Friday, March 16, 2007
Spring in the USA hasn't even arrived yet and this is the Dought Map of the USA as of March 15, 2007
I doubt if Bush would mess with this one. He does realize people need water daily in their lives and if his constituents were to die as a result of faulty maps it would be very, very bad. The might even elect Democrats.
I am confident this reporting has sufficient personnel in the department. With all those government cuts to accommodate dirt cheap tax structures, there are many government vacancies. More than likely this department is not one of them.
There are 79 "Large Incident" fires reported today in the USA
The black dots are meaningless. It is a new designation that has absolutely NO definition. I am confident it is propagandize the reality of the reporting service. This is Bush's Handy Work. Some kind of president, huh?
March 13, 2007
Las Vegas, Nevada
Photographer stated :: Las Vegas Bush Fire - A brush fire burns out of control that started before 5 p.m. Tuesday and spread quickly. Within minutes it swept through the county's desert Wetlands Park, smothering homes a block away in a thick could of black smoke. Just a few hours later it grew to well over 150 acres with fire crews wetting homes to make sure they didn't catch fire..©Photo by Gene Blevins/LA Daily News©
Click on for animation - the heat intrusion persists
Antarctica
March 16, 2007
6:00 PM
Okay. The first question I have regarding this picture is what in the heck is all that heat doing over WAIS.
I mentioned last time the winds were more than likely ionic because they reached all the way to the "jet stream." Today is no different.
See Below...
The vortex/jet stream of Antarctica was very, very still not long ago and provided the only air movement. The winds were calm.
This is not the case now. The vortex over Antarctica is directing the heat to areas over WAIS. The movement of heat is verified by observing some temperatures.
Vostok is very warm compared to where the reporting station was a short time ago:
Vostok, Antarctica
Elevation: 11220 ft / 3420 m
Temperature :: -57 °F / -49 °C
Conditions :: Clear
Humidity: 42%
Dew Point: -64 °F / -54 °C
Wind: 9 mph / 15 km/h from the North
Wind Gust: -
Pressure: (Steady)
Visibility: 12.0 miles / 20.0 kilometers
THE ENTIRE continent is registering higher temperatures (click on). There are many more reporting stations over zero today. That was not the case yesterday and far more 'temperate' reporting stations.
The warmest is on the Peninsula but no longer approaching zero:
Base Jubany, Antarctica
Elevation :: 13 ft / 4 m
Temperature :: 44 °F / 6 °C
Conditions :: Light Drizzle
Humidity :: 78%
Dew Point :: 39 °F / 4 °C
Wind :: 44 mph / 70 km/h from the NW
Wind Gust :: -
Pressure :: 29.15 in / 987 hPa (Falling)
Visibility :: 1.0 miles / 2.0 kilometers
UV :: 0 out of 16
Clouds :: Overcast 394 ft / 120 m
(Above Ground Level)
Click to Animate - In the face of all this evidence, the USA still has no Climate policy.
It is easily noted, especially in animation, the winds over the Blue Ice are moving to the lower elevations. The air gets heavier as it cools while subliming the Blue Ice. The humidity over Vostok is 48% with clear and the air pressure is steady, while the lower elevations of The Peninsula has a falling air pressure and increasingly poor weather. It's nearly autumn in Antarctica. I hope as we move closer to Winter this will cease, but, it won't if the heat is finally finding it's density so think above these high elevations that it cannot find relief anywhere by over the ice caps and high elevation ice fields.
The same heat distributions are seen on satellite over the mountains of Everest in Tibet. The heat density has returned to The Greenland Ice as well.
The governments of The West need to stop this insanity. There has to be a moratorium on carbon dioxide production and now ! This is no joke.
Morning Papers - continued ...
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"...if Karl thinks there is the political will to do it, then so do I."
Rove Is Linked to Early Query Over Dismissals
By David Johnston and Eric Lipton / New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 15 — Karl Rove, the senior presidential adviser, inquired about firing United States attorneys in January 2005, e-mail messages released Thursday show. The request prompted a Justice Department aide to respond that Alberto R. Gonzales, soon to be confirmed as attorney general, favored replacing a group of “underperforming” prosecutors.
The e-mail messages, part of a larger collection that the Justice Department is preparing to turn over to Congressional investigators, indicate that Mr. Rove and Mr. Gonzales, then the White House counsel, had considered replacing prosecutors earlier than either has previously acknowledged.
In a message on Jan. 6, 2005, one White House lawyer wrote to a colleague: “Karl Rove stopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) ‘how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them or selectively replace them, etc.’ ”
D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned this week as chief of staff to Mr. Gonzales, responded by e-mail three days later.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9419
Second Senate Republican calls for removal of Alberto Gonzales
New allegations could spell more trouble for Gonzales
By Elana Schor / The Hill
Two new revelations about alleged misconduct by the Justice Department kept the U.S. attorneys scandal roiling on Capitol Hill Thursday, with a second Republican senator calling for the ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
In the most stunning turn, ABC News disclosed a new round of internal emails - slated for release to Congress as soon as Friday - that show senior White House adviser Karl Rove closely tied to the January 2005 genesis of a plan to fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, in direct contradiction to statements made by the White House. The emails also reveal that Gonzales was aware of the plan before he moved from the White House counsel’s office to the Justice Department in early 2005.
“It is now imperative that [Rove] testify before Congress and give all the details of his involvement,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee with jurisdiction over U.S. attorneys.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9420
Do Something, Saturday
Introducing the March on the Pentagon
Saturday, March 17, 2007
~ 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 march on the Pentagon ~
~ 4th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war ~
On March 17, 2007, the 4th anniversary of the start of the criminal invasion of Iraq, tens of thousands of people from around the country will descend on the Pentagon in a mass demonstration to demand: U.S. Out of Iraq Now! 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 anti-war march to the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. The message of the 1967 march was "From Protest to Resistance," and marked a turning point in the development of a countrywide mass movement.
In the coming days and weeks, thousands of organizations and individuals will begin mobilizing for the upcoming March on the Pentagon. Organizing committees and transportation centers are being established to bring people to the March on the Pentagon.
We will assemble at 12 noon at 23rd St. and Constitution Ave. NW.
http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?id=8107
The Google
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=pentagon&layer=&sll=38.878071,-77.054672&sspn=0.080048,0.144882&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=38.870821,-77.055702&spn=0.010007,0.025148&t=h&om=1
List of Fourth Anniversary of Iraq War Events in your Area
Events
Events listed are not necessarily endorsed or organized by UFPJ. This calendar is maintained as a resource for the entire peace and justice movement. For further information about any event listed, please click on the event listing and contact the person and/or email address listed as the contact for the specific event.
When looking at events in a particular category, please note that states appear in alphabetical order according to their postal code, not their name. E.g. North Carolina is listed before New Jersey, because "NC" comes before "NJ."
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?sortby=&caltype=51
Defund the war - Rebuild the Gulf Coast
In solidarity with the people of the Gulf Coast and understanding that every bomb dropped in Iraq explodes over the U.S. Gulf Coast, Veterans For Peace and partner organizations will return to the area devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to aid in reconstruction efforts. The project will raise money and volunteers to aid in rebuilding homes for survivors of the hurricanes. In addition, we will raise awareness of the continued plight of the gulf coast survivors and the persistent commitment to an illegal, immoral war fought at staggering costs, both financially and in human casualties.
http://veteransforpeace.org/Rebuilding_the_gulf_coast.vp.html
SDS: March 20 Student Day of Action Against the War
Blog for information about the March 20 student day of action against the war
http://march20antiwar.blogspot.com/
Bush should see families hurt firsthand, mom says
'When he knew he was going on a mission, I always said, "Be safe,' " and he replied, "I will,' " Nina Carr said.
By William K. Alcorn / The Vindicator
YOUNGSTOWN, OH - "How many more of our sons and daughters have to be sacrificed before we bring them home," said Christine Wortman through tears of anguish.
Her son Army Sgt. Robert Michael Carr was killed Tuesday in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive devise exploded under the armored vehicle he was driving. Carr, known as Robbie, was assigned to the 212th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division in Iraq, and was stationed at Fort Carson, Colo.
"President Bush should have to knock on the doors of the families of every soldier killed so he could understand and see the hurt and devastation," Wortman said Thursday at her Champion home.
"It's unbearable," she said of her sorrow.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9421
Dozens in GOP Turn Against Bush's Prized 'No Child' Act
By Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley / Washington Post
More than 50 GOP members of the House and Senate -- including the House's second-ranking Republican -- will introduce legislation today that could severely undercut President Bush's signature domestic achievement, the No Child Left Behind Act, by allowing states to opt out of its testing mandates.
For a White House fighting off attacks on its war policy and dealing with a burgeoning scandal at the Justice Department, the GOP dissidents' move is a fresh blow on a new front. Among the co-sponsors of the legislation are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key supporter of the measure in 2001, and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Bush's most reliable defender in the Senate. Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House GOP's chief deputy whip and a supporter in 2001, has also signed on.
Burson Snyder, a spokesman for Blunt, said that after several meetings with school administrators and teachers in southwest Missouri, the House Republican leader turned against the measure he helped pass. Blunt was convinced that the burdens and red tape of the No Child Left Behind Act are unacceptably onerous, Snyder said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9414
First GOP senator calls for Gonzales firing
Bush ‘not happy’ about handling of attorney firings, but stands by AG
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican in Congress to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal, hours after President Bush expressed confidence in his embattled Cabinet officer.
"I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Gonzales has been fending off Democratic calls for his firing in the wake of disclosures surrounding the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys.
Sununu said the firings, together with a report last Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general criticizing the administration's use of secret national security letters to obtain personal records in terrorism probes, shattered his confidence in Gonzales.
"We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the confidence of Congress and the American people," said Sununu, who faces a tough re-election campaign next year. "Alberto Gonzales can't fill that role."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9408
Second GOP Senator say Gonzales should go
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/second-gop-senator-say-gonzales-should.html
VA hospital turned away suicidal vet, family says
CNN
Although he earned two purple hearts for fighting in Iraq, Marine Jonathan Schulze was rejected by a Minnesota VA hospital when he needed urgent treatment.
Schulze was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by his family physician. He was prescribed Ambien, Valium, and Paxil, but they didn't help. When Schulze began to feel suicidal, he turned to the VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota, about an hour outside Minneapolis.
His father and stepmother both insist they heard Schulze tell the intake nurse he was "suicidal." But instead of admitting him, the hospital told Schulze to go home and call back the next day.
The family says it was told the social worker who screens PTSD patients was too busy to see him. When Schulze called back the next day, his stepmom says she listened as he told the social worker he felt suicidal. The hospital then responded by telling him he was Number 26 on the waiting list for one of 12 PTSD patient beds. In other words, he'd need to wait at least two weeks before he could get treatment.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9409
Thursday, March 15th, 2007
'The Ides of March' ...Cindy Sheehan
A few days ago, I sent out a frustrated email to a small listserv that includes some major peace activists in the nation, including Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich. My email reads as follows:
With the impending invasion of Iran, which will probably turn nuclear (or "nukular" as some say), why is no member of Congress introducing Articles of Impeachment?
We live in a rogue state...who will stop them?
I received the standard reply that I receive from many of our dear anti-war, progressive Congressional Reps, from Dennis' wife, Elizabeth:
DK feels that impeachment is a distraction of the real issue which is ending the war in Iraq.
Of course I agree that Iraq is the real issue, but King George has said himself that the war isn't ending while he is president. And, as the occupation of Iraq has been an unmitigated failure, an invasion of Iran (by the US or Israel) would be the prelude to Armageddon.
Also, if we subtract the issues of Iran and Iraq, King George has violated international law and has ripped our Constitution into confetti sized pieces. From unlawful invasions to stealing unprecedented executive powers using his fabricated "war on terror" BushCo has committed many impeachable offenses. Impeachment proceedings would compliment the peace movement...not distract or detract from it.
A couple of millennia ago there was a leader of a Republic that took imperial powers upon himself and declared himself "dictator for life"...his name was Julius Caesar. On the Ides of March (44 B.C.), some very reluctantly patriotic Senators who wanted to halt the slide of Rome from a Republic into an empire ruled by a dictator, took matters into their own hands and assassinated Julius Caesar on the "Ides of March," which is today.
Frustrated by this Congress, again, giving King George the green light for further wars of aggression, on the Ides of March, 2007, Rep. Dennis Kucinich took matters peacefully and patriotically into his own hands and with courage and integrity said the "I" word on the House floor in these remarks:
This House cannot avoid its Constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain abuse of the Executive Branch.
The Administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran.
There is no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies.
The US is a signatory to the UN Charter, a constituent treaty among the nations of the world. Article II, Section 4 of the UN Charter states: "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state..." Even the threat of a war of aggression is illegal.
Article VI of the US Constitution makes such treaties the Supreme Law of the Land. This Administration has openly threatened aggression against Iran in violation of the US Constitution and UN Charter.
This week the House Appropriations Committee removed language from the Iraq war funding bill requiring the Administration, under Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, to seek permission before it launched an attack against Iran.
Since war with Iran is an option of this Administration and since such a war is patently illegal, then impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran.
The Congressional power of impeachment is the only thing that can restrain King George and his criminal court. Congress has given King George their powers to declare war and has not maintained its duty as a check on his illegal regal progression. If Congress doesn't snatch some of that power back, they will become as ineffectual and irrelevant as the Roman Senate under Julius' replacement, his nephew Caesar Augustus.
We as a progressive peace community need to thank and support Rep. Kucinich in his courageous stance against further dictatorial power grabs from The Usurpers.
Call Dennis Kucinich's office to thank him (202-225-5871) or email him.
Donate 15.00 for the 15th of March to his campaign.
Let's encourage and reward our Reps who do the right thing.
Let's help to save our Republic.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04.
She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and The Camp Casey Peace Institute.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=841
Camp Casey Easter 2007
http://www.gsfp.org/article.php?id=320
'Camp Casey Easter 2007' ...by Cindy Sheehan
From: Casey's Mom
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 6:43 PM
To: [Undisclosed Recipients]
Subject: 7.67 deaths per day for August.
Dear Friends
We can relax now. From the war zone of Crawford, Texas, George said that we families of loved ones that have been killed in Iraq can: "rest assured that your loved ones died for a noble cause."
I am going to be in Dallas this weekend for the VFP convention, and I don't care how far Crawford is from Dallas, I am going to that expletive deleted ranch. I will not leave until he explains to me exactly what the noble cause is. I hope some VFP's will join me in the crusade to Crawford. If they don't, I know my sister will, and we will go alone if we have to.
It has to stop. The time is now. I mean it.
Peace soon,
Cindy Sheehan
This is the email that I sent to a group of about 300 people the day that 14 Marines from a reserve unit in Ohio were killed. I was upset. I was heartbroken. I was frustrated, but most of all, I was angry!
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=836
Invite George Bush
http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/contact/
Mohammed says responsible for 9/11 attacks
By Andrew Gray / Reuters
WASHINGTON - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, has admitted responsibility for those and other major al Qaeda operations, according to the transcript of a hearing at Guantanamo Bay released on Wednesday.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z," Mohammed, speaking through a personal representative, said according to the transcript of the hearing on Saturday at the U.S. military prison camp in Cuba released by the Pentagon.
Mohammed, a Pakistani national, also said he was responsible for a 1993 attack on New York's World Trade Center, the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, and an attempt to down two American airplanes using shoe bombs.
"I was the operational director for Sheikh Usama (Osama) Bin Laden for the organizing, planning, follow-up, and execution of the 9/11 operation," he said through his representative, a member of the U.S. military.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9413
Confessions of a Terrorist: I'm Guilty of 3,000+ Murders
By Brian Ross and Luis Martinez / ABC News
Presidents Clinton and Carter, Pope John Paul II, Henry Kissinger, the Empire State Building, the Library Tower in Los Angeles and the Sears Tower in Chicago were among the targets of al Qaeda attacks planned by captured al Qaeda terror commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, according to a written statement he filed this weekend at a hearing held at the American prison at Guantanamo.
Known as KSM, he also formally admitted responsibility for the 9/ll attacks, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia.
KSM, captured in 2003 in Pakistan, was subjected by the CIA to waterboarding and other "extreme interrogation" techniques, according to current and former CIA officials.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9412
OFFICIAL IMPEACHMENT TEXT
WHEREAS, Jefferson's Manual section LIII, 603, states that impeachment may be set in motion by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has intentionally misled the Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war against Iraq, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1001 and intentionally conspired with others to defraud the United States in connection with the war against Iraq in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American civilians without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, duly constituted by Congress in 1978, in violation of Title 50 United States Code, Section 1805; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has conspired to commit the torture of prisoners in violation of the UN Torture Convention and the Geneva Convention, which under Article VI of the Constitution are part of the "supreme Law of the Land"; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has acted to strip Americans of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to legal counsel, without charge and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the President of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant", all in subversion of law; and
WHEREAS, In all of this George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President, subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the State of ___________ and of the United States.
Be it resolved that George W. Bush, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622
THOSE THAT PROTESTED the Vietnam War on USA soil, some of which lost their lives, were of the generation most afflicted with the war.
The Pot Heads. The Flower Children.
With Iraq, the opposition is across generations. We are powerful people, the demonstrators against this war. We are growing opposition to war while nurturing conscientious objectors from the grassroots up. I think all those involved in the cross generational Peace Movement are incredible Americans. I love you guys.
There have been a couple of interesting statements this past week:
In regard to peace, Joe Biden stated, "By summer there will be many more Republicans that will come to realize they cannot favor the President over the troops."
In regard to Human Induced Global Warming, Tony Blair stated, ' (Paraphrased) We don't need more economic growth so much as maintaining the economies we have." Much of what 'goes on' with development is deforestation of areas to make way for new building and lack of land use planning. I find Tony Blair to be an strong advocate for change in societies leading to the resolve of Kyoto. He takes the issue seriously and doesn't play with the lives and potential of the generations that are still too young to make their own stand.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"...if Karl thinks there is the political will to do it, then so do I."
Rove Is Linked to Early Query Over Dismissals
By David Johnston and Eric Lipton / New York Times
WASHINGTON, March 15 — Karl Rove, the senior presidential adviser, inquired about firing United States attorneys in January 2005, e-mail messages released Thursday show. The request prompted a Justice Department aide to respond that Alberto R. Gonzales, soon to be confirmed as attorney general, favored replacing a group of “underperforming” prosecutors.
The e-mail messages, part of a larger collection that the Justice Department is preparing to turn over to Congressional investigators, indicate that Mr. Rove and Mr. Gonzales, then the White House counsel, had considered replacing prosecutors earlier than either has previously acknowledged.
In a message on Jan. 6, 2005, one White House lawyer wrote to a colleague: “Karl Rove stopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) ‘how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them or selectively replace them, etc.’ ”
D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned this week as chief of staff to Mr. Gonzales, responded by e-mail three days later.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9419
Second Senate Republican calls for removal of Alberto Gonzales
New allegations could spell more trouble for Gonzales
By Elana Schor / The Hill
Two new revelations about alleged misconduct by the Justice Department kept the U.S. attorneys scandal roiling on Capitol Hill Thursday, with a second Republican senator calling for the ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
In the most stunning turn, ABC News disclosed a new round of internal emails - slated for release to Congress as soon as Friday - that show senior White House adviser Karl Rove closely tied to the January 2005 genesis of a plan to fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, in direct contradiction to statements made by the White House. The emails also reveal that Gonzales was aware of the plan before he moved from the White House counsel’s office to the Justice Department in early 2005.
“It is now imperative that [Rove] testify before Congress and give all the details of his involvement,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee with jurisdiction over U.S. attorneys.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9420
Do Something, Saturday
Introducing the March on the Pentagon
Saturday, March 17, 2007
~ 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 march on the Pentagon ~
~ 4th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war ~
On March 17, 2007, the 4th anniversary of the start of the criminal invasion of Iraq, tens of thousands of people from around the country will descend on the Pentagon in a mass demonstration to demand: U.S. Out of Iraq Now! 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 anti-war march to the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. The message of the 1967 march was "From Protest to Resistance," and marked a turning point in the development of a countrywide mass movement.
In the coming days and weeks, thousands of organizations and individuals will begin mobilizing for the upcoming March on the Pentagon. Organizing committees and transportation centers are being established to bring people to the March on the Pentagon.
We will assemble at 12 noon at 23rd St. and Constitution Ave. NW.
http://answer.pephost.org/site/News2?id=8107
The Google
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=pentagon&layer=&sll=38.878071,-77.054672&sspn=0.080048,0.144882&ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=38.870821,-77.055702&spn=0.010007,0.025148&t=h&om=1
List of Fourth Anniversary of Iraq War Events in your Area
Events
Events listed are not necessarily endorsed or organized by UFPJ. This calendar is maintained as a resource for the entire peace and justice movement. For further information about any event listed, please click on the event listing and contact the person and/or email address listed as the contact for the specific event.
When looking at events in a particular category, please note that states appear in alphabetical order according to their postal code, not their name. E.g. North Carolina is listed before New Jersey, because "NC" comes before "NJ."
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/calendar.php?sortby=&caltype=51
Defund the war - Rebuild the Gulf Coast
In solidarity with the people of the Gulf Coast and understanding that every bomb dropped in Iraq explodes over the U.S. Gulf Coast, Veterans For Peace and partner organizations will return to the area devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to aid in reconstruction efforts. The project will raise money and volunteers to aid in rebuilding homes for survivors of the hurricanes. In addition, we will raise awareness of the continued plight of the gulf coast survivors and the persistent commitment to an illegal, immoral war fought at staggering costs, both financially and in human casualties.
http://veteransforpeace.org/Rebuilding_the_gulf_coast.vp.html
SDS: March 20 Student Day of Action Against the War
Blog for information about the March 20 student day of action against the war
http://march20antiwar.blogspot.com/
Bush should see families hurt firsthand, mom says
'When he knew he was going on a mission, I always said, "Be safe,' " and he replied, "I will,' " Nina Carr said.
By William K. Alcorn / The Vindicator
YOUNGSTOWN, OH - "How many more of our sons and daughters have to be sacrificed before we bring them home," said Christine Wortman through tears of anguish.
Her son Army Sgt. Robert Michael Carr was killed Tuesday in Baghdad, Iraq, when an improvised explosive devise exploded under the armored vehicle he was driving. Carr, known as Robbie, was assigned to the 212th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division in Iraq, and was stationed at Fort Carson, Colo.
"President Bush should have to knock on the doors of the families of every soldier killed so he could understand and see the hurt and devastation," Wortman said Thursday at her Champion home.
"It's unbearable," she said of her sorrow.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9421
Dozens in GOP Turn Against Bush's Prized 'No Child' Act
By Jonathan Weisman and Amit R. Paley / Washington Post
More than 50 GOP members of the House and Senate -- including the House's second-ranking Republican -- will introduce legislation today that could severely undercut President Bush's signature domestic achievement, the No Child Left Behind Act, by allowing states to opt out of its testing mandates.
For a White House fighting off attacks on its war policy and dealing with a burgeoning scandal at the Justice Department, the GOP dissidents' move is a fresh blow on a new front. Among the co-sponsors of the legislation are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a key supporter of the measure in 2001, and John Cornyn (R-Tex.), Bush's most reliable defender in the Senate. Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the House GOP's chief deputy whip and a supporter in 2001, has also signed on.
Burson Snyder, a spokesman for Blunt, said that after several meetings with school administrators and teachers in southwest Missouri, the House Republican leader turned against the measure he helped pass. Blunt was convinced that the burdens and red tape of the No Child Left Behind Act are unacceptably onerous, Snyder said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9414
First GOP senator calls for Gonzales firing
Bush ‘not happy’ about handling of attorney firings, but stands by AG
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican in Congress to call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' dismissal, hours after President Bush expressed confidence in his embattled Cabinet officer.
"I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Gonzales has been fending off Democratic calls for his firing in the wake of disclosures surrounding the ousters of eight U.S. attorneys.
Sununu said the firings, together with a report last Friday by the Justice Department's inspector general criticizing the administration's use of secret national security letters to obtain personal records in terrorism probes, shattered his confidence in Gonzales.
"We need to have a strong, credible attorney general that has the confidence of Congress and the American people," said Sununu, who faces a tough re-election campaign next year. "Alberto Gonzales can't fill that role."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9408
Second GOP Senator say Gonzales should go
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2007/03/second-gop-senator-say-gonzales-should.html
VA hospital turned away suicidal vet, family says
CNN
Although he earned two purple hearts for fighting in Iraq, Marine Jonathan Schulze was rejected by a Minnesota VA hospital when he needed urgent treatment.
Schulze was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by his family physician. He was prescribed Ambien, Valium, and Paxil, but they didn't help. When Schulze began to feel suicidal, he turned to the VA hospital in St. Cloud, Minnesota, about an hour outside Minneapolis.
His father and stepmother both insist they heard Schulze tell the intake nurse he was "suicidal." But instead of admitting him, the hospital told Schulze to go home and call back the next day.
The family says it was told the social worker who screens PTSD patients was too busy to see him. When Schulze called back the next day, his stepmom says she listened as he told the social worker he felt suicidal. The hospital then responded by telling him he was Number 26 on the waiting list for one of 12 PTSD patient beds. In other words, he'd need to wait at least two weeks before he could get treatment.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9409
Thursday, March 15th, 2007
'The Ides of March' ...Cindy Sheehan
A few days ago, I sent out a frustrated email to a small listserv that includes some major peace activists in the nation, including Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich. My email reads as follows:
With the impending invasion of Iran, which will probably turn nuclear (or "nukular" as some say), why is no member of Congress introducing Articles of Impeachment?
We live in a rogue state...who will stop them?
I received the standard reply that I receive from many of our dear anti-war, progressive Congressional Reps, from Dennis' wife, Elizabeth:
DK feels that impeachment is a distraction of the real issue which is ending the war in Iraq.
Of course I agree that Iraq is the real issue, but King George has said himself that the war isn't ending while he is president. And, as the occupation of Iraq has been an unmitigated failure, an invasion of Iran (by the US or Israel) would be the prelude to Armageddon.
Also, if we subtract the issues of Iran and Iraq, King George has violated international law and has ripped our Constitution into confetti sized pieces. From unlawful invasions to stealing unprecedented executive powers using his fabricated "war on terror" BushCo has committed many impeachable offenses. Impeachment proceedings would compliment the peace movement...not distract or detract from it.
A couple of millennia ago there was a leader of a Republic that took imperial powers upon himself and declared himself "dictator for life"...his name was Julius Caesar. On the Ides of March (44 B.C.), some very reluctantly patriotic Senators who wanted to halt the slide of Rome from a Republic into an empire ruled by a dictator, took matters into their own hands and assassinated Julius Caesar on the "Ides of March," which is today.
Frustrated by this Congress, again, giving King George the green light for further wars of aggression, on the Ides of March, 2007, Rep. Dennis Kucinich took matters peacefully and patriotically into his own hands and with courage and integrity said the "I" word on the House floor in these remarks:
This House cannot avoid its Constitutionally authorized responsibility to restrain abuse of the Executive Branch.
The Administration has been preparing for an aggressive war against Iran.
There is no solid, direct evidence that Iran has the intention of attacking the United States or its allies.
The US is a signatory to the UN Charter, a constituent treaty among the nations of the world. Article II, Section 4 of the UN Charter states: "all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state..." Even the threat of a war of aggression is illegal.
Article VI of the US Constitution makes such treaties the Supreme Law of the Land. This Administration has openly threatened aggression against Iran in violation of the US Constitution and UN Charter.
This week the House Appropriations Committee removed language from the Iraq war funding bill requiring the Administration, under Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, to seek permission before it launched an attack against Iran.
Since war with Iran is an option of this Administration and since such a war is patently illegal, then impeachment may well be the only remedy which remains to stop a war of aggression against Iran.
The Congressional power of impeachment is the only thing that can restrain King George and his criminal court. Congress has given King George their powers to declare war and has not maintained its duty as a check on his illegal regal progression. If Congress doesn't snatch some of that power back, they will become as ineffectual and irrelevant as the Roman Senate under Julius' replacement, his nephew Caesar Augustus.
We as a progressive peace community need to thank and support Rep. Kucinich in his courageous stance against further dictatorial power grabs from The Usurpers.
Call Dennis Kucinich's office to thank him (202-225-5871) or email him.
Donate 15.00 for the 15th of March to his campaign.
Let's encourage and reward our Reps who do the right thing.
Let's help to save our Republic.
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spc. Casey Sheehan who was killed in Bush's war of terror on 04/04/04.
She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and The Camp Casey Peace Institute.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=841
Camp Casey Easter 2007
http://www.gsfp.org/article.php?id=320
'Camp Casey Easter 2007' ...by Cindy Sheehan
From: Casey's Mom
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 6:43 PM
To: [Undisclosed Recipients]
Subject: 7.67 deaths per day for August.
Dear Friends
We can relax now. From the war zone of Crawford, Texas, George said that we families of loved ones that have been killed in Iraq can: "rest assured that your loved ones died for a noble cause."
I am going to be in Dallas this weekend for the VFP convention, and I don't care how far Crawford is from Dallas, I am going to that expletive deleted ranch. I will not leave until he explains to me exactly what the noble cause is. I hope some VFP's will join me in the crusade to Crawford. If they don't, I know my sister will, and we will go alone if we have to.
It has to stop. The time is now. I mean it.
Peace soon,
Cindy Sheehan
This is the email that I sent to a group of about 300 people the day that 14 Marines from a reserve unit in Ohio were killed. I was upset. I was heartbroken. I was frustrated, but most of all, I was angry!
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=836
Invite George Bush
http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/contact/
Mohammed says responsible for 9/11 attacks
By Andrew Gray / Reuters
WASHINGTON - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, has admitted responsibility for those and other major al Qaeda operations, according to the transcript of a hearing at Guantanamo Bay released on Wednesday.
"I was responsible for the 9/11 Operation, from A to Z," Mohammed, speaking through a personal representative, said according to the transcript of the hearing on Saturday at the U.S. military prison camp in Cuba released by the Pentagon.
Mohammed, a Pakistani national, also said he was responsible for a 1993 attack on New York's World Trade Center, the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, and an attempt to down two American airplanes using shoe bombs.
"I was the operational director for Sheikh Usama (Osama) Bin Laden for the organizing, planning, follow-up, and execution of the 9/11 operation," he said through his representative, a member of the U.S. military.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9413
Confessions of a Terrorist: I'm Guilty of 3,000+ Murders
By Brian Ross and Luis Martinez / ABC News
Presidents Clinton and Carter, Pope John Paul II, Henry Kissinger, the Empire State Building, the Library Tower in Los Angeles and the Sears Tower in Chicago were among the targets of al Qaeda attacks planned by captured al Qaeda terror commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, according to a written statement he filed this weekend at a hearing held at the American prison at Guantanamo.
Known as KSM, he also formally admitted responsibility for the 9/ll attacks, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia.
KSM, captured in 2003 in Pakistan, was subjected by the CIA to waterboarding and other "extreme interrogation" techniques, according to current and former CIA officials.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9412
OFFICIAL IMPEACHMENT TEXT
WHEREAS, Jefferson's Manual section LIII, 603, states that impeachment may be set in motion by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has intentionally misled the Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq in order to justify a war against Iraq, in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 1001 and intentionally conspired with others to defraud the United States in connection with the war against Iraq in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Section 371; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has admitted to ordering the National Security Agency to conduct electronic surveillance of American civilians without seeking warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, duly constituted by Congress in 1978, in violation of Title 50 United States Code, Section 1805; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has conspired to commit the torture of prisoners in violation of the UN Torture Convention and the Geneva Convention, which under Article VI of the Constitution are part of the "supreme Law of the Land"; and
WHEREAS, George W. Bush has acted to strip Americans of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention of citizens, without access to legal counsel, without charge and without opportunity to appear before a civil judicial officer to challenge the detention, based solely on the discretionary designation by the President of a U.S. citizen as an "enemy combatant", all in subversion of law; and
WHEREAS, In all of this George W. Bush has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President, subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the State of ___________ and of the United States.
Be it resolved that George W. Bush, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=622
THOSE THAT PROTESTED the Vietnam War on USA soil, some of which lost their lives, were of the generation most afflicted with the war.
The Pot Heads. The Flower Children.
With Iraq, the opposition is across generations. We are powerful people, the demonstrators against this war. We are growing opposition to war while nurturing conscientious objectors from the grassroots up. I think all those involved in the cross generational Peace Movement are incredible Americans. I love you guys.
There have been a couple of interesting statements this past week:
In regard to peace, Joe Biden stated, "By summer there will be many more Republicans that will come to realize they cannot favor the President over the troops."
In regard to Human Induced Global Warming, Tony Blair stated, ' (Paraphrased) We don't need more economic growth so much as maintaining the economies we have." Much of what 'goes on' with development is deforestation of areas to make way for new building and lack of land use planning. I find Tony Blair to be an strong advocate for change in societies leading to the resolve of Kyoto. He takes the issue seriously and doesn't play with the lives and potential of the generations that are still too young to make their own stand.
Sparks fly over forestry credits - THERE is a problem when biotic areas are used as Carbon Credits.
March 11, 2007
Yorba Linda, California
Photographer states :: 60 foot flames - Red Flag conditions and hot dry Santa Ana winds drive flames towards these upscale homes.
Biotic areas are not 'stable.' Their conditions acting as a carbon sink varies. If one uses forests as Carbon Credits then what happens when a company pays for carbon credits and the following day the forest burns to the ground?
This is not a good idea. It's stupid actually. Carbon Dioxide emissions has to be regulated along with NOX and SOX.
New Zealand Herald
Wild camels 'mad with thirst' rampage outback
9:10AM Thursday March 15, 2007
By Kathy Marks
Two wild camels in front of rock monoliths known as The Olgas in central Australia. Photo / Reuters
They helped to build the Australian nation and had a cross-continental railway named after their handlers. But now the camel population here is wreaking havoc in the desert and remote communities because a desperate lack of water.
Wild camels, descendants of the beasts that helped early explorers to open up the country's vast arid interior, have rampaged through a settlement in Western Australia, trampling toilets, taps and air conditioners in a frenzied effort to find water.
A severe drought has exacerbated the problems posed by the animals, which cause damage to the environment, agriculture and property. They are "mad with thirst", according to Glenn Edwards, of the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10428924
Global warming affecting investors' decisions
2:42PM Wednesday March 14, 2007
Global warming is starting to impact upon investors' decisions, a UK study shows.
A total 62 per cent of active investors say global warming could affect their investment decisions, following the UK's warmest 12-month period on record.
Some 14 per cent of 1000 active investors polled by Britain's Association of Investment Companies (AIC) said climate change would definitely affect their investment decisions and 48 per cent said it might do.
Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director at the AIC, said: "With 2007 predicted to be the warmest year ever, it's obvious that global warming has become an issue for active investors."
The research, also undertaken among 2000 members of the general public, found that the public's biggest financial concern is another interest rate rise (19 per cent), whereas active investors' greatest worry is a stock market crash (36 per cent).
Some 71 per cent of active investors plan to use their individual savings account (ISA) allowance this year, compared to 31 per cent of the general public, the studies found.
The research was conducted online by YouGov amongst 2374 adults and by Hemscott amongst 1017 private high net worth investors.
- REUTERS
Sparks fly over forestry credits
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Geoff Cumming
The war of words is generating enough heat to ignite the central North Island forests. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today
To thousands whose retirement comfort hinges on profits from felling trees, Roger Dickie is a white knight, battering down the Government's attempt to steal "their" carbon credits to offset the country's greenhouse gas excesses when our Kyoto obligations kick in next year.
To Agriculture and Forestry Minister Jim Anderton, Dickie - who has spent 30 years persuading mums and dads to invest in forests - is spreading "wilful ignorance and deceit" and needlessly fuelling deforestation.
Consultation meetings on the Government's climate change proposals for agriculture and forestry, unveiled in December, have been hijacked by a well-funded campaign fronted by Dickie's Kyoto Forestry Association and the larger Forest Owners Association. Act leader Rodney Hide and National's climate change spokesman Nick Smith have been fanning the flames in Parliament.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10429169
Chance of a Doha breakthough 'remote'
5:00AM Wednesday March 14, 2007
By Brian Fallow
French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde in Wellington where she met Phil Goff. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The prospects of any decisive breakthrough in the Doha Round of world trade talks this year are remote, says French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde.
"My personal view? It's not impossible, but especially before the [mid-year] expiry of the Trade Promotion Authority [the US Administration's negotiating mandate from Congress] the prospects are remote," said Lagarde, who was in Wellington for talks with her New Zealand counterpart Phil Goff.
"In the areas of services and industrial products we are not making progress. Unless that happens and there is clear indication of progress and opportunities in places where we have offensive [as opposed to defensive] interests it's going to be extremely difficult to expect success. Because it cannot be a one-sided deal."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10428637
Dick Hubbard: Every city can help to save the planet
5:00AM Thursday March 15, 2007
I recently returned from a trip to Kyoto (at no expense to ratepayers) representing New Zealand mayors at a world mayors' conference on climate change. We sat in the assembly room where 10 years ago the Kyoto Protocol was agreed. I think future generations will regard it as a shrine.
Why should mayors be debating issues of world climate change that are seen as the domain of national governments?
Well, half the world's population now live in cities and globally that figure is increasing by one million people a week. Half the world's population uses 70 per cent of the world's energy.
The message from Kyoto is that cities can make a significant difference to greenhouse gas emissions within a short time, often without legislative change, just by changing practices within existing structures.
Small solutions having a major effect, often with no politics involved.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10428795
CIA spy at heart of leak scandal speaks out
WASHINGTON - The ex-CIA spy at the heart of a scandal that snared Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide said today her undercover career was cut short when Bush administration officials revealed her identity.
Speaking publicly for the first time in the four years since a newspaper article blew her cover, Valerie Plame Wilson told a congressional committee: "I felt like I had been hit in the gut."
"I could no longer do the work which I had been trained to do," she said.
The much-anticipated testimony by the striking blonde, the subject of a photo spread in Vanity Fair magazine, drew dozens of reporters and photographers and was shown live on cable TV news channels.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429302
Monitors for dementia patients
New 8:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
The Palmerston North Red Cross is introducing tracking devices for dementia sufferers after two local men disappeared from rest homes last year and were later found dead.
Patients will be given pendants containing VHF transmitters that send out silent beeps to be monitored by an emergency response unit.
Mugabe accuses own officials of plotting with the West
8:30AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Robert Mugabe
HARARE - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe accused officials in his own party of joining a Western-backed plot on Friday as the main opposition chief left hospital after treatment for what he said was an orgy of police beatings.
Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had been treated for a head wound and other injuries following his arrest on Sunday at an anti-Mugabe protest. He said he would fight on to end Mugabe's long rule.
"Freedom is not cheap," the 55-year-old Tsvangirai, who has challenged Mugabe in several elections, told Reuters at his home in the capital Harare shortly after he was discharged.
Images of a badly bruised and limping Tsvangirai on his way to the hospital earlier this week fuelled international outrage and threats by the United States and other nations to tighten sanctions against Mugabe and other senior Zimbabwean officials.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429303
Khmer Rouge trial rules agreed at last
8:30AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Tourists look at pictures of child victims of the Khmer Rouge on display at the Toul Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh. Photo / Reuters
PHNOM PENH - The trials of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders moved a big step closer on Friday as international and Cambodian judges said they had finally agreed on the rules of the tribunal.
"The review committee discussed in exhaustive detail many points and resolved all remaining disagreements, although some fine tuning remains to be done," they said in a statement at the end of 10 days of talks.
Disagreements which had held up the start of the tribunal, set up last year by Cambodia and the United Nations, ranged from admissibility of evidence and witness protection to the height of the judges' chairs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429304
Ripped off for their art
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Nick Squires
Some Aboriginal artists work in reputable art centres, while others are in squalor. Photo / Getty Images
Ngarlie Ellis applies the finishing touches to an intricate dot painting, its yellow and ochre patterns depicting an ancient Dreamtime story of a kangaroo spirit visiting a desert waterhole.
The 32-year-old is fortunate her canvas will be sold to a respectable gallery by the art centre in which she works in the isolated settlement of Ltyentye Apurte, 80km down a corrugated dirt track from Alice Springs.
But many other Aborigines are being ripped off by unscrupulous dealers who pay them with alcohol, drugs and worn-out second-hand vehicles, or corral them into squalid sweatshops where they are forced to churn out poor-quality paintings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429240
Prison smuggling mystery
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Elizabeth Binning
The doctor accused of helping a convicted rapist smuggle sperm out of Rimutaka prison has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
The Department of Corrections launched an investigation two weeks ago after it was revealed Peter McNamara's partner Joanne Percy had given birth at Tauranga Hospital in January.
The convicted rapist, who was granted leave from prison for the birth, initially told officials a prison-contracted doctor had helped smuggle his sperm out of prison.
This week a lawyer acting for the doctor wrote to media and Corrections saying his client had "absolutely nothing to do with it and had no knowledge of it whatsoever".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429267
Man arrested for biting off reporter's ear
9:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Doug Laing after the assault yesterday. Photo / Hawke's Bay today
Police have arrested a Lower Hutt man for the home invasion of a Napier journalist who had part of his ear bitten off.
Acting Detective Sergeant Nic Clere said a 27-year-old was arrested late yesterday afternoon after a house near the victim, Hawke's Day Today newspaper reporter Doug Laing's residence, was searched.
The man had been charged with wounding with intent and burglary and would appear in Napier District Court today.
Laing was at his home soon after midnight yesterday when a man smashed his way in and attacked him, biting part of his ear off.
Laing said he tried to fight off his attacker, who was "growling like an animal" and seemed intent on hurting him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429307
Star NCEA school looks at new exam
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Claire Trevett and Elizabeth Binning
St Cuthbert's College - considered a poster-school for the NCEA because of its academic success and staunch defence of the qualification - is now considering offering an overseas qualification.
The private girls' school in Auckland has supported the National Certificate of Educational Achievement since its introduction and is one of the top performing schools under the system.
It is now considering whether to offer the Cambridge International Examinations or the International Baccalaureate as well as the NCEA.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429284
Shagadelic - and the more the merrier
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By James Ihaka and Jon Stokes
Opening sequence still picture from the programme The Sex Life of Us.
Move over, younger generation. The middle-aged really do rock - when it comes to group sex, that is.
A Maori Television documentary, The Sex Life of Us, will show 15 per cent of those aged 45 to 54 have had group sex more than once, and up to 10 times.
The Sex Life of Us, presented by comedian Mike King and Stacey Morrison, bares all on the sexual preferences of the nation and looks at other matters going on between the sheets.
The show surveyed 1000 people, 400 of whom were Maori. The TNS-led research has a margin of error of 4.9 per cent.
While the figures don't quite match up with a claim by Clint Rickards' lawyer that "half the country is doing it", figures suggest that one in six Maori have had group sex more than once, compared with one in 10 non-Maori.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10429278
Exclusive Brethren's 'Elect Vessel' tours NZ
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Louisa Cleave
Bruce Hales is rarely photographed.
The world leader of the Exclusive Brethren is touring New Zealand on a private jet, meeting members who know him as the Elect Vessel and the Man of God.
Sydney-based Bruce Hales was in Tauranga last night and his tour includes meetings at churches and private homes throughout the North Island, including Whangarei, Lower Hutt and Wanganui.
It is believed the publicity-shy Mr Hales is travelling with a personal bodyguard who has previously guarded Prime Minister Helen Clark as a member of the police diplomatic protection squad.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429286
Cost of London 2012 Olympics soars to $25.9b
5:00PM Friday March 16, 2007
By Adrian Croft
A computer-generated view of the Aquatics Centre during the 2012 Games. Photo / Reuters
LONDON - The government more than doubled the estimated cost of staging the 2012 London Olympics to 9.3 billion pounds ($25.9 billion) today, drawing charges of "massive financial incompetence" from an opposition party.
Sports minister Tessa Jowell's announcement confirmed that the expense of staging the Olympics would be far higher than thought when Britain was awarded the games in July 2005.
London's bid estimated the cost of building the main Olympic sports infrastructure in east London at about 3 billion pounds and threw in another 1 billion pounds for regeneration of the dilapidated surrounding area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429130
Fiji must hold elections by August next year, forum decides
7:00PM Friday March 16, 2007
South Pacific governments have decided to tell Fiji's military rulers they must hold free and fair elections by August next year.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said after a meeting of South Pacific Forum representatives in Vanuatu today there was no tolerance of the coup last December that ousted Fiji's civilian government.
"I think the Fijian interim government knows that the international community means business, and so does the forum," he told NZPA.
"The decision taken today means, in effect, that they will be requested to have elections by August 2008."
Ministers representing 16 Forum member states considered a report prepared by an Eminent Persons Group of four respected regional figures which recommended Fiji return to democratic rule within 18 to 24 months.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429159
'Presidential' wines probed for fraud
\5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
A bottle from the Jefferson collection.
Three of the most expensive bottles of wine ever to be sold, each one worth more than $280,000, are at the centre of an FBI and US Justice Department investigation into the international trade in vintage wine after allegations of fraud. The inquiry also focuses on the role played by Christie's auction house in London.
The investigation will examine Christie's relationship with a controversial German wine merchant, Hardy Rodenstock, a former pop promoter who has a reputation for unearthing rare vintage wines that sell for huge sums. Rodenstock had a close relationship with a director of Christie's who was present at many of his exclusive vintage wine tastings.
In December 1985, Christie's sold one of Rodenstock's wines to US billionaire Malcolm Forbes for the record price of £105,000.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429217
Obituary: Hero Cherokee saw action in Vietnam
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Billy Walkabout, a Cherokee Indian whose actions in Vietnam made him one of the most decorated soldiers of the Vietnam War, has died, aged 57.
Walkabout received the Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart, five Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars. He was believed to be the most decorated Native American soldier of the war, according to US Department of Defence reports.
Walkabout died of pneumonia and renal failure. He had complications related to his exposure to the Agent Orange defoliant used during the Vietnam conflict and had been on a kidney transplant waiting list, having dialysis three times a week.
"War is not hell," Walkabout said in 1986, "it's worse."
Iranians help Hamas brace for attack
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Abraham Rabinovich
Israel has drawn up detailed plans for a large-scale incursion. Photo / Reuters
Hamas is busily fortifying the Gaza Strip with the help of Iranian expertise and funding for what may be the fiercest fighting that embattled enclave has ever seen.
"They're digging bunkers and tunnels 20m underground equipped with air conditioning," said Brigadeer General Shalom Harari, a retired Israeli intelligence officer. "That's something the Iranians taught them."
Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza a year and a half ago, hundreds of Hamas fighters have made their way to Iran for intensive military training sometimes lasting months, according to the head of the Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin. Iranian experts have also reportedly reached Gaza.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429205
Four soldiers killed in Shiite Baghdad
New 8:15AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Four US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in mainly Shiite eastern Baghdad and the military said it found a sophisticated weapon at the site of the type Washington believes is being supplied by Iran to Shiite militias.
Car bombings also struck Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 14 people.
Prince sues Fox News for fraud claims
7:15AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Prince Frederic von Anhalt has sued Fox News and talkshow host Bill O'Reilly after the latter called him a fraud for claiming he could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby.
Von Anhalt, who is married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, filed the defamation suit seeking at least US$10 million ($14.5 million) in damages on Thursday.
Maoists kill officers in Indian jungle
6:15AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Forty-nine Indian policemen and local tribal militias were killed yesterday in an attack by Maoist guerrillas on a jungle security camp in the east of the country.
The rebels used hand grenades and petrol bombs in an attack that was said to underline the presence of Maoists in much of rural India where they have formed a "red corridor" stretching from the southern tip of India to Nepal.
continued ...
Wild camels 'mad with thirst' rampage outback
9:10AM Thursday March 15, 2007
By Kathy Marks
Two wild camels in front of rock monoliths known as The Olgas in central Australia. Photo / Reuters
They helped to build the Australian nation and had a cross-continental railway named after their handlers. But now the camel population here is wreaking havoc in the desert and remote communities because a desperate lack of water.
Wild camels, descendants of the beasts that helped early explorers to open up the country's vast arid interior, have rampaged through a settlement in Western Australia, trampling toilets, taps and air conditioners in a frenzied effort to find water.
A severe drought has exacerbated the problems posed by the animals, which cause damage to the environment, agriculture and property. They are "mad with thirst", according to Glenn Edwards, of the Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10428924
Global warming affecting investors' decisions
2:42PM Wednesday March 14, 2007
Global warming is starting to impact upon investors' decisions, a UK study shows.
A total 62 per cent of active investors say global warming could affect their investment decisions, following the UK's warmest 12-month period on record.
Some 14 per cent of 1000 active investors polled by Britain's Association of Investment Companies (AIC) said climate change would definitely affect their investment decisions and 48 per cent said it might do.
Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director at the AIC, said: "With 2007 predicted to be the warmest year ever, it's obvious that global warming has become an issue for active investors."
The research, also undertaken among 2000 members of the general public, found that the public's biggest financial concern is another interest rate rise (19 per cent), whereas active investors' greatest worry is a stock market crash (36 per cent).
Some 71 per cent of active investors plan to use their individual savings account (ISA) allowance this year, compared to 31 per cent of the general public, the studies found.
The research was conducted online by YouGov amongst 2374 adults and by Hemscott amongst 1017 private high net worth investors.
- REUTERS
Sparks fly over forestry credits
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Geoff Cumming
The war of words is generating enough heat to ignite the central North Island forests. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today
To thousands whose retirement comfort hinges on profits from felling trees, Roger Dickie is a white knight, battering down the Government's attempt to steal "their" carbon credits to offset the country's greenhouse gas excesses when our Kyoto obligations kick in next year.
To Agriculture and Forestry Minister Jim Anderton, Dickie - who has spent 30 years persuading mums and dads to invest in forests - is spreading "wilful ignorance and deceit" and needlessly fuelling deforestation.
Consultation meetings on the Government's climate change proposals for agriculture and forestry, unveiled in December, have been hijacked by a well-funded campaign fronted by Dickie's Kyoto Forestry Association and the larger Forest Owners Association. Act leader Rodney Hide and National's climate change spokesman Nick Smith have been fanning the flames in Parliament.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10429169
Chance of a Doha breakthough 'remote'
5:00AM Wednesday March 14, 2007
By Brian Fallow
French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde in Wellington where she met Phil Goff. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The prospects of any decisive breakthrough in the Doha Round of world trade talks this year are remote, says French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde.
"My personal view? It's not impossible, but especially before the [mid-year] expiry of the Trade Promotion Authority [the US Administration's negotiating mandate from Congress] the prospects are remote," said Lagarde, who was in Wellington for talks with her New Zealand counterpart Phil Goff.
"In the areas of services and industrial products we are not making progress. Unless that happens and there is clear indication of progress and opportunities in places where we have offensive [as opposed to defensive] interests it's going to be extremely difficult to expect success. Because it cannot be a one-sided deal."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10428637
Dick Hubbard: Every city can help to save the planet
5:00AM Thursday March 15, 2007
I recently returned from a trip to Kyoto (at no expense to ratepayers) representing New Zealand mayors at a world mayors' conference on climate change. We sat in the assembly room where 10 years ago the Kyoto Protocol was agreed. I think future generations will regard it as a shrine.
Why should mayors be debating issues of world climate change that are seen as the domain of national governments?
Well, half the world's population now live in cities and globally that figure is increasing by one million people a week. Half the world's population uses 70 per cent of the world's energy.
The message from Kyoto is that cities can make a significant difference to greenhouse gas emissions within a short time, often without legislative change, just by changing practices within existing structures.
Small solutions having a major effect, often with no politics involved.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=26&objectid=10428795
CIA spy at heart of leak scandal speaks out
WASHINGTON - The ex-CIA spy at the heart of a scandal that snared Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide said today her undercover career was cut short when Bush administration officials revealed her identity.
Speaking publicly for the first time in the four years since a newspaper article blew her cover, Valerie Plame Wilson told a congressional committee: "I felt like I had been hit in the gut."
"I could no longer do the work which I had been trained to do," she said.
The much-anticipated testimony by the striking blonde, the subject of a photo spread in Vanity Fair magazine, drew dozens of reporters and photographers and was shown live on cable TV news channels.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429302
Monitors for dementia patients
New 8:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
The Palmerston North Red Cross is introducing tracking devices for dementia sufferers after two local men disappeared from rest homes last year and were later found dead.
Patients will be given pendants containing VHF transmitters that send out silent beeps to be monitored by an emergency response unit.
Mugabe accuses own officials of plotting with the West
8:30AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Robert Mugabe
HARARE - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe accused officials in his own party of joining a Western-backed plot on Friday as the main opposition chief left hospital after treatment for what he said was an orgy of police beatings.
Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had been treated for a head wound and other injuries following his arrest on Sunday at an anti-Mugabe protest. He said he would fight on to end Mugabe's long rule.
"Freedom is not cheap," the 55-year-old Tsvangirai, who has challenged Mugabe in several elections, told Reuters at his home in the capital Harare shortly after he was discharged.
Images of a badly bruised and limping Tsvangirai on his way to the hospital earlier this week fuelled international outrage and threats by the United States and other nations to tighten sanctions against Mugabe and other senior Zimbabwean officials.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429303
Khmer Rouge trial rules agreed at last
8:30AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Tourists look at pictures of child victims of the Khmer Rouge on display at the Toul Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh. Photo / Reuters
PHNOM PENH - The trials of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders moved a big step closer on Friday as international and Cambodian judges said they had finally agreed on the rules of the tribunal.
"The review committee discussed in exhaustive detail many points and resolved all remaining disagreements, although some fine tuning remains to be done," they said in a statement at the end of 10 days of talks.
Disagreements which had held up the start of the tribunal, set up last year by Cambodia and the United Nations, ranged from admissibility of evidence and witness protection to the height of the judges' chairs.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429304
Ripped off for their art
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Nick Squires
Some Aboriginal artists work in reputable art centres, while others are in squalor. Photo / Getty Images
Ngarlie Ellis applies the finishing touches to an intricate dot painting, its yellow and ochre patterns depicting an ancient Dreamtime story of a kangaroo spirit visiting a desert waterhole.
The 32-year-old is fortunate her canvas will be sold to a respectable gallery by the art centre in which she works in the isolated settlement of Ltyentye Apurte, 80km down a corrugated dirt track from Alice Springs.
But many other Aborigines are being ripped off by unscrupulous dealers who pay them with alcohol, drugs and worn-out second-hand vehicles, or corral them into squalid sweatshops where they are forced to churn out poor-quality paintings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429240
Prison smuggling mystery
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Elizabeth Binning
The doctor accused of helping a convicted rapist smuggle sperm out of Rimutaka prison has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
The Department of Corrections launched an investigation two weeks ago after it was revealed Peter McNamara's partner Joanne Percy had given birth at Tauranga Hospital in January.
The convicted rapist, who was granted leave from prison for the birth, initially told officials a prison-contracted doctor had helped smuggle his sperm out of prison.
This week a lawyer acting for the doctor wrote to media and Corrections saying his client had "absolutely nothing to do with it and had no knowledge of it whatsoever".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429267
Man arrested for biting off reporter's ear
9:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Doug Laing after the assault yesterday. Photo / Hawke's Bay today
Police have arrested a Lower Hutt man for the home invasion of a Napier journalist who had part of his ear bitten off.
Acting Detective Sergeant Nic Clere said a 27-year-old was arrested late yesterday afternoon after a house near the victim, Hawke's Day Today newspaper reporter Doug Laing's residence, was searched.
The man had been charged with wounding with intent and burglary and would appear in Napier District Court today.
Laing was at his home soon after midnight yesterday when a man smashed his way in and attacked him, biting part of his ear off.
Laing said he tried to fight off his attacker, who was "growling like an animal" and seemed intent on hurting him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429307
Star NCEA school looks at new exam
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Claire Trevett and Elizabeth Binning
St Cuthbert's College - considered a poster-school for the NCEA because of its academic success and staunch defence of the qualification - is now considering offering an overseas qualification.
The private girls' school in Auckland has supported the National Certificate of Educational Achievement since its introduction and is one of the top performing schools under the system.
It is now considering whether to offer the Cambridge International Examinations or the International Baccalaureate as well as the NCEA.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429284
Shagadelic - and the more the merrier
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By James Ihaka and Jon Stokes
Opening sequence still picture from the programme The Sex Life of Us.
Move over, younger generation. The middle-aged really do rock - when it comes to group sex, that is.
A Maori Television documentary, The Sex Life of Us, will show 15 per cent of those aged 45 to 54 have had group sex more than once, and up to 10 times.
The Sex Life of Us, presented by comedian Mike King and Stacey Morrison, bares all on the sexual preferences of the nation and looks at other matters going on between the sheets.
The show surveyed 1000 people, 400 of whom were Maori. The TNS-led research has a margin of error of 4.9 per cent.
While the figures don't quite match up with a claim by Clint Rickards' lawyer that "half the country is doing it", figures suggest that one in six Maori have had group sex more than once, compared with one in 10 non-Maori.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10429278
Exclusive Brethren's 'Elect Vessel' tours NZ
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Louisa Cleave
Bruce Hales is rarely photographed.
The world leader of the Exclusive Brethren is touring New Zealand on a private jet, meeting members who know him as the Elect Vessel and the Man of God.
Sydney-based Bruce Hales was in Tauranga last night and his tour includes meetings at churches and private homes throughout the North Island, including Whangarei, Lower Hutt and Wanganui.
It is believed the publicity-shy Mr Hales is travelling with a personal bodyguard who has previously guarded Prime Minister Helen Clark as a member of the police diplomatic protection squad.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10429286
Cost of London 2012 Olympics soars to $25.9b
5:00PM Friday March 16, 2007
By Adrian Croft
A computer-generated view of the Aquatics Centre during the 2012 Games. Photo / Reuters
LONDON - The government more than doubled the estimated cost of staging the 2012 London Olympics to 9.3 billion pounds ($25.9 billion) today, drawing charges of "massive financial incompetence" from an opposition party.
Sports minister Tessa Jowell's announcement confirmed that the expense of staging the Olympics would be far higher than thought when Britain was awarded the games in July 2005.
London's bid estimated the cost of building the main Olympic sports infrastructure in east London at about 3 billion pounds and threw in another 1 billion pounds for regeneration of the dilapidated surrounding area.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429130
Fiji must hold elections by August next year, forum decides
7:00PM Friday March 16, 2007
South Pacific governments have decided to tell Fiji's military rulers they must hold free and fair elections by August next year.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said after a meeting of South Pacific Forum representatives in Vanuatu today there was no tolerance of the coup last December that ousted Fiji's civilian government.
"I think the Fijian interim government knows that the international community means business, and so does the forum," he told NZPA.
"The decision taken today means, in effect, that they will be requested to have elections by August 2008."
Ministers representing 16 Forum member states considered a report prepared by an Eminent Persons Group of four respected regional figures which recommended Fiji return to democratic rule within 18 to 24 months.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429159
'Presidential' wines probed for fraud
\5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
A bottle from the Jefferson collection.
Three of the most expensive bottles of wine ever to be sold, each one worth more than $280,000, are at the centre of an FBI and US Justice Department investigation into the international trade in vintage wine after allegations of fraud. The inquiry also focuses on the role played by Christie's auction house in London.
The investigation will examine Christie's relationship with a controversial German wine merchant, Hardy Rodenstock, a former pop promoter who has a reputation for unearthing rare vintage wines that sell for huge sums. Rodenstock had a close relationship with a director of Christie's who was present at many of his exclusive vintage wine tastings.
In December 1985, Christie's sold one of Rodenstock's wines to US billionaire Malcolm Forbes for the record price of £105,000.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429217
Obituary: Hero Cherokee saw action in Vietnam
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Billy Walkabout, a Cherokee Indian whose actions in Vietnam made him one of the most decorated soldiers of the Vietnam War, has died, aged 57.
Walkabout received the Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart, five Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars. He was believed to be the most decorated Native American soldier of the war, according to US Department of Defence reports.
Walkabout died of pneumonia and renal failure. He had complications related to his exposure to the Agent Orange defoliant used during the Vietnam conflict and had been on a kidney transplant waiting list, having dialysis three times a week.
"War is not hell," Walkabout said in 1986, "it's worse."
Iranians help Hamas brace for attack
5:00AM Saturday March 17, 2007
By Abraham Rabinovich
Israel has drawn up detailed plans for a large-scale incursion. Photo / Reuters
Hamas is busily fortifying the Gaza Strip with the help of Iranian expertise and funding for what may be the fiercest fighting that embattled enclave has ever seen.
"They're digging bunkers and tunnels 20m underground equipped with air conditioning," said Brigadeer General Shalom Harari, a retired Israeli intelligence officer. "That's something the Iranians taught them."
Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza a year and a half ago, hundreds of Hamas fighters have made their way to Iran for intensive military training sometimes lasting months, according to the head of the Shin Bet security service, Yuval Diskin. Iranian experts have also reportedly reached Gaza.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10429205
Four soldiers killed in Shiite Baghdad
New 8:15AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Four US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in mainly Shiite eastern Baghdad and the military said it found a sophisticated weapon at the site of the type Washington believes is being supplied by Iran to Shiite militias.
Car bombings also struck Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 14 people.
Prince sues Fox News for fraud claims
7:15AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Prince Frederic von Anhalt has sued Fox News and talkshow host Bill O'Reilly after the latter called him a fraud for claiming he could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's baby.
Von Anhalt, who is married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, filed the defamation suit seeking at least US$10 million ($14.5 million) in damages on Thursday.
Maoists kill officers in Indian jungle
6:15AM Saturday March 17, 2007
Forty-nine Indian policemen and local tribal militias were killed yesterday in an attack by Maoist guerrillas on a jungle security camp in the east of the country.
The rebels used hand grenades and petrol bombs in an attack that was said to underline the presence of Maoists in much of rural India where they have formed a "red corridor" stretching from the southern tip of India to Nepal.
continued ...
Lance Mackey wins the Iditarod
Lance Mackey
Lucky 13 and a race for the ages
Published: March 15, 2007
Last Modified: March 15, 2007 at 03:27 AM
'Unreal" is the word Lance Mackey used on Nome's Front Street Tuesday night.
We'll take the champion's word for it.
It's as good a word as any to describe what he accomplished in a month of mushing this year. He and his dogs won their third straight Yukon Quest between Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory and Fairbanks, took 10 days to regroup and refit, then won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome.
"Unprecedented," was how four-time champion Jeff King described such an accomplishment earlier in the Iditarod, before Lance Mackey took command.
The 1,000-mile Yukon Quest and the 1,100-mile Iditarod. Back to back. By a cancer survivor suffering frostbite. A Hollywood writer would have no trouble selling the story.
The numbers add to the story: Lance Mackey won the Iditarod on his sixth try, just like his father, Dick (1978), and half-brother, Rick (1983). Like them, he wore bib number 13.
Is there a way to calculate the odds of this wonderful confluence of numbers and family and gumption actually coming true? For perspective, just what do you compare it to? You probably have to be a dog driver to fully appreciate what Lance Mackey has done. The rest of us can merely cast about for "likes," as in "That's like climbing Mount McKinley, taking a week off and then climbing Mount Everest," or "That's like a pitcher throwing a complete game shutout in the World Series, then coming back the next day on no rest and throwing another one," or "That's like winning the Tour de France, taking a week off, then winning it again against a fresh field of cyclists."
It's like nothing most of us know or ever will.
"Unreal" is an overused word, but not as Lance Mackey used it Tuesday night. He said the word while celebrating the reality of the deed.
After Rick Mackey won in 1983, Dick Mackey said the money was nice but didn't mean anything compared to the champion's belt buckle. The accomplishment and the adventure were for keeps.
Now the Mackeys count three among the 18 Iditarod champions.
The father of the Iditarod, the late Joe Redington Sr., would have had the right words for Lance Mackey:
"You done good."
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