Blood, Ink, and Oil: the Case of Darfur
The real reason may lie with the oil money that has backed George W. Bush from early in his first campaign for president.
U.S. oil companies, sidelined since 1997, are clearly eager for a piece of the action in Sudan. One of the recent oil deals signed with Khartoum is worth noting. On June 10, a "British" oil tycoon named Friedhelm Eronat acquired for $8 million the largest stake in a drilling contract signed two years ago on behalf of Cliveden Sudan, a company owned by Eronat at that time and had registered in the Virgin Islands to avoid paying taxes. Until then, Friedhelm Eronat had been an American citizen. He swapped his American citizenship for British just before signing the contract, thereby avoiding a jail sentence or fine.
But was Eronat - a high-risk wheeler-dealer who owns extensive drilling rights in neighboring Chad, where he played the Chinese against Canadian oil interests - acting on his own behalf in the recent deal, or was he fronting for other interests? Eronat has fronted for Exxon Mobil and other companies in the past. He narrowly escaped indictment on corruption and fraud charges in connection with a deal allegedly involving shell companies, bribery, and the swapping of Iranian oil for oil from Kazakhstan in order to circumvent the American law against trading with Iran.
You want to stop the genocide in Darfur? Divest from any company that supports the killing no matter how indirect it seems.
1012
Maryland Lt Governor urges divestiture of Sudan investments
Wednesday 22 March 2006 02:30.
March 21, 2006 (ANNAPOLIS) — Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele asked state pension system managers Monday to withdraw $1.9 billion from investment funds that hold stocks of companies that do business in Sudan to protest what he called "some of the most egregious human rights violations our nation has ever been witness to."
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=14658
1017
Rumsfeld never defeated General Shinseki. After Shinseki left all that was left were cowards and 'yes' men. Right General Marks?
Pentagon Contradicts General on Iraq Occupation Force's Size
In a contentious exchange over the costs of war with Iraq, the Pentagon's second-ranking official today disparaged a top Army general's assessment of the number of troops needed to secure postwar Iraq. House Democrats then accused the Pentagon official, Paul D. Wolfowitz, of concealing internal administration estimates on the cost of fighting and rebuilding the country.
1021
Commercials
1024
PanAfrica: Africa: Group Slams Janus Face of U.S. Policy
The report, which comes on the eve of a critical decision by the African Union (AU) whether to ask the United Nations to absorb its 7,000-strong peace monitoring force into a larger and more robust U.N. peacekeeping operation in Darfur, points precisely to Sudan as a prime example of the administration's competing priorities in Africa.
On the one hand, the administration has accused Khartoum of "genocide" in Darfur and has spoken out strongly -- most recently in an appeal Thursday by Secretary of State Robert Zoellick -- in favour of a strong U.N. mission to end the violence that has recently spread to Chad.
On the other hand, Washington has ruled out deployment of its own troops on the ground in Darfur and appears to be forging an alliance with Sudan's intelligence services in the context of its "war on terror", reportedly even building a listening post near Khartoum to gather intelligence in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula. To the extent that Washington relies on Khartoum's cooperation, its efforts to end the Darfur crisis are constrained.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200603100066.html
1047
NPPA Awards
Posted Mar 21st 2006 3:21PM by Jay Savage
The National Press Protographer's Association has started naming winners in their Best of Photojournalism 2006 still photography awards. The crop at right is from David Burnett's portrait of Joseph C. Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame that won the category of "News Protrait and Personality." Other categories include "Domesic News," "Art of Entertainment," "Celebrity News Single," "Natural Disaster," "Sports Single," "Team Sports," and around two dozen other categories. Judging should continue through the wekk, culminating with awards for "Photojournalist of the Year (under 115,000 circulation)," and "Photojournalist of the Year (over 115,000 circulation)." All of the more than 45,000 pictures entered are available in the online archive.
http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc.com/2006/03/21/nppa-awards/
Joe Wilson knocks Iraq policyFormer ambassador wants coalition to sit down and talkBy Diane Hirth DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
The man who rattled the White House by disputing President Bush's 2003 State of the Union claim that Saddam Hussein sought uranium in Niger to build a nuclear arsenal, said he did so simply as a patriot doing his duty.
Joe Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq who spent 23 years in public service under Democratic and Republican presidents, told several hundred attentive listeners at Florida State University: "What I did was not extraordinary. It's the environment in which we act that makes this truth-telling event revolutionary. There's something wrong with this picture."
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060321/NEWS01/603210331/1010/NEWS01
1058
Halliburton CEO says planning acquisitions
Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:38 AM ET
Printer Friendly Email Article Reprints RSS
NEW ORLEANS, March 21 (Reuters) - Oilfield services company Halliburton Co. (HAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) expects to acquire companies to complement its existing businesses and broaden its geographic reach, Chairman and Chief Executive Dave Lesar said on Tuesday.
"These are going to be technology acquisitions, bolt-on acquisitions to our product lines, product extensions or geographic extensions," Lesar told the Howard Weil energy conference.
Halliburton, the world's second-largest oil field services company, has seen its revenues climb due to robust spending by oil and gas producers seeking to boost output to take advantage of high energy prices.
The company has said it plans to launch an initial public offering for 20 percent of its engineering and construction unit KBR, which is the Pentagon's biggest private contractor in Iraq.
Halliburton recently raised its quarterly dividend by 20 percent, putting the first-quarter dividend per share at 15 cents.
1101
Anderson and his boy toy, Frankenstein can't extrapolate the obvious. The parents of the boy don't want him to be another Billy with two children by an older woman persecuted on his part. This mother states "I pray he can leave this behind him."
1103
Business Digest
Port firm weighs options at key time
SSA Marine of Seattle, the largest U.S.-based port terminal operator, said it has engaged Citigroup to explore its "strategic alternatives" at a pivotal moment for the nation's ports.
SSA said it has received "recent inquiries from many companies looking to partner with, or invest in SSA Marine, as well as the opportunities to acquire additional operations."
SSA is seen as a potential bidder for the U.S. operations that Dubai Ports World has agreed to divest. The Seattle company already is a joint-venture partner in three of the terminals — in Philadelphia, Wilmington, Del., and Camden, N.J. — that Dubai Ports bought before its acquisition of port operator P&O ran into congressional opposition.
"None of the alternatives we are exploring would involve selling control of our U.S. operations to a company owned by a foreign government," SSA spokesman Bob Watters said late Friday.
1110
Farrell knocks Shays on port security
BRIDGEPORT -- Democratic congressional hopeful Diane Farrell criticized U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays yesterday for not doing enough to enhance port security.Some House votes by Shays have kept additional federal dollars from ports security, Farrell said.
... Farrell's plan would implement the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission; institute a review of the effectiveness of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism; implement funding to improve security at the nation's most vulnerable ports first; and repair communications between U.S. Coast Guard field offices.
1119
N.J. lawmakers: Make ports safer
Home News Tribune Online 03/19/06By RAJU CHEBIUMGANNETT NEWS SERVICErchebium@gns.gannett.com
WASHINGTON — Capitalizing on the attention generated by the now-defunct Dubai Ports World deal, some New Jersey lawmakers are trying to get Congress to further fortify the country's 361 ports against potential terrorist attacks.
OAS_AD('Right3');
Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez introduced a measure Tuesday seeking $965 million for port security after touting his proposals in a speech at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.
After initially proposing $250 million for port security, the Republican-controlled Senate adopted a measure by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to allocate $978 million to make ports safer. However, that allocation — part of a bigger bill the Senate approved Thursday 51-49 — isn't binding because it is but one piece of a package of proposed governmental spending ceilings over the next five years.
http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060319/NEWS/603190440/1001
Repuglicans always lie and manipulate.
1121
Proposal for ports may aid air Ships could be forced to power down enginesWarren Lutz Record Staff Writer Published Sunday, Mar 19, 2006
STOCKTON - Newly proposed rules aimed at reducing pollution at California ports could help improve the air San Joaquin Valley residents breathe - but exactly how the regulations will be met remains unknown.Port of Stockton officials are preparing to submit comments to state air officials over draft regulations that could require visiting ships to "cold iron" their vessels, or power down the combustion engines that spill pollutants into the atmosphere.The San Joaquin Valley is already one of the dirtiest air basins in the nation and has one of the highest asthma rates in the state. During winter, stagnant air traps pollution in the Valley for days, sending many residents to hospitals.
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060319/NEWS01/603190326/1001
1128
The AC360 new broadcast is laughable. They are criticizing the media and reporting of Iraq because Bush says so. This by a man who oppresses the media, fines CBS relentlessly and USES the media at every turn including the Iraq war to terrorize the USA electorate. The reason Bush came out on attack on the media because he was being attacked. He's a Neocon. He doesn't turn tail and run. He victimizes. Allowing a news conference with a seasoned journalist like Helen Thomas, his best defense was an offense. He literally told the American Press to stop reporting the war and propagandize the war to the benefit of the Repuglican re-elections of November 2008. There is always a method to Bush's madness. Literally, madness. Daddy got mad at the media for making his job tougher with a war he designed and used the media to brainwash the American public to believe it was connected to 911. I think the word is 'hypocrit.'
1138
Top 25 Censored Stories of 2006
#1 Bush Administration Moves to Eliminate Open Government
#2 Media Coverage Fails on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death
#3 Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage
#4 Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In
#5 U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia
#6 The Real Oil for Food Scam
#7 Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood
#8 Iraqi Farmers Threatened By Bremer’s Mandates
#9 Iran’s New Oil Trade System Challenges U.S. Currency
#10 Mountaintop Removal Threatens Ecosystem and Economy
#11 Universal Mental Screening Program Usurps Parental Rights
#12 Military in Iraq Contracts Human Rights Violators
#13 Rich Countries Fail to Live up to Global Pledges
#14 Corporations Win Big on Tort Reform, Justice Suffers
#15 Conservative Plan to Override Academic Freedom in the Classroom
#16 U.S. Plans for Hemispheric Integration Include Canada
#17 U.S. Uses South American Military Bases to Expand Control of the Region
#18 Little Known Stock Fraud Could Weaken U.S. Economy
#19 Child Wards of the State Used in AIDS Experiments
#20 American Indians Sue for Resources; Compensation Provided to Others
#21 New Immigration Plan Favors Business Over People
#22 Nanotechnology Offers Exciting Possibilities But Health Effects Need Scrutiny
#23 Plight of Palestinian Child Detainees Highlights Global Problem
#24 Ethiopian Indigenous Victims of Corporate and Government Resource Aspirations
#25 Homeland Security Was Designed to Fail
http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2006/#1
1138
Did I hear how the product should be taken off the market? Do I detect more hypocracy by this administration and it's crony meida?
FDA To Mull Celebrex, Bextra
WebMD) The fate of a highly controversial class of painkillers is likely to be decided at a federal inquiry scheduled to open Wednesday. In three days of hearings, the FDA and a panel of outside experts will investigate the safety of arthritis drugs called Cox-2 inhibitors. This group includes Vioxx, Celebrex, and Bextra. FDA documents show that the hearings will focus on evidence that the drugs increase the risk of heart attacks and stroke, a finding that pushed Vioxx's manufacturer to pull it from the market in September 2004. This has also led many experts to call for a broad re-evaluation of the other Cox-2 inhibitors.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/15/health/webmd/main674248.shtml
Here you go Anderson, the Bush Administration believes in LABELS like the ones on cigarettes. An oversight on your part I am sure. Women have their place and they should be happy in it, right, Bubba?
Vioxx, Celebrex, Bextra: COX2 Inhibitors Unsafe Warns FDA Panel
The FDA advisory panel, a joint meeting of the agency's Arthritis Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee, also recommended that the FDA require strongly worded black box warnings for each of the three COX 2 inhibitors currently approved in the United States - celecoxib, valdecoxib, and rofecoxib. The decision about rofecoxib was needed, according to FDA officials, because the drug was not ordered off the market but was withdrawn voluntarily.
DeLay needs to come out of the re-election closet he is hiding in and debate his oppositon.
Prosecutors hope to reinstate charges against Delay
AUSTIN (AP) — Prosecutors will try to persuade a Texas appeals court Wednesday to reinstate some of the criminal charges against Rep. Tom DeLay, who is trying to win re-election to Congress while under indictment.
In December, a judge threw out some of the conspiracy and money laundering charges against the former House majority leader, saying the conspiracy law DeLay allegedly violated did not exist at the time.
Prosecutors say that it did. Both sides will argue their cases before the Texas 3rd Court of Appeals. DeLay will not attend.
Because of the dispute, no trial date has been set.
DeLay is accused of funneling illegal corporate donations to Republican candidates for the Texas House. The Republicans went on to win control of the Legislature in 2002 and pushed through a DeLay-engineered redistricting plan that helped Texas send more Republicans to Congress in 2004.
The most incredible and crass behavior tonight was when Rob Marciano did a segment on extreme wheather due to Global Warming while being stabbed in the back for his efforts by repeated oil company commercails. Talk about disrespect for the talent. The two subjects don't belong together in the same program. Either this news team is completely out of touch with reality or they simply don't care. Every viewer is an opportunity to exploit for a change of mind. Corrupt and dishonest journalism.
