The Rooster
Friday, May 11, 2007
I saw MichaeI at Traverse last year and he was shedding pounds then, even if this is a stand in for the cover of SICKO he still was looking great.
The Weinstein Co. will release Michael Moore's Sicko on June 29th and has brought in Lionsgate to partner on the film's release.
The documentary is a critical look at the U.S. health care system. The movie, which marks Moore's first film since Fahrenheit 9/11, will make it's world premiere at Cannes later this month.
The Weinsteins previously teamed for the release of Fahrenheit which earned $222.4 million worldwide and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Of course I haven't seen the film yet, but, the actions by the US Treasury are outrageous, disciminatory and violate human rights doctrines. I am assuming Michael took people unable to afford and unable to find quality care to a place they requested for treatment. Anyone stopping that humanitarian effort by a passionate filmmaker is violating human rights. Michael Moore needs to sue George Walker Bush for endangering human health in the USA. Then he can sue the US Treasury Secretary for censorship/freedom of speech !
Michael Moore In Trouble For Cuba Trip (click here)
Treasury Investigation; Moore Took Sept. 11 Workers To Banned Island For Treatment
(AP) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary "SiCKO," The Associated Press has learned.
The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of President Bush. In the past, Moore's adversaries have fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated blockbuster documentary.
"SiCKO" promises to take the health-care industry to task the way Moore confronted America's passion for guns in "Bowling for Columbine" and skewered Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. A copy of the letter was obtained Tuesday by the AP.
"This office has no record that a specific license was issued authorizing you to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba," Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in the letter to Moore....
Treasury Investigation; Moore Took Sept. 11 Workers To Banned Island For Treatment
(AP) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary "SiCKO," The Associated Press has learned.
The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of President Bush. In the past, Moore's adversaries have fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated blockbuster documentary.
"SiCKO" promises to take the health-care industry to task the way Moore confronted America's passion for guns in "Bowling for Columbine" and skewered Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control notified Moore in a letter dated May 2 that it was conducting a civil investigation for possible violations of the U.S. trade embargo restricting travel to Cuba. A copy of the letter was obtained Tuesday by the AP.
"This office has no record that a specific license was issued authorizing you to engage in travel-related transactions involving Cuba," Dale Thompson, OFAC chief of general investigations and field operations, wrote in the letter to Moore....
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"I applaud anybody who helps 9/11 responders." -- John Feal, 9/11 first responder
Friday, May 11th, 2007
Open Letter from Michael Moore to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
Secretary Henry Paulson
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC 20220
May 11, 2007
Secretary Paulson,
I am contacting you in light of the document sent to me dated May 2, 2007, which was received May 7, 2007 indicating that an investigation has been opened up with regards to a trip I took to Cuba with a group of Americans that included some 9/11 heroes in March 2007 related to the filming of my next documentary, on the American Healthcare system. SiCKO, which will be seen in theaters this summer, will expose the health care industry’s greed and control over America’s political processes.
I believe that the decision to conduct this investigation represents the latest example of the Bush Administration abusing the federal government for raw, crass, political purposes. Over the last seven years of the Bush Presidency, we have seen the abuse of government to promote a political agenda designed to benefit the conservative base of the Republican Party, special interests and major financial contributors. From holding secret meetings for the energy industry to re-writing science findings to cooking the books on intelligence to the firing of U.S. Attorneys, this Administration has shown time and time again that it will abuse its power and authority.
There are a number of specific facts that have led me to conclude that politics could very well be driving this Bush Administration investigation of me and my film.
First, the Bush Administration has been aware of this matter for months (since October 2006) and never took any action until less than two weeks before SiCKO is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and a little more than a month before it is scheduled to open in the United States.
Second, the health care and insurance industry, which is exposed in the movie and has expressed concerns about the impact of the movie on their industries, is a major corporate underwriter of President George W. Bush and the Republican Party, having contributed over $13 million to the Bush presidential campaign in 2004 and more than $180 million to Republican candidates over the last two campaign cycles. It is well documented that the industry is very concerned about the impact of SiCKO. They have threatened their employees if they talk to me. They have set up special internal crises lines should I show up at their headquarters. Employees have been warned about the consequences of participating in SiCKO. Despite this, some employees, at great risk to themselves, have gone on camera to tell the American people the truth about the health care industry. I can understand why that industry's main recipient of its contributions -- President Bush -- would want to harass, intimidate and potentially prevent this film from having its widest possible audience.
And, third, this investigation is being opened in the wake of misleading attacks on the purpose of the Cuba trip from a possible leading Republican candidate for president, Fred Thompson, a major conservative newspaper, The New York Post, and various right wing blogs.
For five and a half years, the Bush administration has ignored and neglected the heroes of the 9/11 community. These heroic first responders have been left to fend for themselves, without coverage and without care. I understand why the Bush administration is coming after me -- I have tried to help the very people they refuse to help, but until George W. Bush outlaws helping your fellow man, I have broken no laws and I have nothing to hide.
I demand that the Bush Administration immediately end this investigation and spend its time and resources trying to support some of the real heroes of 9/11.
Sincerely,
Michael Moore
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=207
John Gibson wants Michael Moore to suffer! (FOX doesn't just report for you to decide.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qejXNEzQ5ho
May 9th, 2007 2:06 am
Weinsteins set 'SiCKO' release date
Moore film to rollout June 29
By Ian Mohr / Variety
The Weinstein Co. has pegged a June 29 rollout for Michael Moore's Cannes-bound docu "SiCKO" and brought in Lionsgate to partner on releasing the documaker's first pic since "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Division of labor will see Lionsgate booking theaters on "SiCKO" in the U.S. while TWC handles all marketing and publicity duties and puts up all P&A costs.
TWC is also handling international rights and is offering the doc -- a critical look at the U.S. health care system -- in Cannes after its world preem.
People close to the pic's domestic partnership said that TWC was attracted to Lionsgate because of Lionsgate's exclusive pay TV pact with Showtime for docus.
Pact reteams Bob and Harvey Weinstein with Lionsgate three years after the movie-mogul sibs picked the indie studio to help roll out "Fahrenheit 9/11."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9773
May 11th, 2007 2:16 pm
Moore's 'SiCKO' trip to Cuba raises questions
By Anthony Breznican / USA Today
Michael Moore is facing a Cuban epistle crisis.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury sent the Fahrenheit 9/11 filmmaker a letter requesting more information about a trip he took to Cuba to shoot scenes for his upcoming documentary "SiCKO," about failures in the U.S. health care system.
It is illegal for American citizens to visit or do business in Cuba as part of a decades-long trade embargo against the communist island nation.
The question now is whether or how Moore will cooperate with the Treasury Department inquiry, and what action the U.S. government might take in response.
Moore's representatives say the Oscar-winning director requested permission to legally visit Cuba, previously granted to such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, but never received an answer — a fact confirmed in the Treasury Department letter.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9782
May 11th, 2007 2:19 pm
Government to probe Moore film
'SiCKO' struck by D.C. investigation
By William Triplett / Variety
As if documaker Michael Moore didn't already have a marketing campaign lined up for the imminent Cannes bow of his latest work, "SiCKO," the Bush administration and its allies have handed him one on a silver platter. The U.S. Treasury Dept. recently opened an investigation into whether the Oscar-winning helmer violated a federal travel ban to Cuba by taking "ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers" there for medical attention for a segment in "SiCKO," according to the Associated Press.
Moore isn't commenting, the AP said, but he doesn't have to; one of his producers is: "Our health care system is broken and, all too often, deadly," Meghan O'Hara was quoted as saying. "The efforts of the Bush administration to conduct a politically motivated investigation of Michael Moore and 'Sicko' will not stop us from making sure the American people see this film."
Whether the investigation truly is politically motivated is irrelevant. Attacks on "Fahrenheit 9/11" from Bushies and their defenders not only validated but enhanced Moore's efforts to position the film as a speaker of truth to power, regardless of whether it actually was. More people paid to see the film than otherwise likely would have.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9783
May 9th, 2007 2:06 am
Weinsteins set 'SiCKO' release date
Moore film to rollout June 29
By Ian Mohr / Variety
The Weinstein Co. has pegged a June 29 rollout for Michael Moore's Cannes-bound docu "SiCKO" and brought in Lionsgate to partner on releasing the documaker's first pic since "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Division of labor will see Lionsgate booking theaters on "SiCKO" in the U.S. while TWC handles all marketing and publicity duties and puts up all P&A costs.
TWC is also handling international rights and is offering the doc -- a critical look at the U.S. health care system -- in Cannes after its world preem.
People close to the pic's domestic partnership said that TWC was attracted to Lionsgate because of Lionsgate's exclusive pay TV pact with Showtime for docus.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9773
May 9th, 2007 2:29 am
ER in Iraq: `Awful lot' of casualties
By Thomas Wagner / Associated Press
BAGHDAD - The nurse was surprised the two soldiers were still alive.
The day before, the men were carried into the emergency room at Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad's fortress-like Green Zone. Both Americans had been badly injured when their Humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Sunni district in western Baghdad.
One soldier would have both legs amputated. The other lost one.
The drama to save their lives — played out in emergency rooms filled with injured U.S. troops as well as Iraqi forces and civilians — was another glimpse of the war's wider evolution: better medical intervention to save soldiers, but more and more injuries pouring in.
U.S. commanders in Iraq, including the top chief Gen. David Petraeus, predict more casualties in the coming months as forces fan out to smaller outposts and expand the security crackdown in Baghdad.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9774
May 7th, 2007 6:53 pm
White House: U.S. should brace for more casualties in Iraq
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After another bloody weekend for U.S. troops in Iraq, the White House said on Monday Americans should brace for more U.S. casualties in the push for greater security in Baghdad.
Eight U.S. soldiers were killed on Sunday in roadside bomb attacks and were among 12 whose deaths were announced, following an April in which more than 100 died.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the deaths were attributable to efforts to bring security to Baghdad as part of a 3-month-old troop buildup.
"We are getting to the point now with the Baghdad security plan where there is going to be real engagement in tougher neighborhoods and you're likely to see escalating levels of casualties," Snow said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9765
May 7th, 2007 6:50 pm
Critics question timing of 'war czar' search
Coordination of the war has never been smooth, fast enough, they say
By Deb Riechmann / Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Now that the White House is searching for a "war czar," it raises the question of who has been coordinating U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan the past four years.
A team of West Wing players led by national security adviser Stephen Hadley has tried to keep turf-conscious agencies marching in the same direction on military, political and reconstruction fronts.
A few Bush aides say privately, however, that the White House probably should have recruited someone to oversee the war effort a year ago.
Critics say the administration's job of coordinating the war has never gone smooth enough or fast enough. And now two key members of the White House team focused on the war are leaving — Meghan O'Sullivan, who handled day-to-day coordination of Iraq, and Hadley's deputy, J.D. Crouch.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9764
May 10th, 2007 4:19 am
Michael Moore In Trouble For Cuba Trip
Treasury Investigation; Moore Took Sept. 11 Workers To Banned Island For Treatment
(AP) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore is under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department for taking ailing Sept. 11 rescue workers to Cuba for a segment in his upcoming health-care documentary "SiCKO," The Associated Press has learned.
The investigation provides another contentious lead-in for a provocative film by Moore, a fierce critic of President Bush. In the past, Moore's adversaries have fanned publicity that helped the filmmaker create a new brand of opinionated blockbuster documentary.
"SiCKO" promises to take the health-care industry to task the way Moore confronted America's passion for guns in "Bowling for Columbine" and skewered Bush over his handling of Sept. 11 in "Fahrenheit 9/11."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9778
May 10th, 2007 9:34 am
Statement in Response to Bush Administration's Investigation of 'SiCKO'
'SiCKO,' Michael Moore's new movie, will rip the band-aid off America's health care industry. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in just one week and opening across the U.S. on June 29th, 'SiCKO' will expose the corporations that place profit before care and the politicians who care only about money. Our health care system is broken and, all too often, deadly. The efforts of the Bush Administration to conduct a politically motivated investigation of Michael Moore and 'SiCKO' will not stop us from making sure the American people see this film.
On September 11, 2001 this country was attacked. Thousands of Americans responded with heroism and courage, toiling for days, weeks and months in the ruins at Ground Zero. These 9/11 first responders risked their lives searching for survivors, recovering bodies, and clearing away toxic rubble. Now, many of these heroes face serious health issues -- and far too many of them are not receiving the care they need and deserve. President Bush and the Bush Administration should be spending their time trying to help these heroes get health care instead of abusing the legal process to advance a political agenda.
-- Meghan O'Hara, Producer, SiCKO
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9780
The Letter - Page 1
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/OFAC_p1.jpg
The Letter - Page 2
http://www.michaelmoore.com/_images/OFAC_p2.jpg
The Law (Not included on Michael Moore's Website). It was very interesting finding this location of 'the law.' As I click on the link at the Treasury Department Website it stated I was leaving the Department of Treasury website to an unsecure site and there were no guarantees. Amazing. The government has absolutely nothing to do with it's days except find ways to make everything as difficult as possible and pick on Americans. To have the same experience go to http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/cuba/cuba.shtml and at the bottom of the page when scrolling down click on 31 CFR Part 515 and enter still another government twilight zone. Also notable at the bottom of that page are the numerous amendments to this law. Yes, indeed Paulson runs an efficient Treasury Department. Of course all that was passed under a Republican majority House and Senate.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_06/31cfr515_06.html
May 10th, 2007 5:10 am
Recent fortifications at fort didn't include a pizza-delivery plan
By Wayne Woolley and Brian Donohue / New Jersey Star-Ledger
Surrounded by miles of chain link fence, with the old side roads that once cut through the base closed off since 2001, Fort Dix is effectively an island nestled in the Pine Barrens of South Jersey.
There are only three ways onto the grounds: a trio of heavily guarded checkpoints, with armed soldiers, concrete barriers and an X-ray machine that sees through truck walls. Nobody gets by without a military-issued ID card.
Unless they're delivering pizza.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=9779
End Mountain Top Removal - To the right on this page is the place to sign up with name and email and a letter is prepared to send to Congress.
http://www.ilovemountains.org/
The Nightwatchman DVD on sale now
http://www.nightwatchmanmusic.com/
April 9th, 2007 2:35 pm
Striking a blow for freedom
Tom Morello's politically charged Nightwatchman persona a departure from his Rage and Audioslave days
By Jim DeRogatis / Chicago Sun-Times
Born and raised in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville, Tom Morello will always be best known to legions of rock fans as a supreme shredder -- the musician who developed a new vocabulary for lead guitar by evoking falling bombs, bursts of machine-gun fire and scratching turntables with '90s rap-rockers Rage Against the Machine and the post-alternative supergroup Audioslave.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mikeinthenews/index.php?id=9555
Freeway Blogger Punditry Contest - Entries close June 1
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2007/03/public-punditry-contest.html
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
by Jeremy Scahill
http://www.nationbooks.org/book.mhtml?t=scahill
SAY NO TO TO BLACKWATER USA'S PLAN TO BUILD A MERCENARY TRAINING FACILITY
http://www.sdcpj.org/
continued ...
Morning Papers - continued (There is a lot of violence reported in US papers. Not that they aren't supposed to but it's a lot.)
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Hundreds flee S. Calif. island wildfire
By ANDREW GLAZERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
AVALON, Calif. -- Firefighters working through the night turned back flames that threatened Santa Catalina Island's main city and forced hundreds of people to evacuate amid falling ashes.
The wildfire was 4,000 acres, or more than 6 square miles, and was only 10 percent contained early Friday. But worries were eased by the day's favorable weather forecast and the arrival of a massive force of fire trucks and water-dropping aircraft on the narrow, mountainous island 30 miles off Los Angeles.
Flames that had menaced the city the night before were no longer visible from Avalon on Friday.
A puff of smoke rose from a hillside overlooking the crescent harbor and a layer of ash were reminders of a harrowing night.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_SoCal_Fire.html?source=mypi
NASA study: Eastern U.S. to get hotter
By SETH BORENSTEINAP SCIENCE WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Future eastern United States summers look much hotter than originally predicted with daily highs about 10 degrees warmer than in recent years by the mid-2080s, a new NASA study says.
Previous and widely used global warming computer estimates predict too many rainy days, the study says. Because drier weather is hotter, they underestimate how warm it will be east of the Mississippi River, said atmospheric scientists Barry Lynn and Leonard Druyan of Columbia University and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
"Unless we take some strong action to curtail carbon dioxide emissions, it's going to get a lot hotter," said Lynn, now a scientist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "It's going to be a lot more dangerous for people who are not in the best of health."
The study got mixed reviews from other climate scientists, in part because the eastern United States has recently been wetter and cooler than forecast.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Hot_Future.html?source=mypi
Gates Foundation gives $7.1M to support Gulf Coast housing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Thursday it would give $7.1 million to help Gulf Coast organizations advocate for affordable housing and workers' rights.
The money, which will be distributed by Oxfam America, is intended to help the people whose homes were destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and those who have been employed to work on the cleanup.
"During the past year and a half, we have seen how many of the Gulf Coast's neediest residents have been denied the resources they need to rebuild their lives - and how the low-wage workers who are making the rebuilding effort possible have been exploited," Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, said in a statement.
He said Oxfam works with local community leaders who are advocating for change in Louisiana and Mississippi.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_BRF_Gates_Foundation_Katrina.html
Britain's Brown vows to learn from Iraq
By D'ARCY DORANASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Gordon Brown launched his campaign to become Britain's next prime minister on Friday, pledging to learn from the mistakes of the Iraq war while honoring "our obligations to the Iraqi people." Brown, who faces no serious opposition after waiting more than a decade for his chance to lead the country, said there needed to be a stronger emphasis on political reconciliation and economic development in Iraq.
"And obviously we've got to more to win the battle of hearts and minds against al-Qaida terrorism."
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who announced he would resign June 27, officially endorsed Brown on Friday. As Treasury chief, Brown is credited with much of Britain's recent economic boom.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Blair_Brown.html?source=mypi
Ruse to get suspect's DNA upheld -- 'very scary,' privacy expert says
By TRACY JOHNSONP-I REPORTER
Seattle police detectives' elaborate trick to get a murder suspect's DNA was upheld Thursday by the state Supreme Court, a ruling that could give police more leeway and
The 6-3 majority found that the DNA evidence was properly used against John Athan, who was convicted in 2004 of killing a 13-year-old Magnolia girl more than two decades earlier.
"Although the ruse used by detectives in this case violated certain statutes, it was not so outrageous or shocking as to warrant dismissing the case," Justice Charles Johnson wrote.
Athan licked a return envelope a few years ago because he thought he was taking part in a class-action lawsuit over parking tickets. Instead, he'd fallen for a police trick -- a letter from a fake law firm -- aimed at getting a sample of his DNA.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/315149_dnatrick11.html
Venture Capital: E-mail by voice -- It's quite a deal
By JOHN COOKP-I REPORTER
You've seen them before, people speeding down Interstate 5 talking incessantly on their cell phone or sitting at a stoplight tapping a message on a BlackBerry.
John Pollard, who left Microsoft last year to create Jott Networks, recognizes those potential hazards as a business opportunity.
Some heavy-hitting investors do too. Jott, which has developed a technology to convert voice to text and then have the messages broadcast via e-mail or text message to individuals or groups of people, has landed $5.4 million in a deal led by Boston-based Bain Capital. Other investors in the 13-month-old mobile startup include Ackerley Partners, Draper Richards and the investment firm of Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/315302_vc11.html
Pro-democracy parties to lead in Serbia
By DUSAN STOJANOVICASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbia's pro-democracy parties have reached a power-sharing deal to form a new government, the hardline parliament speaker said Friday, an agreement that averts the possibility of his radical ultranationalists regaining power.
Western governments and Serbia's neighbors were alarmed this week by the election of an admirer of Serbia's late nationalist President Slobodan Milosevic as the parliament speaker - the No. 2 post in the country.
Earlier Friday, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns warned that if Tomislav Nikolic's Radical Party came to power in Serbia, it would "seriously harm" the country's relations with the West.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Serbia_Government.html
Fort Dix suspects denied bail
By GEOFF MULVIHILLASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CAMDEN, N.J. -- Six Muslim men suspected of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were ordered held without bail Friday.
Prosecutors argued that the men, all born outside the United States, pose a flight risk. They are being held at a federal detention center in Philadelphia.
The men were arrested Monday night during what the FBI said was an attempt to buy AK-47 machine guns, M-16s and other weapons. They targeted Fort Dix, a post 25 miles east of Philadelphia that is used primarily to train reservists, partly because one of them had delivered pizzas there and was familiar with the base, according to court filings. Their objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible," the documents said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Fort_Dix_Plot.html?source=mypi
Jury acquits first man charged under bestiality law
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TACOMA, Wash. -- A Pierce County jury has acquitted a man accused of having sex with the family dog.
Michael Patrick McPhail, 26, of Spanaway, was found not guilty Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court of first-degree animal cruelty.
Assistant Pierce County Prosecutor Karen Watson said last fall that McPhail was the first person charged in the county under a new state law that made bestiality a felony.
"I'm glad that justice was able to see it wasn't an action of my doing," McPhail said as he left the court building.
He said he believes his wife made up the story because she is seeking to end their marriage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Bestiality_Charge.html
Governors worry about depleted Guard units
Conflicts draining equipment levels
By MITCH STACYTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA, Fla. -- With repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan leaving state National Guards without nearly half of their required equipment, some governors are loudly questioning whether they will be able to handle the next hurricane, wildfire or terrorist attack at home.
"We are not going to be able to continue to rely on the National Guard as a full-time operational force" overseas if the Guardsmen are to do their job at home, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said.
Easley said his state has about half the equipment it needs and could probably respond adequately to a hurricane, but "a pandemic or something like that may be a different question."
The widespread problem of permanently losing National Guard equipment to the war was pushed to the forefront this week when Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius complained that shortages of equipment and well-trained personnel slowed Guard response to the killer tornadoes that ravaged her state.
"A lot of equipment has gone to Iraq and the equipment doesn't come back when the troops come back," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/315291_guard11.html
McKay: Attorney General Gonzales must go
2 fired prosecutors talk of 'dark cloud' over Justice Dept.
By COLIN McDONALDP-I REPORTER
The only way to restore the public's faith in the Justice Department and boost the flagging morale of federal prosecutors nationwide is for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down, John McKay, former U.S. attorney for Western Washington, said Thursday.
"The only solution I see coming is for a new attorney general who has the instant respect of the Senate Judiciary Committee," he said. "I think what people fear is another political battle and another Bushie coming in."
McKay and David Iglesias, former U.S. attorney of New Mexico, shared their views with the P-I editorial board. Both said the abrupt, unexplained firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- McKay and Iglesias included -- have put a "dark cloud" over the Justice Department and it's up to President Bush to clear the air.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/315287_usattorneys11.html
Number of legal mercy killings drops in Holland
By MIKE CORDERTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The number of euthanasia cases is falling sharply in the Netherlands, where mercy killings were legalized six years ago, a government-funded report said Thursday.
A survey presented to Deputy Health Minister Jet Bussemaker said terminally ill patients are increasingly choosing to be sedated until they die a natural death.
The number of euthanasia cases in 2005 fell to 2,325 from 3,500 in 2001, when the euthanasia law was passed. Assisted suicides dropped to 100 from 300, she said.
The percentage of all deaths by euthanasia dropped to 1.7 percent from 2.6 percent in 2001, Bussemaker said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/315264_netherlands11.html
15,000 police set for Pakistan protests
By ZARAR KHANASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KARACHI, Pakistan -- Authorities marshaled 15,000 security forces in Pakistan's largest city Friday, fearing clashes during rival protests by opponents of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and a pro-government party with a history of violence.
Government opponents hope to hold their biggest demonstration yet Saturday against Musharraf's decision to suspend the head of the Supreme Court two months ago, a move that has plunged Pakistan into deepening political turmoil.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Judicial_Crisis.html
Differences in lobbying bills
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lobbying changes approved by the Senate but under challenge in the House would:
-Require lobbyists to report when they "bundle" campaign contributions from multiple donors into one package.
-Require former lawmakers to wait two years before becoming lobbyists.
-Ban lobbyists from throwing parties for lawmakers at national conventions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Lobbying_Reform_Glance.html
Army strives to keep midlevel officers
By LOLITA C. BALDORASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Army will offer incentives to keep midlevel officers as it faces another decade or so in combat around the world, its chief of staff said Friday.
Gen. George Casey, who took over as the Army's chief just a month ago, said the United States will "be in a period of conflict for, I believe, another five or ten years." And the Army, which has been stretched and stressed by five difficult years at war, must be organized and equipped to deal with that challenge, he said.
The general said he is not suggesting that the Iraq or Afghanistan wars will last five more years. But Casey, who was the top commander in Iraq until last month, acknowledged that building a stable, self-governing Iraq is a "long-term proposition."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Army_Incentives.html
2 car bombs at Baghdad bridges kill 23
By RAVI NESSMANASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD -- Two suicide car bombers struck checkpoints at Baghdad bridges within minutes of each other Friday, killing at least 23 people and damaging the spans despite increased American efforts to target the insurgent networks planning deadly vehicle attacks.
The U.S. military announced earlier Friday that it had conducted a series of raids against car bombing networks across the country, killing four suspected insurgents and detaining nine.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Olmert wants to appear before war panel
By AMY TEIBELASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to appear again before the Lebanon war commission, after testimony released by the body showed he blamed the army for shortcomings but acknowledged he ignored warnings that Israeli forces were unprepared for the conflict last summer.
Olmert's office said late Thursday that he wants to counter a statement to the commission from his foreign minister and political rival, Tzipi Livni, that she recommended a diplomatic solution instead of a large-scale military operation the day after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two soldiers and killed three in a cross-border raid. Olmert said there was no such recommendation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Israel_War_Inquiry.html
Key moments in Gordon Brown's career
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Key moments in the life of Gordon Brown.
Feb 20, 1951: Born in Glasgow, Scotland.
June 9, 1983: Wins election to British parliament in second attempt.
May, 12 1994: Tipped as Labour leader following the death of party chief John Smith.
Late May 1994: Brown and Tony Blair - a friend but political rival - reputedly strike deal on leadership at London restaurant. Blair stands as Labour chief, promising Brown control of economic policy.
May 1, 1997: Blair's Labour Party wins 419 of 659 seats in House of Commons, ending 18 years of Conservative government. Brown becomes Treasury chief.
May 6, 1997: Brown pushes through a key early policy: handing power to set interest rates to the Bank of England.
Nov. 5, 1997: Brown sets five economic criteria for British entry of the European single currency, effectively ensuring Britain would not adopt the euro.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Brown_Chronology.html
Zimbabwe likely to head key U.N. body
By EDITH M. LEDERERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Zimbabwe is likely to win approval to head a key U.N. body charged with promoting economic progress and environmental protection despite protests from some Western countries and human rights organizations.
The 53-member Commission on Sustainable Development is scheduled to vote Friday on its new chair, U.N. officials said. The chair traditionally rotates among regions of the world, and it is Africa's choice this year. The continent has chosen Zimbabwe as its candidate, and the government has nominated Francis Nhema, the minister of environment and tourism for the post.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_UN_Zimbabwe.html
Zimbabwe lawyer decries intimidation
NEW YORK -- Zimbabwe's government is intimidating, arresting and beating lawyers in an attempt to destroy the beleaguered political opposition's last line of defense, one of the country's leading attorneys said Wednesday.
Although President Robert Mugabe's security forces have roughed up lawyers for years, the mistreatment has increased in recent weeks with the arrests of four prominent attorneys, said Arnold Tsunga, the executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
Lawyers who protested two of the arrests by demonstrating outside the country's high court on Tuesday were manhandled and struck with riot batons, according to witnesses and the Zimbabwe Law Society. Some were forced into a truck, taken to a suburban field and beaten, they said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Zimbabwe_Rights_Lawyer.html
Gunmen kill 2 police in southern Nigeria
By DAN UDOHASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria -- Gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped from their vehicles in Nigeria's southern oil center and killed two police officers Thursday in the latest violence to strike the petroleum-producing region, officials and witnesses said.
The attack in the city of Port Harcourt took place near the offices of major international oil and construction companies, said Rivers State police spokeswoman Irejua Barasua.
"The command will not tolerate the incessant killing of policemen," she said. Seven other officers were killed last month after two police stations were attacked by unknown gunmen.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Nigeria_Oil_Unrest.html
Pope says he suppports excommunication
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday he supports excommunication for politicians who backed Mexico City's decision to legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Church doctrine calls for automatic excommunication for anyone procuring an abortion.
"It's nothing new, it's normal," Benedict said during an airborne news conference aboard the plane carrying him to Brazil on his first pilgrimage to Latin America.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Pope_Mexico.html
Cuba accuses U.S. of violating treaties
By ANITA SNOWASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HAVANA -- Cuba accused the U.S. government on Friday of violating international anti-terrorism treaties by allowing Luis Posada Carriles, a man Havana accuses of violent acts against the country, to walk free of all charges after an immigration indictment against him was dropped.
"The U.S. government has not only violated its own laws and supposed commitment to its self-proclaimed 'War Against Terrorism,' but also to its own international obligations," said a government declaration published Friday in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
The declaration detailed several international treaties it said the United States had violated, but did not say whether it would take any diplomatic action.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Cuban_Militant.html
Cuba frees journalist after 22 months
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAVANA -- Cuba has released an journalist who served 22-months in prison for participating in an anti-government rally, a local activist and a foreign media watchdog group said Thursday.
Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez, who reported for U.S. Web sites, was released from Valle Grande prison outside Havana on Tuesday, according to veteran dissident Martha Beatriz Roque, who said she spoke with Guerra shortly after he was freed.
Guerra has been a contributor to Miami's Payolibre and Nueva Prensa Cubana, as well as the U.S. government-funded Radio Marti.
He was among six dissidents who were picked up during a street protest on July 13, 2005, the 11th anniversary of the deadly sinking of a migrant-filled tugboat. Government opponents say the boat was rammed by the Cuban coast guard and that 41 people died, but authorities called it an accidental collision with 32 dead.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Cuba_Journalist_Freed.html
Haiti migrants angry by alleged ramming
By STEVENSON JACOBSASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Survivors of the worst disaster to hit Haitian migrants in years were "angry and revolted" as they accused a Turks and Caicos police vessel of ramming their crowded boat twice before it capsized, killing dozens in shark-infested waters, a senior official said Wednesday.
The shocking allegation against the British territory's police boat didn't come out until Tuesday because the 78 survivors of the disaster have been locked in a jail-like detention center and barred from speaking to journalists.
Officials say about 160 migrants were jammed onto a rickety sailboat that capsized before dawn last Friday, spilling most of them into the Atlantic Ocean a half-mile off one of the islands in the Turks and Caicos, 125 miles north of Haiti.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Haitian_Boat_Capsizes.html
Bush passes the buck on Iraq
By HELEN THOMASHEARST NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- President Bush still has to learn "the buck stops here" when it comes to presidential decisions.
The "decider" and commander in chief seems to be trying to pass the buck, particularly if the war in Iraq implodes and he has to bring troops home from his disastrous invasion of Iraq.
The president is counting on Gen. David Petraeus -- the top military commander in Iraq -- and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to take the fall if his troop "surge" fails.
Bush is a long way from that mirage even with an expected Pentagon buildup of U.S. troops to 160,000 by midsummer.
Bush's war of choice -- now in its fifth year -- has taken 3,368 American lives and wounded thousands more Americans.
The death toll for the Iraqi people is reportedly in the hundreds of thousands, although the Iraqi Health Ministry says it will no longer disclose the casualty figures.
Bush had a 25-minute telephone call with al-Maliki earlier this week after feeling the domestic political pressure following his veto of war funding legislation that called for U.S. troops to withdraw, starting Oct. 1.
Vice President Dick Cheney followed up with a personal visit with al-Maliki in Baghdad, where he told the Iraqi that the U.S. has a dim view of the Iraqi parliament's plan to take a two-month vacation this summer.
Both Bush and Congress have laid down the law to the beleaguered al-Maliki with this message: If his government doesn't pass an oil law divvying up Iraq's vast oil reserves among the three ethnic-religious groups and if he fails to reconcile the various Iraqi factions, the U.S. just might just pack up and leave.
This is the same Bush administration trying to throw its weight around after destroying Iraq and destabilizing the entire Middle East. But al-Maliki will be there to catch the blame.
Last week in a speech to the Associated General Contractors of America, Bush put the burden on Petraeus and quoted the commander as saying that "it's going to be at least until the end of this summer that he will know whether or not the new strategy (of escalating the troops by thousands) has achieved successes."
But White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected any suggestion that Petraeus' comments pointed to September as a deadline. The president was not accepting any troop withdrawal date, Snow insisted.
More ominous is a report Wednesday by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that an unnamed Saudi source said Bush told the Saudis that he will not withdraw from Iraq during his presidency.
If true, that's more in line with speculation that Bush wants to run out the clock and pass the war on to his successor at the White House.
However, it's not far-fetched to believe that Republicans will wake up and see their re-election chances flame out if Bush continues the war until 2008.
The latest CBS-New York Times poll said the president has dropped to 24 percent in his approval ratings on his handling of the war. President Nixon's Watergate scandal-plagued polls fell to 23 percent when he was forced to resign from office.
But the same CBS-TV poll said 56 percent of those sampled believe that congressional Democrats should fund the war -- despite a presidential veto of a bill that included a withdrawal timetable.
The White House has translated any effort to withhold war funding as a signal that Congress is failing to support the troops, tying the hands of the generals and acquiescing to "surrender."
In his remarks to the contractors, the president blamed al-Qaida -- the terrorist network -- for ratcheting up the sectarian violence in Baghdad between the Shiites and the Sunnis and the high-profile suicide bombings.
"The most visible and violent front of this global war is Iraq," Bush said. "It's a tough fight ... . Illegal armed groups continue their attacks, insurgents remain deadly" and have to be dealt with.
"Al-Qaida is public enemy No. 1 in Iraq," Bush declared. "It's in our interest to stay in the fight."
Soon after the war started and all the false rationales justifying the invasion were falling like 10 pins, Ari Fleischer, Bush's first press secretary, stepped up to the podium in the White House pressroom and picked the battleground, declaring: "Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism." And al-Qaida took him at his word.
The mantra for Bush's new strategy in the war is called "the way forward." But if Americans have any say, it should be "the way out."
Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. E-mail: helent@hearstdc.com. Copyright 2007 Hearst Newspapers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/315244_thomas11.html
General testifies in Haditha deaths case
By THOMAS WATKINS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Marine Corps Capt. Randy Stone, right, arrives with an unidentified woman, left, for his Article 32 Investigation hearing at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in San Diego county, Calif., Tuesday, May 8, 2007. Stone is one of four officers who are charged with failing to properly investigate the Nov. 19, 2005 killings of 24 Iraqis. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine general testified Thursday that he initially saw no reason to investigate the killing of women and children by troops in the Iraqi town of Haditha, and said he didn't learn about allegations that civilians were intentionally targeted until three months later.
Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck was the top general in charge of Marines in Iraq's Al Anbar province when 24 civilians were killed in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. He testified that he knew about the deaths that day but considered them simply a "truly unfortunate" consequence of war at the time.
"I had no information that a law of armed conflict violation had been committed," Huck said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Marines_Haditha.html
Gunman shoots 5 aboard Chicago city bus
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO -- Five teenage passengers were shot while riding a Chicago Transit Authority bus on the city's South Side on Thursday, authorities said.
The victims were all taken to area hospitals, said Chicago Police spokesman Tom Polick. Two teenage boys and one girl were in critical condition, while another girl was in good condition, officials said. A fifth passenger's condition was unknown.
"A lone, armed offender boarded the bus and shortly after boarding the bus fired multiple shots," Assistant Deputy Superintendent Eugene Williams said at a news conference.
The male suspect exited the bus and ran south after the shooting, said Williams, who asked the public to call in with tips.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Chicago_Bus_Shooting.html
Police, bomb dog search Colo. school
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Boulder Police SWAT team members leave Boulder High School in Boulder, Colo., after spending more than five hours searching the school on Thursday, May 10, 2007. Police launched a room-to-room search of Boulder High School early Thursday after a cook reported seeing two suspicious men in the building, both wearing camouflage and one wearing a ski mask. Classes were canceled for the day. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
BOULDER, Colo. -- Police searched a high school room by room Thursday after a cook reported seeing two suspicious men in the building around dawn, both wearing camouflage and one in a ski mask.
Authorities said no classes or groups were meeting in Boulder High School at the time. Police sealed off the building, and school officials canceled classes for the day.
A four-hour search by 23 officers in three SWAT teams found no signs of a break-in, Police Chief Mark Beckner said. The search included utility-access tunnels under the building and at one point two officers could be seen on the roof, their rifles drawn.
Beckner said there was no indication the intruders were armed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_School_Lockdown.html
House rejects nine-month Iraq withdrawal
By DAVID ESPO
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., second from left, accompanied by fellow House Democratic leaders, talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 10, 2007, after a closed-door meeting to discuss Iraq war legislation. From left are, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of S.C., Pelosi, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md. (AP
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WASHINGTON -- The Democratic-controlled House defeated legislation Thursday to require the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within nine months, then pivoted quickly to a fresh challenge of President Bush's handling of the unpopular war.
The vote on the nine-month withdrawal measure was 255-171.
On a day of complex maneuvering, Democrats said they would approve legislation funding the war on an installment plan, and Bush said he would veto it. But the president, under pressure from lawmakers in both parties, coupled his threat with an offer to accept a spending bill that sets out standards for the Iraqi government to meet.
"Time's running out, because the longer we wait the more strain we're going to put on the military," said Bush, who previously had insisted on what he termed a "clean" war funding bill.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_US_Iraq.html?source=mypi
Final Fla. officer guilty in FBI probe
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The last of four police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to helping protect what they thought was a mob shipment of heroin during an undercover FBI probe.
Hollywood Sgt. Jeffry Courtney, 52, admitted to a federal charge of heroin conspiracy. Sentencing was set for July 27.
The charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years to life in prison, but under sentencing guidelines Courtney would likely get between nine and 14 years.
Courtney and the three other Hollywood officers were arrested in February, following the two-year corruption probe dubbed "Operation Tarnished Badge." Court documents say the officers took part in illegal activities including gambling, stolen valuables and the drug escort, although all the operations were FBI setups.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Police_Corruption.html
Teacher's husband indicted in teen death
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A grand jury indicted a man accused of killing his wife's teenage lover on a murder charge, but not the first-degree count prosecutors had sought, according to court documents released Thursday.
The second-degree murder count against Eric McLean carries a 25-year maximum sentence, instead of the life term the higher-level charge carries. The Knox County grand jury reached the decision May 2 after hearing from several witnesses, including McLean's wife.
"Needless to say I am just thrilled as I can be," defense attorney Bruce Poston said. "This is a major, major positive step for Eric McLean. When you take first (-degree murder) off the table, it changes the whole trial strategy."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Teacher_Sex_Slaying.html
New Orleans' state-run schools score low
By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- About two-thirds of students in New Orleans high schools that were taken over by the state after Hurricane Katrina flunked the state graduation exam, according to figures released Thursday.
About 40 percent of the city's fourth graders and a third of the eighth-graders in those schools failed promotion exams.
When Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, and flooded 80 percent of the city, it also shut down the city's already troubled public school system, which ran more than 100 schools.
Since then, 58 have reopened: 22 are run by the state's Recovery School District, five remain under the authority of the city's school board, and 31 have been handed over to private charter organizations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_New_Orleans_Schools.html
Informants scrutinized in Fort Dix case
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Ismail Badat, left, a trustee of the Islamic Center of South Jersey, stands in the mosque in Palmyra, N.J., Thursday, May 10, 2007. Badat said several of the six men accused of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix Army base regularly attended Friday prayer services at the mosque. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)
CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- He railed against the United States, helped scout out military installations for attack, offered to introduce his comrades to an arms dealer, and gave them a list of weapons he could procure, including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
These were not the actions of a terrorist, but of a paid FBI informant who helped bring down an alleged plot by six Muslim men to massacre U.S. soldiers at New Jersey's Fort Dix.
And those actions have raised questions of whether the government crossed the line and pushed the six men down a path they would not have otherwise followed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Fort_Dix_Plot.html
U.S. charges suspected bin Laden driver
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The United States filed charges of conspiracy and providing support for terrorism Thursday against a Guantanamo detainee accused of working as a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan is the third Guantanamo detainee to be charged under a new set of rules signed last year by President Bush after the Supreme Court rejected the previous system.
Hamdan, who is from Yemen, has been detained at Guantanamo since May 2002. It was his legal challenge that forced the Bush administration and Congress to draft new rules for the military trials, known as commissions, for the men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in eastern Cuba.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Guantanamo_Charges.html?source=mypi
China names special envoy for Darfur
By ALEXA OLESEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- China announced the appointment of a special envoy dedicated to the Darfur crisis Thursday as Beijing faces international pressure to do more to resolve the conflict and the possibility of an Olympic boycott if it fails to act.
The move came a day after a group of U.S. politicians demanded China use its influence as one of Sudan's biggest trade partners to persuade the African nation to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.
It also followed the release of an Amnesty International report this week claiming China and Russia breached a U.N. arms embargo by letting weapons into Sudan. Both countries denied the charge.
China has been widely accused of not doing enough on Darfur, given that it buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports and sells the Khartoum regime weapons and military aircraft. As a veto-holding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China has blocked efforts to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur without Sudan's consent.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_China_Sudan.html
Koreas put final touches on agreement
By JAE-SOON CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
South Korean delegator Army Col. Moon Sung-mook, center, and other delegates are guided by North Korean soldiers after they crossed the border for a military meeting at the North side of the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea, Wednesday, May 9, 2007. Inter-Korean military talks entered a rocky second day Wednesday after the North complained about the South's tardiness to the negotiations, which aim to pave the way for a historic run of trains across their border. (AP Photo/ Korea Pool)
SEOUL, South Korea -- Military officers from the two Koreas put the final touches on a security agreement for a test-run of trains across their heavily armed border as their talks stretched into an unscheduled fourth day Friday.
The planned test would be the first time trains have crossed the tightly sealed border in more than half a century. Inter-Korean rail links were severed during the 1950-53 Korean War, but two tracks have been reconnected as part of a series of reconciliation projects launched since the two sides held the first meeting of their leaders in 2000.
North Korea's military consented Wednesday to providing security for next week's trial run on a one-time basis, but the South was seeking to expand the agreement to cover similar future border crossings as well, according to pool reports.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Koreas_Talks.html
Taliban says it abducted local spokesman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A Taliban commander said the militant group kidnapped the spokesman for a provincial governor Thursday, and a police chief said authorities were investigating.
The Taliban kidnapped Uruzgan governor spokesman Qayum Qayumi while he was traveling in a vehicle near Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of the southern province, said Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Bari.
Gen. Abdul Qassim, the provincial police chief, said Qayumi was last seen at Tirin Kot's main market just before noon Thursday. He said police were investigating Qayumi's whereabouts.
In Helmand province, meanwhile, Afghan civilians fought with Taliban militants who hit a checkpoint near Sangin on Wednesday, leaving three of the attackers dead, the Interior Ministry said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Afghan_Violence.html
continued ...
Hundreds flee S. Calif. island wildfire
By ANDREW GLAZERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
AVALON, Calif. -- Firefighters working through the night turned back flames that threatened Santa Catalina Island's main city and forced hundreds of people to evacuate amid falling ashes.
The wildfire was 4,000 acres, or more than 6 square miles, and was only 10 percent contained early Friday. But worries were eased by the day's favorable weather forecast and the arrival of a massive force of fire trucks and water-dropping aircraft on the narrow, mountainous island 30 miles off Los Angeles.
Flames that had menaced the city the night before were no longer visible from Avalon on Friday.
A puff of smoke rose from a hillside overlooking the crescent harbor and a layer of ash were reminders of a harrowing night.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_SoCal_Fire.html?source=mypi
NASA study: Eastern U.S. to get hotter
By SETH BORENSTEINAP SCIENCE WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Future eastern United States summers look much hotter than originally predicted with daily highs about 10 degrees warmer than in recent years by the mid-2080s, a new NASA study says.
Previous and widely used global warming computer estimates predict too many rainy days, the study says. Because drier weather is hotter, they underestimate how warm it will be east of the Mississippi River, said atmospheric scientists Barry Lynn and Leonard Druyan of Columbia University and NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
"Unless we take some strong action to curtail carbon dioxide emissions, it's going to get a lot hotter," said Lynn, now a scientist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "It's going to be a lot more dangerous for people who are not in the best of health."
The study got mixed reviews from other climate scientists, in part because the eastern United States has recently been wetter and cooler than forecast.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Hot_Future.html?source=mypi
Gates Foundation gives $7.1M to support Gulf Coast housing
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation said Thursday it would give $7.1 million to help Gulf Coast organizations advocate for affordable housing and workers' rights.
The money, which will be distributed by Oxfam America, is intended to help the people whose homes were destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and those who have been employed to work on the cleanup.
"During the past year and a half, we have seen how many of the Gulf Coast's neediest residents have been denied the resources they need to rebuild their lives - and how the low-wage workers who are making the rebuilding effort possible have been exploited," Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America, said in a statement.
He said Oxfam works with local community leaders who are advocating for change in Louisiana and Mississippi.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_BRF_Gates_Foundation_Katrina.html
Britain's Brown vows to learn from Iraq
By D'ARCY DORANASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Gordon Brown launched his campaign to become Britain's next prime minister on Friday, pledging to learn from the mistakes of the Iraq war while honoring "our obligations to the Iraqi people." Brown, who faces no serious opposition after waiting more than a decade for his chance to lead the country, said there needed to be a stronger emphasis on political reconciliation and economic development in Iraq.
"And obviously we've got to more to win the battle of hearts and minds against al-Qaida terrorism."
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who announced he would resign June 27, officially endorsed Brown on Friday. As Treasury chief, Brown is credited with much of Britain's recent economic boom.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Blair_Brown.html?source=mypi
Ruse to get suspect's DNA upheld -- 'very scary,' privacy expert says
By TRACY JOHNSONP-I REPORTER
Seattle police detectives' elaborate trick to get a murder suspect's DNA was upheld Thursday by the state Supreme Court, a ruling that could give police more leeway and
The 6-3 majority found that the DNA evidence was properly used against John Athan, who was convicted in 2004 of killing a 13-year-old Magnolia girl more than two decades earlier.
"Although the ruse used by detectives in this case violated certain statutes, it was not so outrageous or shocking as to warrant dismissing the case," Justice Charles Johnson wrote.
Athan licked a return envelope a few years ago because he thought he was taking part in a class-action lawsuit over parking tickets. Instead, he'd fallen for a police trick -- a letter from a fake law firm -- aimed at getting a sample of his DNA.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/315149_dnatrick11.html
Venture Capital: E-mail by voice -- It's quite a deal
By JOHN COOKP-I REPORTER
You've seen them before, people speeding down Interstate 5 talking incessantly on their cell phone or sitting at a stoplight tapping a message on a BlackBerry.
John Pollard, who left Microsoft last year to create Jott Networks, recognizes those potential hazards as a business opportunity.
Some heavy-hitting investors do too. Jott, which has developed a technology to convert voice to text and then have the messages broadcast via e-mail or text message to individuals or groups of people, has landed $5.4 million in a deal led by Boston-based Bain Capital. Other investors in the 13-month-old mobile startup include Ackerley Partners, Draper Richards and the investment firm of Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/315302_vc11.html
Pro-democracy parties to lead in Serbia
By DUSAN STOJANOVICASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BELGRADE, Serbia -- Serbia's pro-democracy parties have reached a power-sharing deal to form a new government, the hardline parliament speaker said Friday, an agreement that averts the possibility of his radical ultranationalists regaining power.
Western governments and Serbia's neighbors were alarmed this week by the election of an admirer of Serbia's late nationalist President Slobodan Milosevic as the parliament speaker - the No. 2 post in the country.
Earlier Friday, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns warned that if Tomislav Nikolic's Radical Party came to power in Serbia, it would "seriously harm" the country's relations with the West.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Serbia_Government.html
Fort Dix suspects denied bail
By GEOFF MULVIHILLASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CAMDEN, N.J. -- Six Muslim men suspected of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were ordered held without bail Friday.
Prosecutors argued that the men, all born outside the United States, pose a flight risk. They are being held at a federal detention center in Philadelphia.
The men were arrested Monday night during what the FBI said was an attempt to buy AK-47 machine guns, M-16s and other weapons. They targeted Fort Dix, a post 25 miles east of Philadelphia that is used primarily to train reservists, partly because one of them had delivered pizzas there and was familiar with the base, according to court filings. Their objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible," the documents said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Fort_Dix_Plot.html?source=mypi
Jury acquits first man charged under bestiality law
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TACOMA, Wash. -- A Pierce County jury has acquitted a man accused of having sex with the family dog.
Michael Patrick McPhail, 26, of Spanaway, was found not guilty Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court of first-degree animal cruelty.
Assistant Pierce County Prosecutor Karen Watson said last fall that McPhail was the first person charged in the county under a new state law that made bestiality a felony.
"I'm glad that justice was able to see it wasn't an action of my doing," McPhail said as he left the court building.
He said he believes his wife made up the story because she is seeking to end their marriage.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Bestiality_Charge.html
Governors worry about depleted Guard units
Conflicts draining equipment levels
By MITCH STACYTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA, Fla. -- With repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan leaving state National Guards without nearly half of their required equipment, some governors are loudly questioning whether they will be able to handle the next hurricane, wildfire or terrorist attack at home.
"We are not going to be able to continue to rely on the National Guard as a full-time operational force" overseas if the Guardsmen are to do their job at home, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said.
Easley said his state has about half the equipment it needs and could probably respond adequately to a hurricane, but "a pandemic or something like that may be a different question."
The widespread problem of permanently losing National Guard equipment to the war was pushed to the forefront this week when Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius complained that shortages of equipment and well-trained personnel slowed Guard response to the killer tornadoes that ravaged her state.
"A lot of equipment has gone to Iraq and the equipment doesn't come back when the troops come back," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/315291_guard11.html
McKay: Attorney General Gonzales must go
2 fired prosecutors talk of 'dark cloud' over Justice Dept.
By COLIN McDONALDP-I REPORTER
The only way to restore the public's faith in the Justice Department and boost the flagging morale of federal prosecutors nationwide is for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down, John McKay, former U.S. attorney for Western Washington, said Thursday.
"The only solution I see coming is for a new attorney general who has the instant respect of the Senate Judiciary Committee," he said. "I think what people fear is another political battle and another Bushie coming in."
McKay and David Iglesias, former U.S. attorney of New Mexico, shared their views with the P-I editorial board. Both said the abrupt, unexplained firings of eight U.S. attorneys -- McKay and Iglesias included -- have put a "dark cloud" over the Justice Department and it's up to President Bush to clear the air.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/315287_usattorneys11.html
Number of legal mercy killings drops in Holland
By MIKE CORDERTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The number of euthanasia cases is falling sharply in the Netherlands, where mercy killings were legalized six years ago, a government-funded report said Thursday.
A survey presented to Deputy Health Minister Jet Bussemaker said terminally ill patients are increasingly choosing to be sedated until they die a natural death.
The number of euthanasia cases in 2005 fell to 2,325 from 3,500 in 2001, when the euthanasia law was passed. Assisted suicides dropped to 100 from 300, she said.
The percentage of all deaths by euthanasia dropped to 1.7 percent from 2.6 percent in 2001, Bussemaker said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/315264_netherlands11.html
15,000 police set for Pakistan protests
By ZARAR KHANASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KARACHI, Pakistan -- Authorities marshaled 15,000 security forces in Pakistan's largest city Friday, fearing clashes during rival protests by opponents of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and a pro-government party with a history of violence.
Government opponents hope to hold their biggest demonstration yet Saturday against Musharraf's decision to suspend the head of the Supreme Court two months ago, a move that has plunged Pakistan into deepening political turmoil.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan_Judicial_Crisis.html
Differences in lobbying bills
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lobbying changes approved by the Senate but under challenge in the House would:
-Require lobbyists to report when they "bundle" campaign contributions from multiple donors into one package.
-Require former lawmakers to wait two years before becoming lobbyists.
-Ban lobbyists from throwing parties for lawmakers at national conventions.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Lobbying_Reform_Glance.html
Army strives to keep midlevel officers
By LOLITA C. BALDORASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Army will offer incentives to keep midlevel officers as it faces another decade or so in combat around the world, its chief of staff said Friday.
Gen. George Casey, who took over as the Army's chief just a month ago, said the United States will "be in a period of conflict for, I believe, another five or ten years." And the Army, which has been stretched and stressed by five difficult years at war, must be organized and equipped to deal with that challenge, he said.
The general said he is not suggesting that the Iraq or Afghanistan wars will last five more years. But Casey, who was the top commander in Iraq until last month, acknowledged that building a stable, self-governing Iraq is a "long-term proposition."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Army_Incentives.html
2 car bombs at Baghdad bridges kill 23
By RAVI NESSMANASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD -- Two suicide car bombers struck checkpoints at Baghdad bridges within minutes of each other Friday, killing at least 23 people and damaging the spans despite increased American efforts to target the insurgent networks planning deadly vehicle attacks.
The U.S. military announced earlier Friday that it had conducted a series of raids against car bombing networks across the country, killing four suspected insurgents and detaining nine.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Olmert wants to appear before war panel
By AMY TEIBELASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to appear again before the Lebanon war commission, after testimony released by the body showed he blamed the army for shortcomings but acknowledged he ignored warnings that Israeli forces were unprepared for the conflict last summer.
Olmert's office said late Thursday that he wants to counter a statement to the commission from his foreign minister and political rival, Tzipi Livni, that she recommended a diplomatic solution instead of a large-scale military operation the day after Hezbollah guerrillas captured two soldiers and killed three in a cross-border raid. Olmert said there was no such recommendation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Israel_War_Inquiry.html
Key moments in Gordon Brown's career
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Key moments in the life of Gordon Brown.
Feb 20, 1951: Born in Glasgow, Scotland.
June 9, 1983: Wins election to British parliament in second attempt.
May, 12 1994: Tipped as Labour leader following the death of party chief John Smith.
Late May 1994: Brown and Tony Blair - a friend but political rival - reputedly strike deal on leadership at London restaurant. Blair stands as Labour chief, promising Brown control of economic policy.
May 1, 1997: Blair's Labour Party wins 419 of 659 seats in House of Commons, ending 18 years of Conservative government. Brown becomes Treasury chief.
May 6, 1997: Brown pushes through a key early policy: handing power to set interest rates to the Bank of England.
Nov. 5, 1997: Brown sets five economic criteria for British entry of the European single currency, effectively ensuring Britain would not adopt the euro.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Brown_Chronology.html
Zimbabwe likely to head key U.N. body
By EDITH M. LEDERERASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
UNITED NATIONS -- Zimbabwe is likely to win approval to head a key U.N. body charged with promoting economic progress and environmental protection despite protests from some Western countries and human rights organizations.
The 53-member Commission on Sustainable Development is scheduled to vote Friday on its new chair, U.N. officials said. The chair traditionally rotates among regions of the world, and it is Africa's choice this year. The continent has chosen Zimbabwe as its candidate, and the government has nominated Francis Nhema, the minister of environment and tourism for the post.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_UN_Zimbabwe.html
Zimbabwe lawyer decries intimidation
NEW YORK -- Zimbabwe's government is intimidating, arresting and beating lawyers in an attempt to destroy the beleaguered political opposition's last line of defense, one of the country's leading attorneys said Wednesday.
Although President Robert Mugabe's security forces have roughed up lawyers for years, the mistreatment has increased in recent weeks with the arrests of four prominent attorneys, said Arnold Tsunga, the executive director of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.
Lawyers who protested two of the arrests by demonstrating outside the country's high court on Tuesday were manhandled and struck with riot batons, according to witnesses and the Zimbabwe Law Society. Some were forced into a truck, taken to a suburban field and beaten, they said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Zimbabwe_Rights_Lawyer.html
Gunmen kill 2 police in southern Nigeria
By DAN UDOHASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria -- Gunmen wearing military fatigues jumped from their vehicles in Nigeria's southern oil center and killed two police officers Thursday in the latest violence to strike the petroleum-producing region, officials and witnesses said.
The attack in the city of Port Harcourt took place near the offices of major international oil and construction companies, said Rivers State police spokeswoman Irejua Barasua.
"The command will not tolerate the incessant killing of policemen," she said. Seven other officers were killed last month after two police stations were attacked by unknown gunmen.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Nigeria_Oil_Unrest.html
Pope says he suppports excommunication
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday he supports excommunication for politicians who backed Mexico City's decision to legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Church doctrine calls for automatic excommunication for anyone procuring an abortion.
"It's nothing new, it's normal," Benedict said during an airborne news conference aboard the plane carrying him to Brazil on his first pilgrimage to Latin America.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Pope_Mexico.html
Cuba accuses U.S. of violating treaties
By ANITA SNOWASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HAVANA -- Cuba accused the U.S. government on Friday of violating international anti-terrorism treaties by allowing Luis Posada Carriles, a man Havana accuses of violent acts against the country, to walk free of all charges after an immigration indictment against him was dropped.
"The U.S. government has not only violated its own laws and supposed commitment to its self-proclaimed 'War Against Terrorism,' but also to its own international obligations," said a government declaration published Friday in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
The declaration detailed several international treaties it said the United States had violated, but did not say whether it would take any diplomatic action.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Cuban_Militant.html
Cuba frees journalist after 22 months
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HAVANA -- Cuba has released an journalist who served 22-months in prison for participating in an anti-government rally, a local activist and a foreign media watchdog group said Thursday.
Roberto de Jesus Guerra Perez, who reported for U.S. Web sites, was released from Valle Grande prison outside Havana on Tuesday, according to veteran dissident Martha Beatriz Roque, who said she spoke with Guerra shortly after he was freed.
Guerra has been a contributor to Miami's Payolibre and Nueva Prensa Cubana, as well as the U.S. government-funded Radio Marti.
He was among six dissidents who were picked up during a street protest on July 13, 2005, the 11th anniversary of the deadly sinking of a migrant-filled tugboat. Government opponents say the boat was rammed by the Cuban coast guard and that 41 people died, but authorities called it an accidental collision with 32 dead.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Cuba_Journalist_Freed.html
Haiti migrants angry by alleged ramming
By STEVENSON JACOBSASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Survivors of the worst disaster to hit Haitian migrants in years were "angry and revolted" as they accused a Turks and Caicos police vessel of ramming their crowded boat twice before it capsized, killing dozens in shark-infested waters, a senior official said Wednesday.
The shocking allegation against the British territory's police boat didn't come out until Tuesday because the 78 survivors of the disaster have been locked in a jail-like detention center and barred from speaking to journalists.
Officials say about 160 migrants were jammed onto a rickety sailboat that capsized before dawn last Friday, spilling most of them into the Atlantic Ocean a half-mile off one of the islands in the Turks and Caicos, 125 miles north of Haiti.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Haitian_Boat_Capsizes.html
Bush passes the buck on Iraq
By HELEN THOMASHEARST NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- President Bush still has to learn "the buck stops here" when it comes to presidential decisions.
The "decider" and commander in chief seems to be trying to pass the buck, particularly if the war in Iraq implodes and he has to bring troops home from his disastrous invasion of Iraq.
The president is counting on Gen. David Petraeus -- the top military commander in Iraq -- and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to take the fall if his troop "surge" fails.
Bush is a long way from that mirage even with an expected Pentagon buildup of U.S. troops to 160,000 by midsummer.
Bush's war of choice -- now in its fifth year -- has taken 3,368 American lives and wounded thousands more Americans.
The death toll for the Iraqi people is reportedly in the hundreds of thousands, although the Iraqi Health Ministry says it will no longer disclose the casualty figures.
Bush had a 25-minute telephone call with al-Maliki earlier this week after feeling the domestic political pressure following his veto of war funding legislation that called for U.S. troops to withdraw, starting Oct. 1.
Vice President Dick Cheney followed up with a personal visit with al-Maliki in Baghdad, where he told the Iraqi that the U.S. has a dim view of the Iraqi parliament's plan to take a two-month vacation this summer.
Both Bush and Congress have laid down the law to the beleaguered al-Maliki with this message: If his government doesn't pass an oil law divvying up Iraq's vast oil reserves among the three ethnic-religious groups and if he fails to reconcile the various Iraqi factions, the U.S. just might just pack up and leave.
This is the same Bush administration trying to throw its weight around after destroying Iraq and destabilizing the entire Middle East. But al-Maliki will be there to catch the blame.
Last week in a speech to the Associated General Contractors of America, Bush put the burden on Petraeus and quoted the commander as saying that "it's going to be at least until the end of this summer that he will know whether or not the new strategy (of escalating the troops by thousands) has achieved successes."
But White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected any suggestion that Petraeus' comments pointed to September as a deadline. The president was not accepting any troop withdrawal date, Snow insisted.
More ominous is a report Wednesday by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that an unnamed Saudi source said Bush told the Saudis that he will not withdraw from Iraq during his presidency.
If true, that's more in line with speculation that Bush wants to run out the clock and pass the war on to his successor at the White House.
However, it's not far-fetched to believe that Republicans will wake up and see their re-election chances flame out if Bush continues the war until 2008.
The latest CBS-New York Times poll said the president has dropped to 24 percent in his approval ratings on his handling of the war. President Nixon's Watergate scandal-plagued polls fell to 23 percent when he was forced to resign from office.
But the same CBS-TV poll said 56 percent of those sampled believe that congressional Democrats should fund the war -- despite a presidential veto of a bill that included a withdrawal timetable.
The White House has translated any effort to withhold war funding as a signal that Congress is failing to support the troops, tying the hands of the generals and acquiescing to "surrender."
In his remarks to the contractors, the president blamed al-Qaida -- the terrorist network -- for ratcheting up the sectarian violence in Baghdad between the Shiites and the Sunnis and the high-profile suicide bombings.
"The most visible and violent front of this global war is Iraq," Bush said. "It's a tough fight ... . Illegal armed groups continue their attacks, insurgents remain deadly" and have to be dealt with.
"Al-Qaida is public enemy No. 1 in Iraq," Bush declared. "It's in our interest to stay in the fight."
Soon after the war started and all the false rationales justifying the invasion were falling like 10 pins, Ari Fleischer, Bush's first press secretary, stepped up to the podium in the White House pressroom and picked the battleground, declaring: "Iraq is the central front in the war on terrorism." And al-Qaida took him at his word.
The mantra for Bush's new strategy in the war is called "the way forward." But if Americans have any say, it should be "the way out."
Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. E-mail: helent@hearstdc.com. Copyright 2007 Hearst Newspapers.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/315244_thomas11.html
General testifies in Haditha deaths case
By THOMAS WATKINS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Marine Corps Capt. Randy Stone, right, arrives with an unidentified woman, left, for his Article 32 Investigation hearing at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base in San Diego county, Calif., Tuesday, May 8, 2007. Stone is one of four officers who are charged with failing to properly investigate the Nov. 19, 2005 killings of 24 Iraqis. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine general testified Thursday that he initially saw no reason to investigate the killing of women and children by troops in the Iraqi town of Haditha, and said he didn't learn about allegations that civilians were intentionally targeted until three months later.
Maj. Gen. Richard A. Huck was the top general in charge of Marines in Iraq's Al Anbar province when 24 civilians were killed in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. He testified that he knew about the deaths that day but considered them simply a "truly unfortunate" consequence of war at the time.
"I had no information that a law of armed conflict violation had been committed," Huck said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Marines_Haditha.html
Gunman shoots 5 aboard Chicago city bus
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO -- Five teenage passengers were shot while riding a Chicago Transit Authority bus on the city's South Side on Thursday, authorities said.
The victims were all taken to area hospitals, said Chicago Police spokesman Tom Polick. Two teenage boys and one girl were in critical condition, while another girl was in good condition, officials said. A fifth passenger's condition was unknown.
"A lone, armed offender boarded the bus and shortly after boarding the bus fired multiple shots," Assistant Deputy Superintendent Eugene Williams said at a news conference.
The male suspect exited the bus and ran south after the shooting, said Williams, who asked the public to call in with tips.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Chicago_Bus_Shooting.html
Police, bomb dog search Colo. school
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Boulder Police SWAT team members leave Boulder High School in Boulder, Colo., after spending more than five hours searching the school on Thursday, May 10, 2007. Police launched a room-to-room search of Boulder High School early Thursday after a cook reported seeing two suspicious men in the building, both wearing camouflage and one wearing a ski mask. Classes were canceled for the day. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
BOULDER, Colo. -- Police searched a high school room by room Thursday after a cook reported seeing two suspicious men in the building around dawn, both wearing camouflage and one in a ski mask.
Authorities said no classes or groups were meeting in Boulder High School at the time. Police sealed off the building, and school officials canceled classes for the day.
A four-hour search by 23 officers in three SWAT teams found no signs of a break-in, Police Chief Mark Beckner said. The search included utility-access tunnels under the building and at one point two officers could be seen on the roof, their rifles drawn.
Beckner said there was no indication the intruders were armed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_School_Lockdown.html
House rejects nine-month Iraq withdrawal
By DAVID ESPO
AP SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., second from left, accompanied by fellow House Democratic leaders, talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 10, 2007, after a closed-door meeting to discuss Iraq war legislation. From left are, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of S.C., Pelosi, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill. and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md. (AP
View related video
WASHINGTON -- The Democratic-controlled House defeated legislation Thursday to require the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq within nine months, then pivoted quickly to a fresh challenge of President Bush's handling of the unpopular war.
The vote on the nine-month withdrawal measure was 255-171.
On a day of complex maneuvering, Democrats said they would approve legislation funding the war on an installment plan, and Bush said he would veto it. But the president, under pressure from lawmakers in both parties, coupled his threat with an offer to accept a spending bill that sets out standards for the Iraqi government to meet.
"Time's running out, because the longer we wait the more strain we're going to put on the military," said Bush, who previously had insisted on what he termed a "clean" war funding bill.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151AP_US_Iraq.html?source=mypi
Final Fla. officer guilty in FBI probe
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The last of four police officers pleaded guilty Thursday to helping protect what they thought was a mob shipment of heroin during an undercover FBI probe.
Hollywood Sgt. Jeffry Courtney, 52, admitted to a federal charge of heroin conspiracy. Sentencing was set for July 27.
The charge carries a potential sentence of 10 years to life in prison, but under sentencing guidelines Courtney would likely get between nine and 14 years.
Courtney and the three other Hollywood officers were arrested in February, following the two-year corruption probe dubbed "Operation Tarnished Badge." Court documents say the officers took part in illegal activities including gambling, stolen valuables and the drug escort, although all the operations were FBI setups.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Police_Corruption.html
Teacher's husband indicted in teen death
By DUNCAN MANSFIELD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A grand jury indicted a man accused of killing his wife's teenage lover on a murder charge, but not the first-degree count prosecutors had sought, according to court documents released Thursday.
The second-degree murder count against Eric McLean carries a 25-year maximum sentence, instead of the life term the higher-level charge carries. The Knox County grand jury reached the decision May 2 after hearing from several witnesses, including McLean's wife.
"Needless to say I am just thrilled as I can be," defense attorney Bruce Poston said. "This is a major, major positive step for Eric McLean. When you take first (-degree murder) off the table, it changes the whole trial strategy."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Teacher_Sex_Slaying.html
New Orleans' state-run schools score low
By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- About two-thirds of students in New Orleans high schools that were taken over by the state after Hurricane Katrina flunked the state graduation exam, according to figures released Thursday.
About 40 percent of the city's fourth graders and a third of the eighth-graders in those schools failed promotion exams.
When Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, and flooded 80 percent of the city, it also shut down the city's already troubled public school system, which ran more than 100 schools.
Since then, 58 have reopened: 22 are run by the state's Recovery School District, five remain under the authority of the city's school board, and 31 have been handed over to private charter organizations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_New_Orleans_Schools.html
Informants scrutinized in Fort Dix case
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Ismail Badat, left, a trustee of the Islamic Center of South Jersey, stands in the mosque in Palmyra, N.J., Thursday, May 10, 2007. Badat said several of the six men accused of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix Army base regularly attended Friday prayer services at the mosque. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)
CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- He railed against the United States, helped scout out military installations for attack, offered to introduce his comrades to an arms dealer, and gave them a list of weapons he could procure, including machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
These were not the actions of a terrorist, but of a paid FBI informant who helped bring down an alleged plot by six Muslim men to massacre U.S. soldiers at New Jersey's Fort Dix.
And those actions have raised questions of whether the government crossed the line and pushed the six men down a path they would not have otherwise followed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Fort_Dix_Plot.html
U.S. charges suspected bin Laden driver
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The United States filed charges of conspiracy and providing support for terrorism Thursday against a Guantanamo detainee accused of working as a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan is the third Guantanamo detainee to be charged under a new set of rules signed last year by President Bush after the Supreme Court rejected the previous system.
Hamdan, who is from Yemen, has been detained at Guantanamo since May 2002. It was his legal challenge that forced the Bush administration and Congress to draft new rules for the military trials, known as commissions, for the men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in eastern Cuba.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Guantanamo_Charges.html?source=mypi
China names special envoy for Darfur
By ALEXA OLESEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- China announced the appointment of a special envoy dedicated to the Darfur crisis Thursday as Beijing faces international pressure to do more to resolve the conflict and the possibility of an Olympic boycott if it fails to act.
The move came a day after a group of U.S. politicians demanded China use its influence as one of Sudan's biggest trade partners to persuade the African nation to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.
It also followed the release of an Amnesty International report this week claiming China and Russia breached a U.N. arms embargo by letting weapons into Sudan. Both countries denied the charge.
China has been widely accused of not doing enough on Darfur, given that it buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports and sells the Khartoum regime weapons and military aircraft. As a veto-holding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China has blocked efforts to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur without Sudan's consent.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_China_Sudan.html
Koreas put final touches on agreement
By JAE-SOON CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
South Korean delegator Army Col. Moon Sung-mook, center, and other delegates are guided by North Korean soldiers after they crossed the border for a military meeting at the North side of the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea, Wednesday, May 9, 2007. Inter-Korean military talks entered a rocky second day Wednesday after the North complained about the South's tardiness to the negotiations, which aim to pave the way for a historic run of trains across their border. (AP Photo/ Korea Pool)
SEOUL, South Korea -- Military officers from the two Koreas put the final touches on a security agreement for a test-run of trains across their heavily armed border as their talks stretched into an unscheduled fourth day Friday.
The planned test would be the first time trains have crossed the tightly sealed border in more than half a century. Inter-Korean rail links were severed during the 1950-53 Korean War, but two tracks have been reconnected as part of a series of reconciliation projects launched since the two sides held the first meeting of their leaders in 2000.
North Korea's military consented Wednesday to providing security for next week's trial run on a one-time basis, but the South was seeking to expand the agreement to cover similar future border crossings as well, according to pool reports.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Koreas_Talks.html
Taliban says it abducted local spokesman
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A Taliban commander said the militant group kidnapped the spokesman for a provincial governor Thursday, and a police chief said authorities were investigating.
The Taliban kidnapped Uruzgan governor spokesman Qayum Qayumi while he was traveling in a vehicle near Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of the southern province, said Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Bari.
Gen. Abdul Qassim, the provincial police chief, said Qayumi was last seen at Tirin Kot's main market just before noon Thursday. He said police were investigating Qayumi's whereabouts.
In Helmand province, meanwhile, Afghan civilians fought with Taliban militants who hit a checkpoint near Sangin on Wednesday, leaving three of the attackers dead, the Interior Ministry said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Afghan_Violence.html
continued ...
12 hour loop - These two systems are a little too close for comfort to just ignore.
May 11, 2007
1731z
Enhanced Infrared UNISYS satellite
Florida might get that rain yet.
12 hour loop - Diffuse systems except for incoming Pacific Vortex
May 11, 2007
1630z
Enhanced Infrared Satellite
The approaching Pacific Vortex has picked up velocity and has helped in diminishing The Andrea System. However, all is not completely dissipated and the new concentration south of Louisiana and the two remaining heat intensities of The Andrea System east of Florida/Georgia is worth noting. I tend to like to see complete dissipation with these systems before I feel there is no chance of a reoccuring danger. I think people have a right to that peace of mind. It's just that people's lives are at stake and I don't take it lightly. Sorry, about that. The increased wind has prompted some potential fire alerts:
Weather Service Issues Red-Flag Warning (click here)
POSTED: 5:30 am EDT May 8, 2007
UPDATED: 12:19 pm EDT May 8, 2007
GRAY, Maine -- Dry and windy conditions have prompted the National Weather Service to issue a warning about high fire dangers across much of central and southern Maine.
The weather service has issued a red-flag warning from York County in the south to Franklin and Somerset counties in the north.
A red-flag warning means that weather conditions -- strong winds, warm temperatures and low humidity levels -- are ripe for a danger of fire.
The warning is in effect until 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
Monday Busy Day For Firefighters
Crews from Fairfield, Waterville and Winslow on Monday teamed up to fight a wildfire in the central Maine town of Shawmut. Fairfield Fire Chief Duane Bickford said sparks generated by a train traveling through the area ignited the fire, which burned 4 ½ acres along Route 201.
In southern and western Maine, three more wildfires kept firefighters busy on Monday.
The Maine Forest Service said a discarded cigarette is to blame for a three-acre fire along Senator Black Road in West Baldwin.
Officials said downed power lines sparked a three-acre brush fire near Kezar Lake in Fryeburg.
In the Franklin County town of Freeman, a third wildfire burned about an acre of land before crews were able to get it under control.
POSTED: 5:30 am EDT May 8, 2007
UPDATED: 12:19 pm EDT May 8, 2007
GRAY, Maine -- Dry and windy conditions have prompted the National Weather Service to issue a warning about high fire dangers across much of central and southern Maine.
The weather service has issued a red-flag warning from York County in the south to Franklin and Somerset counties in the north.
A red-flag warning means that weather conditions -- strong winds, warm temperatures and low humidity levels -- are ripe for a danger of fire.
The warning is in effect until 8 p.m. on Tuesday.
Monday Busy Day For Firefighters
Crews from Fairfield, Waterville and Winslow on Monday teamed up to fight a wildfire in the central Maine town of Shawmut. Fairfield Fire Chief Duane Bickford said sparks generated by a train traveling through the area ignited the fire, which burned 4 ½ acres along Route 201.
In southern and western Maine, three more wildfires kept firefighters busy on Monday.
The Maine Forest Service said a discarded cigarette is to blame for a three-acre fire along Senator Black Road in West Baldwin.
Officials said downed power lines sparked a three-acre brush fire near Kezar Lake in Fryeburg.
In the Franklin County town of Freeman, a third wildfire burned about an acre of land before crews were able to get it under control.
Darn shame about Florida.
Second Ga. wildfire passes 100,000 acres in Okefenokee
A second wildfire in the Okefenokee Swamp has burned more than 100,000 acres, rivaling in just five days the size of a record-setting fire that has scorched southeast Georgia for more than three weeks, firefighters said Thursday.
The rapidly growing fire, fed by fast-burning swamp grasses, had been reported at just 68,650 acres Thursday morning. Though mostly well within the swamp, it was spreading mostly to the west toward the town of Fargo.
The exact acreage of the blaze, ignited Saturday by a lightning strike in the swamp, wasn't known. But Mark Ruggiero, commander of the joint team battling the swamp blazes, said the fire had grown larger that the 116,40-acre fire that has been burning since April 16 - which had been the largest wildfire ever recorded in Georgia.
"It's larger than the original fire," Ruggiero said Thursday evening. "It's going through down toward Fargo. It's still in the refuge, but getting real close to breaking the perimeter."
The rapidly growing fire, fed by fast-burning swamp grasses, had been reported at just 68,650 acres Thursday morning. Though mostly well within the swamp, it was spreading mostly to the west toward the town of Fargo.
The exact acreage of the blaze, ignited Saturday by a lightning strike in the swamp, wasn't known. But Mark Ruggiero, commander of the joint team battling the swamp blazes, said the fire had grown larger that the 116,40-acre fire that has been burning since April 16 - which had been the largest wildfire ever recorded in Georgia.
"It's larger than the original fire," Ruggiero said Thursday evening. "It's going through down toward Fargo. It's still in the refuge, but getting real close to breaking the perimeter."
May 9, 2007
Los Angeles, California
Photographer states :: Fast Moving Fire - A wind whipped brush fire swept through the Griffith Park area of Los Angeles this afternoon threatening the L.A. City Zoo and the famous carousel. Water dropping helicopters anf fixed wing aircraft were called in. Fire is still burning and only partially contained.Check local weather conditions at http://www.westphalfamily.com/wxdata2.html
With the Missouri draining the Arkansas River is seeing some high levels and small craft advisories have been issued.
Minor Flooding is noted in the Lower Mississippi durrently.
James River crest moving downstream
May 6, 2007
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Photographer states :: 9 inches of rain were dumped on Brown County, South Dakota. Many homes in Aberdeen were flooded to varying degrees. Some officials call this a 500 to 1000 year event.
...The high water on the James River at Mitchell and down river has closed Highways 38, 42 and 44.
Heavy rain last Saturday in the James River Valley — up to 7.75 inches at Aberdeen — has pushed the James River out of its banks.
At Huron, where the flood stage is 11 feet, the James River crested Tuesday at 17.69 feet. The crest at Forestburg came 6 feet over flood stage on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. A crest 5 feet over flood stage is predicted at Scotland this weekend....
This is the latest cartoon from Hizbollah. Charming bunch, aren't they? But they are militant Shia that are scared for their faith.
When Cheney starts his rhetoric, what does anyone think happens to the region? Peace? Peace negotiations? No. Every Shi'ite including those in Iraq listen and realize the USA government is under the control of idiots that want to kill them. Cheney and Bush in their outspoken and chronic rhetoric are killing USA soldiers in Iraq.
What is the purpose to the Cheney rhetoric? What? Is it productive? No. It's no different than the rhetoric Bush delivered stating, "...Axis of Evil..." There is no purpose and now that a reasonable man from South Korea heads the United Nations there is productive movement toward understanding between North and South Korea.
What is coming out of the mouth of the Veep is nothing but political fodder. It's not USA policy, but, only to inspire the Extreme Right in this country 'to believe' that all others before them as president and veep never did a darn thing to protect this nation. Did you know that? Everyone that came before Bush and Cheney never did a darn thing to protect the USA.
The USA President that fought and succeeded in ending WWII, with the help of Europe and Russia, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A DEMOCRAT !!!
Cheney has no right in making those statements. He and Bush need to be censured or impeached. He's trying to pick a fight with Russia.
Iran is engaged in earnest with negotiations. These are simply inflammatory remarks by an out of control Neocon, as if there is any other kind, to try to 'scare up' a Russian confrontation over Iran.
I don't think so, Dick. You need the approval of Congress to launch a war and right now you haven't even got the money !
Dick Cheney pulled the same stunt as his inauguration in 2004 only he called on Israel to proceed with destruction of Iran's nuclear power plant. Then what happened when Israel confronted Hesbollah? There was NO help from the USA. Dick Cheney and George Walker Bush are a lot of hot air and nothing else.
By Trita Parsi
WASHINGTON - As world powers gather in Berlin this week to discuss new punitive measures against Iran's nuclear program, Europe is faced with a daunting task.
On the one hand, it must remain tough and steadfast against Iran's defiance of two United Nations Security Council resolutions that Tehran stop enriching uranium. On the other hand, it must redefine suspension of enrichment to kick-start much-needed negotiations and end the current lose-lose game being played between the West and Iran. ...
A former UN official says world powers should agree to resume nuclear negotiations with Iran without imposing preconditions for negotiations.
Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix made the comment in an interview with AFP on the sidelines of a conference in Vienna to consider how to reinforce the Non Proliferation Treaty.
He said he was "critical" of demands by the US and other world powers that Iran must first suspend uranium enrichment, before talks on defusing the crisis.
He said the United States, Europe and other nations seeking to talk with Iran should instead propose security guarantees to Iran if Iran were to halt nuclear fuel work.
He dismissed the idea of a US military attack on Iran saying the "US public is a bit tired of military adventures."
He said the NPT "has been in many respects a success" but was threatened by nuclear states not keeping their promises to move towards disarmament.
Blix is now chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), an independent body which works to limit the dangers posed by WMD. MRD/RE
Speaking of inspectors, I heard an answer by George Tenet to a question from NPR which asked why he didn't rely on the inpectors "On the Ground" in Iraq in assessing the country's risk before attacking Iraq. Tenet stated they did but the inspectors were only inspecting established and known cites on record and 'in that' there wasn't sufficient proof.
Really?
So, let me get this right. Since the early 1990s when the UN began to take action to control atrocities of Iraq and Saddam Hussain following the Persian Gulf War that lead to the first inspections; there was never enough cites to inspect? That would mean Saddam Hussein was never controlled and there was ALWAYS a threat against ANY country in the area at any time. Who is Tenet kidding? To begin, never in the history of Iraq was it a threat to the USA. Secondly, where did Tenet want to look for sufficient quantities of WMD, under Saddam's bed or in his water closet. I mean that is the most outrageous statement I have heard yet ! Amazing.
And to think that 'assessment' under the demands of Bush/Cheney/Powell (And Powell knew better.) was enough to invade a country killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people and displacing millions. That is incredible power the USA legislature had to come to control better. It needs to examine the War Powers Act. It's being abused by an Neocon Executive Branch whom's deepest desire is to start WWIII.
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