Where there is no water vapor in the satellite picture below, there are wildfires. I guess its a little dry, huh? And HOT !

UPDATE: Four Separate Wildfires Ignite Monday (click at title to entry)
April 14, 2008 11:27 PM EDT
Updated By: Johnray Strickland
j.strickland@krdo.com
EL PASO COUNTY - Warm and dry conditions help to fuel four wildfires in Southern Colorado Monday afternoon. Three fires are within miles of each other while the fourth is South of the main gate of Fort Carson.
20 acres of land in Fort Carson was engulfed in flames Monday evening as the latest fire to break out. The fire raged near Highway 115 and Juniper Valley. Fire crews had the blaze surrounded by a perimeter and expect the flame to be contained shortly.
The call for the first wildfire came in around 4:30 p.m. The fire is burning on Baggett road and Big Springs road in Eastern El Paso County. No further information on this fire is available at this time.
The second fire ignited on the corner of Dodge road and Dodge circle in Falcon. The fire burned a total of 5 to 10 acres and was 100% contained by 3:00 p.m. Falcon Fire, Black Forest Fire and Woodman Valley were called in to control the flames.
The fire didn't have enough strength to jump the road and died on its own. No structures were threatened and no one was injured.
The third fire broke out just 25 minutes northeast in Calhan. Workers were welding a fence on Calhan highway and Judge Orr road when sparks ignited the fire.
Four fire trucks were called in to help keep the flames under control, including Tri Co., Calhan and Elliott.
The fire burned less than one acre and is now completely extinguished.

I'd pay attention to the current conditions over the USA. Yep. Click for 12 hour loop.

April 15, 2008
0230Z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite


April 11, 2008, 9:11PM
At least 8 tornadoes swept through Texas (click here)
© 2008 The Associated Press
DALLAS — At least eight tornadoes and a line of intense thunderstorms were responsible for widespread wind damage in North Texas, the National Weather Service said Friday.
The storms snapped utility poles, peeled roofs from buildings and sent trees crashing into homes, but no deaths were reported. There were several injuries, including one gas field worker who lost an arm when the storms hit while he was inside a trailer at a drilling site.
Areas where tornadoes touched down Wednesday night and Thursday morning included: south of the town of Breckenridge in Stephens County; the city of Breckenridge; Palo Pinto County near Oran; north of Alvarado in Johnson County; DeSoto in Dallas County; McKinney in Collin County; San Angelo; and Leary in Bowie County, said Jesse Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
Most of the tornadoes packed winds around 90 mph, while the Leary tornado had winds up to 125 mph, Moore said.
"This damaging line of thunderstorms was part of one of the most active 24-hour periods in recent North Texas weather history," National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Bunting wrote in his report.
Damage estimates in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are expected to top $35 million, said Sandra Helin, a spokeswoman for the Southwestern Insurance Information Service.
"We expect that figure to rise significantly as adjusters continue to assess damage and as homeowners inspect their homes over the weekend," Helin said.
About 25,000 customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area remained without power Friday evening, said Rob Trimble, president and CEO of Oncor.

Arctic ice shelf now split in three, mission finds

..."The map of Canada is changing," Derek Mueller, a Trent University researcher, said yesterday at Eureka's weather station, which is fewer than 1,200 kilometres south of the North Pole on the western coast of Ellesmere Island. "There are only five [ice shelves] left on Ellesmere, but almost 100 years ago the entire coastline was covered in ice shelves."...


Arctic Sea Ice Younger than Normal (click here)
...The area and thickness of sea ice that survives the summer has been declining over the past decade. Whereas perennial ice used to cover 50-60 percent of the Arctic, it covered less than 30 percent in 2008—down 10 percent from 2007. The ice that remains is also getting younger. In the mid- to late 1980s, over 20 percent of Arctic sea ice was at least six years old; in February 2008, just 6 percent of the ice was six years old or older....

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

5:57 PM AKDT

Lat/Lon: 58.8° N 137.0° W

Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m

Temperature :: 39 Fahrenheit

Conditions :: Overcast

Windchill :: 34 F / 1 C

Humidity :: 87%

Dew Point :: 36 F / 2 C

Wind :: 7 mph / 11 km/h / 3.1 m/s from the ESE

Pressure :: 29.76 in / 1008 hPa (Falling)

Visibility :: 8.0 miles / 12.9 kilometers

UV :: 0 out of 16

Clouds :: Few 900 ft / 274 m
Mostly Cloudy 1600 ft / 487 m
Overcast 2600 ft / 792 m
(Above Ground Level)

Is this Iraq? No. Pakistan. USA occupation numbers, ZERO !

In case you are wondering why the map below states "Stages 1 through 4..." it is because there is an attempted resettlement of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border (click here)

Do you want to know where Osama bin Laden is?

He is in this region on Earth. More than likely the Kurram Agency of Pakistan. Musharraf is corrupt. He and Osama caused a coupe in Pakistan, yet, he is one of Bush's best buddies. Just because a man has the title of President of the USA doesn't mean he and his words are competent.

Lawyers to observe ‘Karachi Martyrs Day’ on 17th (click here)

By By our correspondent 4/13/2008
Karachi
Pakistan Bar Council has announced to observe “Yaum-e-Shuhada-e-Karachi” on April 17 throughout the country to mourn the tragic deaths of lawyers and innocent citizens who lost their lives in the April 9 incidents of violence.Addressing a press conference at the Bar room of Sindh High Court Bar Association, PBC’s Executive Committee members Rasheed A Razvi, Hamid Khan, Qazi Mohammad Anwar, Ali Ahmed Kurd and Kazim Khan asked the Bar councils and associations to dedicate April 17 for those innocent lawyers and citizens who were killed in the incidents of terrorism in Karachi on April 9.The council called upon Sindh government to control law and order situation and conduct an impartial inquiry through judicial commission into the events and prosecute and punish the offenders.Former vice chairman PBC Ali Ahmed Kurd said that lawyers struggle was meant to establish rule of law as well as restoration of judiciary to its November 2 position.“Lawyers movement for the restoration of judiciary has become a part of history and history could not be defeated,” he said, adding that legal fraternity would continue its struggle until the restoration of judiciary and establishment of rule of law. “Lawyers struggle is meant for the 99% masses who are being suppressed for the last 60 years and who have been fully supporting the lawyers movement for the restoration of judiciary,” he said.Criticizing President Musharraf’s statement against lawyers, Kurd said that the people who abrogated the Constitution had actually intended to create anarchy in the country....

Don't tell me what 'goes on' in Iraq. I know what goes on in Iraq. It is called corruption and the people are engaged in war against that corruption. The illegal invasion of Iraq was and is an illegal invasion. "The oil, boss, the oil."

Oil, Iraq and U.S. Foreign Policy: A Way Forward (Part II) (click here)

...In other words, for these country's help in military and civilian assistance, their oil services and oil producing companies will participate in the exploration, drilling, and production of Iraqi oil. France (Schlumberger (SLB), Total (TOT)), Britain (BP (BP), BG), China (CNOOC (CEO), PetroChina (PTR)), Russia (LukOil (LUKOF.PK), Gazprom (OGZPY.PK)), and of course the US (Exxon (XOM), Chevron (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Halliburton (HAL), etc) will negotiate contracts in order to divvy up the Iraqi oil and gas resources....

The Shia militias will never put down their weapons.

It's not possible. They have to 'survive the day' just like everyone else.

The 'fragility' Petraeus refers to is called 'oppression of the will of the Iraqis.' Iraq is divided into ethnic factions. The Iraqis need to get on with their business and the USA needs to leave that country.

Iraq never was a threat to the USA national security and still today it is not !


Death toll rises to 17 as sectarian clashes continue (click title above)
Our Staff Reporter
PESHAWAR - The death toll rises to 17 in the fresh round of sectarian clashes in Parachanar, Sadda and other parts of Kurram Agency continued on the fourth consecutive day Saturday.According to reports, the rival tribesmen from Shia and Sunni communities are targeting each other’s positions and properties with modern and sophisticated weapons. The armed clashes in and around Parachanar and Sadda towns have been continuing for the last four days, causing loss of 17 precious lives and injuries to more than 60. Though the leaders and stalwarts of both the sides are giving conflicting data regarding human and property losses during the clashes. However, the independent circles believe that 17 persons were killed in the last four days. The killed and injured include leading tribal elders and youngsters. While blaming each other for violating the cease-fire agreement, leaders of both the Shia and Sunni communities are unanimously unhappy with the policies of the Government, particularly the Political Administration of the agency. The tribal elders alleged that the officials are playing the role of silent spectators despite the fact that hundreds of people were killed and injured in the sectarian clashes, which erupted in November last.In the wake of frequent demands of people from socio-political circles, a number of helicopters initiated air patrolling in the area. So far no action has been taken for bringing the situation under control. However, after air patrolling of helicopters the firing is on the decline in some areas.The elders from Shia and Sunni communities are reportedly accusing each other of fuelling bloodshed at the behest of some alien hands. The elders from Sunni community alleged that Shia groups are getting help from the Afghan government whereas the Shia circles are accusing the diehard religious groups like Lashkar-i-Tayyaba and Sepah Sahaba of their involvement in attacking and killing of the Shia people.It merits mentioning that despite growing sectarian tension all over Kurram Agency, the government has withdrawn certain wings of the Frontier Corps from the area. A number of political leaders and stalwarts have shown resentment over the withdrawal of military and paramilitary troops from the area.

US GIs in Iraq suffer worst week of '08

Residents gather around a crater created after an air strike in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, Saturday, April 12, 2008. (AP / Karim Kadim)

...the absolute catastrophe has to be laid at the hands of the war's architects and the early Iraq administrators....

Q: What's the most pernicious myth that Americans have about Iraq or the Iraqis?

A: The all-too-popular notion that Iraqis are fundamentally ruthless and cruel, that they are more interested in bloodletting than living normal lives, that they hate the children of those of different sects and ethnicities more than they love their own.
Iraqis are really not much different from their American counterparts in their fierce devotion and love for their families, and in their desire for a better life for themselves and their children.

The militarization of attrition in Iraq. "Our current course is hard, but, is working..."

The real problem in Iraq is that the citizens continue to be born, grow into young soldiers for their faith and arm themselves to protect their families and neighborhoods.

The hideousness of being an Iraqi today is remarkable.

The Green Zone Iraqis state, "Lay down your weapons or we will kill you." That is interpreted by people used to Saddam's regime as "Surrender so we can kill you."

The skirmishs in Baghdad and throughout Iraq will never completely cease. The country has more 'fire power' on its streets than most of the First World, including an oversized occupying force. When people preceive their circumstances as dangerous from every element that exists INCLUDING Green Zone Iraqis with their own militias, why should they trust any government?

Currently the Bahr Brigade exists with immunity. What makes them any different than any other fighting faction in Iraq? Not a darn thing, yet, the Shi'ites of the southern Iraqi provice are told they have to lay down their weapons? That is hideous. Never once did I hear Crocker or Petraeus mention the 'reining in' of the ILLEGAL Bahr Brigade. I guess that would risk a REAL consequence in that the Green Zone Iraqis might even turn the Maliki military in alliance with the Bahr Brigade on the USA/British occupation. Now, that would be interesting, wouldn't it?

The hideousness and enormous double standard to the current occupation is outrageous. The Sistani Shi'ites are scapegoated to be 'The Bin Laden of Baghdad and Iraq' while the OFFICIAL INFRASTRUCTURE of Iraq conduct private militias that kill seeking control of the country.

The Western occupation in Iraq continues to be the most destabilizing entity in that country causing enormous civilian deaths, massive refugee issues for the surrounding countries and abject poverty accompanied by STILL unmeasurable deaths due to that poverty.

The USA military by presence of its military give CONSENT to Green Zone Iraqi Militias, death to citizens and the continued impoverishment of the people.



Iraq violence, in figures (click here)



April 11, 2008, 6:20 pm
Once again it is time to bid aloha to that sober team of mirthless entertainers, Petraeus & Crocker.
It’s hard to imagine where you could find another pair of such sleep-inducing performers.
I can’t look at Petraeus — his uniform ornamented like a Christmas tree with honors, medals and ribbons — without thinking of the great Mort Sahl at the peak of his brilliance. He talked about meeting General Westmoreland in the Vietnam days. Mort, in a virtuoso display of his uncanny detailed knowledge — and memory — of such things, recited the lengthy list (”Distinguished Service Medal, Croix de Guerre with Chevron, Bronze Star, Pacific Campaign” and on and on), naming each of the half-acre of decorations, medals, ornaments, campaign ribbons and other fripperies festooning the general’s sternum in gaudy display. Finishing the detailed list, Mort observed, “Very impressive!” Adding, “If you’re twelve.”
(As speakers, both Petraeus and Crocker are guilty of unbearable sesquipedalianism, a word wickedly inflicted on me by my English-teaching mother. It’s one of those words that is what it says. From the Latin, literally “using foot-and-a-half-long words.” We all learned the word for words that sound like what they say — like “click” or “pop” or “boom” or “hiss” — but I’m sure the mercifully defunct Famous Writers School surely forbade using the “sesqui” word and “onomatopoeia” in the same paragraph. (You can have fun with both of them at your next cocktail party.)
But back to our story. Never in this breathing world have I seen a person clog up and erode his speaking — as distinct from his reading — with more “uhs,” “ers” and “ums” than poor Crocker. Surely he has never seen himself talking: “Uh, that is uh, a, uh, matter that we, er, um, uh are carefully, uh, considering.” (Not a parody, an actual Crocker sentence. And not even the worst.)
These harsh-on-the-ear insertions, delivered in his less than melodious, hoarse-sounding tenor, are maddening. And their effect is to say that the speaker is painfully unsure of what he wants, er, um, to say.
If Crocker’s collection of these broken shards of verbal crockery were eliminated from his testimony, everyone there would get home at least an hour earlier.
Petraeus commits a different assault on the listener. And on the language. In addition to his own pedantic delivery, there is his turgid vocabulary. It reminds you of Copspeak, a language spoken nowhere on earth except by cops and firemen when talking to “Eyewitness News.” Its rule: never use a short word where a longer one will do. It must be meant to convey some misguided sense of “learnedness” and “scholasticism” — possibly even that dread thing, “intellectualism” — to their talk. Sorry, I mean their “articulation.”
No crook ever gets out of the car. A “perpetrator exits the vehicle.” (Does any cop say to his wife at dinner, “Honey, I stubbed my toe today as I exited our vehicle”?) No “man” or “woman” is present in Copspeak. They are replaced by that five-syllable, leaden ingot, the “individual.” The other day, there issued from a fire chief’s mouth, “It contributed to the obfuscation of what eventually eventuated.” This from a guy who looked like he talked, in real life, like Rocky Balboa. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Who imposes this phony, academic-sounding verbal junk on brave and hard-working men and women who don’t need the added burden of trying to talk like effete characters from Victorian novels?
And, General, there is no excuse anywhere on earth for a stillborn monster like “ethnosectarian conflict,” as Jon Stewart so hilariously pointed out.
What would the general be forced to say if it weren’t for the icky, precious-sounding “challenge” that he leans so heavily on? That politically correct term, which was created so that folks who are legally blind, deaf, clumsy, crippled, impotent, tremor-ridden, stupid, addicted or villainously ugly are really none of those unhappy things at all. They are merely challenged. (Are these euphemisms supposed to make them feel better?) And no one need be unlucky enough to be dead or hideously wounded anymore. Those unfortunates are merely “casualties” — a sort of restful-sounding word.
(I have a friend who would like the opportunity to say to our distinguished warrior, “General Petraeus, my son was killed in one of your challenges.”)
Petraeus uses “challenge” for a rich variety of things. It covers ominous developments, threats, defeats on the battlefield and unfound solutions to ghastly happenings. And of course there’s that biggest of challenges, that slapstick band of silent-movie comics called, flatteringly, the Iraqi “fighting forces.” (A perilous one letter away from “fighting farces.”) The ones who are supposed to allow us to bring troops home but never do.
Petraeus’s verbal road is full of all kinds of bumps and lurches and awkward oddities. How about “ongoing processes of substantial increases in personnel”?
Try talking English, General. You mean more soldiers.
It’s like listening to someone speaking a language you only partly know. And who’s being paid by the syllable. You miss a lot. I guess a guy bearing up under such a chestload of hardware — and pretty ribbons in a variety of decorator colors — can’t be expected to speak like ordinary mortals, for example you and me. He should try once saying — instead of “ongoing process of high level engagements” — maybe something in colloquial English? Like: “fights” or “meetings” (or whatever the hell it’s supposed to mean).
I find it painful to watch this team of two straight men, straining on the potty of language. Only to deliver such . . . what? Such knobbed and lumpy artifacts of superfluous verbiage? (Sorry, now I’m doing it…)
But I must hand it to his generalship. He did say something quite clearly and admirably and I am grateful for his frankness. He told us that our gains are largely imaginary: that our alleged “progress” is “fragile and reversible.” (Quite an accomplishment in our sixth year of war.) This provides, of course, a bit of pre-emptive covering of the general’s hindquarters next time that, true to Murphy’s Law, things turn sour again.
Back to poor Crocker. His brows are knitted. And he has a perpetually alarmed expression, as if, perhaps, he feels something crawling up his leg.
Could it be he is being overtaken by the thought that an honorable career has been besmirched by his obediently doing the dirty work of the tinpot Genghis Khan of Crawford, Texas? The one whose foolish military misadventure seems to increasingly resemble that of Gen. George Armstrong Custer at Little Bighorn?
Not an apt comparison, I admit.
Custer sent only 258 soldiers to their deaths.

The Cheney Poison - "In THOSE DAYS there was a right way to do it."

"Dick and Barak Obama are eighth cousins."

Cheney: Rev. Wright's remarks 'absolutely appalling' (click here).

The man in the Executive Branch that should be impeached insists on 'attempts' to raise question with Reverand Wright as appalling. Really? There is no American more appauling than Dick Cheney. It is highly questionable as to whether Dick Cheney actually has room to talk.

Cheney is the most Anti-American entity in government. He has used the Executive Branch to his own purpose to exonerate his liability with Halliburton after he cooked the books as CEO, lied to the American public in the lead up to the illegal and immoral and currently genocidal was in Iraq, conducted a secret Energy Committee, outed a CIA agent and has 'enjoyed' the First Amendment using language as "Fuck You" and "So" in reference to other members of our society that was intended to intimidate and denigrate.

The comments made by Cheney started at the FOX News stage with characters such as Hannity. All one has to realize about that is, "Consider the source." It would be far better to leave the 'mouth' of any Cheney where it belongs and that is on the stage of the Fox Propaganda Network. The comments by Cheney were to 'prompt' the Neocons into a rant that ? might work ? in an attempt to defame a Democratic Presidential hopeful. Does this childlessness ever stop? Do 'REAL' issues like the genocidial tendancies of Bush and Cheney ever make it to the social rhelm? It would seem not and speaks to the lack of sincere interest Americans exhibit regarding the 'best interests' of their country.

Terrorist dies of domestic disease. Why is it that it seems an honor?

The FBI has the methodology that if a serial killer isn't apprehended, in time, the killer will 'retire' from his crimes through old age or die unidentified. An example of that was the BTK murders (click here) in which he 'got away with it' for decades.

Abu Ubaida al Masri is believed dead of Hepatitis C at the age of 52. He would fit right in to the statistics of those in the USA. He was more than likely getting the best health care in Pakistan along with Osama bin Laden's dialysis machine.

Dramatic Rise Found In Hepatitis C-related Deaths In The United States (click here)
ScienceDaily (Mar. 25, 2008) — Hepatitis C-related deaths in the United States increased by 123 percent from 1995 through 2004, the most recent year for which data are available. Mortality rates peaked in 2002, then declined slightly overall, while continuing to rise among people 55 to 64 years old....

Al Qaeda struck the USA on September 11, 2001. It is a day way from being six years and seven months ago. During that time, was al Qaeda dismantled? No. Was al Qaeda brought to justice and imprisoned or worse? No. Was Pakistan in complete turmoil while sending custom made nuclear packages to, for lack of a better word, 'Rouge Countries?' Yes. Has the USA fought the war they should have fought to dismantle al Qaeda, kill or capture their leaders, while protecting their allies from further harm? No. The USA has been engaged in a completely unnecessary war in Iraq.

Abu Ubaida al Masri died of a progression of a disease process. He didn't die of WMD. He didn't die in battle. He was not killed by British or USA forces and he died in Pakistan. There is something very, very "W"rong with this picture !

Pakistan court acquits Bhutto's widower in murder case

Asif Ali Zardari, widower of Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and leader of the Pakistan People's Party gestures as he arrives to attend the National Assembly session in Islamabad March 17, 2008.
REUTERS/Mian Khursheed

Only two hours ago, these children had no injuries. This is the fruit of the Bush/Cheney Iraq War !

Iraqi men rush wounded children to a hospital in the Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Baghdad, Wednesday, April 9, 2008. The children were injured after two projectiles fell into two separate places in Sadr city on Wednesday morning. According to hospital officials the death toll now is 7 killed, including 3 children and 27 wounded. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

What exactly will any reform bring these people? More love for their chidren? They love their familes as much as we love ours. They don't deserve this. They understand the world differently and their reward for that is having bombs as part of their daily lives and streets littered with the blood of their children. When will this stop? The occupation has gone too far. The occupation has made enemies of the citizens of Iraq. How does Bush expect the people of Iraq, the people of Baghdad to simply 'take it on the chin' when their families are wounded and killed by a war they never welcomed. There is a huge disconnect between the people that wage this war and those that suffer through it.

Violence in Iraq claims 2 U.S. soldiers, 11 residents (click here)

A rocket blast in Sadr City kills 7 as a curfew locks down the capital amid continued fighting between militiamen and military forces.
By Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 7:47 AM PDT, April 9, 2008
BAGHDAD -- At least seven Iraqi civilians were killed today when a rocket or mortar shell tore into a residential neighborhood of Baghdad's Sadr City, the site of fierce fighting between Shiite militiamen and U.S. and Iraqi forces.Four people died in additional clashes in Sadr City today, and the U.S. military announced the deaths of two soldiers, bringing to 4,028 the number of American troops killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003, according to www.icasualties.org "> www.icasualties.org (nhlirl452i43tn45j1vwpa22)/Default.aspx. Today marked the fifth anniversary of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, but a curfew in the capital prevented gatherings to commemorate the event....

Morning Papers - continued...

The Kookaburra (click at title to entry), could it be over wintering? Or. Is there trouble with Australia's drought that might be placing them in danger?

Sydney Morning Herald

Planes versus trains
April 6, 2008
Danielle Teutsch looks at whether you're better off flying or going by rail around Europe.
You're hopping around Europe - do you go by plane or train? Only a decade ago, the answer was simple. Flights were expensive and the rail system worked well. It was a no-brainer.
Then came the advent of budget airlines, EasyJet and Ryanair, selling flights within Europe for ridiculously cheap prices - think London to Paris for £20 ($44). Suddenly, plane travel was too tempting to refuse.
But rail travel is fighting back with high-speed services that are improving - so much so that, in some cases, rail travel is quicker than going through airport red tape. And compared to carbon-emission spewing aircraft, electric rail has a a green halo.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/tips/planes-versus-trains/2008/04/04/1207249417544.html

Zimbabwe results judgment on Monday
April 10, 2008 - 6:13AM
A judge hearing an opposition petition demanding the immediate release of Zimbabwe's presidential election results said he will deliver his judgment on Monday.
"Conscious of the urgency of the matter, I should be ready for a judgment on Monday afternoon," Judge Tendai Uchena told the high court in Harare today.
"Judgment is therefore reserved until Monday at 14.30pm (2230 AEST)."
AFP
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/zimbabwe-results-judgment-on-monday/2008/04/10/1207420521404.html


Privacy fears as Google hits the road
HIGHLY detailed panoramic street-level photos of much of Australia will soon be published by Google, but the executive in charge of the project is making no assurances that private homes, faces and number plates will be obscured.
A US couple is suing the search giant for invasion of privacy after photos of their home, on a street clearly marked with a private road sign, appeared on the new feature of Google Maps.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/web/privacy-fears-as-google-hits-the-road/2008/04/09/1207420533151.html



The Student Operated Press

Florida Lawmakers Pass Take-Your-Gun-To-Work Measure
by Robert Paul Reyes
Some progressive companies allow their employees to bring their children to work on certain days. This liberal policy builds good morale and is conducive to a productive work environment.Other employers permit their workers to bring their pets to work on Fridays; this is another way to foster good relations in the workplace. I would be very happy if I could bring my cat to my place of employment; it would reduce my level of anxiety knowing that my feline is scratching and otherwise vandalizing my company's furniture instead of my own. Some folks love their children; some love their pets, and then there are those who love their firearms. There is a measure pending in Florida that would allow residents to take their beloved guns to work. "Most Florida residents would be allowed to take guns to work under a measure passed by Florida lawmakers on Wednesday. The bill, allowing workers to keep guns in their cars for self-protection, was approved by the Florida Senate by a vote of 26-13. It now goes to Republican Gov. Charlie Crist to sign into law.

http://www.thesop.org/index.php?id=10544


New Zealand Herald

Floods and drought to rise due to climate change
New 11:27AM Thursday April 10, 2008
BUDAPEST - Flooding in temperate regions and the tropics and droughts in arid regions are likely to increase over the course of the century due to climate change, according to a study released yesterday.
The study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the body which won last year's Nobel Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore, said changes in fresh water supplies would have a huge impact on humans and on the environment.
"The frequency of heavy precipitation events (or proportion of total rainfall from heavy falls) will very likely increase over most areas during the 21st century, with consequences to the risk of rain-generated floods,' the report, released at the IPCC's annual meeting in Budapest, said.
"At the same time, the proportion of land surface in extreme drought at any one time is projected to increase,' it said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503242


Baghdad anniversary clampdown fails to stop violence (+video)
9:10AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Ahmed Rasheed
BAGHDAD - Twenty people were killed in Baghdad's Shi'ite slum of Sadr City yesterday, security sources said, despite vehicle bans aimed at preventing unrest from spreading on the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.
Up to 70 people have died in Sadr City since Sunday in battles between black-masked militia loyal to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and US and Iraqi troops.
The upsurge in fighting comes as the top US officials in Iraq testified in Washington that they opposed setting a timetable to withdraw troops from the 5-year-old war.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503217

Haiti's leader urges calm amid food price unrest (+video)
8:51AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Joseph Guyler Delva
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Haitian President Rene Preval told demonstrators to "cool it" yesterday as he sought to end days of angry and violent protests over soaring food prices in the impoverished Caribbean nation.
"To those who are stirring up violence, I order you to stop because it is not going to solve the problem," Preval said in a national television and radio address.
"Poze," said Preval, telling protesters in Creole to "cool it" in a recorded message from the ornate National Palace, protected by barbed wire and UN peacekeeping troops backed by trucks and armoured personnel carriers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503208

Air NZ set to ask Boeing for delay compensation
10:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Grant Bradley
Air New Zealand is likely to seek compensation from Boeing following the announcement its eight 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on order will be delayed by two years.
Air New Zealand has eight 787-9 aircraft on firm order with delivery of the first initially expected around the end of 2010, with all aircraft delivered by late 2013.
The delivery of the first aircraft is now likely in early 2012.
The airline says it will now be entering into compensation discussions with Boeing.
Overnight Boeing said production difficulties had led to the delays for the aircraft made largely of carbon fibre and promises significant fuel saving. First deliveries are not expected until late next year, almost 18 months later than planned.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10503222

Manufacturing sector activity in decline
11:30AM Thursday April 10, 2008
The manufacturing sector's overall activity declined for the first time in over two years, a survey released today shows.
The Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) for March was 48.3, seasonally adjusted, 3.5 points lower than February.
It was the first time it has declined since January 2006 and was the lowest result since November 2005.
The average PMI since the survey began in 2002 is 54.4.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/3/story.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10503241


Rocker eyes 'holographic touring' to save planet
11:30AM Thursday April 10, 2008
NEW YORK - Serj Tankian, the frontman for Los Angeles rock band System of a Down, is so dedicated to saving the planet that he wants to launch a virtual concert tour to reduce his carbon footprint.
"I've had an idea for a long time, which might sound a little crazy, but I really want to look into holographic touring," Tankian told Billboard.
"I think we could reduce our need to travel if we could project ourselves into meetings and concerts. We have the technology, and we're not using it right now."
He suggested that he could broadcast a show in real time from his home studio, and he could interact with fans as if they were in the same room.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1501119/story.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=10503224

Confusion along San Francisco Olympic torch route (+video)
Updated 8:18AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Adam Tanner
SAN FRANCISCO - Confusion surrounded the relay of the troubled Olympic torch through San Francisco yesterday, as organizers completely changed the route at the last minute, bewildering thousands of China supporters and protesters converged along the planned route.
The first runner held the torch aloft and began the route, flanked by tall, blue-clad Chinese security officials.
But the group then promptly disappeared into a large waterfront warehouse for a last-minute change of route by authorities to head off trouble.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503194

Don't ban violent video games, says horror King
10:20AM Thursday April 10, 2008
SYDNEY - Horror writer Stephen King has criticised plans by a US state to ban violent video games, saying such a move would be undemocratic and it was up to parents to monitor their children's entertainment.
King, in a pop culture column he writes for Entertainment Weekly, said he was no videogame fan but was outraged when he heard that a bill in the state of Massachusetts could ban the sale of violent games to anyone aged under 18.
"What makes me crazy is when politicians take it upon themselves to play surrogate parents. The results of that are usually disastrous. Not to mention undemocratic," wrote King.
The move comes amid an ongoing debate in the United States, Britain and Australia about banning violent games. British and Irish authorities last year banning videogame "Manhunt 2" in which an insane asylum escapee goes on a killing spree.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10503228

Would nuclear power be a viable energy source for New Zealand?
11:24AM Monday April 7, 2008
Nearly one in five New Zealanders say nuclear power is a viable energy source, even though politicians have put it off limits. Wind power topped the poll as the preferred source of electricity generation, with 77 percent. In September, a Colmar Brunton poll found 36 percent believed the Government should consider developing nuclear power stations, 60 percent said "no" and 4 percent didn't know.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/4/7/would-nuclear-power-be-viable-energy-source-new-zealand/?c_id=1501154

Chinese nurses could help shortage
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
By Craig Borley
The nursing shortage could be slashed by this week's signing of the free trade agreement with China.
Up to 1000 Chinese workers, in 20 trades classified as being understaffed in New Zealand, can now live here for up to three years, provided they meet qualification standards.
Nursing is one of those trades, and the expected influx of Chinese nurses will bring multiple benefits to the country's health system, experts told the Herald yesterday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10502883

Will a Free Trade Agreement with China be good for us?
12:08PM Sunday March 30, 2008
New Zealand's largest bilateral trade agreement is due to be signed with China on April 7th by Prime Minister Helen Clark and China's Premier Wen Jiabao. It's the result of three years of negotiations and is believed to give New Zealand exporters increased access to the world's fastest growing economy.
http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/your-views/2008/3/30/will-free-trade-agreement-china-be-good-us/?c_id=1501154#message

Loud Aussie migrant goes quiet
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Craig Borley

Shy, elusive, retiring and quiet. Couldn't possibly be talking about Australians. Especially that most iconic of Australians, the kookaburra.
But Unitec researcher and senior lecturer John Perrott is finding the famously loud birds near-impossible to locate on this side of the Tasman.
In an attempt to understand why kookaburras, introduced to New Zealand at Kawau Island by Governor George Grey in the 1860s, have not thrived like other new avian arrivals, Dr Perrott first needs to find the surviving New Zealand populations.
"There's been quite a few sightings of them, but they're not the easiest birds to find," he said. "The nests themselves are very hard to find and access because they are so high up in the trees. So it's proving an interesting exercise."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10503118

Winter of discontent predicted for housing market
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008By Anne Gibson
House buyers are waiting for prices to drop, tenants are crying out against big rent hikes and sellers still have unrealistically high expectations.
These are some of the findings to emerge from the latest BNZ monthly confidence survey from chief economist Tony Alexander.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/8/story.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=10502830


Blood donors 'healthier'
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
Frequent blood donation is not harmful to your health, a new study confirms.
"Blood donation may actually be good for you," said Dr Gustaf Edgren of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the study's lead author.
People who donate blood show lower cancer and mortality rates than their non-donating peers, Dr Edgren and his colleagues note in their report, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Association, but the fact that blood donors tend to be healthier overall could mask any ill effects of frequent donation.
There are also several mechanisms by which frequent blood donation could theoretically affect health, Dr Edgren noted.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10503101

Bill gives civilians police powers, say critics
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Claire Trevett
The Police Association and Council for Civil Liberties say a new bill allowing civilian staff to be given traditional police jobs could transform the face of policing and result in an increasingly civilianised police force.
In his submission to the law and order select committee on the Policing Bill, Police Association head Greg O'Connor said the legislation could result in a force increasingly dominated by civilian staff who did not have the training or capability to deal with crises.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10503161

Stress played down as pregnancy risk
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
Being stressed out during the first half of pregnancy may be unhealthy, but it won't increase a woman's risk of developing a serious complication known as pre-eclampsia, Dutch researchers have found.
Stress also didn't influence a woman's likelihood of developing a related condition known as gestational hypertension, in which blood pressure climbs to dangerous levels during pregnancy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10503100

Japan beef ban leaves Hirst's cow art in a pickle
New 11:10AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Sophie Hardach
TOKYO - A cow preserved in formaldehyde, one of artist Damien Hirst's most famous works, ran into an unlikely obstacle on its way to a Tokyo museum: Japan's import ban on British beef.
Hirst's "Mother and Child, Divided", consisting of a cow and a calf each sliced in half, is part of a retrospective of Britain's controversial Turner Prize - and its eventful journey illustrates the challenge of taking increasingly complex works of modern art around the world.
Japan stopped beef imports from Britain after an outbreak of mad cow disease there. The Mori Art Museum had to convince customs officials that even the most adventurous gourmets are unlikely to tuck into Hirst's cow.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503240

World's largest guitar bike (+video)
New 12:03PM Thursday April 10, 2008
A German bicycle fanatic has invented what he calls the "biggest rideable guitar in the universe".
Dieter "Didi" Senft hopes the giant guitar-shaped bike will secure him another world record. He wants to register his latest creation as the world's biggest mobile guitar with Guinness World Records.
"I think it's the biggest rideable guitar in the universe. It's well over 14 metres long and is more than four metres tall, which means you can't ride it on public roads. But it will soon be put in front of my museum so tourists from around the world can come and take photos in front of it. Then you can see the difference in size between a person and a guitar," says Senft.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503245

IMF slashes European economic growth forecasts (+video)
8:45AM Thursday April 10, 2008
WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund slashed its economic growth forecast for Europe yesterday, warning that its financial markets were exposed to the troubled US housing sector and credit conditions were tightening.
"Exposure to the US subprime mortgage market - directly or through conduits and structured investment vehicles - has already strained banks' capital in a number of countries and forced them to expand their balance sheets," the IMF wrote in its World Economic Outlook.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503203

Tibet governor says 953 detained for riots
5:14PM Wednesday April 09, 2008
BEIJING - Chinese police have detained 953 people suspected of involvement in riots in Tibet last month, the head of the Himalayan region said on Wednesday but added that they were a minority who did not represent the Tibetan people.
Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government, told a news conference in Beijing that prosecutors had also issued arrest warrants for 403 of those detained, a step that generally leads to formal prosecution.
But he added the rioters were only "an extremely tiny minority" of Tibetans and the monks who took part in protests were also "an extremely tiny minority" of the Buddhist clergy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503075

Rebels reject hostage plan
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
BOGOTA - France abandoned a mission to treat Colombian rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt in her jungle camp yesterday after guerrillas rejected the initiative in a setback to attempts to free scores of captives.
The rejection was a blow to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who made it a priority to secure the freedom of the French-Colombian citizen kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, in his 2002 presidential campaign.
Sarkozy said he was "deeply disappointed" and his foreign minister would travel to the region soon.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10503142


NZ First ad tests party spending rules (+video)
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008By Audrey Young
Winston Peters' taxpayer-funded newspaper ads yesterday about New Zealand First's opposition to the China free trade agreement may be one of the more important test cases in the early days of the Electoral Finance Act.
The act, which came into effect on January 1, has become so confusing that many political parties have stopped producing taxpayer-funded literature - once regarded as normal publicity by them - for fear it might have to count as an election expense.
The view in Labour that all material with a parliamentary crest should not be attributed as an expense under a spending cap imposed on all parties is not shared by the Electoral Commission.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10503166


'Mutineers' gift $14,000 to copter services for rescue
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Alanah May Eriksen
Yacht crew members who sparked a $20,000 maritime rescue because they "mutinied" against their more experienced skipper have donated $14,000 to the helicopter services that saved them.
The crew were last night reluctant to speak about the donation as they were unsure if skipper Bill Heritage would bring any legal action against them after they made him leave his yacht - worth more than $24,000 - at sea.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10503169


Muslims lend help to NZ poor
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Simon Collins
A Muslim charity that provides relief after natural disasters throughout the Third World has delivered food and blankets to some of New Zealand's poor in a Mangere boarding house.
London-based Humanity First International delivered two carloads of supplies to Kiwiana Lodge in Bicknell Rd yesterday, after media reports that whole families were living in small single rooms, with blocked-up shared toilets and rat-infested rubbish.
Tenants such as beneficiaries Junior and Rangimarie Leato, who have lived there for five months with their now 10-month-old baby, welcomed the donation. "We've been on the waiting list for Housing New Zealand since we came here," they said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10503168

Kiwi ICT stacks up well in global survey
11:31AM Thursday April 10, 2008
New Zealand has again placed 22nd in a global survey that ranks countries on their ability to benefit from new information and communications technology.
The World Economic Forum's annual information technology report compiles information from 127 countries and aims to assess the impact of IT and telecoms on their development and competitiveness.
Switzerland-based WEF considered the business and regulatory environments in the countries it covered, the readiness of individuals, businesses and government to exploit opportunities and actual usage of the latest IT and communications technology (ICT).
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10503243

Climate change could see pubs run dry - Niwa
11:27AM Tuesday April 08, 2008
Climate change could cause a drop in beer production within 25 years, a scientist has warned.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger said climate change could see a decline of malting barley production in parts of Canterbury and across the Tasman.
"It will mean either there will be pubs without beer or the cost of beer will go up," Dr Salinger said.
He said there could be an expansion of malting barley production in Otago and Southland.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502705

Brazil's Government taps into rubber for rubbers
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
Condoms produced in Brazil could benefit the rainforest and the country's people. Photo / Reuters
The Brazilian Government began producing condoms yesterday using rubber from trees in the Amazon, a move it said would help preserve the world's largest rainforest and cut dependence on imported contraceptives given away to fight Aids.
Brazil's first government-run condom factory, located in northwestern Acre state, will produce 100 million condoms a year, the health ministry said in a statement.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502887

Seahorses found in the river Thames
10:15AM Tuesday April 08, 2008
LONDON - Marine biologists believe seahorses could be breeding in the Thames as the river becomes cleaner.
About five short-snouted seahorses, (Hippocampus hippocampus) have been spotted during routine conservation surveys, leading scientists to think they have probably established a resident population.
The news has been kept secret until now because the seahorse has not been protected.
But as of today, the marine creature and its environment will have protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502708

Climate change gives economy a warm glow
5:00AM Tuesday April 08, 2008By Adam Cox And Kristin Arna Bragadottir
If any country can claim to be pitched on the global warming front line, it may be the North Atlantic island nation of Iceland.
On a purely physical level, this land of icecaps and volcanoes and home to 300,000 people is undergoing a rapid transformation as its glaciers melt and weather patterns change dramatically.
But global warming is also having a profound effect on Iceland economically - and in many ways the effects have actually been beneficial.
Warmer weather has been a boon to Iceland's hydroelectric industry, which is making more energy as melting glaciers feed its rivers.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502572

Koalas under threat as excess CO2 makes eucalyptus leaves inedible
5:00AM Monday April 07, 2008
By Kathy Marks
The future of the koala, perhaps Australia's best-loved animal, is under threat because greenhouse gas emissions are making eucalyptus leaves - their sole food source - inedible.
Scientists warned that increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere were reducing nutrient levels in the leaves, and also boosting their toxic tannin content.
That has serious implications for koalas and other marsupials that eat only, or mainly, the leaves of gum trees. These include several possum and wallaby species.
"What we're seeing, essentially, is that the staple diet of these animals is being turned to leather," said science professor Bill Foley, of Australian National University, in Canberra.
"This is potentially a very significant development for the future of some marsupial populations. Life is set to become extremely difficult for these animals."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10502412

White House set to go slightly green
5:00AM Thursday April 10, 2008
By Peter Huck
For all the noise on the campaign trail about the war in Iraq, the perilous state of the United States economy and hot issues like immigration and soaring fuel costs, the coming tsunami that is global warming has so far hardly surfaced.
Former Vice-President Al Gore is agitating to raise awareness. His Alliance for Climate Protection that intends to spend US$300 million ($376.7 million) to force political action on climate change is in stark contrast to a presidential election season that has mostly ignored the issue.
"The climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public's sense of urgency in addressing the crisis," said Mr Gore.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10503090

Greenpeace slams proposed trading scheme
8:58AM Tuesday March 04, 2008
The Government's proposed emissions trading scheme is being savaged by Greenpeace.
The environmental lobby group argues it will do little to reduce New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions and will impede development of less carbon intensive production technologies.
Greenpeace also slams the timing of permit allocations and the fact the agricultural sector will not be required to participate until 2013. The report argues all sectors must be included if the trading scheme is to work effectively.
Co-author Dr Hugh Saddler says the scheme is fatally flawed. He says by being given up to 90 per cent of permits, businesses are not being landed with the true environmental costs of their consumption decisions. Dr Saddler says the trading scheme will likely deliver only incidental reductions in greenhouse gases.
Greenpeace also slams the timing of permit allocations and the fact the agricultural sector will not be required to participate until 2013.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=281&objectid=10496030

Green turtles to be freed today
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
By Angela Gregory
A little green turtle hooked on a fisher's line under the Auckland Harbour Bridge is today expected to be swimming freely in a marine reserve off Northland's east coast.
The turtle was one of three to be released back into their natural environment this morning after about a two-year recuperative stint in Kelly Tarlton's aquarium.
The curator at Kelly Tarlton's Antarctic Encounter and Underwater World, Andrew Christie, said the three protected turtles were part of a threatened population. .
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=272&objectid=10502903

More planets discovered
5:00AM Friday April 04, 2008
Astronomers using robotic cameras have found 10 new planets outside the solar system, and a second team say they have found the youngest planet yet.
The findings add to a growing list of more than 270 so-called extrasolar planets, they told a meeting of astronomers in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The robot team is called "SuperWASP", for Wide Area Search for Planets, and the cameras look for planets transiting, or crossing in front of, their stars.
The light from the sun fades just slightly when this happens and astronomers can extrapolate the size and location of the planet.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10501912

Are we at risk from climate change?
1:48PM Wednesday March 26, 2008
An Antarctic ice shelf nearly 14,000 square kilometres in size has started to disintegrate due to rapid climate change. There is a new way to send in comments to Your Views and Blogs. You can click here and go straight to the registration page.
Are we at risk from climate change?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10500208

Knock knock knocking on Heaven's door
5:00AM Wednesday April 09, 2008
Professor Peter Higgs is expecting to find proof of an all-pervading force. Photo / Reuters
It is not everyday that someone's name becomes inextricably linked with God. But it is not everyday that someone comes up with a theory that could help to unify the many disparate forces of the universe.
All the more strange, then, for the man behind the sub-atomic "God particle" to be an unassuming grandfather living in modest retirement in one of the more sedate districts of Edinburgh.
Professor Peter Higgs, 78, is a theoretical particle physicist, and it took him 20 years before he could even bring himself to call the God particle by its more scientific name - the Higgs boson. Up to that point, he preferred the more prosaic term, "scalar boson".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=82&objectid=10502798&pnum=0

continued...

Trouble looms for Iraq's Kirkuk oil province

At least the lunacy as stopped for now in the north.

Barzani: "We are in the union of Iraq" (click here)
07.04.2008
Northern Iraqi leader Mesud Barzani stated that they are included in the union of Iraq and they will remain so. Barzani said: "after the fall of the Baas regime, Kurds have taken effective roles in Iraq. The Kurdistan region was some in a sort of independent state before the fall of the Baas regime. However, the Kurdish parliament has decided to live in unity with Iraqi fellows, according to their own discretion. Therefore, Kurds are taking effective roles in the new Iraq. According to the common law of Iraq, the rights of Kurdish people are being recognized."

Action against PKK key to dialogue with Iraqi Kurds, says Babacan (click here)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

...“We are open to dialogue with all the parties in Iraq with no discrimination,” Ali Babacan told a joint press conference with the visiting foreign minister of Laos, Thongloune Sisoulith.
He said dialogue was underway with Iraqi Kurdish officials through different channels, apparently referring to the recent contacts in northern Iraq by a Turkish delegation led by Turkey's acting special envoy to Iraq, Murat Özçelik....

Poor Mr. Maliki, he even has to put up with Bush's Death Squads after his protests regarding the occupation of Blackwater is reinsituted in Iraq.

Interesting, isn't it?

Blackwater returns to Iraq and Baghdad erupts into violence all over again.

Gee, it would seem as though Georgie wants war more than anyone else, doesn't it?


But, the same people that returned the Blackwater Death Squads to Iraq will point fingers at the Sistani Shi'ites in Baghdad's Sadr City as the culprits. Why do the people of Iraq have to accept 'danger' in their lives and WHY would anyone expect them to without retribution or the initiative to dominate their own 'definition' of survival under regime after regime after regime?

One might ask, why would any Iraqi think their central government doesn't have control over the country.

Hm?


Iraq's Al Maliki condemns Blackwater contract renewal (click here)
AgenciesPublished: April 07, 2008, 14:47
Baghdad: Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki criticised the renewal of a US contract with security contractor Blackwater, saying the company has committed a “massacre” against Iraqis.

The US State Department had said Blackwater’s contract would be renewed pending an FBI investigation into a September 2007 incident in which the company’s guards are accused of wrongly killing 17 Iraqis....

Bush lies and what do we know? Right? Bush lies and people die. What else is new? He and Cheney are planning "another go-at-it" in Basra. The USA troops need to be removed from Iraq. As soon as possible. The Civil War is 'REACTIONARY' to daily developements that threaten the citizens. Iraq simply is just not that big a place to be carrying on a war no different than that of Vietnam. For God Sakes, KNOCK IT OFF !

BUSH/CHENEY have successfully 'displaced' the 'image' of Osama bin Laden with the Shi'ite Cleric ad Sadr. Iraq is COMPLETELY the "W"rong war, but, its dividend of oil is more of a Neocon reward than anything Afghanistan has to offer in the way of War Plunder !

Four U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq (click here)
www.chinaview.cn
2008-04-08 15:28:47
BAGHDAD, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Four American soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
Two soldiers assigned to Multi-National Division-Baghdad were killed by a rocket propelled grenade attack at about 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) Monday, a brief military statement said without specifying the location of the incident.
A third soldier was killed when a roadside bomb explosion followed by small arms fire attack on his vehicle while patrolling an eastern Baghdad area Monday, another statement said.
A fourth soldier died as a result of wounds sustained from a roadside bomb explosion while conducting convoy operations in the volatile province of Diyala, northeast of Baghdad, on Sunday, a statement said.
It was the second U.S. soldier announced dead in Diyala province, as an earlier statement announced the death of another soldier in the same attack.
The names of the deceased soldiers are being withheld pending notification of the next of kin, the statements added.
The latest deaths bring the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq to some 4,023 since the Iraq war broke out in 2003, according to media count based on Pentagon figures.

Why were the Blackwater contracts extended? Because Bush wants to place more people in positions to attempt to bloster the attempts by the Iraqi military to kill more citizens, that's why. If Blackwater can go back to doing their jobs as ? guards ? they can put the people now taking that role back 'in play' in the Iraqi military. Right or "W"rong, Bush's 'Musical Soldiers' do nothing but cause issues no one can solve.

Govt. Extends Blackwater's Deal a Year (click here)
By ANNE GEARAN – 3 days ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid investigations into fatal shootings of civilians and allegations of tax violations, Blackwater USA's multimillion-dollar contract to protect diplomats in Baghdad has been renewed, the State Department said Friday.
A final decision about whether the private security company will keep the job is pending, the department said. Moyock, N.C.-based Blackwater is one of the largest private military contractors, receiving nearly $1.25 billion in federal business since 2000, according to a House committee estimate.
Blackwater provides security for diplomats in Baghdad, where the sprawling U.S. Embassy is headquartered. Its private guards act as bodyguards and armed drivers, escorting government officials when they go outside the fortified Green Zone.
Iraqis were outraged over a Sept. 16 shooting in which 17 Iraq civilians were killed in a Baghdad square. Blackwater said its guards were protecting diplomats under attack before they opened fire, but Iraqi investigators concluded the shooting was unprovoked.
An FBI probe began in November. Prosecutors want to know whether Blackwater contractors used excessive force or violated any laws....

The people of Iraq have a lot of fears. Well earned fears, based in the incompetence of the Bush/Cheney military and militias. First anarchy, now civil wars with the USA backing the deaths of citizens while justifying their actions as necessary to secure the 'Western Infrastruture' of Iraq.

A nation ruined (click here)
Volume 25 - Issue 08 :: Apr. 12-25, 2008
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
JOHN CHERIAN
The war against Iraq, now five years old, is unquestionably one of the most unpardonable crimes against humanity.
...The number of Iraqis killed under American occupation varies from 100,000 to more than a million, according to the source. The British polling agency ORB says more than 1.2 million Iraqi non-combatants have been killed in the last five years. Another recent poll jointly conducted by leading Western television networks including the BBC and ABC revealed that half the residents of Baghdad lost at least one of their relatives in the violence following the U.S. occupation. Seventy per cent of the respondents wanted the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops....

...Nobody questions the rationale for the U.S. participating in the fight against fascism, which that war symbolised. But the Iraq war is an illustration of unprovoked aggression in which the armies of the U.S., the U.K. and Australia played a major role. Demands that George W. Bush, Tony Blair and the Australian Prime Minister of the time, John Howard, be prosecuted by a war crimes tribunal are growing louder by the day. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, in a speech delivered in May 2005, said that “the colonial invasion of Iraq, and the ugliest of lies of the lie machine that propagated and justified these barbarous acts will forever remain among the greatest and unpardonable crimes against humanity”. The Nuremberg Charter clearly states that initiating a war of aggression is a “supreme international crime”.

It wasn't that Saddam was removed from Iraq. It was 'the way' he was removed that was incompetent and ludicrous ! Today, the people of Iraq have far worse odds of living any definition of longevity than ever in their history !

Within in 24 hours after the Green Zone Militias were defeated in Basra, Maliki was again exerting his POLITICOS regarding 'criminals' in Basra !

There was a time when Mr. Maliki and al Sadr were of likes minds. Their political wills were not different from each other, or so it was portrayed.


NOW, that the USA has armed men to take orders from Maliki he has his own militia no different than Hakim or the Sistani Shi'ites. The Maliki dilemma is that how does he maintain his militia without the USA catching on that he is not in control of Iraq? He does it in the name of 'national security' and picks on the Sistani Shi'ites rather than start a civil war with the Badr Brigade.


I guess Generals Bush/Maliki figure they will deal 'the deadly blows' to the militias one at a time. First, take down the Mahdi Army and then turn on the Badr Brigade. I suggest 'they work it out' before there is more genocide of people standing 'on the side lines.'

You know Maliki isn't such a dumb guy. He knows who likes him and who doesn't and after the slaughter of 1000 people in Basra at no provocation, he knows his political will has waned so he may as well call the people there 'enemies.' First the Sistani Shi'ites and then Hakim's folks. Sounds like genocide to me !!

A man holds up a banner depicting Mr Maliki as an American pawn during a protest in Sadr City.

One might ask themselves, if Iraqi, British and American forces came and killed children in the name of 'exticating militias,' while there is a sustainable peace otherwise would citizens actully give a damn about who maintains control over the region and oil? Heck NO !!!!! Dead citizens, dead children, dead HUMAN BEINGS matter and when it is done continually with political entities that have UNBALANCED 'power bases' in a government then all people of every ethnicity have a right to exist and have their own power to stop others that would see the world differently.



An Iraqi man carries the body of his son, who was killed during clashes in Basra, during a funeral, while militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr guards a street in the city.

The Western rhetoric about 'loyality' is idiotic. The Mahdi Miliatia exists to protect the people of Southern Iraq from political entities in Baghdad !

Powerful blast kills 8 in Iraq's Basra - AKA "Let's see if we can still get away with killing more people."

Eight people were killed in the Basra explosion, which residents believed was caused by a US air strike.

AgenciesPublished: April 07, 2008, 10:24
Basra: An explosion has destroyed a house in Basra and rescue workers were trying to pull out bodies from the debris, Iraqi police said on Monday. Eight people were killed in the explosion overnight, which residents believed was caused by a US air strike. Television footage showed relatives wailing in grief and children picking through the rubble. British forces responsible for US-British military activity in the area, denied any role in the blast. "Coalition and Iraqi security forces were not involved in the incident," they said in a statement.

Neighbors in the Hayaniyah area are examining the rubble of a house they said was destroyed in an air strike Friday evening in the militia stronghold of Basra, Iraq, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Saturday. April 5. 2008.

Police said five people were killed and nine injured in the strike (click here), acknowledging they included an unspecified number of militants (other wise known as local militia) who had fired a mortar at Iraqi security forces. British military spokesman Maj. Tom Holloway said an attack helicopter hit a position from which militants were firing at Iraqi forces in Hayaniyah, but he gave no information about casualties and did not specify whether the aircraft was U.S. or British. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

NOW. There was a bomb dropped on unsuspecting people that were not engaged in any warfare, simply killed for the sake of killing. The people being pulled from the rubble according to 'the locals' were LOCALS. While the RHETORIC of the USA/British military, still occupying the area, state they know nothing about any bomb drop as to whether it was British or USA and are stating it was militants. YET. That was YET, the bodies were still being pulled from the rubble and remain unidentified !

In Vietnam, the people became the enemy. The citizens of South and North Vietnam became the enemy. The enemy was indistinguishable from average citizens, innocent people, if there is such a thing, were killed, so were their children and soon after children became more then 'child soldiers' they became bombs that would exploid when children walked into American and South Vietnamese encampments.

If the citizens reports of an airstrike are markedly different than that of the occupying Western military it is because they live opposing realities. To the citizens of Bosra, their militias have always protected them. The militias protected them from Saddam and today as far as they are concerned their militias protect them from the lethal politics of the Green Zone Iraqis, Shi'ites or not.

It is time to end this travesty the Republicans call a war and stop the killing. When the USA forces leave NOTHING will change in Basra because the USA DOES NOT MAINTAIN order Basra, the militias do. The militias always have and the militias always will.