Jennings (center) anchored a one-hour investigative report on the Khmer Rouge in 1990.
(ABC News)
 

August 8, 2005. Jennings (center) speaks with Indian Brigadier R.S. Malan along the frontline between India and Pakistan in the mountains of Kashmir in 2000.
(ABC Photo Archives)
 

Peter Jennings was the first journalist in Vietnam in the 1960s. 

August 6, 2005. Caption :: Lt. Vyacheslav Milashevsky, commander of the AS-28 mini-submarine salutes in front of other crew members before getting off a ship at the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia Sunday morning. (AP/Ivan Sekretarev) 

Morning Papers - concluding

The New Zealand Herald
NZ 'at risk from tsunamis'

08.08.05 4.00pm

A coastal property boom and lax development rules are putting New Zealanders' lives at risk from tsunamis, an expert says.
Hamilton-based hydraulic engineer Alastair Barnett, who is due to speak in Whangarei tonight, says people have ignored the danger posed by tsunamis, despite the Boxing Day event that claimed almost 250,000 lives around the Indian Ocean.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10339698

Oil-for-food head resigns before explosive report
08.08.05 1.00pm

NEW YORK - The former head of the scandal-tainted oil-for-food programme has resigned from the United Nations, hours before he is expected to be accused of getting kickbacks from the US$67 billion ($98.3 billion) operation.
A UN-established Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, plans to release today its third interim report on allegations of corruption in the humanitarian programme for Iraq, which began in 1996 and ended in 2003.
Benon Sevan, the former executive director of the programme, is to be accused of getting cash for steering Iraqi oil contracts to an Egyptian trader and of refusing to co-operate with the Volcker panel, his attorney Eric Lewis said. Sevan has denied the allegations.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339706


Doctors fear mute piano virtuoso will never be identified
08.08.05 1.00pm
By Cahal Milmo

The story of the man found wandering near a remote beach in Kent with the labels cut off his dripping wet evening suit excited imaginations the world over. From Stockholm to Vancouver, calls flooded in suggesting names for the silent enigma that was Piano Man.
Now, four months later, the mute blond virtuoso remains in a psychiatric hospital in Dartford. His carers said yesterday that they believe that he may never be identified.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339710


New Delhi's sacred cows become fair game for motorbike musterers
08.08.05
By Justin Huggler

Residents of New Delhi who dream of being cowboys are getting the chance in real life. Under a bizarre new scheme to round up the city's stray cattle, the New Delhi High Court is offering a cash reward for anyone who brings a bovine to book.
The move has triggered road chaos in the Indian capital as bounty hunters on motorbikes compete to round up cattle.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339625


Nuclear negotiators take three-week recess
08.08.05

BEIJING - Weary envoys to marathon six-party talks aimed at defusing the crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions have agreed to take a three-week recess to consult their Governments.
North Korea, which demands aid and security assurances in return for scrapping its nuclear weapons programmes, refused to agree to a joint statement despite multiple drafts put forward during 13 days of talks with South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and China.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339594


Firefighters struggle as Spain and Portugal get roasted
08.08.05

Firefighters in Portugal and Spain are struggling to contain forest and brush fires as scorching temperatures punish areas hit by drought.
In Portugal about 2357 firefighters with 694 vehicles including four water-dropping aircraft are still battling nine blazes that have badly hit the centre and the north of the country, down from 22 the day before.
Much of Portugal has been experiencing temperatures of 40C. In the Spanish cities of Seville and Cordoba 42C was expected yesterday.
About 200 firefighters are using water-dropping aircraft and bulldozers on a fire about 400km west of Madrid.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=10339623


Putin praises international rescue of sub
08.08.05 7.55am
By Nikolai Pavlov

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked the international resucers who yesterday freed a trapped submarine off the country's Pacific coast.
All seven sailors on board the mini-sub were released unharmed after a three day ordeal.
TV footage showed Putin clenching his fists and saying "great" when he saw the mini-submarine break the surface.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339676


Survivors tell of horror as Italy probes air crash
08.08.05

PALERMO, Sicily - Survivors of a plane crash that killed at least 13 people described on Sunday how they swam for their lives after the Tunisian holiday charter flight ditched in the sea off Sicily and broke apart.
The ATR 72 turbo-prop plane, with 39 people aboard, was taking Italian holidaymakers from Bari in southeast Italy to the popular Tunisian resort island of Djerba when it went down in the sea on Saturday.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339627

Bush call for schools to study 'intelligent design' sparks battle
09.08.05
By Alan Elsner

WASHINGTON - President Bush's call for schools to discuss "intelligent design" alongside evolution is the latest shot in a long-standing war between religion and secularism in the United States in which religion now seems to be making broad advances.

… That has changed. For example, last October, the National Association of Evangelicals, with 52 member denominations, adopted a resolution stating: "We make up fully one quarter of all voters in the most powerful nation in history. Never before has God given American evangelicals such an awesome opportunity to shape public policy."
A month later, Bush, who says he found his Christian faith as an adult, won reelection after a presidential campaign designed to maximize the turnout of Christian conservatives, who accounted for about 36 percent of his vote, according to exit-poll analyzes.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339810


Iraqi leaders seek to break constitution deadlock
09.08.05
By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD - Iraq's interim president gathered leaders from across the ethnic and sectarian divides on Sunday and said a week was long enough to break a deadlock and agree on a draft constitution by a self-imposed Aug. 15 deadline.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339790

Australian crops faces 'serious genetic contamination'
09.08.05
By Tim Clarke

PERTH - Environmentalists say Australia is facing "the most serious genetic contamination event" in its history, after the West Australian government confirmed low levels of genetically modified canola had been found in non-GM canola.
A spokeswoman for the WA Department of the Environment said today that tests had shown positive results of GM material but samples had been sent overseas for further testing and until more detailed results were confirmed no further details could be released.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339792

Sydney Morning Herald

Australian crops faces 'serious genetic contamination'
09.08.05
By Tim Clarke

PERTH - Environmentalists say Australia is facing "the most serious genetic contamination event" in its history, after the West Australian government confirmed low levels of genetically modified canola had been found in non-GM canola.
A spokeswoman for the WA Department of the Environment said today that tests had shown positive results of GM material but samples had been sent overseas for further testing and until more detailed results were confirmed no further details could be released.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10339792

No choice between US, China: Downer
August 8, 2005 - 10:39PM
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer doubts Australia will be forced to make a choice between pursuing close relations with the United States or China.
Giving the Sir Arthur Tange lecture on Australian diplomacy, Mr Downer said the rise of China had been one the major transformations in foreign affairs over the last half century.
But he disagreed with the theory that Australia would have to make a choice between its strong alliance with the US or pursuing it growing links with China.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/No-choice-between-US-China-Downer/2005/08/08/1123353264436.html


Russian crew tell of submarine ordeal
August 8, 2005 - 9:25PM
Russian sailors rescued with British help after three days trapped in a mini-submarine deep in the Pacific have told how they struggled with rapidly decreasing water and oxygen supplies while waiting anxiously in the darkness and cold.
The seven men had only six hours of oxygen left when they finally reached the surface, said Commander Ian Riches, the British naval officer who directed the rescue effort using a remote-controlled Scorpio underwater vehicle to free the submarine from fishing nets.
Strolling in the sunshine outside a military clinic, dressed in blue hospital uniforms, the submariners offered the first glimpse of the conditions for the seven men inside the cramped 13.4-metre submarine, snagged by cables in 180 metres of water off Russia's remote Pacific coast.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Russian-crew-tell-of-submarine-ordeal/2005/08/08/1123353261650.html

The Calgary Herald

Veteran TV anchor dies of cancer
Canadian-born Peter Jennings shaped TV news in America
Calgary Herald
Monday, August 08, 2005
NEW YORK -- Peter Jennings, the urbane, Canadian-born broadcaster who delivered the news to Americans each night in five separate decades, died Sunday. He was 67.
Jennings, who announced in April that he had lung cancer, died at his New York home, ABC News President David Westin said late Sunday.
"Peter has been our colleague, our friend, and our leader in so many ways. None of us will be the same without him," Westin said.
With Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, Jennings was part of a triumvirate that dominated network news for more than two decades, through the birth of cable news and the Internet. His smooth delivery and years of international reporting experience made him particularly popular among urban dwellers.

http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=cf082971-791e-4282-8a84-a5e62723ea20

SUBJECT: In Memory of Peter Jennings
There is a triangle-folded American flag in my Canadian cabin. It is, in fact, the only thing overtly American in a log and stone structure my wife and I have stuffed with Canadiana and our most cherished family memories. It is a flag that once flew atop the Capitol Dome in Washington, and it was a gift from Peter Jennings. I am in the cabin tonight, having just been told that Peter has lost his fight with cancer.
Peter presented the gift to me on my final day at ABC News, suspecting something I didn’t fully appreciate until he put it in my hands: that I had come to love America in my seven years living and working there, just as he had in his quarter century. After he handed it to me he said, “take this home, treat it with respect, and remember to never take the easy road of defining your Canadian identity by denigrating this great country”. He had enormous affection for Americans, and that made him an even greater Canadian.

http://www.canada.com/national/globalnational/newmanblog.html

Crew of Russian mini-sub rescued after being trapped for nearly 3 days

Vladimir Isachenkov
Canadian Press
August 8, 2005
Lt. Vyacheslav Milashevsky, commander of the AS-28 mini-submarine salutes in front of other crew members before getting off a ship at the port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia Sunday morning. (AP/Ivan Sekretarev)
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia (AP) - The seven men endured darkness and frigid temperatures for three days until their Russian mini-submarine was freed Sunday from the Pacific floor by a British remote-controlled vehicle as oxygen supplies dwindled.
"It was cold, cold, very cold. I can't even describe it," one crew member with reddish hair said as the sailors walked ashore with dazed looks and bloodshot eyes after their vessel was cut loose from cables that had snagged it.

http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=0d6cb4ed-3cef-484b-8490-0364e5720cbe

Firefighters off to Ontario to help battle wildfires
Calgary Herald
August 8, 2005
EDMONTON -- Ontario is getting some help from Alberta in its battle to stop wildfires.
Alberta is sending 65 firefighting personnel and equipment to Ontario to assist with efforts in snuffing out fires in tinder-dry regions of the province.
This marks the third time this fire season that Alberta has sent firefighters to other provinces under a mutual aid partnership with the other provinces and territories.

http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=cdfc510f-1b44-40cc-9845-43c56db48a05

continued...

July 13, 2005. Tucker, at bottom, a baby Siamang, was born June 27 at the Fort Wayne Children�s Zoo to mother Penny. The baby weighed an estimated 6 ounces at birth and will grow to 30 pounds as an adult. Tucker�s birth was not without suspense; zookeepers were uncertain how Penny�s delivery would go. At age 26, she and mate Gus, 27, are considered �old to become parents,� zoo staff said. Though Tucker is her fourth offspring, Penny last gave birth nearly 20 years ago. Tucker will spend most of the next few months riding on his mother�s belly or back. Visitors can see Tucker and his parents in their exhibit along the Indonesian Rain Forest area�s Tree Tops Trail. Siamangs, which are endangered in the wild, live in the rain forests of Indonesia and Malaysia. The zoo is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m.  

August 7, 2005. Anchorage, Alaska. One very alert grizzly bear. They don't miss much. They used to say that bear had poor eyesight. I never believed it. The now say that a bear can see as well as a human. They do use their nose a lot. They have one of the best noses out there. Often, bears will stand on their hind legs to try to get a visual on something that their other senses aren't telling them about. Just because a bear stands up doesn't mean it is going to attack. Most often when they drop back to all fours, they will turn and run. Awesome to see one standing up close.
 

Brookfield Zoo Wind Chime, Chicago, Illinois. 

August 8, 2005. Antarctica.  

Morning Papers - concluded

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:

50 °F / 10 °C
Overcast

Humidity:
87%

Dew Point:
46 °F / 8 °C

Wind:
Calm

Pressure:
30.25 in / 1024 hPa

Visibility:
0.0 miles / 0.0 kilometers

UV:
0 out of 16

Clouds (AGL):
Overcast 100 ft / 30 m

Raw METAR
AVIATION
Flight Rule:
LIFR (PAGS)

Wind Speed:
0 mph / 0 km/h

Wind Dir:
0° (North)

Ceiling:
100 ft / 30 m

end

August 6, 2005. Strawberry, California. Sierra Rains; while hiking in the Southeastern Sierras this weekend,
 

August 7, 2005. Barrow, Alaska. Caption : The wind has whipped up the waves, which brought in pieces of the polar icecap. Most days, the waves are only a couple of inches tall.
 

August 6, 2005. Key West, Florida.  

Water Vapor - click on this title for 12 hour link

August 8, 2005. There is a vortex offshore Florida spawning weather across the areas. The 'system' actually extends well across the country to California and then north to the Arctic Circle. There is a lot to consider before the Shuttle comes in for a landing.

August 6, 2005. The propaganda media stated all that NASA needed to wait for was the 'burn off' of the USUAL Florida fog. 

NASA is joking, right? They said they were waiting for a better weather circumstance in order to bring the Shuttle down. August 6, 2005. Tampa, Florida. I think they need to divert to Edwards. 

The Every American Black Experience

Has the USA ever completely assimilated it's own without bigotry or oppression?

Has Brown vs. The Board of Education ever lead to the defeat of segregation?

Indeed who is the assimilated and who are the unassimible?

The 'favorite' expression by Neocons in grappling with criticism of them is to call it 'grieving' by those oppressed while they have affection in thinking of Bush as "The Rascally Rabbit."

They would like to think so.

Assimilation or Unassimible

The origins of the word 'assimilation' comes from the Latin assimilatio; meaning 'to render simple.'

In other words when coming across 'difference' we make the difference small and bring it to our perspective. But, what is it like to be 'assimilated.' Is it a wonderful experience or a stressful event that holds resentment against it' s assimlilator.

The primary vechile for any assimilation is language, gesture and symbolism. All those words represent communication. Without communication could assimilation be possible.

The word assimilation has been tossed around a great deal in these days of coming to understand foreign cultures and wondering how exactly we 'change' those cultures to an take on by 'consent' of all parties 'terms to live by' and not 'to die by.'

The history of assimilation familiar to most Americans is the "The Melting/Melding Pot" of the early 1900s whereby people from all over the world immigrated to the USA through Ellis Island and otherwise. They came to the promised land of sorts. A place where freedom was everything and there would be 'acceptance' of them as they are. But was it really? Was the assimilation into the USA actually a melting pot whereby all people stayed the same but were different giving up language barriers to speak English while maintaining their native language to speak within their homes. How many ethnicities were lost in just three short generations to school education that would be American with little ethnic delineation

The earliest days of the USA before there was a Declaration of Independance demanded assimilation from familiarity of Europe into the 'wilds' of a colony with it's own demands but yet accepting of those that came eventually to dominate the land of the 'Americas' nearly committing genocide of the Native Americans whom's land we took for ourselves.

Assimilation. The ability to capture an 'idea' that is different and not native is the very essence of exploration and the spirit that drove American Colonists to Revolution. The expansiveness of the colonies, it's freedom, it's restrictions, it's meeting houses requiring not Lords and Ladies to 'run things' but people who knew the savvy experience of being a colonist and how to 'control' that experience to break away from the military domination of Britian.

Was the Americas and later the United States of America a huge success or simply a vast wasting of culture to wittle down difference to 'religion and food items?'

Does assimliation work? Does it create rebels and do those rebels deserve recognition or oppression? Can you oppress rebellion found in a world organized in freedom where change guarnatees problems with order and the essence of who one is originates from change and not familiarity.

I proport assimilation is destruction by it's very nature and while today the 'culture of the West' seeks to move others towards acceptance of democracy it isn't realistic to believe it is The West that will dominate others while they change so much as it is The West that continues to be defeated by the unassimble.

I believe the touted assimliation by The West of other culture to bring about so called peace and survival is in itself 'the threat' that we all fear. The USA today is NOT the same as before 2001 and has allowed assimliation of facism in the HOPES of being a safe and sovereign nation protected from extremists of those unassibible.

On foreign soil the USA seeks to be victors to assimilation by 'injecting' democratic principles into constitutions based in Islamic principle. Can democracy actually survive in any climate other than that of democratic principles itself?

I say not and what has happened to the USA is to assimilate THE FEAR OF DEFEAT into what it calls protection by the very FACT we are no safer today than we were four years ago. We have allowed our democracy to assimilate to facism by men who seek power over principle and wealth over government.

The USA has taken it's melting pot to it's finale and has ALREADY SURRENDERED it's so called democratic principles to the fear laden imaginations produced by people who are unassimible including the fanatical Evangelical President who is most unassimible of all.

Did I hear anyone say the USA has radified Kyoto? Or made commitments in the same measure as every other First World nation on Earth?

I didn't think so.

It's Saturday Night

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

Words and music by freddie mercury

Is this the real life-
Is this just fantasy-
Caught in a landslide-
No escape from reality-
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see-
I’m just a poor boy,i need no sympathy-
Because I’m easy come,easy go,
A little high,little low,
Anyway the wind blows,doesn’t really matter to me,
To me

Mama,just killed a man,
Put a gun against his head,
Pulled my trigger,now he’s dead,
Mama,life had just begun,
But now I’ve gone and thrown it all away-
Mama ooo,
Didn’t mean to make you cry-
If I’m not back again this time tomorrow-
Carry on,carry on,as if nothing really matters-
Too late,my time has come,
Sends shivers down my spine-
Body’s aching all the time,
Goodbye everybody-I’ve got to go-
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth-
Mama ooo- (any way the wind blows)
I don’t want to die,
I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all-

I see a little silhouetto of a man,
Scaramouche,scaramouche will you do the fandango-
Thunderbolt and lightning-very very frightening me-
Galileo,galileo,
Galileo galileo
Galileo figaro-magnifico-
But I’m just a poor boy and nobody loves me-
He’s just a poor boy from a poor family-Spare him his life from this monstrosity-
Easy come easy go-,will you let me go-
Bismillah! no-,we will not let you go-let him go-
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let him go
Bismillah! we will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go-let me go
Will not let you go let me go
No,no,no,no,no,no,no-Mama mia,mama mia,mama mia let me go-
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me,for me,for me-

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye-
So you think you can love me and leave me to die-
Oh baby-can’t do this to me baby-
Just gotta get out-just gotta get right outta here-

Nothing really matters,
Anyone can see,Nothing really matters-,
nothing really matters to me,

Any way the wind blows....