The Calgary Herald
One year later families remember water's deadly toll
Four lives lost in June 2005
Renata D'Aliesio, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, June 06, 2006
It had been raining for five days straight in much of southwestern Alberta when last June's first big storm arrived a year ago today.
As heavy rain pelted the Foothills and prairie, flood warnings were issued. Twenty-one rivers, creeks and streams from Pincher Creek to Claresholm and Calgary threatened to spill their banks.
The three floods of 2005 swamped basements, mangled bridges and tore apart roads, pathways and parks.
In their wake, they also swallowed four lives.
The deaths of 21-year-old Jason Shantz, 15-year-old Caitlin Sharpe and 59-year-old Rick James Petrie have served as lessons about the dangers of walking and working near raging rivers.
The death of 44-year-old Tim Guicheteau of Kelvington, Sask., offers a different lesson.
On April 28, in a provincial courtroom in Drumheller, a couple from the small Alberta town of Morrin were convicted on Traffic Safety Act charges related to Guicheteau's death.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=eda08530-6b2b-4176-8fcc-69e5996087bf&k=28603
O'Connor skips NATO meeting in case of confidence vote
Mike Blanchfield, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, June 07, 2006
OTTAWA - When NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels on Thursday to discuss a major decision to almost double troops in Afghanistan a question with direct impact on Canada one key player will be missing: Canada's defence minister, Gordon O'Connor.
CanWest News Service has learned that O'Connor will forgo the meeting because he doesn't want to be responsible for missing a House of Commons vote that could topple the minority Conservative government, although no confidence votes are scheduled for Thursday.
''We wanted to go,'' said a senior Defence Department official, but added: ''Our minister will not be the one responsible for bringing down the government.''
Instead, Canada will be represented at Thursday's meeting by the unelected senior bureaucrat in the Defence Department: assistant deputy minister Ward Elcock.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=e54bd24c-2915-4f9b-a049-00c1ed9b0fcf
Tory budget passes thanks to opposition 'error'
Allan Woods, CanWest News Service
Published: Wednesday, June 07, 2006
OTTAWA - The Conservative government's first budget passed with unanimous consent Tuesday thanks to a ''procedural error'' that has allowed Prime Minister Stephen Harper to survive the biggest test he is likely to see this parliamentary session.
The House of Commons had what is known as a ''voice vote,'' where those opposed to a particular law cry out ''nay'' and those in favour cry ''yea.'' It appears the Liberals and the New Democratic Party did not realize they were voting on the budget at third reading and sat quietly through the vote.
''Nobody on the Liberal side added their voice,'' Liberal Leader Bill Graham admitted to reporters. ''It was an unfortunate error, but it doesn't change anything ... We're opposed to the budget. I don't think anybody thinks that we're not.''
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=2020da87-6173-4566-add3-4e6771c71330&k=3631
Kobasew cheers Carolina 'friends'
Jean LeFebvre, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, June 07, 2006
For Chuck Kobasew to flat-out declare he wants the Edmonton Oilers to fall on their collective mushes would be petty. A little gauche, even.
Instead, the Calgary Flames right-winger has a much more tasteful way to express his team of choice in the Stanley Cup final tussle.
"Having some friends on Carolina," Kobasew chuckled, "just gives me a great reason to cheer for them."
Said pals would be former colleagues from the Lowell Lock Monsters, the American Hockey League outfit with which Kobasew spent the lockout winter. Lowell at that time was a shared Flames/Hurricanes affiliate, which means Kobasew played alongside current Carolina players Eric Staal, Chad Larose and Cam Ward, not to mention Flame-cum-'Cane Mike Commodore.
"They're good guys," said Kobasew, whose new two-year contract with the Flames was announced Tuesday. "I enjoyed playing with them, so I guess I'm cheering for them. You know what? If the last game is a taste of what's to come, it should be an exciting series."
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=653a5a23-a67a-4a6e-a968-29b7e77e5963&k=44526
Teenage schoolgirl fights off male attacker
Gwendolyn Richards, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, June 07, 2006
A teen girl grabbed by a male youth as she walked from school to her Deer Run home Tuesday afternoon handled the incident properly, police say.
The 14-year-old was returning home around 4:15 p.m. when a 15- or 16-year-old male walking the same way approached her.
"He ran up to her, grabbed her and appeared to try to remove her pants," said Calgary Police Service duty Insp. Luch Berti.
Although local residents were out in their yards or returning home from work at the time of the incident, they may not have realized anything criminal was happening, said Berti.
"Sometimes people don't understand what they're seeing," he said.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=82d94af5-4425-4f19-8448-8522a11b922b&k=25642
$10,000 reward offered for turning in Nazis
Laura Payton, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, June 07, 2006
OTTAWA - An international organization focusing on the history of the Holocaust has stepped up efforts to catch suspected Nazi war criminals living in Canada.
The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center announced Tuesday that it will give rewards of up to $10,000 for tips leading to convictions of Nazi war criminals.
The strategy falls under a campaign known as Operation Last Chance, a program formerly in use only in countries where Nazi crimes were committed.
"Obviously, the name reflects the urgency of the situation," said Efraim Zuroff, a director of the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
"We're almost at the last possible opportunity to bring these killers to justice and we decided that we have to be a little more proactive."
A Justice Department representative said Canada is unwilling to be a safe haven for war criminals, and that the government is willing to investigate the tips collected by Operation Last Chance, as well as tips about anyone suspected of committing atrocities.
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/story.html?id=4e4ccddd-2e8a-4b7d-a1bb-9746659e2425&k=89054
Billing Gazette
Gazette Opinion: In new storm season, FEMA must not fail
No one could have predicted how badly the Federal Emergency Management Agency would perform in responding to Hurricane Katrina.
The ineptitude of America's response to this horrific natural disaster compounded the suffering of thousands. This was a man-made tragedy piled on top of Mother Nature's destruction.
On Thursday, officials noted the official start of the 2006 hurricane season with promises of a better performance in the face of these violent storms to come.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says FEMA, an agency that falls under his department's umbrella, is "much more prepared than we were last year or any previous year."
They'd better be. The National Hurricane Center predicts that as many as 16 tropical storms could pound the Atlantic coastline and Gulf Coast this season. Forecasters say eight to 10 of the storms could become hurricanes.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/06/07/opinion/gazette/50-gazetteopinion.txt
Tester routs Morrison, will challenge Burns
Embattled incumbent beats Keenan by 3-to-1 margin
By CHARLES S. JOHNSON
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA -- Jon Tester, a populist farmer, won a decisive victory over John Morrison in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday and will face three-term Republican incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns, who won his primary handily, in November.
Tester, outspent by Morrison by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, led almost from the start of the vote counting Tuesday evening. He ended up defeating Morrison, the state auditor, by about 25 percentage points in the five-way primary.
Although Tester was considered an underdog in the five-candidate Democratic Senate race, he gained momentum in closing weeks of the campaign through an extensive grass-roots effort.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/06/07/news/state/20-tester-burns.txt
Voters split on 2 sex-related ordinances
Obscenity ban fails; zoning plan OK'd
By TOM HOWARD
Of The Gazette Staff
Yellowstone County voters Tuesday defeated a proposed ordinance that sought a countywide ban on obscenity. But a companion ordinance that uses the county's zoning regulations to restrict the operations of strip clubs and other sexually oriented businesses was approved by a narrow margin.
In unofficial results, voters rejected the obscenity ordinance by a 56 to 44 percent margin, with 15,314 voting no and 12,064 in favor.
The sexually oriented business ordinance, which would affect businesses outside the city of Billings, was approved by a 425-vote margin, with 13,612 in favor, 13,187 opposed.
"We have a very educated group of voters, and it appears that the obscenity ordinance is something that they didn't want," said John Ostlund, chairman of the Yellowstone County commissioners.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/06/07/news/local/20-ordinances.txt
Lindeen wins chance to run against Rehberg
By JENNIFER McKEE
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA -- It's official: Billings-area state lawmaker Monica Lindeen will square off against three-term incumbent Rep. Denny Rehberg in the race for Montana's lone congressional seat this fall.
With 80 percent of precincts reporting as of press time, Lindeen enjoyed a handy 72 percent to 28 percent lead over dark-horse challenger Eric Gunderson of Frenchtown.
The Associated Press declared Lindeen the winner just before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
At just before midnight Tuesday, Lindeen had 52,325 votes, compared with Gunderson's 20,503. Lindeen claimed 83 percent of the vote in Yellowstone County. Lindeen carried 79 percent of the vote in Lewis and Clark County.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/06/07/news/state/25-lindeen.txt
2 GOP incumbents lose in House bids
By MIKE DENNISON
Gazette State Bureau
HELENA -- Incumbent Republican House members in Missoula and Kalispell went down to defeat in primary elections Tuesday, while another Republican House member lost his bid to defeat an incumbent state senator.
In Kalispell, Rep. Bernie Olson, a Republican moderate targeted by members of his own party, lost to challenger Mark Blasdel, also of Kalispell.
And in Missoula, one-term Republican Rep. John Balyeat lost to Missoula businessman Bill Nooney.
The races are some of several high-profile primaries statewide, as Democrats and Republicans prepare for a showdown this fall over control of the Legislature.
Democrats have a 27-23 edge in the Senate now, and the House is tied 50-50 between the parties.
Several other important legislative races were too close to call late Tuesday.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/news/state/45-incuments.txt
New Haven Register
ACLU takes on telecom spying
Robert Varley, Register Staff
05/25/2006
The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut joined a national effort Wednesday calling on attorneys general and utility commissions in 20 states to investigate whether telecommunications companies broke laws by allowing the National Security Agency to spy on their customers.
"It’s time for this illegal invasion of privacy, that could affect everyone in this country, to be unveiled," said Roger C. Vann, executive director of the state chapter.
The civil rights organization wants the state Department of Public Utility Control to conduct a formal investigation into the possibility that AT&T and Verizon disclosed information on their customers in Connecticut to the NSA.
In total, 20 ACLU affiliates are involved in an attempt to stamp out what they termed "illegal government spying."
President Bush and other administration officials have neither confirmed nor denied a USA Today report that the NSA is collecting the calling records of ordinary Americans in its effort to detect the plans of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. Bush has said the administration’s anti-terrorism surveillance programs are legal and constitutional.
"We do not seek to obstruct legitimate law enforcement activities, but we are determined to stand up for the fundamental privacy and due process rights of people whose telephone records have been divulged without a warrant, notice or consent," said Vann.
Connecticut DPUC spokeswoman Beryl Lyons said the department’s commissioners and legal staff have not gone through the unprecedented complaint yet. "This has to do with terrorism, so no . . . I’ve never had anything like this in here," she said.
The nationwide "Don’t Spy on Me" campaign urges the public to go to an ACLU Web site to add their names to the complaints about allegations that telecommunications companies illegally cooperated with the NSA to collect calling information on Americans.
"We are prepared to investigate vigorously and aggressively with other attorneys general whether there have been disclosures of consumer telephone records that violate state or federal law," said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. "We welcome views from the ACLU and other groups or individuals who may have information indicating lawbreaking in connection with release of information."
Verizon said that the company "cannot and will not confirm or deny whether it has any relationship to the classified NSA program. . . . (Helping protect the country from terrorist attack and ensuring customers’ privacy) are not in conflict. When asked for help, we will always make sure that any assistance is authorized by law and that our customers’ privacy is safeguarded," the company said.
An AT&T statement said the company will "vigorously protect our customers’ privacy. If and when AT&T is asked by government agencies for help, we do so strictly within the law and under the most stringent conditions. Beyond that, we can’t comment on matters of national security."
ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said Congress has been "curiously silent" on the spying issue. He wanted to pressure the Federal Communications Commission and its chairman, Kevin Martin, to investigate the telephone records program even though Martin has said the agency does not have the power to review classified information.
Pasted from <http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16690057&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=566835&rfi=6
Neighbors fight methadone clinic
William Kaempffer, Register Staff
06/07/2006
NEW HAVEN — Judith Oliveras-Colon spent most of her life in Trowbridge Square and watched it deteriorate from a proud Italian neighborhood to a crime-ridden slum and then reclaim its streets in what residents described as something of a renaissance.
She and her neighbors had considerable angst when they just recently learned of a long-planned proposal to open a methadone clinic near their homes.
"We’ve worked so hard to have this come in," she said, waiting outside Sacred Heart Church for a meeting to start with clinic representatives Tuesday night.
"There’s no answers. Who lives here? We do. They don’t live here. We’ll have to deal with what’s left over."
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16748391&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=566835&rfi=6
DeStefano pushes for ‘working wage’
Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor
06/07/2006
-NEW BRITAIN — Standing in front of a popular deli, gubernatorial hopeful John DeStefano Jr. Tuesday called for a "moral minimum wage" that would be tied to the consumer price index and increase automatically.
"Today in Connecticut, people are working their way into poverty," DeStefano said as he stood outside Angelo’s Catering.
"If you work, you ought to get paid a working wage," he said of the 40,000 people in the state now earning minimum wage, largely single women heads of household. "It’s important to do it in a state with the highest cost of living."
DeStefano, New Haven’s mayor, is running against Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy for the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor in an Aug. 8 primary.
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16748387&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=566835&rfi=15
New Zealand Herald
Axe attack on PM's office 'symbolic gesture', court told
4.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
The man involved in an axe attack on the Prime Minister's electoral office told a jury today the act symbolised the Government's broken promises on the foreshore and seabed legislation.
Timothy Selwyn, 31, has admitted to conspiring to commit wilful damage when an axe was planted in the window of Helen Clark's office in Mt Albert, Auckland, on November 18, 2004.
Selwyn denied two other charges of being party to a seditious conspiracy and publishing statements with seditious intent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10385470
Canada plot suspect accused of plan to behead PM
1.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Cameron French and Jonathan Spicer
BRAMPTON, Ontario - One member of an alleged al Qaeda-inspired terror ring arrested in Canada last weekend faces the accusation that he sought to behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his lawyer has said.
The man, Steven Chand, 25, was among 15 members of the alleged ring who appeared in a heavily guarded courtroom northwest of Toronto on Tuesday local time to set dates for bail hearings.
"There's an allegation apparently that my client personally indicated that he wanted to behead the prime minister of Canada," Chand's lawyer, Gary Batasar, told reporters.
Canadian police arrested 17 Muslim men, five of whom are under the age of 18, on Friday and Saturday in Canada's largest counterterrorism operation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385456
Some 6000 corpses taken to Baghdad mortuary this year
4.20pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Jerome Taylor
The bodies of 6000 people, many of whom died violently, have been brought to Baghdad's main mortuary this year, officials from Iraq's Health Ministry said.
In May, one of the bloodiest months in the city so far this year, 1400 bodies were received by the mortuary.
According to health ministry officials who spoke anonymously to the BBC, the vast majority of victims brought to the morgue were the victims of sectarian killings, which have increased dramatically since the bombing of a Shia shrine earlier in the year.
The statistics were released just hours after police made the gruesome discovery of nine severed heads which had been stuffed into a cardboard box in a volatile area north of Baghdad.
Police in Baquba said they found the heads in the al-Hadid district, just three days after suspected sectarian attackers beheaded seven cousins from one family and a Sunni Arab imam in the same region.
Baquba, the capital of Diyala province, is a religiously mixed province that has seen large numbers of inhabitants flee the area because of killings and assassinations based solely on ethnicity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385469
Iran sees positive signs in nuclear proposals
1.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Parisa Hafez
TEHRAN - Proposals by six world powers to end a dispute over Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment had positive points but also some "ambiguities" that must be removed, Tehran's chief negotiator has said.
The proposals, which have not been made public but include incentives and penalties, seek to persuade Iran to give up enriching uranium, which the West fears will be used to build atomic bombs. Tehran says its nuclear aims are purely civilian.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday presented Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani with the package, agreed by the United States, Russia, China and the "EU3" - Britain, France and Germany.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385422
UN fails to convince Khartoum to allow Darfur force
1.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
KHARTOUM - UN Security Council members have failed to convince Sudan's President of the need for a UN peacekeeping mission in the violent Darfur region, diplomats have said.
Since 2003, at least 200,000 civilians have died in the region through fighting, hunger and disease, and more than 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes.
Representatives of the 15-nation UN Security Council were visiting Sudan to try to convince the Khartoum government the UN did not intend to send an invasion force to the western region or dispatch troops without Sudan's consent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385449
Jordan to urge Israeli PM to resume peace talks
1.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Suleiman al-Khalidi
AMMAN - Jordan's King Abdullah will use talks in Amman on Wednesday to urge Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to revive stalled Arab-Israeli peace talks through international mediation, Jordian officials have said.
They said Jordan would focus on lobbying its western neighbour to return back to talks sponsored by Middle East peace brokers under the "road map for peace", drafted in 2003 which seeks a negotiated two-state solution.
It is the first visit to Jordan by an Israeli prime minister in six years. Olmert's office said in a statement his meeting with King Abdullah would take place in Amman at 1.30pm (10.30pm NZT) on Wednesday.
"The visit comes as part of Jordan's efforts to revive the peace process by a commitment to the road map and its implementation through direct talks," government spokesperson Nasser Joudeh told the state news agency Petra.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385414
Spain's opposition withdraws support for Eta talks
1.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
MADRID - Spain's opposition party has withdrawn its support for the Socialist government's plans to start peace talks with Basque guerrillas Eta, another hurdle in a process to end 38 years of separatist violence.
The conservative Popular Party (PP) threatened to break its backing for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero last week when the Basque Socialists said they would open talks with Batasuna, a party banned for its links to Eta.
"The PP cannot stand silent while things like this are happening and so breaks all relations with the government," opposition leader Mariano Rajoy told parliament.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385410
US says data on 2.2 million troops may have been stolen
1.20pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
WASHINGTON - Personal information on about 2.2 million active-duty, National Guard and Reserve troops may have been stolen in a burglary at a government employee's house in January, US officials have revealed.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said the information, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth, may have been stored in the same stolen electronic equipment that contained similar personal data on 26.5 million US military veterans.
In the wrong hands, such data can be used in credit-card fraud and other crimes.
The government disclosed on May 22 that unidentified burglars on May 3 had broken into the Maryland residence of a Veterans Affairs employee who was not authorized to take the data home, and stole equipment containing the veterans' data.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385462
US senators urge Bush to act on Haditha probe
Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Sue Pleming and Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON - US senators have demanded the Bush administration swiftly establish what happened in Haditha, where US Marines are suspected of killing 24 unarmed Iraqis.
The senators said only rapid action could salvage the image of the military and US international relations.
The Senate Armed Services Committee plans to soon begin hearings on last November's incident in the western Iraqi town and determine whether the military tried to cover it up.
One senator, from President George W. Bush's own Republican Party, insisted US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should be brought to account.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385467
Killings linked to 6-6-6 belief, Colombian police say
12.20am Wednesday June 7, 2006
BOGOTA - Six members of the same family who were murdered on Tuesday may have been victims of a satanic cult carrying out a ritualistic killing because of the date, Colombian authorities have said.
"It seems to have been related to today's date," Jorge Gomez, a human rights official in the town of Barrancabermeja, in Colombia's northern Santander Province, where the murders took place, told reporters.
Tuesday's date was June 6, 2006, or 6-6-6, a set of numbers taken by some to be the mark of the devil. Police said that, plus the fact that there were six victims, raised their suspicion that there could be a ritualistic angle to the crime.
Three family members in the house at the time of the attack were being questioned by police and a suspect not related to the victims has been detained, authorities said.
"These are demonic things. The devil did this," a neighbor of the family told local television.
For days Colombian media have been filled with stories about 6-6-6, and worries in this mostly Catholic country of 41 million people that the Antichrist could appear.
In chapter 13, verse 18 of the King James version of the Bible's Book of Revelations, 666 is the number of "the beast."
The number has a long association in both occult literature and popular culture with Satan, the fallen angel in Christian doctrine also known as "the devil," Lucifer and "the beast."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385439
Beijing police make first raid on male escort nightclub
3.20pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
BEIJING - Beijing police have made their first ever raid on a male escort nightclub, the China Daily said on Wednesday, part of a crack down on 46 bars and other places suspected of various vices.
"Police officers found 98 male escorts and dozens of women customers when they raided the nightclub in April," the newspaper said in its online edition, quoting the Beijing Morning Post.
"To the astonishment of police officers, a man was performing a striptease on top of a table in front of some female audience." Most of the male escorts come from northeastern China and were in their early 20s, the newspaper said.
"Many of the female customers were off-duty escorts, some of the male escorts said. Businesswomen were also found mingling in the crowd, who, police believe, patronise the club quite frequently."
Prostitution was virtually wiped out in the years after the Communist Party swept into power in 1949, but along with pornography and other perceived western vices has staged a comeback in the wake of reforms over the last three decades.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385474
NZer 'on rape charges in Vanuatu'
3.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
A New Zealand yachtie is being held in Vanuatu on rape and assault charges, it has been reported.
The alleged victim, allegedly with her legs tied, was rescued from his boat off the coast of the Pacific island.
Local newspaper The Independent reported that Tony Vivian was bailed after appearing in court in the capital Port Vila.
The drama was said to have begun when the 21-year-old Solomon Islands woman on board the yacht Sea Camp attracted the attention of a passing vessel.
The newspaper said the crew of the vessel investigated and discovered she had her legs tied to the boat and appeared to have been almost drowned.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385468
Watchdog warns blood diamond trade continuing
11.20am Wednesday June 7, 2006
UNITED NATIONS - A deadly trade in blood diamonds persists, three years after the launch of an initiative to prevent illicit gem sales from fuelling African wars, a watchdog group has said.
African governments and the diamond industry launched the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in January 2003 to provide guarantees that participating nations were not dealing in diamonds financing local conflicts.
The scheme has helped stem the flow of blood diamonds but millions of dollars in illicit stones are still entering the world market, Global Witness said.
"The Kimberley Process has definitely improved the situation but there are serious loopholes," said Corinna Gilfillan, a spokeswoman for the London-based advocacy organisation that investigates the links between natural resource exploitation and conflicts.
"There is still a problem of diamonds fueling human rights abuses."
Under the scheme, participants exporting rough diamonds, diamonds that are straight from the ground and not yet cut, issue a certificate stating the stones are conflict-free.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385435
Taxi firm ordered off road
3.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
A taxi company with a fleet of around 300 cabs has been ordered off Auckalnd's roads.
Economy Taxis has had its licence revoked as of yesterday, Land Transport NZ said.
An investigation had found uncovered several serious breaches of the regulations which apply to cab firms.
These included the existence of false rosters for drivers, false entries for driving hours in drivers' logbooks, taxis operating with expired Certificates of Fitness and without Passenger Service Licences, and drivers with expired passenger endorsements and/or suspended driver licences, Land Transport NZ said.
"There was a general lack of control by company management over its members and drivers," said John Doesburg, Land Transport NZ's national manager for commercial road transport.
"The operating standards of this company were simply not up to scratch. We've given them opportunities to make improvements – they haven't done so and as a result their ATO status has been revoked."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10385476
Tasers judgment on hold
1.00pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
Readers' Views: Click on the link at end of story.
The Police Minister has declined to give her view on Taser guns until trials of the weapons are completed.
The stun guns are due to be trialed in police districts in the Auckland and Wellington regions this month, despite opposition from civil liberties advocates who have formed a group -- Campaign Against the Taser (CATT).
Police can embark on trials without the approval of the minister, Annette King, and she said today she was waiting for the outcome of the trials before she formed a final opinion.
Her spokesman said she was concerned police had adequate protection without having to use firearms.
But the purpose of the trials was to see whether they could or should be used in New Zealand as they were in other countries.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10385446
Police hunting armed man with terminal cancer
1.35pm Wednesday June 7, 2006
An armed man with a drug habit who has terminal cancer is being hunted by south Auckland Police.
Tifiga Atanoa is wanted in relation to numerous violent offences committed to feed his P habit, Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Grimstone of Papakura CIB said.
He said Atanoa, whose cancer has left him a large growth on the side of his neck, was not taking any medication and had "an extremely short life expectancy".
Mr Grimstone said Atanoa was considered extremely dangerous, unpredictable and volatile, and should not be approached.
"It is known by police that he is in possession of a number of firearms and that he is committing crime to feed a massive P habit," he said.
"He has made a number of statements to other criminals and other associates which are of a huge concern to the police."
Atanoa was described as a male Polynesian, 33 years of age, about 183cm tall and of solid build.
Police are appealing to the public, and particularly the criminal fraternity, to contact them on (09) 295 0220 if they have any information on his whereabouts.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10385464
Gibraltar vote will show it is not a colony, minister says
10.20 Wednesday June 7, 2006
UNITED NATIONS - An upcoming referendum on a new constitution for Gibraltar will show it is no longer a colony, the territory's Chief Minister Peter Caruana has said.
"Our new constitution has been negotiated by us and agreed with the United Kingdom.
"We shall soon put it to the people of Gibraltar in a referendum, which is an act of self-determination," Caruana told a UN committee on decolonisation on Tuesday local time.
The rocky outcropping on Spain's south coast has been at the centre of a long sovereignty dispute between Britain and Spain. Britain seized Gibraltar nearly three centuries ago and calls it a British colony but Spain contests its rule.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385409
Indonesia evacuating thousands from volcano area
9.20am Wednesday June 7, 2006
JAKARTA - Indonesia has evacuated about 2000 people from areas at risk from a volcano spewing hot gas and lava, and expects to move thousands more amid signs of increased activity from Mount Merapi.
The volcano, on Indonesia's main island of Java and about 450km east of the capital Jakarta, has been sporadically belching out toxic gases and lava for many weeks, with experts saying a major eruption might come at any time.
"The lava has spread out in various directions. The lava domes are weakening," Edi Purwanto of the Mount Merapi evacuation post told Reuters by telephone.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385369
US cash support for Somali warlords 'destabilising'
Wednesday June 7, 2006
WASHINGTON - The United States is destabilising Somalia by funnelling more than US$100,000 ($160,000) a month to warlords battling Islamist militia in Somalia, a former US intelligence expert has said.
The US operation was seriously set back yesterday when an Islamic coalition claimed control of Mogadishu.
Former intelligence officials said the funding was aimed at stopping leaders who could provide al Qaeda with a haven in the country.
The policy had led to dissent within the US Administration, and the defeat of the warlords showed, said critics, that it was fundamentally flawed.
Officials refused to discuss any possible involvement in Somalia, but a US expert on the country said an operation to support the secular warlords involved the CIA and US military.
John Prendergast, who monitors Somalia for the think-tank International Crisis Group, said he learned during meetings with alliance members in Somalia that the CIA was financing the warlords with cash.
Prendergast estimated that CIA-operated flights into Somalia have been bringing in US$100,000 to US$150,000 per month.
The flights remained in Somalia for the day, he said, so that US agents could confer with their allies.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385312
Taleban bomb US coalition convoy
8.20am Wednesday June 7, 2006
A Taleban suicide car bomber rammed a US coalition convoy in the southeast Afghan province of Khost last night, wounding some troops, but there were no immediate reports of deaths, a US military spokeswoman in Kabul said.
A Taleban spokesman said the bomber killed six soldiers and three Afghans.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385344
Dream homes turn into nothing but a nightmare in Russia
Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Christian Lowe
MOSCOW - Irina Tarasenko owns an apartment at No 42 on Moscow's Bolshaya Ochakovskaya Street, but the nearest she can get to it is the children's playground 14 floors below.
She paid US$50,000 ($80,000) for her one-room property when the building was still on the drawing board.
It was finished last year, but no one could move in because, it turned out, the developer had sold the same apartments to two or more buyers.
"I still cannot believe it," said Tarasenko, standing next to the swings in the playground. The pregnant 34-year-old aid worker is staying with her sister.
"I would like to have my own home," she said. "But the money I paid disappeared, as did the company I dealt with."
Pressure groups say there are up to 100,000 people across Russia who have lost their money in similar schemes - the developer either swindled them or went bankrupt before finishing the job.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10385307
Polygamy tax for Bangladeshi men
5.20am Wednesday June 7, 2006
Bangladeshi men wishing to have more than one wife will have to pay a polygamy tax from next month in Rajshahi city.
Husbands taking a second, third or fourth wife will have to pay 10,000 taka ($230) for the first additional bride, $695 for the second and $925 for the third.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385347
Iraq to free 2500, but no 'Saddam loyalists'
8.00am Wednesday June 7, 2006
BAGHDAD - Iraq's new prime minister announced he would release 2500 prisoners in an apparent bid to shore up his own authority amid signs of tension in his ruling Shi'ite Alliance.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has pledged to heal sectarian wounds and crush a Sunni Arab insurgency, said the prisoner release would free those who had no clear evidence against them or had been mistakenly detained.
Initially, 500 people will be released on Wednesday, he said, but did not give details. Many of those in prison are from ousted President Saddam Hussein's once dominant Sunni community.
"Those who will be released will be people who are not Saddam Hussein loyalists or terrorists or anyone who has Iraqi blood on their hands," said Maliki, who took office on May 20 at the helm of a US-backed government of national unity.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385372
Thousands urge removal of Timor Prime Minister
8.00am Wednesday June 7, 2006
DILI - Some 2000 protesters rallied in Timor's violence-stricken capital yesterday demanding the removal of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, blaming him for the unrest that has left parts of the city in ruins and burning.
Protesters in trucks, buses and on motorbikes shouted "bring down Alkatiri" and voiced support for President Xanana Gusmao as they entered Dili escorted by international peacekeepers.
Protest spokesman Major Augusto de Araujo Tara read a petition calling on Gusmao to "disband the national parliament now and topple the Mari Alkatiri government".
The petition called for a transitional government in the world's youngest nation, led by Gusmao as military commander, to hold new parliamentary elections this month. Elections are not due until May 2007.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385370
Kiwi helps get Timor's police back on beat
Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Greg Ansley
East Timor's Police Academy sits on the western edge of Dili, close to some of the worst rioting and looting in the tiny nation's capital in the past three weeks.
Inside, heavily protected, are members of what used to be the Policia Nationale de Timor Leste (PNTL). The streets outside are far too deadly for them: 10 were killed and 25 injured when the Army opened fire on a column of men surrendering under United Nations protection.
Within the force itself, factions and rivalries tore the PNTL apart as law and order disintegrated. A volatile brew of former senior officers drawn from the pre-independence Indonesian police force, disgruntled former guerillas and the barely-trained were set loose with frightening firepower.
Now, looking beyond the violence that still rages in Dili, Jakarta-based New Zealand Police Superintendent Athol Soper sees a huge task ahead in putting police back on the beat.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385286
Goff to take first-hand look at Dili troubles
Wednesday June 7, 2006
Defence Minister Phil Goff will visit East Timor today to meet Government leaders and New Zealand Defence Force personnel struggling to bring law and order to the capital, Dili.
Mr Goff will discuss the problems that led to the crisis and the role the international peacekeeping force is undertaking.
His visit takes place as New Zealand considers sending police to help military peacekeepers restore order.
Two New Zealand police officers will visit East Timor to assess the situation.
The commander of the Australian peacekeepers, Brigadier Mick Slater, said yesterday that more police were needed, not troops.
"It is about getting criminals off the streets, and police do that better than soldiers," he said in Dili.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385320
Tycoon plans to name coastal town after himself
Wednesday June 7, 2006
By Terri Judd
LONDON - When considering extravagant purchases, most millionaires might settle for a fast car or large mansion - but not Scott Alexander.
The irrepressible tycoon has bought an entire town, which he plans to rename after himself.
The 31-year-old has bought the Bulgarian coastal resort lock, stock and barrel for £3 million ($8.9 million) and insists that its 1000 residents are "quite excited".
Alexander, an entrepreneur who has devoted one wall of his Manchester penthouse to a £10,000 portrait of himself, spent £55,000 on a new set of teeth and was recently dubbed "Britain's vainest man", has laughed off suggestions it is a tad egotistical to name an entire town (the identity of which he refuses to disclose) after himself.
"I've decided to call it Alexander, which I suppose is quite cheeky. It is just a bit of fun," he said. "The reason behind it is that the Bulgarian name is difficult to pronounce."
The lifestyle and property tycoon is certainly no stranger to extravagance.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10385277
continued …
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Recovering Sea Turtle in Corpus Christi, Texas
June 3, 2006. All the pictures below are from the same date.
Photographer states :: Sea Turtle recovering after being found barely alive on the beach with a piece of its right front fin torn off. Apparently a group of careless shrimpers threw him overboard after finding him tangled in their nets.
Zoos
It must be something in the water
By Zafrir Rinat
Israelis' fondness for hikes in the country appears to be exacting a high price from rare fish populations in the Jordan River basin. Researchers at Tel Aviv University believe that the bodily excretions of women hiking in Hakibbutzim Stream, in the Beit She'an Valley, are causing sexual changes in the Acanthobrama Lissneri, a species that is unique to the area. Another interesting discovery from the same area is that the Astatotilapia Flaviijosephi, which is also found only in Israel, eats mainly stones from the riverbed.
As part of a comprehensive survey of the state of the fishes in the Jordan River basin that was supervised by Dr. Menachem Goren of the TAU Zoology Department, Yaron Krotman examined the fish population in various locations, including the Astatotilapia Flaviijosephi, which lives in an area filled with springs and pools that are popular with day-trippers.
In one of the sites examined by Krotman, he found a disproportionately high number of females - more than twice the number of males. In other sites, the numbers were nearly equal. Tests of the water at the sites revealed high levels of the female hormone ethinylestriadol, which is used in contraceptive pills and is excreted with the urine into the environment.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/722927.html
Lahore Zoo takes U-turn on giraffe purchase
By Shoaib Ahmed
LAHORE: The Lahore Zoo seems to have gone back on its decision to buy a pair of giraffes, officials in the Punjab Wildlife Department told Daily Times on Thursday.
Officials said that the zoo had decided to buy the giraffes from a private company, Multiple Distributors and Manufacturers Private Limited. They said that the Department’s Zoo Maintenance Committee had even approved the purchase in an official announcement, which permitted the purchase of a pair of “southern giraffes” (found in southern Africa) for Rs 4,788,000.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C06%5C02%5Cstory_2-6-2006_pg7_31
TV hippo's zoo charged
SPCA alleges Telus star was kept in poor conditions
By CP
VANCOUVER -- The star of a series of Telus TV commercials that saw stuffed toy hippos flying off the shelves last Christmas is at the centre of a zoo scandal over her treatment.
The Greater Vancouver Zoo is facing a charge of cruelty to animals for its treatment of the two-year-old hippo.
Two counts have been laid against the zoo under a B.C. statute on recommendations from the SPCA, carrying maximum penalties of $2,000 fines, six months in jail or both.
The SPCA alleges the zoo kept Hazina alone in a windowless shed with a pool so shallow she couldn't float, which could cause health complications.
The zoo got Hazina in October 2004 and promised a new enclosure would be ready in June.
But SPCA officials say Hazina has waited too long and adequate care should have been provided from the start.
Vancouver Humane Society spokesman Peter Fricker said he is delighted charges have been laid.
"It's unconscionable that a baby hippo has been kept alone for so long," he said.
Zoo marketing manager Jody Henderson vigorously defended the zoo.
"We've said from day one we're not happy with where (Hazina) is," Henderson said.
Henderson said "a celebration party" was planned for June 24 after completion of the new $500,000 hippo facility.
Fricker criticized Telus for using Hazina in its ads.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said the company stipulated its $10,000 fee go directly toward a new enclosure and also helped establish a fundraising campaign.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/06/01/1609549-sun.html
Take Dad to the zoo for free
Celebrate Father's Day at Dickerson Park Zoo, 3043 N. Fort Ave., where fathers receive free admission from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 18.
Admission for others: $6; $4 for children 3-12, $5 for seniors 65 and older, free for children 2 and younger. Call 864-1800 or visit www.dickersonparkzoo.org.
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060601/ENTERTAINMENT04/606010318/1005/ENTERTAINMENT
'Baby shower' to be held at zoo
Friday, June 2, 2006
The Franklin Park Zoo is hosting "The Baby Shower" on June 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The event will benefit the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund.
Patrons who bring new baby essentials for donation receive $1 of the admission price. Essentials for donation include diapers, sippy cups, bottles, baby lotion, pacifiers, wipes, formula and onesies for donation to the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund for distribution to needy families throughout the Commonwealth.
New animals born just in time for the zoo's 2006 season include a gorilla, zebra, giraffe and tiger cubs.
Ticket prices at the Franklin Park Zoo are $9.50 for adults; $5.50 for children 2-12; Children under 2 are free. For more information, call 617-541-LION or visit zoonewengland.com.
http://www2.townonline.com/framingham/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=508622
ST. LOUIS ZOO NEEDS DOCENTS: VOLUNTEER EDUCATORS
Docent Open House Planned for Monday, June 12
Wanted: Animal lovers to help teach about the wonders of the natural world at the St. Louis Zoo. A Docent Open House will be held at The Living World on Monday, June 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. for those interested in applying for the 2006 basic training session starting September 5 at the Zoo.
Docents are volunteer environmental educators dedicated to helping school children, Zoo visitors and the public understand and enjoy wildlife, ecosystems and conservation. These specialized volunteers generate enthusiasm about the natural world by conducting classes at the Zoo and in the community, leading educational tours, interpreting animals and more.
No experience necessary! The Zoo offers a 13-week basic training course, which includes information about the Zoo, zoology, the basics of interpretation, conservation and more. The program also provides mentoring with experienced docents, hands-on training and continuing education.
The Zoo provides this training free of charge; however, docents must be at least 18 years old, interview and be accepted into the training program. Docents are required to volunteer a minimum of 62 hours per year. Flexible scheduling is available year-round.
For more information, contact Rachel Arbogast at (314) 781-0900, ext. 313 or arbogast@stlzoo.org, or check the Zoo website at www.stlzoo.org/education.
http://www.scanews.com/2006/06/s823/82310/
Serve and sip at Toledo Zoo
In its fifth year, the wine tasting event has gained local support
By: Matt Manning
Wine tasting has seen rising pop-ularity and is now a recognizable hobby across the country. People are simply enjoying the luscious taste of the juices from grains, grapes and other types of fruit.
Toledo has found their own wine lovers, and they tend to conjugate wherever wine tasting events are held.
The Toledo Zoo has hosted numerous events that center on wine tasting, with the most recent "Vineyard Adventure" held last Friday in the Arctic Encounter portion of the zoo with the theme of the "African Adventure."
It was a night of wine, finger foods and live music all while observing the delicate state of the sleeping polar bears and swimming seals.
This is the fifth year the "Vineyard Adventures" has been held and it shows no signs of slowing down.
http://www.bgnews.com/media/storage/paper883/news/2006/05/31/Pulse/Serve.And.Sip.At.Toledo.Zoo-2015108.shtml?norewrite200606060453&sourcedomain=www.bgnews.com
Al Ain Zoo denies report on taking in sick animals, says Noor is a liar
By Lana Mahdi
2 June 2006
AL AIN — The sensational story broadcast on Abu Dhabi Arabic Radio's Studio 1 regarding an Asian man, referred to as Investor Noor, who claimed he had sold sick animals to the Al Ain Zoological Park and Aquarium (Aazpa), was categorically denied by the Zoo Director Mark Craig yesterday.
Craig said the Asian man told a false story. The Al Ain Zoo only receives animals from international organisations, government organisations within and outside the UAE, in addition to other zoos in the Emirates and abroad, but not from private individuals.
The 50-year old Asian man who was nicknamed Investor Noor by the programme's presenter has been living in Al Ain for many years and works as a livestock salesman.
Speaking to your favourite No 1 newspaper Khaleej Times, Craig asserted the Asian man told a fabricated story as every single word he said regarding the supply of sick animals by him to the zoo was false .
Noor, on the other hand, had claimed in the Studio 1 radio broadcast that he had sold “somewhat sick animals” to different customers in Al Ain, including Al Ain Zoo, various local eateries and restaurants, and individuals.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Al Ain Food Control Center told Khaleej Times that he could not comment on the case.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2006/June/theuae_June63.xml§ion=theuae
Runaway lion brought back to zoo
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-02 12:04
Three animal trainers pull a female lion back to a zoo in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, May 31, 2006. The lion escaped to a road outside the zoo during a performance. More than 100 policemen and zoo staff were deployed to capture the lion and bring it back to the zoo. No injuries was reported. [Xinhua]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-06/02/content_607248.htm
Wildebeests join zoo exhibit
Eight wildebeests will join the African savanna exhibit next week at the Minnesota Zoo. The animals arrived Tuesday morning on loan from the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas, said zoo spokeswoman Kelly Lessard. The year-old herd includes five males and three females.
It's the first time wildebeests have been on exhibit at the zoo. With the addition, there will be 22 animals in the "Summer on the Savanna" exhibit, including two giraffes, two ostriches, five zebras and five gazelles. The exhibit features a 6-acre habitat designed to simulate the animals' environment in the grasslands of East Africa.
Zoo employees expect the wildebeests to join their fellow African creatures early next week after they get acquainted with their new surroundings, Lessard said.
The three-month exhibit opened Saturday to 7,182 visitors — 1,515 more than a year ago on the same day. Overall attendance for Memorial Day weekend totaled 3,500 fewer than last year, likely because of the heat.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/14720418.htm
For zoo, follow the exit signs
Councilman aids ‘family-friendly’ route from I-69
By Benjamin Lanka
The Journal Gazette
Out-of-town guests should have an easier – and hopefully better – path to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo thanks to numerous projects just completed, a Fort Wayne city councilman said Thursday.
Councilman Tom Didier, R-3rd, announced the completion of a new traffic signal at Wells Street and Franke Park Drive and a newly designated route to the zoo from Interstate 69.
Didier said he campaigned on wanting to make Fort Wayne a destination. Making it easier to get to one of the city’s top attractions was a good starting point, he said.
The intersection project cost the city $241,400, paid in part from income tax revenues allocated by Didier and other councilmen. The intersection includes a new traffic signal and new turn lanes.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/14721079.htm
Petting zoo open to all
The Barnyard Buddies Petting Zoo invites community members to get up close and personal with some of their favorite farm animals. Children will love petting the rabbits, pigs, goats, llamas, donkeys and more. The cost is $2 and pony rides cost $3. Hand-washing stations are available, and Barnyard Buddies is USDA licensed. Barnyard Buddies is located in the lot just west of Archibald's Restaurant at Gardner Village, 1100 W. 7800 South in West Jordan. It's open Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., weather permitting. For more information, call 801-455-5679 or visit www.gardnervillage.com.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635211599,00.html
Zoo guard charged with stealing from donation boxes
From Press staff reports
Published: Friday, June 2, 2006
Updated: Friday, June 2, 2006
MIDDLE TOWNSHIP — An overnight security guard at the Cape May County Park & Zoo was charged with stealing money from donation boxes, according to Middle Township police.
Police charged Allen B. Smith, 32, of the Villas, with theft, burglary and official misconduct, police Capt. Scott Webster said.
Webster said park supervisors uncovered evidence that a security guard had access to donation boxes, which are located at four spots throughout the grounds.
Police said Smith allegedly took money from donation boxes while on his rounds as a security guard.
The theft occurred during a one-year period, police said.
Police said Smith has been suspended without pay from his position. Police have not said how much money may have been taken.
“At this point, it's still being tabulated, because basically you're talking donations. So the amount varies on a day-to-day basis,” Webster said.
County park employees cooperated with Middle Township police detectives in the investigation.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/capemay/story/6404201p-6257690c.html
PETA calls for end to cat program at Cincinnati Zoo
Animal rights group challenges captive breeding
BY QUAN TRUONG ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Cincinnati Zoo's small cat conservation program is "breeding and callously disposing of domestic cats," an animal rights group charged Thursday.
In a letter to Gregg Hudson, president of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called on the zoo to stop the breeding program and allow PETA to help put the cats up for adoption.
The program breeds domestic cats and conducts reproductive research.
Hudson was not available Thursday night, but John Dillon, the zoo's director of animal conservation programs, disputed the charges and said PETA "has an anti-research agenda. Whether it (research) will save lives, they don't care."
Mary Beth Sweetland, senior vice president for PETA, said the zoo's program is "consigning domestic cats to a life of loneliness and misery" at what PETA characterizes as an "animal experimentation business."
Dillon said the zoo puts the cats up for adoption after research. But he confirmed that the zoo also has donated cats to Summit Ridge Farms, which the zoo calls a nutritional research business. The zoo did a background check on Summit Ridge and found that the Susquehanna, Pa., facility is credible and well run, he said.
"We have a moral responsibility for their (the cats') well-being and we do everything in our power to take care of the animals from cradle to grave," Dillon said.
PETA asked the zoo to use other conservation measures, such as habitat protection, to help endangered species.
Dillon said captive breeding is only a part of the zoo's comprehensive approach to wildlife conservation. "Is it the be-all and end-all? No. Is it an integral part? Of course," he said.
The zoo program is registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and undergoes periodic, unannounced inspections, said zoo spokesman Chad Yelton.
The zoo began its small cat conservation program in 2001 and uses the research to help save endangered cat species.
E-mail qtruong@enquirer.com
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS01/606020393/1056
Zoo receives state grant, hopes for future funding
BY J.L. BARDELLINE
STAFF WRITER
ROYAL OAK - A $4 million grant from the state to the Detroit Zoo will assist the transfer of zoo operations and provide funding for the year. But the zoo will need more funding from Detroit and the state, and possibly a regional tax, to keep up its budget.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill last week giving the zoo $4 million. State funding was part of the agreement for transferring the zoo's operation from Detroit to the Detroit Zoological Society, the zoo's fund-raising entity, earlier this year.
The Detroit City Council had taken the zoo out of the city's budget because it was costing the city about $5 million a year. Under the transfer, the city still owns the property and assets, but the society is responsible for running and operating the zoo.
The original offer of $4 million from the state expired when the Detroit City Council rejected the first transfer plan. The council approved a revised transfer plan in March and the state Legislature re-approved the funding last week.
"We have asked both the city (of Detroit) and the state for funding for next year," said zoo spokeswoman Patricia Mills. "With regard to the state, we will go back for at least $4 million."
Detroit has pledged to give the zoo about $5 million a year for two years for capital expenses.
Other than city and state funding, Mills said, the zoo is looking at other funding sources, such as private donations and a regional tax. How much of a tax would be needed, though, had not been decided, she said.
(248) 546-4900 ext. 230 jbardelline@hometownlife.com
Originally published June 2, 2006
http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS/606020306/1024/NEWS07
Phoenix Zoo plans summertime after-hours activities
By Michael Grady, Tribune
June 2, 2006
Zoos can be a little frustrating come summertime. In midafternoon, the wildlife you see is often limited to the hindquarters of exotic creatures as they crawl under shade or dive into their habitats for relief. And who can blame them?
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The hearty few who venture outside will stare across their enclosures at the sun-baked patrons, as if to say, “I work here. What’s your excuse?” But the Phoenix Zoo has come up with a Friday-night cure for the summertime zoos.
STARRY SAFARI
The zoo is bringing on the night shift to give East Valley families a little hot-weather relief.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=66918
Zoo expect African elephant calf
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville Zoo is expecting a new attraction come next spring. Homegrown, of course.
Mikki, a 20-year-old African elephant, is pregnant by artificial insemination. Zoo officials have not determined the 150-to 200-pound calf's gender and believe the insemination last June did the trick.
"We've been working on this for years," said Zoo Director John Walczak.
This was the zoo's second try at artificial insemination. The zoo verified Mikki's pregnancy by sonogram last November.
Mikki, born in Africa, came to Louisville at age 2. She lives in the zoo's newest elephant habitat with roommate Punch, an older female Asian elephant.
Deborah Olson, American Zoo and Aquarium Association's North American African elephant studbook keeper, said Mikki and four other elephants in U.S. zoos are pregnant.
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/14716863.htm
World in one place at revamped zoo
THE Johannesburg Zoo has begun an ambitious five-year upgrade to create a unique experience for visitors, recreating the diverse eco-zones of the planet.
January 12, 2005
By Tabisa Mntengwana
SOON Joburg residents will be able to walk the spice route or explore the Amazon without even leaving the city.
The Johannesburg Zoo has embarked on an ambitious five-year plan to upgrade and renovate its facilities.
"We are not only going to rebuild the old buildings, there will also be new walkways, buildings and trees," says Johannesburg Zoo's CEO Jenny Gray.
Forest floor for the Amazonia section. A boardwalk has been completed and trees planted
While mammoth changes are planned, "some of the buildings will stay as they are" as part of the zoo's heritage, adds enrichment coordinator Mathew van Lierop.
The zoo is planning to create seven distinct zones - the Spice Route, Heart of Africa, Southern Safari, Extreme Environments, Amazonia, a farmyard and an entertainment area - bringing different parts of the world to Joburg.
http://www.joburg.org.za/2005/jan/jan12_zoo_plan.stm
Joburg Zoo celebrates 100 years
March 24, 2004
By Bontle Moeng
A HAVEN for endangered and exotic animals, a venue for musical concerts, or a pleasant park for a family picnic, the Johannesburg Zoo has served the residents of the city for 100 years.
And on 10 July the zoo will hold a centenary birthday party.
The Johannesburg Zoo has come a long way since it first opened in 1904, when 200 acres of land was officially accepted by the town council of the day and signed over to the people of Johannesburg as a recreational venue.
Elephant rides
The animals housed at the zoo in the early days were: one male lion, one male baboon, one female leopard, a pair of Indian apes, two male Sable antelopes, one Golden eagle, one African wild cat, a pair of porcupines, and one female giraffe.
http://www.joburg.org.za/2004/march/mar24_zoo.stm
Four Tiger Cubs Debut At Argentinean Zoo
Pups Still Feeding From Mother
POSTED: 9:58 am CDT June 2, 2006
UPDATED: 10:07 am CDT June 2, 2006
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Four new additions to an Argentinean zoo are making quite a roar.
Four tiger cubs born last month are the latest attraction at a zoo east of Buenos Aires.
The pups -- two females and two males -- are still feeding from their mother, but made their public debut on Thursday.
The zoo is considering giving local students the chance to name the baby tigers.
Zookeepers said the new cubs are spending much of their days alongside their mother.
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/9311562/detail.html
SF Zoo opens new elephant seal pup exhibit
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - They're known as "weaners," but the San Francisco Zoo's new elephant seal pups have adult-sized appetites.
Four orphaned pups, who were emaciated and suffering from various wounds when they were rescued along the San Luis Obispo County coast, each devoured about five pounds of herring in one sitting Thursday at the zoo's new elephant seal exhibit and rehabilitation center.
The pups, who are each around three months old, will stay at the zoo for a month honing their swimming skills, building muscle and coordination, and loading up on herring before they are released back into the Pacific Ocean.
They were the first guests at the zoo's new exhibit.
The zoo is partnering with Sausalito's Marine Mammal Center, which has agreed to provide volunteers to help feed and monitor the seals.
Their new home is a 75-foot long pool that has been empty for more than a year since the departure of two harbor seals to Miami, said Bob Jenkins, the zoo's director of animal care and conservation.
A full house is expected as more injured seals are rescued and admitted.
"One in seven of our patients at the center is there as a result of human interaction," Merrill Magowan, the Marine Mammal Center's chairman of the board. "It's time we must let seals be seals."
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/14726795.htm
Zoo exhibit's bugs make kids grin and parents cringe
Zoo exhibit allows kids to get up close and personal with tarantulas, grasshoppers and some bugs parents won't find so disgusting
By J.M. Baról
Tribune Reporter
June 2, 2006
If 21-month-old Gracie Garrison could speak in complete sentences, she probably would have said something like: "Ooo, cool! Millipedes!"
But at the Rio Grande Zoo's Backyard Bug exhibit last week, it was Gracie's mom who did the talking.
http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/features/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19849_4743207,00.html
Endangered bird population taking off thanks to unique breeding technique
By TODD SAELHOF, CALGARY SUN
That’s thanks to a program — featuring artificial insemination, incubation and egg transportation — which has taken flight to boost the worldwide whooping crane population.
Researcher Keith Gibson said the zoo’s contribution has helped the species grow from only 21 worldwide in 1945 to 480 populating the planet today.
“It’s really turned into one of our signature conservation efforts,” said Gibson of the program at the Calgary Zoo’s Devonian Wildlife Conservation Centre.
“People want these birds around and understand their value.”
The zoo’s crane keeper, Dwight Knapik, said the program’s key is in artificial insemination, which has worked for three years to produce more fertile eggs.
In the wild, each female lays just two eggs a year, but zookeepers can coax more by removing them from the mother so she’ll lay a second — and sometimes a third — clutch.
Knapik then places the eggs — each one long, oval and barely fitting in the keeper’s palm — in an incubator, which provides them the proper humidity, temperature and movement.
After up to 28 days in the incubator, Knapik bundles eggs ready to hatch in a transport box — a heated carrier much like an organ transport cooler but powered by battery packs — and takes them by air to a wildlife research centre in Maryland.
There, the eggs hatch and the young cranes are introduced to the wild by training to fly — by sight and sound — behind a modified ultralight aircraft on a migration route to Florida.
“Before they hatch, the eggs are played sounds of an ultralight motor so they know what to follow,” Knapik said.
“We measure success by how many chicks we get flying and released into the wild, and that’s been 16 since 1996.”
Funding for the program is helped by sponsorship, including a recent $5,000 grant from Shell Canada’s Environmental Fund and a 50-cent donation from each bottle sold by Banrock Station, an Australian wine producer.
The zoo currently has two whooping cranes on display, while 24 more live at the conservation centre south of Calgary.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/06/02/1612173.html
Dustin Block - End of the free zoo a symptom of an underlying problem
By Dustin Block
Like many people, I was sad to hear about the Racine Zoo's decision to charge admission. I admired the zoo's long-standing tradition of opening its gates, and can't help but feel we have failed in our responsibility as a community to provide for children and families.
Charging $4 for adults and $2 for children will further restrict who can attend the zoo. (I say further because even a free zoo comes with the costs of finding the time to go and figuring out a way to get there - two obstacles that prevent many hard-working families from enjoying even a free activity.) Charging 1 cent for admission will keep more people away; charging $12 for a family of four cuts out many more.
Any fee is a simple solution, backed by a simple argument: Charge the people who use the zoo. Why should anyone who never goes to the zoo pay their hard-earned taxes so others can go free? It's un-American. A fee is the only reasonable way to manage a community resource.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2006/06/03/local/columns/iq_4047943.txt
Zoo outing provides escape from reality of serious illness
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Sarah Crump
Plain Dealer Reporter
Elizabeth Griffin doesn't look like she belongs at 2006 DreamNight. The free private evening Friday at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was only for children who live with chronic illnesses or disabilities and their families.
She bounces from giant koala to kangaroo to tiger, hugging the furry costumed critters while other children ride past in wheelchairs. Dressed in jeans and a pink jacket with "Princess" embroidered on it, she seems as healthy as any 6-year-old.
Being sick isn't on Elizabeth's mind. Not tonight.
Seeing the elephants -- her favorite -- and getting her face painted are at the top of her list. A just reward for wrapping up a year of kindergarten at Our Lady of Angels School in Cleveland.
Elizabeth and her family were among about 600 people attending DreamNight in Cleveland.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/114932357748340.xml&coll=2
Zoo's big cats get new home
Associated Press
Published: Saturday, June 03, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Thirteen big cats -- from a rare black jaguar to a trio of young snow leopards -- are enjoying spacious new digs in the city after some time away "vacationing" at other zoos.
The Philadelphia Zoo has formally opened its new $20 million US habitat, which is designed to give the animals a more natural setting and visitors a more intimate experience.
The exhibit also preaches conservation, using interactive games, video clips and other tools to describe the threats humans pose to big-cat species around the world.
Exhibits describe the human encroachment that has largely driven jaguars from the southwestern United States into Mexico and pumas -- also called mountain lions or cougars -- from the eastern United States.
The zoo also offers information on a program in Kenya it supports that teaches ranchers how to build lion-proof corrals for their herds, so they don't shoot the endangered lions.
Big Cat Falls is likely to be a summer blockbuster for the zoo, which attracts as many as 13,000 visitors on a weekend summer day and 1.2 million visitors a year. It is the first new exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo since 1999, spokeswoman Ginette Meluso said. For more information: http://www.philadelphiazoo.org.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/travel/story.html?id=845dd9b5-c6a9-4b2c-87a9-c1eb538d0306
Thai activists block elephant transport
By Grant Peck, Associated Press Writer June 5, 2006
BANGKOK, Thailand --Animal rights activists Monday blocked trucks from transporting eight elephants bound for Australian zoos, saying the animals would suffer.
The elephants were in separate trucks at a quarantine station in the western Thai province of Kanchanaburi, waiting to be driven to Bangkok airport for a flight to Australia late Monday night.
But Soraida Salwala, founder of the Thai group Friends of the Asian Elephant, and a local environmentalist stepped in front of the lead truck, blocking its way. Television footage showed the truck stopping barely a foot in front of them.
The standoff continued into the night, Soraida said by phone. She and her colleague remained inside the university compound that houses the quarantine station, while a fence had been erected to keep others out. About 100 supporters were outside the fence, she said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/06/05/thai_activists_block_elephant_transport/
To Stem Widespread Extinction, Scientists Airlift Frogs in Carry-On Bags
ATLANTA, June 5 — Of all the things airport security screeners have discovered as they rifle through travelers' luggage, the suitcases full of frogs were a first.
In a race to save amphibians threatened by an encroaching, lethal fungus, two conservationists from Atlanta recently packed their carry-ons with frogs rescued from a Central American rain forest — squeezing some 150 to a suitcase — and requested permission from airlines to travel with them in the cabin of the plane.
The frogs, snuggly swaddled in damp moss in vented plastic deli containers big enough for a small fruit salad, were perhaps the last of their kind, collected from a pristine national park that fills the bowl of El Valle, an inactive volcano in Panama.
In many parts of the world, habitat loss is thought to be the biggest driver of amphibian extinctions, but the frogs in El Valle are facing a more insidious threat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/science/06frog.html
concluding …
It must be something in the water
By Zafrir Rinat
Israelis' fondness for hikes in the country appears to be exacting a high price from rare fish populations in the Jordan River basin. Researchers at Tel Aviv University believe that the bodily excretions of women hiking in Hakibbutzim Stream, in the Beit She'an Valley, are causing sexual changes in the Acanthobrama Lissneri, a species that is unique to the area. Another interesting discovery from the same area is that the Astatotilapia Flaviijosephi, which is also found only in Israel, eats mainly stones from the riverbed.
As part of a comprehensive survey of the state of the fishes in the Jordan River basin that was supervised by Dr. Menachem Goren of the TAU Zoology Department, Yaron Krotman examined the fish population in various locations, including the Astatotilapia Flaviijosephi, which lives in an area filled with springs and pools that are popular with day-trippers.
In one of the sites examined by Krotman, he found a disproportionately high number of females - more than twice the number of males. In other sites, the numbers were nearly equal. Tests of the water at the sites revealed high levels of the female hormone ethinylestriadol, which is used in contraceptive pills and is excreted with the urine into the environment.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/722927.html
Lahore Zoo takes U-turn on giraffe purchase
By Shoaib Ahmed
LAHORE: The Lahore Zoo seems to have gone back on its decision to buy a pair of giraffes, officials in the Punjab Wildlife Department told Daily Times on Thursday.
Officials said that the zoo had decided to buy the giraffes from a private company, Multiple Distributors and Manufacturers Private Limited. They said that the Department’s Zoo Maintenance Committee had even approved the purchase in an official announcement, which permitted the purchase of a pair of “southern giraffes” (found in southern Africa) for Rs 4,788,000.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C06%5C02%5Cstory_2-6-2006_pg7_31
TV hippo's zoo charged
SPCA alleges Telus star was kept in poor conditions
By CP
VANCOUVER -- The star of a series of Telus TV commercials that saw stuffed toy hippos flying off the shelves last Christmas is at the centre of a zoo scandal over her treatment.
The Greater Vancouver Zoo is facing a charge of cruelty to animals for its treatment of the two-year-old hippo.
Two counts have been laid against the zoo under a B.C. statute on recommendations from the SPCA, carrying maximum penalties of $2,000 fines, six months in jail or both.
The SPCA alleges the zoo kept Hazina alone in a windowless shed with a pool so shallow she couldn't float, which could cause health complications.
The zoo got Hazina in October 2004 and promised a new enclosure would be ready in June.
But SPCA officials say Hazina has waited too long and adequate care should have been provided from the start.
Vancouver Humane Society spokesman Peter Fricker said he is delighted charges have been laid.
"It's unconscionable that a baby hippo has been kept alone for so long," he said.
Zoo marketing manager Jody Henderson vigorously defended the zoo.
"We've said from day one we're not happy with where (Hazina) is," Henderson said.
Henderson said "a celebration party" was planned for June 24 after completion of the new $500,000 hippo facility.
Fricker criticized Telus for using Hazina in its ads.
Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said the company stipulated its $10,000 fee go directly toward a new enclosure and also helped establish a fundraising campaign.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2006/06/01/1609549-sun.html
Take Dad to the zoo for free
Celebrate Father's Day at Dickerson Park Zoo, 3043 N. Fort Ave., where fathers receive free admission from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on June 18.
Admission for others: $6; $4 for children 3-12, $5 for seniors 65 and older, free for children 2 and younger. Call 864-1800 or visit www.dickersonparkzoo.org.
http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060601/ENTERTAINMENT04/606010318/1005/ENTERTAINMENT
'Baby shower' to be held at zoo
Friday, June 2, 2006
The Franklin Park Zoo is hosting "The Baby Shower" on June 17, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The event will benefit the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund.
Patrons who bring new baby essentials for donation receive $1 of the admission price. Essentials for donation include diapers, sippy cups, bottles, baby lotion, pacifiers, wipes, formula and onesies for donation to the Massachusetts Children's Trust Fund for distribution to needy families throughout the Commonwealth.
New animals born just in time for the zoo's 2006 season include a gorilla, zebra, giraffe and tiger cubs.
Ticket prices at the Franklin Park Zoo are $9.50 for adults; $5.50 for children 2-12; Children under 2 are free. For more information, call 617-541-LION or visit zoonewengland.com.
http://www2.townonline.com/framingham/artsLifestyle/view.bg?articleid=508622
ST. LOUIS ZOO NEEDS DOCENTS: VOLUNTEER EDUCATORS
Docent Open House Planned for Monday, June 12
Wanted: Animal lovers to help teach about the wonders of the natural world at the St. Louis Zoo. A Docent Open House will be held at The Living World on Monday, June 12 from 5 to 7 p.m. for those interested in applying for the 2006 basic training session starting September 5 at the Zoo.
Docents are volunteer environmental educators dedicated to helping school children, Zoo visitors and the public understand and enjoy wildlife, ecosystems and conservation. These specialized volunteers generate enthusiasm about the natural world by conducting classes at the Zoo and in the community, leading educational tours, interpreting animals and more.
No experience necessary! The Zoo offers a 13-week basic training course, which includes information about the Zoo, zoology, the basics of interpretation, conservation and more. The program also provides mentoring with experienced docents, hands-on training and continuing education.
The Zoo provides this training free of charge; however, docents must be at least 18 years old, interview and be accepted into the training program. Docents are required to volunteer a minimum of 62 hours per year. Flexible scheduling is available year-round.
For more information, contact Rachel Arbogast at (314) 781-0900, ext. 313 or arbogast@stlzoo.org, or check the Zoo website at www.stlzoo.org/education.
http://www.scanews.com/2006/06/s823/82310/
Serve and sip at Toledo Zoo
In its fifth year, the wine tasting event has gained local support
By: Matt Manning
Wine tasting has seen rising pop-ularity and is now a recognizable hobby across the country. People are simply enjoying the luscious taste of the juices from grains, grapes and other types of fruit.
Toledo has found their own wine lovers, and they tend to conjugate wherever wine tasting events are held.
The Toledo Zoo has hosted numerous events that center on wine tasting, with the most recent "Vineyard Adventure" held last Friday in the Arctic Encounter portion of the zoo with the theme of the "African Adventure."
It was a night of wine, finger foods and live music all while observing the delicate state of the sleeping polar bears and swimming seals.
This is the fifth year the "Vineyard Adventures" has been held and it shows no signs of slowing down.
http://www.bgnews.com/media/storage/paper883/news/2006/05/31/Pulse/Serve.And.Sip.At.Toledo.Zoo-2015108.shtml?norewrite200606060453&sourcedomain=www.bgnews.com
Al Ain Zoo denies report on taking in sick animals, says Noor is a liar
By Lana Mahdi
2 June 2006
AL AIN — The sensational story broadcast on Abu Dhabi Arabic Radio's Studio 1 regarding an Asian man, referred to as Investor Noor, who claimed he had sold sick animals to the Al Ain Zoological Park and Aquarium (Aazpa), was categorically denied by the Zoo Director Mark Craig yesterday.
Craig said the Asian man told a false story. The Al Ain Zoo only receives animals from international organisations, government organisations within and outside the UAE, in addition to other zoos in the Emirates and abroad, but not from private individuals.
The 50-year old Asian man who was nicknamed Investor Noor by the programme's presenter has been living in Al Ain for many years and works as a livestock salesman.
Speaking to your favourite No 1 newspaper Khaleej Times, Craig asserted the Asian man told a fabricated story as every single word he said regarding the supply of sick animals by him to the zoo was false .
Noor, on the other hand, had claimed in the Studio 1 radio broadcast that he had sold “somewhat sick animals” to different customers in Al Ain, including Al Ain Zoo, various local eateries and restaurants, and individuals.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Al Ain Food Control Center told Khaleej Times that he could not comment on the case.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2006/June/theuae_June63.xml§ion=theuae
Runaway lion brought back to zoo
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-02 12:04
Three animal trainers pull a female lion back to a zoo in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, May 31, 2006. The lion escaped to a road outside the zoo during a performance. More than 100 policemen and zoo staff were deployed to capture the lion and bring it back to the zoo. No injuries was reported. [Xinhua]
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-06/02/content_607248.htm
Wildebeests join zoo exhibit
Eight wildebeests will join the African savanna exhibit next week at the Minnesota Zoo. The animals arrived Tuesday morning on loan from the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Texas, said zoo spokeswoman Kelly Lessard. The year-old herd includes five males and three females.
It's the first time wildebeests have been on exhibit at the zoo. With the addition, there will be 22 animals in the "Summer on the Savanna" exhibit, including two giraffes, two ostriches, five zebras and five gazelles. The exhibit features a 6-acre habitat designed to simulate the animals' environment in the grasslands of East Africa.
Zoo employees expect the wildebeests to join their fellow African creatures early next week after they get acquainted with their new surroundings, Lessard said.
The three-month exhibit opened Saturday to 7,182 visitors — 1,515 more than a year ago on the same day. Overall attendance for Memorial Day weekend totaled 3,500 fewer than last year, likely because of the heat.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/local/14720418.htm
For zoo, follow the exit signs
Councilman aids ‘family-friendly’ route from I-69
By Benjamin Lanka
The Journal Gazette
Out-of-town guests should have an easier – and hopefully better – path to the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo thanks to numerous projects just completed, a Fort Wayne city councilman said Thursday.
Councilman Tom Didier, R-3rd, announced the completion of a new traffic signal at Wells Street and Franke Park Drive and a newly designated route to the zoo from Interstate 69.
Didier said he campaigned on wanting to make Fort Wayne a destination. Making it easier to get to one of the city’s top attractions was a good starting point, he said.
The intersection project cost the city $241,400, paid in part from income tax revenues allocated by Didier and other councilmen. The intersection includes a new traffic signal and new turn lanes.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/14721079.htm
Petting zoo open to all
The Barnyard Buddies Petting Zoo invites community members to get up close and personal with some of their favorite farm animals. Children will love petting the rabbits, pigs, goats, llamas, donkeys and more. The cost is $2 and pony rides cost $3. Hand-washing stations are available, and Barnyard Buddies is USDA licensed. Barnyard Buddies is located in the lot just west of Archibald's Restaurant at Gardner Village, 1100 W. 7800 South in West Jordan. It's open Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., weather permitting. For more information, call 801-455-5679 or visit www.gardnervillage.com.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,635211599,00.html
Zoo guard charged with stealing from donation boxes
From Press staff reports
Published: Friday, June 2, 2006
Updated: Friday, June 2, 2006
MIDDLE TOWNSHIP — An overnight security guard at the Cape May County Park & Zoo was charged with stealing money from donation boxes, according to Middle Township police.
Police charged Allen B. Smith, 32, of the Villas, with theft, burglary and official misconduct, police Capt. Scott Webster said.
Webster said park supervisors uncovered evidence that a security guard had access to donation boxes, which are located at four spots throughout the grounds.
Police said Smith allegedly took money from donation boxes while on his rounds as a security guard.
The theft occurred during a one-year period, police said.
Police said Smith has been suspended without pay from his position. Police have not said how much money may have been taken.
“At this point, it's still being tabulated, because basically you're talking donations. So the amount varies on a day-to-day basis,” Webster said.
County park employees cooperated with Middle Township police detectives in the investigation.
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/capemay/story/6404201p-6257690c.html
PETA calls for end to cat program at Cincinnati Zoo
Animal rights group challenges captive breeding
BY QUAN TRUONG ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Cincinnati Zoo's small cat conservation program is "breeding and callously disposing of domestic cats," an animal rights group charged Thursday.
In a letter to Gregg Hudson, president of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called on the zoo to stop the breeding program and allow PETA to help put the cats up for adoption.
The program breeds domestic cats and conducts reproductive research.
Hudson was not available Thursday night, but John Dillon, the zoo's director of animal conservation programs, disputed the charges and said PETA "has an anti-research agenda. Whether it (research) will save lives, they don't care."
Mary Beth Sweetland, senior vice president for PETA, said the zoo's program is "consigning domestic cats to a life of loneliness and misery" at what PETA characterizes as an "animal experimentation business."
Dillon said the zoo puts the cats up for adoption after research. But he confirmed that the zoo also has donated cats to Summit Ridge Farms, which the zoo calls a nutritional research business. The zoo did a background check on Summit Ridge and found that the Susquehanna, Pa., facility is credible and well run, he said.
"We have a moral responsibility for their (the cats') well-being and we do everything in our power to take care of the animals from cradle to grave," Dillon said.
PETA asked the zoo to use other conservation measures, such as habitat protection, to help endangered species.
Dillon said captive breeding is only a part of the zoo's comprehensive approach to wildlife conservation. "Is it the be-all and end-all? No. Is it an integral part? Of course," he said.
The zoo program is registered with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and undergoes periodic, unannounced inspections, said zoo spokesman Chad Yelton.
The zoo began its small cat conservation program in 2001 and uses the research to help save endangered cat species.
E-mail qtruong@enquirer.com
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS01/606020393/1056
Zoo receives state grant, hopes for future funding
BY J.L. BARDELLINE
STAFF WRITER
ROYAL OAK - A $4 million grant from the state to the Detroit Zoo will assist the transfer of zoo operations and provide funding for the year. But the zoo will need more funding from Detroit and the state, and possibly a regional tax, to keep up its budget.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill last week giving the zoo $4 million. State funding was part of the agreement for transferring the zoo's operation from Detroit to the Detroit Zoological Society, the zoo's fund-raising entity, earlier this year.
The Detroit City Council had taken the zoo out of the city's budget because it was costing the city about $5 million a year. Under the transfer, the city still owns the property and assets, but the society is responsible for running and operating the zoo.
The original offer of $4 million from the state expired when the Detroit City Council rejected the first transfer plan. The council approved a revised transfer plan in March and the state Legislature re-approved the funding last week.
"We have asked both the city (of Detroit) and the state for funding for next year," said zoo spokeswoman Patricia Mills. "With regard to the state, we will go back for at least $4 million."
Detroit has pledged to give the zoo about $5 million a year for two years for capital expenses.
Other than city and state funding, Mills said, the zoo is looking at other funding sources, such as private donations and a regional tax. How much of a tax would be needed, though, had not been decided, she said.
(248) 546-4900 ext. 230 jbardelline@hometownlife.com
Originally published June 2, 2006
http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS/606020306/1024/NEWS07
Phoenix Zoo plans summertime after-hours activities
By Michael Grady, Tribune
June 2, 2006
Zoos can be a little frustrating come summertime. In midafternoon, the wildlife you see is often limited to the hindquarters of exotic creatures as they crawl under shade or dive into their habitats for relief. And who can blame them?
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The hearty few who venture outside will stare across their enclosures at the sun-baked patrons, as if to say, “I work here. What’s your excuse?” But the Phoenix Zoo has come up with a Friday-night cure for the summertime zoos.
STARRY SAFARI
The zoo is bringing on the night shift to give East Valley families a little hot-weather relief.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=66918
Zoo expect African elephant calf
Associated Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville Zoo is expecting a new attraction come next spring. Homegrown, of course.
Mikki, a 20-year-old African elephant, is pregnant by artificial insemination. Zoo officials have not determined the 150-to 200-pound calf's gender and believe the insemination last June did the trick.
"We've been working on this for years," said Zoo Director John Walczak.
This was the zoo's second try at artificial insemination. The zoo verified Mikki's pregnancy by sonogram last November.
Mikki, born in Africa, came to Louisville at age 2. She lives in the zoo's newest elephant habitat with roommate Punch, an older female Asian elephant.
Deborah Olson, American Zoo and Aquarium Association's North American African elephant studbook keeper, said Mikki and four other elephants in U.S. zoos are pregnant.
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/14716863.htm
World in one place at revamped zoo
THE Johannesburg Zoo has begun an ambitious five-year upgrade to create a unique experience for visitors, recreating the diverse eco-zones of the planet.
January 12, 2005
By Tabisa Mntengwana
SOON Joburg residents will be able to walk the spice route or explore the Amazon without even leaving the city.
The Johannesburg Zoo has embarked on an ambitious five-year plan to upgrade and renovate its facilities.
"We are not only going to rebuild the old buildings, there will also be new walkways, buildings and trees," says Johannesburg Zoo's CEO Jenny Gray.
Forest floor for the Amazonia section. A boardwalk has been completed and trees planted
While mammoth changes are planned, "some of the buildings will stay as they are" as part of the zoo's heritage, adds enrichment coordinator Mathew van Lierop.
The zoo is planning to create seven distinct zones - the Spice Route, Heart of Africa, Southern Safari, Extreme Environments, Amazonia, a farmyard and an entertainment area - bringing different parts of the world to Joburg.
http://www.joburg.org.za/2005/jan/jan12_zoo_plan.stm
Joburg Zoo celebrates 100 years
March 24, 2004
By Bontle Moeng
A HAVEN for endangered and exotic animals, a venue for musical concerts, or a pleasant park for a family picnic, the Johannesburg Zoo has served the residents of the city for 100 years.
And on 10 July the zoo will hold a centenary birthday party.
The Johannesburg Zoo has come a long way since it first opened in 1904, when 200 acres of land was officially accepted by the town council of the day and signed over to the people of Johannesburg as a recreational venue.
Elephant rides
The animals housed at the zoo in the early days were: one male lion, one male baboon, one female leopard, a pair of Indian apes, two male Sable antelopes, one Golden eagle, one African wild cat, a pair of porcupines, and one female giraffe.
http://www.joburg.org.za/2004/march/mar24_zoo.stm
Four Tiger Cubs Debut At Argentinean Zoo
Pups Still Feeding From Mother
POSTED: 9:58 am CDT June 2, 2006
UPDATED: 10:07 am CDT June 2, 2006
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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Four new additions to an Argentinean zoo are making quite a roar.
Four tiger cubs born last month are the latest attraction at a zoo east of Buenos Aires.
The pups -- two females and two males -- are still feeding from their mother, but made their public debut on Thursday.
The zoo is considering giving local students the chance to name the baby tigers.
Zookeepers said the new cubs are spending much of their days alongside their mother.
http://www.nbc5i.com/news/9311562/detail.html
SF Zoo opens new elephant seal pup exhibit
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - They're known as "weaners," but the San Francisco Zoo's new elephant seal pups have adult-sized appetites.
Four orphaned pups, who were emaciated and suffering from various wounds when they were rescued along the San Luis Obispo County coast, each devoured about five pounds of herring in one sitting Thursday at the zoo's new elephant seal exhibit and rehabilitation center.
The pups, who are each around three months old, will stay at the zoo for a month honing their swimming skills, building muscle and coordination, and loading up on herring before they are released back into the Pacific Ocean.
They were the first guests at the zoo's new exhibit.
The zoo is partnering with Sausalito's Marine Mammal Center, which has agreed to provide volunteers to help feed and monitor the seals.
Their new home is a 75-foot long pool that has been empty for more than a year since the departure of two harbor seals to Miami, said Bob Jenkins, the zoo's director of animal care and conservation.
A full house is expected as more injured seals are rescued and admitted.
"One in seven of our patients at the center is there as a result of human interaction," Merrill Magowan, the Marine Mammal Center's chairman of the board. "It's time we must let seals be seals."
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/14726795.htm
Zoo exhibit's bugs make kids grin and parents cringe
Zoo exhibit allows kids to get up close and personal with tarantulas, grasshoppers and some bugs parents won't find so disgusting
By J.M. Baról
Tribune Reporter
June 2, 2006
If 21-month-old Gracie Garrison could speak in complete sentences, she probably would have said something like: "Ooo, cool! Millipedes!"
But at the Rio Grande Zoo's Backyard Bug exhibit last week, it was Gracie's mom who did the talking.
http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/features/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19849_4743207,00.html
Endangered bird population taking off thanks to unique breeding technique
By TODD SAELHOF, CALGARY SUN
That’s thanks to a program — featuring artificial insemination, incubation and egg transportation — which has taken flight to boost the worldwide whooping crane population.
Researcher Keith Gibson said the zoo’s contribution has helped the species grow from only 21 worldwide in 1945 to 480 populating the planet today.
“It’s really turned into one of our signature conservation efforts,” said Gibson of the program at the Calgary Zoo’s Devonian Wildlife Conservation Centre.
“People want these birds around and understand their value.”
The zoo’s crane keeper, Dwight Knapik, said the program’s key is in artificial insemination, which has worked for three years to produce more fertile eggs.
In the wild, each female lays just two eggs a year, but zookeepers can coax more by removing them from the mother so she’ll lay a second — and sometimes a third — clutch.
Knapik then places the eggs — each one long, oval and barely fitting in the keeper’s palm — in an incubator, which provides them the proper humidity, temperature and movement.
After up to 28 days in the incubator, Knapik bundles eggs ready to hatch in a transport box — a heated carrier much like an organ transport cooler but powered by battery packs — and takes them by air to a wildlife research centre in Maryland.
There, the eggs hatch and the young cranes are introduced to the wild by training to fly — by sight and sound — behind a modified ultralight aircraft on a migration route to Florida.
“Before they hatch, the eggs are played sounds of an ultralight motor so they know what to follow,” Knapik said.
“We measure success by how many chicks we get flying and released into the wild, and that’s been 16 since 1996.”
Funding for the program is helped by sponsorship, including a recent $5,000 grant from Shell Canada’s Environmental Fund and a 50-cent donation from each bottle sold by Banrock Station, an Australian wine producer.
The zoo currently has two whooping cranes on display, while 24 more live at the conservation centre south of Calgary.
http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2006/06/02/1612173.html
Dustin Block - End of the free zoo a symptom of an underlying problem
By Dustin Block
Like many people, I was sad to hear about the Racine Zoo's decision to charge admission. I admired the zoo's long-standing tradition of opening its gates, and can't help but feel we have failed in our responsibility as a community to provide for children and families.
Charging $4 for adults and $2 for children will further restrict who can attend the zoo. (I say further because even a free zoo comes with the costs of finding the time to go and figuring out a way to get there - two obstacles that prevent many hard-working families from enjoying even a free activity.) Charging 1 cent for admission will keep more people away; charging $12 for a family of four cuts out many more.
Any fee is a simple solution, backed by a simple argument: Charge the people who use the zoo. Why should anyone who never goes to the zoo pay their hard-earned taxes so others can go free? It's un-American. A fee is the only reasonable way to manage a community resource.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2006/06/03/local/columns/iq_4047943.txt
Zoo outing provides escape from reality of serious illness
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Sarah Crump
Plain Dealer Reporter
Elizabeth Griffin doesn't look like she belongs at 2006 DreamNight. The free private evening Friday at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was only for children who live with chronic illnesses or disabilities and their families.
She bounces from giant koala to kangaroo to tiger, hugging the furry costumed critters while other children ride past in wheelchairs. Dressed in jeans and a pink jacket with "Princess" embroidered on it, she seems as healthy as any 6-year-old.
Being sick isn't on Elizabeth's mind. Not tonight.
Seeing the elephants -- her favorite -- and getting her face painted are at the top of her list. A just reward for wrapping up a year of kindergarten at Our Lady of Angels School in Cleveland.
Elizabeth and her family were among about 600 people attending DreamNight in Cleveland.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/114932357748340.xml&coll=2
Zoo's big cats get new home
Associated Press
Published: Saturday, June 03, 2006
PHILADELPHIA -- Thirteen big cats -- from a rare black jaguar to a trio of young snow leopards -- are enjoying spacious new digs in the city after some time away "vacationing" at other zoos.
The Philadelphia Zoo has formally opened its new $20 million US habitat, which is designed to give the animals a more natural setting and visitors a more intimate experience.
The exhibit also preaches conservation, using interactive games, video clips and other tools to describe the threats humans pose to big-cat species around the world.
Exhibits describe the human encroachment that has largely driven jaguars from the southwestern United States into Mexico and pumas -- also called mountain lions or cougars -- from the eastern United States.
The zoo also offers information on a program in Kenya it supports that teaches ranchers how to build lion-proof corrals for their herds, so they don't shoot the endangered lions.
Big Cat Falls is likely to be a summer blockbuster for the zoo, which attracts as many as 13,000 visitors on a weekend summer day and 1.2 million visitors a year. It is the first new exhibit at the Philadelphia Zoo since 1999, spokeswoman Ginette Meluso said. For more information: http://www.philadelphiazoo.org.
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/travel/story.html?id=845dd9b5-c6a9-4b2c-87a9-c1eb538d0306
Thai activists block elephant transport
By Grant Peck, Associated Press Writer June 5, 2006
BANGKOK, Thailand --Animal rights activists Monday blocked trucks from transporting eight elephants bound for Australian zoos, saying the animals would suffer.
The elephants were in separate trucks at a quarantine station in the western Thai province of Kanchanaburi, waiting to be driven to Bangkok airport for a flight to Australia late Monday night.
But Soraida Salwala, founder of the Thai group Friends of the Asian Elephant, and a local environmentalist stepped in front of the lead truck, blocking its way. Television footage showed the truck stopping barely a foot in front of them.
The standoff continued into the night, Soraida said by phone. She and her colleague remained inside the university compound that houses the quarantine station, while a fence had been erected to keep others out. About 100 supporters were outside the fence, she said.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/06/05/thai_activists_block_elephant_transport/
To Stem Widespread Extinction, Scientists Airlift Frogs in Carry-On Bags
ATLANTA, June 5 — Of all the things airport security screeners have discovered as they rifle through travelers' luggage, the suitcases full of frogs were a first.
In a race to save amphibians threatened by an encroaching, lethal fungus, two conservationists from Atlanta recently packed their carry-ons with frogs rescued from a Central American rain forest — squeezing some 150 to a suitcase — and requested permission from airlines to travel with them in the cabin of the plane.
The frogs, snuggly swaddled in damp moss in vented plastic deli containers big enough for a small fruit salad, were perhaps the last of their kind, collected from a pristine national park that fills the bowl of El Valle, an inactive volcano in Panama.
In many parts of the world, habitat loss is thought to be the biggest driver of amphibian extinctions, but the frogs in El Valle are facing a more insidious threat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/science/06frog.html
concluding …
Monday, June 05, 2006
Antarctica (click on to animate) Thank you.
June 5, 2006. 6:00 PM. Not very different from last week. The peninsula still has the highest temperatures but less of it is above freezing. It's just that it is far less optimistic that the ice shelves will return any time soon. As long as they are compromised the terraces won't regenerate and the standing ice itself can be undermined with direct contact with the warmer air surrounding the continent. This time of year the very coldest temperatures see little sunlight and are the extremist points south on Earth.
Morning Papers - concluded
The weather at Scott Base, Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is :
-13.0°
Updated Tuesday 06 Jun 7:00AM
Palmer Station is the warmest spot in Antarctica today:
Updated: 1 hr 53 min 59 sec ago
Palmer Station, Antarctica
Elevation:
26 ft / 8 m
32 °F / 0 °C
Fog
Humidity:
94%
Dew Point:
31 °F / -1 °C
Wind:
11 mph / 18 km/h from the NW
Wind Gust:
-
Pressure:
29.50 in / 999 hPa (Falling)
Visibility:
4.0 miles / 6.0 kilometers
The coldest is spot on Antarctica today is Vostok, the Russian Base in Antarctica. I don't know when I have seen that station down and it has the roughest conditions of any. It is always subzero. The elevation indicates it is over 2 miles above sea level on the Blue Ice. Tough terrain.
Updated: 1 hr 55 min 16 sec ago
Vostok, Antarctica
Elevation:
11220 ft / 3420 m
-79 °F / -61 °C
Clear
Humidity:
52%
Dew Point:
-84 °F / -64 °C
Wind:
13 mph / 20 km/h from the SSW
Wind Gust:
-
Pressure:
in / hPa (Falling)
Visibility:
12.0 miles / 20.0 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Aviation
Flight Rule:
VFR ()
Wind Speed:
13 mph / 20 km/h
Wind Dir:
200° (SSW)
Ceiling:
100000 ft / 100000 m
The weather in Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
52 °F / 11 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
76%
Dew Point:
45 °F / 7 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the SSE
Pressure:
30.00 in / 1016 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
2 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 800 ft / 243 m
Mostly Cloudy 1500 ft / 457 m
Overcast 2100 ft / 640 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
-13.0°
Updated Tuesday 06 Jun 7:00AM
Palmer Station is the warmest spot in Antarctica today:
Updated: 1 hr 53 min 59 sec ago
Palmer Station, Antarctica
Elevation:
26 ft / 8 m
32 °F / 0 °C
Fog
Humidity:
94%
Dew Point:
31 °F / -1 °C
Wind:
11 mph / 18 km/h from the NW
Wind Gust:
-
Pressure:
29.50 in / 999 hPa (Falling)
Visibility:
4.0 miles / 6.0 kilometers
The coldest is spot on Antarctica today is Vostok, the Russian Base in Antarctica. I don't know when I have seen that station down and it has the roughest conditions of any. It is always subzero. The elevation indicates it is over 2 miles above sea level on the Blue Ice. Tough terrain.
Updated: 1 hr 55 min 16 sec ago
Vostok, Antarctica
Elevation:
11220 ft / 3420 m
-79 °F / -61 °C
Clear
Humidity:
52%
Dew Point:
-84 °F / -64 °C
Wind:
13 mph / 20 km/h from the SSW
Wind Gust:
-
Pressure:
in / hPa (Falling)
Visibility:
12.0 miles / 20.0 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Aviation
Flight Rule:
VFR ()
Wind Speed:
13 mph / 20 km/h
Wind Dir:
200° (SSW)
Ceiling:
100000 ft / 100000 m
The weather in Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
52 °F / 11 °C
Overcast
Humidity:
76%
Dew Point:
45 °F / 7 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the SSE
Pressure:
30.00 in / 1016 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
2 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 800 ft / 243 m
Mostly Cloudy 1500 ft / 457 m
Overcast 2100 ft / 640 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Minority Law - What protects those of us that are nonconformists in the face of bigotry and discrimination?
First a pause to realize how Freedoms have shaped our democracy in the face of presidential strategies against it.
NY Times v United States - 1971 - Freedom of the Press (Kindly click on)
The New York Times received secret info about the US involvement in the Vietnam War, specifically what had "really" happened at the Gulf of Tonkin. It turned out that the President had exaggerated the incident and used that exaggeration to gain increased war powers form congress (the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution). The New York Times sought to publish the information and the government attempted to get an injunction barring them from going to press with it. The Times sued claiming that the government was infringing upon their first amendment right of freedom of speech. The government claimed that a limitation of that right was in order because it was dangerous to the security of the nation.
The court affirmed the position of the New York Times. The court ruled that the information did not represent a clear and present danger to national security and that the governments attempt to suppress the information was an attempt at censorship and a violation of first amendment rights to freedom of the press.
I might point out the current administration is attempting to 'turn the tables' on the Freedom of the Press by THREATENING the profession of journalism, seeking control of their content and conducting investigations into their reporting. Recently, The Bush White House investigated 'leaks' that provided the American Public/American Electorate with facts regarding the illegal activity of their government including that of spying/wiretapping their Privacy Rights into obligion in the name of National Security. This Freedom is precious and has always been a bastion of safety for the democracy that has been the USA. That is BEFORE the current Bush Administration and it's biased House and Senate.
In response to President Bush and General Hayden breaking the law and by passing the FISA Court, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (click on), while conducting illegal search of personal privacy Senator Spector proposed and passed law that altered the FISA law making it retroactive to protect a blatantly criminal president (click on.) The point is, if a bigoted legislature, along with an equally bigoted Executive Branch will take matters of Privacy into their own hands 'after the fact' exonerating all of them from criminal trespass to say the least; then what else will they do. They are self righteous and dangerous and act to place themselves above the law with absolutely free abandon to the rights of the citizens of this country. They did not 'strengthen' FISA, they compromised it to justify their criminality.
Minorty Law. Is there actually such a thing? Yes. It is sought, by exception, through the courts creating precedent to protect those that are nonconformists. Nonconformists by their pure definition of whom them are in life. By choice. By nature. By circumstance. By circumstance beyond their control and cast into 'dire' circumstance requried by law. Victims. Victims to their own government, innocent of wrong doing, through acts of law that stigmatize their lives and cause hardship on them.
Minority has a rather simple definiton. The one most disturbing that this Executive Branch, Senate and House seek to oppress out of self righteousness and faux agendas of freedom are based not only in bigotry but religious bias. The one definition that should never be oppressed by our Constitution or Amendments is the primary understanding that the 'minority' is/can be same UNTIL it reaches majority. By oppressing the 'ideas' of minorities that normally would receive precedent with odds stacked against them by not only a Biased and Bigoted Executive Branch, Majority Legislative Branch of Both House, but, a Judicial Branch the most important of freedoms will be wrenched away from Americans. The democracy that is purported to be the most precious on Earth, will create a Consitution of 'dogma' and not law.
During the Senate Hearings of Samuel Alito some very distrubing 'trends' were brought up by the indignant Senator Brownback.
He continued his 'head nodding' of his party's priorities and clearly illustrated the self righteous path of bigotry and bias never before exerted in Supreme Court opinion. In other words, Senator Brownback was giving exuberant approval to replacing Constitutional law with religious dogma. He clearly, through his words and actions brought to focus THE PRIORITY the Robert's Court should take whether or not it was even considered by any of the justices before such actions. Senator Brownback did not break a law, he violated ethics. He didn't care because the current Ethics Panels of both legislative houses are closed for business to allow the Republican Majority to carry on as they wish with impunity.
Equal application of Civil Rights provide for safety to citizens. Mr. Alito went on with embellished statements regarding 'the way' in which 'minority law' is decided. Through 'judicial decision' and not amendment. He stated applying constitutional principle to the 'situation at hand.' He couldn't be more correct. It's basic Law 101. Why even bring it up? It was irrelivant except to APPEAR to grant Senator Brownback his 'dream come true' in confirming him. A clear signal to the Republican Base that the country would be coming under tow to the advent of a biased and bigoted regime of decisions that would reverse 'minority law.' A simpleton statement that was political in nature made by a man being considered for the highest seat in the Judiciary. "Excuse me." Politics in the Supreme Court? Oh, really.
There have been monies appropriated for efforts in Africa while at the same time women of those same countries are being denied funding in Planned Parenthood clinics because they offer abortion as an option to stop unwanted pregnancies. So, therefore, internationally, the USA is no longer viewed as a partner to the 'idea' of freedom of choice but instead to dogmatic ritual of oppressive governments. Internationally, there is oppression of eductation and distribution of items such as condoms that prevent the spread of HIV. Domestically, the USA promotes the spread of HIV when 'clean needle programs' are denied to ADDICTS. Addicts whom have fallen victim to traffiked drugs from 'Broken Borders.' Drugs provided by border towns where women and children are abused and die as objects of prostitution and an illegal sex trade.
The 'idea' of Minority Law in the USA has been a strength whereby people's lives have been enhanced both domestically and abroad. "Minority Law" as brought to full bloom by the Burger Court is being rolled back through inappropriate measures of a very bigoted Republican Party. These people not only seek to dominate issues of Minority Law for what they foolishly view as advantageous politics, but, they are beginning to hack away at majority law as well. Senator Lindsay Graham and Senator John Warner claim to be moderates, yet they represent some very disturbed priorites. These men are not misguided. They are seeking control over the Constitution in very dangerous and inappropriate ways. They are not moderates at all.
In the case of Habeous Corpus, Lindsay Graham purports to be an expert. He uses his view of the world to put forward faux agendas seeking approval of lay people in the electorate and authority of his power as a Senator and a majority party Senator.
From "Slate" Magazine...
"Here is the one thing I can tell you for sure as a military lawyer," Graham said, as quoted in the Congressional Record. "A POW or an enemy combatant facing law of armed conflict charges has not been given the right of habeas corpus for 200 years because our own people in our own military facing court-martials, who could be sentenced to death, do not have the right of habeas corpus. It is about military law. I am not changing anything. I am getting us back to what we have done for 200 years."
Yet in reality, it's Graham's provision that breaks with the law of the last two centuries. The Supreme Court has heard and granted habeas corpus petitions brought by enemy combatants challenging their detentions since the Civil War....(click on)
Statement by IAEA Director General on Iran (click on)
31 May 2006 IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei welcomes the announcement today by U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, expressing the readiness of the U.S. Government to join the EU-Iran talks once Iran responds positively to the IAEA Board of Governor´s call for the suspension of enrichment-related and reprocessing activities as a confidence-building measure.Dr. ElBaradei strongly encourages Iran to create the conditions necessary for the resumption of these talks, with U.S. participation, with a view to achieving a comprehensive settlement that is acceptable to both the international community and Iran.
Additionally ...
US Secretary of State and IAEA Head Talk Non-Proliferation (click on)
Staff Report
25 May 2006
IAEa Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice in Washington, 24 May 2006. (Photo: US Department of State)
Non-proliferation was the focus of talks between IAEA Head Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei and US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice in Washington yesterday. At the heart of discussions: Iran, the recent US-India deal and new approaches to contain sensitive nuclear technology.
The Director General met with Dr. Rice as part of a two-week visit to the US.
... On the India-US Agreement on nuclear cooperation, Dr. ElBaradei said that for him, "this is a win-win agreement and I hope it will be also for Congress." Speaking with Dr. Rice, the IAEA chief said he hoped the deal could "make sure that India becomes a partner in the non-proliferation framework."
On New Approaches to Sensitive Nuclear Technology: Dr. Rice thanked Dr. ElBaradei for work on "some innovative non-proliferation ideas like fuel assurances that would allow the proliferation risks associated with civil nuclear programs to be minimized."
Minority Law.
There is such a thing.
There has always been such a thing.
The Republican Party is a parasite to this country and it's treasury as well as a hinderence to global peace, environmental safety and responsibility, nuclear non-proliferation, human rights and empowering women.
end
NY Times v United States - 1971 - Freedom of the Press (Kindly click on)
The New York Times received secret info about the US involvement in the Vietnam War, specifically what had "really" happened at the Gulf of Tonkin. It turned out that the President had exaggerated the incident and used that exaggeration to gain increased war powers form congress (the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution). The New York Times sought to publish the information and the government attempted to get an injunction barring them from going to press with it. The Times sued claiming that the government was infringing upon their first amendment right of freedom of speech. The government claimed that a limitation of that right was in order because it was dangerous to the security of the nation.
The court affirmed the position of the New York Times. The court ruled that the information did not represent a clear and present danger to national security and that the governments attempt to suppress the information was an attempt at censorship and a violation of first amendment rights to freedom of the press.
I might point out the current administration is attempting to 'turn the tables' on the Freedom of the Press by THREATENING the profession of journalism, seeking control of their content and conducting investigations into their reporting. Recently, The Bush White House investigated 'leaks' that provided the American Public/American Electorate with facts regarding the illegal activity of their government including that of spying/wiretapping their Privacy Rights into obligion in the name of National Security. This Freedom is precious and has always been a bastion of safety for the democracy that has been the USA. That is BEFORE the current Bush Administration and it's biased House and Senate.
In response to President Bush and General Hayden breaking the law and by passing the FISA Court, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (click on), while conducting illegal search of personal privacy Senator Spector proposed and passed law that altered the FISA law making it retroactive to protect a blatantly criminal president (click on.) The point is, if a bigoted legislature, along with an equally bigoted Executive Branch will take matters of Privacy into their own hands 'after the fact' exonerating all of them from criminal trespass to say the least; then what else will they do. They are self righteous and dangerous and act to place themselves above the law with absolutely free abandon to the rights of the citizens of this country. They did not 'strengthen' FISA, they compromised it to justify their criminality.
Minorty Law. Is there actually such a thing? Yes. It is sought, by exception, through the courts creating precedent to protect those that are nonconformists. Nonconformists by their pure definition of whom them are in life. By choice. By nature. By circumstance. By circumstance beyond their control and cast into 'dire' circumstance requried by law. Victims. Victims to their own government, innocent of wrong doing, through acts of law that stigmatize their lives and cause hardship on them.
Minority has a rather simple definiton. The one most disturbing that this Executive Branch, Senate and House seek to oppress out of self righteousness and faux agendas of freedom are based not only in bigotry but religious bias. The one definition that should never be oppressed by our Constitution or Amendments is the primary understanding that the 'minority' is/can be same UNTIL it reaches majority. By oppressing the 'ideas' of minorities that normally would receive precedent with odds stacked against them by not only a Biased and Bigoted Executive Branch, Majority Legislative Branch of Both House, but, a Judicial Branch the most important of freedoms will be wrenched away from Americans. The democracy that is purported to be the most precious on Earth, will create a Consitution of 'dogma' and not law.
During the Senate Hearings of Samuel Alito some very distrubing 'trends' were brought up by the indignant Senator Brownback.
In referring to The Defense of Marriage Act, which is an extremely biased document, Senator Brownback gave a 'head nod' to the 'shifting' of "...full faith and credit clause of the USA Constitution." That clause provides for domestic tranquility. It requires law that is federal to 'blanket' the country with the same understanding and application. It prevents Civil War. It keeps states from warring with each other. It provides free movement between states of citizens without undo hardship. In other words, a citizen's rights in the Northeast of the USA is no different than the citizen rights in the Southwest. Not to say there aren't stark cultural differences, obviously there are, but the basic fundamental understanding of law as we have come to enjoy it applies directly across the board in all the USA states and territories so people don't 'trip' over themselves. When an employer transfers an employee from state to state neither that employer or the employee need the services of an attorney to come to understand 'new' applications of law to their lives that did not exist before.
Those 'head nods' continued through the entire time Senator Brownback conducted his speech. It was a speech. It was not about questions regarding decisions made by Samuel Alito. Mr. Alito openly stated same when he admitted he never had cases to decide regarding the 'contradiction' of the "...full faith and credit clause." Imagine that. Never before in all the years and the scope of practice of Mr. Alito did he have one case before him regarding this important application of federal law. Imagine that. All this time. Yet. In a brief and obscure moment Senator Brownback brushed aside the importance of the USA Constitution and replaced it with a faux agenda of bigoted and biased opinion allowing Mr. Alito to further espouse the virtues of such a decision. You'll excuse me but Senator Brownback's 'ballsy' approach to hearings about Supreme Court Justices was not only out of line by expressing personal preferences but blatantly victimized every person in the country purporting he knew better than an unchallenged Judge did.He continued his 'head nodding' of his party's priorities and clearly illustrated the self righteous path of bigotry and bias never before exerted in Supreme Court opinion. In other words, Senator Brownback was giving exuberant approval to replacing Constitutional law with religious dogma. He clearly, through his words and actions brought to focus THE PRIORITY the Robert's Court should take whether or not it was even considered by any of the justices before such actions. Senator Brownback did not break a law, he violated ethics. He didn't care because the current Ethics Panels of both legislative houses are closed for business to allow the Republican Majority to carry on as they wish with impunity.
Equal application of Civil Rights provide for safety to citizens. Mr. Alito went on with embellished statements regarding 'the way' in which 'minority law' is decided. Through 'judicial decision' and not amendment. He stated applying constitutional principle to the 'situation at hand.' He couldn't be more correct. It's basic Law 101. Why even bring it up? It was irrelivant except to APPEAR to grant Senator Brownback his 'dream come true' in confirming him. A clear signal to the Republican Base that the country would be coming under tow to the advent of a biased and bigoted regime of decisions that would reverse 'minority law.' A simpleton statement that was political in nature made by a man being considered for the highest seat in the Judiciary. "Excuse me." Politics in the Supreme Court? Oh, really.
The next example was made of 'The seasonal holiday' of the winter solstice whereby Mr. Brownback pointed out how, in the face of Supreme Court decisions, he 'believed in' a 'robust' public square and not a naked one. The public square is a bit of a euphemism here in that it removes the 'idea' of 'the general public' and replaces it with 'a particular public.' That public is one that celebrates holidays. See, the displays of religious preference are not only offensive to 'the minority' of agnostics, atheists or pagans in the USA; but also religions like Jehovah Witness whom also don't participate in war. Jehovah Witnesses have gone to prison refusing to be soldiers. They don't practice holidays. They don't observe birthdays or practice birthday parties. Someday, will they be required, in the name of good parenting, to have birthday parties for their children because the majority seems to believe it is necessary to uplift a child as they age from year to year?
A naked public square is not an offensive public square. It reflects "Lady Justice" and her blindfold as she holds the scales of justice in her out stretched hand. The 'naked' public that Mr. Brownback referred to is 'the general public' with law blind to the numbers in the populous of the USA and the demands of the majority. Balance. Balance is what makes the democray of the USA unique and a work across generations of expansive Civil Rights. That tradition is being destroyed by the bias and bigotry of The Republican Party.Additionally, there is a contradiction of terms between the breech of both the concept of 'the general public' and the word 'robust' as Mr. Brownback uses it. Mr. Brownback does not recognize the general public as an aspect of a robust public square. By applying the 'idea' of robust that was to say it included all those in the country. Not so. In his application of robust he completely ostracizes the reality of 'beliefs' that are absent of a display. It is a direct application of religous dogma and also a breech of "... the full faith and credit clause of the USA Constitution." Mr. Brownback and Mr. Alito want to discriminate against all the protections of the law of the USA of every citizen of this country replacing it with dogmatic understanding of a particular segment of the populous of this country. If 'robust' were applied to marriage law it would apply to all citizens including same sex relationships, that 'understanding of robust' is completely absent in any discussion by Mr. Brownback and Mr. Alito during the Senate hearings.
Currently, there are crisis everywhere across the face of this country that spills over to the world. In the past the USA has been very generous in it's application of Civil Rights to all citizens. In the past the USA has been very generous in promoting human rights to the International Community. One of the most serious breeches 'of recognition' of crisis in this country, as reflected in the world, is of HIV/AIDS. Across this country the rising majority of deaths from HIV are black women. Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, the rising deaths in the world are from HIV. Only this past week, Kofi Annan made a compelling speech that was an appeal regarding the 'loss of ground' the world is experiencing in the fight against HIV. That needs to be a concern of all of us. In the halls of Congress of the USA, it is not.
There have been monies appropriated for efforts in Africa while at the same time women of those same countries are being denied funding in Planned Parenthood clinics because they offer abortion as an option to stop unwanted pregnancies. So, therefore, internationally, the USA is no longer viewed as a partner to the 'idea' of freedom of choice but instead to dogmatic ritual of oppressive governments. Internationally, there is oppression of eductation and distribution of items such as condoms that prevent the spread of HIV. Domestically, the USA promotes the spread of HIV when 'clean needle programs' are denied to ADDICTS. Addicts whom have fallen victim to traffiked drugs from 'Broken Borders.' Drugs provided by border towns where women and children are abused and die as objects of prostitution and an illegal sex trade.
The 'idea' of Minority Law in the USA has been a strength whereby people's lives have been enhanced both domestically and abroad. "Minority Law" as brought to full bloom by the Burger Court is being rolled back through inappropriate measures of a very bigoted Republican Party. These people not only seek to dominate issues of Minority Law for what they foolishly view as advantageous politics, but, they are beginning to hack away at majority law as well. Senator Lindsay Graham and Senator John Warner claim to be moderates, yet they represent some very disturbed priorites. These men are not misguided. They are seeking control over the Constitution in very dangerous and inappropriate ways. They are not moderates at all.
In the case of Habeous Corpus, Lindsay Graham purports to be an expert. He uses his view of the world to put forward faux agendas seeking approval of lay people in the electorate and authority of his power as a Senator and a majority party Senator.
From "Slate" Magazine...
"Here is the one thing I can tell you for sure as a military lawyer," Graham said, as quoted in the Congressional Record. "A POW or an enemy combatant facing law of armed conflict charges has not been given the right of habeas corpus for 200 years because our own people in our own military facing court-martials, who could be sentenced to death, do not have the right of habeas corpus. It is about military law. I am not changing anything. I am getting us back to what we have done for 200 years."
Yet in reality, it's Graham's provision that breaks with the law of the last two centuries. The Supreme Court has heard and granted habeas corpus petitions brought by enemy combatants challenging their detentions since the Civil War....(click on)
ESPECIALLY, in the case of Civil War whereby opposition have been brothers historically. As a matter of fact, it could be argued that the case of the American Taliban was one of civil war as well. In the case of Civil War whom are Americans and whom are not?
In the case of Senator John Warner two disturbing facts. He put forward a provision completely changing and voiding the role of 'civilian' at the leadership of the CIA. He did this with Democratic Senator Levin toeing the line.
"Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., and Levin, that committee's ranking member, have also included language in this year's defense authorization bill that would allow Hayden to keep his four-star rank while he serves as CIA director. The defense authorization bill would require that officers serving in civilian roles "not be subject to supervision or control by the secretary of defense or by any officer or employee of the Department of Defense, except as directed by the secretary or the secretary's designee concerning reassignment from such position." (click on)
Just like that. One day the director of the CIA is a civilian and the next day it's all different. Without a second thought.
Additionally, Senator Warner asked General Hayden during his confirmation hearings why the USA knew nothing about Iran. Had no intelligence on Iran at all.
Oh?
Top U.S. intelligence official: Iran may have nuclear bomb by 2010 (click on)
By Reuters
LONDON - America's leading intelligence official said Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010 and has accused Tehran of being the world's top state sponsor of terrorism.Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte also said lessons have been learned from intelligence failures in the Iraq war.On Iran's nuclear capability, Negroponte told BBC Radio on Friday: "The estimate we have made is that sometime between the beginning of the next decade and the middle of the next decade they might be in a position to have a nuclear weapon which is a cause of great concern."
Negroponte said Iran seemed determined to develop nuclear weapons but admitted "We don't have clear-cut knowledge.""They seem to be determined -- that is our assessment -- that they are determined to develop nuclear weapons," he said
Statement by IAEA Director General on Iran (click on)
31 May 2006 IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei welcomes the announcement today by U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, expressing the readiness of the U.S. Government to join the EU-Iran talks once Iran responds positively to the IAEA Board of Governor´s call for the suspension of enrichment-related and reprocessing activities as a confidence-building measure.Dr. ElBaradei strongly encourages Iran to create the conditions necessary for the resumption of these talks, with U.S. participation, with a view to achieving a comprehensive settlement that is acceptable to both the international community and Iran.
Additionally ...
US Secretary of State and IAEA Head Talk Non-Proliferation (click on)
Staff Report
25 May 2006
IAEa Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice in Washington, 24 May 2006. (Photo: US Department of State)
Non-proliferation was the focus of talks between IAEA Head Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei and US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice in Washington yesterday. At the heart of discussions: Iran, the recent US-India deal and new approaches to contain sensitive nuclear technology.
The Director General met with Dr. Rice as part of a two-week visit to the US.
... On the India-US Agreement on nuclear cooperation, Dr. ElBaradei said that for him, "this is a win-win agreement and I hope it will be also for Congress." Speaking with Dr. Rice, the IAEA chief said he hoped the deal could "make sure that India becomes a partner in the non-proliferation framework."
On New Approaches to Sensitive Nuclear Technology: Dr. Rice thanked Dr. ElBaradei for work on "some innovative non-proliferation ideas like fuel assurances that would allow the proliferation risks associated with civil nuclear programs to be minimized."
Dr. ElBaradei has been 'on the ground' in Iran as well as a team of inspectors. DON'T TELL me that the USA knows NOTHING regarding Iran.
ElBaradei Outlines Expectations as Inspectors Depart to Iran
Staff Report
30 September 2003
A team of senior IAEA inspectors will arrive in Tehran Thursday, 2 October launching an active and intense period of talks and inspections.
Speaking to reporters at IAEA Headquarters today, Director General Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei called on Iran to provide “full transparency and full disclosure” of the history and nature of its nuclear program.
Dr. ElBaradei said these coming weeks will be “decisive” and that the 31 October deadline imposed by the IAEA Board of Governors was “non-negotiable” and should allow Iran “ample time” to “come with a full and accurate declaration.”
Minority Law.
There is such a thing.
There has always been such a thing.
The Republican Party is a parasite to this country and it's treasury as well as a hinderence to global peace, environmental safety and responsibility, nuclear non-proliferation, human rights and empowering women.
end
minority
Main Entry: mi·nor·i·ty
Pronunciation: m&-'nor-&-tE, mI-, -'när-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Usage: often attributive
1 a : the period before attainment of majority
b : the state of being a legal minor
2 : the smaller in number of two groups constituting a whole;
specifically : a group having less than the number of votes necessary for control
3 a : a part of a population differing from others in some characteristics and often subjected to differential treatment
b : a member of a minority group
Pronunciation: m&-'nor-&-tE, mI-, -'när-
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Usage: often attributive
1 a : the period before attainment of majority
b : the state of being a legal minor
2 : the smaller in number of two groups constituting a whole;
specifically : a group having less than the number of votes necessary for control
3 a : a part of a population differing from others in some characteristics and often subjected to differential treatment
b : a member of a minority group
Contradiction in Terms :: From Senator Brownback at the Sam Alito Hearings on January 11, 2006
The Congress has passed the Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, passed overwhelmingly, signed into law by President Clinton. It basically did two things. First, it establishes for purposes of federal law, marriage would be defined as a union of a man and woman. And second it provided that no state would be forced to recognize a marriage entered into in another state.
A number of legal scholars believe this second part violates the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution.
Judge Alito, this case is coming forward and will probably be resolved in the federal courts, if it isn't resolved by the Congress through a constitutional amendment. What is your understanding of the meaning of the full faith and credit clause, and does this apply to the institution of marriage, which has been traditionally an issue and an area left up to the states?
ALITO: Well, several constitutional doctrines seem to be implicated by the matters that you have discussed.
ALITO: The full faith and credit clause in general means that one state must honor judgments that are issued by a court of another state, and it's an important part of the process. It is an important part of the federal system, so that we don't have warring decisions in different states.
I have not had cases involving this, but there are -- the doctrine has certain boundaries to it. There are exceptions and it covers certain areas and doesn't cover other areas. And a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act under the full faith and credit clause would call into question the precise scope of the doctrine. And I believe that scholars have expressed differing views about how it would apply in that situation. And that's an issue that may well come up within the federal courts, almost certain to do so. ....
... later ...
....Alito:: The Constitution was adopted to endure throughout the history of our country. And considering how long our country has existed, it's been amended relatively few times.
And the magic of that, I think, is that it sets out a basic structure for our government and protects fundamental rights. But on a number of very important issues, I think the framers recognized that times would change, new questions would come up. And so they didn't purport to adopt a detailed code, for example, governing searches and seizures. That was the example I gave yesterday, and I'll come back to it.
ALITO: They could have set out a detailed code of search and seizure; they didn't do that. They said that the people are protected against unreasonable searches and seizures, and they left it for the courts -- and, of course, the legislative body can supplement this -- to apply that principle to the new situations that come up.
Now, when that is done, that doesn't amount to an amendment of the Constitution or a changing of the Constitution. It involves the application of a constitutional principle to the situation at hand.
BROWNBACK: Let me go to a specific area you have written quite a bit about, and that's on religious liberties and free exercise.
And I've looked at these cases. And this is going to be an active area of law in front of the Supreme Court. It has been for the last 40 years.
You wrote the case of ACLU v. Schundler, 3rd Circuit case considered ACLU challenge to religious displays erected by Jersey City on the plaza of city hall. Jersey City, for decades, it had holiday displays of menorah and Christmas tree. Litigation resulted in permanent pulling of this. The city came back, said, "OK, if that's not good enough, we'll put a nativity scene, a menorah, Christmas tree, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, Kwanzaa symbols and signs explaining the display. So, OK, if two is not enough, we'll add more into that."
And they were again challenged by the ACLU. District court found no constitutional violation.
Panel 3rd Circuit, not including you, reversed that decision. Panel found no basis for the demystification approach, as they put it, and expressed skepticism as to constitutional display.
BROWNBACK: On remand, district court held that there was a constitutional violation. The city appealed. You sat on the panel that heard that appeal. In a 2-1 decision, you upheld the constitutionality of the modified display.
In your decision, you specifically cited Justice O'Connor and two particular issues regarding excessive entanglement with religious institutions and government endorsement or disapproval of religion.
Because Justice O'Connor used these factors to uphold similar displays in prior cases, you applied them to your upholding that Case. That's a correct interpretation; is that correct?
ALITO: Yes, it is, Senator.
BROWNBACK: Because these are coming up so much in front of the court, are these types of displays, you feel -- generally -- constitutionally permissible?
ALITO: Well, this is an area in which the Supreme Court has handed down several decisions. And like a number of the issues that the court has addressed under the establishment clause, it has drawn some fairly fine lines.
The first case involving a display of this nature was the Pawtucket, Rhode Island, display that was involved in Lynch v. Donnelly. And it was a display that was similar to the display in Jersey City. It included both religious and secular symbols. And they found that that was not a violation.
BROWNBACK: I want to jump in here, because I've several areas I want to go at. When I read your opinions, what I hear you to write is you would rather have a robust public square ...
A number of legal scholars believe this second part violates the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution.
Judge Alito, this case is coming forward and will probably be resolved in the federal courts, if it isn't resolved by the Congress through a constitutional amendment. What is your understanding of the meaning of the full faith and credit clause, and does this apply to the institution of marriage, which has been traditionally an issue and an area left up to the states?
ALITO: Well, several constitutional doctrines seem to be implicated by the matters that you have discussed.
ALITO: The full faith and credit clause in general means that one state must honor judgments that are issued by a court of another state, and it's an important part of the process. It is an important part of the federal system, so that we don't have warring decisions in different states.
I have not had cases involving this, but there are -- the doctrine has certain boundaries to it. There are exceptions and it covers certain areas and doesn't cover other areas. And a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act under the full faith and credit clause would call into question the precise scope of the doctrine. And I believe that scholars have expressed differing views about how it would apply in that situation. And that's an issue that may well come up within the federal courts, almost certain to do so. ....
... later ...
....Alito:: The Constitution was adopted to endure throughout the history of our country. And considering how long our country has existed, it's been amended relatively few times.
And the magic of that, I think, is that it sets out a basic structure for our government and protects fundamental rights. But on a number of very important issues, I think the framers recognized that times would change, new questions would come up. And so they didn't purport to adopt a detailed code, for example, governing searches and seizures. That was the example I gave yesterday, and I'll come back to it.
ALITO: They could have set out a detailed code of search and seizure; they didn't do that. They said that the people are protected against unreasonable searches and seizures, and they left it for the courts -- and, of course, the legislative body can supplement this -- to apply that principle to the new situations that come up.
Now, when that is done, that doesn't amount to an amendment of the Constitution or a changing of the Constitution. It involves the application of a constitutional principle to the situation at hand.
BROWNBACK: Let me go to a specific area you have written quite a bit about, and that's on religious liberties and free exercise.
And I've looked at these cases. And this is going to be an active area of law in front of the Supreme Court. It has been for the last 40 years.
You wrote the case of ACLU v. Schundler, 3rd Circuit case considered ACLU challenge to religious displays erected by Jersey City on the plaza of city hall. Jersey City, for decades, it had holiday displays of menorah and Christmas tree. Litigation resulted in permanent pulling of this. The city came back, said, "OK, if that's not good enough, we'll put a nativity scene, a menorah, Christmas tree, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus, Kwanzaa symbols and signs explaining the display. So, OK, if two is not enough, we'll add more into that."
And they were again challenged by the ACLU. District court found no constitutional violation.
Panel 3rd Circuit, not including you, reversed that decision. Panel found no basis for the demystification approach, as they put it, and expressed skepticism as to constitutional display.
BROWNBACK: On remand, district court held that there was a constitutional violation. The city appealed. You sat on the panel that heard that appeal. In a 2-1 decision, you upheld the constitutionality of the modified display.
In your decision, you specifically cited Justice O'Connor and two particular issues regarding excessive entanglement with religious institutions and government endorsement or disapproval of religion.
Because Justice O'Connor used these factors to uphold similar displays in prior cases, you applied them to your upholding that Case. That's a correct interpretation; is that correct?
ALITO: Yes, it is, Senator.
BROWNBACK: Because these are coming up so much in front of the court, are these types of displays, you feel -- generally -- constitutionally permissible?
ALITO: Well, this is an area in which the Supreme Court has handed down several decisions. And like a number of the issues that the court has addressed under the establishment clause, it has drawn some fairly fine lines.
The first case involving a display of this nature was the Pawtucket, Rhode Island, display that was involved in Lynch v. Donnelly. And it was a display that was similar to the display in Jersey City. It included both religious and secular symbols. And they found that that was not a violation.
BROWNBACK: I want to jump in here, because I've several areas I want to go at. When I read your opinions, what I hear you to write is you would rather have a robust public square ...
Marginalize - to relegate to a marginal position within a society or group
It's Saturday Night and there are minority interests. Minority Choices falling away from the embrace of a free and democratic society.
Senator Brownback at the Samuel Alito Hearings on January 9, 2006
...As I stated at Justice Roberts' hearing, the court's injected itself into many of the political debates of our day. And as my colleague Senator Cornyn has mentioned, the court's injected itself in the definition of marriage, deciding whether or not human life is worth protecting, permitting government to transfer private property from one person to another, even interpreting the Constitution on the basis of foreign and international laws.
The Supreme Court has also issued and never reversed a number of decisions that are repugnant to the Constitution's vision of human dignity and equality.
Although cases like Brown v. Board of Education in my state are famous for correcting constitutional and court errors, there remain several other instances in which the court strayed and stayed beyond the Constitution and the laws of the United States....
robust
Main Entry: ro·bust
Pronunciation: rO-'b&st, 'rO-(")b&st
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin robustus oaken, strong, from robor-, robur oak, strength
1 a : having or exhibiting strength or vigorous health b : having or showing vigor, strength, or firmness c : strongly formed or constructed : STURDY
2 : ROUGH, RUDE
3 : requiring strength or vigor
4 :; also : HEARTY
5 : relating to, resembling, or being any of the primitive, relatively large, heavyset hominids (genus Australopithecus and especially A. robustus and A. boisei) characterized especially by heavy molars and small incisors adapted to a vegetarian diet -- compare GRACILE 3
synonym see HEALTHY
- ro·bust·ly adverb
- ro·bust·ness
/-'b&s(t)-n&s, -(")b&s(t)-/ noun
Pronunciation: rO-'b&st, 'rO-(")b&st
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin robustus oaken, strong, from robor-, robur oak, strength
1 a : having or exhibiting strength or vigorous health b : having or showing vigor, strength, or firmness c : strongly formed or constructed : STURDY
2 : ROUGH, RUDE
3 : requiring strength or vigor
4 :
5 : relating to, resembling, or being any of the primitive, relatively large, heavyset hominids (genus Australopithecus and especially A. robustus and A. boisei) characterized especially by heavy molars and small incisors adapted to a vegetarian diet -- compare GRACILE 3
synonym see HEALTHY
- ro·bust·ly adverb
- ro·bust·ness
/-'b&s(t)-n&s, -(")b&s(t)-/ noun
"Minority" by Green Day
i want to be the minority
i dont need your authority
down with the moral majority
'cause i want to be the minority
i pledge allegiance to the underworld
one nation under dog
there of which i stand alone
a face in the crowd
unsung, against the mold
without a doubt,
singled out
the only way i know
i want to be the minority
i dont need your authority
down with the moral majority
'cause i want to be the minority
stepped out of the line
like a sheep runs from the herd
marching out of time
to my own beat now
the only way i know
one light, one mind
flashing in the dark
blinded by silence of a thousand broken hearts
"for cryin out loud" she screamed unto me
a free for all
fuck 'em all
"you are your own sight"
i want to be the minority
i dont need your authority
down with the moral majority
'cause i want to be the minority
i dont need your authority
down with the moral majority
'cause i want to be the minority
i pledge allegiance to the underworld
one nation under dog
there of which i stand alone
a face in the crowd
unsung, against the mold
without a doubt,
singled out
the only way i know
i want to be the minority
i dont need your authority
down with the moral majority
'cause i want to be the minority
stepped out of the line
like a sheep runs from the herd
marching out of time
to my own beat now
the only way i know
one light, one mind
flashing in the dark
blinded by silence of a thousand broken hearts
"for cryin out loud" she screamed unto me
a free for all
fuck 'em all
"you are your own sight"
i want to be the minority
i dont need your authority
down with the moral majority
'cause i want to be the minority
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