...is just as important.
Good night.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Women. Their health. Their quality of life. Their self esteem in regard to beauty.
Women are an important partners in the health of populations and their planet.
Planned Parenthood Clinics - unfettered access to resources for quality of life
Access to information that leads to healthy lives for women without the coersion of special interest politics.
POLITICS TRUMPS FACTS IN ADMINISTRATION HOSTILE TO SCIENCE
Richard Carmona, Bush's Surgeon General from 2002 to 2006.
...As the nation's top doc from 2002 to 2006, Dr. Carmona was ordered not to discuss embryonic stem cell research or the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B, he said last week in testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He was ordered to water down a report on the dangers of secondhand smoke.
He definitely couldn't point out the failings of abstinence-only programs. In speeches that were vetted by other political appointees, he was ordered to mention President Bush three times for every page....
He definitely couldn't point out the failings of abstinence-only programs. In speeches that were vetted by other political appointees, he was ordered to mention President Bush three times for every page....
Who do you trust? A holy man?
Sooner or later, The Pope along with every other fundamentalist will have to come to terms with the reality of women in the year 2007 and realize they practice birth control and have abortions and demand quality of life 'shared' in responsiblity with husbands or lovers. It's the way it is, the way it always has been and will be.
There is nothing immoral in 'respecting' ones body, life and dignity.
Reproduction limiting is a reality women have contended with since the beginning of time, it is just in today's world our children are with us a long time rather than worrying about whether they will survive childhood. It's a different world and a different time and I can't believe the American woman is regressing in her achievements when her mothers and grandmothers worked so hard for the freedom of choice.
I have two children and a career. I value the life I have. I am autonomous in my financial dealings. I wouldn't have given up the opportunity to be a mother. I won't have given up the opportunity to have an autonomous identity with interests outside a marriage and family. As a result my sons are happy men with identities of their own and separate from any other aspect of their life. I have one grandson. He will be the same.
My liberator. Was my grandmother
My late grandmother was an Irish American Catholic that never finished high school. She made sure all her eleven children had a high school education. She was at the side of her six daughters to help in their home when they brought their children home from the 'hospital.' She had forty living grandchildren.
She made sure all of grandchildren received a college education beyond high school and although she prayed the rosary daily, she was completely committed to birth control for every one of her granddaughters of which I am gratefully one.
Women's Health AND Beauty - There is not a culture whereby women don't value beauty
There are a million internet sites and probably as many magazines that express the need by women to feel and be beautiful. There are 'reasonable' parameters in the number of children a woman can successfully give birth to without 'giving up' whom she is and 'sacrificing all' to define herself as a mother and wife.
My body is NOT a political tool.
Earth cannot support all these people. That is more true today than ever before. The agenda of the Fundamentalists need to be 'handled' because they are detrimental to quality of life on Earth.
Medicine has nearly wiped out disease and illness. It's time to limit the size of populations within sovereign countries. It has to come to pass.
My uterus is NOT 'a citizen's right to occupy.' My uterus is FIRST my body. The USA Supreme Court is immoral !
I am the DECIDER. I want a life not 'The Cult-ure of Life"
An infant is a CHILD in the first period of life and there is no such thing as foeticide, it's called abortion. A child born to the world has citizen's rights and infanticide is murder. Women have a right to determine their own destiny including their right to an abortion vs. abuse of their sexual freedom. I am first a person and secondly a married woman with a family. Men need to get their egos out of the way to the rights of women !
'Indian register' for pregnancies (click here)
By Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Delhi
An Indian minister has proposed that all pregnant women register with the government and seek its permission if they wish to undergo an abortion.
Women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury says the move is aimed at stopping the aborting of unwanted female foetuses.
Although prenatal sex determination and selective abortion are banned, far more boys than girls are born.
Critics warn that the new move could backfire and be misused.
Ms Chowdhury also wants abortions to be permitted only in specific circumstances, although she did not spell out what these may be.
Unable to stop
The minister says a register of pregnancies would allow the government to track them and crack down on the practice of foeticide which she says is widespread in parts of northern India.
Despite the ban on prenatal sex determination, the government has been unable to prevent the selective abortion of female foetuses and the practice of female infanticide.
According to the last national census, for every 1,000 boys, there are only 927 girls in India.
But critics say the new move is an infringement on personal freedom and could also be misused.
Bayer says oral contraceptive YAZ receives approval in the Netherlands (click here)
07.12.07, 4:01 AM ET
FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Bayer AG said its low-dose oral contraceptive YAZ received regulatory approval in the Netherlands, both for preventing unwanted pregnancies and treating acne.
This regulatory nod -- the first in Europe -- will serve as a reference in the EU mutual recognition procedure that Bayer (nyse: BAY - news - people ) plans to launch in order to gain Europe-wide marketing approval.
YAZ has been on the US market since April 2006 and posts the highest growth rate among brand-name contraceptives.
maria.sheahan@thomson.com
mas/lce
COPYRIGHT
An infant is a CHILD in the first period of life and there is no such thing as foeticide, it's called abortion. A child born to the world has citizen's rights and infanticide is murder. Women have a right to determine their own destiny including their right to an abortion vs. abuse of their sexual freedom. I am first a person and secondly a married woman with a family. Men need to get their egos out of the way to the rights of women !
'Indian register' for pregnancies (click here)
By Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Delhi
An Indian minister has proposed that all pregnant women register with the government and seek its permission if they wish to undergo an abortion.
Women and child development minister Renuka Chowdhury says the move is aimed at stopping the aborting of unwanted female foetuses.
Although prenatal sex determination and selective abortion are banned, far more boys than girls are born.
Critics warn that the new move could backfire and be misused.
Ms Chowdhury also wants abortions to be permitted only in specific circumstances, although she did not spell out what these may be.
Unable to stop
The minister says a register of pregnancies would allow the government to track them and crack down on the practice of foeticide which she says is widespread in parts of northern India.
Despite the ban on prenatal sex determination, the government has been unable to prevent the selective abortion of female foetuses and the practice of female infanticide.
According to the last national census, for every 1,000 boys, there are only 927 girls in India.
But critics say the new move is an infringement on personal freedom and could also be misused.
Bayer says oral contraceptive YAZ receives approval in the Netherlands (click here)
07.12.07, 4:01 AM ET
FRANKFURT (Thomson Financial) - Bayer AG said its low-dose oral contraceptive YAZ received regulatory approval in the Netherlands, both for preventing unwanted pregnancies and treating acne.
This regulatory nod -- the first in Europe -- will serve as a reference in the EU mutual recognition procedure that Bayer (nyse: BAY - news - people ) plans to launch in order to gain Europe-wide marketing approval.
YAZ has been on the US market since April 2006 and posts the highest growth rate among brand-name contraceptives.
maria.sheahan@thomson.com
mas/lce
COPYRIGHT
We all know what liars and suprisers ANY Bush nominee is for ANY position.
James Holsinger, nominated for surgeon general, told senators he would quit before yielding to any administration pressure to suppress scientific data.
There is always this stupid agenda to covet the American uterus by these idiots. They have no right to stand in the way of any Civil Right of any American citizen and their lifestyle. NONE !
There is absolutely no justification for religious pressure to bear on political candidates. Boycott the churches at the 'pocketbook' if they continue to attempt to dictate government policy. They understand tithing. Your 'belief system' does not belong in my bedroom !
Separation of Church and State? (click here)
Abortion advocate wants IRS to probe bishop who criticized Giuliani
Providence, Jun 19, 2007 / 11:16 am (CNA).- A leading abortion activist has filed a complaint with the IRS in an attempt to silence Bishop Thomas Tobin, who said he could never support Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who believes abortion should be legal.
In his May 31 editorial in the Rhode Island Catholic, the bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, called the former New York mayor’s pro-abortion views "pathetic," "confusing," and "hypocritical."
"Rudy's explanation is a classic expression of the position on abortion we have heard from weak-kneed politicians so frequently in recent years: 'I'm personally opposed to but don't want to impose my views on other people.' The incongruity of that position has been exposed many times now," Bishop Tobin wrote.
The bishop said Giuliani’s views lead him to think of the “sad figure of Pontius Pilate … who personally found no guilt in Jesus, but for fear of the crowd, washed his hands of the whole affair and handed Jesus over to be crucified.” ...
U.S. sales of morning-after pill double - One can safely say, an American woman's lifestyle DEMANDS 'birth control.'
WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Sales of the morning-after pill Plan B in the United States have doubled since it was made available without a prescription.
Drug maker Barr Pharmaceuticals said sales will probably be close to $80 million for 2007, The Washington Post said Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of the controversial emergency contraceptive without a prescription for women 18 and older last August.
Women's health and family-planning advocates say it illustrates the value of easing access to birth control to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, the newspaper said.
Conservative groups, however, question the drug's safety and maintain the pill can cause the equivalent of an abortion.
Advocates would like to see the FDA remove the age restriction.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
July 11, 2007 - How many knew it was... - World Population Day - Men at Work
South Africa: Maternal Health Tops World Population Day Agenda (click here)
BuaNews (Tshwane)
11 July 2007
Posted to the web 11 July 2007
Michael Appel
Hartbeespoort Dam
The Government and the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) have called upon men to play a greater role in the global quest to improve "maternal health".
Men have been urged to protect women's health, and help in the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases as well as promote the elimination of sexual violence.
The Department of Social Development, Non-Governmental Organisations, the UNPF and other organisations met at the Lesedi Cultural Village in the North West to celebrate World Population Day, Wednesday.
The event is celebrated annually throughout the world to raise awareness on the importance of population and socio-economic development and the challenges faced....
The Liberated Bride
At a time when the USA is supposed to be liberating women in all cultures from the drudgery her physiology brings her, the American woman is returning to a lack of identity except what her gender allows.
"Absurd" by Fluke
King Kong, in Cannes, on a date with Spiderman.
Dan Dar's sitting there, scared by the killer teddy bears.
Down town, Mini mouse is slippin Micky's in the famous grouse,
while big bird spreads the word
Anybody with a heart votes love.
Judge Dredd, found dead, face down in Snoopy's bed.
Outside, Tweetie Pie's getting itchy on more supplies.
Meanwhile, Snow White gets ready for work tonight,
turning tricks with crystal tips.
Trying to make the best of it's absurd.
Puppy dogs and pussy cats in suspect suicide attacks.
Captain Kirk from Planet Earth, fights it out with Papa Smurf
Some phoney little ponies, preying on old and lonely,
making friends, robbing them
The X men taught them everything.
Betty Boop, tired of life, took vows,
became a bride of Christ
While Tin Tin's been playing at Caesar's palace live on ice.
Babar Kumbayahs with the mighty Morphin movie stars,
as big bird spreads the word
Anybody with a heart votes love.
How would everyone like to be South Korean tonight?
Rather incredible. What a wonderful world the new General Secretary of the United Nations is bring to us. I congratulate him on achieving something no one else could. Very nice.
Let's get on with another celebration of the UN tonight.
Let's get on with another celebration of the UN tonight.
Sign the pledge. Ask a friend to sign the pledge.
John Morrill, Arlington County's energy manager, presented his display on lighting recently at the Arlington Central Library. It compares incandescent bulbs to the more energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps. (Photos By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)
Morning Papers
Michael Moore Today
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"I'm about to become your worst nightmare."
Saturday, July 14th, 2007
An Open Letter to CNN from Michael Moore
Dear CNN,
Well, the week is over -- and still no apology, no retraction, no correction of your glaring mistakes.
I bet you thought my dust-up with Wolf Blitzer was just a cool ratings coup, that you really wouldn't have to correct the false statements you made about "Sicko." I bet you thought I was just going to go quietly away.
Think again. I'm about to become your worst nightmare. 'Cause I ain't ever going away. Not until you set the record straight, and apologize to your viewers. "The Most Trusted Name in News?" I think it's safe to say you can retire that slogan.
You have an occasional segment called "Keeping Them Honest." But who keeps you honest? After what the public saw with your report on "Sicko," and how many inaccuracies that report contained, how can anyone believe anything you say on your network? In the old days, before the Internet, you could get away with it. Your victims had no way to set the record straight, to show the viewers how you had misrepresented the truth. But now, we can post the truth -- and back it up with evidence and facts -- on the web, for all to see. And boy, judging from the mail both you and I have been receiving, the evidence I have posted on my site about your "Sicko" piece has led millions now to question your honesty.
I won't waste your time rehashing your errors. You know what they are. What I want to do is help you come clean. Admit you were wrong. What is the shame in that? We all make mistakes. I know it's hard to admit it when you've screwed up, but it's also liberating and cathartic. It not only makes you a better person, it helps prevent you from screwing up again. Imagine how many people will be drawn to a network that says, "We made a mistake. We're human. We're sorry. We will make mistakes in the future -- but we will always correct them so that you know you can trust us." Now, how hard would that really be?
As you know, I hold no personal animosity against you or any of your staff. You and your parent company have been very good to me over the years. You distributed my first film, "Roger & Me" and you published "Dude, Where's My Country?" Larry King has had me on twice in the last two weeks. I couldn't ask for better treatment.
That's why I was so stunned when you let a doctor who knows a lot about brain surgery -- but apparently very little about public policy -- do a "fact check" story, not on the medical issues in "Sicko," but rather on the economic and political information in the film. Is this why there has been a delay in your apology, because you are trying to get a DOCTOR to say he was wrong? Please tell him not to worry, no one is filing a malpractice claim against him. Dr. Gupta does excellent and compassionate stories on CNN about people's health and how we can take better care of ourselves. But when it came time to discuss universal health care, he rushed together a bunch of sloppy -- and old -- research. When his producer called us about his report the day before it aired, we sent to her, in an email, all the evidence so that he wouldn't make any mistakes on air. He chose to ignore ALL the evidence, and ran with all his falsehoods -- even though he had been given the facts a full day before! How could that happen? And now, for 5 days, I have posted on my website, for all to see, every mistake and error he made.
You, on the other hand, in the face of this overwhelming evidence and a huge public backlash, have chosen to remain silent, probably praying and hoping this will all go away.
Well it isn't. We are now going to start looking into the veracity of other reports you have aired on other topics. Nothing you say now can be believed. In 2002, the New York Times busted you for bringing celebrities on your shows and not telling your viewers they were paid spokespeople for the pharmaceutical companies. You promised never to do it again. But there you were, in 2005, talking to Joe Theismann, on air, as he pushed some drug company-sponsored website on prostate health. You said nothing about about his affiliation with GlaxoSmithKline.
Clearly, no one is keeping you honest, so I guess I'm going to have to do that job, too. $1.5 billion is spent each year by the drug companies on ads on CNN and the other four networks. I'm sure that has nothing to do with any of this. After all, if someone gave me $1.5 billion, I have to admit, I might say a kind word or two about them. Who wouldn't?!
I expect CNN to put this matter to rest. Say you're sorry and correct your story -- like any good journalist would.
Then we can get back to more important things. Like a REAL discussion about our broken health care system. Everything else is a distraction from what really matters.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
P.S. If you also want to apologize for not doing your job at the start of the Iraq War, I'm sure most Americans would be very happy to accept your apology. You and the other networks were willing partners with Bush, flying flags all over the TV screens and never asking the hard questions that you should have asked. You might have prevented a war. You might have saved the lives of those 3,610 soldiers who are no longer with us. Instead, you blew air kisses at a commander in chief who clearly was making it all up. Millions of us knew that -- why didn't you? I think you did. And, in my opinion, that makes you responsible for this war. Instead of doing the job the founding fathers wanted you to do -- keeping those in power honest (that's why they made it the FIRST amendment) -- you and much of the media went on the attack against the few public figures like myself who dared to question the nightmare we were about to enter. You've never thanked me or the Dixie Chicks or Al Gore for doing your job for you. That's OK. Just tell the truth from this point on.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=216
Bush Admits White House CIA Leak
Associated Press
July 12, 2007 3:23 p.m.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush acknowledged publicly for the first time Thursday that someone in his administration "perhaps" leaked the name of a CIA operative, although he also said he hopes the controversy over his decision to spare prison for a former White House aide has "run its course."
"And now we're going to move on," Mr. Bush said in a White House news conference.
The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Mr. Wilson is an outspoken Iraq war critic.
Ten days ago, Mr. Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case. Mr. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, had been convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in the CIA-leak case.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118426038242564851.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Bush acknowledges administration official leaked Plame's name, immediately 'moves on'
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday July 12, 2007
Enjoy this story? Get breaking politics headlines with RSS.
At a White House press conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged that someone in his administration leaked the name of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, but he avoided addressing the question of whether he saw it as a moral issue or was at all disappointed in his senior advisers.
Michael Abramowitz of the Washington Post – who recently wrote an article about how Bush decided on the Libby commutation without consulting with Justice Department lawyers, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, or even old friends who had been lobbying on Libby's behalf – asked Bush about his commutation of Libby's sentence.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_acknowledges_administration_official_leaked_Plames_0712.html
Michael Moore on Countdown with Keith Olbermann
"The whole nation is totally befuddled by this individual. He's become a nonpartisan, bipartisan issue. Republicans and Democrats and Independents, all together, are sick and tired of the job he's doing and they want this war to end. And I'm hoping the Democratic congress hears that message. They were given the message last November. They haven't followed through on what they were told to do by the people of the United States of America. So I really hope that the Democrats can find their spine and do what needs to be done here."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-XQ8nfnye4
Dr. Gupta's Bias
Submitted by Bill Scher on July 11, 2007 - 7:26pm.
Michael Moore and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta faced off yesterday on Larry King Live, following Moore's on-air criticism of Gupta's anti-SiCKO piece which accused Moore of "fudg[ing] some facts."
Moore, on his website, is ably taking Gupta to task on the factual points.
And as Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar notes, during Larry King Live, “Moore cites his source for every statistic offered ... yet Gupta ignores it, all of it, including Moore restating, again, that all of this was available in this email [sent by Moore’s team to CNN] from June 28, 2007.”
But what was most striking was when Gupta showed the heart of his bias, a bias against having our government guarantee universal health care.
Gupta says to Moore, “You criticize the government so soundly. But you're willing to hand over one of our most precious commodities, our health care in this country, to the government.”
Moore rebutted, “I actually love our government ... It does a great job of administrating Social Security ... the problem is who we've put in power who holds office.”
Then in response, Gupta made a completely misleading attack on Medicare:
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/dr_guptas_bias?tx=3
In Sicko "fact check," CNN's Gupta falsely claimed his source's "only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University"
Summary: After Sicko director Michael Moore said that CNN's Sicko fact-check "healthcare expert" Paul Keckley is "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta asserted that Keckley's "only affiliation" is with Vanderbilt University. Gupta continued, "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, as a caption accompanying Gupta's original report stated, Keckley is a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert."
On the July 10 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta falsely asserted that the "only affiliation" of Paul Keckley, whom Gupta had quoted criticizing the national health care systems of France, Canada, and Cuba during a July 9 "fact check" of filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, was "with Vanderbilt University." Gupta was responding to Moore's claim that Keckley was "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor." Moore also said that Keckley "has done business with [health insurance provider] Blue Cross, with [pharmaceutical firm] Aventis, with these other groups," and claimed that Keckley was affiliated "with a think tank that's connected to [presidential candidate and former Wisconsin Gov.] Tommy Thompson [R]." In denying Moore's allegations, Gupta asserted: "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, in Gupta's original report -- which King excerpted during his show -- the caption identified Keckley not as affiliated "with Vanderbilt University," but rather as a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert." Indeed, in addition to serving on the faculty of Vanderbilt University, Keckley is the executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707120001?f=h_latest
CNN Gets Blitzed by Michael Moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKoN40K7mA
Michael Moore VS Wolf Blitzer - Round II
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/10/michael-moore-vs-wolf-blitzer-round-ii/
Mike and Sanjay Gupta on Larry King Live (VIDEOS:
Michael Moore vs. Sonjay Gupta pt1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGncsJziH2o
Michael Moore vs. Sanjay Gupta Fireworks pt2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrvrfG0zE6E
MICHAEL MOORE vs. SANJAY GUPTA pt3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqoYhbVa2h4
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Smackdown:
July 10th, 2007 12:19 am
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight
[In response to Dr. Sanjay Gupta's biased reporting on 'SiCKO' during the July 8th, 2007 broadcast of... The Situation Room (VIDEO)]
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN: "(Moore says) the United States slipped to number 37 in the world's health care systems. It's true. ... Moore brings a group of patients, including 9/11 workers, to Cuba and marvels at their free treatment and quality of care. But hold on - that WHO list puts Cuba's health care system even lower than the United States, coming in at #39."
THE TRUTH:
"But hold on?" 'SiCKO' clearly shows the WHO list, with the United States at number #37, and Cuba at #39. Right up on the screen in big five-foot letters. It's even in the trailer! CNN should have its reporter see his eye doctor. The movie isn't hiding from this fact. Just the opposite:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10017
July 11th, 2007 8:44 pm
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight -- Again
GUPTA: "Well, I mean, he pulls $251 from this BBC unsourced report ... Where you pulled the $251 number was a BBC report, which, by the way, stated that the per capita spending in the United States was $5,700. You chose not to use the $5,700 from one report and chose to go to a totally different report and you're sort of cherry picking data from different reports ... Well, why didn't you use the $5,700 number from the BBC report?"
THE TRUTH:
Actually, the number 'Sicko' cited for per capita Cuban spending on health care - $251, a number widely cited by the BBC and other outlets - comes from the United Nations Human Development Report, helpfully linked on our website. Here it is again:
://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/52.html.
That UN report does list American health care spending as only $5,700, but it's a few years old. Since then, the U.S. government has updated it's projections for health care spending, to $7,498 in 2007. So we used that number. It's the most recent, and comes right from the Department of Health and Human Services. If the Cuban government gave a figure on 2007 projected health spending, we'd have used it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10026
"If we get that confirmed, obviously, we'll correct the record." -- Wolf Blitzer, live on The Situation Room
July 11th, 2007 7:18 pm
Dr. Gupta's Fans Turn on Him
Some comments from regular readers of Dr. Sanjay Gupta's blog on CNN, where he attempted to defend his record after his showdown with Michael Moore on Larry King Live.
james in Toronto, 2:19 PM ET
You guys have a problem with your health care and only Michael Moore is doing something about it. Arguing over facts and figures is not the way. That's just missing the point.
For a country that calls itself a "superpower", you sure have a lot of stupid people in office. you have a war you shouldn't be in and that you started. You have a health care system that no one seems to want to fix... and those that do are getting lambasted. You have areas of your country ravaged by global warming (which you say doesn't even exist) that are still not repaired. You have a drug problem that's been spiraling out of control... you have crazy people shooting up your schools with guns which you allow them to have... you have a government that is working for it's own gain and not the peoples.
I am SO glad I'm not an American.
Bonnie, 2:15 PM ET
Sanjay - I really admire you and am always interested in your experienced and compassionate reporting. Buuut.... I really think you're mis-focused on the Michael Moore/Sicko conversation.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10025
Dr. Gupta's Bias
Submitted by Bill Scher on July 11, 2007 - 7:26pm.
Michael Moore and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta faced off yesterday on Larry King Live, following Moore's on-air criticism of Gupta's anti-SiCKO piece which accused Moore of "fudg[ing] some facts."
Moore, on his website, is ably taking Gupta to task on the factual points.
And as Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar notes, during Larry King Live, “Moore cites his source for every statistic offered ... yet Gupta ignores it, all of it, including Moore restating, again, that all of this was available in this email [sent by Moore’s team to CNN] from June 28, 2007.”
But what was most striking was when Gupta showed the heart of his bias, a bias against having our government guarantee universal health care.
Gupta says to Moore, “You criticize the government so soundly. But you're willing to hand over one of our most precious commodities, our health care in this country, to the government.”
Moore rebutted, “I actually love our government ... It does a great job of administrating Social Security ... the problem is who we've put in power who holds office.”
Then in response, Gupta made a completely misleading attack on Medicare:
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/dr_guptas_bias?tx=3
In Sicko "fact check," CNN's Gupta falsely claimed his source's "only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University"
Summary: After Sicko director Michael Moore said that CNN's Sicko fact-check "healthcare expert" Paul Keckley is "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta asserted that Keckley's "only affiliation" is with Vanderbilt University. Gupta continued, "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, as a caption accompanying Gupta's original report stated, Keckley is a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert."
On the July 10 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta falsely asserted that the "only affiliation" of Paul Keckley, whom Gupta had quoted criticizing the national health care systems of France, Canada, and Cuba during a July 9 "fact check" of filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, was "with Vanderbilt University." Gupta was responding to Moore's claim that Keckley was "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor." Moore also said that Keckley "has done business with [health insurance provider] Blue Cross, with [pharmaceutical firm] Aventis, with these other groups," and claimed that Keckley was affiliated "with a think tank that's connected to [presidential candidate and former Wisconsin Gov.] Tommy Thompson [R]." In denying Moore's allegations, Gupta asserted: "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, in Gupta's original report -- which King excerpted during his show -- the caption identified Keckley not as affiliated "with Vanderbilt University," but rather as a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert." Indeed, in addition to serving on the faculty of Vanderbilt University, Keckley is the executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707120001?f=h_latest
CNN vs. SiCKO
7/11/07
Filmmaker Michael Moore appeared on CNN's Situation Room on July 9 to talk about his new film Sicko—but ended up having an animated discussion with host Wolf Blitzer about a CNN "fact check" of the film that made several embarrassing errors.
The piece--dubbed a "Reality Check" by senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta--claimed that Moore "fudged the facts" when critiquing the U.S. health care system (click here to watch the clip). Gupta starts by acknowledging that the U.S. healthcare system placed 37th in the World Health Organization's rankings. The fact that Moore contrasts this with the Cuban system led Gupta to "catch" him: "But hold on. That WHO list puts Cuba's healthcare system even lower than the United States, coming in at number 39."
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3135
Demand Corrections
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e-mail :: situationroom@cnn.com
July 13th, 2007 5:30 pm
Moore's 'Sicko' Rings Close to Home for This Reporter
There is still triumph left in this world, and Michael Moore delivers a documentary about the healthcare industry that leaves the mind reeling and stinging
By Tim King / Salem-News
SALEM, Ore. - As Americans die in increasing numbers through the greed of hospitals, healthcare organizations and insurance companies, it adds insult to injury to learn that our lifespan in the states is less than many third world countries.
As our nation struggles in a desperate search for answers, those at the root of the problem do nothing to help. They should be more than embarrassed, and we should be more than angry.
Billions of dollars are flowing into the pockets of the richest CEO's and shareholders pockets as Americans die needless and avoidable deaths. All because our national priorities are exclusively money driven.
As our country descends the ladder of health, enter Michael Moore and "Sicko."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10037
July 13th, 2007 3:39 pm
A lot of 'Sicko's out there
By Michael Fitzgerald / Stockton Record
Stockton police gave the heave-ho Tuesday to two people handing out leaflets outside the downtown multiplex. So much for the land of the free.
The dang popcorn's expensive, too.
Carol Bailey and Woody Alspaugh are members of Health Care for All of San Joaquin. HCA, as it is called, supports single-payer universal health care as a remedy for the United States' mucked-up health care system.
They were outside the theater, of course, because Michael Moore's film "Sicko" is playing there.
"Did Michael Moore's 'Sicko' make you sick about our broken health care system?" their leaflet reads. "You can do something about it!"
The leaflet goes on to urge support for Senate Bill 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10035
July 13th, 2007 3:26 pm
The state of health care in U.S. just plain sick
By David L. Coddon / San Diego Union-Tribune
I'm not making this up.
Wish I were.
I have a heart condition. Last week, on the Fourth of July, I went to my box to retrieve the previous day's mail. In it was a letter from my health insurance provider. It began:
“Dear Mr. Gddon:”
That was only the beginning of the insult. Paragraph two: “We have completed our review of your application (for Long Term Disability coverage) and have concluded that we are presently unable to approve your request for coverage.” The letter then cited health conditions “taken into consideration,” including two that I have never suffered from.
Deflated and angry, but it being Independence Day and bound to do my patriotic duty, I proceeded to the nearest movie theater and bought a ticket to see “Sicko.”
I was reminded, dramatically, that I am not alone. More sobering, my problems are nothing compared to those of the 43.5 million who are not insured. Several times, I was moved to tears – yes, at a Michael Moore movie.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10034
July 13th, 2007 3:01 pm
Sick over lack of health care, Wisconsinites seek action
By Samara Kalk Derby / Capital Times
MADISON, WI -- In his job as a critical care nurse at UW Hospital, Jack Trudell can tell many of the kinds of stories that Michael Moore exposes in his new documentary "SiCKO."
The one that sticks out most for him was about a young man who was in jail and approved for early release when he went into cardiac arrest. After a number of days, he woke up in Trudell's unit, shackled and with two prison guards at his bedside.
He and his family were given a choice: Go free and owe tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills or serve out the rest of his sentence and have his health care paid for by the state.
Trudell was part of a four-member panel, "From 'SiCKO' to Sanity: Why Our Health Care System Doesn't Work and What We Can Do About It," on Thursday night at Escape Coffee Gallery on Williamson Street.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10033
Paris Loses Sis in Pap Crush
Posted Jul 10th 2007 2:38PM by TMZ Staff
Filed under: Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton lost track of sister Nicky after getting swarmed at the Grove in Los Angeles last night.
http://mail.ywww.tmz.com/2007/07/10/paris-loses-sis-in-pap-crush/
July 12th, 2007 7:30 pm
Michael Moore fans impatient to see 'Sicko'
By Jim Haug / Daytona Beach News-Journal
Michael Moore fans must feel like they have been denied treatment for the pre-existing condition of living in Volusia and Flagler counties.
"Sicko," the ball-capped muckraker's expose on health care, opened June 29 but has yet to come to a local theater.
It won't make it here this weekend either.
"I'm so irritated," said Maxine Kronick, a fan from Flalger Beach who appeared in Moore's first film, "Roger and Me."
Kronick said she "called up the corporate office of Regal Cinema and screamed: 'Where's 'Sicko?' "
Theater owners say they're not trying to censor a politically charged movie that promotes socialized medicine.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10031
Benefit Slated For Bentonville Woman
Springdale Morning News
BENTONVILLE, AR -- A barbecue benefit to help a woman paralyzed in a car accident will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at the Boys & Girls Club McKinney Unit in Bentonville, according to a news release.
Toni Greetan, 18, of Bentonville has been a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County for 12 years. She became paralyzed in a recent car accident and underwent a 10-hour surgery to repair severe nerve damage to her spine. She is undergoing intensive rehabilitation, according to the release.
The benefit dinner is $5 per plate and will be held at the McKinney Unit at 2801 N. Walker St. in Bentonville.
The Boys & Girls Club program Project Hope has set up an account for Greetan at Arvest Bank. The long-term goal is to help the family with mounting medical bills, making their home accessible to people with disabilities and purchasing a wheelchair.
All donations are tax-deductible.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10030
Evicted family needs help
By Nancy McCleary / Fayetteville Observer
RAEFORD — Dorothy Elliott sat on a couch in a sparsely furnished living room, looked around and sighed.
Above her head, a ceiling fan churned out a gentle breeze. Elliott’s fiance, Jerry Hayes, sat on the other couch.
“It’s a dream come true, if only for a week,” said Elliott, who was injured last year when a man stole the cab she was driving.
Elliott and her family have caught a brief reprieve after being evicted Tuesday from their mobile home off Sapona Road.
When Jean Kimpson learned of the family’s plight, she offered to let them stay in a house she owns in the Liberty Point neighborhood.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10029
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
Strange Bedfellows ...by Cindy Sheehan
Since I announced my challenge to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a few days ago, I have been very thrilled that issues like impeachment and the inherent corruption of the "two" party system have been brought to the forefront of public discourse. Every interview that I have done has given me the opportunity to throw the impeachment issue out there. The democratic blogosphere has predictably lined up against me and must be very frightened because they are repeating the scandalous lies of the right. Wow, the right and left are finding common ground over slandering me. I must be a uniter.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=886
I have been "warned"
by CindySheehan [Subscribe]
Thu Jul 12, 2007 at 06:16:05 AM PDT
I can't post here anymore because my potential run for Congress
is not on the Democratic ticket.
I have been deeply grateful for all of your support over the years.
Your love and kindness helped me through lots of sleepless nights
at Camp Casey '05.
If Speaker Pelosi does her constitutionally mandated duty and I don't run,
then I can come back and post.
I know a lot of you are hostile towards my candidacy. Please
understand that I am doing it for your children and grandchildren
(and my surviving ones.)
Love always,
Cindy
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/12/91014/1295
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Southern utilities resist renewables
By BEN EVANS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Six of the nation's 10 largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions are coal-fired power plants in the South, but year after year Southern lawmakers balk at pushing utilities toward cleaner renewable energy.
Last month, Republican senators from the South provided about half the votes that defeated federal legislation to require power companies to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Nationally, almost half the states have adopted their own renewable mandates, but only one, Texas, is in the South.
Southern lawmakers - responding to heavy lobbying from local utilities - argue their region isn't conducive to solar or wind power like the sun-baked Southwest or the open plains of the West.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Renewable_Energy_South.html
Typhoon hits Japan; at least 34 injured
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Surging waves hit the shore line as strong wind blows over the Amami Oshima island, southern Japan following the approach of a powerful typhoon Man-Yi, Friday, July 13, 2007. A powerful typhoon pounded Japan's southern Okinawa island chain Friday, injuring residents, cutting power to tens of thousands of households and grounding hundreds of flights, officials said. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
TOKYO -- A powerful typhoon raced up the Japanese archipelago Saturday, injuring at least 34 people, cutting power and snarling transportation, officials and news reports said.
Typhoon Man-Yi clocked sustained wind speeds of up to 100 miles per hour and gusts of up to 133 miles per hour as it approached Makurazaki city on the southern tip of the southern main island of Kyushu Saturday, according to the Meteorological Agency.
A 63-year-old woman suffered fractures after she was knocked over by the wind early Saturday in Kyushu's Kagoshima state, local official Akihiro Waki said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Japan_Typhoon.html
North Korea gets oil for closing reactor
By BO-MI LIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
U.S. diplomat Christopher Hill, left, the chief U.S. envoy on the North Korean nuclear standoff, accompanied by his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae, speaks to reporters following their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo Friday, July 13, 2007. Efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program gathered pace Friday, with Hill saying he wants the North's reactor completely disabled by year's end and U.N. inspectors heading to Pyongyang to supervise the shutdown. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
PYONGYANG, North Korea -- U.N. inspectors arrived in North Korea on Saturday to monitor the communist country's long-anticipated promise to scale back its nuclear weapons program, while the top U.S. nuclear envoy said he expected Pyongyang's reactor to be shut down in a matter of days.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Koreas_Nuclear.html?source=mypi
Suspect in girl's killing will be looked at for similar crimes
By HECTOR CASTRO
P-I REPORTER
TACOMA -- A convicted sex offender who told police where to find the body of a missing 12-year-old Tacoma girl is now a suspect in the case and will be charged with her kidnapping and death, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell told reporters Friday.
And he said the case against Terapon Adhahn, 42, may not stop with Zina Linnik. Tacoma police detectives will look at similar cases of missing children to see whether Adhahn might be a suspect in them, Ramsdell said. At the same time, the FBI will check its national database for similar crimes.
Ramsdell didn't mention any similar crimes, but he did acknowledge that one case investigators will be looking at is that of Adre'Anna Jackson, a 10-year-old Lakewood girl who disappeared Dec. 2, 2005. Her remains were found several months later in a field near her home.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323628_kidnapped14.html
Nickels goes after liquor license of Belltown club
By ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTER
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has asked the state to yank the liquor license of a Belltown club where a woman was recently wounded by a stray bullet during a parking lot altercation, city officials said.
The mayor's office said the July 2 shooting was the 14th violent incident in or near the club since August 2006.
In addition, nearly two dozen driving-under-the-influence allegations have been associated with the Tabella over the last year, according to the city.
The woman who was recently woundedwas a bystander to a fight involving about two dozen men in the club's parking lot, the city said. Weeks earlier, there was another fight there that involved more than 200 people.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323674_club14.html
Sound Transit refigures cost of project
By LARRY LANGE
P-I REPORTER
It will cost an estimated $30.8 billion to build an expanded Sound Transit light-rail system, operate it for 20 years and repay financing costs over 50 years, according to a revised calculation made by Sound Transit.
This is more than $7 billion less than the agency had said earlier.
Urban-area Puget Sound voters will be asked to approve the new amount as part of a November ballot and would continue to pay for it until bonds are repaid in 2057, according to the agency.
Sound Transit last month confirmed that the total cost, including construction, inflation, debt payments, bond and other costs would total $37.9 billion. That figure was initially published by the Seattle Times, subsequently confirmed by the agency and then included in other media reports.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/323648_soundcosts14.html
Rules put safety first for pool and spa owners
By OLIVIA HERNANDEZ
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
With the heat of the summer bearing down upon the city, it would seem a great time to design your own means of keeping cool. But if that means building a pool, you may want to check the building code first.
A new code that went into effect this month will require owners of single-family homes to build safety barriers around new swimming pools and spas. It will be monitored by local building inspectors.
The code is not retroactive and will apply only to houses where pools or spas are being built after the beginning of July, said Tim Nogler, managing director of the Washington State Building Code Council.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323318_pool14.html
Balancing act of motherhood, full-time work losing favor
By PAUL NYHAN
P-I REPORTER
Most mothers don't want it all.
After generations of debate about working mothers, only about a fifth say full-time jobs are ideal, fewer than held those views 10 years ago, the Pew Research Center reported in a survey released Thursday.
Yet most of these women aren't getting what they want. Although 60 percent of working mothers say part-time jobs were ideal, only 24 percent actually hold those positions, Pew reported, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323587_mommygrind13.html
Picasso etchings stolen in Bellevue
By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER
The heist didn't match the elaborate plot of a James Bond movie in which a villain schemes to loot Fort Knox.
But on Wednesday, thieves walked into a Bellevue art gallery, lifted two etchings that its director says are original Pablo Picassos and walked out.
All in about 15 seconds.
In a rare move, Bellevue police Thursday asked for the public's help in finding the three thieves and the etchings, which the gallery says are worth about $95,000.
"We want people in the industry to know the art is hot," said Officer Greg Grannis, Bellevue police spokesman.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323464_art12.html
Panel demands records on Tillman's death
By SCOTT LINDLAW
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two influential lawmakers investigating how and when the Bush administration learned the circumstances of Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death and how those details were disclosed accused the White House and Pentagon on Friday of withholding key documents and renewed their demand for the material.
The White House and Defense Department have turned over nearly 10,000 pages of papers - mostly press clippings - but the White House cited "executive branch confidentiality interests" in refusing to provide other documents.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Tom Davis, R-Va., the committee's top-ranking Republican, said Friday the documents were inadequate. They insisted that the Defense Department turn over the additional material by July 25 and asked that the White House do likewise.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Tillman_Friendly_Fire.html
UK straps cameras to bobbies' helmets
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Britain is taking its surveillance to a new level, strapping video cameras to the helmets of its famed bobbies - a move the government says will cut down on paperwork and help prosecute criminals.
By providing dramatic footage of victims, suspects and witnesses, judges and jurors will be able to "see and hear the incident through the eyes and ears of the officer at the scene," Minister of State for Security Tony McNulty said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Cop_Cam.html
PM: Iraqis can keep peace without U.S.
By BUSHRA JUHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
View related video
BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.
The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when pressure in the U.S. Congress is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political reforms it wants al-Maliki to carry out.
Moreover, the Pentagon on Friday conceded that the Iraqi army has become more reliant on the U.S. military. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of Iraqi battalions able to operate on their own without U.S. support has dropped in recent months from 10 to six, though he said the fall was in part due to attrition from stepped-up offensives.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html?source=mypi
Al-Qaida ops show leadership in control
By PAUL HAVEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
When Islamic radicals killed 52 people in London two years ago, it took nearly a month for Osama bin Laden's top deputy to blame Britain itself for the carnage.
But this week, when the No. 2 man in al-Qaida decided to weigh in on Pakistan's bloody crackdown on a radical mosque, he was able to get his violent message onto hard-line Islamic Web sites in a matter of days.
Analysts and intelligence experts say the speed and frequency with which Ayman al-Zawahri has been issuing statements recently does not reflect the actions of a man cowering in a remote cave, cut off from the outside world and unable to direct terror operations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Al_Qaida_on_Air.html
Collar-bomb suspect has troubled past
By JENNIFER C. YATES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITTSBURGH -- Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong's lawyer has floated an alibi for her in the bizarre death of one man: the bizarre death of another man.
James Roden's body was in a freezer in August 2003, when Brian Wells robbed a bank with a bomb locked to his neck. Before the explosive killed Wells, the pizza delivery man told police he had been forced to commit the crime.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_In_the_News_Diehl_Armstrong.html
Washington's House Democrats vote for pullout
By CHARLES POPE
P-I WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON -- Embracing national frustration rather than President Bush's plea for patience, Washington state's House Democrats joined their party members in declaring the strategy in Iraq unworkable.
All six House Democrats from Washington voted yes on a 223-201 party-line vote for legislation that would require U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq within 120 days after the measure becomes law. The state's three Republicans opposed the bill.
The vote came only hours after the White House released an interim report detailing unsatisfactory results by Baghdad to reconcile political differences and improve security.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/323521_iraqcongress13.html
Pakistani cleric calls for 'Islamic revolution'
By KHALID TANVEER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BASTI ABDULLAH, Pakistan -- Officials let a jailed cleric attend the burial of his slain brother Thursday, and he turned the funeral oration into a fiery denunciation of the government for the bloody siege at Islamabad's Red Mosque and called for an "Islamic revolution."
Hours later, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf went on national television to vow that his government will crush extremists across the country and move strongly against religious schools like those at the Red Mosque that breed them.
Musharraf also said security forces along the border with Afghanistan will soon get tanks and other modern weapons to bolster the campaign against militants. The frontier region is a haven for al-Qaida and the Taliban, and the U.S. has been pushing Pakistan to root them out.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/323584_pakistan13.html
Pakistani troops sent to dissuade jihad
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Thousands of troops were deployed to Pakistan's northwestern frontier to try to dissuade outlawed Islamic militants from launching a holy war against the government for its bloody attack on a radical mosque, military officials said Saturday.
As the troop movements proceeded in at least five areas of the North West Frontier Province, a suicide bomber struck in another region of the border, his explosives-laden vehicle killing at least eight soldiers in a military convoy, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arhad said.
Local security officials said as many as 12 soldiers died and another 20 were wounded in the attack, while nearby two rockets believed to have been fired by militants landed near a military check point.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan.html?source=mypi
M's farmhand took unique path to pros
AquaSox reliever drafted out of West Point
By JON NAITO
P-I REPORTER
EVERETT -- Nick Hill stands about 6 feet tall and weighs 185 pounds. He is left-handed, and his voice is inflected with the gentle lilt of his native Tennessee. His hair, even at the tender age of 22, is thinning.
In nearly every way, he is an unassuming young man. And like most every player on the Everett AquaSox roster, the Mariners' seventh-round pick in last month's draft is an anonymous name to the casual baseball fan, another fresh face starting his professional career.
"I'm 21, 22 years old, just like everyone else here," Hill said before a recent game at Everett Memorial Stadium. "My (college) experience was a little different. Every Thursday night, I didn't get to go out and party, but I'm still a young kid, still got the same interests."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/323583_hill13.html
Intel, '$100 laptop' project make peace
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
BOSTON -- As Nicholas Negroponte stormed the developing world trying to drum up buyers for the innovative $175 computers designed by his One Laptop Per Child education nonprofit, he encountered a persistent obstacle: competition from Intel Corp.
Intel's chairman, Craig Barrett, had derided Negroponte's machines as mere gadgets. And Intel was signing up international governments for its own little "Classmate" PCs, which follow more conventional computing designs than One Laptop Per Child's radically rethought "XO" computers.
Negroponte was suspicious of Intel's motives, since the XO runs on processors from Intel's fiercest rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Negroponte said Intel had hurt his mission and "should be ashamed of itself."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Hundred_Dollar_Laptop_Intel.html
Energizer to acquire Playtex for $1.16B
By JIM SALTER
AP BUSINESS WRITER
ST. LOUIS -- The Energizer Bunny is taking on skin care products, wet wipes and sippy cups. Energizer Holdings Inc., known for its infinitely running bunny, will buy Playtex Products Inc. for $1.16 billion as the company expands its portfolio of personal care products.
Investors liked the news: Playtex shares soared 15.8 percent, or $2.45, to $17.97 in trading. Energizer shares rose almost 1 percent, or 94 cents, to $107.67.
St. Louis-based Energizer is offering $18.30 per share for Playtex Products Inc., the companies said in announcing the deal late Thursday. The price represents an 18 percent premium over Playtex's closing stock price Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310AP_Energizer_Playtex.html
U.S. brothers recovering from gory run
By AMANDA RIVKIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MADRID, Spain -- A bull that broke from the pack seriously gored two American brothers, catching one on each of its horns during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, where both were recovering Friday in the hospital.
Lawrence and Michael Lenahan were gored simultaneously by the bull, which also injured 11 other people Thursday. It was the worst day for injuries in the nine-day festival.
"I started yelling at my brother to show him I was bleeding everywhere but he showed me he was bleeding everywhere," said Lawrence Lenahan, a 26-year-old Air Force captain from Hermosa Beach, Calif., in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_Running_of_the_Bulls.html?source=mypi
$2K a month average for Manhattan studio
By VERENA DOBNIK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- If you're looking for a Manhattan apartment, be prepared to shell out about $2,000 a month - unless, of course, you'd like a bedroom to go with it.
Studio apartments in New York's most expensive borough went for an average of $1,995 a month last year, according to an analysis released Friday by Citi Habitats, a Manhattan rental brokerage firm. That's up from $1,659 in 2002.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment shot up to $2,737, compared to $2,227 in 2002, and two-bedroom apartments climbed to $3,893, from $3,198 in 2002. Three-bedroom apartments saw the largest percentage increase: more than 36 percent, from $4,059 in 2002 to $5,534 last year.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_Manhattan_Rents.html?source=mypi
State high court says consumers can't sign away class-action rights
Contract at odds with Consumer Protection Act, justices say
By PHUONG CAT LE
P-I REPORTER
To get wireless service, credit cards or even employment, consumers frequently sign contracts agreeing to resolve their disputes through mandatory arbitration.
What many don't realize -- unless they read the fine print of the agreement -- is that they also often waive their right to file a class-action lawsuit against the company.
In a significant victory for consumers, the Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the former Cingular Wireless, now AT&T, cannot enforce a waiver in its contract that prohibits customers from pursuing a class action.
"The class-action waiver is unconscionable because it effectively denies large numbers of consumers the protection of Washington's Consumer Protection Act," Justice Tom Chambers wrote in the 6-3 majority opinion.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323520_arbitration13.html
Costco's sales up 6% in June
Retailer bucks national trend
P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
With a surge in computer, television and jewelry sales, Costco Wholesale Corp. again defied the national trend with strong sales in June.
The Issaquah-based warehouse giant known for discount prices for bulk goods had a 6 percent jump in sales at stores open at least a year, which just beat Wall Street's estimate of 5.8 percent.
Seattle-based Nordstrom, meanwhile, had a modest 2 percent increase in same-store sales, and the upscale retailer blamed a shift in the fiscal 2007 calendar, which began a week later than a year ago, as the reason for the low sales.
Nordstrom said women's apparel, intimate clothing and accessories still did well last month.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323450_retailsales13.html
Alcoa drops bid to buy Canadian rival Alcan
Rio Tinto submits larger, $38 billion cash offer for firm
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH -- Alcoa Inc. withdrew its $28 billion offer to buy Canadian aluminum rival Alcan Inc. on Thursday after being outbid by mining giant Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto's bid of $38.1 billion in cash, announced hours earlier, exceeded the unsolicited offer launched by Alcoa in early May and would create the world's largest aluminum company. Alcan's board had roundly rejected the Alcoa offer as inadequate.
Alcoa Chairman and CEO Alain Belda said Rio Tinto's offer "strongly reinforces our view of the underlying value in the aluminum industry and its bright prospects for the future."
"However, at this price level, we have more attractive options for delivering additional value to shareholders," he said in a statement issued shortly after the close of trading Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323505_alcoa13.html
Idea of 'hot fuel' gauges rejected
Devices would have gone on pumps
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY -- A group of measurement experts rejected a proposal that consumer groups said might save motorists between 3 and 9 cents a gallon at the pump.
The proposal, debated Wednesday in Salt Lake City, targeted the so-called "hot fuel" effect.
As temperatures rise, liquid gasoline expands and the amount of energy in each gallon falls. But because U.S. gasoline pumps don't adjust for temperature changes, motorists who buy gas that's hotter than the government-standard 60 degrees get less bang for their buck.
The effect could cost U.S. drivers more than $1.5 billion in the summertime, according to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, which recently addressed it in hearings.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323516_hotfuel13.html
Mortgage meltdown's legal fallout begins
Owners are suing lenders; investors are suing banks
By ALAN ZIBEL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Lawsuits blossomed after Enron Corp.'s collapse, many targeting the energy giant's bankers. Wall Street firms could again become the bull's-eye for investors seeking recourse from the subprime mortgage debacle.
Billions of dollars are at stake, depending on how many of the mortgages -- made to borrowers with shaky credit -- default. Credit Suisse Group estimates losses to investors between $26 billion and $52 billion, while Deutsche Bank AG says losses could total $70 billion to $90 billion.
Investors "are going to be looking for deep pockets where they can maximize their recoveries," said Rick Antonoff, a New York-based lawyer with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, which has a group of lawyers assigned to subprime mortgage litigation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323515_subprimesuits13.html
Ins and outs of shopping at outlet malls
By ANNA WALLNER AND KRISTINA MATISIC
FINE LIVING NETWORK
Who doesn't love a good deal? There are about 225 outlet malls across the country that offer brand names at bargain prices. But before you pull out a credit card, here's what to keep in mind to get the best value.
Before you head to the outlet mall, check merchandise at regular stores. Some goods made specifically for the outlets might be a notch inferior to regular-store products. Some brands (such as the Gap) will identify made-for-outlet items, so check the labels.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/athome/323404_roadtripside14.html
Product recall
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The following recall has been announced:
-Dent Fresh U.S.A. Inc. is recalling all of its DentFresh fluoride mint toothpaste, made in China, because the product may contain diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze, which is toxic to the kidneys and liver. No injuries or illnesses have been reported, but the toothpaste should be thrown away or returned immediately to the store where it was purchased. Any reactions should be reported to the Food and Drug Administration's MedWatch adverse event reporting program at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm. Details: by phone at 305-677-9938; by e-mail at denfresh@hotmail.com.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Recall.html
Good Enough to Eat:
Now is the time for warm-weather veggies
By CHRIS SMITH
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
If you've already harvested your radishes, peas, lettuce, spinach and other early greens, there may be empty spots in your garden. Why not fill them this weekend?
The best warm-season candidates are beans, cukes and zukes (the latter only if you haven't planted them yet). These crops all mature in about two months, so you'd begin harvesting in mid-September.
You may find seeds for these crops germinate more readily and seedlings make more rapid growth this time of year because the soil is warm. However, you'll need to monitor soil moisture; often we don't get much rain in July and August. Seeds need moisture to germinate, and seedlings need it until their root systems develop. So don't stint on the watering.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/athome/323400_smith14.html
Texas' steel magnolia blossomed in LBJ's presidency
By JANET WILSON
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
AUSTIN, Texas -- In the late '50s, it became clear that Lyndon Johnson, the majority leader of the Senate, was headed for higher office. And, in an attempt to prepare for a role she might have to assume, Lady Bird Johnson enrolled in a public speaking course. It wasn't long before she found herself fighting sweaty palms in front of dozens of public gatherings.
In 1960, after Lyndon's name was floated as a possible favorite-son candidate for president, he agreed to be John F. Kennedy's running mate. And the campaigning began.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323646_ladybird15.html
Global Warming: Keep greening up
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Seattle thinks itself pretty green. When it comes to global warming in particular, there should be no resting on the city's laurels.
Make no mistake, the city certainly deserves the credit it has received regionally and nationally for moving ahead on greenhouse gas reductions. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels played key roles not just here but also among city leaders nationally. A recent assessment by two University of Washington scientists says Nickels' "plan ... to bring Seattle into compliance with the Kyoto Protocol target was visionary and seminal."
That's hardly going to be enough, however. There's plenty to be learned from other cities, which are making their own impressive commitments, and the emerging knowledge about the world's growing climate crisis. As the UW's Marcia Baker and Robert Charlson explained in comments prepared for City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck: "The Kyoto Protocol was a small and largely symbolic first step when it was presented. ... The magnitude of the problem we face has subsequently grown considerably."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323631_warmcityed.html
Green Democrats prefer blue votes
THE ECONOMIST
Soon after the Democrats took control of Congress last year, its new leaders promised to overhaul the U.S. energy policy.
They vowed to tackle climate change head-on, despite the president's reluctance. No longer, they said, would they meekly accept America's reliance on foreign despots for imports of oil. And something would be done to lower the price of gasoline, they assured agitated drivers.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, set up a special committee to come up with a solution to the nation's energy woes by July 4, so that new political masters in the U.S. could declare "energy independence" on the same day their forebears renounced the colonial yoke.
July Fourth has come and gone, Pelosi has no energy bill and the U.S. is just as firmly yoked to expensive, imported energy as ever.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323632_economist15.html
Narrows Bridge toll could be first of many
Gas tax alone can't fund all of the transportation fixes needed in the state
By LARRY LANGE
P-I REPORTER
Next week the first bridge in more than 20 years to charge drivers a toll in the state will open to traffic -- and it might not be the last one.
Dedication of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge is likely to usher in a new era of tolled bridges and maybe even special high-occupancy-toll, or HOT, lanes that drivers could use to avoid the most crowded parts of highways, transportation experts say.
The state's gas tax, now 36 cents a gallon, isn't expected to pay the full costs of building and maintaining new highways, bridges or other transportation improvements, state transportation officials say, making contributions from tolls inevitable. And there are moves to impose tolls permanently to meet ongoing maintenance costs.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/323743_toll14.html
China fights back, goes after U.S. meat
By ANITA CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- China has suspended imports from several major U.S. meat processors, including the world's largest, in the latest indication the government may be retaliating as its products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns.
Frozen poultry products from Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor, were found to be contaminated with salmonella, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site late Friday.
Other imports barred by China included frozen chicken feet from Sanderson Farms, Inc. tainted with residue of an anti-parasite drug, as well as frozen pork ribs from Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. containing a leanness-enhancing feed additive, the AQSIQ said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_China_Tainted_Products.html
Stranded Palestinians demand food, tents
By SALAH NASRAWI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RAFAH, Egypt -- Sleeping in the sand and running out of money, thousands of Palestinians have been stranded in Egypt's desert for more than a month since the border with Hamas-controlled Gaza has been closed.
Conditions in the frontier town were increasingly desperate Friday, with one woman saying she was forced to sell her wedding ring to feed her family. Others complained authorities weren't even providing blankets or other basic necessities.
The Rafah border terminal has been closed since June 9, the start of the final round of bloody factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas that led to the Islamic group's takeover of the Gaza Strip.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Egypt_Palestinians.html
Palestinian democracy harmed by conflict
By KARIN LAUB
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- President Mahmoud Abbas rules the West Bank by decree, Hamas controls Gaza with guns and parliament is paralyzed.
Palestinian democracy, once seen as a model for the Arab world, has become a victim of the bloody power struggle between Abbas' Fatah movement and the Islamic militant Hamas.
The return to autocracy after three clean general elections over the past decade dealt a setback to what some say has been a misguided U.S. attempt to export its political system to a troubled region.
It's not just a passing storm. After the fall of Gaza to Hamas last month, Abbas and his rivals have been consolidating control over their respective turfs, making a quick return to democracy unlikely.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Palestinians_Democracys_Demise.html
Russia pulls out of arms-control treaty
By MARIA DANILOVA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MOSCOW -- Russia on Saturday suspended its participation in a key European arms control treaty that governs deployment of troops on the continent, the Kremlin said, a move that threatened to further aggravate Moscow's already tense relations with the West.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty due to "extraordinary circumstances ... which affect the security of the Russian Federation and require immediate measures," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin has in the past threatened to freeze his country's compliance with the treaty, accusing the United States and its NATO partners of undermining regional stability with U.S. plans for a missile defense system in former Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe.
Under the moratorium, Russia will halt inspections and verifications of its military sites by NATO countries and will no longer limit the number of its conventional weapons, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Arms_Control_Treaty.html
Lebanese factions meet in France
By ANGELA CHARLTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PARIS -- Lebanon's rival parties are meeting Saturday for unusual, long-awaited talks as their nation remains in political deadlock and faces violence in both the north and south.
Members of the country's 14 leading parties - including Hezbollah and its allies - will gather in the chateau at Celle Saint-Cloud, southwest of Paris, on Saturday and Sunday behind closed doors, with no set agenda.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and a few other French officials will be there, too, but as observers, not mediators.
Hopes are not high for a breakthrough at the meeting, organized by the French Foreign Ministry. But participants say it's good news that it's happening at all.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_France_Lebanon_Conference.html
Giant telescope begins work in Spain
By JUAN MANUEL PARDELLAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TENERIFE, Canary Islands -- The Great Canary Telescope, one of the world's largest and most powerful, opened its shutters, turned its vast 34-foot-wide mirror toward the skies and captured its first light at a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday.
The $179 million telescope, designed to take advantage of pristine, clear skies at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory atop the Atlantic island of La Palma, should be fully operational by May 2008.
At 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EDT) on a crystal-clear night, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe keyed in the computer codes which brought the observatory's complex machinery to life.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Spain_Giant_Telescope.html
FDA confirms salmonella in snacks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, AP) - Tests have confirmed that a strain of salmonella found in Veggie Booty snack food was responsible for an outbreak of the disease last spring that sickened 61 people, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
The agency's findings supported earlier testing by the Minnesota Agricultural Lab, the FDA said in a statement.
Veggie Booty is marketed by Robert's American Gourmet Inc. of Sea Cliff, N.Y. The company says that seasoning, believed made with Chinese ingredients, contained the salmonella and that it had purchased the seasoning from Atlantic Quality Spice & Seasonings of Edison, N.J.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Snack_Recall.html
Gerber recalls organic baby cereals
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Gerber Products Co. recalled all packages of its organic rice and organic oatmeal cereals Friday because of potential clumping of the baby food, which can pose a choking hazard.
Gerber said it has received complaints of choking but no reports of injury.
The company said a "limited quantity" of the cereals could contain lumps that do not dissolve in water or milk. The cereals were distributed nationwide and to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
Food and Drug Administration compliance officer Sandra Williams said the agency was aware of the voluntary recall "and we concur."
Gerber spokesman David Mortazavi said the company was recalling 306,760 packages of organic rice cereal and 167,724 packages of organic oatmeal cereal.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Baby_Cereal_Recall.html
U.N. opens Congo gold-trafficking probe
By EDDY ISANGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KINSHASA, Congo -- The investigative arm of the U.N. mission in Congo has opened an inquiry into allegations that Indian peacekeepers serving in this central African nation are illicitly trafficking in gold, a spokesman said Friday.
The probe is focusing on an Indian unit stationed in the eastern province of North Kivu near the Rwandan border, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The announcement came as the U.N. peacekeeping chief in New York, Jean-Marie Guehenno, discussed a similar but separate inquiry in Congo involving charges of gun and gold smuggling. He said it found no evidence of arms smuggling but pointed to the possibility that a Pakistani peacekeeper "may have facilitated gold smuggling."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_UN_Gold_Trafficking.html
Nine file suit against TB-infected man
By SEAN FARRELL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MONTREAL -- Nine people filed a $1.3 million lawsuit Thursday against the globe-trotting tuberculosis patient for possibly exposing them to the disease on a commercial flight from Prague to Montreal.
Montreal lawyer Anlac Nguyen filed the motion in Quebec Superior Court on behalf of seven Canadians and two natives of the Czech Republic. Eight were passengers on the flight with Andrew Speaker and the ninth is a brother and roommate of one of the passengers.
Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta personal injuries attorney, was in Europe when he learned tests showed he had an extremely drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Tuberculosis_Infection_Lawsuit.html
Bishop in Paraguay runs for president
By BILL CORMIER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ASUNCION, Paraguay -- A charismatic leader dubbed the "Bishop of the Poor" is an early favorite to make history as the first man to serve as a Roman Catholic bishop, then be elected president of his country.
The Vatican is not pleased, and it's not alone: Fernando Lugo's candidacy not only tests the church's strict prohibition on clergy seeking political office, it also challenges the established elites in Paraguay. The nation's poor majority feels disenfranchised after 60 years of unbroken rule by President Nicanor Duarte's Colorado Party.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Paraguay_Bishop_for_President.html
Mexican gas explosions force shutdowns
By LISA J. ADAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEXICO CITY -- Honda, Hershey's and other multinational companies temporarily shut down their factories in western Mexico on Wednesday after rebels attacked a key natural gas pipeline.
The small, left-wing guerrilla group that claimed responsibility for the explosions issued a statement late Tuesday vowing to continue the attacks, while the Mexican government scrambled to increase security at "strategic installations" across Mexico.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Mexico_Gas_Explosion.html
East Indonesian volcano spews lava
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A rumbling volcano in eastern Indonesia spewed ash and lava Thursday, as authorities expressed fears that a shift in winds could send hot clouds of volcanic debris onto villages below.
Thousands of people have been evacuated and others have been told to stay away from the five-mile danger zone along the mountain's slopes, said Saut Simatupang of the government's volcano monitoring agency.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Indonesia_Volcano.html
Unfettered illegal immigration boosts inflation
BONNIE ERBE
I usually try to be timely, but this week in this column I admit I'm way behind. I unearthed a report released more than two years ago, but which contains such informational dynamite, its contents are worth dissecting even two years hence. So here goes.
I've often wondered why inflation is so clearly rampaging well beyond levels reported by the federal government. Case in point: On a fairly regular basis I buy 10-pound bags of carrots at my local Harris Teeter grocery store. When I started buying them two summers ago, a 10-pound bag was retailing for $3.99. It is now selling for $5.99.
I'm sure each and every one of you has a similar story. Or many, many, many such stories. How did we get to the point where $4 isn't shocking as the tab for a cup of coffee (or a coffee drink, as renamed by Starbucks). How is it that when regular gas drops from $3.50 per gallon to $2.85 (as it recently did at my local gas station in suburban Washington, D.C.) we feel as if we're getting a bargain?
I've racked my brain trying to reconcile Labor Department reports of inflation running in the 2-3 percent range, while watching as housing, food, clothing and transportation costs rise by double digits each quarter. Is the government hiding something? I'm no conspiracy theorist, so that explanation seems not to fit.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323645_erbe15.html
The Miami Herald
Arnold at side, Crist signs environmental orders
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@MiamiHerald.com
Gov. Charlie Crist signed a groundbreaking set of environmental protection orders Friday, calling it a framework for a new, more future-friendly way of living and conducting business in Florida.
''State government is leading by example,'' Crist said. ``It is the right thing to do.''
It also is a popular thing to do. Symbolizing the new star power of environmentalism, celebrity Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California stood at Crist's side after uttering the line everyone expected:
'We have to say, `Hasta la vista, baby' to greenhouse gases.''...
...Exempted from the requirements, though ''encouraged'' to embrace them : The Legislature, university system, Cabinet agencies and several state departments.
• Mandate power companies to reduce emissions to 2000 levels by 2017, to 1990 levels by 2025 and to 80 percent of the 1990 levels by 2050.
• Asks state regulators to demand that utilities use wind, solar or other renewable sources to produce 20 percent of their power by 2020.
• Orders the adoption of California's motor vehicle emission standards, including a 22 percent reduction by 2012 and a 30 percent reduction by 2016. Those standards are being challenged in court.
Asked if he favored a return to annual inspections for Florida vehicles, a largely unpopular program that ended years ago, Crist said he preferred to pressure automakers into improving engines….
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/169761.html
Business sees green in energy savings
BY MONICA HATCHER
mhatcher@MiamiHerald.com
In the effort to clean the atmosphere of toxic carbon pollution, business leaders meeting Friday at the Summit on Global Climate Change seemed to agree that going green means more of the green stuff in the future.
''What's good for the environment is good for business,'' said Lorraine Bolsinger, a vice president with GE, who spoke along with business representatives on two panels at the summit that ends later Friday.
Her sentiment was echoed by directors from some of the country's top corporations and investment interests, such as Wal-Mart and Lehman Brothers, who touted the financial savings that come with implementing energy efficiency and recycling programs. They also discussed policy initiatives that would lead to increased conservation efforts and innovation.
The recognition that long-term growth and profitability will come from creating more environmentally friendly companies represents a sea change in thinking in the business community, some said. Until recently, efforts to reduce energy consumption were seen as costly and offering few rewards.
Ed Crenshaw, president of Publix, said his company had reduced electrical usage in its stores by 7 percent since 2002, saving enough energy to power 44,000 single-family homes. He also said Publix had recycled more than 209,000 tons of cardboard and 7,600 tons of plastic.
''We've made millions from that,'' Crenshaw said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/169802.html
Prosecution rests in Padilla trial
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
The terror trial of Jose Padilla reached a turning point in federal court Friday when Miami prosecutors rested their case against the former ''enemy combatant'' and two others charged with plotting to support terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.
''The United States would rest its case in chief at this time,'' prosecutor Russell Killinger said after calling one final witness, an FBI linguist.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke gave a stern warning to the 12 Miami-Dade jurors not to talk about the case with anyone, nor to read or watch anything about it.
''You will have to be extra super-duper cautious,'' Cooke advised the jurors, instructing them to return on Thursday, when the defense will begin its case.
But first, on Tuesday, the three defense teams will ask Cooke to issue judgments of acquittal for their clients, claiming the prosecution's case lacked sufficient evidence. Cooke is not likely to grant their motions, setting the stage for the defense's case through August.
Since jury selection in early May, prosecutors have painted a provocative picture of the alleged South Florida-based cell, reframing its Muslim relief mission as a front for ''violent jihad'' to create Islamic states abroad.
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/169517.html
Build a culture of water conservation
OUR OPINION: DISTRICT SHOULD IMPOSE PERMANENT LIMITS ON USE
Conserving water in Florida should become a 24-7-365 practice, not just something we impose on ourselves during droughts. Floridians for too long have taken cheap, abundant water for granted. But unabated population growth is straining our aquifers. Volatile climate conditions make the rainy season a less reliable replenishment for those aquifers. Combine these facts, and Floridians are in for a rude awakening in the not too distant future.
The South Florida Water Management District should adopt year-round water-use limits similar to those it decreed this spring during the deepening drought. Although heavy rains here have eased dry conditions enough to prompt the district to lift some restrictions, it is time to take the long view on the region's water supply.
Growth can be halted
The Legislature two years ago began to take that view when it approved a law requiring local governments to produce new water sources to meet the demands of new development that these governments approved. If local governments don't comply, growth can be halted by the state.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/169264.html
The Chicago Tribune
Baked city begs for a breeze
Some escape heat, others embrace it at beaches, Taste
By Russell Working, Jeff Long and Josh Noel
Tribune staff reporters
Published July 9, 2007, 12:31 AM CDT
Like a sweaty stranger who sidles up too close in an airless waiting room, a heat wave settled in over the weekend in the Chicago area, forcing people to escape or confront it.
The heat made its presence felt throughout the area Sunday, driving Taste of Chicago patrons to plunge into a fountain and causing senior citizens to evacuate a South Side high-rise after the power went out.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070709heat-beachjul09,1,6937711.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Black convicted of fraud, obstruction
By Ameet Sachdev
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 13, 2007, 3:28 PM CDT
Conrad Black, the wealthy Canadian turned British noble who built the vast newspaper empire that included the Chicago Sun-Times, was convicted today of obstruction of justice and three counts of mail fraud in a scheme to swindle shareholders out of millions of dollars.
A Chicago federal jury also acquitted Black, 62, of nine charges, including wire fraud and racketeering. Sentencing has been set for Nov. 30.
Black must return to court Thursday to continue a hearing on whether he will be allowed to return to Toronto, stay out on bond in the United States or be taken into custody. In the interim, he has surrendered his British passport.
The convictions are expected to lead to prison time for the British Lord, who showed no visible reaction to the verdict. Black faces a maximum of 35 years in prison for the offenses the jury convicted him of, plus a maximum penalty of $1 million.
Black's attorney Edward Greenspan said there were viable legal issues to appeal and that they intended to do so.
"Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges, he said. "We were hoping for an entire acquittal and we came just short of that."
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald swept aside any notion that an apparent split verdict represented something less than a complete victory for federal prosecution.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-blackguilty,1,1410918.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Cuban in the mix for Cubs, but does MLB want him?
Published July 13, 2007
How one goes about sending in an application to buy a Major League Baseball franchise is a mystery to those of us who aren't in the ballclub-acquisition business. By fax? By standard mail? Or is there an online form?
Controversial Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Thursday that he has submitted his application to purchase the Cubs. He said he believed he sent it in last week, though he wasn't sure. Dates don't matter anyway. What matters is that he's officially serious about buying the valuable, championship-starved franchise on the North Side.
For those Cubs fans who are excited about the possibility of a free-spending owner taking over their beloved team, the news that Cuban formally has taken the first step in the bid process is huge.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-070712morrissey,1,1860312.column?coll=chi-news-hed
How many times did Amy Jacobson go to the Stebic house? Did she share information with police? Let's ask her!
UPDATED ITEM: Amy Jacobson this afternoon confirmed reports that her bosses at Ch. 5 accused her “of getting too close to the police” during her investigation of the Stebic case.
This accusation came in the context of the conversations she had earlier this week that resulted in parting ways with the station, she said.
In a phone call, Jacobson told me that, on occasion, she would share information first with police as she was reporting on the April 30 disappearance of Plainfield resident Lisa Stebic.
“Here’s a good example,” she said. “The police couldn’t talk to (Lisa Stebic's husband) Craig Stebic. So when a story ran in the Naperville Sun saying there were blood droplets on a tarp found in his car, I went to his door with a cameraman. I said `Where did the blood come from?’ He said it was animal blood. So I called the police and told them what he said. Then I did my live shot.”
http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/07/how-many-times-.html
San Francisco Chronicle
A new water war
Friday, July 13, 2007
THE SACRAMENTO-San Joaquin River Delta is approaching its breaking point, and what may be California's biggest and most crucial water fight is about to heat up. How big is the crisis? Well, it's big enough that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has dared to hint at the need -- and the bond money -- for an infamous "peripheral canal." Brace yourselves, Northern California voters -- there's another civil war at hand.
Before things get to that point, we'd like to take a moment to point out what's changed since that scorched-earth 1982 ballot battle, and what Sacramento needs to do before it even opens discussion about new ways to divert river water. Though the re-introduction of the peripheral canal issue has all the elements of great politics -- it's exciting, it's expensive and it gets the voters emotional -- it doesn't have much to do with great policy for the delta, at least not right now. Building a peripheral canal would take at least 10 years. The delta can't wait that long.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/13/EDGNNQ4VSJ1.DTL
Iran Makes Major Nuclear Concessions
By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 15:45 PDT VIENNA, Austria (AP) --
In major concessions to international demands, Iran has agreed to answer lingering questions about its nuclear experiments and will let U.N. inspectors return to a plutonium-producing reactor it is building, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday.
The decision to cooperate more fully with the U.N. nuclear agency appears designed to weaken a U.S. push for tough new Security Council sanctions over Iran's nuclear activities, which Western countries suspect are cover for a weapons program.
Iran, which says it only wants peaceful nuclear energy, promised the concessions in a meeting this week between Iranian officials and a senior IAEA delegation, the agency said.
Iran also has scaled back its enrichment of uranium, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday, although it is still refusing to freeze that enrichment, a key international demand.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2007/07/13/international/i151236D77.DTL&tsp=1
N.Korea Set to Shut Down Nuclear Reactor
By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 15:48 PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) --
North Korea seemed ready Friday to take a first step toward scaling back its nuclear weapons program, perhaps this weekend, as U.N. inspectors prepared to monitor the shutdown of its sole operating atomic reactor.
The team from the International Atomic Energy Agency stopped in Beijing en route to the North, with its Saturday arrival in Pyongyang scheduled just hours after a South Korean oil shipment was to enter a North Korean port — a promised reward for the reactor shutdown pledge.
After years of tortuous negotiations and delays during which the North argued its nuclear program was needed for self-defense, the reclusive communist regime said last week that once it got the oil shipment, it would consider halting its reactor for the first time in five years.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/13/international/i113552D45.DTL
NEWS ANALYSIS
Staying course poses huge risk for Republicans
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Facing rock-bottom poll numbers and the judgment of history, President Bush has little to lose politically in using the last 18 months of his presidency to try to prove critics of his war policy wrong. The president followed that path Thursday, finding promise in a "young democracy" in Iraq despite descriptions by his own administration of a deeply fractured society.
The rest of his Republican Party, however, is looking at something entirely different: elections for the House, Senate and the presidency that, absent a miraculous turnaround in Iraq or a suicidal stumble by Democrats, are headed for a debacle.
Republicans are watching their private poll numbers plunge, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/13/MNGIBR007T1.DTL
Bush's benchmarks: The report card
AP
President Bush press conference this morning
The Bush administration's report on the Iraqi government's achievement of 18 specific "benchmarks":
Unsatisfactory
-- Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Baathification.
-- Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources of the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.
-- Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions, in consultation with U.S commanders, without political intervention, to include the authority to pursue all extremists, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
-- Ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing evenhanded enforcement of the law.
-- Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.
-- Ensuring that Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces….
...Too early to assess
-- Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.
-- Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/foreigndesk/detail?blogid=16&entry_id=18485
WIN OR TRADE WINDS
If this weekend's series with the Dodgers doesn't go well, get ready for a fire sale
Henry Schulman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
How convenient for the Giants that three nights after they hosted a fantabulous All-Star Game, their World Series begins.
This Series is a three-gamer against the Los Angeles Dodgers, starting tonight, and the Giants are not playing for a ring or parade. They are vying for the right to stay together as a team and prove that all the happy-talk about how good they really are and how they will pick it up in the second half is not a load of baloney.
In this Series, the Giants need to win all three, or at least win two and play damn competitively in the loss. If not, management will come to work Monday morning, two weeks and change from the trade deadline, staring at a team 11 or 13 games under .500.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/SPGA1R010O1.DTL
American Brothers Gored in Bull Run
By AMANDA RIVKIN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 14:49 PDT MADRID, Spain (AP) --
A bull that broke from the pack seriously gored two American brothers, catching one on each of its horns during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, where both were recovering Friday in the hospital.
Lawrence and Michael Lenahan were gored simultaneously by the bull, which also injured 11 other people Thursday. It was the worst day for injuries in the nine-day festival.
"I started yelling at my brother to show him I was bleeding everywhere but he showed me he was bleeding everywhere," said Lawrence Lenahan, a 26-year-old Air Force captain from Hermosa Beach, Calif., in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/13/international/i113736D68.DTL&type=bondage
SAN FRANCISCO
S&M session gone awry -- or homicide?
Onetime Haight activist, anti-drug crusader found dead
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
Joe Konopka came to prominence in his Upper Haight neighborhood as a crime fighter.
For years, Konopka, 65, presided over monthly Wednesday evening meetings of a now-defunct neighborhood watch group known as RAD, formerly Residents Against Druggies, whose members crusaded against local street-level drug dealers in San Francisco, whom they viewed as magnets for more serious trouble.
He also ran twice for city supervisor, but Konopka's ardor for crime-fighting seemed to have dimmed in recent years.
On those Wednesdays that he once spent meeting with activists -- nights his wife, a San Mateo Union High School District administrator, attended school board meetings -- Konopka had turned to indulging in sadomasochistic bondage sessions, police said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BAG5CR00AH1.DTL
Porn lord Jim Mitchell dies at 63
Chronicle Staff Report
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 15:43 PDT SANTA ROSA -- Jim Mitchell, the porn czar who co-founded the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre and who later shot his brother to death, died Thursday night at his Sonoma County home. He was 63.
Paramedics were called Thursday evening to Mitchell's home near Two Rock in western Sonoma County, said Sgt. Mitch Mana of the county coroner's office. They could not revive him, and Mitchell was declared dead about 8 p.m.
The cause of death was not immediately known, but foul play was not suspected. An autopsy was conducted today, Mana said.
Mitchell grew up in Antioch. He and his brother, Artie Mitchell, opened their adult theater in San Francisco on July 4, 1969. The two also produced a string of pornographic movies, including "Behind the Green Door" with Marilyn Chambers in 1972.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BAGQUR0AHQ4.DTL&tsp=1
For Sale By Owner: Are real estate agents really necessary?
By Carol Lloyd, Special to SF Gate
Friday, July 13, 2007
Now that home prices have outstripped affordability for nearly a decade, perhaps it shouldn't surprise us that some people are ready to blame real estate agents. According to a 2006 Harris poll, real estate agents are among the least-trusted professionals -- second only to stockbrokers. Both professions have tapped into the American piggy bank in unprecedented ways; both have the potential to earn oodles of money without years of schooling -- simply by closing a few deals.
http://sfgate.com/columnists/lloyd/
Suit opposing use of 'Dyke' left in dust
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
Offended by the name Dykes on Bikes? Get over it, at least if you're a man, a federal appeals court says.
Men have no legal basis for being offended by the name that the group of motorcycle-riding lesbians picked for themselves and then succeeded in trademarking with the federal government, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled this week. The court, in Washington, D.C., hears copyright and trademark appeals and other specialized cases.
The decision turned a Dublin lawyer, Michael McDermott, away from the courthouse door. McDermott complained to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office in 2005 after the agency relented to the San Francisco motorcycle club and granted it exclusive rights to the name Dykes on Bikes.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BAGR7QVVIP1.DTL
Burns bends on 'War,' and seems OK about it
Tim Goodman
Friday, July 13, 2007
A minor controversy surrounding Ken Burns' documentary "The War" -- a controversy that was essentially defused in May -- resurfaced briefly at the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday and, if nothing else, proved that even if the fire is out, there may be some embers to deal with.
That's because even though the initial issue has been resolved -- Burns added stories about Latino soldiers after complaints from Latino groups, even though no one had seen the completed film -- there are still some troublesome remnants.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/DDGKEQV8B029.DTL
Talking trash disposal
We are running out of room for rubbish in throwaway society
David Lazarus
Friday, July 13, 2007
The garbage now piling up on East Bay sidewalks is a smelly, vermin-infested reminder of how easily we take for granted the idea that no matter what we throw away, there'll be some place to put it.
The reality is that the United States is awash in garbage, and we're rapidly running out of ways to dispose of it.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generated more than 245 million tons of trash -- or municipal solid waste in technical jargon -- in 2005, the latest year for which national figures are available.
That translates to roughly 4 1/2 pounds of garbage produced by every person every day.
And that, in turn, has resulted in a $52 billion industry dedicated to dumping, incinerating and recycling all the nasty, gooey, hinky, stinky stuff that we don't want.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BUGSOQVCC243.DTL
New Zealand Herald
Australian stocks: Market back in positive territory
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 7:05PM Thursday July 12, 2007
PERTH - The Australian stock market returned to positive territory with gains from resource giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto driving the bourse higher.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 38.3 points to 6363.4, while the all ordinaries gained 36.9 points to 6400.1.
At 1620 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was 40 points higher at 6367, on a volume of 15,955 contracts.
Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market got off to a strong start following a positive lead from Wall Street overnight.
"It has been a very interesting day on the market, it opened very strongly on the back of positive news out of America and commodities, but it eased right back in the afternoon," Mr Heffernan said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451203
Currency: Dollar holds onto gains in uneventful session
5:55PM Thursday July 12, 2007
The New Zealand dollar held onto its gains made yesterday, in a fairly uneventful session.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US78.07c, little changed from this morning but up from US77.55c late yesterday afternoon. It was also steady on the day against the Aussie at A90.56c, but up from yesterday's A90.16c
"Relative to where it was yesterday, it's made quite a strong comeback after quite a sizeable fall yesterday morning in particular," said Westpac currency strategist, Michael Gordon.
"We didn't really note strong selling yesterday, so I don't think there was a lot of conviction to be selling at this point despite expectations that the tone of the data here is going to get a bit worse," Mr Gordon said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451187
Solid Energy purchase
6:30AM Thursday July 12, 2007
State-owned coal miner Solid Energy has bought Nelson-based solar-heating specialist Sensible Heat.
The acquisition, which had a nationwide distribution network of agents who installed and supported its solar-heating products, would form the basis of a new service called Switch, Solid Energy said.
Switch would supply equipment, provide advice and design integrated heating systems. It would complement the work of Solid Energy's wood pellet business Nature's Flame, which was moving into the installation of wood pellet boilers in schools and commercial premises.
Solid Energy and Nature's Flame had carried out research and development into heating for residential, commercial and small industrial uses. It aimed to make that expertise more widely available through Switch, the company said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451039
Man arrested for home invasion and attack on elderly woman
4:00PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Angela Gregory
A 49-year-old man will appear in court tomorrow charged over the sexual assault of an elderly woman during a home invasion last night.
The man was arrested in Mangawhai by Rodney CIB investigators a short time ago.
He is now in Police custody and will face charges of aggravated burglarly and attempted sexual violation in the North Shore District Court tomorrow.
Police said further charges may be laid. They said the man's arrest came after "excellent information" from the public.
They are describing the 73-year-old woman as "very, very brave" after she managed to grab the knife from her attacker and stab him in the arm and leg.
She then spoke to him to calm him down, say police.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451061
House sales start slowing as interest rates kick in
5:00AM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Anne Gibson
The housing market is showing its first signs of a slight cooling this year with prices and sales volumes dropping last month.
Rising interest rates and slower winter sales are being cited as major reasons for the marginal price drop and the bigger volume fall shown in Real Estate Institute figures.
Institute president Murray Cleland said the figures showed house sales had eased back slightly from the "frantic pace" in the first five months of this year.
Two key indicators showed a turnaround. The record national median sale price of $350,000 fell $2500 to $347,500 last month and the number of sales fell from 9285 in May to 7474.
Mr Cleland questioned a Quotable Value report that concluded the market was still hot.
"The reports
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451021
Man dies after being buried under calf feed
6:55PM Thursday July 12, 2007
A man has died after being buried under several tonnes of calf feed today.
Police said the truck driver had been trying to unload the feed at Tuakau, in the Franklin District south of Auckland, when the tailgate of his truck failed to open automatically.
He became trapped while trying to operate the tailgate manually and was buried under the feed.
Police and OSH are tonight investigating at the scene of the accident.
- NZHERALD STAFF
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451202
Pakistanis bury dead from mosque battle
Men move coffins of those killed at the mosque. Photo / Reuters
7:05PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Augustine Anthony
ISLAMABAD - Pakistanis buried bodies on Thursday from among more than 70 followers of a revolutionary cleric, a day after commandos killed the last few gunmen hiding in the ruins of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in Islamabad.
Anger at the government's action ran deep in tribal parts of northwest Pakistan, though sentiment in most of the country sided with President Pervez Musharraf's decision to send in the army.
Cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed along with a handful of hardcore militants he had surrounded himself with, making a last stand in the basement of a religious school in the complex….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451207
Japan obsessed with money in men's toilets
3:10PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO - An elderly man nearing death who wants to give something back to the world, or just a prankster?
The mystery of who is leaving envelopes of 10,000 yen ($106) bills in men's toilets at government offices around Japan has gripped the nation this week despite the existence of far weightier issues, such as a looming election.
Since April 9, some 4 million yen has been found in men's rooms from the northernmost island of Hokkaido to the southern island of Okinawa, Japanese media say. Virtually all has that the person leaving them is a man.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451141
PM Howard's former rival brands him 'unpatriotic'
2:15PM Thursday July 12, 2007
CANBERRA - Former prime minister Paul Keating has again savaged the man who defeated him in the 1996 election, Prime Minister John Howard, by accusing him of being unpatriotic and anti-Muslim.
In an address to the Sydney film school festival last night, Mr Keating described Mr Howard as "a nationalist and not a patriot", and compared his politics to those of Adolf Hitler.
"A patriot will not exclude a person from another race from the community where they have lived side by side and whom he has known for many years but a nationalist will always remain suspicious of someone who does not seem to belong to his kind of people or more likely his kind of thinking," Mr Keating said.
"Shades there of John Howard's discomfort with Australia's multicultural community and a disgust of the Islamic community."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451121
PM Howard's former rival brands him 'unpatriotic'
2:15PM Thursday July 12, 2007
CANBERRA - Former prime minister Paul Keating has again savaged the man who defeated him in the 1996 election, Prime Minister John Howard, by accusing him of being unpatriotic and anti-Muslim.
In an address to the Sydney film school festival last night, Mr Keating described Mr Howard as "a nationalist and not a patriot", and compared his politics to those of Adolf Hitler.
"A patriot will not exclude a person from another race from the community where they have lived side by side and whom he has known for many years but a nationalist will always remain suspicious of someone who does not seem to belong to his kind of people or more likely his kind of thinking," Mr Keating said.
"Shades there of John Howard's discomfort with Australia's multicultural community and a disgust of the Islamic community."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451121
Two dozen suspects under 'constant watch'
5:00AM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Greg Ansley
CANBERRA - Australian counter-terrorism agencies have stepped up their scrutiny of potential homegrown terror cells as Sydney gears for the arrival of world leaders for September's Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.
A report said yesterday that a group of up to 25 Australians were under constant surveillance because of known "evil intentions".
And the New South Wales counter-terrorism chief, Assistant Commissioner Nick Kaldas, warned that security forces may not be able to prevent an attack by a person acting separately from known extremists. "It has to be something that worries us - the so-called lone wolf factor, someone who doesn't communicate with anyone else. [There's] no way of knowing ... what it is they're intending."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451047
Detachment, deficit and coconuts
2:30PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Cherelle Jackson
Economic reforms, regional agreements and national developments were dubbed detached from villagers in the rural areas of Samoa during a seminar last week.
According to Professor Asofou So'o, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the National University of Samoa and a leading local researcher said the Samoans out in rural villages feel the reforms or "what's happening in town" do not have a direct impact on their lives.
"My sense from talking to the people is, from them, they don't really care about what is happening in town, if they are getting what they want, today, tomorrow, next year that satisfies them, that's my sense of the village psyche," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451132
Four jailed for botched 21/7 bomb plot
A photo taken from closed circuit TV shows Omar (L), Mohammed (C) and Ibrahim. Photo / Reuters
12:55PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Michael Holden
LONDON - A judge has jailed four men for 40 years each for attempting to carry out suicide bombings on London's transport system in a plot he said had clearly been masterminded by al Qaeda.
Judge Adrian Fulford told the four he had no doubt their botched attempt to bomb three underground trains and a bus on July 21, 2005, two weeks after 52 people were killed in similar attacks, had been directed by Osama bin Laden's group.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451109
Woman held in UK bomb plot released without charge
New 9:48AM Friday July 13, 2007
LONDON - British police have released without charge the only woman among the eight suspects held in the case of failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow last month.
The woman was the wife of suspect Mohammed Asha, 26, arrested with him on June 30 while the pair drove on a motorway in northern England, hours after attackers drove a jeep into an airport terminal building in Scotland and set it ablaze.
That attack came 36 hours after the discovery of two cars packed with fuel, gas tanks and nails primed to explode near a crowded nightclub in London. Police think the two incidents were linked.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451334
China bans chemical in toothpaste after recalls
1:15PM Thursday July 12, 2007
BEIJING - China has banned the use in toothpaste of a chemical linked to the recall of Chinese made products across the globe as it tries to reassure consumers its good are safe.
China's quality and inspection watchdog stressed that although there was no proof long-term use of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol -- an industrial solvent used in paint and antifreeze -- was harmful, it was still banning its use.
"Almost all of our toothpaste manufacturers no longer use diethylene glycol as an ingredient," it said in a statement posted on its website late on Wednesday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451117
Should towns be moved because of the flooding?
8:56AM Friday July 13, 2007
What are your thoughts?
Prime Minister Helen Clark, who toured the Far North, said residents in towns repeatedly hit by flooding may have to consider moving.
Is that a good idea?
Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451096
Air pollution claims 1100 lives each year
Christchurch smog. 1 in 20 people nationally (4.8%) die earlier than they would because of pollution. Photo / Martin Woodhall
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Errol Kiong
Air pollution is a billion-dollar killer claiming nearly 1100 lives in New Zealand each year, a new report says.
The four-year study, by more than 20 leading science and health experts in New Zealand and Australia, found one in 20 people die earlier than they would have because of air pollution. In greater Auckland, the figure is 1 in 16.
It blames open fireplaces in homes and dirty fumes from vehicle exhausts and factories for the toll.
But the report also warns that smaller cities too have dirty air.
"Air pollution levels are quite high in places like Taumarunui, Timaru, Rotorua and Tokoroa," said a lead author, environmental science consultant Gavin Fisher.
The study showed the most significant pollutant came from inefficient fuel burning that can aggravate or cause respiratory problems.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451297
Storm takes heart of forest king
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Alanah May Eriksen
Te Matua Ngahere, thought to be about 2000 years old, lost its central leader in the storm when a rata tree was blown off its perch. Before the storm (left) and after (right).
One of the New Zealand's most famous trees has had its top knocked out in this week's storm, shortening its life by hundreds of years.
The rata tree that was growing from the centre of kauri tree Te Matua Ngahere in the Waipoua Forest, north of Dargaville, was blown to the ground.
It took with it the central leader of the kauri and several of its branches.
Waipoua Forest Trust conservationist Stephen King said rata trees grew on older trees, sending roots to the ground and eventually taking them over.
"But when you look up at it now you just see sky, no canopy."
Forest workers noticed the damage yesterday morning but believe it happened on Tuesday night.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451290
BBC apologises to Queen Elizabeth over photo shoot
7:18AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Avril Ormsby
The BBC has apologied to Queen Elizabeth for showing a misleading promotional trailer which implied she stormed out of a photo shoot. Photo / Reuters
The BBC apologised to Queen Elizabeth yesterday for wrongly implying that she had stormed out of a photo shoot with American photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The British broadcaster blamed a production company for sending it clips edited out of sequence which implied the monarch had lost her temper when asked to remove her crown.
The footage should never have been shown, the BBC said.
The story became headline news after a promotional trailer for a BBC documentary A year with the Queen, due to be aired later this year, was shown to journalists.
"In this trailer there is a sequence that implies that the Queen left a sitting prematurely. This was not the case and the actual sequence of events was misrepresented," the corporation said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451309
Russia urges Britain not to politicise Litvinenko spy case
9:13AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Olesya Dmitracova
Britain's Foreign office says Russia's refusal to extradite former Kremlin bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy, the main suspect in the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, is 'unacceptable'. Photo / Reuters
MOSCOW - Russia has urged Britain not to politicise the row over its refusal to extradite the key suspect in Alexander Litvinenko's murder, saying it should be dealt with strictly as a legal case.
British officials have threatened unspecified steps against Russia for refusing to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, a former state security agent, to stand trial over the poisoning of Litvinenko in London last year.
One of the options available to London is to expel Russian diplomats -- a possibility which revives memories of Cold War days and has alarmed officials here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451329
Sarkozy calls for rework of French constitution
8:57AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Emmanuel Jarry
French President Nicholas Sarkozy has called for a complete reform of the nation's constitution. Photo / Reuters
FRANCE - President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a reform of France's constitution and announced he would set up a commission to study ways to modernise rather than revolutionise the French state.
Repeatedly evoking the spirit of former President Charles de Gaulle, Sarkozy said French presidents should be allowed to address the national parliament and suggested introducing an element of proportional representation in elections.
He also said famously opaque presidential spending should be scrutinised by the national state auditor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451325
US report shows Iraqi forces have long way to go
8:21AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Andrew Gray
U.S. soldiers stand guard at the entrance of the Joint Security Station in Yarmuk neighbourhood in Baghdad yesterday. Photo / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's new Iraq report paints a picture of Iraqi security forces still plagued by sectarianism and heavily dependent on US troops to conduct operations.
The portrayal, in the report measuring Iraqi authorities against benchmarks laid down by the US Congress, is bound to raise fresh questions about the sustainability of any gains made by the current US troop increase in Iraq.
"Left on their own, many ISF (Iraqi Security Force) units still tend to gravitate to old habits of sectarianism when applying the law," said the report, issued by the White House on Thursday.
The report graded Iraq "not satisfactory" in terms of increasing units that could operate without US help, allowing Iraqi forces to work without political interference and enforcing the law even-handedly.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451317
US faults China on shipments Iran
8:51AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON - China is doing too little to stop militarily significant supplies to Iran, despite having voted for UN sanctions aimed at keeping Tehran from developing nuclear arms, senior Bush administration officials said today.
"Some Chinese entities continue to supply items and technology useful in weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery, and advanced conventional weapons programmes of concern, despite the UN Security Council resolutions," Don Mahley, a deputy assistant secretary of state, told the congressionally created US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Mahley stopped short of accusing Beijing of violating the companion resolutions adopted unanimously in December and March aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear arms or the means to deliver them.
"There have been transfers, which we have addressed with the Chinese, in which we believe that the transfers were not permitted by UN Security Council resolutions 1737 and 1747," Mahley said in response to questions from Commissioner Peter Brookes, a former Pentagon East Asia strategist.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451323
White House 'gagged' Surgeon General
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Leonard Doyle
Richard Carmona
For generations of Americans, the Surgeon General has been the "nation's doctor," the person they turned to for unbiased advice on everything from smoking to obesity and the HIV Aids pandemic.
And United States presidents have generally defended the Surgeon General's right to speak out on public health matters. But under President George W. Bush, the independence of the Surgeon General has been placed below industry lobbying and the demands of the religious right.
Damning testimony by Dr Richard Carmona, the Surgeon General from 2002 until 2006, has revealed that the Bush Administration frequently censored him and tried to mould his public statements to fit political goals. He was even ordered to mention Bush three times on every page of his speeches.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451275
Giuliani under fire
8:30AM Friday July 13, 2007
Relatives of firefighters killed at the World Trade Centre reproached Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani in a video, claiming the former New York mayor was woefully unprepared for September 11.
The parents and siblings of some of the 343 firefighters killed released the video with the International Association of Firefighters, which opposes Giuliani's candidacy.
They charged that Giuliani pushed for a faster cleanup of ground zero at the expense of finding remains, put an emergency centre in a building that collapsed on September 11 and failed to provide working radios for firefighters, making it impossible for them to learn the towers were on the verge of collapse.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451279
North Korea ready to learn from the outside world
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By David McNeill
Kim Jong II, North Korean leader is thought to of personally ordered the site cleared for the new all-English University.
North Korea is set to take a potentially giant leap out of the intellectual cold with the construction of a new all-English language university staffed by academics from around the world and teaching the cream of the country's graduate students.
Construction of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology is nearing completion on a 100ha plot leased by the People's Army in the North's capital. The Army has loaned 800 solders to build the campus, which is largely funded by a network of Christian evangelicals.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is believed to have personally ordered the site cleared for use and granted the university the right to hire staff from anywhere in the world.
The university is expected to eventually have 2600 undergraduate and postgraduate students and to help train a new generation of elite business executives and technicians.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451271
EU considers sending troops to Darfur
9:23AM Friday July 13, 2007
PARIS - The European Union is considering sending troops to protect Darfur refugees in Chad ahead of the arrival of a planned African and UN force in western Sudan, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana says.
Solana met French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday to discuss various international crises, including the four-year-old Darfur conflict.
"During my meeting with President Sarkozy, we talked about the possibility of deploying rapidly, in cooperation with the president of Chad, a temporary European Union force tasked with protecting refugee camps in Chad," Solana said in an interview with La Croix newspaper.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451331
Mexico rebel group not seen as security risk
8:43AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Catherine Bremer
MEXICO CITY - A clandestine Mexican rebel group that said it blew up fuel pipelines as part of an anti-government campaign might strike again but does not pose a major national security threat, analysts say.
Mexico ramped up security around its oil industry and key parts of the capital after the Marxist-inspired Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) said it carried out pipeline blasts this week, and last week and vowed to stage more attacks.
But analysts played down the threat from the group and said they saw little risk to strategic points such as oil export terminals and airports.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451320
Army builds on gains over rebels in the east
5:15AM Friday July 13, 2007
KILINOCHCHI - Sri Lankan troops drove Tamil Tiger fighters from their last stronghold in the island's east, the military said, but the rebels vowed to carry on with a guerrilla-style war.
The capture of a jungle area called Thoppigala, which had been in Tiger hands since the mid-1990s, rounds off a significant territorial setback for the rebels who have lost vast swathes of terrain in the east this year.
But while the Army has had the upper hand in recent months, the Tigers' military machine is still intact in the north, where they run a de facto state.
The military says it has killed nearly 450 rebel fighters in the Thoppigala area, in the eastern district of Batticaloa, since February and that around 20 of its men have been killed.
The Tigers say 60 of their guerrillas have been killed and believe they have killed three or four times that number of troops.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451230
Logged to death
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Dev Nadkarni
Honiara has patches of green but indiscriminate logging could make this a rarity. Photo / Dev Nadkarni
As it enters its 30th year of independence this month, the Solomon Islands finds itself on the brink of a twin disaster. In those three decades, its economy has overwhelmingly depended on just one rapidly disappearing natural resource - timber - which successive governments have failed to manage well, jeopardising the country's environmental health and economic wealth.
Estimates of how much tree cover is left vary, but the general agreement from most international environment groups is that the archipelago will be rendered almost completely treeless in the next five to six years. Moses Rohana, project manager for Environmental Concerns Action Network of Solomon Islands, fears commercial forestry will end as early as 2010.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451393
'Lost' passports raise alarm
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Patrick Gower
Casino loan sharks or identity fraudsters are feared to be behind a spate of "lost" Chinese passports.
The Weekend Herald has found 331 advertisements for lost Chinese passports placed in Chinese-language newspapers over the past three years.
The file is only a selection of those that have run in the classified section of the Auckland-based Mandarin Pages, with up to a dozen different lost passports advertised on some days.
The adverts usually feature a passport number and are a notification that they have been lost. There are no contact details for the document's return.
The number of lost passport advertisements does not tally with those reported to missing to the Auckland Central Police Station, where it is rare and only two have been called in in the past six months. The advertisements, which are still running this month, were found during a Weekend Herald investigation into loan sharks and alleged criminal behaviour associated with Auckland's SkyCity casino.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451507
Beleaguered Bush sticks to guns
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
George W. Bush himself looked tired as he conceded 'war fatigue' had set in among the American public and Congress. Photo / Reuters
President George W. Bush put off changing course in Iraq for at least two months yesterday but the United States House of Representatives signalled its frustration by calling for combat troops to leave by April.
An interim White House report released just before Bush spoke gave the Iraqi Government a mixed review in meeting political and security goals - providing more ammunition for war opponents demanding Bush start ending US military involvement.
The Democrat-controlled House, in a symbolic move, voted 223-201 to approve legislation to bring combat troops out of Iraq by April 1, 2008.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451439
The Republicans continue to state there will be another attack in the USA on the scale of September 11th. There better not be. But if there is take note where it will likely to come from. Jordan was stabbed in the back and so was Egypt. The UK has yet to be appreciated for it's generous immigrant policy. Well, guess what kind of treat the USA is in for? Is Homeland Security prepared to deal with this influx of aggrieved Iraqi citizens? I sincerely doubt it.
UN ups appeal to cope with rush of Iraqi refugees
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
Iraqi refugees wait to register at the UNHCR office in Douma, near Damascus, Syria. Photo / Reuters
The United Nations refugee agency yesterday doubled its funding appeal for Iraq this year to US$123 million ($157 million), saying humanitarian needs continued to mushroom as an estimated 2000 people flee violence each day.
Most of the revised appeal, up from US$60 million in January, will be used to provide shelter, food, healthcare, education and other emergency services to Iraqis who cross into neighbouring countries.
Syria and Jordan are already struggling to host 2 million Iraqis who fled before and since the 2003 US-led invasion, while another 2 million people are uprooted within Iraq, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451437
The big thaw
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Catherine Masters
New Zealand scientist Grant Redvers with expedition dog Tiksi and boat the Tara. Redvers is leading a research expedition investigating climate change in the Arctic.
You might think you'd go a little stir crazy stuck on a boat in the middle of a creaking frozen ocean with nothing but white all around.
Or you might think it would be the perpetual darkness of winter or the 24-hour daylight of summer that would drive you bonkers.
You'd be wrong. Every day something unexpected happens out on the Arctic Ocean where the ice is so thick, explorers once searched in vain thinking they would find land.
It might be as simple as waking up to the thrill of finding polar bear tracks next to the boat, as Masterton scientist Grant Redvers did recently, and being reminded that, even though you feel you are the only ones alive on an alien planet, this empty chilly place is the home of other powerful beings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451418
Sales rise food for thought
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Brian Fallow
Supermarket spending led the way in retail sales. Photo / The Aucklander
The dollar jumped yesterday on news of a 1.2 per cent increase in retail sales in May - even though the rise only reversed a fall of the same size in April.
The result was stronger than economists had expected in light of the official cash rate increases in the two preceding months.
The financial market took it as having increased the risk of another interest rate rise, although the market still thinks it more likely than not that Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard will sit tight on July 26.
Statistics New Zealand said total sales, adjusted for seasonal effects, rose 1.2 per cent to be 6.5 per cent ahead of May last year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451476
Brian Gaynor: Investors need a new breed of director
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Brian Gaynor
The latest round of takeover offers clearly demonstrates that a major difference in approach has developed between shareholders and directors.
Shareholders want to invest in companies with clear growth strategies that will deliver long-term value, whereas New Zealand directors seem to be more interested in short- term considerations as they are quick to recommend bids that offer a premium to the current market price.
This difference of opinion, which was evident in the controversial Waste Management takeover last year, has become more pronounced over the past few months.
The bid for MediaWorks, formerly known as CanWest MediaWorks, closed on Monday with Sydney private equity manager Ironbridge Capital reaching 82.55 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/12/story.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=10451422
Microsoft won't cut price of Xbox 360
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
New York: Microsoft has refused to blink in the video game console war with Sony, revealing that it will rely on exciting new games such as the third instalment of Halo to boost sales of its Xbox 360 rather than entering a price war with its rival.
Sony slashed the cost of its advanced PlayStation 3 console this week in the US by US$100 ($128), a move that turned up the heat on Microsoft.
Yet Microsoft has refused to take the bait and has instead unveiled a Spartan Green version of the Xbox 360 to accompany the highly anticipated Halo game. The decision to maintain its pricing structure comes despite the company missing its target for 12 million global console shipments by the end of June after it reported it had sold 11.6 million units thus far.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451455
Nintendo says Wii could beat record-holding PS2
3:52PM Friday July 13, 2007
By Kiyoshi Takenaka
Nintendo's Wii console is proving popular as it's easy to use and very interactive.
SANTA MONICA - Sales of Nintendo's quirky Wii video game machine could top the legendary PlayStation 2, making it the biggest hit in the industry's history, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said on Thursday.
Nintendo sped past Sony in market capitalisation last month to become one of the 10 most valuable companies in Japan.
Iwata in an interview also played down the threat to Nintendo's (business of a price cut in Sony's PlayStation 3 and the introduction of a thinner PlayStation Portable.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451385
Apple patent filings hint at WiFi iPods, tricky mice
1:49PM Friday July 13, 2007
Patent applications in the US hint at a new generation of WiFi-capable iPods.
Apple has filed a number of new patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, hinting at possible products in the pipeline.
A particularly interesting example appears to involve a method of allowing an iPod or iPhone to interface with other devices over a wireless network, according to Macsimum News.
Older Apple patent filings have dropped similar hints, but it seems that the idea of sharing playlists, iTunes-style between WiFi capable iPods is gaining momentum.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451375
Google founder doubts Facebook for sale
12:53PM Friday July 13, 2007
By Kenneth Li
SUN VALLEY - Google co-founder Sergey Brin says his company would be happy to talk with Facebook about potential ties, but that the social network did not appear to be courting takeover bids.
"If they come to us, we'd certainly be open to talking," Brin said, answering a reporter's question at the 25th annual Allen & Co. media deal-makers conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "But I think they're building a great company of their own."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451365
Conrad Black found guilty of criminal fraud
8:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
Conrad Black arrives with his wife Barbara Amiel Black at the Dirksen Federal courthouse. Photo / Reuters
CHICAGO - A US jury has found Conrad Black guilty of criminal fraud and obstruction of justice in a verdict that could send the former media baron to jail for up to 35 years.
Black was allowed to remain free on a US$21 million bond pending a July 19 hearing on whether bond should be continued. His lawyers said he would appeal, and sentencing was set for November 30. Black surrendered his passport in court.
Black and his three co-defendants were each convicted of three charges of mail fraud. Each fraud charge carried a potential five-year prison sentence. In addition, Black's obstruction conviction carried a possible 20-year sentence. Overall, Black was guilty in four of 13 charges against him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451515
Musharraf stiffens resolve as Pakistan mourns mosque dead (+video)
A soldier surveys the inside of the Mosque. Photo / Reuters
11:25AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Simon Cameron-Moore
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has vowed to eradicate extremism "from every nook and corner of the country" after a bloody confrontation at an Islamabad mosque in which at least 105 people died.
"I want to say it clearly that extremism and terrorism have not been eradicated from Pakistan," he said in an address to the nation following Tuesday's commando assault on Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451347
Tracey Barnett: The President wins, the American people lose
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Tracey Barnett
Dear Mr President: You owe me. You owe me for what you have taken away - and for what America can't seem to find again.
How will I explain the country you are leaving in 18 months to my two American-born children? What will I tell them when they're ready to vote a decade from now and still living with the repercussions of the damage you have done to America's reputation throughout the world?
Do I teach them that America isn't just the land of baseball and burgers - but now the happy home of water boarding and wire-tapping? Do I explain that our new national symbol isn't just an eagle but one of naked hooded prisoners stacked in pyramids like broken chairs?
You owe me for the future my children will have to work to rebuild someday, and I never agreed to pay that price.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451411
Playing chicken with your health
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Geoff Cumming
Chicken drumsticks. Photo / Michael Craig
There's a killer in the supermarket chiller, spreading disease by stealth. Fresh chicken meat is, most likely, alive with campylobacter, a bacteria which can cause a horrible, debilitating form of food poisoning.
Pick up a pack with enough "campy" bugs on it and you can spread it around the supermarket - via the trolley handle, by opening freezers, fondling cheeses. When you get home, the same risks apply, particularly if the bag is leaking.
At least, that's the picture some scientists are painting. If the risk was that real, we'd be swimming in diarrhoea and vomit; the country would grind to a halt.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10451424
UN closer to killers of former PM
New 8:15AM Saturday July 14, 2007
UN investigators probing the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri have identified some who may have been involved or known about it, their chief said yesterday.
New information about a van used to blow up Hariri and 22 others in Beirut in February last year, about cellphones used to track him and about his political activities had helped to pinpoint suspects, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451443
continued...
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
"I'm about to become your worst nightmare."
Saturday, July 14th, 2007
An Open Letter to CNN from Michael Moore
Dear CNN,
Well, the week is over -- and still no apology, no retraction, no correction of your glaring mistakes.
I bet you thought my dust-up with Wolf Blitzer was just a cool ratings coup, that you really wouldn't have to correct the false statements you made about "Sicko." I bet you thought I was just going to go quietly away.
Think again. I'm about to become your worst nightmare. 'Cause I ain't ever going away. Not until you set the record straight, and apologize to your viewers. "The Most Trusted Name in News?" I think it's safe to say you can retire that slogan.
You have an occasional segment called "Keeping Them Honest." But who keeps you honest? After what the public saw with your report on "Sicko," and how many inaccuracies that report contained, how can anyone believe anything you say on your network? In the old days, before the Internet, you could get away with it. Your victims had no way to set the record straight, to show the viewers how you had misrepresented the truth. But now, we can post the truth -- and back it up with evidence and facts -- on the web, for all to see. And boy, judging from the mail both you and I have been receiving, the evidence I have posted on my site about your "Sicko" piece has led millions now to question your honesty.
I won't waste your time rehashing your errors. You know what they are. What I want to do is help you come clean. Admit you were wrong. What is the shame in that? We all make mistakes. I know it's hard to admit it when you've screwed up, but it's also liberating and cathartic. It not only makes you a better person, it helps prevent you from screwing up again. Imagine how many people will be drawn to a network that says, "We made a mistake. We're human. We're sorry. We will make mistakes in the future -- but we will always correct them so that you know you can trust us." Now, how hard would that really be?
As you know, I hold no personal animosity against you or any of your staff. You and your parent company have been very good to me over the years. You distributed my first film, "Roger & Me" and you published "Dude, Where's My Country?" Larry King has had me on twice in the last two weeks. I couldn't ask for better treatment.
That's why I was so stunned when you let a doctor who knows a lot about brain surgery -- but apparently very little about public policy -- do a "fact check" story, not on the medical issues in "Sicko," but rather on the economic and political information in the film. Is this why there has been a delay in your apology, because you are trying to get a DOCTOR to say he was wrong? Please tell him not to worry, no one is filing a malpractice claim against him. Dr. Gupta does excellent and compassionate stories on CNN about people's health and how we can take better care of ourselves. But when it came time to discuss universal health care, he rushed together a bunch of sloppy -- and old -- research. When his producer called us about his report the day before it aired, we sent to her, in an email, all the evidence so that he wouldn't make any mistakes on air. He chose to ignore ALL the evidence, and ran with all his falsehoods -- even though he had been given the facts a full day before! How could that happen? And now, for 5 days, I have posted on my website, for all to see, every mistake and error he made.
You, on the other hand, in the face of this overwhelming evidence and a huge public backlash, have chosen to remain silent, probably praying and hoping this will all go away.
Well it isn't. We are now going to start looking into the veracity of other reports you have aired on other topics. Nothing you say now can be believed. In 2002, the New York Times busted you for bringing celebrities on your shows and not telling your viewers they were paid spokespeople for the pharmaceutical companies. You promised never to do it again. But there you were, in 2005, talking to Joe Theismann, on air, as he pushed some drug company-sponsored website on prostate health. You said nothing about about his affiliation with GlaxoSmithKline.
Clearly, no one is keeping you honest, so I guess I'm going to have to do that job, too. $1.5 billion is spent each year by the drug companies on ads on CNN and the other four networks. I'm sure that has nothing to do with any of this. After all, if someone gave me $1.5 billion, I have to admit, I might say a kind word or two about them. Who wouldn't?!
I expect CNN to put this matter to rest. Say you're sorry and correct your story -- like any good journalist would.
Then we can get back to more important things. Like a REAL discussion about our broken health care system. Everything else is a distraction from what really matters.
Yours,
Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
http://www.michaelmoore.com/
P.S. If you also want to apologize for not doing your job at the start of the Iraq War, I'm sure most Americans would be very happy to accept your apology. You and the other networks were willing partners with Bush, flying flags all over the TV screens and never asking the hard questions that you should have asked. You might have prevented a war. You might have saved the lives of those 3,610 soldiers who are no longer with us. Instead, you blew air kisses at a commander in chief who clearly was making it all up. Millions of us knew that -- why didn't you? I think you did. And, in my opinion, that makes you responsible for this war. Instead of doing the job the founding fathers wanted you to do -- keeping those in power honest (that's why they made it the FIRST amendment) -- you and much of the media went on the attack against the few public figures like myself who dared to question the nightmare we were about to enter. You've never thanked me or the Dixie Chicks or Al Gore for doing your job for you. That's OK. Just tell the truth from this point on.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=216
Bush Admits White House CIA Leak
Associated Press
July 12, 2007 3:23 p.m.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush acknowledged publicly for the first time Thursday that someone in his administration "perhaps" leaked the name of a CIA operative, although he also said he hopes the controversy over his decision to spare prison for a former White House aide has "run its course."
"And now we're going to move on," Mr. Bush said in a White House news conference.
The president had initially said he would fire anyone in his administration found to have publicly disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and a CIA operative. Mr. Wilson is an outspoken Iraq war critic.
Ten days ago, Mr. Bush commuted the 30-month sentence given to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby by a federal judge in connection with the case. Mr. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, had been convicted of lying and obstruction of justice in the CIA-leak case.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118426038242564851.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Bush acknowledges administration official leaked Plame's name, immediately 'moves on'
David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Published: Thursday July 12, 2007
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At a White House press conference Thursday, President Bush acknowledged that someone in his administration leaked the name of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, but he avoided addressing the question of whether he saw it as a moral issue or was at all disappointed in his senior advisers.
Michael Abramowitz of the Washington Post – who recently wrote an article about how Bush decided on the Libby commutation without consulting with Justice Department lawyers, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, or even old friends who had been lobbying on Libby's behalf – asked Bush about his commutation of Libby's sentence.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_acknowledges_administration_official_leaked_Plames_0712.html
Michael Moore on Countdown with Keith Olbermann
"The whole nation is totally befuddled by this individual. He's become a nonpartisan, bipartisan issue. Republicans and Democrats and Independents, all together, are sick and tired of the job he's doing and they want this war to end. And I'm hoping the Democratic congress hears that message. They were given the message last November. They haven't followed through on what they were told to do by the people of the United States of America. So I really hope that the Democrats can find their spine and do what needs to be done here."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-XQ8nfnye4
Dr. Gupta's Bias
Submitted by Bill Scher on July 11, 2007 - 7:26pm.
Michael Moore and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta faced off yesterday on Larry King Live, following Moore's on-air criticism of Gupta's anti-SiCKO piece which accused Moore of "fudg[ing] some facts."
Moore, on his website, is ably taking Gupta to task on the factual points.
And as Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar notes, during Larry King Live, “Moore cites his source for every statistic offered ... yet Gupta ignores it, all of it, including Moore restating, again, that all of this was available in this email [sent by Moore’s team to CNN] from June 28, 2007.”
But what was most striking was when Gupta showed the heart of his bias, a bias against having our government guarantee universal health care.
Gupta says to Moore, “You criticize the government so soundly. But you're willing to hand over one of our most precious commodities, our health care in this country, to the government.”
Moore rebutted, “I actually love our government ... It does a great job of administrating Social Security ... the problem is who we've put in power who holds office.”
Then in response, Gupta made a completely misleading attack on Medicare:
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/dr_guptas_bias?tx=3
In Sicko "fact check," CNN's Gupta falsely claimed his source's "only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University"
Summary: After Sicko director Michael Moore said that CNN's Sicko fact-check "healthcare expert" Paul Keckley is "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta asserted that Keckley's "only affiliation" is with Vanderbilt University. Gupta continued, "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, as a caption accompanying Gupta's original report stated, Keckley is a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert."
On the July 10 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta falsely asserted that the "only affiliation" of Paul Keckley, whom Gupta had quoted criticizing the national health care systems of France, Canada, and Cuba during a July 9 "fact check" of filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, was "with Vanderbilt University." Gupta was responding to Moore's claim that Keckley was "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor." Moore also said that Keckley "has done business with [health insurance provider] Blue Cross, with [pharmaceutical firm] Aventis, with these other groups," and claimed that Keckley was affiliated "with a think tank that's connected to [presidential candidate and former Wisconsin Gov.] Tommy Thompson [R]." In denying Moore's allegations, Gupta asserted: "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, in Gupta's original report -- which King excerpted during his show -- the caption identified Keckley not as affiliated "with Vanderbilt University," but rather as a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert." Indeed, in addition to serving on the faculty of Vanderbilt University, Keckley is the executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707120001?f=h_latest
CNN Gets Blitzed by Michael Moore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKoN40K7mA
Michael Moore VS Wolf Blitzer - Round II
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/07/10/michael-moore-vs-wolf-blitzer-round-ii/
Mike and Sanjay Gupta on Larry King Live (VIDEOS:
Michael Moore vs. Sonjay Gupta pt1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGncsJziH2o
Michael Moore vs. Sanjay Gupta Fireworks pt2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrvrfG0zE6E
MICHAEL MOORE vs. SANJAY GUPTA pt3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqoYhbVa2h4
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Smackdown:
July 10th, 2007 12:19 am
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight
[In response to Dr. Sanjay Gupta's biased reporting on 'SiCKO' during the July 8th, 2007 broadcast of... The Situation Room (VIDEO)]
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN: "(Moore says) the United States slipped to number 37 in the world's health care systems. It's true. ... Moore brings a group of patients, including 9/11 workers, to Cuba and marvels at their free treatment and quality of care. But hold on - that WHO list puts Cuba's health care system even lower than the United States, coming in at #39."
THE TRUTH:
"But hold on?" 'SiCKO' clearly shows the WHO list, with the United States at number #37, and Cuba at #39. Right up on the screen in big five-foot letters. It's even in the trailer! CNN should have its reporter see his eye doctor. The movie isn't hiding from this fact. Just the opposite:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10017
July 11th, 2007 8:44 pm
'SiCKO' Truth Squad Sets CNN Straight -- Again
GUPTA: "Well, I mean, he pulls $251 from this BBC unsourced report ... Where you pulled the $251 number was a BBC report, which, by the way, stated that the per capita spending in the United States was $5,700. You chose not to use the $5,700 from one report and chose to go to a totally different report and you're sort of cherry picking data from different reports ... Well, why didn't you use the $5,700 number from the BBC report?"
THE TRUTH:
Actually, the number 'Sicko' cited for per capita Cuban spending on health care - $251, a number widely cited by the BBC and other outlets - comes from the United Nations Human Development Report, helpfully linked on our website. Here it is again:
://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/52.html.
That UN report does list American health care spending as only $5,700, but it's a few years old. Since then, the U.S. government has updated it's projections for health care spending, to $7,498 in 2007. So we used that number. It's the most recent, and comes right from the Department of Health and Human Services. If the Cuban government gave a figure on 2007 projected health spending, we'd have used it.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10026
"If we get that confirmed, obviously, we'll correct the record." -- Wolf Blitzer, live on The Situation Room
July 11th, 2007 7:18 pm
Dr. Gupta's Fans Turn on Him
Some comments from regular readers of Dr. Sanjay Gupta's blog on CNN, where he attempted to defend his record after his showdown with Michael Moore on Larry King Live.
james in Toronto, 2:19 PM ET
You guys have a problem with your health care and only Michael Moore is doing something about it. Arguing over facts and figures is not the way. That's just missing the point.
For a country that calls itself a "superpower", you sure have a lot of stupid people in office. you have a war you shouldn't be in and that you started. You have a health care system that no one seems to want to fix... and those that do are getting lambasted. You have areas of your country ravaged by global warming (which you say doesn't even exist) that are still not repaired. You have a drug problem that's been spiraling out of control... you have crazy people shooting up your schools with guns which you allow them to have... you have a government that is working for it's own gain and not the peoples.
I am SO glad I'm not an American.
Bonnie, 2:15 PM ET
Sanjay - I really admire you and am always interested in your experienced and compassionate reporting. Buuut.... I really think you're mis-focused on the Michael Moore/Sicko conversation.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10025
Dr. Gupta's Bias
Submitted by Bill Scher on July 11, 2007 - 7:26pm.
Michael Moore and CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta faced off yesterday on Larry King Live, following Moore's on-air criticism of Gupta's anti-SiCKO piece which accused Moore of "fudg[ing] some facts."
Moore, on his website, is ably taking Gupta to task on the factual points.
And as Huffington Post’s Rachel Sklar notes, during Larry King Live, “Moore cites his source for every statistic offered ... yet Gupta ignores it, all of it, including Moore restating, again, that all of this was available in this email [sent by Moore’s team to CNN] from June 28, 2007.”
But what was most striking was when Gupta showed the heart of his bias, a bias against having our government guarantee universal health care.
Gupta says to Moore, “You criticize the government so soundly. But you're willing to hand over one of our most precious commodities, our health care in this country, to the government.”
Moore rebutted, “I actually love our government ... It does a great job of administrating Social Security ... the problem is who we've put in power who holds office.”
Then in response, Gupta made a completely misleading attack on Medicare:
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/dr_guptas_bias?tx=3
In Sicko "fact check," CNN's Gupta falsely claimed his source's "only affiliation is with Vanderbilt University"
Summary: After Sicko director Michael Moore said that CNN's Sicko fact-check "healthcare expert" Paul Keckley is "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor," CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta asserted that Keckley's "only affiliation" is with Vanderbilt University. Gupta continued, "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, as a caption accompanying Gupta's original report stated, Keckley is a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert."
On the July 10 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta falsely asserted that the "only affiliation" of Paul Keckley, whom Gupta had quoted criticizing the national health care systems of France, Canada, and Cuba during a July 9 "fact check" of filmmaker Michael Moore's documentary Sicko, was "with Vanderbilt University." Gupta was responding to Moore's claim that Keckley was "a person from a think tank group who is a big Republican contributor." Moore also said that Keckley "has done business with [health insurance provider] Blue Cross, with [pharmaceutical firm] Aventis, with these other groups," and claimed that Keckley was affiliated "with a think tank that's connected to [presidential candidate and former Wisconsin Gov.] Tommy Thompson [R]." In denying Moore's allegations, Gupta asserted: "We checked it, Michael. We checked his conflict of interest. We do ask those questions." In fact, in Gupta's original report -- which King excerpted during his show -- the caption identified Keckley not as affiliated "with Vanderbilt University," but rather as a "Deloitte Healthcare Expert." Indeed, in addition to serving on the faculty of Vanderbilt University, Keckley is the executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200707120001?f=h_latest
CNN vs. SiCKO
7/11/07
Filmmaker Michael Moore appeared on CNN's Situation Room on July 9 to talk about his new film Sicko—but ended up having an animated discussion with host Wolf Blitzer about a CNN "fact check" of the film that made several embarrassing errors.
The piece--dubbed a "Reality Check" by senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta--claimed that Moore "fudged the facts" when critiquing the U.S. health care system (click here to watch the clip). Gupta starts by acknowledging that the U.S. healthcare system placed 37th in the World Health Organization's rankings. The fact that Moore contrasts this with the Cuban system led Gupta to "catch" him: "But hold on. That WHO list puts Cuba's healthcare system even lower than the United States, coming in at number 39."
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3135
Demand Corrections
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?65
e-mail :: situationroom@cnn.com
July 13th, 2007 5:30 pm
Moore's 'Sicko' Rings Close to Home for This Reporter
There is still triumph left in this world, and Michael Moore delivers a documentary about the healthcare industry that leaves the mind reeling and stinging
By Tim King / Salem-News
SALEM, Ore. - As Americans die in increasing numbers through the greed of hospitals, healthcare organizations and insurance companies, it adds insult to injury to learn that our lifespan in the states is less than many third world countries.
As our nation struggles in a desperate search for answers, those at the root of the problem do nothing to help. They should be more than embarrassed, and we should be more than angry.
Billions of dollars are flowing into the pockets of the richest CEO's and shareholders pockets as Americans die needless and avoidable deaths. All because our national priorities are exclusively money driven.
As our country descends the ladder of health, enter Michael Moore and "Sicko."
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10037
July 13th, 2007 3:39 pm
A lot of 'Sicko's out there
By Michael Fitzgerald / Stockton Record
Stockton police gave the heave-ho Tuesday to two people handing out leaflets outside the downtown multiplex. So much for the land of the free.
The dang popcorn's expensive, too.
Carol Bailey and Woody Alspaugh are members of Health Care for All of San Joaquin. HCA, as it is called, supports single-payer universal health care as a remedy for the United States' mucked-up health care system.
They were outside the theater, of course, because Michael Moore's film "Sicko" is playing there.
"Did Michael Moore's 'Sicko' make you sick about our broken health care system?" their leaflet reads. "You can do something about it!"
The leaflet goes on to urge support for Senate Bill 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10035
July 13th, 2007 3:26 pm
The state of health care in U.S. just plain sick
By David L. Coddon / San Diego Union-Tribune
I'm not making this up.
Wish I were.
I have a heart condition. Last week, on the Fourth of July, I went to my box to retrieve the previous day's mail. In it was a letter from my health insurance provider. It began:
“Dear Mr. Gddon:”
That was only the beginning of the insult. Paragraph two: “We have completed our review of your application (for Long Term Disability coverage) and have concluded that we are presently unable to approve your request for coverage.” The letter then cited health conditions “taken into consideration,” including two that I have never suffered from.
Deflated and angry, but it being Independence Day and bound to do my patriotic duty, I proceeded to the nearest movie theater and bought a ticket to see “Sicko.”
I was reminded, dramatically, that I am not alone. More sobering, my problems are nothing compared to those of the 43.5 million who are not insured. Several times, I was moved to tears – yes, at a Michael Moore movie.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10034
July 13th, 2007 3:01 pm
Sick over lack of health care, Wisconsinites seek action
By Samara Kalk Derby / Capital Times
MADISON, WI -- In his job as a critical care nurse at UW Hospital, Jack Trudell can tell many of the kinds of stories that Michael Moore exposes in his new documentary "SiCKO."
The one that sticks out most for him was about a young man who was in jail and approved for early release when he went into cardiac arrest. After a number of days, he woke up in Trudell's unit, shackled and with two prison guards at his bedside.
He and his family were given a choice: Go free and owe tens of thousands of dollars in hospital bills or serve out the rest of his sentence and have his health care paid for by the state.
Trudell was part of a four-member panel, "From 'SiCKO' to Sanity: Why Our Health Care System Doesn't Work and What We Can Do About It," on Thursday night at Escape Coffee Gallery on Williamson Street.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10033
Paris Loses Sis in Pap Crush
Posted Jul 10th 2007 2:38PM by TMZ Staff
Filed under: Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton lost track of sister Nicky after getting swarmed at the Grove in Los Angeles last night.
http://mail.ywww.tmz.com/2007/07/10/paris-loses-sis-in-pap-crush/
July 12th, 2007 7:30 pm
Michael Moore fans impatient to see 'Sicko'
By Jim Haug / Daytona Beach News-Journal
Michael Moore fans must feel like they have been denied treatment for the pre-existing condition of living in Volusia and Flagler counties.
"Sicko," the ball-capped muckraker's expose on health care, opened June 29 but has yet to come to a local theater.
It won't make it here this weekend either.
"I'm so irritated," said Maxine Kronick, a fan from Flalger Beach who appeared in Moore's first film, "Roger and Me."
Kronick said she "called up the corporate office of Regal Cinema and screamed: 'Where's 'Sicko?' "
Theater owners say they're not trying to censor a politically charged movie that promotes socialized medicine.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10031
Benefit Slated For Bentonville Woman
Springdale Morning News
BENTONVILLE, AR -- A barbecue benefit to help a woman paralyzed in a car accident will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at the Boys & Girls Club McKinney Unit in Bentonville, according to a news release.
Toni Greetan, 18, of Bentonville has been a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County for 12 years. She became paralyzed in a recent car accident and underwent a 10-hour surgery to repair severe nerve damage to her spine. She is undergoing intensive rehabilitation, according to the release.
The benefit dinner is $5 per plate and will be held at the McKinney Unit at 2801 N. Walker St. in Bentonville.
The Boys & Girls Club program Project Hope has set up an account for Greetan at Arvest Bank. The long-term goal is to help the family with mounting medical bills, making their home accessible to people with disabilities and purchasing a wheelchair.
All donations are tax-deductible.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10030
Evicted family needs help
By Nancy McCleary / Fayetteville Observer
RAEFORD — Dorothy Elliott sat on a couch in a sparsely furnished living room, looked around and sighed.
Above her head, a ceiling fan churned out a gentle breeze. Elliott’s fiance, Jerry Hayes, sat on the other couch.
“It’s a dream come true, if only for a week,” said Elliott, who was injured last year when a man stole the cab she was driving.
Elliott and her family have caught a brief reprieve after being evicted Tuesday from their mobile home off Sapona Road.
When Jean Kimpson learned of the family’s plight, she offered to let them stay in a house she owns in the Liberty Point neighborhood.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/sicko/news/article.php?id=10029
Thursday, July 12th, 2007
Strange Bedfellows ...by Cindy Sheehan
Since I announced my challenge to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi a few days ago, I have been very thrilled that issues like impeachment and the inherent corruption of the "two" party system have been brought to the forefront of public discourse. Every interview that I have done has given me the opportunity to throw the impeachment issue out there. The democratic blogosphere has predictably lined up against me and must be very frightened because they are repeating the scandalous lies of the right. Wow, the right and left are finding common ground over slandering me. I must be a uniter.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=886
I have been "warned"
by CindySheehan [Subscribe]
Thu Jul 12, 2007 at 06:16:05 AM PDT
I can't post here anymore because my potential run for Congress
is not on the Democratic ticket.
I have been deeply grateful for all of your support over the years.
Your love and kindness helped me through lots of sleepless nights
at Camp Casey '05.
If Speaker Pelosi does her constitutionally mandated duty and I don't run,
then I can come back and post.
I know a lot of you are hostile towards my candidacy. Please
understand that I am doing it for your children and grandchildren
(and my surviving ones.)
Love always,
Cindy
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/12/91014/1295
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Southern utilities resist renewables
By BEN EVANS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Six of the nation's 10 largest sources of carbon dioxide emissions are coal-fired power plants in the South, but year after year Southern lawmakers balk at pushing utilities toward cleaner renewable energy.
Last month, Republican senators from the South provided about half the votes that defeated federal legislation to require power companies to get 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Nationally, almost half the states have adopted their own renewable mandates, but only one, Texas, is in the South.
Southern lawmakers - responding to heavy lobbying from local utilities - argue their region isn't conducive to solar or wind power like the sun-baked Southwest or the open plains of the West.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1153AP_Renewable_Energy_South.html
Typhoon hits Japan; at least 34 injured
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Surging waves hit the shore line as strong wind blows over the Amami Oshima island, southern Japan following the approach of a powerful typhoon Man-Yi, Friday, July 13, 2007. A powerful typhoon pounded Japan's southern Okinawa island chain Friday, injuring residents, cutting power to tens of thousands of households and grounding hundreds of flights, officials said. (AP Photo/Kyodo News)
TOKYO -- A powerful typhoon raced up the Japanese archipelago Saturday, injuring at least 34 people, cutting power and snarling transportation, officials and news reports said.
Typhoon Man-Yi clocked sustained wind speeds of up to 100 miles per hour and gusts of up to 133 miles per hour as it approached Makurazaki city on the southern tip of the southern main island of Kyushu Saturday, according to the Meteorological Agency.
A 63-year-old woman suffered fractures after she was knocked over by the wind early Saturday in Kyushu's Kagoshima state, local official Akihiro Waki said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Japan_Typhoon.html
North Korea gets oil for closing reactor
By BO-MI LIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
U.S. diplomat Christopher Hill, left, the chief U.S. envoy on the North Korean nuclear standoff, accompanied by his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae, speaks to reporters following their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo Friday, July 13, 2007. Efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear program gathered pace Friday, with Hill saying he wants the North's reactor completely disabled by year's end and U.N. inspectors heading to Pyongyang to supervise the shutdown. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)
PYONGYANG, North Korea -- U.N. inspectors arrived in North Korea on Saturday to monitor the communist country's long-anticipated promise to scale back its nuclear weapons program, while the top U.S. nuclear envoy said he expected Pyongyang's reactor to be shut down in a matter of days.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Koreas_Nuclear.html?source=mypi
Suspect in girl's killing will be looked at for similar crimes
By HECTOR CASTRO
P-I REPORTER
TACOMA -- A convicted sex offender who told police where to find the body of a missing 12-year-old Tacoma girl is now a suspect in the case and will be charged with her kidnapping and death, Tacoma Police Chief Don Ramsdell told reporters Friday.
And he said the case against Terapon Adhahn, 42, may not stop with Zina Linnik. Tacoma police detectives will look at similar cases of missing children to see whether Adhahn might be a suspect in them, Ramsdell said. At the same time, the FBI will check its national database for similar crimes.
Ramsdell didn't mention any similar crimes, but he did acknowledge that one case investigators will be looking at is that of Adre'Anna Jackson, a 10-year-old Lakewood girl who disappeared Dec. 2, 2005. Her remains were found several months later in a field near her home.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323628_kidnapped14.html
Nickels goes after liquor license of Belltown club
By ANGELA GALLOWAY
P-I REPORTER
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has asked the state to yank the liquor license of a Belltown club where a woman was recently wounded by a stray bullet during a parking lot altercation, city officials said.
The mayor's office said the July 2 shooting was the 14th violent incident in or near the club since August 2006.
In addition, nearly two dozen driving-under-the-influence allegations have been associated with the Tabella over the last year, according to the city.
The woman who was recently woundedwas a bystander to a fight involving about two dozen men in the club's parking lot, the city said. Weeks earlier, there was another fight there that involved more than 200 people.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323674_club14.html
Sound Transit refigures cost of project
By LARRY LANGE
P-I REPORTER
It will cost an estimated $30.8 billion to build an expanded Sound Transit light-rail system, operate it for 20 years and repay financing costs over 50 years, according to a revised calculation made by Sound Transit.
This is more than $7 billion less than the agency had said earlier.
Urban-area Puget Sound voters will be asked to approve the new amount as part of a November ballot and would continue to pay for it until bonds are repaid in 2057, according to the agency.
Sound Transit last month confirmed that the total cost, including construction, inflation, debt payments, bond and other costs would total $37.9 billion. That figure was initially published by the Seattle Times, subsequently confirmed by the agency and then included in other media reports.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/323648_soundcosts14.html
Rules put safety first for pool and spa owners
By OLIVIA HERNANDEZ
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
With the heat of the summer bearing down upon the city, it would seem a great time to design your own means of keeping cool. But if that means building a pool, you may want to check the building code first.
A new code that went into effect this month will require owners of single-family homes to build safety barriers around new swimming pools and spas. It will be monitored by local building inspectors.
The code is not retroactive and will apply only to houses where pools or spas are being built after the beginning of July, said Tim Nogler, managing director of the Washington State Building Code Council.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323318_pool14.html
Balancing act of motherhood, full-time work losing favor
By PAUL NYHAN
P-I REPORTER
Most mothers don't want it all.
After generations of debate about working mothers, only about a fifth say full-time jobs are ideal, fewer than held those views 10 years ago, the Pew Research Center reported in a survey released Thursday.
Yet most of these women aren't getting what they want. Although 60 percent of working mothers say part-time jobs were ideal, only 24 percent actually hold those positions, Pew reported, citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323587_mommygrind13.html
Picasso etchings stolen in Bellevue
By BRAD WONG
P-I REPORTER
The heist didn't match the elaborate plot of a James Bond movie in which a villain schemes to loot Fort Knox.
But on Wednesday, thieves walked into a Bellevue art gallery, lifted two etchings that its director says are original Pablo Picassos and walked out.
All in about 15 seconds.
In a rare move, Bellevue police Thursday asked for the public's help in finding the three thieves and the etchings, which the gallery says are worth about $95,000.
"We want people in the industry to know the art is hot," said Officer Greg Grannis, Bellevue police spokesman.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/323464_art12.html
Panel demands records on Tillman's death
By SCOTT LINDLAW
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO -- Two influential lawmakers investigating how and when the Bush administration learned the circumstances of Pat Tillman's friendly-fire death and how those details were disclosed accused the White House and Pentagon on Friday of withholding key documents and renewed their demand for the material.
The White House and Defense Department have turned over nearly 10,000 pages of papers - mostly press clippings - but the White House cited "executive branch confidentiality interests" in refusing to provide other documents.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Tom Davis, R-Va., the committee's top-ranking Republican, said Friday the documents were inadequate. They insisted that the Defense Department turn over the additional material by July 25 and asked that the White House do likewise.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Tillman_Friendly_Fire.html
UK straps cameras to bobbies' helmets
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Britain is taking its surveillance to a new level, strapping video cameras to the helmets of its famed bobbies - a move the government says will cut down on paperwork and help prosecute criminals.
By providing dramatic footage of victims, suspects and witnesses, judges and jurors will be able to "see and hear the incident through the eyes and ears of the officer at the scene," Minister of State for Security Tony McNulty said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Cop_Cam.html
PM: Iraqis can keep peace without U.S.
By BUSHRA JUHI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
View related video
BAGHDAD -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi army and police are capable of keeping security in the country when American troops leave "any time they want," though he acknowledged the forces need further weapons and training.
The embattled prime minister sought to show confidence at a time when pressure in the U.S. Congress is growing for a withdrawal and the Bush administration reported little progress had been made on the most vital of a series of political reforms it wants al-Maliki to carry out.
Moreover, the Pentagon on Friday conceded that the Iraqi army has become more reliant on the U.S. military. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, said the number of Iraqi battalions able to operate on their own without U.S. support has dropped in recent months from 10 to six, though he said the fall was in part due to attrition from stepped-up offensives.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html?source=mypi
Al-Qaida ops show leadership in control
By PAUL HAVEN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
When Islamic radicals killed 52 people in London two years ago, it took nearly a month for Osama bin Laden's top deputy to blame Britain itself for the carnage.
But this week, when the No. 2 man in al-Qaida decided to weigh in on Pakistan's bloody crackdown on a radical mosque, he was able to get his violent message onto hard-line Islamic Web sites in a matter of days.
Analysts and intelligence experts say the speed and frequency with which Ayman al-Zawahri has been issuing statements recently does not reflect the actions of a man cowering in a remote cave, cut off from the outside world and unable to direct terror operations.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Al_Qaida_on_Air.html
Collar-bomb suspect has troubled past
By JENNIFER C. YATES
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PITTSBURGH -- Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong's lawyer has floated an alibi for her in the bizarre death of one man: the bizarre death of another man.
James Roden's body was in a freezer in August 2003, when Brian Wells robbed a bank with a bomb locked to his neck. Before the explosive killed Wells, the pizza delivery man told police he had been forced to commit the crime.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_In_the_News_Diehl_Armstrong.html
Washington's House Democrats vote for pullout
By CHARLES POPE
P-I WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON -- Embracing national frustration rather than President Bush's plea for patience, Washington state's House Democrats joined their party members in declaring the strategy in Iraq unworkable.
All six House Democrats from Washington voted yes on a 223-201 party-line vote for legislation that would require U.S. troops to begin leaving Iraq within 120 days after the measure becomes law. The state's three Republicans opposed the bill.
The vote came only hours after the White House released an interim report detailing unsatisfactory results by Baghdad to reconcile political differences and improve security.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/323521_iraqcongress13.html
Pakistani cleric calls for 'Islamic revolution'
By KHALID TANVEER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BASTI ABDULLAH, Pakistan -- Officials let a jailed cleric attend the burial of his slain brother Thursday, and he turned the funeral oration into a fiery denunciation of the government for the bloody siege at Islamabad's Red Mosque and called for an "Islamic revolution."
Hours later, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf went on national television to vow that his government will crush extremists across the country and move strongly against religious schools like those at the Red Mosque that breed them.
Musharraf also said security forces along the border with Afghanistan will soon get tanks and other modern weapons to bolster the campaign against militants. The frontier region is a haven for al-Qaida and the Taliban, and the U.S. has been pushing Pakistan to root them out.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/323584_pakistan13.html
Pakistani troops sent to dissuade jihad
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Thousands of troops were deployed to Pakistan's northwestern frontier to try to dissuade outlawed Islamic militants from launching a holy war against the government for its bloody attack on a radical mosque, military officials said Saturday.
As the troop movements proceeded in at least five areas of the North West Frontier Province, a suicide bomber struck in another region of the border, his explosives-laden vehicle killing at least eight soldiers in a military convoy, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arhad said.
Local security officials said as many as 12 soldiers died and another 20 were wounded in the attack, while nearby two rockets believed to have been fired by militants landed near a military check point.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Pakistan.html?source=mypi
M's farmhand took unique path to pros
AquaSox reliever drafted out of West Point
By JON NAITO
P-I REPORTER
EVERETT -- Nick Hill stands about 6 feet tall and weighs 185 pounds. He is left-handed, and his voice is inflected with the gentle lilt of his native Tennessee. His hair, even at the tender age of 22, is thinning.
In nearly every way, he is an unassuming young man. And like most every player on the Everett AquaSox roster, the Mariners' seventh-round pick in last month's draft is an anonymous name to the casual baseball fan, another fresh face starting his professional career.
"I'm 21, 22 years old, just like everyone else here," Hill said before a recent game at Everett Memorial Stadium. "My (college) experience was a little different. Every Thursday night, I didn't get to go out and party, but I'm still a young kid, still got the same interests."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/323583_hill13.html
Intel, '$100 laptop' project make peace
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
AP TECHNOLOGY WRITER
BOSTON -- As Nicholas Negroponte stormed the developing world trying to drum up buyers for the innovative $175 computers designed by his One Laptop Per Child education nonprofit, he encountered a persistent obstacle: competition from Intel Corp.
Intel's chairman, Craig Barrett, had derided Negroponte's machines as mere gadgets. And Intel was signing up international governments for its own little "Classmate" PCs, which follow more conventional computing designs than One Laptop Per Child's radically rethought "XO" computers.
Negroponte was suspicious of Intel's motives, since the XO runs on processors from Intel's fiercest rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Negroponte said Intel had hurt his mission and "should be ashamed of itself."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1700AP_Hundred_Dollar_Laptop_Intel.html
Energizer to acquire Playtex for $1.16B
By JIM SALTER
AP BUSINESS WRITER
ST. LOUIS -- The Energizer Bunny is taking on skin care products, wet wipes and sippy cups. Energizer Holdings Inc., known for its infinitely running bunny, will buy Playtex Products Inc. for $1.16 billion as the company expands its portfolio of personal care products.
Investors liked the news: Playtex shares soared 15.8 percent, or $2.45, to $17.97 in trading. Energizer shares rose almost 1 percent, or 94 cents, to $107.67.
St. Louis-based Energizer is offering $18.30 per share for Playtex Products Inc., the companies said in announcing the deal late Thursday. The price represents an 18 percent premium over Playtex's closing stock price Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310AP_Energizer_Playtex.html
U.S. brothers recovering from gory run
By AMANDA RIVKIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MADRID, Spain -- A bull that broke from the pack seriously gored two American brothers, catching one on each of its horns during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, where both were recovering Friday in the hospital.
Lawrence and Michael Lenahan were gored simultaneously by the bull, which also injured 11 other people Thursday. It was the worst day for injuries in the nine-day festival.
"I started yelling at my brother to show him I was bleeding everywhere but he showed me he was bleeding everywhere," said Lawrence Lenahan, a 26-year-old Air Force captain from Hermosa Beach, Calif., in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_Running_of_the_Bulls.html?source=mypi
$2K a month average for Manhattan studio
By VERENA DOBNIK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW YORK -- If you're looking for a Manhattan apartment, be prepared to shell out about $2,000 a month - unless, of course, you'd like a bedroom to go with it.
Studio apartments in New York's most expensive borough went for an average of $1,995 a month last year, according to an analysis released Friday by Citi Habitats, a Manhattan rental brokerage firm. That's up from $1,659 in 2002.
The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment shot up to $2,737, compared to $2,227 in 2002, and two-bedroom apartments climbed to $3,893, from $3,198 in 2002. Three-bedroom apartments saw the largest percentage increase: more than 36 percent, from $4,059 in 2002 to $5,534 last year.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_Manhattan_Rents.html?source=mypi
State high court says consumers can't sign away class-action rights
Contract at odds with Consumer Protection Act, justices say
By PHUONG CAT LE
P-I REPORTER
To get wireless service, credit cards or even employment, consumers frequently sign contracts agreeing to resolve their disputes through mandatory arbitration.
What many don't realize -- unless they read the fine print of the agreement -- is that they also often waive their right to file a class-action lawsuit against the company.
In a significant victory for consumers, the Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the former Cingular Wireless, now AT&T, cannot enforce a waiver in its contract that prohibits customers from pursuing a class action.
"The class-action waiver is unconscionable because it effectively denies large numbers of consumers the protection of Washington's Consumer Protection Act," Justice Tom Chambers wrote in the 6-3 majority opinion.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323520_arbitration13.html
Costco's sales up 6% in June
Retailer bucks national trend
P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
With a surge in computer, television and jewelry sales, Costco Wholesale Corp. again defied the national trend with strong sales in June.
The Issaquah-based warehouse giant known for discount prices for bulk goods had a 6 percent jump in sales at stores open at least a year, which just beat Wall Street's estimate of 5.8 percent.
Seattle-based Nordstrom, meanwhile, had a modest 2 percent increase in same-store sales, and the upscale retailer blamed a shift in the fiscal 2007 calendar, which began a week later than a year ago, as the reason for the low sales.
Nordstrom said women's apparel, intimate clothing and accessories still did well last month.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323450_retailsales13.html
Alcoa drops bid to buy Canadian rival Alcan
Rio Tinto submits larger, $38 billion cash offer for firm
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PITTSBURGH -- Alcoa Inc. withdrew its $28 billion offer to buy Canadian aluminum rival Alcan Inc. on Thursday after being outbid by mining giant Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto's bid of $38.1 billion in cash, announced hours earlier, exceeded the unsolicited offer launched by Alcoa in early May and would create the world's largest aluminum company. Alcan's board had roundly rejected the Alcoa offer as inadequate.
Alcoa Chairman and CEO Alain Belda said Rio Tinto's offer "strongly reinforces our view of the underlying value in the aluminum industry and its bright prospects for the future."
"However, at this price level, we have more attractive options for delivering additional value to shareholders," he said in a statement issued shortly after the close of trading Thursday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323505_alcoa13.html
Idea of 'hot fuel' gauges rejected
Devices would have gone on pumps
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY -- A group of measurement experts rejected a proposal that consumer groups said might save motorists between 3 and 9 cents a gallon at the pump.
The proposal, debated Wednesday in Salt Lake City, targeted the so-called "hot fuel" effect.
As temperatures rise, liquid gasoline expands and the amount of energy in each gallon falls. But because U.S. gasoline pumps don't adjust for temperature changes, motorists who buy gas that's hotter than the government-standard 60 degrees get less bang for their buck.
The effect could cost U.S. drivers more than $1.5 billion in the summertime, according to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, which recently addressed it in hearings.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323516_hotfuel13.html
Mortgage meltdown's legal fallout begins
Owners are suing lenders; investors are suing banks
By ALAN ZIBEL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Lawsuits blossomed after Enron Corp.'s collapse, many targeting the energy giant's bankers. Wall Street firms could again become the bull's-eye for investors seeking recourse from the subprime mortgage debacle.
Billions of dollars are at stake, depending on how many of the mortgages -- made to borrowers with shaky credit -- default. Credit Suisse Group estimates losses to investors between $26 billion and $52 billion, while Deutsche Bank AG says losses could total $70 billion to $90 billion.
Investors "are going to be looking for deep pockets where they can maximize their recoveries," said Rick Antonoff, a New York-based lawyer with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, which has a group of lawyers assigned to subprime mortgage litigation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/323515_subprimesuits13.html
Ins and outs of shopping at outlet malls
By ANNA WALLNER AND KRISTINA MATISIC
FINE LIVING NETWORK
Who doesn't love a good deal? There are about 225 outlet malls across the country that offer brand names at bargain prices. But before you pull out a credit card, here's what to keep in mind to get the best value.
Before you head to the outlet mall, check merchandise at regular stores. Some goods made specifically for the outlets might be a notch inferior to regular-store products. Some brands (such as the Gap) will identify made-for-outlet items, so check the labels.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/athome/323404_roadtripside14.html
Product recall
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The following recall has been announced:
-Dent Fresh U.S.A. Inc. is recalling all of its DentFresh fluoride mint toothpaste, made in China, because the product may contain diethylene glycol, a chemical found in antifreeze, which is toxic to the kidneys and liver. No injuries or illnesses have been reported, but the toothpaste should be thrown away or returned immediately to the store where it was purchased. Any reactions should be reported to the Food and Drug Administration's MedWatch adverse event reporting program at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm. Details: by phone at 305-677-9938; by e-mail at denfresh@hotmail.com.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Recall.html
Good Enough to Eat:
Now is the time for warm-weather veggies
By CHRIS SMITH
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
If you've already harvested your radishes, peas, lettuce, spinach and other early greens, there may be empty spots in your garden. Why not fill them this weekend?
The best warm-season candidates are beans, cukes and zukes (the latter only if you haven't planted them yet). These crops all mature in about two months, so you'd begin harvesting in mid-September.
You may find seeds for these crops germinate more readily and seedlings make more rapid growth this time of year because the soil is warm. However, you'll need to monitor soil moisture; often we don't get much rain in July and August. Seeds need moisture to germinate, and seedlings need it until their root systems develop. So don't stint on the watering.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/athome/323400_smith14.html
Texas' steel magnolia blossomed in LBJ's presidency
By JANET WILSON
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN
AUSTIN, Texas -- In the late '50s, it became clear that Lyndon Johnson, the majority leader of the Senate, was headed for higher office. And, in an attempt to prepare for a role she might have to assume, Lady Bird Johnson enrolled in a public speaking course. It wasn't long before she found herself fighting sweaty palms in front of dozens of public gatherings.
In 1960, after Lyndon's name was floated as a possible favorite-son candidate for president, he agreed to be John F. Kennedy's running mate. And the campaigning began.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323646_ladybird15.html
Global Warming: Keep greening up
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
Seattle thinks itself pretty green. When it comes to global warming in particular, there should be no resting on the city's laurels.
Make no mistake, the city certainly deserves the credit it has received regionally and nationally for moving ahead on greenhouse gas reductions. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels played key roles not just here but also among city leaders nationally. A recent assessment by two University of Washington scientists says Nickels' "plan ... to bring Seattle into compliance with the Kyoto Protocol target was visionary and seminal."
That's hardly going to be enough, however. There's plenty to be learned from other cities, which are making their own impressive commitments, and the emerging knowledge about the world's growing climate crisis. As the UW's Marcia Baker and Robert Charlson explained in comments prepared for City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck: "The Kyoto Protocol was a small and largely symbolic first step when it was presented. ... The magnitude of the problem we face has subsequently grown considerably."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323631_warmcityed.html
Green Democrats prefer blue votes
THE ECONOMIST
Soon after the Democrats took control of Congress last year, its new leaders promised to overhaul the U.S. energy policy.
They vowed to tackle climate change head-on, despite the president's reluctance. No longer, they said, would they meekly accept America's reliance on foreign despots for imports of oil. And something would be done to lower the price of gasoline, they assured agitated drivers.
Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, set up a special committee to come up with a solution to the nation's energy woes by July 4, so that new political masters in the U.S. could declare "energy independence" on the same day their forebears renounced the colonial yoke.
July Fourth has come and gone, Pelosi has no energy bill and the U.S. is just as firmly yoked to expensive, imported energy as ever.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323632_economist15.html
Narrows Bridge toll could be first of many
Gas tax alone can't fund all of the transportation fixes needed in the state
By LARRY LANGE
P-I REPORTER
Next week the first bridge in more than 20 years to charge drivers a toll in the state will open to traffic -- and it might not be the last one.
Dedication of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge is likely to usher in a new era of tolled bridges and maybe even special high-occupancy-toll, or HOT, lanes that drivers could use to avoid the most crowded parts of highways, transportation experts say.
The state's gas tax, now 36 cents a gallon, isn't expected to pay the full costs of building and maintaining new highways, bridges or other transportation improvements, state transportation officials say, making contributions from tolls inevitable. And there are moves to impose tolls permanently to meet ongoing maintenance costs.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/323743_toll14.html
China fights back, goes after U.S. meat
By ANITA CHANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BEIJING -- China has suspended imports from several major U.S. meat processors, including the world's largest, in the latest indication the government may be retaliating as its products are turned back from overseas because of safety concerns.
Frozen poultry products from Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat processor, were found to be contaminated with salmonella, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said on its Web site late Friday.
Other imports barred by China included frozen chicken feet from Sanderson Farms, Inc. tainted with residue of an anti-parasite drug, as well as frozen pork ribs from Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. containing a leanness-enhancing feed additive, the AQSIQ said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_China_Tainted_Products.html
Stranded Palestinians demand food, tents
By SALAH NASRAWI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RAFAH, Egypt -- Sleeping in the sand and running out of money, thousands of Palestinians have been stranded in Egypt's desert for more than a month since the border with Hamas-controlled Gaza has been closed.
Conditions in the frontier town were increasingly desperate Friday, with one woman saying she was forced to sell her wedding ring to feed her family. Others complained authorities weren't even providing blankets or other basic necessities.
The Rafah border terminal has been closed since June 9, the start of the final round of bloody factional fighting between Fatah and Hamas that led to the Islamic group's takeover of the Gaza Strip.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Egypt_Palestinians.html
Palestinian democracy harmed by conflict
By KARIN LAUB
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- President Mahmoud Abbas rules the West Bank by decree, Hamas controls Gaza with guns and parliament is paralyzed.
Palestinian democracy, once seen as a model for the Arab world, has become a victim of the bloody power struggle between Abbas' Fatah movement and the Islamic militant Hamas.
The return to autocracy after three clean general elections over the past decade dealt a setback to what some say has been a misguided U.S. attempt to export its political system to a troubled region.
It's not just a passing storm. After the fall of Gaza to Hamas last month, Abbas and his rivals have been consolidating control over their respective turfs, making a quick return to democracy unlikely.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Palestinians_Democracys_Demise.html
Russia pulls out of arms-control treaty
By MARIA DANILOVA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MOSCOW -- Russia on Saturday suspended its participation in a key European arms control treaty that governs deployment of troops on the continent, the Kremlin said, a move that threatened to further aggravate Moscow's already tense relations with the West.
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty due to "extraordinary circumstances ... which affect the security of the Russian Federation and require immediate measures," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin has in the past threatened to freeze his country's compliance with the treaty, accusing the United States and its NATO partners of undermining regional stability with U.S. plans for a missile defense system in former Soviet bloc countries in Eastern Europe.
Under the moratorium, Russia will halt inspections and verifications of its military sites by NATO countries and will no longer limit the number of its conventional weapons, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Arms_Control_Treaty.html
Lebanese factions meet in France
By ANGELA CHARLTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PARIS -- Lebanon's rival parties are meeting Saturday for unusual, long-awaited talks as their nation remains in political deadlock and faces violence in both the north and south.
Members of the country's 14 leading parties - including Hezbollah and its allies - will gather in the chateau at Celle Saint-Cloud, southwest of Paris, on Saturday and Sunday behind closed doors, with no set agenda.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and a few other French officials will be there, too, but as observers, not mediators.
Hopes are not high for a breakthrough at the meeting, organized by the French Foreign Ministry. But participants say it's good news that it's happening at all.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_France_Lebanon_Conference.html
Giant telescope begins work in Spain
By JUAN MANUEL PARDELLAS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
TENERIFE, Canary Islands -- The Great Canary Telescope, one of the world's largest and most powerful, opened its shutters, turned its vast 34-foot-wide mirror toward the skies and captured its first light at a mountaintop on one of Spain's Canary Islands on Saturday.
The $179 million telescope, designed to take advantage of pristine, clear skies at the Roque de los Muchachos observatory atop the Atlantic island of La Palma, should be fully operational by May 2008.
At 1 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EDT) on a crystal-clear night, Spain's Crown Prince Felipe keyed in the computer codes which brought the observatory's complex machinery to life.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Spain_Giant_Telescope.html
FDA confirms salmonella in snacks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, AP) - Tests have confirmed that a strain of salmonella found in Veggie Booty snack food was responsible for an outbreak of the disease last spring that sickened 61 people, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
The agency's findings supported earlier testing by the Minnesota Agricultural Lab, the FDA said in a statement.
Veggie Booty is marketed by Robert's American Gourmet Inc. of Sea Cliff, N.Y. The company says that seasoning, believed made with Chinese ingredients, contained the salmonella and that it had purchased the seasoning from Atlantic Quality Spice & Seasonings of Edison, N.J.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Snack_Recall.html
Gerber recalls organic baby cereals
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- Gerber Products Co. recalled all packages of its organic rice and organic oatmeal cereals Friday because of potential clumping of the baby food, which can pose a choking hazard.
Gerber said it has received complaints of choking but no reports of injury.
The company said a "limited quantity" of the cereals could contain lumps that do not dissolve in water or milk. The cereals were distributed nationwide and to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.
Food and Drug Administration compliance officer Sandra Williams said the agency was aware of the voluntary recall "and we concur."
Gerber spokesman David Mortazavi said the company was recalling 306,760 packages of organic rice cereal and 167,724 packages of organic oatmeal cereal.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Baby_Cereal_Recall.html
U.N. opens Congo gold-trafficking probe
By EDDY ISANGO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
KINSHASA, Congo -- The investigative arm of the U.N. mission in Congo has opened an inquiry into allegations that Indian peacekeepers serving in this central African nation are illicitly trafficking in gold, a spokesman said Friday.
The probe is focusing on an Indian unit stationed in the eastern province of North Kivu near the Rwandan border, U.N. spokesman Kemal Saiki said.
The announcement came as the U.N. peacekeeping chief in New York, Jean-Marie Guehenno, discussed a similar but separate inquiry in Congo involving charges of gun and gold smuggling. He said it found no evidence of arms smuggling but pointed to the possibility that a Pakistani peacekeeper "may have facilitated gold smuggling."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_UN_Gold_Trafficking.html
Nine file suit against TB-infected man
By SEAN FARRELL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MONTREAL -- Nine people filed a $1.3 million lawsuit Thursday against the globe-trotting tuberculosis patient for possibly exposing them to the disease on a commercial flight from Prague to Montreal.
Montreal lawyer Anlac Nguyen filed the motion in Quebec Superior Court on behalf of seven Canadians and two natives of the Czech Republic. Eight were passengers on the flight with Andrew Speaker and the ninth is a brother and roommate of one of the passengers.
Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta personal injuries attorney, was in Europe when he learned tests showed he had an extremely drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis known as XDR-TB.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1101AP_Tuberculosis_Infection_Lawsuit.html
Bishop in Paraguay runs for president
By BILL CORMIER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ASUNCION, Paraguay -- A charismatic leader dubbed the "Bishop of the Poor" is an early favorite to make history as the first man to serve as a Roman Catholic bishop, then be elected president of his country.
The Vatican is not pleased, and it's not alone: Fernando Lugo's candidacy not only tests the church's strict prohibition on clergy seeking political office, it also challenges the established elites in Paraguay. The nation's poor majority feels disenfranchised after 60 years of unbroken rule by President Nicanor Duarte's Colorado Party.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Paraguay_Bishop_for_President.html
Mexican gas explosions force shutdowns
By LISA J. ADAMS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MEXICO CITY -- Honda, Hershey's and other multinational companies temporarily shut down their factories in western Mexico on Wednesday after rebels attacked a key natural gas pipeline.
The small, left-wing guerrilla group that claimed responsibility for the explosions issued a statement late Tuesday vowing to continue the attacks, while the Mexican government scrambled to increase security at "strategic installations" across Mexico.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Mexico_Gas_Explosion.html
East Indonesian volcano spews lava
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A rumbling volcano in eastern Indonesia spewed ash and lava Thursday, as authorities expressed fears that a shift in winds could send hot clouds of volcanic debris onto villages below.
Thousands of people have been evacuated and others have been told to stay away from the five-mile danger zone along the mountain's slopes, said Saut Simatupang of the government's volcano monitoring agency.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1106AP_Indonesia_Volcano.html
Unfettered illegal immigration boosts inflation
BONNIE ERBE
I usually try to be timely, but this week in this column I admit I'm way behind. I unearthed a report released more than two years ago, but which contains such informational dynamite, its contents are worth dissecting even two years hence. So here goes.
I've often wondered why inflation is so clearly rampaging well beyond levels reported by the federal government. Case in point: On a fairly regular basis I buy 10-pound bags of carrots at my local Harris Teeter grocery store. When I started buying them two summers ago, a 10-pound bag was retailing for $3.99. It is now selling for $5.99.
I'm sure each and every one of you has a similar story. Or many, many, many such stories. How did we get to the point where $4 isn't shocking as the tab for a cup of coffee (or a coffee drink, as renamed by Starbucks). How is it that when regular gas drops from $3.50 per gallon to $2.85 (as it recently did at my local gas station in suburban Washington, D.C.) we feel as if we're getting a bargain?
I've racked my brain trying to reconcile Labor Department reports of inflation running in the 2-3 percent range, while watching as housing, food, clothing and transportation costs rise by double digits each quarter. Is the government hiding something? I'm no conspiracy theorist, so that explanation seems not to fit.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/323645_erbe15.html
The Miami Herald
Arnold at side, Crist signs environmental orders
BY MARTIN MERZER
mmerzer@MiamiHerald.com
Gov. Charlie Crist signed a groundbreaking set of environmental protection orders Friday, calling it a framework for a new, more future-friendly way of living and conducting business in Florida.
''State government is leading by example,'' Crist said. ``It is the right thing to do.''
It also is a popular thing to do. Symbolizing the new star power of environmentalism, celebrity Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California stood at Crist's side after uttering the line everyone expected:
'We have to say, `Hasta la vista, baby' to greenhouse gases.''...
...Exempted from the requirements, though ''encouraged'' to embrace them : The Legislature, university system, Cabinet agencies and several state departments.
• Mandate power companies to reduce emissions to 2000 levels by 2017, to 1990 levels by 2025 and to 80 percent of the 1990 levels by 2050.
• Asks state regulators to demand that utilities use wind, solar or other renewable sources to produce 20 percent of their power by 2020.
• Orders the adoption of California's motor vehicle emission standards, including a 22 percent reduction by 2012 and a 30 percent reduction by 2016. Those standards are being challenged in court.
Asked if he favored a return to annual inspections for Florida vehicles, a largely unpopular program that ended years ago, Crist said he preferred to pressure automakers into improving engines….
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/169761.html
Business sees green in energy savings
BY MONICA HATCHER
mhatcher@MiamiHerald.com
In the effort to clean the atmosphere of toxic carbon pollution, business leaders meeting Friday at the Summit on Global Climate Change seemed to agree that going green means more of the green stuff in the future.
''What's good for the environment is good for business,'' said Lorraine Bolsinger, a vice president with GE, who spoke along with business representatives on two panels at the summit that ends later Friday.
Her sentiment was echoed by directors from some of the country's top corporations and investment interests, such as Wal-Mart and Lehman Brothers, who touted the financial savings that come with implementing energy efficiency and recycling programs. They also discussed policy initiatives that would lead to increased conservation efforts and innovation.
The recognition that long-term growth and profitability will come from creating more environmentally friendly companies represents a sea change in thinking in the business community, some said. Until recently, efforts to reduce energy consumption were seen as costly and offering few rewards.
Ed Crenshaw, president of Publix, said his company had reduced electrical usage in its stores by 7 percent since 2002, saving enough energy to power 44,000 single-family homes. He also said Publix had recycled more than 209,000 tons of cardboard and 7,600 tons of plastic.
''We've made millions from that,'' Crenshaw said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/169802.html
Prosecution rests in Padilla trial
BY JAY WEAVER
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
The terror trial of Jose Padilla reached a turning point in federal court Friday when Miami prosecutors rested their case against the former ''enemy combatant'' and two others charged with plotting to support terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.
''The United States would rest its case in chief at this time,'' prosecutor Russell Killinger said after calling one final witness, an FBI linguist.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke gave a stern warning to the 12 Miami-Dade jurors not to talk about the case with anyone, nor to read or watch anything about it.
''You will have to be extra super-duper cautious,'' Cooke advised the jurors, instructing them to return on Thursday, when the defense will begin its case.
But first, on Tuesday, the three defense teams will ask Cooke to issue judgments of acquittal for their clients, claiming the prosecution's case lacked sufficient evidence. Cooke is not likely to grant their motions, setting the stage for the defense's case through August.
Since jury selection in early May, prosecutors have painted a provocative picture of the alleged South Florida-based cell, reframing its Muslim relief mission as a front for ''violent jihad'' to create Islamic states abroad.
http://www.miamiherald.com/416/story/169517.html
Build a culture of water conservation
OUR OPINION: DISTRICT SHOULD IMPOSE PERMANENT LIMITS ON USE
Conserving water in Florida should become a 24-7-365 practice, not just something we impose on ourselves during droughts. Floridians for too long have taken cheap, abundant water for granted. But unabated population growth is straining our aquifers. Volatile climate conditions make the rainy season a less reliable replenishment for those aquifers. Combine these facts, and Floridians are in for a rude awakening in the not too distant future.
The South Florida Water Management District should adopt year-round water-use limits similar to those it decreed this spring during the deepening drought. Although heavy rains here have eased dry conditions enough to prompt the district to lift some restrictions, it is time to take the long view on the region's water supply.
Growth can be halted
The Legislature two years ago began to take that view when it approved a law requiring local governments to produce new water sources to meet the demands of new development that these governments approved. If local governments don't comply, growth can be halted by the state.
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/169264.html
The Chicago Tribune
Baked city begs for a breeze
Some escape heat, others embrace it at beaches, Taste
By Russell Working, Jeff Long and Josh Noel
Tribune staff reporters
Published July 9, 2007, 12:31 AM CDT
Like a sweaty stranger who sidles up too close in an airless waiting room, a heat wave settled in over the weekend in the Chicago area, forcing people to escape or confront it.
The heat made its presence felt throughout the area Sunday, driving Taste of Chicago patrons to plunge into a fountain and causing senior citizens to evacuate a South Side high-rise after the power went out.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070709heat-beachjul09,1,6937711.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Black convicted of fraud, obstruction
By Ameet Sachdev
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 13, 2007, 3:28 PM CDT
Conrad Black, the wealthy Canadian turned British noble who built the vast newspaper empire that included the Chicago Sun-Times, was convicted today of obstruction of justice and three counts of mail fraud in a scheme to swindle shareholders out of millions of dollars.
A Chicago federal jury also acquitted Black, 62, of nine charges, including wire fraud and racketeering. Sentencing has been set for Nov. 30.
Black must return to court Thursday to continue a hearing on whether he will be allowed to return to Toronto, stay out on bond in the United States or be taken into custody. In the interim, he has surrendered his British passport.
The convictions are expected to lead to prison time for the British Lord, who showed no visible reaction to the verdict. Black faces a maximum of 35 years in prison for the offenses the jury convicted him of, plus a maximum penalty of $1 million.
Black's attorney Edward Greenspan said there were viable legal issues to appeal and that they intended to do so.
"Conrad Black was acquitted of all the central charges, he said. "We were hoping for an entire acquittal and we came just short of that."
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald swept aside any notion that an apparent split verdict represented something less than a complete victory for federal prosecution.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-blackguilty,1,1410918.story?coll=chi-news-hed
Cuban in the mix for Cubs, but does MLB want him?
Published July 13, 2007
How one goes about sending in an application to buy a Major League Baseball franchise is a mystery to those of us who aren't in the ballclub-acquisition business. By fax? By standard mail? Or is there an online form?
Controversial Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Thursday that he has submitted his application to purchase the Cubs. He said he believed he sent it in last week, though he wasn't sure. Dates don't matter anyway. What matters is that he's officially serious about buying the valuable, championship-starved franchise on the North Side.
For those Cubs fans who are excited about the possibility of a free-spending owner taking over their beloved team, the news that Cuban formally has taken the first step in the bid process is huge.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-070712morrissey,1,1860312.column?coll=chi-news-hed
How many times did Amy Jacobson go to the Stebic house? Did she share information with police? Let's ask her!
UPDATED ITEM: Amy Jacobson this afternoon confirmed reports that her bosses at Ch. 5 accused her “of getting too close to the police” during her investigation of the Stebic case.
This accusation came in the context of the conversations she had earlier this week that resulted in parting ways with the station, she said.
In a phone call, Jacobson told me that, on occasion, she would share information first with police as she was reporting on the April 30 disappearance of Plainfield resident Lisa Stebic.
“Here’s a good example,” she said. “The police couldn’t talk to (Lisa Stebic's husband) Craig Stebic. So when a story ran in the Naperville Sun saying there were blood droplets on a tarp found in his car, I went to his door with a cameraman. I said `Where did the blood come from?’ He said it was animal blood. So I called the police and told them what he said. Then I did my live shot.”
http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2007/07/how-many-times-.html
San Francisco Chronicle
A new water war
Friday, July 13, 2007
THE SACRAMENTO-San Joaquin River Delta is approaching its breaking point, and what may be California's biggest and most crucial water fight is about to heat up. How big is the crisis? Well, it's big enough that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has dared to hint at the need -- and the bond money -- for an infamous "peripheral canal." Brace yourselves, Northern California voters -- there's another civil war at hand.
Before things get to that point, we'd like to take a moment to point out what's changed since that scorched-earth 1982 ballot battle, and what Sacramento needs to do before it even opens discussion about new ways to divert river water. Though the re-introduction of the peripheral canal issue has all the elements of great politics -- it's exciting, it's expensive and it gets the voters emotional -- it doesn't have much to do with great policy for the delta, at least not right now. Building a peripheral canal would take at least 10 years. The delta can't wait that long.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/13/EDGNNQ4VSJ1.DTL
Iran Makes Major Nuclear Concessions
By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 15:45 PDT VIENNA, Austria (AP) --
In major concessions to international demands, Iran has agreed to answer lingering questions about its nuclear experiments and will let U.N. inspectors return to a plutonium-producing reactor it is building, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday.
The decision to cooperate more fully with the U.N. nuclear agency appears designed to weaken a U.S. push for tough new Security Council sanctions over Iran's nuclear activities, which Western countries suspect are cover for a weapons program.
Iran, which says it only wants peaceful nuclear energy, promised the concessions in a meeting this week between Iranian officials and a senior IAEA delegation, the agency said.
Iran also has scaled back its enrichment of uranium, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday, although it is still refusing to freeze that enrichment, a key international demand.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2007/07/13/international/i151236D77.DTL&tsp=1
N.Korea Set to Shut Down Nuclear Reactor
By BURT HERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 15:48 PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) --
North Korea seemed ready Friday to take a first step toward scaling back its nuclear weapons program, perhaps this weekend, as U.N. inspectors prepared to monitor the shutdown of its sole operating atomic reactor.
The team from the International Atomic Energy Agency stopped in Beijing en route to the North, with its Saturday arrival in Pyongyang scheduled just hours after a South Korean oil shipment was to enter a North Korean port — a promised reward for the reactor shutdown pledge.
After years of tortuous negotiations and delays during which the North argued its nuclear program was needed for self-defense, the reclusive communist regime said last week that once it got the oil shipment, it would consider halting its reactor for the first time in five years.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/13/international/i113552D45.DTL
NEWS ANALYSIS
Staying course poses huge risk for Republicans
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Facing rock-bottom poll numbers and the judgment of history, President Bush has little to lose politically in using the last 18 months of his presidency to try to prove critics of his war policy wrong. The president followed that path Thursday, finding promise in a "young democracy" in Iraq despite descriptions by his own administration of a deeply fractured society.
The rest of his Republican Party, however, is looking at something entirely different: elections for the House, Senate and the presidency that, absent a miraculous turnaround in Iraq or a suicidal stumble by Democrats, are headed for a debacle.
Republicans are watching their private poll numbers plunge, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/13/MNGIBR007T1.DTL
Bush's benchmarks: The report card
AP
President Bush press conference this morning
The Bush administration's report on the Iraqi government's achievement of 18 specific "benchmarks":
Unsatisfactory
-- Enacting and implementing legislation on de-Baathification.
-- Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources of the people of Iraq without regard to the sect or ethnicity of recipients, and enacting and implementing legislation to ensure that the energy resources of Iraq benefit Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Kurds, and other Iraqi citizens in an equitable manner.
-- Providing Iraqi commanders with all authorities to execute this plan and to make tactical and operational decisions, in consultation with U.S commanders, without political intervention, to include the authority to pursue all extremists, including Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.
-- Ensuring that the Iraqi Security Forces are providing evenhanded enforcement of the law.
-- Increasing the number of Iraqi security forces units capable of operating independently.
-- Ensuring that Iraq's political authorities are not undermining or making false accusations against members of the Iraqi Security Forces….
...Too early to assess
-- Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty.
-- Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/foreigndesk/detail?blogid=16&entry_id=18485
WIN OR TRADE WINDS
If this weekend's series with the Dodgers doesn't go well, get ready for a fire sale
Henry Schulman, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
How convenient for the Giants that three nights after they hosted a fantabulous All-Star Game, their World Series begins.
This Series is a three-gamer against the Los Angeles Dodgers, starting tonight, and the Giants are not playing for a ring or parade. They are vying for the right to stay together as a team and prove that all the happy-talk about how good they really are and how they will pick it up in the second half is not a load of baloney.
In this Series, the Giants need to win all three, or at least win two and play damn competitively in the loss. If not, management will come to work Monday morning, two weeks and change from the trade deadline, staring at a team 11 or 13 games under .500.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/SPGA1R010O1.DTL
American Brothers Gored in Bull Run
By AMANDA RIVKIN, Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 14:49 PDT MADRID, Spain (AP) --
A bull that broke from the pack seriously gored two American brothers, catching one on each of its horns during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, where both were recovering Friday in the hospital.
Lawrence and Michael Lenahan were gored simultaneously by the bull, which also injured 11 other people Thursday. It was the worst day for injuries in the nine-day festival.
"I started yelling at my brother to show him I was bleeding everywhere but he showed me he was bleeding everywhere," said Lawrence Lenahan, a 26-year-old Air Force captain from Hermosa Beach, Calif., in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/13/international/i113736D68.DTL&type=bondage
SAN FRANCISCO
S&M session gone awry -- or homicide?
Onetime Haight activist, anti-drug crusader found dead
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
Joe Konopka came to prominence in his Upper Haight neighborhood as a crime fighter.
For years, Konopka, 65, presided over monthly Wednesday evening meetings of a now-defunct neighborhood watch group known as RAD, formerly Residents Against Druggies, whose members crusaded against local street-level drug dealers in San Francisco, whom they viewed as magnets for more serious trouble.
He also ran twice for city supervisor, but Konopka's ardor for crime-fighting seemed to have dimmed in recent years.
On those Wednesdays that he once spent meeting with activists -- nights his wife, a San Mateo Union High School District administrator, attended school board meetings -- Konopka had turned to indulging in sadomasochistic bondage sessions, police said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BAG5CR00AH1.DTL
Porn lord Jim Mitchell dies at 63
Chronicle Staff Report
Friday, July 13, 2007
(07-13) 15:43 PDT SANTA ROSA -- Jim Mitchell, the porn czar who co-founded the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre and who later shot his brother to death, died Thursday night at his Sonoma County home. He was 63.
Paramedics were called Thursday evening to Mitchell's home near Two Rock in western Sonoma County, said Sgt. Mitch Mana of the county coroner's office. They could not revive him, and Mitchell was declared dead about 8 p.m.
The cause of death was not immediately known, but foul play was not suspected. An autopsy was conducted today, Mana said.
Mitchell grew up in Antioch. He and his brother, Artie Mitchell, opened their adult theater in San Francisco on July 4, 1969. The two also produced a string of pornographic movies, including "Behind the Green Door" with Marilyn Chambers in 1972.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BAGQUR0AHQ4.DTL&tsp=1
For Sale By Owner: Are real estate agents really necessary?
By Carol Lloyd, Special to SF Gate
Friday, July 13, 2007
Now that home prices have outstripped affordability for nearly a decade, perhaps it shouldn't surprise us that some people are ready to blame real estate agents. According to a 2006 Harris poll, real estate agents are among the least-trusted professionals -- second only to stockbrokers. Both professions have tapped into the American piggy bank in unprecedented ways; both have the potential to earn oodles of money without years of schooling -- simply by closing a few deals.
http://sfgate.com/columnists/lloyd/
Suit opposing use of 'Dyke' left in dust
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, July 13, 2007
Offended by the name Dykes on Bikes? Get over it, at least if you're a man, a federal appeals court says.
Men have no legal basis for being offended by the name that the group of motorcycle-riding lesbians picked for themselves and then succeeded in trademarking with the federal government, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled this week. The court, in Washington, D.C., hears copyright and trademark appeals and other specialized cases.
The decision turned a Dublin lawyer, Michael McDermott, away from the courthouse door. McDermott complained to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office in 2005 after the agency relented to the San Francisco motorcycle club and granted it exclusive rights to the name Dykes on Bikes.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BAGR7QVVIP1.DTL
Burns bends on 'War,' and seems OK about it
Tim Goodman
Friday, July 13, 2007
A minor controversy surrounding Ken Burns' documentary "The War" -- a controversy that was essentially defused in May -- resurfaced briefly at the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday and, if nothing else, proved that even if the fire is out, there may be some embers to deal with.
That's because even though the initial issue has been resolved -- Burns added stories about Latino soldiers after complaints from Latino groups, even though no one had seen the completed film -- there are still some troublesome remnants.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/DDGKEQV8B029.DTL
Talking trash disposal
We are running out of room for rubbish in throwaway society
David Lazarus
Friday, July 13, 2007
The garbage now piling up on East Bay sidewalks is a smelly, vermin-infested reminder of how easily we take for granted the idea that no matter what we throw away, there'll be some place to put it.
The reality is that the United States is awash in garbage, and we're rapidly running out of ways to dispose of it.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans generated more than 245 million tons of trash -- or municipal solid waste in technical jargon -- in 2005, the latest year for which national figures are available.
That translates to roughly 4 1/2 pounds of garbage produced by every person every day.
And that, in turn, has resulted in a $52 billion industry dedicated to dumping, incinerating and recycling all the nasty, gooey, hinky, stinky stuff that we don't want.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/13/BUGSOQVCC243.DTL
New Zealand Herald
Australian stocks: Market back in positive territory
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 7:05PM Thursday July 12, 2007
PERTH - The Australian stock market returned to positive territory with gains from resource giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto driving the bourse higher.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 38.3 points to 6363.4, while the all ordinaries gained 36.9 points to 6400.1.
At 1620 AEST on the Sydney Futures Exchange, the September share price index contract was 40 points higher at 6367, on a volume of 15,955 contracts.
Austock Securities senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said the market got off to a strong start following a positive lead from Wall Street overnight.
"It has been a very interesting day on the market, it opened very strongly on the back of positive news out of America and commodities, but it eased right back in the afternoon," Mr Heffernan said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451203
Currency: Dollar holds onto gains in uneventful session
5:55PM Thursday July 12, 2007
The New Zealand dollar held onto its gains made yesterday, in a fairly uneventful session.
By 5pm, the kiwi was at US78.07c, little changed from this morning but up from US77.55c late yesterday afternoon. It was also steady on the day against the Aussie at A90.56c, but up from yesterday's A90.16c
"Relative to where it was yesterday, it's made quite a strong comeback after quite a sizeable fall yesterday morning in particular," said Westpac currency strategist, Michael Gordon.
"We didn't really note strong selling yesterday, so I don't think there was a lot of conviction to be selling at this point despite expectations that the tone of the data here is going to get a bit worse," Mr Gordon said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451187
Solid Energy purchase
6:30AM Thursday July 12, 2007
State-owned coal miner Solid Energy has bought Nelson-based solar-heating specialist Sensible Heat.
The acquisition, which had a nationwide distribution network of agents who installed and supported its solar-heating products, would form the basis of a new service called Switch, Solid Energy said.
Switch would supply equipment, provide advice and design integrated heating systems. It would complement the work of Solid Energy's wood pellet business Nature's Flame, which was moving into the installation of wood pellet boilers in schools and commercial premises.
Solid Energy and Nature's Flame had carried out research and development into heating for residential, commercial and small industrial uses. It aimed to make that expertise more widely available through Switch, the company said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451039
Man arrested for home invasion and attack on elderly woman
4:00PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Angela Gregory
A 49-year-old man will appear in court tomorrow charged over the sexual assault of an elderly woman during a home invasion last night.
The man was arrested in Mangawhai by Rodney CIB investigators a short time ago.
He is now in Police custody and will face charges of aggravated burglarly and attempted sexual violation in the North Shore District Court tomorrow.
Police said further charges may be laid. They said the man's arrest came after "excellent information" from the public.
They are describing the 73-year-old woman as "very, very brave" after she managed to grab the knife from her attacker and stab him in the arm and leg.
She then spoke to him to calm him down, say police.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451061
House sales start slowing as interest rates kick in
5:00AM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Anne Gibson
The housing market is showing its first signs of a slight cooling this year with prices and sales volumes dropping last month.
Rising interest rates and slower winter sales are being cited as major reasons for the marginal price drop and the bigger volume fall shown in Real Estate Institute figures.
Institute president Murray Cleland said the figures showed house sales had eased back slightly from the "frantic pace" in the first five months of this year.
Two key indicators showed a turnaround. The record national median sale price of $350,000 fell $2500 to $347,500 last month and the number of sales fell from 9285 in May to 7474.
Mr Cleland questioned a Quotable Value report that concluded the market was still hot.
"The reports
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451021
Man dies after being buried under calf feed
6:55PM Thursday July 12, 2007
A man has died after being buried under several tonnes of calf feed today.
Police said the truck driver had been trying to unload the feed at Tuakau, in the Franklin District south of Auckland, when the tailgate of his truck failed to open automatically.
He became trapped while trying to operate the tailgate manually and was buried under the feed.
Police and OSH are tonight investigating at the scene of the accident.
- NZHERALD STAFF
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451202
Pakistanis bury dead from mosque battle
Men move coffins of those killed at the mosque. Photo / Reuters
7:05PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Augustine Anthony
ISLAMABAD - Pakistanis buried bodies on Thursday from among more than 70 followers of a revolutionary cleric, a day after commandos killed the last few gunmen hiding in the ruins of the Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque, in Islamabad.
Anger at the government's action ran deep in tribal parts of northwest Pakistan, though sentiment in most of the country sided with President Pervez Musharraf's decision to send in the army.
Cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi was killed along with a handful of hardcore militants he had surrounded himself with, making a last stand in the basement of a religious school in the complex….
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451207
Japan obsessed with money in men's toilets
3:10PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Elaine Lies
TOKYO - An elderly man nearing death who wants to give something back to the world, or just a prankster?
The mystery of who is leaving envelopes of 10,000 yen ($106) bills in men's toilets at government offices around Japan has gripped the nation this week despite the existence of far weightier issues, such as a looming election.
Since April 9, some 4 million yen has been found in men's rooms from the northernmost island of Hokkaido to the southern island of Okinawa, Japanese media say. Virtually all has that the person leaving them is a man.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451141
PM Howard's former rival brands him 'unpatriotic'
2:15PM Thursday July 12, 2007
CANBERRA - Former prime minister Paul Keating has again savaged the man who defeated him in the 1996 election, Prime Minister John Howard, by accusing him of being unpatriotic and anti-Muslim.
In an address to the Sydney film school festival last night, Mr Keating described Mr Howard as "a nationalist and not a patriot", and compared his politics to those of Adolf Hitler.
"A patriot will not exclude a person from another race from the community where they have lived side by side and whom he has known for many years but a nationalist will always remain suspicious of someone who does not seem to belong to his kind of people or more likely his kind of thinking," Mr Keating said.
"Shades there of John Howard's discomfort with Australia's multicultural community and a disgust of the Islamic community."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451121
PM Howard's former rival brands him 'unpatriotic'
2:15PM Thursday July 12, 2007
CANBERRA - Former prime minister Paul Keating has again savaged the man who defeated him in the 1996 election, Prime Minister John Howard, by accusing him of being unpatriotic and anti-Muslim.
In an address to the Sydney film school festival last night, Mr Keating described Mr Howard as "a nationalist and not a patriot", and compared his politics to those of Adolf Hitler.
"A patriot will not exclude a person from another race from the community where they have lived side by side and whom he has known for many years but a nationalist will always remain suspicious of someone who does not seem to belong to his kind of people or more likely his kind of thinking," Mr Keating said.
"Shades there of John Howard's discomfort with Australia's multicultural community and a disgust of the Islamic community."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451121
Two dozen suspects under 'constant watch'
5:00AM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Greg Ansley
CANBERRA - Australian counter-terrorism agencies have stepped up their scrutiny of potential homegrown terror cells as Sydney gears for the arrival of world leaders for September's Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.
A report said yesterday that a group of up to 25 Australians were under constant surveillance because of known "evil intentions".
And the New South Wales counter-terrorism chief, Assistant Commissioner Nick Kaldas, warned that security forces may not be able to prevent an attack by a person acting separately from known extremists. "It has to be something that worries us - the so-called lone wolf factor, someone who doesn't communicate with anyone else. [There's] no way of knowing ... what it is they're intending."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451047
Detachment, deficit and coconuts
2:30PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Cherelle Jackson
Economic reforms, regional agreements and national developments were dubbed detached from villagers in the rural areas of Samoa during a seminar last week.
According to Professor Asofou So'o, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the National University of Samoa and a leading local researcher said the Samoans out in rural villages feel the reforms or "what's happening in town" do not have a direct impact on their lives.
"My sense from talking to the people is, from them, they don't really care about what is happening in town, if they are getting what they want, today, tomorrow, next year that satisfies them, that's my sense of the village psyche," he said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451132
Four jailed for botched 21/7 bomb plot
A photo taken from closed circuit TV shows Omar (L), Mohammed (C) and Ibrahim. Photo / Reuters
12:55PM Thursday July 12, 2007
By Michael Holden
LONDON - A judge has jailed four men for 40 years each for attempting to carry out suicide bombings on London's transport system in a plot he said had clearly been masterminded by al Qaeda.
Judge Adrian Fulford told the four he had no doubt their botched attempt to bomb three underground trains and a bus on July 21, 2005, two weeks after 52 people were killed in similar attacks, had been directed by Osama bin Laden's group.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451109
Woman held in UK bomb plot released without charge
New 9:48AM Friday July 13, 2007
LONDON - British police have released without charge the only woman among the eight suspects held in the case of failed bomb attacks in London and Glasgow last month.
The woman was the wife of suspect Mohammed Asha, 26, arrested with him on June 30 while the pair drove on a motorway in northern England, hours after attackers drove a jeep into an airport terminal building in Scotland and set it ablaze.
That attack came 36 hours after the discovery of two cars packed with fuel, gas tanks and nails primed to explode near a crowded nightclub in London. Police think the two incidents were linked.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451334
China bans chemical in toothpaste after recalls
1:15PM Thursday July 12, 2007
BEIJING - China has banned the use in toothpaste of a chemical linked to the recall of Chinese made products across the globe as it tries to reassure consumers its good are safe.
China's quality and inspection watchdog stressed that although there was no proof long-term use of toothpaste containing diethylene glycol -- an industrial solvent used in paint and antifreeze -- was harmful, it was still banning its use.
"Almost all of our toothpaste manufacturers no longer use diethylene glycol as an ingredient," it said in a statement posted on its website late on Wednesday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451117
Should towns be moved because of the flooding?
8:56AM Friday July 13, 2007
What are your thoughts?
Prime Minister Helen Clark, who toured the Far North, said residents in towns repeatedly hit by flooding may have to consider moving.
Is that a good idea?
Here is the latest selection of Your Views:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451096
Air pollution claims 1100 lives each year
Christchurch smog. 1 in 20 people nationally (4.8%) die earlier than they would because of pollution. Photo / Martin Woodhall
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Errol Kiong
Air pollution is a billion-dollar killer claiming nearly 1100 lives in New Zealand each year, a new report says.
The four-year study, by more than 20 leading science and health experts in New Zealand and Australia, found one in 20 people die earlier than they would have because of air pollution. In greater Auckland, the figure is 1 in 16.
It blames open fireplaces in homes and dirty fumes from vehicle exhausts and factories for the toll.
But the report also warns that smaller cities too have dirty air.
"Air pollution levels are quite high in places like Taumarunui, Timaru, Rotorua and Tokoroa," said a lead author, environmental science consultant Gavin Fisher.
The study showed the most significant pollutant came from inefficient fuel burning that can aggravate or cause respiratory problems.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451297
Storm takes heart of forest king
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Alanah May Eriksen
Te Matua Ngahere, thought to be about 2000 years old, lost its central leader in the storm when a rata tree was blown off its perch. Before the storm (left) and after (right).
One of the New Zealand's most famous trees has had its top knocked out in this week's storm, shortening its life by hundreds of years.
The rata tree that was growing from the centre of kauri tree Te Matua Ngahere in the Waipoua Forest, north of Dargaville, was blown to the ground.
It took with it the central leader of the kauri and several of its branches.
Waipoua Forest Trust conservationist Stephen King said rata trees grew on older trees, sending roots to the ground and eventually taking them over.
"But when you look up at it now you just see sky, no canopy."
Forest workers noticed the damage yesterday morning but believe it happened on Tuesday night.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451290
BBC apologises to Queen Elizabeth over photo shoot
7:18AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Avril Ormsby
The BBC has apologied to Queen Elizabeth for showing a misleading promotional trailer which implied she stormed out of a photo shoot. Photo / Reuters
The BBC apologised to Queen Elizabeth yesterday for wrongly implying that she had stormed out of a photo shoot with American photographer Annie Leibovitz.
The British broadcaster blamed a production company for sending it clips edited out of sequence which implied the monarch had lost her temper when asked to remove her crown.
The footage should never have been shown, the BBC said.
The story became headline news after a promotional trailer for a BBC documentary A year with the Queen, due to be aired later this year, was shown to journalists.
"In this trailer there is a sequence that implies that the Queen left a sitting prematurely. This was not the case and the actual sequence of events was misrepresented," the corporation said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451309
Russia urges Britain not to politicise Litvinenko spy case
9:13AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Olesya Dmitracova
Britain's Foreign office says Russia's refusal to extradite former Kremlin bodyguard Andrei Lugovoy, the main suspect in the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko, is 'unacceptable'. Photo / Reuters
MOSCOW - Russia has urged Britain not to politicise the row over its refusal to extradite the key suspect in Alexander Litvinenko's murder, saying it should be dealt with strictly as a legal case.
British officials have threatened unspecified steps against Russia for refusing to extradite Andrei Lugovoy, a former state security agent, to stand trial over the poisoning of Litvinenko in London last year.
One of the options available to London is to expel Russian diplomats -- a possibility which revives memories of Cold War days and has alarmed officials here.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451329
Sarkozy calls for rework of French constitution
8:57AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Emmanuel Jarry
French President Nicholas Sarkozy has called for a complete reform of the nation's constitution. Photo / Reuters
FRANCE - President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for a reform of France's constitution and announced he would set up a commission to study ways to modernise rather than revolutionise the French state.
Repeatedly evoking the spirit of former President Charles de Gaulle, Sarkozy said French presidents should be allowed to address the national parliament and suggested introducing an element of proportional representation in elections.
He also said famously opaque presidential spending should be scrutinised by the national state auditor.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451325
US report shows Iraqi forces have long way to go
8:21AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Andrew Gray
U.S. soldiers stand guard at the entrance of the Joint Security Station in Yarmuk neighbourhood in Baghdad yesterday. Photo / Reuters
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration's new Iraq report paints a picture of Iraqi security forces still plagued by sectarianism and heavily dependent on US troops to conduct operations.
The portrayal, in the report measuring Iraqi authorities against benchmarks laid down by the US Congress, is bound to raise fresh questions about the sustainability of any gains made by the current US troop increase in Iraq.
"Left on their own, many ISF (Iraqi Security Force) units still tend to gravitate to old habits of sectarianism when applying the law," said the report, issued by the White House on Thursday.
The report graded Iraq "not satisfactory" in terms of increasing units that could operate without US help, allowing Iraqi forces to work without political interference and enforcing the law even-handedly.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451317
US faults China on shipments Iran
8:51AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON - China is doing too little to stop militarily significant supplies to Iran, despite having voted for UN sanctions aimed at keeping Tehran from developing nuclear arms, senior Bush administration officials said today.
"Some Chinese entities continue to supply items and technology useful in weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery, and advanced conventional weapons programmes of concern, despite the UN Security Council resolutions," Don Mahley, a deputy assistant secretary of state, told the congressionally created US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Mahley stopped short of accusing Beijing of violating the companion resolutions adopted unanimously in December and March aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear arms or the means to deliver them.
"There have been transfers, which we have addressed with the Chinese, in which we believe that the transfers were not permitted by UN Security Council resolutions 1737 and 1747," Mahley said in response to questions from Commissioner Peter Brookes, a former Pentagon East Asia strategist.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451323
White House 'gagged' Surgeon General
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Leonard Doyle
Richard Carmona
For generations of Americans, the Surgeon General has been the "nation's doctor," the person they turned to for unbiased advice on everything from smoking to obesity and the HIV Aids pandemic.
And United States presidents have generally defended the Surgeon General's right to speak out on public health matters. But under President George W. Bush, the independence of the Surgeon General has been placed below industry lobbying and the demands of the religious right.
Damning testimony by Dr Richard Carmona, the Surgeon General from 2002 until 2006, has revealed that the Bush Administration frequently censored him and tried to mould his public statements to fit political goals. He was even ordered to mention Bush three times on every page of his speeches.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451275
Giuliani under fire
8:30AM Friday July 13, 2007
Relatives of firefighters killed at the World Trade Centre reproached Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani in a video, claiming the former New York mayor was woefully unprepared for September 11.
The parents and siblings of some of the 343 firefighters killed released the video with the International Association of Firefighters, which opposes Giuliani's candidacy.
They charged that Giuliani pushed for a faster cleanup of ground zero at the expense of finding remains, put an emergency centre in a building that collapsed on September 11 and failed to provide working radios for firefighters, making it impossible for them to learn the towers were on the verge of collapse.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451279
North Korea ready to learn from the outside world
5:00AM Friday July 13, 2007
By David McNeill
Kim Jong II, North Korean leader is thought to of personally ordered the site cleared for the new all-English University.
North Korea is set to take a potentially giant leap out of the intellectual cold with the construction of a new all-English language university staffed by academics from around the world and teaching the cream of the country's graduate students.
Construction of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology is nearing completion on a 100ha plot leased by the People's Army in the North's capital. The Army has loaned 800 solders to build the campus, which is largely funded by a network of Christian evangelicals.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is believed to have personally ordered the site cleared for use and granted the university the right to hire staff from anywhere in the world.
The university is expected to eventually have 2600 undergraduate and postgraduate students and to help train a new generation of elite business executives and technicians.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451271
EU considers sending troops to Darfur
9:23AM Friday July 13, 2007
PARIS - The European Union is considering sending troops to protect Darfur refugees in Chad ahead of the arrival of a planned African and UN force in western Sudan, the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana says.
Solana met French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday to discuss various international crises, including the four-year-old Darfur conflict.
"During my meeting with President Sarkozy, we talked about the possibility of deploying rapidly, in cooperation with the president of Chad, a temporary European Union force tasked with protecting refugee camps in Chad," Solana said in an interview with La Croix newspaper.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451331
Mexico rebel group not seen as security risk
8:43AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Catherine Bremer
MEXICO CITY - A clandestine Mexican rebel group that said it blew up fuel pipelines as part of an anti-government campaign might strike again but does not pose a major national security threat, analysts say.
Mexico ramped up security around its oil industry and key parts of the capital after the Marxist-inspired Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) said it carried out pipeline blasts this week, and last week and vowed to stage more attacks.
But analysts played down the threat from the group and said they saw little risk to strategic points such as oil export terminals and airports.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451320
Army builds on gains over rebels in the east
5:15AM Friday July 13, 2007
KILINOCHCHI - Sri Lankan troops drove Tamil Tiger fighters from their last stronghold in the island's east, the military said, but the rebels vowed to carry on with a guerrilla-style war.
The capture of a jungle area called Thoppigala, which had been in Tiger hands since the mid-1990s, rounds off a significant territorial setback for the rebels who have lost vast swathes of terrain in the east this year.
But while the Army has had the upper hand in recent months, the Tigers' military machine is still intact in the north, where they run a de facto state.
The military says it has killed nearly 450 rebel fighters in the Thoppigala area, in the eastern district of Batticaloa, since February and that around 20 of its men have been killed.
The Tigers say 60 of their guerrillas have been killed and believe they have killed three or four times that number of troops.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451230
Logged to death
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Dev Nadkarni
Honiara has patches of green but indiscriminate logging could make this a rarity. Photo / Dev Nadkarni
As it enters its 30th year of independence this month, the Solomon Islands finds itself on the brink of a twin disaster. In those three decades, its economy has overwhelmingly depended on just one rapidly disappearing natural resource - timber - which successive governments have failed to manage well, jeopardising the country's environmental health and economic wealth.
Estimates of how much tree cover is left vary, but the general agreement from most international environment groups is that the archipelago will be rendered almost completely treeless in the next five to six years. Moses Rohana, project manager for Environmental Concerns Action Network of Solomon Islands, fears commercial forestry will end as early as 2010.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451393
'Lost' passports raise alarm
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Patrick Gower
Casino loan sharks or identity fraudsters are feared to be behind a spate of "lost" Chinese passports.
The Weekend Herald has found 331 advertisements for lost Chinese passports placed in Chinese-language newspapers over the past three years.
The file is only a selection of those that have run in the classified section of the Auckland-based Mandarin Pages, with up to a dozen different lost passports advertised on some days.
The adverts usually feature a passport number and are a notification that they have been lost. There are no contact details for the document's return.
The number of lost passport advertisements does not tally with those reported to missing to the Auckland Central Police Station, where it is rare and only two have been called in in the past six months. The advertisements, which are still running this month, were found during a Weekend Herald investigation into loan sharks and alleged criminal behaviour associated with Auckland's SkyCity casino.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10451507
Beleaguered Bush sticks to guns
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
George W. Bush himself looked tired as he conceded 'war fatigue' had set in among the American public and Congress. Photo / Reuters
President George W. Bush put off changing course in Iraq for at least two months yesterday but the United States House of Representatives signalled its frustration by calling for combat troops to leave by April.
An interim White House report released just before Bush spoke gave the Iraqi Government a mixed review in meeting political and security goals - providing more ammunition for war opponents demanding Bush start ending US military involvement.
The Democrat-controlled House, in a symbolic move, voted 223-201 to approve legislation to bring combat troops out of Iraq by April 1, 2008.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451439
The Republicans continue to state there will be another attack in the USA on the scale of September 11th. There better not be. But if there is take note where it will likely to come from. Jordan was stabbed in the back and so was Egypt. The UK has yet to be appreciated for it's generous immigrant policy. Well, guess what kind of treat the USA is in for? Is Homeland Security prepared to deal with this influx of aggrieved Iraqi citizens? I sincerely doubt it.
UN ups appeal to cope with rush of Iraqi refugees
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
Iraqi refugees wait to register at the UNHCR office in Douma, near Damascus, Syria. Photo / Reuters
The United Nations refugee agency yesterday doubled its funding appeal for Iraq this year to US$123 million ($157 million), saying humanitarian needs continued to mushroom as an estimated 2000 people flee violence each day.
Most of the revised appeal, up from US$60 million in January, will be used to provide shelter, food, healthcare, education and other emergency services to Iraqis who cross into neighbouring countries.
Syria and Jordan are already struggling to host 2 million Iraqis who fled before and since the 2003 US-led invasion, while another 2 million people are uprooted within Iraq, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451437
The big thaw
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Catherine Masters
New Zealand scientist Grant Redvers with expedition dog Tiksi and boat the Tara. Redvers is leading a research expedition investigating climate change in the Arctic.
You might think you'd go a little stir crazy stuck on a boat in the middle of a creaking frozen ocean with nothing but white all around.
Or you might think it would be the perpetual darkness of winter or the 24-hour daylight of summer that would drive you bonkers.
You'd be wrong. Every day something unexpected happens out on the Arctic Ocean where the ice is so thick, explorers once searched in vain thinking they would find land.
It might be as simple as waking up to the thrill of finding polar bear tracks next to the boat, as Masterton scientist Grant Redvers did recently, and being reminded that, even though you feel you are the only ones alive on an alien planet, this empty chilly place is the home of other powerful beings.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451418
Sales rise food for thought
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Brian Fallow
Supermarket spending led the way in retail sales. Photo / The Aucklander
The dollar jumped yesterday on news of a 1.2 per cent increase in retail sales in May - even though the rise only reversed a fall of the same size in April.
The result was stronger than economists had expected in light of the official cash rate increases in the two preceding months.
The financial market took it as having increased the risk of another interest rate rise, although the market still thinks it more likely than not that Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard will sit tight on July 26.
Statistics New Zealand said total sales, adjusted for seasonal effects, rose 1.2 per cent to be 6.5 per cent ahead of May last year.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10451476
Brian Gaynor: Investors need a new breed of director
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Brian Gaynor
The latest round of takeover offers clearly demonstrates that a major difference in approach has developed between shareholders and directors.
Shareholders want to invest in companies with clear growth strategies that will deliver long-term value, whereas New Zealand directors seem to be more interested in short- term considerations as they are quick to recommend bids that offer a premium to the current market price.
This difference of opinion, which was evident in the controversial Waste Management takeover last year, has become more pronounced over the past few months.
The bid for MediaWorks, formerly known as CanWest MediaWorks, closed on Monday with Sydney private equity manager Ironbridge Capital reaching 82.55 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/12/story.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=10451422
Microsoft won't cut price of Xbox 360
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
New York: Microsoft has refused to blink in the video game console war with Sony, revealing that it will rely on exciting new games such as the third instalment of Halo to boost sales of its Xbox 360 rather than entering a price war with its rival.
Sony slashed the cost of its advanced PlayStation 3 console this week in the US by US$100 ($128), a move that turned up the heat on Microsoft.
Yet Microsoft has refused to take the bait and has instead unveiled a Spartan Green version of the Xbox 360 to accompany the highly anticipated Halo game. The decision to maintain its pricing structure comes despite the company missing its target for 12 million global console shipments by the end of June after it reported it had sold 11.6 million units thus far.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451455
Nintendo says Wii could beat record-holding PS2
3:52PM Friday July 13, 2007
By Kiyoshi Takenaka
Nintendo's Wii console is proving popular as it's easy to use and very interactive.
SANTA MONICA - Sales of Nintendo's quirky Wii video game machine could top the legendary PlayStation 2, making it the biggest hit in the industry's history, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said on Thursday.
Nintendo sped past Sony in market capitalisation last month to become one of the 10 most valuable companies in Japan.
Iwata in an interview also played down the threat to Nintendo's (business of a price cut in Sony's PlayStation 3 and the introduction of a thinner PlayStation Portable.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451385
Apple patent filings hint at WiFi iPods, tricky mice
1:49PM Friday July 13, 2007
Patent applications in the US hint at a new generation of WiFi-capable iPods.
Apple has filed a number of new patent applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, hinting at possible products in the pipeline.
A particularly interesting example appears to involve a method of allowing an iPod or iPhone to interface with other devices over a wireless network, according to Macsimum News.
Older Apple patent filings have dropped similar hints, but it seems that the idea of sharing playlists, iTunes-style between WiFi capable iPods is gaining momentum.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451375
Google founder doubts Facebook for sale
12:53PM Friday July 13, 2007
By Kenneth Li
SUN VALLEY - Google co-founder Sergey Brin says his company would be happy to talk with Facebook about potential ties, but that the social network did not appear to be courting takeover bids.
"If they come to us, we'd certainly be open to talking," Brin said, answering a reporter's question at the 25th annual Allen & Co. media deal-makers conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "But I think they're building a great company of their own."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10451365
Conrad Black found guilty of criminal fraud
8:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
Conrad Black arrives with his wife Barbara Amiel Black at the Dirksen Federal courthouse. Photo / Reuters
CHICAGO - A US jury has found Conrad Black guilty of criminal fraud and obstruction of justice in a verdict that could send the former media baron to jail for up to 35 years.
Black was allowed to remain free on a US$21 million bond pending a July 19 hearing on whether bond should be continued. His lawyers said he would appeal, and sentencing was set for November 30. Black surrendered his passport in court.
Black and his three co-defendants were each convicted of three charges of mail fraud. Each fraud charge carried a potential five-year prison sentence. In addition, Black's obstruction conviction carried a possible 20-year sentence. Overall, Black was guilty in four of 13 charges against him.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451515
Musharraf stiffens resolve as Pakistan mourns mosque dead (+video)
A soldier surveys the inside of the Mosque. Photo / Reuters
11:25AM Friday July 13, 2007
By Simon Cameron-Moore
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has vowed to eradicate extremism "from every nook and corner of the country" after a bloody confrontation at an Islamabad mosque in which at least 105 people died.
"I want to say it clearly that extremism and terrorism have not been eradicated from Pakistan," he said in an address to the nation following Tuesday's commando assault on Islamabad's Lal Masjid, or Red Mosque.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451347
Tracey Barnett: The President wins, the American people lose
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Tracey Barnett
Dear Mr President: You owe me. You owe me for what you have taken away - and for what America can't seem to find again.
How will I explain the country you are leaving in 18 months to my two American-born children? What will I tell them when they're ready to vote a decade from now and still living with the repercussions of the damage you have done to America's reputation throughout the world?
Do I teach them that America isn't just the land of baseball and burgers - but now the happy home of water boarding and wire-tapping? Do I explain that our new national symbol isn't just an eagle but one of naked hooded prisoners stacked in pyramids like broken chairs?
You owe me for the future my children will have to work to rebuild someday, and I never agreed to pay that price.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451411
Playing chicken with your health
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Geoff Cumming
Chicken drumsticks. Photo / Michael Craig
There's a killer in the supermarket chiller, spreading disease by stealth. Fresh chicken meat is, most likely, alive with campylobacter, a bacteria which can cause a horrible, debilitating form of food poisoning.
Pick up a pack with enough "campy" bugs on it and you can spread it around the supermarket - via the trolley handle, by opening freezers, fondling cheeses. When you get home, the same risks apply, particularly if the bag is leaking.
At least, that's the picture some scientists are painting. If the risk was that real, we'd be swimming in diarrhoea and vomit; the country would grind to a halt.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10451424
UN closer to killers of former PM
New 8:15AM Saturday July 14, 2007
UN investigators probing the killing of former Lebanese PM Rafik al-Hariri have identified some who may have been involved or known about it, their chief said yesterday.
New information about a van used to blow up Hariri and 22 others in Beirut in February last year, about cellphones used to track him and about his political activities had helped to pinpoint suspects, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10451443
continued...
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