Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Morning Papers


Funding al Qaeda. The area where Relief Workers are attending to the Rehabilitation of the Indian Ocean Tsunami nations NEEDS "Homeland Security." Relief Workers need to credentialed while citizens trade in weapons for a commodity they can appreciate. Security in an insecure world is vital for the children, especially the orphans. Gunmen are NOT WELCOME !! Posted by Hello


Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle-Do"

Tsunami summit picks UN as leader and offers debt relief
The UN was picked by the nations that suffered from the tsunami in the Indian Ocean as the leader of the relief operations.

http://www.financegates.com/news/world_news/2005-01-06/tsunami_06012005.html

Security Issues Hinder Tsunami Relief
By Peter Dejong
The Associated Press
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- A U.S. helicopter on a tsunami relief mission crashed Monday in Indonesia, injuring two servicemen and briefly suspending operations, while strong aftershocks and security concerns provided more challenges for aid workers two weeks after the killer waves hit.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2005/01/11/253.html


In history,

January 11…

… 1952, born Ben Crenshaw, golfer (1952)

… 1964, United States Surgeon General Luther Terry issues the first report that cigarette smoking may be dangerous.

…1885, born Alice Paul, American feminist and social reformer, who was a militant supporter of women's rights and used her skills as a speaker and propagandist to fight for the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment passed in 1920 and gave women the rights of citizens, including the right to vote. She also fought for an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The ERA, which would remove in one stroke all legal, economic, and social restrictions on women, was introduced into the U.S. Congress in 1923 but did not pass.

January 10…

...1628, born Jan Theunisz Blanckerhoff [Jan Maet], seascape painter)

...1635, born Willem à Brakel Frisian theologist (Reasonable religion)

...1738, Ethan Allen Revolutionary War fighter (led the Green Mountain Boys)

...1776: English political writer Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense. It denounces monarchy and proclaims that “the cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.

...1861: Florida Convention delegates in Tallahassee vote to secede from the United States.

...1863, London's Metropolitan, the world's first underground passenger railway, opened to the public.

...1864, born George Washington Carver agricultural scientist (estimate date - actual birthdate unknown)

…1904, born Ray Bolger, actor

...1920: The League of Nations is established as the Treaty of Versailles in fear of the possibility of the "war to end all wars." The United States is absent.

...1928, the Soviet Union ordered the exile of Leon Trotsky.

…1938, born Willie (Lee) McCovey, professional baseball player

…1939, born Sal Mineo, actor

...1946: The first meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations convenes in London, England.

...1949: RCA announces the seven-inch, 45 rpm record.

…1949, born George Foreman, American professional boxer, who was the heavyweight
boxing champion from 1973 to 1974. He made one of the most remarkable comebacks in sports history when he regained the heavyweight title in 1994. Foreman was born in Marshall, Texas. Interested in sports from an early age, he played football and basketball as a youngster. He joined the Job Corps in 1965 and spent two years doing construction work and forestry in Oregon. During that time he also earned a high school equivalency diploma at Camp Parks, a California industrial training center. Foreman was soon noticed by boxing instructor Nick Broadus, who taught him to box and started him on a training program. He fought his first official amateur fight in 1967 in San Francisco and won with a knockout in the first round. Shortly after Foreman's graduation from the Job Corps, Broadus helped him obtain a job as a physical education teacher at Camp Parks. Foreman also continued his boxing career. After winning the national amateur heavyweight championship in 1968, he earned a position on the United States boxing team for the Olympic Games in Mexico City that year. At the games he won the heavyweight gold medal.


…1955, Marian Anderson, internationally acclaimed opera singer, became the first Black to perform at the Metropolitan Opera on this day. She made her operatic debut playing the fortune-teller Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (Masked Ball). Her performance met with critical acclaim. Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia. Her musical education and performing experience were the products of personal, family and community determination. Through the financial support of her church, the Union Baptist at Fitzwater, she took voice lessons in Philadelphia. On April 9, 1939, she performed a historic concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., before a crowd of 75,000 people. That event, which became a landmark in civil rights history, occurred after the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to rent Constitution Hall to Anderson for a concert performance. First lady Eleanor Roosevelt, then a member of the DAR, condemned that racist act, resigned her membership and arranged for Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial. Anderson died April 8, 1993, at the age of 96.

... In 1978, the Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz capsule for a rendezvous with the Salyut 6 space laboratory.

… 1984, Robert N.C. Nix, Jr. was inaugurated as the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s 54th chief justice on this day, becoming the first Black elected to head a judicial branch of government in the U.S. Nix was first elected to the seven-member Court in 1971. Before that, he served as a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge from 1968 to 1971. Nix, a native of Philadelphia, graduated from Villanova University and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Justice Nix was a prominent lawyer during the Civil Rights Movement as a partner in the law firm of Nix, Rhodes & Nix from 1958 to 1968. Nix retired from the bench in 1996 after more than two decades on the court. Nix died on August 23, 2003, in suburban Philadelphia at the age of 75.

...1984, the United States and the Vatican established full diplomatic relations for the first time in more than a century.

...2004, Michelle Kwan won her seventh straight title and eighth overall at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Atlanta; Johnny Weir skated to his first men's title.

Missing in Action

1967
GAULEY JAMES P. RINGWOOD OK

1967
STOVES MERRITT III BIRMINGHAM AL

1968
HOPPER EARL P. JR. GLENDALE AZ EJECTION PROBLEMS CRASH

1968
HALL KEITH N. GRAND FORKS ND 03/14/73 RELEASED BY DRV ALIVE AND WELL 98

1969
SPROTT ARTHUR R. JR. DELRAY BEACH FL

1970
ALLEN WAYNE C. TEWKSBURY MA REMAINS RETURNED 09/90 ID'D 04/91

1970
CROSBY HERBERT C. GA

1970
HOWES GEORGE A. KNOX IN

1973
CLARK ROBERT A. NORTH HOLLYWOOD CA

1973
MC CORMICK MICHAEL T. HONOLULU HI

Michael Moore Today

People's Choice

Best Picture of the Year

The American People have Spoken !

"Thank you! Thank you very much.
We live in a great country and we all love our country very much and I am so amazed that you did this — the people of America — that you voted for this film. I can't thank you enough.
I'm honored and gratified and I know that there are many people tonight — mothers and fathers across this country — with sons and daughters in Iraq. Our prayers are with them and I dedicate this award to them tonight.
I want to thank, most of all, the people out there who voted for this. I don't want you to give up. This country is still all of ours. Not just right or left, democrat or republican, it's all of our country.
I love making movies and I'll take this as an invitation to make more ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’s.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much."

Enter MichaelMoore.Com

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Link of the Week Ending:

Veterans for Common Sense

Our Mission:
Veterans for Common Sense seeks to inject the element of Common Sense into debates over war and national security. In an age when the majority of public servants have never served in uniform, the perspective of war veterans must play a key role in the public debate over national security issues in order to preserve the liberty veterans have fought and died preserving.
Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) was formed in 2002 by war veterans who believe that we, the people of the United States of America, are most secure when our country is strong and responsibly engaged with the world. Two years later, our organization has over 12,000 members throughout the United States.
Based on the pragmatic ideals of the American patriot Thomas Paine, VCS advocates a series of common sense principles to accomplish this vision for America

Link of the Week Beginning January 10, 2005

Conscientious Objection and Alternative Service

A conscientious objector is one who is opposed to serving in the armed forces and/or bearing arms on the grounds of moral or religious principles.

HOW TO APPLY

In general, once a man gets a notice that he has been found qualified for military service, he has the opportunity to make a claim for classification as a conscientious objector (CO). A registrant making a claim for Conscientious Objection is required to appear before his local board to explain his beliefs.

http://www.sss.gov/FSconsobj.htm

House GOP seen straying from pledges in 'Contract'
By Rick Klein /
The Boston Globe
WASHINGTON -- They stormed into Congress a decade ago, a fresh-faced band of Republican candidates brandishing a Contract with America that promised balanced budgets, ''citizen legislators" who would serve and return to the private sector, and a restored trust in the nation's elected leaders as the GOP took control of the House for the first time in 40 years.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=905

Palestine and Israel and George

I may very well be surprised, but, if Abbas is seen by his electorate as a 'puppet' to the USA there may very well be trouble. For that reason, George might not find a speedy acceptance of his invitation. I don't know what George is trying to say about Israel by 'inviting' Israel to help. Help with what? Israel has been deprived of loan guarantees and has substantial debt by Palestine. Israel has been very supportive to the effort of the elections. George again is making 'empty' gestures intended to create Isreal's response as if embarrassed into action.

Israel has REAL issues as well it needs to attend to:

"Meals for Israel"

http://www.meals4israel.com/

Brother, can you spare a meal?
Your donation will help feed the hungry in Israel. No matter the amount, you can help a brother.

http://www.meals4israel.com/lite/home.php

Palestine has a ways to go. In the article below one might note who Abbas is shaking hands with. It ain't George Bush. John Kerry has been in The Middle East during a historic time when the presence of an American President might make a difference in bring peace to the region. Before meeting with Mr. Abbas, John Kerry visited Syria to come to 'common terms' for a peaceful agreement with Israel. Coming to peaceful understandings with Syria is a very good initiative by John Kerry. It is most helpful.

Sharon to call to congratulate Abbas, set meeting

By Haaretz Staff
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was planning to telephone Palestinian president-elect Mahmoud Abbas today to congratulate him on Sunday's election victory. Government sources in Jerusalem said on Monday that arrangements were being made for a meeting between Abbas and Sharon in the coming days.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/525427.html

Bush Offers Talks with Abbas, Urges Israel to Help
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Monday promised newly elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas direct talks and proposed a White House meeting after years of shunning Yasser Arafat, and urged Abbas to quickly bolster Palestinian security forces to take on militants.

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7283779

Poll brings Israel glimmer of hope

Mahmoud Abbas may be someone Israel can talk with
With a new Palestinian leader in place, all eyes are now on the kind of relationship Israel will form with him. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said Mahmoud Abbas is a man Israel can do business with. But concessions will be necessary on both sides if the relationship between Israel and the Palestinians is to improve, says BBC Middle East reporter Lucy Williamson.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4163165.stm

Analysis / Revolt of no return
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent
Smiling his closed smile, eyes half closed, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gazed yesterday at the MKs of his own Likud Party, one-third of whom voted no-confidence in him, and at those of the left-wing Yahad-Meretz faction, who supported him almost unanimously, thereby giving him the majority he needed to establish his third government: the disengagement government.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/525772.html

Future of peace talks with Abbas
www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-11 13:57:08
BEIJING, Jan.11 -- Mahmoud Abbas won a landslide victory with almost two-thirds of the vote. The question is: is this large enough for a clear mandate to renew peace talks with Israel, to rein in militants and to unite the Palestinian Authority?

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/11/content_2444784.htm

I WOULD EXPECT BUSH'S APPROVAL RATING TO INCREASE. Bush took advice and focus from others outside his Neocon Cronies. One of the first to find 'purpose' in the disaster efforts was the new 'Chief' at CNN, and not as a political stunt either, but, a profoundly sincere effort to bring Relief Efforts to the countries of Banda Aceh, Sri Lanka, Thialand and India. As a focus in leadership, CNN launched a team of reporters to the area bringing a reality even Kofi Annan stated is unlike any devastation he has ever witnessed. Bush is finally becoming an instrument of LEGITIMATE peace and not one of illegitimate war. So noted his OLD agenda is stilll under fire, while thanks to Colin Powell the new agenda of peace and rescue with rehabilitation of The Indian Ocean region proves to be the initiative most agreeable with all Americans.

Poll: Bush's approval rating climbs
High marks given on tsunami, lower on Social Security and Iraq

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/10/poll/index.html

BY CONTRAST, What the heck happened here? There is much to speculate about realizing the new sonar of these navy ships have been regarded as dangerous to the lives of Marine Mammals. Is this the new sonar that failed and if not was this an agenda or accident to attempt to prove a point regarding the old sonar. Either way a sailor is dead and others injured creating even more questions and concerns.

Officials: U.S. submarine hit undersea mountain
From Mike Mount
CNN Washington Bureau
Monday, January 10, 2005 Posted: 3:24 PM EST (2024 GMT)

The USS San Francisco, pictured in this file photo, ran aground south of Guam

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy submarine accident that killed one sailor and injured 24 others occurred when the vessel -- traveling at high speed -- hit an undersea mountain head-on, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Saturday's accident caused part of the sonar dome, which is part of the submarine's nose, to flood, officials said.

The commander of the USS San Francisco, Kevin Mooney, has not been relieved of duty while the investigation of the accident continues.
Mooney could be relieved of duty if officials determine there is enough evidence that the accident could have been averted.

The investigation will look at the sub's speed, its location and whether the undersea formation was on navigational charts, officials said.
The submarine was traveling in excess of 30 knots -- about 35 mph -- when its nose hit the undersea formation head-on, officials said.
The nuclear submarine docked Monday at a U.S. naval base in Guam, a spokesman with the U.S. Pacific Fleet said.

The San Francisco was escorted to port by U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, according to Lt. j.g. Adam Clampitt. The submarine suffered "some external damage," he said.

"The injured sailors are being treated at a U.S. military medical facility on Guam and will be transferred to other facilities -- possibly Pearl Harbor in Hawaii or Okinawa in Japan -- as necessary," Clampitt said.

According to a military statement, the injuries included "broken bones, lacerations, bruises and a back injury."

The accident occurred about 350 miles (560 kilometers) south of Guam, the U.S. Navy said. There were 137 crew on board at the time of the accident.
Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio, died Sunday from injuries suffered in the accident, Clampitt said. "The Navy continues to offer its sincerest condolences and prayers to the family and friends of Petty Officer Ashley," he said.

Navy sources said the submarine was en route to Brisbane, Australia, for a port visit at the time of the accident. There was no damage to the sub's nuclear reactor, according to Clampitt.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/10/nuclear.submarine.update/

THEN there is this. "Influence Peddling" which is illegal under Racketerring Laws of this country. I think Bush forgot to dismantle the Racketerring Laws when he came into office. Oops, another reason to 'can' Johnny Ashcroft.

Bush administration paid columnist to push its agenda
Last Updated Mon, 10 Jan 2005 15:22:03 EST
CBC Arts
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration paid Armstrong Williams, a prominent Washington columnist, to promote its education policy, possibly violating U.S. law.
Williams has admitted taking money in return for spotlighting the so-called No Child Left Behind education initiative.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2005/01/10/Arts/armstrong050110.html

Climate Change is a 'Bitch' isn't it? Sorta makes everyone wish they 'listened' to the experts before they got into this mess. But, I thought Bush's technology could handle all this? Huh? Well, so far Bush is 'ZERO' for 100's of thousands, including a tsunami. Does everything Bush does have to get to Bibilical proportions BEFORE he finds science to be correct? That's leadership? I don't call that leadership? You know, at least Gore went to Antarctica.



12 Missing After Calif. Mudslide

By JEFF WILSON
Associated Press Writer
LA CONCHITA, Calif.
A huge mudslide crashed down on homes in a coastal hamlet with terrifying force Monday, killing at least one person and leaving up to 12 missing as a Pacific storm hammered Southern California for a fourth straight day.

Los Angeles utility workers Doug Quintal, left, and Eric Lawrence pass a two-story house that collapsed after a mudslide Monday Jan 10, 2005, in the Coldwater Canyon section of Los Angeles. Authorities said a father and his two children were pulled from the rubble of the home. The father had minor injuries. Nine deaths have been linked to a series of storms pounding Southern California that have unleashed flash floods and mudslides, forced evacuations and closed roads and schools. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Height (pixels): 342 Width (pixels): 512

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050110/APA/501101014

The 'Exclusive' footage obtained by CNN was not be believed. That was a wall of earth that became literally a slippery slope promising to be even more than it was.

Mudslide crashes onto coastal hamlet
One dead, 15 injured and up to 12 missing
Monday, January 10, 2005 Posted: 9:05 PM EST (0205 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/01/10/storm.rdp.ap/index.html


One person killed after mudslide
1/10/2005 6:25 PM
By: Capital News 9 web staff

A mudslide in Southern California has killed at least one person and damaged at least 15 homes.

http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/?ArID=112818&SecID=33

I GUESS this was all necessary but in reality Bush does not have an admirable record and literally was AWOL. So who is kidding who here. If CBS felt a responsibility to bring this issue to light to count act the Propaganda of the Bush Swift Boat crew then they did the right thing. In fact the issue was refocused, it was just that the partisanship of the electorate didn't care that Bush was actually a coward !

Panel Finds CBS News Rushed Report on Bush's Guard Record
By JACQUES STEINBERG
and BILL CARTER
Published: January 10, 2005
Mary Mapes, the producer involved in the flawed CBS report.

Andrew Heyward, was kept on as president of CBS News. In November, Dan Rather announced that he was stepping down.

Betsy West, a senior vice president at CBS News, and Josh Howard, an executive producer, were urged to resign.

An independent panel convened by CBS to investigate a discredited broadcast about President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service has concluded that the network's news division rushed the report onto the air in September in a frenetic dash to beat its competitors. The report also says the network failed to seriously consider contradictory information raised not only before the segment was aired but for nearly two weeks afterward.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/10/business/media/10cnd-cbs.html?hp&ex=1105419600&en=a249147866098207&ei=5094&partner=homepage

CAPE TRAFALGAR JOURNAL
Where Nelson Triumphed, a Battle Rages Over Windmills
By MARLISE SIMONS

APE TRAFALGAR, Spain - Near this blustery headland where Admiral Nelson won his great naval victory over the French two centuries ago, a new battle of Trafalgar is brewing.
Power-generating turbines, like these in Tarifa, Spain, are aided by state subsidies. Now, two companies want to build windmills in the sea nearby.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2005/01/10/international/10trafalgar.ready.html


Survey: Mass attendance steady amid crisis
January 10, 2005
NEW YORK -- The clergy sex abuse crisis that has battered the U.S. Roman Catholic Church for three years has had little impact on Mass attendance, according a study released Monday.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/01/10/survey_mass_attendance_steady_amid_crisis/

Gov't targets atheist's inauguration suit
January 10, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The government is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by an atheist who wants to bar the saying of a prayer at President Bush's inauguration, calling the practice widely accepted and more than 200 years old, according to a court filing released Monday.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/01/10/govt_targets_atheists_inauguration_suit/

DISCRIMINATION??

Companies turn to personality profiles for hiring
Companies embrace personality profiles for prospective employees
By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff, 1/9/05
Getting a job isn't just about your business sense. It's also about your sense of humor, cynicism, or persistence.

http://bostonworks.boston.com/globe/articles/010905_personality.html


Will you try to get a new job in 2005?
Yes, I need a job, period
48.0%
Yes, I plan to switch
41.5%
No, I'm happy where I am
6.4%
No current plans to
4.2%
Total votes: 1001

http://bostonworks.boston.com/globe/articles/010905_personality.html

At 910 PM a mixture of light rain...freezing rain...sleet and snow was over north central Illinois and northwest Indiana. The precipitation is moving northeast around 20 mph. Ice accumulations between a tenth and two tenths are possible overnight into Tuesday morning. A mixture of snow and ice will cause roads and walkways to become slippery travel with caution.

http://weather.chicagotribune.com/US/IL/Chicago/KORD.html?main=1

Watchdog group says Peoples Gas overcharged customers
By The Associated Press
Published January 10, 2005, 5:57 PM CST
The Citizens Utility Board has increased to $149 million the amount of money it believes Peoples Gas overcharged customers due to secret deals with Enron Corp.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-050110peoples,1,7802132.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true

2 Dead in La Conchita Landslide
Deaths bring to 11 the number of people killed in Southern California during the recent wave of storms.

By Steve Chawkins and Daryl Kelley, Times Staff Writers
Super-saturated land tumbled down a mountain today, picking up speed and deadly power before it hit a neighborhood in the coastal community of La Conchita in Ventura County, killing at least two people, injuring nine and leaving at least six missing, fire officials said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-011005rain_lat,0,5031234.story?coll=la-home-headlines

4 Jailed Iranians Awaiting Release
A judge has given the U.S. until Feb. 20 to free the Mirmehdi brothers, held since 2001 in an immigration case.
By H.G. Reza, Times Staff Writer
Confined to the Terminal Island immigration jail for more than three years, the Mirmehdi brothers cannot help wondering whether they are somehow beyond the law.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-brothers10jan10,0,4948583.story?coll=la-home-local>

3 Dead in Ohio River Tugboat Accident
From Associated Press
INDUSTRY, Pa. — A tugboat and three barges sank Sunday after being swept over a dam spillway on the Ohio River by currents made stronger by heavy rains, killing three crew members. One person was missing and believed to be aboard the sunken boat

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tug10jan10,0,3578319.story?coll=la-home-nation

I FIND THIS UNFORTUNATE. Don't quite understand why. This is clearly an issue of Civil Rights and not State's Rights. Are we becoming a nation of regressive Civil Rights and conformity?

U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear Florida gay-adoption case
BY JENNIFER BABSON
jbabson@herald.com
keys flnews
Silently sidestepping a thorny social issue, the U.S. Supreme Court declined today to hear an appeal by four gay Florida men who unsuccessfully challenged the state's ban on adoptions by gay couples -- the only blanket law of its kind in the nation.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10610775.htm?1c

Two Dead After Calif. Mudslide
JEFF WILSON
Associated Press
LA CONCHITA, Calif. - A huge mudslide crashed down on homes in a coastal hamlet with terrifying force Monday, killing at two people and leaving up to 12 missing as a Pacific storm hammered Southern California for a fourth straight day.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10612544.htm

Firm ordered to stop toxin distribution
By ASHLEY FANTZ AND SARA OLKON
solkon@herald.com
A federal judge on Monday essentially shut down an Arizona company that distributed an anti-wrinkle product that is far less potent than the one allegedly responsible for paralyzing four South Floridians.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/10612052.htm

Troubled waters for manatee plan
Broward hopes to enact a manatee protection plan this year, but boating advocates have reservations about proposed restrictions on new docks, ramps and marinas.
BY SAMUEL P. NITZE
snitze@herald.com
As Broward County officials craft the last piece of a state-mandated manatee protection plan, their work has drawn sharp criticism from another group that considers itself endangered: the marine industry.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/weather/environment/10609911.htm

Denying rape victims
OUR OPINION: RESTORE CONTRACEPTION OPTION TO GUIDELINES
The same Justice Department that draped cloth over a nude statue at its Washington, D.C., headquarters has issued new rape-treatment guidelines that omit offering information about emergency contraception to victims of sexual attacks. The policy is wrongheaded and foolish. It could cause women to carry to full term unwanted pregnancies perpetrated by criminals.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/10606789.htm

The New Zealand Herald

Sunday to be memorial day for tsunami dead
11.01.05 12.00pm

A memorial day for the thousands killed in last month's Asian tsunami will be held on January 16, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced today.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=9006213

Abbas win and new Sharon coalition boost peace hopes

11.01.05 1.00pm
By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK - Middle East peace hopes were boosted on Monday local time when Mahmoud Abbas was elected Palestinian president and the Israeli parliament endorsed Ariel Sharon's new coalition to implement his planned Gaza pull-out.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=9006205

Yushchenko confirmed as Ukraine's president

11.01.05 10.45am

KIEV - Ukraine's Central Election Commission formally declared today that liberal Viktor Yushchenko won last month's presidential election with 51.99 per cent of the vote, paving the way for him to take power.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=9006200

Milosevic lawyers renew bid to withdraw from case

11.01.05 1.00pm

AMSTERDAM - Lawyers appointed to defend former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic have renewed their bid to withdraw from his war crimes trial, according to papers released on Monday by the court.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=9006207

The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Wind Chime) is:

Scott Base

Some cloud

1.0° - That's above zero. This is Antarctica, okay?

Updated Tuesday 11 Jan 9:59PM

end



The Indian Ocean Satellite. Noted heat at Equator. Australia is in the right lower corner of the picture. New Zealand is southeast of Australia. Posted by Hello

Pacifc Global Satellite 1.11.05. Noted at 7 o'clock on the 'face' of the shere, is New Zealand. Noted at 9 o'clock is a reat accumulation from the Equator with a peripheral reach into the Antarctica Continent facilitated by the South Pole Vortex. Posted by Hello

New Zealand Color Enhanced Satellite 1.11.05 Posted by Hello

New Zealand Satellite 1.11.05. The clouds are the peripheral circulating winds of the Antarctica Vortex. Keep in mind geographically, New Zealand is directly across from Scott Base now experiencing above zero temperatures. Those peripheral winds are pulling tropical air into the Ice Continent in a Global Warming pattern attempting to continue to cool the planet. IF all these dynamics weren't necessary to maintain the biotic sphere of Earth, why would this occur? THAT SAID, what then will Earth's tropospheric temperatures be like if Human Induced Global Warming completely melts Earth's temperate reserves, the Ice Caps? Posted by Hello

Monday, January 10, 2005

The Winter Solstice of 2004


Earth Posted by Hello

What makes The Winter Solstice of 2004 different from the Winter Solstice of 2003 and 2002?

The Winter Solstice of Earth is known to the northern hemisphere as the shortest daylight hours of the year. In contrast the southern hemisphere knows December 22nd as the longest daylight hours of the year, known as the Summer Solstice.

During The Winter Solstice the North Polar Cap, better known and thought of as The Arctic Ocean is the furthest distance from the sun, Sol. The closest point to Sol of Earth occurs in the southern hemisphere at The Tropic of Capricorn (Many 'names' of Earth come romatically from Greek and Roman mythology such as the constillations in the sky. The Tropic of Capricorn received it's name from the constellation of the same name. It is also the Zodiac/Astrology sign for that particular time of year. Interesting, isn't it? Humans like to 'connect' belief with landmarks of all kinds. We 'endear' what is important/precious through our affections.)

The Tropic of Capricorn is at 23 degrees and 27 minutes south latitude. That is the place where Sol has it's greatest intensity of sunlight during the Winter Solstice as well as gravitational pull on Earth.

On December 23, 2004, there was an earthquake of 8.3 magnitude on the Richter Scale occuring between Australia and Antarctica.

On December 26, 2004 there was an earth quake of 9.0 magnitude, a result of a culmination of three separate geological events in the Indian Ocean. This earthquake resulted in deadly tsunamis affecting every nation that borders the Indian Ocean with ripples felt all the way to the East Coast of the USA.

There was a 'wobble' of Earth at the time the earthquake occurred.

The question as to what is different in the Winter Solstice of 2004 than the two years previous is related more to the 'wobble' than the actual earthquake. The difference is that the 'mass balance' of Earth is shifting. The Arctic Ocean, the furthest point from Sol is losing mass in large amounts. The earthquakes of December 26, 2004 has a direct correlation to Global Warming the change in the 'balance' of Earth on it's axis. As the 'mass' of the Arctic Ocean diminishes adding to the mass of the oceans, Earth is creaking. In other words, the increased seismic and volcanic activity (Kindly note the volcanic activity in Hawaii from December 22 through 28, 2004) since the vortexes of October 4, 2002 is directly related the movement of the Tectonic Plates and Earth shifting in mass on it's axis.

More discussion to follow.

Thank you.


Saturday, January 08, 2005

Morning Papers - Understand the Beginning


A Surviving Sri Lanken Child Posted by Hello

Rooster "Cock-A-Doodle_Do"

In History

…on January 9,…

...1793…Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first piloted balloon ascent in America while President George Washington looked on.

...1914, born Gypsy Rose Lee, American entertainer (1914).

...1929: The Seeing Eye started in Nashville, Tennessee, to train guide dogs for the blind.

...1941, born Joan Baez, American professional folksinger, who is also known for her active political involvement. Born in Staten Island, New York, she studied at Boston University, but left school to sing in Boston coffee houses. Her clear
soprano voice and simple, effective guitar accompaniments created a distinctive style that became increasingly popular after her Newport Folk Festival appearance in 1959 and her recording debut in 1960. Baez worked for civil rights during the antiwar movement, and for human rights in Southeast Asia, both through her singing and by founding Humanitas, an international human rights organization, and the Institute for the Study of Non-Violence. Baez wrote two autobiographies, Daybreak (1968) and And a Voice to Sing With (1987).

...1951: The United Nations headquarters open.

Jailed Journalists

Mugabe tightens press regulations

HARARE - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has enacted changes to media laws that will see unlicensed journalists jailed for up to two years, the government gazette announced.

http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1785110-6078-0,00.html

Children of imprisoned Cuban dissidents treated on Three Kings Day
BY NANCY SAN MARTIN
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT) - Cuban children whose fathers have languished in prison for 21 months as part of a government crackdown against dissidents, gathered at a Havana home Saturday to receive toys as part of a Three Kings holiday tradition.

...
Pollan, wife of jailed independent journalist Hector Maseda Gutierrez, said all 53 children of dissidents across the island received gifts paid for with a donation by the Miami-based Cuban American National Foundation.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10599689.htm

Reuters

Oleic Acid Key to Olive Oil's Anti-Cancer Effect
Sun Jan 9, 2005 09:59 PM ET

By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered why eating a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables and particularly olive oil can help to protect women from developing breast cancer.
The key is oleic acid, the main component of olive oil.

http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7275234

What garantees go along with policing the use of these monies and what constitutes reforms in Palestine?

Bush Reaches Out to Palestinians After Vote
Sun Jan 9, 2005 05:56 PM
By Adam Entous
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush said on Sunday that the United States stands ready to help the new Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as he faces up to critical post-election challenges combating militants and carrying out reform.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7274445

The Japan Times

Dozens of English teachers still missing
40 employees of Nova chain unaccounted for in tsunami-hit region
By KANAKO TAKAHARA
Staff writer
More than 40 English-language teachers working in Japan who may have been in areas hit by the Indian Ocean tsunamis on Dec. 26 were still unaccounted for as of Saturday.

http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20050109a2.htm

The New York Times

Saving Jewish Children, but at What Cost?
By ELAINE SCIOLINO and JASON HOROWITZ
Published: January 9, 2005

PARIS, Jan. 8 - In October 1946, just a year after the defeat of the Nazis, the Vatican weighed in on one of the most painful episodes of the postwar era: the refusal to allow Jewish children who had been sheltered by Catholics during the war to return to their own families and communities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/international/09vatican.html?oref=login

The Pentagon has every reason to be proud.

Tsunami Tests U.S. Forces' Logistics, but Gives Pentagon a Chance to Show a Human Face
By THOM SHANKER and JAMES BROOKE
Published: January 9, 2005

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 - The huge American relief operation in the Indian Ocean carries risks for the Pentagon but also rewards, employing combat resources at a time the armed forces are stretched thin, but putting forth an image of an American military that is as caring and efficient in saving lives as it is violent and efficient in slaying adversaries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/international/worldspecial4/09military.html

Astronauts Express Confidence in Safety of Planned Mission
By STEFANO S. COLEDAN
Published: January 8, 2005

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Jan. 7 - The seven astronauts of the Discovery, the space shuttle that NASA hopes to launch this spring in the first flight since the Columbia disaster two years ago, said Friday that they were eager to return to orbit and resume the nation's human spaceflight program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/08/national/08shuttle.html

Bush's Drug Videos Broke Law, Accountability Office Decides
By JOHN FILES
Published: January 7, 2005

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 - The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Thursday that the Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/national/07drug.html

Tsunami's Ripples, Unnoticed, Washed Along Atlantic Coast
By ANDREW C. REVKIN

The tsunami that ravaged countries all around the Indian Ocean also hit the eastern United States, though only the tide gauges noticed.

A tide gauge at Atlantic City recorded the passage of a "train" of waves, just under nine inches from crest to trough, 32 hours after the earthquake struck off Sumatra's west coast on Dec. 26, said Dr. Alexander B. Rabinovich of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, British Columbia. A gauge at Port Canaveral, Fla., recorded 13.4-inch waves 24 minutes later.
Dr. Rabinovich has been spearheading an international effort to chart the course of the fading ripples from the devastating tsunami set off by the earthquake.

The tsunami was so powerful that it swept around the world over the next 36 hours, with its last residual waves perceptibly jostling tide gauges from Russia's remote northeastern Pacific waters to the North Atlantic, scientists said yesterday.
The tsunami ripples would have been imperceptible to Floridians, mingled among the other sloshing of waters there, but were clearly discernible in the data, Dr. Rabinovich said. Other Atlantic gauges detected the waves in Bermuda and the Virgin Islands, he said.

The evidence of the tsunami's passage in the Atlantic is particularly significant, seismologists and oceanographers said, because data on how quake-generated waves move there are scant compared with information available for the Pacific.
The newly discovered records of the Atlantic waves from the Sumatran earthquake should help improve computer simulations of tsunami behavior in the Atlantic, said Dr. Vasily V. Titov, a tsunami expert who works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. Such simulations can help scientists predict where tsunamis generated in the Atlantic might strike, he said.

The signal of the tsunami's quiet journey once it left the Indian Ocean was detected almost immediately in the Pacific Ocean, where 90 percent of tsunamis occur and tide gauges are specifically designed to catch trains of waves generated by underwater earthquakes, scientists said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/07/international/worldspecial4/07waves.html?pagewanted=print&position=

The Cheney Observer

Halliburton to Pump Iranian Oil !

Halliburton wins drilling tender in Iran
* The company insists it is not illegal for it to work in Tehran
TEHRAN: US oil services company Halliburton, whose operations in Iran have come under investigation by US authorities, has won a tender to drill a huge Iranian gas field, an official said on Sunday.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_10-1-2005_pg4_17

Trucker's body found
The Halliburton worker was missing since April.
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. - The body of a civilian truck driver missing since April has been found near the place where his convoy was ambushed in Iraq nine months ago.

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/10602365.htm

Mardi Gras reunion planned by family of missing truck driver
GARRY MITCHELL
Associated Press
MOBILE, Ala. - The family of a Mobile truck driver missing in Iraq since April hopes government officials will step up efforts to find him now that the body of a co-worker has been recovered from a shallow grave.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/10599200.htm

American Halliburton wins South Pars tender
TEHRAN, Jan. 9 (MNA) – Managing Director of Pars Oil and Gas Co. (POGC), Akbar Torkan, said that the American Halliburton Company will surely win the tender for development of South Pars phases 9 and 10.
Halliburton is the first American company ever participated in Iran’s oil and gas sector since the 1979’s Islamic Revolution.

http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=146979

China chases a global oil presence
By Richard McGregor, Enid Tsui and Andrew Yeh
Published: January 10 2005 02:00 Last updated: January 10 2005 02:00
The mooted takeover bid by China National Offshore Oil Corp, the country's third-largest oil and gas group, for Unocal shows little is off limits for ambitious Chinese companies in their search for secure resources.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/64867b0a-62ac-11d9-8e5d-00000e2511c8.html

Stuart Petroleum's record results
January 10, 2005 - 2:30PM

Adelaide-based Stuart Petroleum said it registered record oil production from the Cooper Basin last month.
Stuart Petroleum chief executive officer Tino Guglielmo said the company's share of oil production from the basin in South Australia in December was 82,000 barrels - a 34 per cent increase from November.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Business/Stuart-Petroleums-record-resultss/2005/01/10/1105206028789.html

Reliance to sign Oman agreement
MUSCAT: Oman has granted India's Reliance Industries an offshore oil exploration concession with large reserve potential, a newspaper reported yesterday.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=100967&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27296

White House paid US journalist, Democrats charge illegal propaganda

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A conservative black commentator has admitted to taking public money to promote President George W. Bush's education plan, which Democrats called illegal propaganda.

Television and radio personality Armstrong Williams told CNN that he took 240,000 dollars to flog Bush's No Child Left Behind plan.
"I used bad judgement," he said. "I apologize to my audience."

He said that because he owned a public relations company, he was not bound by journalistic ethics.
Anyway, he said, Bush's school reform matched his own conservative views.

The scandal broke in Friday's USA Today, and enraged the Democratic Party, which called this a case of "Bush wasting taxpayer's money for political propaganda."

"We believe that the act of bribing journalists to bias their news in favor of government policy undermines the integrity of our democracy," said a group of opposition Democrats headed by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Reid and the Democrats called on the White House to refund the public moneys.

House of Representatives Democrats lined up behind Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to sign a letter to Bush that said: "We ask you to publicly renounce the use of covert propaganda to influence public opinion."

The Washington Post and the New York Times also reported Friday that the General Accountability Office had found that an anti-marijuana television spot violated the law by not revealing that an actor in the message was not really a journalist.

In May, the GAO, the investigative office of Congress, found the Department of Health and Human Services similarly violated the law with a spot promoting a Bush health care policy.

Bechtel and Lockheed in frame as Labour plots nuclear sell-off
By Jason Nissé
09 January 2005
The Government is to enter detailed talks to sell British Nuclear Group, the main operating subsidiary of BNFL, as part of the first stage of a break-up of the troubled nuclear fuels group.

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=598954

Big Dig job botched by contractor short cuts
By Casey Ross
Saturday, January 8, 2005
The
Big Dig contractor that built an Interstate 93 tunnel section plagued by leaks and defective wall panels spent $45 million more than the original price to complete the job and did not use a specialized subcontractor to ensure quality work, according to construction documents and sources.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=62467

The Boston Globe

Death toll passes 150,000 in tsunami disaster; massive feeding program announced
By Jocelyn Gecker, AP January 8, 2005
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Rescue workers pulled thousands more rotting corpses from the mud and debris of flattened towns along the Sumatran coast Saturday, two weeks after surging walls of water caused unprecedented destruction on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The death toll in 11 countries passed 150,000.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2005/01/08/death_toll_passes_150000_in_tsunami_disaster_massive_feeding_program_announced/

The Chicago Tribune

Hundreds of Vehicles Stuck in Calif. Snow
By PAUL CHAVEZ
Associated Press Writer
January 8, 2005, 7:35 PM CST
LOS ANGELES -- As many as 200 vehicles got stuck in deep snow early Saturday in the San Bernardino Mountains as the latest in a series of storms struck California. The storms quickly moved eastward, closing all three major highways over the Sierra Nevada.
Up to 10 feet was expected over the weekend at the Sierra's higher elevations, according to the National Weather Service.
Snow piled up 3 to 4 feet deep along a 15-mile stretch of highway between the Snow Valley ski resort and Big Bear dam, said Tracey Martinez, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County fire department.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-storm-rdp,1,6257511,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Wal-Mart greeter sacked over photo
Items compiled from Tribune news services
Published January 8, 2005
MUSCATINE, IOWA -- A Wal-Mart greeter was sacked for apparently showing too much of his friendly side to customers.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0501080168jan08,1,1247168.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Mysterious jet tied to torture flights
Is shadowy firm front for CIA?
By John Crewdson
Tribune senior correspondent
Published January 8, 2005
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The first question is: Where is Leonard T. Bayard? The next question is: Who is Leonard T. Bayard? But the most important question may be: Does Leonard T. Bayard even exist?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0501080192jan08,1,1921181.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Julia Roberts Buys Land From Rumsfeld
By Associated Press
Published January 7, 2005, 7:04 PM CST
NEW YORK -- With newly born twins, it looks like Julia Roberts needs some extra space. The actress has bought 32 acres of Taos, N.M., real estate from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, People magazine reports.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-people-roberts,1,6060808.story?coll=chi-news-hed

John Kerry Meets With Syrian President
By ALBERT AJI
Associated Press Writer
Published January 8, 2005, 7:22 PM CST
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry met Saturday with Syria's president and said he was hopeful that strained U.S.-Syrian relations could be improved, provided Washington seized "a moment of opportunity" in the Middle East.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-mideast-kerry,1,5930918.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Virus Sickens 116 on Caribbean Cruise
By Associated Press
Published January 8, 2005, 10:39 AM CST
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Nearly 120 passengers and crew members became sick with a stomach virus aboard a ship that returned to port Saturday after a five-day Caribbean cruise, Royal Caribbean International officials said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/sns-ap-brf-sick-cruise,1,3560960.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Obesity Under the Microscope

Obesity

American Obesity Association

Here you will find what we think is the most comprehensive site on obesity and overweight on the Internet. Obesity is not a simple condition of eating too much. It is now recognized that obesity is a serious, chronic disease. No human condition — not race, religion, gender, ethnicity or disease state — compares to obesity in prevalence and prejudice, mortality and morbidity, sickness and stigma.

http://www.obesity.org/

Council to fight obesity in kids
By Ashleigh Wallace
awallace@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
07 January 2005
A series of activities aimed at tackling obesity in children are due to take place in leisure centres across Belfast.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=598680

Overweight and Obesity

NEW

Overweight and Obesity
State Programs
Find out what 's happening in the different funded state programs.

In the United States, obesity has risen at an epidemic rate during the past 20 years. One of the national health objectives for the year 2010 is to reduce the prevalence of obesity among adults to less than 15%. Research indicates that the situation is worsening rather than improving.
The following topics provide information about overweight and obesity.

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/

Competing in the 'Obesity Olympics'
Athletes, Trainers Team Up With Families to Tackle Weight Problems

"20/20" paired up the Lechner family with an Olympic trainer, a dietitian and gold medal gymnast Paul Hamm to battle their obesity problem. (ABC News)

Jan. 7, 2005 — Between work and kids and school activities, American families are juggling a lot these days. With diet and exercise often getting lost in the mix of our increasingly harried lives, obesity has become a major health problem for Americans.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/PersonalBest/story?id=390178&page=1

Obesity On-Line

Medical Benefits of Modest Weight Loss
Modest weight loss, of as little as 5% of initial body weight, can improve many of the concurrent medical complications associated with obesity, and prevent the development of new obesity-related illnesses. This talk reviews the data from studies that evaluated the effects of modest weight loss on obesity-related medical complications.

http://www.obesityonline.org/site/index.cfm

The Miami Herald

HYATT is practicing segregation. They don't want to identify themselves with a trendy ethnic hotel.

Hyatt keeps name off trendy hotel
The soon-to-open Hotel Victor will have everything cool on South Beach: chilly vodka bar, coed sauna -- even a 'vibe' manager. (Shhh, it's a Hyatt.)
BY DOUGLAS HANKS III
dhanks@herald.com
Hyatt has hired a vibe manager, put a DJ in the dining room, stocked the lobby aquarium with iridescent jellyfish and done just about everything possible to create an ultra-hip hotel in South Beach.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10595206.htm

Trucker, load of nickels vanish
Police said a Miami tractor-trailer driver hauling $180,000 worth of nickels for the Federal Reserve has disappeared -- along with the money.
BY LISA ARTHUR AND DAVID OVALLE
larthur@herald.com
Angel Ricardo Mendoza -- last known address, Miami -- picked up his cargo at the Federal Reserve in East Rutherford, N.J., on Dec. 17.: A tractor-trailer loaded with $180,000 worth of nickels. That's 3.6 million nickels; 45,000 pounds of nickels; 900 50-pound bags of nickels. Destination: a Federal Reserve facility in New Orleans.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/10595205.htm

The Sun Sentinel

Wives of jailed dissidents hand out presents from Miami group
By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ
The Associated Press
Posted January 8 2005, 4:56 PM EST
HAVANA -- Wives of jailed Cuban dissidents held a holiday party Saturday for the children of political prisoners, handing out gifts bought by a politically powerful exile group in Miami.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-0108cubandissidents,0,5751565.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Catholics Share Jewish Artifacts
South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board
Posted January 8 2005
Of the many achievements of Pope John Paul II's papacy, perhaps the one that will endure the longest is the reconciliation he has fostered between the Roman Catholic Church and Judaism. Now relations between the two religions are about to get even warmer.
A delegation of about 160 rabbis, cantors and Jewish lay people is to meet with the pope on Jan. 18 to thank him for the goodwill he has spent much of his papacy promoting. The latest example is an agreement by the Vatican to lend priceless Jewish artifacts owned by the church to Israel.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdpopejan08,0,4949010.story?coll=sfla-news-editorial

The Sun Sentinel

Jailed Colombian drug kingpins seek deal to protect family members
By Dan Molinski
Associated Press Writer
Posted January 9 2005, 2:54 PM EST
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Two aging founders of Colombia's once-dominant Cali drug cartel have offered U.S. prosecutors a deal to keep them and their succcessor behind bars for 10 years if other relatives can be spared, the respected Colombian magazine Semana reported Sunday.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-kingpin09,0,3509487.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

The Los Angeles Times

Snow Strands Hundreds In Big Bear As Storm Pelts California
January 6, 2005
Weather Forecast
Times Headlines
From Associated Press
Deep snow stranded as many as 200 vehicles Saturday in the San Bernardino Mountains as the latest in a series of storms struck California, and more heavy snow shut down a pair of highways in the Sierra Nevada.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rain9jan09,0,7942443.story?coll=la-home-headlines

First Wave of Storm Drenches Southland

By Eric Malnic and Seema Mehta, Times Staff Writers
The Pacific Ocean storm that lashed Southern California with rain and snow Friday was expected to intensify tonight and Sunday, posing an increasing threat of floods and mudslides.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rain8jan08,1,167781.story?coll=la-home-headlines

L.A. Limits Height of Retaining Walls
The City Council votes to cap hillside barriers at 12 feet. Owners of canyon lots say the ordinance will make it hard to develop their properties.
By Bob Pool and Jessica Garrison
Times Staff Writers
January 8, 2005
Los Angeles officials on Friday banned tall retaining walls that dot the city's canyon communities from Woodland Hills to Mount Washington, with critics calling the massive bulkheads "the hillside strangler."
City Council members said the oversized concrete walls that loom over neighboring homes are wrecking the rustic feel of the city's canyons and hillsides.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wall8jan08,1,6874560,print.story?coll=la-headlines-california

UN to Feed 2 Million Tsunami Vicitims Daily
WHO reports no major disease outbreaks in refugee camps as toll rises above 150,000.

From Associated Press
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Two weeks after a tsunami slammed into coastlines around the Indian Ocean, thousands of bodies were still being pulled out of the mud in remote villages, as the official death toll from the catastrophe rose above 150,000.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-010805tsunami-wr,0,5736450.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Preacher Pleads Not Guilty in 1964 Slayings
Edgar Ray Killen, now 79, is the only person ever to be charged with murder in the killing of three young civil rights workers in Mississippi
By Ellen Barry, Times Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. — Edgar Ray Killen wears bifocals now. His neck is loose and ropy, and he is bald except for a fuzz at the back of his skull. At 79, he is freckled with age, and leans in because he has trouble hearing.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-civilrights8jan08,0,4613244.story?coll=la-home-nation

The War Against Rumsfeld
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Rich Lowry, David Rivkin is a Washington attorney who served in various legal and policy positions in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-rivkin7jan07,0,1759538.story

Chips off the old block
Santa Monica preservationists rally as more vintage residences face the wrecking ball.

By Darrell Satzman, Special to The Times
Rick SORDINI looked about as relaxed as someone who is likely to be evicted soon can look.

http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-re-bungalows9jan09,0,2879404.story?coll=la-home-realestate

Yellowstone prowl
When the temperature plummets and snow blankets the landscape, humans retreat and wildlife emerges in this northern U.S. park. It's the best time to see the reserve's inhabitants in their element.

By Rosemary McClure, Times Staff Writer
We were searching for villains. Legendary bad guys that huff and puff and blow houses down. Evildoers who frighten boys named Peter and girls named Little Red Riding Hood. Fiends in sheep's clothing.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-yellowstone9jan09,0,3114785.story?coll=la-home-travel

The State, Columbia, South Carolina

Lingering chlorine prolongs evacuation
Thousands wait for workers to clean up deadly chemicals
By RICK BRUNDRETT
Staff Writer
AIKEN — Thousands of Graniteville residents faced being kept from their mill town homes for a third day — and possibly longer — as authorities worked around-the-clock to remove toxic chlorine after Thursday’s railroad crash.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595811.htm

Tracks in Columbia worry residents
Miles of railroad tracks go through heavily populated areas of city
By SAMMY FRETWELL
Staff Writer
Not long after learning of Thursday’s tragic train wreck in Graniteville, Bob Amundson wondered about the toxic chemicals that trains carry past his Columbia neighborhood every day.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595770.htm

Railroad offering help to residents
Big companies plan how to react to crises, experts say
By BEN WERNER
Staff Writer
Working from an assistance center inside Aiken’s First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk Southern Corp. officials are providing financial assistance to displaced residents and trying to answer health questions.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595804.htm

Leak hit firefighters where they live
Several volunteers seriously hurt as train crash site was no more than 400 feet from fire station
By RODDIE BURRIS
Staff Writer
AIKEN — Some volunteer firefighters nearly gave their lives answering the call of a fire alarm in Thursday’s train crash.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595809.htm

Expert offers alternate crash causes
Vandalism, faulty switch possible in deadly train wreck
By SAMMY FRETWELL
Staff Writer
Railroad consultant Robert Halstead examined the switching mechanism on the spur at the Avondale Mills site weeks before Thursday’s train crash in Graniteville. He offered additional possible reasons Friday for the tragic wreck: vandalism or a faulty switching mechanism.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/local/10595795.htm

THE VICTIMS
Read about the eight men on page A5:

Steven Bagby, 38

Tony DeLoach, NA

John Laird, 24

Fred “Rusty” Ruyston III, 41

Christopher Seeling, 28

Willie Shealey, 43

Allen Frazier, 58

Joseph Stone, NA

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/10595667.htm

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Ruling favors rails-to-trails plan over Sammamish homeowners
By
GORDY HOLT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The East Lake Sammamish rails-to-trails project appears headed back to the rail bed it started on six years ago and not onto the rails-to-trails-to-curbside detour some lakeside homeowners envision.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/207100_sammamish08.html

Asia quake impacts Va. well-water levels
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHMOND, Va. -- The South Asian earthquake that spawned deadly tsunami waves also shifted water levels by at least 3 feet in a geologically sensitive Virginia well some 9,600 miles away from the epicenter, researchers say.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=BRF%20Tsunami%20Well%20Water

Experts weigh economic harm from tsunami
By WILLIAM FOREMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Passengers, wearing surgical masks to protect themselves from severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, move through an almost empty departure hall, in this April 12, 2003 file photo at Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok international airport. Two of nature's most powerful forces, a monster earthquake and a massive tsunami, teamed up in southern Asia to cause death, human misery and destruction on a scale rarely seen before. But when the total economic damage is tallied up, many analysts and economists say that harm done to the region's economies won't even begin to come close to the financial havoc caused by the mysterious little virus that triggered the global SARS outbreak in 2003. (AP Photo/Anat Givon, File)

HONG KONG -- Two of nature's most powerful forces - a monster earthquake and a massive tsunami - teamed up in southern Asia to cause death, human misery and destruction on a scale rarely seen before.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/apbiz_story.asp?category=1310&slug=Asia%20Tsunami%20vs%2E%20SARS

Deaths reported after quakes, tsunamis
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

At least 150,627 people are reported dead in southern Asia and eastern Africa, most killed by massive tsunamis that smashed coastlines following an earthquake on Dec. 26.

Death tolls by country:

- Indonesia: 104,055

- Sri Lanka: 30,718

- India: 10,012

- Thailand: 5,291

- Somalia: 298

- Myanmar: 90

- Maldives: 82

- Malaysia: 68

- Tanzania: 10

- Bangladesh: 2

- Kenya: 1

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Deaths%20by%20Country


Tsunami damages endangered sea turtles
By RUNGRAWEE C. PINYORAT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
PHUKET, Thailand -- Endangered sea turtles were also casualties of the tsunami, with the monster waves possibly hastening their extinction, a marine expert said Saturday.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apscience_story.asp?category=1501&slug=Tsunami%20Endangered%20Turtles

AP poll: 3 in 10 in U.S. gave tsunami aid
By WILL LESTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Three in 10 Americans say they have donated to the victims of the South Asia tsunami, an Associated Press poll found. The total of private donation is rapidly approaching the $350 million pledged by the government as private citizens made many of their donations online.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Tsunami%20Donations%20Poll

U.S. Marines begin tsunami relief
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka -- Lt. Col. Edmund Bowen is a seasoned Marine who has served in the Persian Gulf and Somalia. But he now finds himself playing the role of peacetime aid worker in Sri Lanka's tsunami-ravaged regions.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20US%20Marines

Sri Lanka tells Annan not to visit rebels
By SHIMALI SENANAYAKE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka on Saturday asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan not to visit disaster-stricken areas controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels, forcing the United Nations into a political situation it had hoped to avoid.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Annan

Indonesia tries to curb child trafficking
By ALI KOTARUMALOS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia said Saturday it was monitoring its borders to prevent child traffickers from smuggling young victims of the tsunami out of the country, and it will set up centers inside refugee camps to care for children and reunite them with their families.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Child%20Trafficking

Skirmishes raise security fears in Sumatra
By CHRIS BRUMMITT
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Indonesia's military has stepped up patrols for separatist rebels in tsunami-stricken northern Sumatra island after isolated skirmishes in recent days raised fears the conflict could hamper the relief effort.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Security

Shots heard near Indonesia's U.N. building
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia -- Suspected rebels fired shots early Sunday at the home of a top police official near the United Nations' relief headquarters in the tsunami-ravaged Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, officials said. No casualties were reported.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Tsunami%20Indonesia%20Gunfire

11 killed in Pakistan sectarian violence
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A Shiite Muslim cleric was ambushed Saturday as he drove through the once serene Himalayan tourist destination of Gilgit, setting off a rampage of sectarian violence and arson that left at least 11 people dead, including a family of six that was burned alive in its home.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Pakistan%20Sectarian%20Violence

Michael Moore Today

At the People's Choice Awards, "The country belongs to all of us…."

January 9th, 2005 8:09 pm
Troops Kill 8 Iraqis After Convoy Bombed
By Bassem Mroue /
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. troops opened fire near a checkpoint after their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb, and a hospital official said Sunday at least eight people were killed in the second mistaken American attack in two days to have deadly results.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=898

Letter From Election Chief In Ohio Sought Illegal Funds
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 8 -- The state's chief elections officer, accused of mishandling the presidential vote in November, sent a fundraising letter for his 2006 gubernatorial campaign that was accompanied by a request for illegal contributions.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=897

U.S., Owner Dispute House Bombing Deaths
By Nick Wadhams /
Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The United States military said it dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong house outside the northern city of Mosul on Saturday, killing five people. The man who owned the house said the bomb killed 14 people, and an Associated Press photographer said seven of them were children.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=895

‘The Salvador Option’; The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq
By Michael Hirsh and John Barry /
Newsweek
Jan. 8 - What to do about the deepening quagmire of Iraq? The Pentagon’s latest approach is being called "the Salvador option"—and the fact that it is being discussed at all is a measure of just how worried Donald Rumsfeld really is. "What everyone agrees is that we can’t just go on as we are," one senior military officer told NEWSWEEK. "We have to find a way to take the offensive against the insurgents. Right now, we are playing defense. And we are losing." Last November’s operation in Fallujah, most analysts agree, succeeded less in breaking "the back" of the insurgency—as Marine Gen. John Sattler optimistically declared at the time—than in spreading it out.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=896

end for today