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Another Law Under Assault
The post-Katrina agitation to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act comes in the wake of another assault on a venerable protection of the rights of Americans, namely the web of Executive Orders and regulations restricting military and civilian intelligence agencies from collecting information on U.S. citizens.
Today in DC: Commandos in the Streets?
Today, somewhere in the DC metropolitan area, the military is conducting a highly classified Granite Shadow "demonstration."
Granite Shadow is yet another new Top Secret and compartmented operation related to the military’s extra-legal powers regarding weapons of mass destruction. It allows for emergency military operations in the United States without civilian supervision or control.
Gates, Ballmer earned $1 million each in FY05
Billionaire Microsoft executives got 11 percent raises, filing shows
Updated: 1:14 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2005
REDMOND, Wash. - Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer each earned $1 million last year, an 11 percent raise over the previous fiscal year, Microsoft Corp. reported in a regulatory filing Wednesday.
Gates, the software company’s chairman, and Ballmer, its chief executive, each earned a salary of $600,000 and a bonus of $400,000 for the company’s 2005 fiscal year ended June 30.
Ballmer also received $6,300 in matching 401(k) contributions and $2,773 in other benefits. Gates received $2,469 in other benefits, the company said.
Judge Orders Release of Abu Ghraib Photos By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 29, 7:00 PM ET
NEW YORK - A federal judge Thursday ordered the release of dozens more pictures of prisoners being abused at Abu Ghraib, rejecting government arguments that the images would provoke terrorists and incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq.
U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said that terrorists "do not need pretexts for their barbarism" and that suppressing the pictures would amount to submitting to blackmail.
"Our nation does not surrender to blackmail, and fear of blackmail is not a legally sufficient argument to prevent us from performing a statutory command. Indeed, the freedoms that we champion are as important to our success in Iraq and Afghanistan as the guns and missiles with which our troops are armed," he said.
Hellerstein ordered the release of 74 pictures and three videotapes from the Abu Ghraib prison, potentially opening the military up to more embarrassment from a scandal that stirred outrage around the world last year when photos of 2003 abuse became public.
The photographs covered by Thursday's ruling were taken by a soldier. A military policeman who saw them turned them over to the Army. Some may be duplicates of photos already seen by the public.
An appeal of Hellerstein's ruling is expected, which could delay release of the pictures for months.
Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Thursday that releasing the photos would hinder his work against terrorism.
"When we continue to pick at the wound and show the pictures over and over again it just creates the image — a false image — like this is the sort of stuff that is happening anew, and it's not," Abizaid said.
Cypriot soldiers disciplined for sex party on Green Line Thursday September 29, 05:18 PM
Click to enlarge photo
NICOSIA (AFP) - Greek Cypriot soldiers involved in a wild sex party at a guard post on the divided Mediterranean islands Green Line were banished to remote corners of the country as punishment.
Politics daily said up to 10 army recruits were involved in an all-night romp in the Nicosia sector of the no-man's land with a mother-of-three who had them queuing up for more.
"The soldiers formed an orderly line outside the room waiting to have sex one-by-one. At one point two soldiers came along to serve food, even they didnt leave unsatisfied," it said.
Although the woman happily went through the ranks, from lowly privates to the officer in charge, military top brass frowned on her escapades.
The troops were undone when one of the participants decided to capture the moment with his mobile phone and forwarded the video images to fellow recruits.
Army chiefs got wind of what was going on and an internal inquiry was launched.
Those involved were disciplined and had time added on to their length of service, which is 24 months for conscripts, Politis said.
The Greek Cypriot national guard declined to comment on the report.
Updated: 8:18 p.m. ET Sept. 29, 2005
WASHINGTON - Two female gorillas have been photographed using sticks as tools to get through swampy areas, the first time the apes have been seen doing so in the wild, researchers reported on Thursday.
“This is a truly astounding discovery,” said Thomas Breuer of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who led the study.
The findings can help shed light on how human beings came to use tools, and also broaden the understanding of how animals use them, the researchers said.
Although there are reports of tool use by captive gorillas, including object throwing and use of tools in feeding, there has been to our knowledge no reported case of tool use in by wild gorillas, despite decades of field research,” they wrote in their report, published in the Public Library of Science Biology, an online journal.
Tools often used in captivity
All great apes use tools in captivity, but scientists have worried that this does not necessarily reflect natural behavior, just something copied from humans.
“Tool usage in wild apes provides us with valuable insights into the evolution of our own species and the abilities of other species. Seeing it for the first time in gorillas is important on many different levels.”
They describe the two instances in the northern rain forests of the Republic of Congo.
“We first observed an adult female gorilla using a branch as a walking stick to test water deepness and to aid in her attempt to cross a pool of water at Mbeli Bai, a swampy forest clearing in northern Congo,” Breuer and his international colleagues wrote.
In the second case, they saw another pull up a dead shrub.
“She forcefully pushed it into the ground with both hands and held the tool for support with her left hand over her head for two minutes while dredging food with the other hand,” they wrote. “Efi then took the trunk with both hands and placed it on the swampy ground in front of her, crossed bipedally on this self-made bridge, and walked quadrupedally towards the middle of the clearing.”
Chimps and crows use tools, too
Chimpanzees, closely related bonobos and other apes have also been seen using tools in the wild — for instance, to catch termites. And other animals such as crows have been seen using them. But never wild gorillas.
“Information on tool use and factors favoring tool use in wild apes helps us to understand its importance in the evolution of our own species,” Breuer and his colleagues, Mireille Ndoundou-Hockemba and Vicki Fishlock, wrote.
The gorillas live in a protected area, and the researchers said this was key.
“These protected areas are not only important for the conservation of species they contain, they also hold the key to comparing our own development as a species with our next of kin,” Breuer said in a statement.
William Bennett Defends Comment on Abortion and Crime'Book of Virtues' Author Says Hypothetical Remark Was Valid
By JAKE TAPPER
Sept. 29, 2005 — After pondering on his radio program how aborting every black infant in America would affect crime rates, best-selling author and self-styled "Values Czar" Bill Bennett is vehemently denying he is a racist and defending his willingness to speak publicly about race and crime.
On the Wednesday edition of his radio show, "Bill Bennett's Morning in America," syndicated by Salem Radio Network, a caller raised the theory that Social Security is in danger of becoming insolvent because legalized abortion has reduced the number of tax-paying citizens. Bennett said economic arguments should never be employed in discussions of moral issues.
If it were your sole purpose to reduce crime, Bennett said, "You could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.
"That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down," he added.
'N.Y. Times' reporter freed to testify on CIA leak
WASHINGTON (AP) — New York Times reporter Judith Miller appeared for testimony before a federal grand jury Friday, throwing a spotlight once again on the White House role in the leak of a covert CIA officer's identity.
Judith Miller will appear before a grand jury Friday in the government's CIA leak probe.
Freed after 85 days in a federal detention center, Miller arrived at about 8:30 a.m. at the federal courthouse to testify for Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation about her conversations in July 2003 with Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.
Miller said in a statement that her source — identified by the Times as Libby — had released her from her promise of confidentiality.
Gas prices had consumer spending ailing before storms
WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer spending in August plunged by the largest amount since 2001, according to a government report Friday that also showed a surprise decline in income caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Consumer spending dropped a larger-than-expected 0.5%, the biggest fall since November 2001.
The fall in spending came as energy prices pushed consumer inflation up 0.5%, the largest jump since September 1990, the Commerce Department said.
Adjusting for inflation, consumer spending skidded a hefty 1%, matching a plunge in September 2001 that was the largest since January 1987, as consumers pinched by soaring gasoline prices cut back in spending in other areas.
The sharp drop in spending raises concerns about consumers' staying power in the face of soaring energy bills. Consumer spending is closely watched because it accounts for two-thirds of the economy.
Analysts said the toll from Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which struck in September, is likely to depress economic activity for several months.
Bush Pardons Coal Mine Bomber, 13 Others
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
President Bush granted pardons Wednesday to 14 people, including a member of the mineworkers union who was convicted for his role in bombings at a West Virginia coal mine, a counterfeiter and a bootlegger.
Jesse Ray Harvey of Scarbro, W.Va., was given a 25-month sentence in 1990 after his conviction for using explosives to damage Milburn Colliery. The mine had been the target of a long strike by about 45 members of a United Mine Workers local.
Bush has issued 60 pardons and sentence commutations during 56 months in office.
His father, former President George H.W. Bush, issued 77 pardons during his single term, from 1989 to 1993, according to statistics collected by the University of Pittsburgh law school
Cops fire 77 bullets at gunman
BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA and ALISON GENDAR
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Firing 77 bullets, cops wounded an ex-con early yesterday after he shot at another man and turned his weapon on police outside a Manhattan housing project, authorities and witnesses said.
Cedrick Rooks began spraying bullets outside the Taft Houses shortly before 1a.m. and was still waving his .32-caliber gun when he was confronted by a dozen cops, witnesses said.
He allegedly shot five to seven times at the cops before his gun jammed.
Six officers from Manhattan's 23rd and 28th Precincts and an NYPD housing unit fired at least 77 rounds at Rooks in two bursts of gunfire, said Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne.
Rooks, who was on parole for a robbery conviction, was hit in the hip, neck and shoulder in front of 5 E. 115th St. He was in stable condition yesterday at Harlem Hospital. No cops were wounded.
"The cop was like, 'Get down!' And the guy didn't get down," said a 23-year-old woman who witnessed the shootout. "He shot at the other boys and at the police."
Top U.S. General Says Number of Capable Iraqi Battalions Drops to One
Skip directly to the full story.
By Liz Sidoti Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 29, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of Iraqi battalions capable of combat without U.S. support has dropped from three to one, the top American commander in Iraq told Congress Thursday, prompting Republicans to question whether U.S. troops will be able to withdraw next year.
Gen. George Casey, softening his previous comments that a "fairly substantial" pull out could begin next spring and summer, told lawmakers that troops might begin coming home from Iraq next year depending on conditions during and after the upcoming elections there.
"The next 75 days are going to be critical for what happens," Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Bush administration says training Iraqi security forces to defend their own country is the key to bringing home U.S. troops. But Republicans pressed Casey on whether the United States was backsliding in its efforts to train Iraqis.
In June, the Pentagon told lawmakers that three Iraqi battalions were fully trained, equipped and capable of operating independently. On Thursday, Casey said only one battalion is ready.
"It doesn't feel like progress," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.
Despite the drop, Casey hailed significant progress in training Iraqi security forces and noted that U.S. troops are embedded with more Iraqi units in mentoring roles than before. "Have we lost ground? Absolutely not," Casey said.
BAGHDAD (AP) — Three suicide attackers detonated car bombs nearly simultaneously in a mainly Shiite town north of Baghdad on Thursday, killing at least 60 people and wounding 70 others, a hospital official said. In the western town of Ramadi, the military said a roadside bomb killed five American soldiers.
FEMA's Brown was warned early of shortages
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown defends his response to Hurricane Katrina on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005, during testimony before a House select committee investigating preparation and response to the hurricane. (AP Photo/Dennis Cook)
By Lara Jakes Jordan, Associated Press Writer | September 29, 2005
WASHINGTON --Former FEMA director Michael Brown was warned weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit that his agency's backlogged computer systems could delay supplies and put personnel at risk during an emergency, according to an audit released Wednesday.
An internal review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's information-sharing system shows it was overwhelmed during the 2004 hurricane season. The audit was released a day after Brown vehemently defended FEMA for the government's dismal response to Katrina, instead blaming state and local officials for poor planning and chaos during the Aug. 29 storm and subsequent flooding.
The review by Homeland Security Department acting Inspector General Richard L. Skinner examined FEMA's response to four major hurricanes and a tropical storm that hit Florida and the Gulf Coast in August and September 2004. It noted FEMA's mission during disasters as rapid response and coordinating efforts among federal, state and local authorities.
"However, FEMA's systems do not support effective or efficient coordination of deployment operations because there is no sharing of information," the audit found. "Consequently, this created operational inefficiencies and hindered the delivery of essential disaster response and recovery services," it said.
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said parts of the report were misleading because FEMA's system was never designed to track supplies -- although it is now testing a Global Positioning System program, used during Katrina, to do just that.
"We are taking a look at a broad range of issues that have come up as a result of the hurricane," Knocke said. "Obviously, logistics support systems present some concerns and that is an area that we will address moving forward."
In an Aug. 3 response, Brown and one of his deputies rejected the audit, calling it unacceptable, erroneous and negative.
"The overall tone of the report is negative," wrote FEMA chief information officer Barry C. West in an Aug. 3 letter that Brown initialed.
"We believe this characterization is inaccurate and does not acknowledge the highly performing, well managed and staffed (informational technology) systems supporting FEMA incident response and recovery."
Among the problems the audit identified:
--FEMA's system could not track and coordinate delivery of ice and water to Florida, resulting in millions of dollars worth of ice left unused at response centers, and $1.6 million in leftover water returned to storage.
--An estimated 200,000 victims had to wait for temporary housing aid from disaster assistance employees because of backlogged computers.
--Emergency personnel were potentially put at risk because the system did not provide real-time disaster warnings and other information.
Reilly sues Wilkerson over campaign finances
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | September 29, 2005
State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, her political career already marked by a federal tax conviction and other financial violations, was sued yesterday by Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly for numerous alleged campaign law violations from 2000 and 2001, including failure to report $26,935 in political donations and failure to explain $18,277 paid to her by her political committee.
The lawsuit filed by Reilly and the head of the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance said that the violations are ''more pervasive" than similar campaign finance violations in 1998 that led to an agreement in which Wilkerson paid $11,500 in civil penalties. The complaint also said that Reilly and the campaign finance office had given the Boston Democrat repeated opportunities to explain the more recent discrepancies in her campaign finance reports, but that she has been ''unable or unwilling to provide such information."
''The prolonged noncompliance of Wilkerson and the Committee with these requirements . . . has made it impossible for OCPF to determine, and for the citizens of the Commonwealth to ascertain, how and from whom Wilkerson, as a member of the Senate, raised campaign funds, and to whom and for what purposes the Committee paid those funds out," the complaint said.
Gas prices blamed for record past-due credit accounts
By Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The percentage of credit card payments that were past due shot up to a record 4.81% in the second quarter as surging gasoline prices strained budgets and made it difficult for some people to pay their bills.
The American Bankers Association said Wednesday that the seasonally adjusted percentage of credit card accounts 30 or more days past due in the April-to-June quarter was the highest since the association began collecting this information in 1973. That follows a delinquency rate of 4.76% in the first quarter.
"The rise in gas prices is really stretching budgets to the breaking point for some people," the association's chief economist, Jim Chessen, said in an interview. "Gas prices are taking huge chunks out of wallets, leaving some individuals with little left to meet their financial obligations."
And that report was for a period before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita send energy prices into the stratosphere.
While Chessen mostly blamed high gasoline prices for the rise in credit card delinquencies, other factors played a role, he said.
With personal savings rates dismally low, people have less of a cushion to absorb the big jumps in energy, Chessen said. The personal savings rate dipped to a record low, negative 0.6%, in July.
Rising borrowing costs also probably contributed to the spike in credit card delinquencies, he said.
On CNN. MSNBC, etc.:
BREAKING NEWS: A Texas grand jury today charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, an indictment that could force him to step down as House majority leader. --Developing
Bush warns of upsurge of violence in Iraq
President Bush listens to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, left, as acting FEMA director David Paulison, right, looks on during a statement in front of a damaged hanger at Northrop Grumman in Lake Charles, La., Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005. Bush was getting a personal look at Hurricane Rita's damage to U.S. energy resources while visiting Lake Charles, La., and Beaumont, Texas. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press Writer | September 28, 2005
WASHINGTON --President Bush on Wednesday warned there will be an upsurge in violence in Iraq before next month's voting, but said the terrorists will fail. "Our troops are ready," he said.
Bush's remarks in the Rose Garden came a day after Iraqi and U.S. forces announced they had killed Abdullah Abu Azzam, the No. 2 al-Qaida leader in Iraq, during a weekend raid in Baghdad.
"This guy's a brutal killer," Bush said. (heh heh)
Al-Qaida in Iraq issued an Internet statement denying that Abu Azzam was its deputy leader, calling him "one of al-Qaida's many soldiers" and "the leader of one its battalions operating in Baghdad." The U.S.-led coalition, however, called Abu Azzam the mastermind of an escalation in suicide bombings that have killed nearly 700 people in Baghdad since April.
"We can expect they'll do everything in their power to try to stop the march of freedom," Bush said. "And our troops are ready for it."
Reuters says US troops obstruct reporting of Iraq
A U.S soldier unlocks a gate as Iraqi detainees stand in line to be releases from Abu Ghraib prison in the town of Abu Ghraib, 33 km (21 miles) west of Baghdad September 26, 2005. (REUTERS/Pool/Wathiq Khuzaie)
By Barry Moody | September 28, 2005
LONDON (Reuters) - The conduct of U.S. troops in Iraq, including increasing detention and accidental shootings of journalists, is preventing full coverage of the war reaching the American public, Reuters said on Wednesday.
In a letter to Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner, head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Reuters said U.S. forces were limiting the ability of independent journalists to operate.
The letter from Reuters Global Managing Editor David Schlesinger called on Warner to raise widespread media concerns about the conduct of U.S. troops with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is due to testify to the committee on Thursday.
Schlesinger referred to "a long parade of disturbing incidents whereby professional journalists have been killed, wrongfully detained, and/or illegally abused by U.S. forces in Iraq."
He urged Warner to demand that Rumsfeld resolve these issues "in a way that best balances the legitimate security interests of the U.S. forces in Iraq and the equally legitimate rights of journalists in conflict zones under international law."
At least 66 journalists and media workers, most of them Iraqis, have been killed in the Iraq conflict since March 2003.
U.S. forces acknowledge killing three Reuters journalists, most recently soundman Waleed Khaled who was shot by American soldiers on August 28 while on assignment in Baghdad. But the military say the soldiers were justified in opening fire.
Reuters believes a fourth journalist working for the agency, who died in Ramadi last year, was killed by a U.S. sniper.
"The worsening situation for professional journalists in Iraq directly limits journalists' abilities to do their jobs and, more importantly, creates a serious chilling effect on the media overall," Schlesinger wrote.
"By limiting the ability of the media to fully and independently cover the events in Iraq, the U.S. forces are unduly preventing U.S. citizens from receiving information...and undermining the very freedoms the U.S. says it is seeking to foster every day that it commits U.S. lives and U.S. dollars," the letter said.
"SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL"
Schlesinger said the U.S. military had refused to conduct independent and transparent investigations into the deaths of the Reuters journalists, relying instead on inquiries by officers from the units responsible, who had exonerated their soldiers.
The U.S. military had failed even to implement recommendations by its own inquiry into one of the deaths, that of award-winning Palestinian cameraman Mazen Dana who was shot dead while filming outside Abu Ghraib prison in August 2003.
Schlesinger said Reuters and other reputable international news organizations were concerned by the "sizeable and rapidly increasing number of journalists detained by U.S. forces."
He said most of these detentions had been prompted by legitimate journalistic activity such as possessing photographs and video of insurgents, which U.S. soldiers assumed showed sympathy with the insurgency.
In most cases the journalists were held for long periods at Abu Ghraib or Camp Bucca prisons before being released without charge.
At least four journalists working for international media are currently being held without charge or legal representation in Iraq. They include two cameramen working for Reuters and a freelance reporter who sometimes works for the agency.
A cameraman working for the U.S. network CBS has been detained since April despite an Iraqi court saying his case does not justify prosecution. Iraq's justice minister has criticized the system of military detentions without charge.
Schlesinger's letter said: "It appears as though the U.S. forces in Iraq either completely misunderstand the role of professional journalists or do not know how to deal with journalists in a conflict zone, or both."
Reuters and other media organizations in Iraq had repeatedly tried to hold a dialogue with the Pentagon to establish appropriate guidelines on how to safeguard journalists. These efforts had failed "and the situation is now spiraling out of control," Schlesinger said.
He asked Warner to question Rumsfeld specifically about the rules of engagement toward professional journalists, the failure to hold independent investigations into shooting incidents and to ask what was the guidance to U.S. forces on how to distinguish legitimate journalists from insurgents.
Explosion rocks Baghdad bus; 2 Americans killed
BAGHDAD (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated hidden explosives on a small bus in Baghdad on Friday, killing at least five people, and two American soldiers died in separate attacks, authorities said.
One of the Americans died in a roadside bombing between the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, while the other was killed by small arms fire in Ramadi, the U.S. military said.
The deaths raised to 1,912 the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since the war began in 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
President Bush, briefed at the Pentagon on Thursday, acknowledged the loss of American lives and said, "We'll honor their sacrifice by completing the mission and winning the war on terrorism." (and getting more killed)
He added that withdrawing American forces from Iraq would make the world more dangerous and allow terrorists "to claim an historic victory over the United States."
Obviously he's forgot about Lebanon.........Vietnam..........Somalia..............Korea........
In Break With Tradition, Casinos May Get Tax Breaks, Too
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 22, 2005; Page A01
National gambling companies -- already rushing to rebuild casinos on the Gulf Coast -- would be granted access to millions of dollars in tax breaks under President Bush's plan to entice businesses into the Katrina disaster zone.
In a break from previous Gulf Coast economic development practices, White House officials said they do not plan to exclude the gambling industry from huge tax write-offs for investment in equipment and structures in the president's proposed Gulf Opportunity Zone. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) endorsed that policy yesterday, saying, "They should be treated like any other business. That's the way we do it in Mississippi."
The Grand Casino barge, which was washed up onto the highway during Hurricane Katrina, is demolished. (By Steve Helber -- Associated Press)
INTERACTIVE MAP:
Katrina's Aftermath in the Gulf Coast
FULL COVERAGE:
Latest News, Videos and More
Katrina Photos and Video
Hurricane Katrina brought unprecedented destruction to the Gulf Coast. View the Post's multimedia coverage of the disaster. (Ricky Carioti - The Washington Post)
In Focus -- Accountability
This collection showcases Washington Post reporting on the debate over the government's response to Hurricane Katrina and its pre-storm planning.
Katrina's Aftermath -- Accountability
Blog: The Impact on Washington
As the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina continues to unfold, this Web log will track the ways that the Washington community is touched by the tragedy.
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But economic development officials in the state say Mississippi does not do it that way. The gambling industry largely has been excluded by statute from economic development incentives, said Brian Richard, former director of research at the Mississippi Gaming Association and an economic development expert at the University of Southern Mississippi. Until recently, the casinos even were prohibited from conducting employee training on state property, said Bill Crawford, deputy director of the Mississippi Development Authority.
"The casinos don't need this," said William F. Shughart II, an economist at the University of Mississippi. "If they are [eligible], that would be a complete waste of money."
In fact, the casino industry is trying to appeal to governments by saying it will provide jobs and tax revenue, said Alberto Lopez, director of strategic communication at Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which lost two major casinos on the Mississippi coast. "We're actually scratching our heads. We can't ever remember an instance of being offered a tax credit -- ever."
Defense Spending Is Overstated, GAO Report Says
By Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 22, 2005; Page A23
The Pentagon has no accurate knowledge of the cost of military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan or the fight against terrorism, limiting Congress's ability to oversee spending, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a report released yesterday.
The Defense Department has reported spending $191 billion to fight terrorism from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks through May 2005, with the annual sum ballooning from $11 billion in fiscal 2002 to a projected $71 billion in fiscal 2005. But the GAO investigation found many inaccuracies totaling billions of dollars.
Acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison was once the fire chief of which city's fire department?
"Neither DOD nor Congress can reliably know how much the war is costing and details of how appropriated funds are being spent," the report to Congress stated. The GAO said the problem is rooted in long-standing weaknesses in the Pentagon's outmoded financial management system, which is designed to handle small-scale contingencies.
The report said the Pentagon overstated the cost of mobilized Army reservists in fiscal 2004 by as much as $2.1 billion. Because the Army lacked a reliable process to identify the military personnel costs, it plugged in numbers to match the available budget, the report stated. "Effectively, the Army was reporting back to Congress exactly what it had appropriated," the report said.
The probe also found "inadvertent double accounting" by the Navy and Marine Corps from November 2004 to April 2005 amounting to almost $1.8 billion.
The report turned up aberrations in imminent-danger pay -- $225 a month offered to military personnel serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries -- which had "little correlation with the numbers of deployed personnel." That pay totaled $38 million in April 2004, implying that 170,000 military personnel were receiving it, but by August 2004 it had mushroomed to $231 million, suggesting that more than 1 million U.S. troops were serving in danger zones.
The report comes as budgetary pressures are mounting on the Pentagon from Gulf Coast hurricanes and the ongoing fighting in Iraq. "This is a very expensive and long-term endeavor," said Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) after a closed briefing on Iraq yesterday with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
The Pentagon agreed "generally" with the GAO's recommendations, and announced it would take "immediate action" to strengthen procedures for reporting war costs, according to a letter from Undersecretary of Defense Tina W. Jonas.
Jonas, the comptroller, disagreed with a GAO proposal that the Pentagon issue guidelines to promote costs controlling by U.S. military commanders, and said it had partially accounted for some of the overstated costs.
This is global warming, says environmental chief
As Hurricane Rita threatens devastation, scientist blames climate change
By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Published: 23 September 2005
Super-powerful hurricanes now hitting the United States are the "smoking gun" of global warming, one of Britain's leading scientists believes.
The growing violence of storms such as Katrina, which wrecked New Orleans, and Rita, now threatening Texas, is very probably caused by climate change, said Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. Hurricanes were getting more intense, just as computer models predicted they would, because of the rising temperature of the sea, he said. "The increased intensity of these kinds of extreme storms is very likely to be due to global warming."
In a series of outspoken comments - a thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration, Sir John hit out at neoconservatives in the US who still deny the reality of climate change.
Referring to the arrival of Hurricane Rita he said: "If this makes the climate loonies in the States realise we've got a problem, some good will come out of a truly awful situation." As he spoke, more than a million people were fleeing north away from the coast of Texas as Rita, one of the most intense storms on record, roared through the Gulf of Mexico. It will probably make landfall tonight or early tomorrow near Houston, America's fourth largest city and the centre of its oil industry. Highways leading inland from Houston were clogged with traffic for up to 100 miles north.
There are real fears that Houston could suffer as badly from Rita just as New Orleans suffered from Hurricane Katrina less than a month ago.
Asked what conclusion the Bush administration should draw from two hurricanes of such high intensity hitting the US in quick succession, Sir John said: "If what looks like is going to be a horrible mess causes the extreme sceptics about climate change in the US to reconsider their opinion, that would be an extremely valuable outcome."
Asked about characterising them as "loonies", he said: "There are a group of people in various parts of the world ... who simply don't want to accept human activities can change climate and are changing the climate."
"I'd liken them to the people who denied that smoking causes lung cancer."
With his comments, Sir John becomes the third of the leaders of Britain's scientific establishment to attack the US over the Bush government's determination to cast doubt on global warming as a real phenomenon.
Sir John's comments follow and support recent research, much of it from America itself, showing that hurricanes are getting more violent and suggesting climate change is the cause.
A paper by US researchers, last week in the US journal Science, showed that storms of the intensity of Hurricane Katrina have become almost twice as common in the past 35 years.
Although the overall frequency of tropical storms worldwide has remained broadly level since 1970, the number of extreme category 4 and 5 events has sharply risen. In the 1970s, there was an average of about 10 category 4 and 5 hurricanes per year but, since 1990, they have nearly doubled to an average of about 18 a year. During the same period, sea surface temperatures, among the key drivers of hurricane intensity, have increased by an average of 0.5C (0.9F).
Sir John said: "Increasingly it looks like a smoking gun. It's a fair conclusion to draw that global warming, caused to a substantial extent by people, is driving increased sea surface temperatures and increasing the violence of hurricanes."
CBS5) The presence of the supernatural and the influence of voodoo long have been synonymous with New Orleans.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, members of the U.S. military are saying that there's something spooky going on and it's not just images of death and destruction that's haunting them.
By all accounts, the Sophie B. Wright Middle School in New Orleans sits empty and evacuated except for military personnel who have taken over the campus as a staging site for missions around the battered city.
But the men in uniform have the feeling that they're not alone. It prompted a chaplain to utter this directive: "In the name of Jesus Chris, I command you Satan to leave the dark areas of this building."
Said Sgt. Robin Hairston of the California National Guard: "I was in my sleeping bag and I opened by eyes and in the doorway was a little girl," . "It wasn't my imagination."
Hairston wasn't the only one seeing things. Spc. Rosales Leanor had her own close encounter.
"I was using the restroom and I just saw a little shadow," Leanor said, "kind of looming in front of me."
Another member of the Guard unit said that she saw and heard a little girl laughing when she opened a closet that contained cleaning supplies.
At a Baton Rouge marina, boats were strewn like trash, but not a shred of paper could be found. Except for the pages of a Bible, which was found by a soldier. It was open to the Book of Revelations.
At a nearby church, nearly destroyed, another Bible was found, showing the exact same passage from Revelations.
Water Pours Into New Orleans Neighborhood
Sep 23 10:53 AM US/Eastern
By MICHELLE ROBERTS and BRETT MARTEL
Associated Press Writers
NEW ORLEANS
Water poured over a patched levee Friday, cascading into one of the city's lowest-lying neighborhoods and heightening fears that Hurricane Rita would re-flood this devastated city.
"Our worst fears came true. The levee will breach if we keep on the path we are on right now, which will fill the area that was flooded earlier," Barry Guidry with the Georgia National Guard.
Dozens of blocks in the Ninth Ward were under water as a waterfall at least 30 feet wide poured over a dike that had been used to patch breaks in the Industrial Canal. On the street that runs parallel to the canal, the water ran waist-deep and was rising fast.
The impoverished neighborhood was one of the areas of the city hit hardest by Katrina's floodwaters and finally had been pumped dry before Hurricane Rita struck.
Mitch Frazier, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, said water is rushing over part of the levee that previously was breached.
Bonds thinks Congress should drop steroids subject
By Howard Fendrich
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:10 p.m. September 20, 2005
WASHINGTON – In the nation's capital on his first road trip of 2005, Barry Bonds questioned why Congress, the media and fans continue to talk about steroids.
"I think we have other issues in this country to worry about that are a lot more serious. I think you guys should direct your efforts into taking care of that," the San Francisco Giants slugger said Tuesday before facing the Washington Nationals. "Talk about the athletes that are helping Katrina. Ask yourselves how much money y'all personally donated and have helped."
Asked whether Congress was wasting time by looking into steroid use in sports, Bonds responded: "Pretty much, I think so. Yeah."
Several congressional committees have held hearings on drug testing in pro sports, and legislation has been proposed to standardize leagues' drug policies.
"You know what? There are still other issues that are more important," Bonds said. "Right now, people are losing lives, don't have homes, I think that's a little more serious. A lot more serious."
The Associated Press
BRISTOW, Okla. Sep 20, 2005 — Jurors hearing the case against a former judge accused of exposing himself in his Creek County courtroom will be allowed to see the sex toy at the center of the state's allegations, a judge ruled Tuesday in rejecting a defense motion.
They also can hear testimony that a second "penis pump" was seen under former District Judge Donald Thompson's bench, among other evidence Thompson's attorneys sought to have barred from next week's scheduled trial.
"It's so fantastic and so unconnected to factual support, and so prejudicial," attorney Clark Brewster complained in trying to convince Judge C. Allen McCall to suppress some state evidence.
Thompson, 58, who spent more than 20 years on the bench before stepping down more than a year ago, faces three counts of indecent exposure.
Prosecutors allege he masturbated with a penis pump under his robe while presiding over two murder trials and a civil trial in 2003.
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - In a sign that things may be returning to normal in New Orleans, strip shows are back in the city's famous French Quarter.
Erotic dancers and strippers are entertaining crowds of police, firefighters and military personnel instead of the usual audiences of drunken conventioneers and tourists in Bourbon Street's Deja Vu club, which reopened this week.
It's the first strip joint to resume business, three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck in the worst natural disaster ever to hit the United States.
By JENNIFER LUCE and DON GENTILE
Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, President Bush has hit the bottle again, The National Enquirer can reveal.
Bush, who said he quit drinking the morning after his 40th birthday, has started boozing amid the Katrina catastrophe.
Family sources have told how the 59-year-old president was caught by First Lady Laura downing a shot of booze at their family ranch in Crawford, Texas, when he learned of the hurricane disaster.
His worried wife yelled at him: "Stop, George."
Following the shocking incident, disclosed here for the first time, Laura privately warned her husband against "falling off the wagon" and vowed to travel with him more often so that she can keep an eye on Dubya, the sources add.
"When the levees broke in New Orleans, it apparently made him reach for a shot," said one insider. "He poured himself a Texas-sized shot of straight whiskey and tossed it back. The First Lady was shocked and shouted: "Stop George!"
Feds Want Ex-White House Official's Cooperation in Abramoff Probe, Lawyer Says
By Mark Sherman Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 22, 2005
WASHINGTON (AP) - The lawyer for a former Bush administration official arrested this week says authorities are using the charges to pressure her client to aid their investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
David Safavian was arrested Monday and charged with making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation relating to a 2002 golf outing to Scotland with Abramoff, former Christian Coalition executive Ralph Reed, Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and others.
Safavian hid from investigators that Abramoff had business before the General Services Administration, where Safavian was chief of staff in 2002, when they took their Scotland trip, according to federal authorities.
Barbara Van Gelder, Safavian's lawyer, said her client would fight the charges. He accurately reported that Abramoff was not doing business with GSA at the time of the trip, Van Gelder said.
"This is a creative use of the criminal code to secure his cooperation against someone else," Van Gelder said in an interview Wednesday.
Safavian, a former Abramoff lobbying associate, abruptly resigned last week as the Bush administration's top procurement official, three days before his arrest.
The federal government is diverting hundreds of truckloads of bagged ice cubes from the Gulf Coast hurricane relief effort to cold storage in Portland and other cities.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has more ice than it can use in the hurricane zone and wants to keep it in storage for use in a future emergency. But critics, including some truck drivers who have been paid $800 a day while hauling the same loads for a week or more, say the process seems like a waste of taxpayers' money.
"The $9,000 they're paying me to move this load should have gone to some family down there," said Loren Reeves, who hauled his load of ice from Long Island, N.Y., to Alabama before being sent to Maine. "There is definitely millions being wasted that could go to people who need it."
Reeves' truck was one of several lined up at AmeriCold Logistics refrigerated storage facility on Read Street, offloading pallets stacked with 25-pound bags of ice. Georgia-based AmeriCold Logistics provides cold storage facilities across the country, and many of the ice deliveries have been sent to its facilities in places such as Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
A spokesman for the AmeriCold facility, which has 1.7 million cubic feet of storage, would not comment on the operation. Local officials said they are expecting 220 truckloads of ice to be delivered here through Thursday.
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, residents of the region needed ice, and emergency officials started ordering it from near and far. The government delivered more than 180 million pounds of ice to the area, FEMA spokeswoman Kathy Cable said.
"People go pick up ice and take it back to their house because they don't have electricity. With Katrina, most of these people don't have houses so they didn't come get ice," she said.
That caused some trucks to sit idle in places like Selma, Ala. and Memphis, Tenn., while others were redirected to remote storage facilities like Portland.
"It's more economical to store them and be able to use them right away. When we need it, we need all of it and we need it now. It's better to have it stored than to go out and buy it," Cable said.
Cable said she did not know how much it is costing to divert the ice trucks because the Army Corps of Engineers ships ice and water into disaster areas for FEMA.
In Portland, ice ranges from $64 per ton when purchased in bulk to $300 per ton when purchased retail by the bag. Trucks coming to Portland from the Gulf Coast have been carrying between 15 and 23 tons.
The Army Corps of Engineers said last week that 6,260 truckloads of ice had been delivered to the hurricane area and it has not ordered new commodities since Sept. 5, according to its Web site. It anticipates that it has enough ice to last through the 2005 hurricane season.
FEMA has 50 truckloads of ice and water in Fort Worth, Texas in anticipation of Tropical Storm Rita, Cable said. Storing commodities like ice makes more sense than buying it when a disaster hits, Cable said.
Truckers interviewed Monday have been told they may be called on to head south with the ice stored in Portland if a storm bearing down on the Florida keys creates a demand.
Johnny Jennings hauled a load of ice from Cincinnati to Joplin, Ark., where it was loaded into a quarry cave being used as an ice house. He hauled another load from Fort Wayne, Ind. that was distributed directly to people who needed it near Hattiesburg, Miss.
He set out with his third load from Indianapolis on Sept. 9 bound for Meridian, Miss., then he was sent to Selma before being dispatched to Portland.
"It's been a lot of riding and a lot of sitting," he said Monday, leaning against a fence at AmeriCold while 24 pallets of bagged ice, wrapped in plastic, were transferred by forklift from his truck to the company's freezers.
Rick Benn, who had been shepherding his load of ice from Indianapolis for two weeks, said he's worked disaster relief before but this was the worst. He couldn't understand why he trucked a load of ice all the way to the Deep South, waited for a week in Alabama, then hauled it to Northern New England.
"It's the government. What do you expect?" he said.
Still, he's being paid $800 a day. He would normally spend almost half that money on fuel but when he's waiting instead of hauling, his operating expenses are minimal.
Reeves, who is from New York, said he's gone from feeling upbeat about his disaster work, to feeling guilty.
"I thought I was doing some real good," he said.
Senate Republicans on Wednesday scuttled an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton to establish an independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to Hurricane Katrina.
The New York Democrat's bid to establish the panel — which would have also made recommendations on how to improve the government's disaster response apparatus — failed to win the two-thirds majority needed to overcome procedural hurdles. Clinton got only 44 votes, all from Democrats and independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont. Fifty-four Republicans all voted no.
WH Lawyer to Lead Katrina Investigation?
By irishkg
From: Misc. Politics Table
The issue is competent emergency planning and management for hurricane Katrina. The Bush Administration's action is to appoint a lawyer, former prosecutor and WH insider to lead their internal investigation.
If Jon Stewart, late night comics and editorial writers get paid this week they are stealing the money.
Sept. 19 NY Times
President Bush has named Frances Fragos Townsend, his domestic security adviser, to lead an internal White House inquiry into the administration's performance in handling Hurricane Katrina."
In Bushworld they continue to believe they can control the message. What they have yet to factor in is that the images of Katrina were so powerful that anyone other than the most loyal of his supporters will see this for what it is - politics as usual. I hope (although I have given up holding my breath) that the public will remember who allowed this charade to be played out - the Republican members of congress - and make
Frist sold stock just before a decline
Trade involved a family firm
By Jonathan M. Katz, Associated Press | September 21, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, a potential presidential candidate in 2008, sold all his stock in his family's hospital corporation, about two weeks before it issued a disappointing earnings report and the price fell nearly 15 percent.
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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts Frist held an undisclosed amount of stock in Hospital Corporation of America, in Nashville, the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain. On June 13, he instructed the trustee managing the assets to sell his shares and those of his wife and children, said Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Frist.
Frist's shares were sold by July 1, and those of his wife and children were sold by July 8, Call said. The trustee decided when to sell the shares, and Frist had no control over the exact time they were sold, she said.
Hospital Corporation of America shares peaked at midyear, at $58.22 a share on June 22. The price fell to $49.90 on July 13, after the company announced that its quarterly earnings would not meet analysts' expectations. Yesterday, the shares closed at $48.76.
The value of Frist's stock at the time of the sale was not given.
CRYING IN THE WIND
WASHINGTON - The Jefferson Parish president's emotional retelling of a mother's desperate calls from a New Orleans nursing home included details that conflict with the timeline of the tragedy.
The story, of a colleague's mother begging her son for rescue as flood waters rose after Hurricane Katrina, came to prominence on Sunday, Sept. 4, when Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, was interviewed by Tim Russert on NBC's Meet the Press. (MSNBC is a Microsoft-NBC joint venture.)
New details and interviews with the son whose mother died in the flood show that the tragedy unfolded from Saturday through Monday, Aug. 29 — not Monday through Friday, Sept. 2 as recounted by Broussard. The owners of the nursing home were indicted Tuesday for the deaths of more than 30 residents, which officials say occurred on Aug. 29.
http://kravenmoorehead.com
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.
NASA estimated Monday it will cost $104 billion to return astronauts to the moon by 2018 in a new rocket that combines the space shuttle with the capsule of an earlier NASA era.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, in unveiling the new lunar exploration plan announced by President Bush last year, said he is not seeking extra money and stressed that the space agency will live within its future budgets to achieve this goal.
He dismissed suggestions that reconstruction of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina might derail the program first outlined by President Bush in 2004.
"We're talking about returning to the moon in 2018. There will be a lot more hurricanes and a lot more other natural disasters to befall the United States and the world in that time, I hope none worse than Katrina," Griffin said at a news conference.
"But the space program is a long-term investment in our future. We must deal with our short-term problems while not sacrificing our long- term investments in our future. When we have a hurricane, we don't cancel the Air Force. We don't cancel the Navy. And we're not going to cancel NASA."
The $104 billion price tag, spread over 13 years, represents 55 percent of what the Apollo moon-landing program cost measured in constant dollars, Griffin said. Apollo spanned eight years. The objective is to pay as you go and what you can afford, he noted.
The new space vehicle design uses shuttlelike rocket parts, an Apollo- style capsule and lander capable of carrying four people to the surface. The rockets _ there would be two, a small version for people and a bigger one for cargo _ would come close in height to the 363- foot Saturn 5 moon rocket. They would be built from shuttle booster rockets, fuel tanks and main engines, as well as moon rocket engines. The so-called crew exploration vehicle perched on top would look very much like an Apollo capsule, albeit larger.
"Think of it as Apollo on steroids," Griffin said.
The crew exploration vehicle would replace the space shuttle, due to be retired in 2010, but not before 2012 and possibly as late as 2014 depending on the money available, Griffin said. It could carry as many as six astronauts to the international space station.
If all goes well, the first crew would set off for the moon by 2018 _ or 2020 at the latest, the president's target year.
Scotland tops list of world's most violent countries
By Katrina Tweedie
A UNITED Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America.
England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest.
The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults.
Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi.
The attacks have been fuelled by a “booze and blades” culture in the west of Scotland which has claimed more than 160 lives over the past five years. Since January there have been 13 murders, 145 attempted murders and 1,100 serious assaults involving knives in the west of Scotland. The problem is made worse by sectarian violence, with hospitals reporting higher admissions following Old Firm matches.
Top Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe
The Bush administration's top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested Monday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff's dealings with the federal government.
Delta to miss pensions
Sep 15 6:31 PM US/Eastern
By Jui Chakravorty and Christian Plumb
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc.
The moves came as the third- and fourth-largest U.S. air carriers began their Chapter 11 cases a day after they joined United Airlines and US Airways in Chapter 11, after losing an uphill struggle with soaring oil prices and low-cost rivals.
Bonds of both airlines rose as analysts said it would be easier for them to cut wages and operating costs while they are in bankruptcy. Delta shares rose while Northwest's fell.
Delta pilots suffered what may be the first of many blows for the airlines' employees as the Atlanta-based carrier said it would send a letter to some 3,500 retired pilots telling them it may miss their October pension payments.
The warning came as AFL-CIO President John Sweeney urged airlines not to "use bankruptcy as a cover to shed workers' pensions and responsibilities to loyal employees."
Avian Flu: Is the Government Ready for an Epidemic?
Virus Poses Risk of Massive Casualties Around the World
Sept. 15, 2005 — It could kill a billion people worldwide, make ghost towns out of parts of major cities, and there is not enough medicine to fight it. It is called the avian flu.
This week, the U.S. government agreed to stockpile $100 million worth of a still-experimental vaccine, while at the United Nations Summit in New York, both the head of the U.N. World Health Organization and President Bush warned of the virus' deadly potential.
"We must also remain on the offensive against new threats to public health, such as the Avian influenza," Bush said in his speech to world leaders. "If left unchallenged, the virus could become the first pandemic of the 21st century."
According to Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, Bush's call to remain on the offensive has come too late.
Global warming 'past the point of no return'
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 16 September 2005
A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.
They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.
The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a "tipping point" beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.
Satellites monitoring the Arctic have found that the extent of the sea ice this August has reached its lowest monthly point on record, dipping an unprecedented 18.2 per cent below the long-term average.
Experts believe that such a loss of Arctic sea ice in summer has not occurred in hundreds and possibly thousands of years. It is the fourth year in a row that the sea ice in August has fallen below the monthly downward trend - a clear sign that melting has accelerated.
Scientists are now preparing to report a record loss of Arctic sea ice for September, when the surface area covered by the ice traditionally reaches its minimum extent at the end of the summer melting period.
Sea ice naturally melts in summer and reforms in winter but for the first time on record this annual rebound did not occur last winter when the ice of the Arctic failed to recover significantly.
Arctic specialists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University, who have documented the gradual loss of polar sea ice since 1978, believe that a more dramatic melt began about four years ago.
In September 2002 the sea ice coverage of the Arctic reached its lowest level in recorded history. Such lows have normally been followed the next year by a rebound to more normal levels, but this did not occur in the summers of either 2003 or 2004. This summer has been even worse. The surface area covered by sea ice was at a record monthly minimum for each of the summer months - June, July and now August.
Scientists analysing the latest satellite data for September - the traditional minimum extent for each summer - are preparing to announce a significant shift in the stability of the Arctic sea ice, the northern hemisphere's major "heat sink" that moderates climatic extremes.
"The changes we've seen in the Arctic over the past few decades are nothing short of remarkable," said Mark Serreze, one of the scientists at the Snow and Ice Data Centre who monitor Arctic sea ice.
Scientists at the data centre are bracing themselves for the 2005 annual minimum, which is expected to be reached in mid-September, when another record loss is forecast. A major announcement is scheduled for 20 September. "It looks like we're going to exceed it or be real close one way or the other. It is probably going to be at least as comparable to September 2002," Dr Serreze said.
"This will be four Septembers in a row that we've seen a downward trend. The feeling is we are reaching a tipping point or threshold beyond which sea ice will not recover."
The extent of the sea ice in September is the most valuable indicator of its health. This year's record melt means that more of the long-term ice formed over many winters - so called multi-year ice - has disappeared than at any time in recorded history.
Sea ice floats on the surface of the Arctic Ocean and its neighbouring seas and normally covers an area of some 7 million square kilometres (2.4 million square miles) during September - about the size of Australia. However, in September 2002, this dwindled to about 2 million square miles - 16 per cent below average.
Sea ice data for August closely mirrors that for September and last month's record low - 18.2 per cent below the monthly average - strongly suggests that this September will see the smallest coverage of Arctic sea ice ever recorded.
As more and more sea ice is lost during the summer, greater expanses of open ocean are exposed to the sun which increases the rate at which heat is absorbed in the Arctic region, Dr Serreze said.
Sea ice reflects up to 80 per cent of sunlight hitting it but this "albedo effect" is mostly lost when the sea is uncovered. "We've exposed all this dark ocean to the sun's heat so that the overall heat content increases," he explained.
Current computer models suggest that the Arctic will be entirely ice-free during summer by the year 2070 but some scientists now believe that even this dire prediction may be over-optimistic, said Professor Peter Wadhams, an Arctic ice specialist at Cambridge University.
"When the ice becomes so thin it breaks up mechanically rather than thermodynamically. So these predictions may well be on the over-optimistic side," he said.
As the sea ice melts, and more of the sun's energy is absorbed by the exposed ocean, a positive feedback is created leading to the loss of yet more ice, Professor Wadhams said.
"If anything we may be underestimating the dangers. The computer models may not take into account collaborative positive feedback," he said.
Sea ice keeps a cap on frigid water, keeping it cold and protecting it from heating up. Losing the sea ice of the Arctic is likely to have major repercussions for the climate, he said. "There could be dramatic changes to the climate of the northern region due to the creation of a vast expanse of open water where there was once effectively land," Professor Wadhams said. "You're essentially changing land into ocean and the creation of a huge area of open ocean where there was once land will have a very big impact on other climate parameters," he said.
A record loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the climate may never recover. Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice that has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.
They believe global warming is melting Arctic ice so rapidly that the region is beginning to absorb more heat from the sun, causing the ice to melt still further and so reinforcing a vicious cycle of melting and heating.
The greatest fear is that the Arctic has reached a "tipping point" beyond which nothing can reverse the continual loss of sea ice and with it the massive land glaciers of Greenland, which will raise sea levels dramatically.
Satellites monitoring the Arctic have found that the extent of the sea ice this August has reached its lowest monthly point on record, dipping an unprecedented 18.2 per cent below the long-term average.
Experts believe that such a loss of Arctic sea ice in summer has not occurred in hundreds and possibly thousands of years. It is the fourth year in a row that the sea ice in August has fallen below the monthly downward trend - a clear sign that melting has accelerated.
Scientists are now preparing to report a record loss of Arctic sea ice for September, when the surface area covered by the ice traditionally reaches its minimum extent at the end of the summer melting period.
Sea ice naturally melts in summer and reforms in winter but for the first time on record this annual rebound did not occur last winter when the ice of the Arctic failed to recover significantly.
Arctic specialists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre at Colorado University, who have documented the gradual loss of polar sea ice since 1978, believe that a more dramatic melt began about four years ago.
In September 2002 the sea ice coverage of the Arctic reached its lowest level in recorded history. Such lows have normally been followed the next year by a rebound to more normal levels, but this did not occur in the summers of either 2003 or 2004. This summer has been even worse. The surface area covered by sea ice was at a record monthly minimum for each of the summer months - June, July and now August.
Scientists analysing the latest satellite data for September - the traditional minimum extent for each summer - are preparing to announce a significant shift in the stability of the Arctic sea ice, the northern hemisphere's major "heat sink" that moderates climatic extremes.
"The changes we've seen in the Arctic over the past few decades are nothing short of remarkable," said Mark Serreze, one of the scientists at the Snow and Ice Data Centre who monitor Arctic sea ice.
Scientists at the data centre are bracing themselves for the 2005 annual minimum, which is expected to be reached in mid-September, when another record loss is forecast. A major announcement is scheduled for 20 September. "It looks like we're going to exceed it or be real close one way or the other. It is probably going to be at least as comparable to September 2002," Dr Serreze said.
"This will be four Septembers in a row that we've seen a downward trend. The feeling is we are reaching a tipping point or threshold beyond which sea ice will not recover."
The extent of the sea ice in September is the most valuable indicator of its health. This year's record melt means that more of the long-term ice formed over many winters - so called multi-year ice - has disappeared than at any time in recorded history.
Sea ice floats on the surface of the Arctic Ocean and its neighbouring seas and normally covers an area of some 7 million square kilometres (2.4 million square miles) during September - about the size of Australia. However, in September 2002, this dwindled to about 2 million square miles - 16 per cent below average.
Sea ice data for August closely mirrors that for September and last month's record low - 18.2 per cent below the monthly average - strongly suggests that this September will see the smallest coverage of Arctic sea ice ever recorded.
As more and more sea ice is lost during the summer, greater expanses of open ocean are exposed to the sun which increases the rate at which heat is absorbed in the Arctic region, Dr Serreze said.
Sea ice reflects up to 80 per cent of sunlight hitting it but this "albedo effect" is mostly lost when the sea is uncovered. "We've exposed all this dark ocean to the sun's heat so that the overall heat content increases," he explained.
Current computer models suggest that the Arctic will be entirely ice-free during summer by the year 2070 but some scientists now believe that even this dire prediction may be over-optimistic, said Professor Peter Wadhams, an Arctic ice specialist at Cambridge University.
"When the ice becomes so thin it breaks up mechanically rather than thermodynamically. So these predictions may well be on the over-optimistic side," he said.
As the sea ice melts, and more of the sun's energy is absorbed by the exposed ocean, a positive feedback is created leading to the loss of yet more ice, Professor Wadhams said.
"If anything we may be underestimating the dangers. The computer models may not take into account collaborative positive feedback," he said.
Sea ice keeps a cap on frigid water, keeping it cold and protecting it from heating up. Losing the sea ice of the Arctic is likely to have major repercussions for the climate, he said. "There could be dramatic changes to the climate of the northern region due to the creation of a vast expanse of open water where there was once effectively land," Professor Wadhams said. "You're essentially changing land into ocean and the creation of a huge area of open ocean where there was once land will have a very big impact on other climate parameters," he said.
Power-dressing man leaves trail of destruction Fri Sep 16,10:30 AM ET
SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian man built up a 40,000-volt charge of static electricity in his clothes as he walked, leaving a trail of scorched carpet and molten plastic and forcing firefighters to evacuate a building.
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Frank Clewer, who was wearing a woolen shirt and a synthetic nylon jacket, was oblivious to the growing electrical current that was building up as his clothes rubbed together.
When he walked into a building in the country town of Warrnambool in the southern state of Victoria Thursday, the electrical charge ignited the carpet.
"It sounded almost like a firecracker," Clewer told Australian radio Friday.
"Within about five minutes, the carpet started to erupt."
Employees, unsure of the cause of the mysterious burning smell, telephoned firefighters who evacuated the building.
"There were several scorch marks in the carpet, and we could hear a cracking noise -- a bit like a whip -- both inside and outside the building," said fire official Henry Barton.
Firefighters cut electricity to the building thinking the burns might have been caused by a power surge.
Clewer, who after leaving the building discovered he had scorched a piece of plastic on the floor of his car, returned to seek help from the firefighters.
"We tested his clothes with a static electricity field meter and measured a current of 40,000 volts, which is one step shy of spontaneous combustion, where his clothes would have self-ignited," Barton said.
"I've been firefighting for over 35 years and I've never come across anything like this," he said.
Firefighters took possession of Clewer's jacket and stored it in the courtyard of the fire station, where it continued to give off a strong electrical current.
David Gosden, a senior lecturer in electrical engineering at Sydney University, told Reuters that for a static electricity charge to ignite a carpet, conditions had to be perfect.
"Static electricity is a similar mechanism to lightning, where you have clouds rubbing together and then a spark generated by very dry air above them," said Gosden.
Mice Infected With Bubonic Plague Missing
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Three mice infected with the bacteria responsible for bubonic plague apparently disappeared from a laboratory about two weeks ago, and authorities launched a search though health experts said there was scant public risk. (WE APPARENTLY JUST REALIZED)
The mice were unaccounted-for at the Public Health Research Institute, which is on the campus of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government.
Federal official said the mice may never be accounted for. Among other things, the rodents may have been stolen, eaten by other lab animals or just misplaced in a paperwork error.
If the mice got outside the lab, they would have already died from the disease, state Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs said.
The possibility of theft prompted the institute to interrogate two dozen of its employees and conduct lie detector tests, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported Thursday.
The FBI said it was investigating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also investigating, the newspaper reported.
University officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday morning.
The mice were injected as part of an inoculation and vaccination experiment, investigators said.
Health officials say 10 to 20 people in the United States contract plague each year, usually through infected fleas or rodents. It can be treated with antibiotics, but about one in seven U.S. cases is fatal. Bubonic plague is not contagious, but left untreated it can transform into pneumonic plague, which can be spread from person to person.
The incident came as federal authorities investigate possible corruption in the school's finances. The FBI is reviewing political donations and millions of dollars in no-bid contracts awarded to politically connected firms.
A baby boy for Britney
September 15, 2005
Pop singer Britney Spears became a mom yesterday, giving birth to a baby boy in Los Angeles. Declaring itself ''the first media outlet in the world" to report the birth, Us Weekly said Spears, 23, and husband Kevin Federline showed up at the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center with a police escort shortly before 6 a.m., and the baby was born via C-section just before 1 p.m.
"I think we do need more troops over there and have for a long period of time. The people who make those decisions do not agree with that." - Rep. Joe Schwarz, R-Mich.
We live in an instant-coffee world. Sometimes real-world solutions take a little longer." - Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas
"It's hard to get a clear picture of exactly where we stand. We've made progress with the training of Iraqi security forces, but it's taken a lot longer to get there than we anticipated." - Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C.
"People are weary and kind of fatigued about it - and, of course, casualties are very disheartening. There's a certain frustration." - Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
"There is a growing unease, but all the folks I talked to support our troops, want us to win in the Middle East and still trust our military leaders to do the right thing. I think there's some skepticism of our civilian leaders." - Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn.
"It's hard to argue with people who have concerns. I usually just try to explain to them that it'll be very dangerous to pick up and leave there, even though nothing will please me more than to get our troops out of harm's way." - Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.
"If this hole he's dug us in Iraq is not filled in by him relatively shortly, we're going to inherit the whirlwind for a generation. This is going to end up in a civil war and a regional war." - Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.
"This clearly has taken far longer than the administration has estimated. There's been a far greater expense in lives, blood and dollars than they thought, and than they told the American people." - Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Ark.
"We're a country of instant gratification. I think we would love it if we could just go whip, bang it's done and we can just bring the troops home. But I think most people know there's more to it than that." - Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo.
"It's a rollercoaster ride and hopefully we're going to end where we ought to end. But I don't think we should paint too rosy a picture for people. It's still going to be tough." - Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas.
This Year, Bush Takes a Different Tone With the U.N.
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page A08
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 14 -- Three years ago, making the case for confronting Iraq, President Bush said the United Nations would sink into irrelevancy if it failed to act at a "difficult and defining moment." But, addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, the president struck a strikingly different tone, praising the "vital work and great ideals of this institution" and its efforts to take the "first steps" toward managerial and structural reforms.
Winter Heating Bills Set To Soar
High Fuel Prices, Low Temperatures Chill the Forecast
By Peter Behr
Special to The Washington Post
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page D01
This summer's gasoline price shock will be followed by a similarly sharp jump in winter heating bills in the Washington area, analysts are warning, and fuel bills will leap even higher if forecasts for unusually cold weather prove true.
Winter heating costs have followed in lockstep with the rise of crude oil and natural gas prices, as supplies of energy commodities strain to keep up with growing demand for fuels worldwide. Natural gas prices paid by consumers have doubled since the beginning of 2000, and the increase in heating oil costs has been almost as great.
Demand already has increased at Mark Killinger's Atlantic Firewood in East Windham, Maine, as steep energy costs are expected nationwide this winter. (By Jessica Rinaldi -- Reuters)
Consumers nationwide are expected to spend 34 percent more for heating oil this winter than last, 52 percent more for natural gas, 16 percent more for coal and 11 percent more for electricity, according to the preliminary winter fuel projection by the government's Energy Information Administration. The heaviest burden should fall on natural gas customers in the Midwest, the EIA predicts, with costs 71 percent higher than last winter.
The winter fuel increases will bring total energy spending for the nation to just over $1 trillion this year, 24 percent higher than in 2004, claiming the biggest share of U.S. output since the end of the oil crisis 20 years ago, the EIA said
Northwest, Delta File for Bankruptcy Protection
By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, September 15, 2005; Page A01
Delta Air Lines and Northwest, the nation's third- and fourth-largest carriers, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday as skyrocketing fuel costs accelerated the carriers' financial decline.
With the filings, an unprecedented four of the nation's seven largest carriers will be operating under bankruptcy protection, marking a low point for an industry that many analysts said had shown signs of turning a corner this year -- if not for the run-up in jet fuel prices.
A Delta Airlines jet sits parked next to two Northwest Airlines jets earlier this year at Sea-Tac International Airport in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) (Ted S. Warren - AP)
Struggling Airlines
The airline industry, facing rising fuel prices, sharp competition, an inflexible market for ticket prices and the lingering fear of terrorism, is in the midst of its most critical period in decades.
Analysts expect Dulles-based Independence Air's parent, Flyi Inc., to soon join the pack of bankrupt carriers. Two carriers in bankruptcy protection, UAL Corp.'s United and US Airways Group Inc., have indicated plans to emerge in the coming months. AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, Continental Airlines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Inc., the other three major carriers, posted profits last quarter.
Airline workers, whose wages and benefits have been cut aggressively, are likely to face further hardship. The airlines are likely to further trim their workforces to become smaller, more efficient businesses. Older carriers, such as Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., are saddled with hefty obligations to pension funds that could be turned over to the federal government
under bankruptcy protection, diminishing workers' retirement benefits.
The airlines beat next month's launch of a new bankruptcy law, which makes it more difficult for executives to collect retention pay. The new law also requires carriers to emerge from bankruptcy within 18 months.
Okay, New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. [laughter] Picking up the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting. [laughter] [applause]
New Rule: Don't drag kids into adult fights. Everybody knows you don't exploit children as pawns during a strike. You exploit children as pawns during a divorce! [laughter] Let's limit kids to their one true airline responsibility: kicking the back of my seat. [laughter] [applause]
New Rule: The term, “CPT,” which stands for Colored People's Time, based on the belief that blacks are often late, must now be renamed “FGT,” for “Federal Government Time.” [laughter] [applause] And when people like Mike Brown walk in anywhere, even five minutes late, everyone must roll their eyes and mumble, “FGT.” [laughter] [applause]
New Rule, and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. [applause] After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. [laughter] [applause] I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. [laughter] I don't want to be on
And finally, New Rule: America must recall the president. [applause] [cheers] That's – that's what this country needs. A good, old-fashioned, California-style recall election! [applause] [cheers] Complete with Gary Coleman, porno actresses and action film stars. [laughter] And just like Schwarzenegger's predecessor here in California, George Bush is now so unpopular, he must defend his jog against…Russell Crowe. [laughter] Because at this point, I want a leader who will throw a phone at somebody. [laughter] [applause] In fact, let's have only phone throwers. Naomi Campbell can be the vice-president! [laughter]
Now, I kid, but seriously, Mr. President, this job can't be fun for you anymore. [laughter] There's no more money to spend. You used up all of that. [laughter] You can't start another war because you also used up the army. And now, darn the luck, the rest of your term has become the Bush family nightmare: helping poor people. [laughter] [applause]
Yeah, listen to your mom. The cupboard's bare, the credit card's maxed out, and no one is speaking to you: mission accomplished! [laughter] Now it's time to do what you've always done best: lose interest and walk away. [laughter] [applause] Like you did with your military service. And the oil company. And the baseball team. It's time. Time to move on and try the next fantasy job. How about cowboy or spaceman?! [laughter] [applause]
Now, I know what you're saying. You're saying that there's so many other things that you, as president, could involve yourself in…Please don't. [laughter] I know, I know, there's a lot left to do. There's a war with Venezuela, and eliminating the sales tax on yachts. [laughter] Turning the space program over to the church. [laughter] [applause] And Social Security to Fannie Mae. [laughter] Giving embryos the vote. [laughter] [applause] But, sir, none of that is going to happen now. Why? Because you govern like Billy Joel drives. [laughter] You've performed so poorly I'm surprised you haven't given yourself a medal. [laughter] You're a catastrophe that walks like a man. [laughter]
Herbert Hoover was a shitty president, but even he never conceded an entire metropolis to rising water and snakes. [laughter]
On your watch, we've lost almost all of our allies, the surplus, four airliners, two Trade Centers, a piece of the Pentagon and the City of New Orleans…Maybe you're just not lucky! [laughter] [applause] [cheers]
I'm not saying you don't love this country. I'm just wondering how much worse it could be if you were on the other side. [laughter] So, yes, God does speak to you, and what he's saying is, “Take a hint.”
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The director of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Michael Brown resigned on Monday after being recalled to Washington amid criticism of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.
In an apparent nod to demands that Brown be replaced by someone with experience in emergency response, President George W. Bush replaced Brown with David Paulison, a veteran firefighter who now runs FEMA's preparedness division.
Paulison was also the Homeland Security official who urged Americans to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting in 2003 to protect against a biological or chemical attack, a recommendation that was widely ridiculed in the media.
Lavish tastes of card-carrying lowlifes
Profiteering ghouls have been using debit cards distributed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - intended to buy essentials for evacuated families - in luxury-goods stores as far away as Atlanta.
"We've seen three of the cards," said a senior employee of the Louis Vuitton store at the Lenox Square Mall in affluent Buckhead, who asked not to be named. "Two I'm certain have purchased; one actually asked if she could use it in the store. This has been since Saturday."
The distinctive white cards were distributed by the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and carry a value of up to $2,000.
"It doesn't say anything on the card other than alcohol, tobacco and firearms cannot be purchased with it," the store employee told me. "There's nothing legally that prevents us from taking it, unfortunately. Other than morally, it's wrong."
The source told me that the two women who had made purchases with the card each bought a signature monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbag in the $800 range.
"They didn't look destitute by any stretch. You would never have said, 'They must be one of the evacuees.' … The one that I dealt with yesterday was 20. She'll be 21 next month." The source described the reaction of other store-keepers in the mall - which includes luxury brands Ferragamo, Burberry, Judith Leiber and Neiman Marcus - as "outrage."
"It doesn't say anywhere on there, but it would have to be a good amount to be shopping in here," the source said with a dark chuckle.
Pot' patch price grows to $14,000
By Maggie Mulvihill
Sunday, September 11, 2005
The Romney administration paid a Florida firm nearly $14,000 - far more than it admitted paying early last week - for uniform patches for state workers, thousands of which were botched and couldn't be worn.
``That is such a waste of money when there are so many in this state who need money,'' said state Rep. Brian P. Wallace (D-Boston).
Wallace criticized the Department of Recreation and Conservation for creating a patch for park rangers that didn't feature the state seal and sported a leafy plant many felt resembled marijuana. Three versions of the patch were produced for the uniforms worn by the 140 full-time staff members of DCR, as well as for seasonal employees, said DCR spokesman Joseph O'Keefe.
O'Keefe told the Herald Wednesday DCR spent some $3,300 on patches for rangers, but later admitted the cost for the total production of DCR patches was $13,639. The funds were paid to Tampa, Fla., printing firm Hallmark Emblems Inc., he said.
Wallace said there is no need to hire a firm in Florida for state business. ``I'm pretty upset that they wouldn't do business in Massachusetts. If they are going to shop around, they should shop around in Massachusetts,'' Wallace said
Arafat's Death Remains a Mystery
By JOSEF FEDERMAN
Associated Press Writer
September 9, 2005, 6:50 AM EDT
JERUSALEM -- Newly revealed medical records have failed to solve the mystery of Yasser Arafat's death, although they do cast doubt on popular conspiracy theories about poisoning or rumors of AIDS. But the main question -- what led to the massive stroke that killed the longtime Palestinian leader -- may never be answered.
While Arafat's death has led to an improvement in Israeli-Palestinian relations, ongoing doubts about whether foul play killed him remain a sticking point.
Arafat, 75, died Nov. 11, 2004, in a French military hospital near Paris after a sudden, rapid decline in his health. Arafat's wife, Suha, refused an autopsy and Palestinian leaders have never given a definitive cause of death.
Two Israeli journalists obtained Arafat's medical records from a senior Palestinian official and turned over the information to The New York Times. One of the journalists, Israel Radio reporter Avi Isacharoff, then shared the records with The Associated Press, which, like the Times, put the information to medical experts.
French doctors who treated Arafat concluded he died of a "massive brain hemorrhage" after suffering intestinal inflammation, jaundice and a blood condition known as disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC.
But the records are inconclusive about what brought about DIC, which has numerous causes ranging from infections to colitis to liver disease.
"Consultation with experts and laboratory tests could not help to find a cause that would explain ... the group of syndromes," the French doctors wrote. The report makes no mention of poisoning or AIDS.
Arafat was rushed to the Percy Military Training Hospital outside Paris after falling violently ill at his West Bank compound in Ramallah, where Israel had confined him for the last three years of his life. He had been in poor health for several years.
The French report criticized Arafat's living conditions, noting he lived "in confinement for three years" and "had no exposure to the sun during that time." One set of doctors said Arafat did not eat well and had poor hygiene, although other doctors said his diet was sufficient.
Hospital director Dr. Jean-Paul Burlaton refused to discuss Arafat's medical records. "We did our job at the appropriate time and so we have no comment to make," he told the AP.
Since Arafat's death, rumors have swirled throughout the Middle East that Arafat died from either AIDS or poisoning. Many Palestinian officials insist that Israeli agents somehow poisoned him.
Dr. Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat's personal physician, asserted Arafat had the AIDS virus in his blood. "It was given to him to cover up the poison," he told the AP. Al-Kurdi, however, did not say how the AIDS virus or poison might have entered Arafat's body. He did not join the French doctors and would not say whether he had seen their records.
Israeli officials reject the accusations and said they hoped the records would put such assertions to rest.
"Israel was not in any way involved in what happened with Arafat. The Palestinians know this, the Arabs know this, Arafat's family knows this," said Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. "This matter is inflammatory ... and I think it is important that this be taken off the agenda immediately."
The Times said poisoning was highly unlikely. It noted that toxicology studies done by the French doctors were negative and said Arafat did not suffer extensive kidney and liver damage typical of poisoning.
It also said Arafat's condition improved in the hospital and that he was able to walk and talk before slipping into a coma Nov. 3. Such improvement would make poisoning unlikely.
The newspaper cited an unidentified Israeli infectious-diseases expert as criticizing the French medical team for not testing for AIDS. But the expert said after studying the records, AIDS was unlikely due to the sudden onset of an intestinal illness.
Dr. Dan Rorman, an Israeli internist who reviewed the French doctors' conclusions, said Arafat's condition at the end of his life was not uncommon for an elderly man suffering from an infection.
"The series of clinical events as detailed in this conclusion are not rare for a severe infection in a man of his age," Rorman said.
The biggest unknown is the nature of an infection that appears to have led to the blood disorder DIC, which was never controlled and led to his death.
The French doctors could not determine where in Arafat's bowel the infection was located and what microbes caused it. Food contamination has been mentioned as a possibility.
Arafat became ill with nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea after eating dinner in his compound Oct. 12. The symptoms continued for more than two weeks before he was evacuated to France.
"The mystery around Yasser Arafat will only grow bigger and bigger after reading this report," Isacharoff said.
Lawyer Is Fired After Talking About Rove
By Associated Press
September 11, 2005, 7:12 AM EDT
AUSTIN, Texas -- A lawyer with the Texas secretary of state was fired after she spoke to a reporter about presidential adviser Karl Rove's eligibility to vote in the state.
Elizabeth Reyes, 30, said she was dismissed last week for violating the agency's media policy after she was quoted in a Sept. 3 story by The Washington Post about tax deductions on Rove's homes in Washington and Texas.
Scott Haywood, a spokesman for Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams, confirmed Reyes' firing but wouldn't discuss specifics. He had earlier told the Post that Reyes "was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency."
Reyes told the Post on Friday a superior told her that her bosses were upset about the article. Williams has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Republicans, including President Bush, who relies heavily on Rove for political strategy.
While Reyes said she didn't know she was talking to a reporter, she said the press policy doesn't bar her from speaking with the media.
"The policy allows us to talk to members of the media," she told the Post. "The policy says if it's a controversial issue or a special issue, it needs to be forwarded on to someone else. Just talking to the media doesn't violate it, as I read it. ... Karl Rove didn't come up. It wasn't something you could classify as controversial."
She said she sent a certified letter to Williams's office asking that her dismissal be reconsidered.
The Post earlier reported that Rove inadvertently received a homestead tax deduction on his home in Washington, even though he had not been eligible for the benefit for more than three years. Rove was eligible for the deduction when he bought the home in 2001, but a change in the tax law in 2002 made the deduction available only to property owners who do not vote elsewhere. Rove is registered to vote in Texas.
The tax office admitted the mistake, saying it failed to rescind the deduction, and Rove agreed to reimburse the city an estimated $3,400 in back taxes, the Post reported.
Rove is registered to vote in Kerr County, Texas, where he and his wife own two rental homes that he claims as his residence. But two local residents told the Post they had never seen Rove there.
The Post reported Saturday that when its reporter called the Texas secretary of state's office for her story, she was told the press officer was on vacation and she was transferred to Reyes.
The attorney told the reporter that it was potential vote fraud in Texas to register in a place where you don't actually live, and she was quoted as saying Rove's cottages don't "sound like a residence to me, because it's not a fixed place of habitation."
The Post ran a correction Saturday saying Reyes had not been asked about Rove by name and that the story should have mentioned Reyes's further explanation that an individual's intent to return to a home owned in Texas is a primary factor in qualifying for residency.
Bay St.Louis Miss.
The deployment of thousands of National Guard troops from Mississippi and Louisiana in Iraq when Hurricane Katrina struck hindered those States initial storm response, military and civilian officals said yesterday.
Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said that arguably a day of response time at most was lost due to the absence of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Infantry Brigade and Louisiana's 256th Infantry Brigade each with thousands of troops in Iraq.
An investigation of the Republican Administration by a Republican-controlled Congress is lilke having a picther call his own balls and strikes
Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid
Court backs Bush on detainee
Says citizen can be held without trial
By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | September 10, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has the power to imprison without trial a US citizen arrested on American soil, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The decision is likely to set up a confrontation in the Supreme Court over the balance between civil liberties and national security.
The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Va., held that Bush has the power to hold Jose Padilla, a US citizen arrested in Chicago three years ago on suspicion of plotting attacks for Al Qaeda, without trial as an ''enemy combatant." Padilla has been held without charges for three years in a South Carolina brig.
The decision extended previous court approval for Bush's authority to detain terrorism suspects outside the civilian justice system to US citizens arrested domestically. The Supreme Court ruled last year that Bush could indefinitely hold a citizen captured on a foreign battlefield, but a US District Court said in February that any citizen taken into custody in the United States must be charged or released.
''The . . . question before us is whether the president of the United States possesses the authority to detain militarily a citizen of this country
Whiny Kilts puts Boston on notice: Gillette head slams Hub, warns critics
By Brett Arends
Friday, September 9, 2005 - Updated: 03:24 AM EST
Gillette Chief Executive James Kilts lashed out at the Hub yesterday, complaining he had become ``Boston's pinata'' and implying the city has a ``negative attitude.''
The Rye, N.Y.-based Kilts, who will make about $180 million from the sale of Gillette Co. to Ohio-based Procter & Gamble, also decried ``Boston's assault on the merger'' and issued a thinly veiled threat that the company's new masters in Cincinnati might punish the Hub by cutting off further investment.
And he made the remarkable admission that he's only staying with Gillette because P&G insisted on it as a condition of the blockbuster deal. ``Walking away would have been fine with me,'' he said.
Kilts' aggressive and confrontational speech took place in front of about 200 business leaders at a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce meeting downtown, and lasted the best part of an hour
Sep 9, 9:49 AM EDT
Powell Criticizes Response to Katrina
NEW YORK (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized the response to Hurricane Katrina, saying "a lot of failures" occurred at all levels of government.
Powell, the highest ranking black official in President Bush's first term, also said he does not believe race was a factor in the slow delivery of relief to the hurricane victims.
"I think there have been a lot of failures at a lot of levels - local, state and federal. There was more than enough warning over time about the dangers to New Orleans. Not enough was done," Powell told ABC News' Barbara Walters in an interview to be aired Friday night.
"I don't think advantage was taken of the time that was available to us, and I just don't know why," said Powell, who recently visited storm survivors at Reunion Arena in Dallas.
"I don't think it's racism, I think it's economic," he told Walters.
"When you look at those who weren't able to get out, it should have been a blinding flash of the obvious to everybody that when you order a mandatory evacuation, you can't expect everybody to evacuate on their own.
"These are people who don't have credit cards; only one in 10 families at that economic level in New Orleans have a car. So it wasn't a racial thing - but poverty disproportionately affects African-Americans in this country. And it happened because they were poor," he said.
In the interview, Powell also said his prewar speech to the United Nations accusing Iraq of harboring weapons of mass destruction was a "blot" on his record.
"I'm the one who presented it to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It is painful now," he said.
Powell's presentation to the U.N. in February 2003 lent considerable credibility to Bush's case against Iraq and for going to war to remove Saddam Hussein.
GOP Moves Ahead With Spending-Cut Plans
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans are going ahead with long-standing plans to trim Medicaid, food stamps and other benefits, even though party moderates are balking at cutting programs that aid the poor while hundreds of thousands are homeless from Hurricane Katrina....
Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown is being removed from his role managing Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, according to the Associated Press.
Brown is being sent back to Washington from Baton Rouge, where he was the primary official overseeing the federal government's response to the disaster, according to two federal officials who declined to be identified before the announcement.
Brown will be replaced by Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad w. Allen, who was overseeing New Orleans relief and rescue efforts.
Patronage appointments to the crisis-response agency are nothing new to Washington administrations. But inexperience in FEMA's top ranks is emerging as a key concern of local, state and federal leaders as investigators begin to sift through what the government has admitted was a bungled response to Hurricane Katrina.
But scorching criticism has been aimed at FEMA, and it starts at the top with Brown, who has admitted to errors in responding to Hurricane Katrina and the flooding in New Orleans. The Oklahoma native, 50, was hired to the agency after a rocky tenure as commissioner of a horse sporting group by former FEMA director Joe M. Allbaugh, the 2000 Bush campaign manager and a college friend of Brown's.
Rhode, Brown's chief of staff, is a former television reporter who came to Washington as advance deputy director for Bush's Austin-based 2000 campaign and then the White House. He joined FEMA in April 2003 after stints at the Commerce Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Altshuler is a former presidential advance man. His predecessor, Scott Morris, was a media strategist for Bush with the Austin firm Maverick Media.
David I. Maurstad, who stepped down as Nebraska lieutenant governor in 2001 to join FEMA, has served as acting director for risk reduction and federal insurance administrator since June 2004. Daniel A. Craig, a onetime political fundraiser and campaign adviser, came to FEMA in 2001 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he directed the eastern regional office, after working as a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
PATRIOTS 30, RAIDERS 20
Defending turf
Patriots take Raiders' best shot and prevail
By Jerome Solomon, Globe Staff | September 9, 2005
FOXBOROUGH -- The New England Patriots claim they are not out to make history, just first downs.
They maintain they focus more on getting their clutches on opposing quarterbacks than on another Lombardi Trophy.
They even say reaching a goal no other National Football League team has achieved -- a third consecutive Super Bowl championship -- is secondary to reaching the goal line.
Whether they admit it or not, the lofty, albeit unspoken, aspirations are going to make the first downs, tackles, and touchdowns more difficult.
The Oakland Raiders demonstrated as much last night, but the two-time defending Super Bowl champions displayed their standard resilience, toppling the feisty visitors, 30-20, in the 2005 season opener.
The Patriots recorded their 21st straight victory at Gillette Stadium, a streak that extends to late in the 2002 season, and it marked the 100th career win for coach Bill Belichick.
In many ways it came in a fashion similar to so many wondrous wins the previous four seasons -- efficient, opportunistic offense, and dominant defense when it mattered. But it also came with some distinct differences from how the Patriots rolled to the championship last year. Namely, a blocked extra point and punt, and the defense giving up the longest play it has allowed in more than five years.
About all that did was keep the boisterous sellout crowd from having a game-long celebration on the night the team's championship banner from Super Bowl XXXIX was unveiled.
''It was a nice way to start out the season, with a victory," Belichick said. ''We kind of stumbled around on a few things tonight that are going to catch up with us if we don't get 'em fixed."
The Patriots found one fix in this one, junking their 3-4 defensive set for a time to go with a 4-3 alignment, with Jarvis Green joining Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, and Vince Wilfork up front. The resulting pressure on Raiders quarterback Kerry Collins served to keep him from getting the ball to wideout Randy Moss, who burned the Patriots twice for long gains in the first half and finished with five receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown.
The Patriots' defense was particularly stout in the third quarter, when it held the Raiders to 34 yards. Oakland had five possessions in the period, but was 0 for 4 on third downs, and turned the ball over with an interception.
''We knew we had to pressure the quarterback -- knock him off a spot," Wilfork said, who came down with the interception at a key point.
Leading, 17-14, New England took over the field position battle early in the third quarter by downing a pair of Josh Miller punts at the Oakland 4.
Legislators criticize White House for nuclear deal with India
Pact would mark US policy change
By Dafna Linzer, Washington Post | September 9, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration came under heavy criticism yesterday by Republican and Democratic members of Congress for signing a major nuclear deal with India, which has expressed support for Iran's right to a nuclear energy program despite US efforts to pressure Tehran into giving it up.
Members of the House International Relations Committee also chided two administration officials for reaching the India deal, which would reverse decades of US policy and could require significant changes to US laws, without first consulting Congress.
''You chose an initiative for which you may not be able to deliver, and you chose to make this initiative without, to my knowledge, any serious prior consultation with the Congress," said Representative Jim Leach, Republican of Iowa.
The India deal, announced at the White House in July, would for the first time provide New Delhi with sensitive civilian nuclear technology. That would create an exception to the US ban on nuclear assistance to any country that does not accept international monitoring of its nuclear facilities. India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which requires such oversight, and conducted its first nuclear detonation in 1974.
Texas political group indicted
Is charged with taking illegal corporate funds
By April Castro, Associated Press | September 9, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas -- A Texas grand jury has indicted a political organization formed by Tom DeLay, accusing it of taking illegal corporate money as the House majority leader helped Republicans win control of the Texas Legislature and kept Congress in GOP hands.
DeLay, Republican of Texas, was not indicted by a Travis County grand jury in the charges made public yesterday, although three of his political associates were charged earlier. District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, said he had no jurisdiction over DeLay's personal conduct.
A prominent Texas business group was also charged in what Earle called an attempt to funnel ''massive amounts of secret corporate wealth" into campaigns. State law prohibits the use of corporate contributions to advocate the election or defeat of state candidates.
The complaint alleges that once DeLay helped Republicans win control of the Legislature in 2002, the majority leader engineered a Republican redistricting plan that gave the state's US House delegation a 21-to-11 majority in the current Congress. The effort helped Republicans increase their House presence by five seats this year.
Sept. 11 relief loans went to unaffected firms
Record analysis finds loose lending practices
By Dirk Lammers and Frank Bass, Associated Press | September 9, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The government's $5 billion effort to help small businesses recover from the Sept. 11 attacks was so loosely managed that it gave low-interest loans to companies that didn't need terrorism relief -- or even know they were getting it, the Associated Press has found.
And while some at Ground Zero couldn't get the assistance they desperately sought, companies far removed from the devastation -- a South Dakota country radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop, a Utah dog boutique, and more than 100 Dunkin' Donuts, and Quiznos and Subway sandwich shops -- had no problem getting the government-guaranteed loans.
''That's scary. 9/11 had nothing to do with this," said James Munsey, a Virginia entrepreneur who described himself as ''beyond shocked" to learn that his nearly $1 million loan to buy a special events company in Richmond was drawn from the Sept. 11 program.
''It would have been inappropriate for me to take this kind of loan," he said, stating that the company he bought suffered no ill effects from the attacks.
Arvind ''Andy" Patel, 50, said he used his $350,000 loan in fall 2002 to remodel his Dunkin' Donuts shop in western New York State and never knew it was drawn through the Sept. 11 program.
''Not at all," Patel said when asked whether his business was hurt by the attacks.
Human pesticide test limits proposed
Children, pregnant women seen at risk
By Erica Werner, Associated Press | September 8, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday proposed banning pesticide testing on pregnant women and children -- a move that followed criticism that the government's reliance on human pesticide tests has irresponsibly endangered vulnerable people.
Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts ''The government here is imposing strict standards for both what we will be allowed to give consideration to, and what we will allow people who are doing research on pesticides to do," Jim Jones, director of the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs, said in an interview.
Beaver Statues Given Implants
Electronic Gadget Can Alert Police
BEAVERCREEK, Ohio -- Beavercreek officials knew they had to do something when their 250-pound fiberglass beaver statues started going missing from the streets.
So they embedded tracking devices in the six-and-a-half-foot-tall sculptures, which are being displayed to celebrate the city's 25th anniversary.
The electronic gadgets alert police if the beavers are picked up, and enable officers to track them. The devices also give off loud beeping sounds if the beavers are moved.
The statues are the brainchild of a former mayor who was inspired by Chicago's fiberglass cows and Cincinnati's fiberglass pigs. They will be auctioned off on Oct. 15, with the proceeds used for improvements at a senior citizens center, a community theater and a teen center.
LOVE TRIUMPHS
6-year-old becomes a hero to band of toddlers, rescuers
Tense days lead to reunion of kids and their moms
By ELLEN BARRY
Los Angeles Times
BATON ROUGE, LA. - In the chaos that was Causeway Boulevard, this group of evacuees stood out: a 6-year-old boy walking down the road, holding a 5-month-old, surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.
They were holding hands. Three of the children were about 2 years old, and one was wearing only diapers. A 3-year-old girl had her 14-month-old brother in tow. The 6-year-old spoke for all of them, and he said his name was Deamonte Love.
After their rescue Thursday, paramedics in the Baton Rouge rescue operations headquarters tried to coax their names out of them.
Transporting the children alone was "the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, knowing that their parents are either dead" or that they had been abandoned, said Pat Coveney, a Houston emergency medical technician who put them into the back of his ambulance and drove them out of New Orleans.
"It goes back to the same thing," he said. "How did a 6-year-old end up being in charge of six babies?"
Inebriated Belgian woman dies in cemetery accident
Wed Sep 7, 2005 1:43 PM BST
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An inebriated Belgian woman died in a freak accident when she ended up beneath a heavy grave stone at a cemetery, local news agency Belga said on Wednesday.
The 33-year-old was on her way home from a bar in the Belgian town of Pulle in the early hours of Saturday when she took a short cut through the cemetery.
But she urgently needed to relieve herself and crouched down between two gravestones. As she lost her balance, she grabbed one of the stones which gave way and landed on top of her.
The public prosecutor's office said she died of suffocation as she was unable to lift the heavy stone.
Chinese President Visits Canada Intent on Oil, Energy Ties; Washington Looks On
By Beth Duff-Brown Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 8, 2005
TORONTO (AP) - Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Canada this week, at a time when Beijing is boosting investments in Canadian oil and natural resources, and Washington and Ottawa continue to snipe over lumber tariffs.
Hu arrives in Canada on Thursday for his first state visit, celebrating 35 years of diplomatic ties and rapidly expanding trade and energy agreements with Canada.
China is Canada's second-largest trading partner, after the United States, and Ottawa and Beijing conducted some $30 billion worth of trade last year. With the world's fastest growing economy and rapid urbanization, the Chinese are hungry for more oil and natural resources - and Canada has those, in abundance.
Washington will closely eye the official visit, which includes meetings with Prime Minister Paul Martin and federal, provincial and business leaders in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. Hu was supposed to meet President Bush at the White House next week, but postponed the visit after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast.
The United States relies on Canada for some 17 percent of its oil and energy and is well aware that China is boosting investments in Canadian oil and natural resources. At the same time, Washington and Ottawa, the world's largest trading partners, continue to snipe over lumber tariffs and question each other's long-term defense policies.
"What I worry about is that the United States is making it easy for China; that in one way or another the United States is screwing up in its relationship with Canada," said Richard C. Bush, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
"And that makes it very easy for Hu Jintao to walk in and say, 'Hi, I'm from China and we want to be your friend. And by the way, I want to buy your oil and your minerals and let's not worry about your neighbor next door. We've both got problems with them, so let's talk.'"
Vice President Dick Cheney's national energy policy report in 2001 noted the importance of Canada's oil sands to U.S. energy security. But while Americans blocked a bid by China to buy Unocal Corp., claiming it could threaten U.S. national security, Canadians support potential oil deals with China.
The state-controlled China National Petroleum Corp. announced last month it would pay $4.2 billion for Canada-based PetroKazakhstan Inc. In April, CNOOC bought nearly 17 percent of Calgary-based MEG Energy Corp.
Martin, meanwhile, is hosting Hu at a state banquet in Ottawa on Thursday. Hu will also attend a banquet and give a speech at the Canada China Business Council in Toronto on Saturday and visit Niagara Falls on a personal visit.
Hu then heads to Mexico on Sunday. He intends to meet with President Bush on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week before returning to Vancouver Sept. 16 for two days of meetings and another banquet hosted by Martin.
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force Inspector General's office has cleared a top Air Force Academy general of proselytizing non-Christian cadets, Air Force spokeswoman Jennifer Stephens said Wednesday.
Commandant of Cadets Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida had faced seven allegations that he improperly shared his faith. The inspector general in June cleared him of six of the seven allegations, including his June 2003 "guidance" to cadets that said they are "accountable first to your God." He also urged cadets and staff to pray.
The academy said the final allegation of which he was cleared Wednesday was "using a religious communicative code to facilitate the proselytizing of non-Christian cadets."
"Gen. Weida has readily acknowledged that his actions were inappropriate and has taken positive, visible corrective actions that reflect his true character," Stephens said.
U.S. agency blocks photos of New Orleans dead
Tue Sep 6, 2005 8:56 PM ET
NEW ORLEANS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. government agency leading the rescue efforts after Hurricane Katrina said on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead as they are recovered from the flooded New Orleans area.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, heavily criticized for its slow response to the devastation caused by the hurricane, rejected requests from journalists to accompany rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims.
An agency spokeswoman said space was needed on the rescue boats and that "the recovery of the victims is being treated with dignity and the utmost respect."
"We have requested that no photographs of the deceased be made by the media," the spokeswoman said in an e-mailed response to a Reuters inquiry.
The Bush administration also has prevented the news media from photographing flag-draped caskets of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, which has sparked criticism that the government is trying to block images that put the war in a bad light.
The White House is under fire for its handling of the relief effort, which many officials have charged was slow and bureacratic, contributing to the death and mayhem in New Orleans after the storm struck on Aug. 29
Bird flu pandemic a question of when, not if -WHO
Wed 7 Sep 2005 10:07 AM ET
COLOMBO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - The world is going to face a pandemic of the bird flu strain lethal to humans and Thailand is the only nation in South and Southeast Asia ready to deal with it, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Wednesday.
WHO officials said the virus could mutate into a form that could pass easily from one human to another, making it easier for it to spread rapidly across great distances and kill between one million and seven million people worldwide.
"We may be at almost the last stage before the pandemic virus may emerge," Dr. Jai P. Narain, Director of WHO's communicable diseases department told a news conference on the sidelines of a Southeast Asia health summit in the Sri Lankan capital.
"Whether the avian influenza pandemic will occur, that is not the question any more, (but) as to when the pandemic will occur," he added.
"So far there is only one country in Southeast Asia with a pandemic preparedness plan ... Thailand... They have a stockpile of anti-viral drugs," Narain said. "At the same time we are in dialogue with our member countries. We are in the process of preparing this pandemic preparedness plan."
The deadly bird flu virus, now feared to be heading for Europe, killed one person in Vietnam last week, taking the number of deaths in Asia from the disease to 63.
The death took Vietnam's bird flu death toll to 44, with 23 of the victims dying since the virus returned in December 2004, after sweeping through much of Asia in late 2003.
It has also killed at least 12 people in Thailand, four in Cambodia, three in Indonesia and has struck six Russian regions and Kazakhstan, causing the deaths of nearly 14,000 fowl.
Narain said migrating birds posed a serious risk of spreading avian flu around the world and Asia was very vulnerable as winter approaches.
"It is no longer poultry. We are concerned about a whole range of bird species," Narain said.
"The virus has been detected in migratory birds in some former Soviet states where the these birds traditionally fly towards Asia to escape the cold winter months," he added.
Barbara Bush: It's Good Enough for the Poor
John Nichols1 hour, 5 minutes ago
The Nation -- Finally, we have discovered the roots of George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism."
On the heels of the president's "What, me worry?" response to the death, destruction and dislocation that followed upon Hurricane Katrina comes the news of his mother's Labor Day visit with hurricane evacuees at the Astrodome in Houston.
Commenting on the facilities that have been set up for the evacuees -- cots crammed side-by-side in a huge stadium where the lights never go out and the sound of sobbing children never completely ceases -- former First Lady Barbara Bush concluded that the poor people of New Orleans had lucked out.
"Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them," Mrs. Bush told American Public Media's "Marketplace" program, before returning to her multi-million dollar Houston home.
On the tape of the interview, Mrs. Bush chuckles audibly as she observes just how great things are going for families that are separated from loved ones, people who have been forced to abandon their homes and the only community where they have ever lived, and parents who are explaining to children that their pets, their toys and in some cases their friends may be lost forever. Perhaps the former first lady was amusing herself with the notion that evacuees without bread could eat cake.
At the very least, she was expressing a measure of empathy commensurate with that evidenced by her son during his fly-ins for disaster-zone photo opportunities.
On Friday, when even Republican lawmakers were giving the federal government an "F" for its response to the crisis, President Bush heaped praise on embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown. As thousands of victims of the hurricane continued to plead for food, water, shelter, medical care and a way out of the nightmare to which federal neglect had consigned them, Brown cheerily announced that "people are getting the help they need."
Barbara Bush's son put his arm around the addled FEMA functionary and declared, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
Like mother, like son.
Even when a hurricane hits, the apple does not fall far from the tree.
Halliburton Subsidiary Taps Contract For Repairs
By Lolita C. Baldor
Associated Press
Monday, September 5, 2005; Page A20
An Arlington-based Halliburton Co. subsidiary that has been criticized for its reconstruction work in Iraq has begun tapping a $500 million Navy contract to do emergency repairs at Gulf Coast naval and Marine facilities damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown & Root Services Inc., won the competitive bid contract last July to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters.
Jan Davis, a spokeswoman for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, said yesterday that KBR would receive $12 million for work at the Naval Air Station at Pascagoula, Miss., the Naval Station at Gulfport, Miss., and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. KBR will receive $4.6 million for work at two smaller Navy facilities in New Orleans and others in the South
Gun control efforts weaken in South
With laws relaxed, Northerners fear more trafficking
By Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Correspondent | September 4, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Even as Boston struggles against a tide of smuggled handguns, some state governments in the South are loosening their gun control laws in ways that critics say will make it easier for traffickers to bring illegal firearms into the Northeast.
Under pressure from the National Rifle Association, South Carolina abolished a state law last year that limited to one the number of handguns individuals can buy in a month, a measure that was designed in 1975 to prevent trafficking.
Virginia, which was the epicenter of gun smuggling into New York and Boston before it passed a one-gun-per-month law in 1993, weakened that rule in 2004 and gun control advocates fear that it could soon be abolished.
Academic studies have shown that limits on monthly gun purchases help limit smuggling, but lobbyists for gun manufacturers call such laws ''gun rationing" and say they infringe on Second Amendment gun ownership rights.
Over the past five years the overall trend on the state level has been toward lax gun laws, said David Hemenway, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health who studies gun crime. That has left states such as Massachusetts and New York, which retain their strict gun limits, increasingly isolated.
When it is easy to buy firearms in neighboring states, Hemenway said, ''it just makes it a lot harder for states with less permissive gun laws to keep guns out."
Urban jurisdictions in the Northeast have some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in the country, though shootings in Boston were up 11 percent from last year, according to statistics obtained by the Globe.
Police seized 490 guns in Boston through Aug. 23, up from 380 in the same period last year and 294 in 2001. A large percentage of those guns originated from outside the region.
Last month, a South Carolina judge sentenced a Boston man to 24 years in federal prison for buying 21 guns in the state, which he resold illegally in Boston after removing their serial numbers.
Sergeant Thomas Sexton, a spokesman for the Boston Police Department, said the police were concerned that less restrictive gun laws in other states would fuel smuggling into the region.
''It is a concern that some of these other states are relaxing some of their gun laws," he said.
South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, a Democrat, signed legislation ending that state's ban in May 2004. In Virginia, Democratic Governor Mark Warner, who may seek the party's 2008 presidential nomination, approved an exemption for gun owners with ''right-to-carry" permits from the state's one-gun-a-month limit.
Pinpointing the precise source of guns smuggled into the Northeast is difficult, analysts say, because last year Congress inserted a provision into a spending bill that prevented the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from releasing federal data about where guns used in violent crimes originated.
The amendment, sponsored by US Representative Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, prohibited the ATF from releasing documents related to ''traces" of guns. Local authorities can request traces for individual firearms to locate the owner of a stolen gun or in criminal investigations, but they don't have access to traces requested by other agencies.a bipartisan bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act and efforts like the Sunshine in Government Initiative.
Report says US data secrecy expanding and getting costlier
Expenses rose to $7.2b in 2004
By Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press | September 4, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The government is withholding more data than ever from the public and expanding ways of shrouding information. Last year, federal agencies spent a record $148 creating and storing new secrets for each $1 spent declassifying old secrets, a coalition of watchdog groups reported yesterday.
That's a $28 jump from 2003, when $120 was spent to keep secrets for every $1 spent revealing them. In the late 1990s, the ratio was $15-$17 a year to $1, according to the secrecy report card by OpenTheGovernment.org.
Overall, the government spent $7.2 billion in 2004 stamping 15.6 million documents ''top secret," ''secret," or ''confidential." That almost doubled the 8.6 million new documents classified as recently as 2001.
Last year, the number of pages declassified declined for the fourth straight year to 28.4 million. In 2001, 100 million pages were declassified; the record was 204 million pages in 1997.
These figures cover 41 federal agencies, excluding the CIA, whose classification totals are secret.
''These numbers show we are going in the wrong direction," said Rick Blum, author of the report and director of the coalition of consumer, environmental, labor, journalism and library groups.
The report also noted the growing use of secret searches, court secrecy, closed meetings by government advisory groups. and patents kept from public view.
''The 9/11 Commission pointed out that too much secrecy can make us less safe from terrorists, and the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina shows the public needs to know what could happen in their communities and what the response plans are," Blum said. He said a new law outside the classification system shrouds ''sensitive homeland security information" about infrastructure vulnerabilities and plans.
''Public engagement in helping fight terrorism or addressing public health risks is the biggest single advantage American society has," Blum said.
The numbers do not solely reflect over classification, said J. William Leonard, director of the National Archives' Information Security Oversight Office, which monitors classification. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, ''many agencies have gone to 24/7 operations, others have increased their intelligence product, and the military is fighting two wars. You can't do that without producing more classified, and unclassified, information."
Leonard said classification costs rise as agencies share secrets electronically. Yet, he said, ''the great lesson of 9/11 is that improper hoarding of information can cost lives and harm national security."
The report identified 50 new restrictions in laws, regulations or ''mere assertions by government officials" that keep unclassified information from the public. Some are needed to protect privacy or trade secrets, the report said, but ''such unchecked secrecy threatens accountability in government."
These include labels like ''limited official use," ''critical infrastructure information," and ''operations security protected."
''The volume and impact of these pseudo-classifications is growing," said Representative Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican who is chairman of the House national security subcommittee, and ''inhibits the free flow of critical information."
Leonard said, ''No one individual in government can identify all the controlled, unclassified [markings], let alone describe their rules."
Blum said he was encouraged by emergence in the last year of ''a vocal chorus pushing back against secrecy." He cited