCC was responsible for, among other things, auditing cost reports submitted by hospitals and other Medicare providers to ensure that the providers were properly reporting their allowable costs and seeking accurate and appropriate reimbursements.
The allegations were originally brought in a qui tam or whistleblower case under the provisions of the False Claims Act by a former company auditor, Vipul Vaid. The lawsuit alleges that BCC falsified audit activity dates entered into an audit tracking database in an effort to deceive the government into believing that the company had performed more audit work than it actually performed during the pertinent fiscal year. The performance of required audit work was one of the criteria used by the government to evaluate BCC's performance, and renew its contract, as a fiscal intermediary each year.

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2002/July/02_civ_435.htm



“SiCKO” Where to view the movie.

http://www.sickotix.com/


Cancer Society Focuses Its Ads on the Uninsured
By Kevin Sack / New York Times
ATLANTA, Aug. 30 — In a stark departure from past practice, the American Cancer Society plans to devote its entire $15 million advertising budget this year not to smoking cessation or colorectal screening but to the consequences of inadequate health coverage.
The campaign was born of the group’s frustration that cancer rates are not dropping as rapidly as hoped, and of recent research linking a lack of insurance to delays in detecting malignancies.
Though the advertisements are nonpartisan and pointedly avoid specific prescriptions, they are intended to intensify the political focus on an issue that is already receiving considerable attention from presidential candidates in both parties.
The society’s advertisements are unique, say experts in both philanthropy and advertising, in that disease-fighting charities traditionally limit their public appeals to narrower aspects of prevention or education.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10190


Marine tells of order to execute Haditha women and children
By Rob Woollard / AFP
CAMP PENDLETON, California - A US Marine was ordered to execute a room full of terrified Iraqi women and children during an alleged massacre in Haditha that left 24 people dead, a military court heard Thursday.
The testimony came in the opening of a preliminary hearing for Marine Sergeant Frank Wuterich, who faces 17 counts of murder over the Haditha killings, the most serious war crimes allegations faced by US troops in Iraq.
Wuterich, dressed in desert khakis, spoke confidently to confirm his name as the hearing to decide if he faces a court martial began at the Marines' Camp Pendleton base in southern California.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10192


Industry pressure waters down breast-feed ads
Under pressure from infant formula lobby, appointees dilute campaign
By Marc Kaufman and Christopher Lee / Washington Post
In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed. It featured striking photos of insulin syringes and asthma inhalers topped with rubber nipples.
Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful infant formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward, department political appointees toned down the campaign.
The ads ran instead with more friendly images of dandelions and cherry-topped ice cream scoops, to dramatize how breast-feeding could help avert respiratory problems and obesity. In a February 2004 letter, the lobbyists told then-HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson they were "grateful" for his staff's intervention to stop health officials from "scaring expectant mothers into breast-feeding," and asked for help in scaling back more of the ads.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10191


The truth about my dead brother
by Dante Zappala
Thu Aug 30, 2007 at 12:32:56 PM PDT
Sherwood was a soldier. At least for the last few months of his life, when his National Guard unit was activated. Politics is high stakes, especially for the ones who look beyond it to make the simple sacrifice of serving their country.
Most of Sherwood's 30 years were spent as a big brother, son, father and husband. He was also a member of the PA Army National Guard. Called into service in 2004, he was protecting the Iraq Survey Group as they looked for WMD, even after our President made a big joke out of the fact they did not exist.
This wasn't funny to my brother, who, at the time of these remarks, e-mailed us and asked that we send him and his men food. Peanut butter. Tuna Fish. Bottles of water.
We never had a chance to let our outrage over this failure manifest itself. Instead, we were left to bury Sherwood. He was killed two weeks after he sent that e-mail when a paint factory exploded. The mission had been aborted several times before because of safety concerns. Under the direction of a British Captain, they went looking for WMD. Sherwood saved lives, I'm told, of soldiers and an Iraqi translator.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/30/14532/0230


Record 47 million in U.S. uninsured
By Larry Lipman and Phil Galewitz / Palm Beach Post
WASHINGTON — June Gammie, 50, of West Palm Beach has been uninsured all of her adult life.
She works as a nursing assistant for a private-duty agency making $21,000 a year - too much to qualify for government health insurance programs, but too little to buy private health insurance.
"I praise the Lord every day that I don't get sick," she said.
Gammie is one of a record 47 million people in the United States who did not have health insurance last year, even as the poverty level continued to decline, according to U.S. Census Bureau reports released Tuesday. That was a jump of 2.2 million from the previous year.
More than half of the increase came from full-time workers, including 1.4 million in families with incomes greater than $75,000 and about 600,000 in families with incomes of $50,000-$75,000, according to an analysis by Physicians for a National Health Program.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10183


Census: Texas has highest percentage of uninsured
By Jason Roberson / Dallas Morning News
Texas again ranks No. 1 with the highest percentage of uninsured residents in the nation – primarily due to the state's growing Hispanic population, according to a report issued Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Based on the three-year average from 2004 to 2006, Texas had an uninsured population rate of 24 percent. New Mexico and Louisiana had the next-highest rates, each topping 20 percent.
Minnesota and Hawaii came in at the bottom, both below 10 percent.
Looking at the total number of people, Texas has 5.5 million without health insurance coverage. That's second only to the larger state of California, which has 6.7 million uninsured people. Nationally, 45.1 million people have no health coverage.
The data come as little surprise to North Texas health industry executives; Texas had the highest percentage of uninsured in last year's census report as well.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10184


Protesters demand change in war policy
By Martha Bellisle / Reno Gazette-Journal
As President Bush hailed his strategy in Iraq as a necessity for the security of the United States, protesters lined the street corners outside the Reno-Sparks Convention Center Tuesday morning, calling for the end of the war and for Bush's impeachment.
"I think the war was an ill-conceived idea that's costing too much," said Robbin Palmer, 53, of Reno, one of about 100 people gathered to protest Bush's speech to members of the American Legion. "We're spending a lot of money to see our citizens die. It's a travesty."
Sandi Edwards, 57, of Sparks agreed.
"It's important to take a stand right now," said Edwards, as she waved a sign at passing cars. "Some very close friends of mine lost their son in the war, and I'm out here for him. I'd like to honor him and would not like any more of his friends to die."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10179



Common Ground Health Clinic
Algiers, New Orleans, LA
Mission Statement
The Common Ground Health Clinic is a non-profit organization that provides free quality health care for the greater New Orleans community, and develops and provides programs to address community health care needs through collaborative partnerships.

http://www.cghc.org/


Mark Fiore is a San Francisco cartoonist and animator whose work also appears in the Washington Post, L.A. Times and other publications.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2007/08/29/fioredoctor.DTL


Bring Them Home, don't be fooled again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSWzoGGmpqQ&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emichaelmoore%2Ecom%2F



Dozens on Green protest war, Bush
By Abbe Smith / New Haven Register
NEW HAVEN — The 75 people who gathered for a MoveOn.org-sponsored war protest and vigil on the Green Tuesday evening had two messages for passers-by: Support our troops, and bring them home now.
The protesters hoisted home-made antiwar signs into the air and held candles as one woman read the names of every American military member who has died since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
"We want our American soldiers back on American soil," said Anna Maria Mauhs, a local organizer for MoveOn.org.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10180


Anti-War Protesters March In Village
By Kitty Merrill / Hamptons Independent
It was, according to Nick Santora "a miniscule sacrifice." Sporting a T-shirt adorned with a carton of George Bush as the Energizer Bunny beating a drum that says "war," Santora, who teaches American History in Roslyn, was among dozens of protestors in East Hampton Village who gave up a sunny Saturday afternoon to rally against the Iraq war. Like Santora, Manhattan resident Nydia Leaf was visiting friends in the Hamptons and volunteered eagerly to participate in the protest. She wore a button naming her a member of the "Granny Peace Brigade," and a T-shirt that said "Arrest Cheney First."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10185



With little fanfare, war protester reaches goal of nationwide trek
By Michael Stetz / San Diego Union-Tribune
LAKESIDE – Bill McDannell walked from Arlington National Cemetery to the U.S. Capitol on Saturday.
Once he reached the steps, he stopped and shed a few tears.
He had done it.
He had walked 3,185 miles from Lakeside to Washington, D.C. He had walked across the United States.
“I was overcome,” said McDannell, who began his walk in November to protest the war in Iraq.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10155


Bill McDannell Walks Across the Country for Peace

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6566452404386957044=goog-sl


'Sicko' Started Conversation On Health Care, Poll Finds
By Diane Levick / Hartford Courant
The movie "Sicko," a humorous and biting look at the nation's health care and insurance system, spurred debate well beyond the people who actually saw filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary this summer, a new survey says.
The survey by the non-profit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - which is not affiliated with any health plan - found only 4 percent of polled adults had viewed the film by early August.
"But, with a big free media bounce reaching beyond the movie reviews to the news and talk shows, the new poll finds that almost half (46 percent) had seen the movie or heard or read something about it," the foundation said.
Of those at least familiar with the film, 45 percent said they discussed the U.S. health system with friends, co-workers, or family as a result of the movie. Even 37 percent of conservatives said they had such a discussion.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10174


Awareness and Perceptions of the Movie “Sicko”
An August 2007 poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation looks at the potential impact of Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko." The survey finds that although only 4% of adults say they have watched it, almost half (46%) had seen the movie or heard or read something about it a little over a month after its national release.
Among those familiar with "Sicko," 45% said they have had a discussion with friends, co-workers, and family about the U.S. health system as a result of the movie; 43% said they were more likely to think there is a need to reform the health system. About equal numbers believe the movie accurately represents problems in the U.S. health system versus overstating them. Still, "Sicko" has not altered what have long been the fundamental factors shaping the public's views on health care, such as personal health care experiences and proposals from presidential candidates.
The Kaiser Foundation asked this series of questions about “Sicko” as a part of the Kaiser Health Tracking Survey: Election 2008 from August 2 to August 8 among a nationally representative telephone sample of 1,500 adults, including 748 adults who reported having seen the movie or heard or read anything about it.

http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/pomr082707pkg.cfm


Where can I see SiCKO ?

http://www.sickotix.com/


Dennis Kucinich doesn’t appear to be close to 60 years old

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/08/27/334782.aspx


Survey Shows a High Rate of Asthma at Ground Zero
By Anthony DePalma / New York Times
Rescue and recovery workers at ground zero have developed asthma at a rate that is 12 times what would be expected for adults, according to findings released yesterday by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Of nearly 26,000 workers surveyed in 2003 and 2004, 926 reported that they developed asthma for the first time after working at ground zero (a rate of 3.6 percent). In a group that size, under normal conditions, no more than 77 new cases of asthma (0.3 percent) would have been expected, according to the report, which is published in the current issue of Environmental Health Perspectives, a science and health journal.
The health department also found that workers who arrived at ground zero on Sept. 11, when the dust cloud and smoke from the fires were thickest and respirator masks were least available, had the highest risk of developing asthma in the aftermath of the disaster.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10175


Giuliani to Attend 9/11 Anniversary
By Sara Kugler / Associated Press
NEW YORK - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani will speak at the sixth anniversary remembrance of the World Trade Center attack, although he will not read the names of victims.
His presence at the somber event has drawn criticism from some relatives of those who perished in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, with family members arguing that the ceremony is no place for presidential politics.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday in a radio interview on WCBS that Giuliani, who was mayor at the time of attack, would participate in this year's roll call of the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed on Sept. 11.
Later, a Bloomberg spokesman clarified the mayor's remarks and said Giuliani would not recite the victims' names but instead would read a passage from a text, which has not yet been chosen. The recitation of the names will be done by firefighters, police officers and other rescue workers.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10177


US Attorney General Gonzales resigns
By Matt Apuzzo / Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Alberto Gonzales, the nation's first Hispanic attorney general, announced his resignation Monday — ending a nasty, monthslong standoff over his honesty and competence at the helm of the Justice Department.
Republicans and Democrats alike had demanded his resignation over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush had defiantly stood by his Texas friend until accepting his resignation Friday.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10168



"They said that Karl Rove was leaving town before the sheriff arrived and the same might be doubly true of Alberto Gonzales."
US president sees another 'Bushie' go
By Edward Luce and Demetri Sevastopulo / Financial Times
Alberto Gonzales on Monday announced the end of his service to the Bush administration in much the same way that he provided it – without divulging any information. The man who said “I don’t recall” or “I have no recollection” more than 100 times in testimony to Congress this year will go down as one of the most secretive cabinet officers in modern US history.
An intensely loyal “Bushie”, Mr Gonzales will also be seen as America’s most partisan attorney-general since John Mitchell, Richard Nixon’s senior law officer, who resigned in 1972.
A close friend of George W. Bush before he became governor of Texas in 1994, Mr Gonzales was appointed as a White House counsel when Mr Bush took office in January 2001. He became attorney-general in 2005 after the retirement of John Ashcroft.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10169


Be It Resolved: You Can Impeach the President
Official State Impeachment Text
Impeachment Text for Cities & Towns
Impeachment Text for County Democratic Committees
Impeachment Text for State Assemblies and/or Legislatures
Jefferson's Manual, Section LIII, 603
You Can Impeach the President

http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622


San Fernando City Council Pass Resolution For Impeachment
By Richard Kastelein / Atlantic Free Press
SAN FERNANDO, CA -- The city of San Fernando City Council passed an impeachment resolution for President Bush with a unanimous vote on August 20, 2007. San Fernando Valley became the 87th city or township in the nation to pass a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Bush. The city of San Fernando became the second city in Los Angeles County, West Hollywood being the first, to adopt an impeachment resolution.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10160


H.RES.333 Title: Impeaching Richard B. Cheney, Vice President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors. Sponsor: Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] (introduced 4/24/2007) Cosponsors (18) Latest Major Action: 5/4/2007 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HE00333:@@@N


Peace Network asks motorists to 'Honk for Impeachment'
By Jaime Baranyai / Springfield News-Leader
SPRINGFIELD, MO -- Protesters gathered near the intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Battlefield Road during rush hour Wednesday encouraging passers-by to "Honk for Impeachment."
Pat Chipman, 71, of Springfield voiced her opinions over the blaring horns and cars that sped through the intersection.
"We're here because we want to see (George) Bush and (Dick) Cheney impeached," she said, holding an oversize "Honk to Impeach the Criminals" sign. "We want something new. We're tired of the old solutions that don't work."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10159


Alberto: George Washington loves electronics too

"President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader scale." -- Alberto Gonzales

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/02/06/alberto-george-washington-loves-electronics-too/


Protesters greet Bush in Bellevue
By Ashley Bach and Jack Broom / Seattle Times
On a day when his top law enforcement officer resigned, and flanked by soon-departing adviser Karl Rove, President Bush made his first foray into the Puget Sound region in a year today to headline a fundraiser for Republican Congressman Dave Reichert in Bellevue.
Bush touched down at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at 3:15 p.m. He greeted supporters, including Reichert, and presented a medal recognizing Bernie Krane, 74, a Kirkland man who volunteers for the Bellevue Police Department.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10173


"I would be satisfied if Bellevue was shut down."

A police officer points a weapon at protesters as a presidential limousine drives past behind Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, in Bellevue, Wash. President Bush arrived Monday afternoon to headline a fundraiser for Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., just hours after the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070828/480/be800cf71f1e47398fbc89093caf5336


Eyes on California as Lawmakers Pursue a Health-Care Deal
Changes Could Set Tone for the Nation
By Christopher Lee / Washington Post
California did not start the current wave of efforts to overhaul the American health-care system, but what happens in Sacramento over the next few weeks could have a big impact on whether the drive gains momentum or peters out.
With three weeks remaining in the state's legislative session, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) still has nothing to show for the grand proposal he made in January to create a system that would guarantee health insurance for all Californians. But with the resolution of a nearly two-month-long state budget impasse last week, the focus is turning back to health care, with hard-to-predict results.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10172


Parents' pain begets action
Two of the speakers at today's peace rally share a sad reason for their activism: the loss of a son.
By Noel K. Gallagher / Portland Press Herald
KENNEBUNKPORT—Today is Carlos Arredondo's birthday. It is also the third anniversary of the death of his son, a Marine killed by a sniper in Iraq.
Arredondo and his wife, Melida, will mark the anniversary by participating in today's peace rally and march to the Bush family compound here, in a protest expected to draw up to 6,000 people.
"We are trying to distract ourselves from the pain of losing Alex. We are just trying to get through the day," his stepmother, Melida Arredondo, said Friday. "The alternative is not acceptable. The grief will kill us."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10163



Anti-war demonstrators march on Walker's Point
Portland Press Herald
Energized by speeches from peace activist Cindy Sheehan and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, among others, more than 1,000 protesters marched through Kennebunkport to the Bush family compound early Saturday afternoon.
"This is really energizing to be with people who want this war to end," Sheehan told a cheering crowd at this weekend's rally and march for peace in Kennebunkport. "We can't put our signs away and sit on our couches. We have to press Congress to end this war."
Kucinich, D-Ohio, told the crowd: "We simply have to get out of Iraq. We have to end this war."

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10164


ANTI-WAR RALLY: 'Ready for a change'
By Noel K. Gallagher / Portland Press Herald
KENNEBUNKPORT — A high-spirited but peaceful crowd of about 4,000 protesters marched through the streets of Kennebunkport on Saturday in the largest anti-war rally in town history.
"I don't know what else to do but march," said Anne Chay, who was carrying a sign that read, "My son is still in Iraq." She walked with a Military Families Speak Out contingent.
"I've already called everyone in Washington. I have the 1-800 numbers memorized," she said.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=10176


News Photo Results for "kennebunkport"

Anti-war protester Mike Oren sits in front of a police barricade outside the …

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search;_ylt=A0WTTksOw9BGu4wAeADRtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTA4Mm84YjJyBHNlYwNzb3J0?ei=UTF-8&p=kennebunkport&c=news_photos&datesort=1&fr=


Health care veto is vowed
Governor rejects an employer-only plan to pay for coverage.
By Kevin Yamamura / Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday threatened to veto Democrat-backed health care legislation if it relies solely on employers to pay for coverage, upping the stakes on negotiations to enact controversial fees and require all individuals to obtain coverage.
The Republican governor, meeting with The Bee's editorial board, said he would "absolutely" consider seeking a ballot initiative for a health plan if talks fail in the Legislature. As another option, the Governor's Office indicated Wednesday that he remains open to keeping lawmakers in Sacramento beyond the Sept. 14 close of the session if necessary to reach a health care agreement.
But Schwarzenegger said he will not sign a plan by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata as it stands now. Their Democratic proposal, Assembly Bill 8, would require employers to spend 7.5 percent of payroll on employee health care.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10157


ACTION PAGE:
Tell Congress To Pass H.R. 676 Now
Under H.R. 676 [Text of Bill], Medicare would be extended and improved so that all individuals residing in the United States would receive high quality and affordable health care services. They would receive all medically necessary services by the physicians of their choice, with no restrictions on what providers they could visit. If implemented, the United States National Health Insurance Act would cover primary care, dental, mental health, prescription drugs, and long term care.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/what-can-i-do/petitions/pnum649.php


GO SEE SiCKO by MC ARTIFICIAL -- ABBREVIATED VERSION

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZSPSRcX3Qw


Monday, August 6th Through September: After 320 arrests in 39 congressional offices, The Occupation Project is back!

http://vcnv.org/project/the-occupation-project


Tracy Pierce Memorial Candlelight Vigil - Friday, September 28, Washington, D.C.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10127


HEALTHCARE & THE WAR ARE “SiCKO”

http://www.troopsoutnow.org/healthcarenotwarfare.html


"Alone Without You" by The Nightwatchman, as featured in the closing credits of 'SiCKO'

http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/


Artist on Artist: Tom Morello & Michael Moore

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=8272191





continued...

Park Ranger Linda Rath standing next to dead, beached Humpback whale.Photo taken on June 25, 2006. Video was shot on June 26.

Whale Stranding in N.C. Followed Navy Sonar Use

It's a foregone conclusion by most naval authorities they cannot live without sonar that kills whales. Why? Don't ask me. Supposedly every design engineer between here and Mars has tried to come up with something different.

In my opinion, they haven't tried hard enough. This is the administration that seeks to solve the Human Induced Global Warming issue through advanced technology. Where? It was 2002 when Bush ushered in the 'idea' of the hydrogen car and it's nowhere to be found now five years later.

If the USA can't find a way, through computer integration of replacing this sonar with a frequency that will not kill whales while still serving the purpose the navy seems to require for what they call national security then I don't know what country will. Why is it that other frequencies won't work and why does the US Navy continue to use frequencies that kill marine mammals. Oops, there goes another one. I suppose that is the way they see it. I find it remarkable to believe there isn't YET a different technology to deliver a stelt version of submarine radar more effetive than 'pinging' sounds that dates back to the earliest forms of submarines.

If we want a 'better America' with a chance to find 'better solutions' we need the leadership to take us there and we don't have it. The budgets for the USA military are astronomical and yet the USA Navy can't save whales. I sincerely doubt they will ever try unless it becomes a national mandate. Leaving the USA Navy to their own directives will never resolve the issues of marine mammal safety in regard to sonar.

Navy sub refit fails to save the whale Brian Brady
Westminster Editor
The Scotsman
28th September 2004
It was supposed to save the whale, but defence chiefs have admitted a supposedly ‘safe’ new £340m sonar system will continue to cause the deaths of the planet’s largest living creatures. Sonar systems used by the military are known to confuse whales, dolphins and other marine mammals, rendering them incapable of spotting underwater obstacles and beaches, resulting in many deaths and injuries. Reacting to growing public pressure, the MoD announced three years ago that a new system being designed for ships would be the first "whale-friendly" sonar ever created. But the MoD has now been forced to admit that the system - called Sonar 2087 - which will be fitted to all Royal Navy anti-submarine frigates within the next two years, is also a potential whale-killer. Thousands of whales, dolphins, porpoises and other similar species around the coast of Scotland and the rest of the UK, will continue to be incapable of detecting rocks or land, and many will be beached, if they come too close to British ships using the high-powered new system. Extensive tests on the system have established beyond doubt that Sonar 2087 "has the potential to be harmful to marine mammals", defence minister Lord Bach admitted last week....
..."I am proud to say that the Ministry of Defence takes very seriously its environmental policy, whether it relates to land, sea or air, and we certainly do so far as concerns this issue," he said. It is estimated that as many as 27 species of whales, porpoises and dolphins visit Scottish waters. Annually, around 400 of the marine mammals are beached, including some of the Moray Firth’s famous population of bottlenose dolphins. Earlier this year wildlife experts said they feared whales could be fleeing their breeding and feeding grounds off Scotland’s north-west coast because of low frequency activated sonar. American environmentalists recently urged their navy to take action, claiming that dozens of whales had beached themselves off Washington, Puerto Rico, the Canary Islands and Portugal during US manoeuvres. The MoD originally ordered six Type 23 anti-submarine warfare Dukes to be fitted with Sonar 2087 as part of a mandatory refit, at a cost of £160m, with the other 10 Type 23s in the fleet expected to use it to replace the old Sonar 2031. Despite the concerns and the mitigation measures, however, ministers have made it clear that the health of marine mammals would have to take second place to the defence of the realm. "Sonar 2087, which we hope to have in operation by 2006, is an absolutely essential requirement in continuing to ensure that hostile submarines are not a danger to our Royal Navy," Bach said.



Sonar Kills Whales, So What? (click here)
...One of the sonars in the Shoup's suite is unconfirmed as the SQS 53C, the same type implicated in the Bahamas multiple species stranding of 2000, and 2002's beaked whale strandings in the Canary Islands. The 53C uses a 0.5 second ping with a source level of at least 233 dB, repeated every 24 seconds at frequencies of 2.6 and 3.3 kHz. That description may not fit what was documented at the Shoup event; another sonar may be implicated....


Lockheed Martin Engineers Receive U.S. Navy Honor for Developing New Submarine Sonar System (click here)
...Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 135,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.

Morning Papers - continued - California Courts make right turn into Anti-Americanism

San Francisco Chronicle

Most if not all adverse decisions of environmental directives will no doubt be appealed, but, they are being appealed into a hostile Supreme Court. One of the options available is not to appeal it until there is a change in administration in DC and laws once again side with environmental protections. To take adverse decisions to the Supreme Court could cause changes in the 'nation' adversely.

The option of impeachment of hostile court judges in California needs to be explored while it is clear the Governor is appointing people that are turning against the best interests of citizens and favoring exploitation of natural resources and concerns of California citizens.

The Navy isn't even involved in 'the war' in Iraq and yet the Navy will demand to do unnecessary testing just to satisfy a sadistic Commander and Chief. I haven't noticed any subs in Baghdad, have you?

Fugitive fundraiser turns himself in
Henry K. Lee,John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, August 31, 2007
REDWOOD CITY - Fugitive fundraiser Norman Hsu, the deep-pocketed Democrat who handed out more than $250,000 to Sen. Hillary Clinton and other party candidates and causes in the past few years, turned himself in today in San Mateo County on a 15-year-old warrant for grand theft.
Hsu surrendered at San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City on a $2 million warrant, said Steve Wagstaffe, chief deputy district attorney. Hsu and his attorneys coordinated the surrender with prosecutors from state Attorney General Jerry Brown's office, Wagstaffe said.
"We got a call yesterday afternoon and were asked to provide a courtroom for the hearing," Wagstaffe said.
Judge James Ellis ordered Hsu into custody and set a court hearing for Wednesday, when his attorney will seek to have Hsu's bail reduced. Ellis declined to lower Hsu's $2 million bail during a brief hearing this morning.
Hsu, 56, faced the possibility of up to three years behind bars after pleading no contest in 1992 to scamming investors in a pyramid scheme. But he didn't show up for his sentencing, records show.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BADURT6B8.DTL


Bush Outlines Aid for Mortgage Holders
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007
(08-31) 12:28 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
President Bush outlined ways the federal government can help troubled borrowers keep their homes Friday in an effort to address rising foreclosures fueled by the mortgage crisis.
The administration's first attempt at dealing with a wave of defaults is not aimed at bailing out lenders, however.
"It's not the government's job to bail out speculators or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford," Bush said in the Rose Garden. "Yet there are many American homeowners who could get through this difficult time with a little flexibility from their lenders or a little help from their government."
The U.S. economy enjoyed a strong revival in the spring but since then has been threatened by the worst housing slump in 16 years and a widening credit crisis that has sent financial markets on a roller coaster ride.
The president insisted that the economy was strong and could weather turbulence in the markets.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/31/national/w084857D78.DTL&tsp=1


Founder of Peet's Coffee dies at 87
Chronicle Staff Report
Friday, August 31, 2007
(08-31) 10:57 PDT BERKELEY - Alfred Peet, who founded Peet's Coffee & Tea and opened its first store 41 years ago in Berkeley, died Wednesday at his home in Ashland, Ore., the company said today. He was 87.
Mr. Peet opened the coffee roaster's first store in 1966, followed by outlets in Menlo Park (1971), Piedmont Avenue in Oakland (1978) and another Berkeley store across from the Claremont Hotel in 1980. He retired in 1983.
Mr. Peet was born in Alkmaar, Holland. He cleaned machinery and did other odd jobs at his father's coffee roastery in Alkmaar before World War II.
After the war, Mr. Peet became an apprentice at Lipton's Tea in London, then moved to Indonesia to work in the tea business there.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BA3RRT78V.DTL&tsp=1



Safety of nation trumps endangered whales, appeals court says
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007
08-31) 11:45 PDT SAN FRANCISCO - A federal appeals court allowed the Navy today to resume using underwater sonar blasts in anti-submarine warfare tests off the Channel Islands in Southern California, saying the nation's military needs outweigh the safety of endangered whales.
In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco suspended an April 6 injunction by a federal judge in Los Angeles that ordered the Navy to halt the sonar experiments during training exercises scheduled through 2009.
In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said the underwater sound waves could harm nearly 30 species of marine mammals, including five species of endangered whales.
The Navy had earlier been allowed to conduct sonar tests in the area while taking steps to protect the whales, such as posting lookouts and reducing sound levels when whales were present. Navy officials have not proposed those measures this time.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BAEVRT7DT.DTL



Weekend of truth arrives - Bay Bridge closing for viaduct project
Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007
At 8 p.m., the long-awaited, much publicized closure of the Bay Bridge begins. And for the next 81 hours or so - for the first time since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake - the connection between the East Bay and San Francisco will be severed completely.
For the past six months, transportation officials have warned residents of the Bay Area, the Central Valley and Southern California of the closure, spending nearly $1 million on Web sites, flyers, radio ads and pre-movie commercials. Caltrans has subsidized mass transit, paying for BART to offer limited overnight service and for the ferry systems to operate additional boats.
Two big questions will be answered beginning tonight:
-- Was the public paying attention? Or will folks still hop into their cars and clog the approaches to the Golden Gate, Richmond-San Rafael and San Mateo bridges, causing regional gridlock?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/MNI3RSDR7.DTL



Tree-sitters lose court round - Cal can keep them fenced in
Carolyn Jones,Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, August 31, 2007
UC Berkeley does not have to tear down a fence it erected around tree-sitters protesting plans to cut down an oak grove outside Memorial Stadium, an Alameda County judge ruled in advance of Saturday's nationally televised Cal football game.
Siding with attorneys for the university, Judge Barbara Miller of Alameda County Superior Court said late Thursday that the fence was a safety measure and did not constitute development at the site.
The tree-sitters had been marooned for hours without food or water until UC police allowed supporters to give them supplies beginning Wednesday evening.
Earlier that day, the university erected the barrier around part of an oak grove near the stadium, where tree-sitters have perched since December to protest UC's plans to cut down the trees to make way for a $125 million sports training center.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BADURT6IV.DTL



Peter Hartlaub/Pop Culture: Apologists leave much to be desired
Peter Hartlaub
Friday, August 31, 2007
Say what you want about Americans, we're awesome at pretty much everything.
We're great at making chili, parallel parking and every sport in the world that isn't boring (basketball, football, ultimate fighting, etc.). We may have lost our touch at making cars, but we've made huge strides in the field of competitive eating. Pretty much the only things we don't completely rule at are foreign policy and the doubles luge at the Winter Olympics.
And, I'm sorry to say, apologizing.
This week's Michael Vick dog-fighting admission and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig airport-potty nooky accusations were followed by two more high-profile apologies, adding to a year filled with atrocious mea culpas. In the past 12 months, we've seen apologies by several major sports stars, cast members of "Seinfeld" and "Grey's Anatomy," and three big-city California mayors, including San Francisco's Gavin Newsom - with more apologies from Newsom's girlfriend.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/DDDTRRK8M.DTL


Politics blunted breast-feeding push
Congressman looking into claims of interference
Marc Kaufman,Christopher Lee, Washington Post
Friday, August 31, 2007
(08-31) 04:00 PDT Washington - --
In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed. It featured striking photos of insulin syringes and asthma inhalers topped with rubber nipples.
Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful infant-formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward, department political appointees toned down the campaign.
The ads ran instead with friendlier images of dandelions and cherry-topped ice cream scoops, to dramatize how breast-feeding could help avert respiratory problems and obesity. In a February 2004 letter, the lobbyists told then-agency Secretary Tommy Thompson they were "grateful" for his staff's intervention to stop health officials from "scaring expectant mothers into breast-feeding," and asked for help in scaling back more of the ads.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/MN7LRSTG2.DTL


Young idealist represents a generation's angst about homeownership
By Carol Lloyd, Special to SF Gate
Friday, August 31, 2007
When a press release found its way into my inbox from a frustrated young woman who was threatening to sue the real estate industry "for the sake of her generation" if she couldn't get a mortgage, I was intrigued. Despite the dubious premise of her threats, Caroline Houck, an upstart developer of utopian communities, nonetheless represents feelings about real estate, its professionals and the sense of the younger landless generation being cheated by the landed Boomers that were not new to me.
Describing herself as "hopping mad" about business as usual in the industry, Houck said she's ready to take her case to court.
"I'm a statistic," Houck told me when reached in her home in Sonoma County. "When you have unstable living environments, you have fundamental stress -- that causes you to not be able to be effective in the world. All these future-thinking young people are spending all their time on housing and I don't think the older generation has any idea what we're experiencing."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2007/08/31/carollloyd.DTL



THE bondage FILE
http://www.sfgate.com/n/bondage/
Not To Mention The Stigma Of Being 'It'


Colo. School Bans Tag on Its Playground
Thursday, August 30, 2007
(08-30) 22:32 PDT Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP) --
An elementary school has banned tag on its playground after some children complained they were harassed or chased against their will.
"It causes a lot of conflict on the playground," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school.
Running games are still allowed as long as students don't chase each other, she said.
Fesgen said two parents complained to her about the ban but most parents and children didn't object.
In 2005, two elementary schools in the nearby Falcon School District did away with tag and similar games in favor of alternatives with less physical contact. School officials said the move encouraged more students to play games and helped reduce playground squabbles.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/30/national/a030807D30.DTL&type=bondage



BROADMOOR
Bees swarm school; teacher in hospital
John Cote
Friday, August 31, 2007
A swarm of bees attacked elementary school students and a teacher who tried to help during recess Thursday in the Peninsula enclave of Broadmoor, stinging the teacher so many times he was hospitalized, police said.
Eleven students were stung at Garden Village Elementary School. All were treated by paramedics at the scene and then were either picked up by parents or went back to class, police Cpl. Steve Rettinger said.
The teacher, identified only as a 36-year-old man, was taken by ambulance to Seton Medical Center in Daly City. He is expected to recover, Rettinger said.
It's unclear what prompted the insects' fury.
"The kids all said that they were playing on the playground and they just started getting stung," Rettinger said. "The kids denied disturbing any hive or anything like that, and no hive was seen."
The exact number of wounds the teacher received was unknown.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BAUMRSTHB.DTL



Caregivers allegedly stole for drug money
John Cote
Friday, August 31, 2007
A couple hired to care for a bedridden 80-year-old Daly City woman stole her checks and rang up thousands of dollars on her credit cards to feed the man's drug habit, San Mateo County prosecutors said Thursday.
Rodelio Flores, 38, and his wife, Marichu Flores, 35, were arrested Monday after Rodelio Flores tried to pass a bad check at a bank, authorities said. That check was from a separate victim, prosecutors said.
Police, called after a teller noticed the check had been altered, found that Rodelio Flores had the 80-year-old woman's credit cards and mail with him, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. Marichu Flores was in the couple's car nearby, waiting for her husband.
The two allegedly charged thousands of dollars on items such as clothes and small appliances that they then sold on the street, using the money to maintain Rodelio Flores' methamphetamine habit, Wagstaffe said. The couple were in custody Thursday, with bail set $85,000 each.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BAGPERT356.DTL



State Supreme Court ruling in golfing case a caution for duffers
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007

The California Supreme Court inscribed into law Thursday something any weekend golfer knows - that hooks and slices are part of the game, and that anyone who stands in range of an errant shot is taking a chance of being hit.
Applying a principle that was first established in a 1992 case about touch football, the court ruled 6-1 that golfers, like athletes in contact sports, accept the normal risks of the game and can't sue for injuries caused by another player's mere carelessness or negligence.
But the justices also said a golfer who knows that someone is in the danger zone but doesn't look down the fairway before teeing up might be reckless, not merely negligent, and thus subject to a damages suit by the victim.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BA90RSOPT.DTL


Burning Blog: High Noon in the Temple
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=3&entry_id=19910


6 Firefighters Die in Croatia
By SNJEZANA VUKIC, Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007
(08-31) 12:33 PDT ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) --
The prime minister promised an investigation Friday into Croatia's worst firefighting disaster, in which six men were killed and seven badly injured when they were trapped battling a fierce forest blaze.
The group — including volunteers aged 17 and 18 — was encircled by flames Thursday when the wind suddenly changed direction while they were fighting a fire on Kornat island, national firefighting chief Mladen Jurin said.
Police said eight men had been detained on suspicion of arson. The state-run news agency HINA said the eight were seasonal construction and tourism workers. They were allegedly filmed setting the fire by a German tourist.
The fire was brought under control early Friday.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/31/international/i123309D79.DTL&tsp=1


Spears Premieres `Gimme More' Single
By ERIN CARLSON, Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007
(08-31) 11:59 PDT New York (AP) --
It seems like forever since Britney Spears had six-pack abs and a hit song on the charts. But the fallen pop princess — tarnished by a tumultuous divorce, late-night partying and erratic behavior — is trying to get her music career back on track.
For real this time.
Her new single, "Gimme More," debuted Thursday night on the Web site of New York City pop station Z100, and a new album is due for release Nov. 13 by Jive Records, the label's representative, Wendy Washington, told The Associated Press on Friday.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/31/entertainment/e115916D91.DTL&tsp=1&type=entertainment


Google Begins Hosting News on Its Site
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007
(08-31) 12:57 PDT SAN FRANCISCO, (AP) --
Internet search leader Google Inc. on Friday began hosting material produced by The Associated Press and three other news services on its own Web site instead of only sending readers to other destinations.
The change affects hundreds of stories and photographs distributed each day by the AP, Agence France-Presse, The Press Association in the United Kingdom and The Canadian Press. It could diminish Internet traffic to newspaper and broadcast companies' Web sites where those stories and photos are also found — a development that could reduce those companies' revenue from online advertising.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/31/financial/f104822D74.DTL&tsp=1


An old ally in AIDS fight
Friday, August 31, 2007
DRUG THERAPY, education and prevention are mainstays in the fight against AIDS. But researchers have come up with another idea to stem infection: male circumcision.
In developed countries, the operation is a commonplace option given to parents with infant sons. In Africa, however, the removal of the penis foreskin isn't widespread. Health researchers have noted a important factor: the thin layer of uncut skin is highly vulnerable to the AIDS virus, and removing it could sharply drop infection.
Studies have taken years to establish the point, but now the world's biggest AIDS prevention program run by the United States will begin paying for the operations, mostly in sub-Sahara Africa where 60 percent of the world's 40 million infected people live.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/31/EDEQRND7T.DTL


America, The Sexy Fascist State
Surveillance cameras are booming. The question is, do they make your butt look big?
By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Friday, August 24, 2007
Mark Morford will be on vacation the week of 8/27/07
I like to picture it, if I have to picture it at all, as some sort of giant, low-lit converted warehouse, loosely staffed with a haphazard gaggle of scraggy, perpetually hung-over former frat guys and ex-cops and disgruntled former bank tellers all staring numbly at banks of 10-year-old black-and-white Dell monitors set about in a scattershot array of worn gray cubicles, all smelling of stale coffee and overloaded electrical outlets and tiny lost dreams.
They are wary, these government workers, these data miners. They are jaded, burned out, sighing heavily. After all, they know it's all some big in-joke, this supposedly ominous government surveillance thing, all the cameras and the wiretapping and the Internet scouring. I mean, isn't it?

http://sfgate.com/columnists/morford/


Rookie cop who shot himself to death at party was intoxicated
John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 31, 2007
(08-30) 17:14 PDT SAN MATEO - A San Francisco rookie police officer who shot himself to death during a late-night gathering at his San Mateo apartment was legally drunk, toxicology tests show.
Officer James Gustafson Jr., 23, had a blood alcohol level of 0.09 percent - slightly above the 0.08 limit for legally driving a car - when he shot himself Aug. 11, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said today.
Gustafson shot himself in the neck at 1:40 a.m. during a gathering of as many as 15 people, as he was showing a woman how police are taught to prevent someone from using a gun against them, authorities said.
There's no way to know whether Gustafson was too drunk to know what he was doing, the coroner said.
"Somebody's blood alcohol level and their ability to function correctly can vary from individual to individual," Foucrault said. "It's subjective."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/31/BA78RSJKI.DTL

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