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The Entwistle Murder
Jason Carroll
Briton accused of killing wife and baby in US
By Nick Britten and Harry Mount
(Filed: 10/02/2006)
A Briton appeared in court last night hours after being charged with the murders of his American wife and their baby daughter.
Extradition proceedings have been started to take Neil Entwistle back to the United States to face trial over the death of his wife, Rachel, and nine-month-old daughter, Lillian.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/10/ntwistle10.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/02/10/ixnewstop.html
Winter Olympics videos
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=owner%3Anbc_olympics
Event Schedule
http://www.nbcolympics.com/results/index.html
The Official Site of the Olympic Games
http://www.olympic.org/uk/index_uk.asp
Follow the Flame
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commercials
Donate to the Gulf Coast Hurricanes Recovery Fund for Children
In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Save the Children is focusing on the needs of children in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi and expanding its response efforts to include other rural communities in Southern Louisiana recently devastated. Save the Children is combining its international and U.S. expertise to help children heal and recover through structured programs including drawing, music and cooperative games and activities and expanding its after-school programs focusing on literacy, physical activity and good health and nutrition.
http://www.savethechildren.org/radio_hurricane_usa.asp?stationpub=x_ggkatrina_da
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More about the Entwistle. Trying the trial before it happens.
Jill Carroll. The kidnappers need to let her go. They received women out of jail already. Women are free and so Jill should be. The kidnappers aren't living up to their promise. Let Jill secure the release of those still in question after she is released. I know the newpaper she works for will do the right thing. The kidnappers have to prove they are trustworthy and not just killers !
Timeline of Events Involving Jill Carroll
By The Associated Press
© 2006 The Associated Press
— Here's a timeline of events involving Jill Carroll, a 28-year-old freelance reporter on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor who was seized Jan. 7 in Baghdad:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3648520.html
Jill Carroll update
•
Posted February 9, 2006 at 4:55 p.m.
A newly released video of abducted reporter Jill Carroll has been aired by a Kuwaiti TV station, Al Rai TV, and rebroadcast on US networks. In the video, which was shown with audio, Jill Carroll appeared composed - a stark contrast to the previous video that aired on Al Jazeera on Jan. 30, in which Carroll appeared distressed.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0113/carroll_update.html
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The news secretary
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More Entwistle Exploitation. Here we go with the OJ murder trials all over again. This is sad. He is turning his 120 minutes of programming into "Larry King Live." Where is Dr. Lee? Anderson Cooper, failure. All the 'weighty' issues of the world await. Where is Aaron?
Residents break law to restore power
NEW ORLEANS — Tired of waiting in the dark for the lights to come back on, Walter Vine took matters into his own hands: He unscrewed his electrical meter and rigged it to bring power into his flood-damaged home.
Vine, a building contractor, broke the law and risked serious injury or death. But like so many others in this hurricane-ravaged city, he figured it was the only way to avoid the red tape and frustration so many have faced in trying to get their electricity restored.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS0110/602090358
Israel stunned by Putin's remarks
Acting PM's aides say Olmert disappointed over Russian president's invitation to Hamas leaders, say Putin's remarks contradict Quartet's stance; Minister Boim: Putin dancing with wolves. Meanwhile, Annan counsels international patience with Hamas
Ronny Sofer
Officials at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem expressed their shock Thursday evening following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invitation to Hamas leaders to visit Moscow.
The officials made it clear that Putin's remarks contradict the Quartet's stance. They added that the Putin's statement Russia does not consider Hamas a terror group contradicts the outlook of the entire international community.
"Russia is part of the Quartet, and the Quartet's statement after Hamas' election was totally different," a senior official in Jerusalem said.
Putin's move is considered by Israel as a breach of the international circle of agreement regarding Hamas. Following the PA elections and talks held by Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with state leaders and foreign ministers, it appeared that Russia would act according to the same understandings.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3213842,00.html
Olmert speaks to Chirac, Annan
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells world leaders that Israel will hold talks with Hamas only if group disarms, abandons pledge to distroy Israel and supports PA-Israel agreements
Ronny Sofer
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Saturday that Israel will hold talks with Hamas only if the Islamic group disarms, abandons pledges to destroy Israel and endorses agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3207503,00.html
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Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information
By Murray Waas / National Journal
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.
Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5805
Haitian Vote Count Continues; Preval Takes Early Lead
By Amelia Shaw
Port-au-Prince
10 February 2006
In Haiti, front-running candidate Rene Preval has taken an early lead as election workers continue to count ballots from the national elections on Tuesday. Millions of Haitians turned out for the balloting, which is the first since former president Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile following a violent uprising two years ago.
Ballots keep trickling in to the capital, transported from the rural areas by helicopter, truck and mules.
Preliminary figures give the front-runner candidate Rene Preval an early lead in the race for president. A 63-year old agronomist and former president, Preval is one of the few Haitian leaders who served out his term without being overthrown. Seen as a close ally of former president Aristide, Preval gained widespread support among Haiti's poor.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-02-10-voa2.cfm
Military action on a nuclear Iran 'not inevitable'
09.02.06 1.00pm
By Madeline Chambers
LONDON - Military action against Iran is not inevitable even if the Islamic state develops the technology to build a nuclear bomb, British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said today.
Straw, pressed by a parliamentary committee about the possibility of Western powers taking military action against Iran over its atomic ambitions, repeated that such a step was not on the agenda and insisted he would pursue diplomacy.
"I don't believe that even if Iran were in that position (of having the capability to make nuclear weapons) that there would be nothing the international community could do about it short of ... military action," Straw told the committee.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367472
Istanbul bomb blast kills 1, wounds 16 others
10.02.06 12.20pm
By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL - A bomb blast today at an internet cafe in Istanbul killed a man and injured 16 other people, including seven police officers, and a hardline Kurdish group claimed responsibility.
The Kurdistan Liberation Hawks, which has claimed to be behind a series of bombings in Turkey in recent years, carried out the attack in the Bayrampasa district, not far from Istanbul airport, according to a person who called the Kurdish Firat news agency claiming to speak on behalf of the group.
The group is believed to have links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting security forces in southeast Turkey. It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the report.
"It's a bomb explosion," Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah told reporters after visiting the scene.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367654
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See John King the fast talking mess maker was sent in to bolster Anderson's inability to do same. Gee, whiz, John that is some of the 'fastest and slickest' talking I ever hear.
Cheney authorised leak in CIA case, says report
10.02.06 2.15pm
WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney directed his aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby to use classified material to discredit a critic of the Bush administration's Iraq war effort, the National Journal reported today.
Court papers released last week show that Libby was authorized to disclose classified information to news reporters by "his superiors," in an effort to counteract diplomat Joe Wilson's charge that the Bush administration twisted intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons to justify the 2003 invasion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10367702
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Religious right calls for action on climate
10.02.06
By Rupert Cornwell
WASHINGTON - Evangelical Christians, pillars of the Bush Administration and the Republican majorities in Congress, are increasingly breaking with the White House and demanding real action to tackle climate change.
Yesterday 86 prominent figures in the movement, among them leading pastors, the heads of evangelical colleges and the Salvation Army, released a statement warning that "millions of people could die this century" because of global warming - most of them in the poorest regions of the earth.
Until recently global warming has not been a priority for evangelicals, most familiar for their uncompromising stances on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, and their emphasis on the family.
"Many of us required considerable convincing" that it was a problem, the statement acknowledges. "Now we have seen and heard enough."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367603
Fears grow after bird flu moves into Africa
10.02.06 1.00pm
By Estelle Shirbon
JAJI, Nigeria - The unexplained deaths of large numbers of birds in northern Nigeria fanned fears today that the H5N1 avian flu virus was spreading rapidly after it was detected in Africa for the first time.
Bird flu has killed at least 88 people since it re-emerged in late 2003, most of the victims in east Asia. Indonesia said today that two women in their 20s had tested positive for the virus and were being treated at a specialist Jakarta hospital.
The virus has been spreading steadily westwards, killing four children in an outbreak in eastern Turkey last month and also claiming the life of a teenager in war-ravaged Iraq.
Greece said it had found an H5 bird flu virus in three swans and has sent samples to Britain to find out if it is the deadly H5N1 strain.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367663
Fossils of T.rex relative unearthed in China
09.02.06 1.00pm
By Steve Connor
Fossils of the earliest known relative of Tyrannosaurus rex - one of the largest of the meat-eating dinosaurs - have been unearthed in the desert of western China.
A scientific analysis of the fossilised remains has revealed that the creature lived some 160 million years ago, about 90 million years prior to T.rex, and sported an ornamental bony crest on its nose.
Scientists believe that the dinosaur belonged to the same group of extinct animals that gave rise to T.rex.
Like other tyrannosaurs, it was a carnivore that walked on two legs, although it was substantially smaller than its more famous cousin.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367487
Toxic waste ends Sydney harbour commercial fishing
10.02.06
SYDNEY - Toxic waste in Sydney Harbour has forced authorities to end centuries of commercial fishing, warn recreational anglers not to eat too much harbour fish, and undertake a A$200 ($220.70) million clean-up programme.
The New South Wales state government announced yesterday an end to commercial fishing after tests showed the level of cancer-causing dioxin in fish was almost 100 times World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended maximum levels.
The state's Primary Industry Minister Ian Macdonald said the dioxin, a key ingredient of the Agent Orange defoliant used in the Vietnam War, was the result of years of industrial pollution and that further fish testing would occur.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367607
'Happy' pills put newborns at risk
10.02.06
Prozac-type antidepressants can raise the risk of a potentially deadly breathing problem in newborns but only if the mother takes them during the second half of pregnancy, a study shows. A team led by Christina Chambers of the University of California at San Diego found that women taking selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors, the drug class that includes Prozac, were six times more likely to have a baby suffering from persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN).
In moderately severe cases, PPHN kills about up to 20 per cent of babies and half the survivors are left with serious abnormalities.
However, Dr Chambers and her colleagues found that exposure to the medicines posed no risk during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Nor did other classes of antidepressants.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367537
US straps down Guantanamo hunger strikers, says report
10.02.06
NEW YORK - US military officials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, strapped hunger-striking prisoners into restraint chairs for hours to feed them through tubes and isolated them in cold cells, The New York Times said yesterday.
A Pentagon official said there was no one immediately available to comment on the report.
The Times, citing unnamed military officials, said tougher measures came in recent weeks after authorities concluded some of the prisoners were determined to kill themselves.
The apparent result has been a sharp drop in the number of inmates refusing to eat. Only four hunger strikers remain, down from 84 at the end of December, the chief military spokesman at Guantanamo, Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin, told the newspaper.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10367629
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Randy McCloy.
Manchin Makes Good on Promise to Families
Posted 1/23/2006 10:05 PM
Announces new mine safety proposal
Story by Nicole Ward
"What we did ... is we kept our promise to the families -- our promise that the loved ones of the 14 -- did not die in vain, our promise to our miracle Randall McCLoy Jr. That his colleagues should not have to go into a situation that is not as safe as it could be."
Governor Joe Manchin made good on his promise on Monday. After two mining accidents and 14 miners dead in a span of just three weeks, Manchin wants to turn tragedy into a new beginning.
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=8245
Dead boy in southern Iraq may be bird flu victim
Tue Feb 7, 2006 7:16 PM GMT
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-07T191627Z_01_GEO754474_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BIRDFLU-IRAQ.xml&archived=False
US troops look set for a long haul in Iraq
By Robert Reid
Baghdad - All signs point to a major draw-down of United States troops in Iraq in 2006 - perhaps to fewer than 100 000 by the year's end. But it is far from certain when there will be further reductions, or a total pullout, after that.
In fact, it now looks as if the United States may have a long-term and substantial military presence in Iraq, military experts say.
Generals have been reluctant to set specific public timetables, but General George W. Casey Junior, the top US commander, noted this week that insurgencies in the 20th century lasted on average nine years. The Iraq war is coming up on year three.
Pasted from <http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&art_id=qw1139519165388B226&click_id=2813&set_id=1>
Control of Bird Flu Difficult in Iraq Because of Poor Communications, Scarce Equipment, Violence
By PAUL GARWOOD
BAGHDAD, Iraq Feb 9, 2006 (AP)— Some Iraqi farmers are letting their birds loose rather than slaughter them and the lack of a proper shipping container has kept the tissue sample of a man suspected of dying of bird flu sitting in Baghdad despite reports it was being tested abroad.
Poor communications, scarce equipment and the dangers of the insurgency are all plaguing efforts to combat bird flu in Iraq.
In Nigeria, meanwhile, the deadly H5N1 strain has been detected in two more northern states and has been killing birds some 100,000 for weeks, Nigerian authorities said Thursday, raising fears the disease will spread elsewhere in Africa.
Pasted from <http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=1600158>
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The news secretary
Bishop Of St Davids Slams Bush's War On Terror.
THE Bishop of St Davids has slammed the American “crusade” in the Middle East and called for understanding and respect.
Speaking at the Islamophobia conference in Carmarthen yesterday, Bishop Carl Cooper attacked the rhetoric used by US President George Bush to support an “unjustifiable” war on terror.
During his speech, Bishop Cooper also criticised First Minister Rhodri Morgan’s recent refusal to state whether supported the invasion of Iraq.
He also called for greater understanding and respect between the world’s major religions in light of events surrounding the publication of anti-Islamic cartoons in a Danish newspaper.
http://www.pembrokeshiretv.com/content/templates/v6-article.asp?articleid=1402&zoneid=50
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On the West Coast and Frankenstein, the boy toy takes over. The people of LA don't deserve to be treated with respect. Only Hollywood glitz and gimmicks. This is a news program? Could have fooled me.
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Anderson, the boy toy, is confused about Libby and Cheney. What's so hard to understand Anderson? Libby finally figured out he was being fucked.
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Scotty. The Scotty dog of the Bush White House. There's Scotty the 'trained doggy liar.' Sit up and roll over, Scootie dog.
White House messages missing in Plame case
By Joe Baker, Senior Editor
Print this page
More than two dozen e-mails related to CIA agent Valerie Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, are missing, according to investigative reporter Jason Leopold. The messages were sent to several senior members of the George W. Bush administration between May 2003 and July 2003.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald suspects these messages may have been destroyed.
In the most recent development, Vice President Richard Cheney has been implicated in the case. A formerly secret legal opinion, disclosed in court proceedings against Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s former chief of staff, stated that Cheney told Libby about the identity of Valerie Plame more than a month before it was revealed by right-wing columnist Robert Novak.
Knowledgeable sources close to the investigation said the e-mails were sent by Libby, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, then Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, former CIA official Frederick Fleitz, former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, John Hannah, former Cheney National Security assistant David Wurmser, former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.
Leopold reported Fitzgerald also believes some e-mails sent to Vice-President Cheney by Libby and some senior officials of the CIA, as well as the replies, were not turned over to his staff.
Sources told Leopold that the Special Prosecutor learned of the missing e-mails during grand jury testimony by key figures in the case. Some of them are cooperating with Fitzgerald to avoid being indicted for their own parts in the leak of Plame’s identity.
http://www.rockrivertimes.com/index.pl?cmd=viewstory&cat=2&id=12390
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So when is Larry King leaving while Anderson has three hours of his glamour shot? I mean it just isn't right that Blitzer has more exposure than Cooper on live television.
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Top Boehner Aide Tied To Trip To Visit Abramoff Client
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Records obtained by The Associated Press show that the former chief of staff for House Majority Leader John Boehner helped plan a 1996 trip to the Northern Marian Islands organized by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Barry Jackson -- who is now chief deputy to White House adviser Karl Rove -- later decided to not go on the trip.
But Jackson's involvement runs counter to Boehner's recent claims that his office's contact with Abramoff was incidental and only involved lower-level staff.
Abramoff is the central figure in a wide-ranging corruption probe in Congress.
http://www.channelcincinnati.com/news/6841111/detail.html
Friday, February 10, 2006
Andy's good friends.
Death and disease: The oil curse
Thousands of indigenous peoples are displaced from their land, which is militarized and expropriated in an unending genocide.
Oil exploitation is carried out – causing damages that go uncompensated – without consulting the communities and with the connivance of the government of the time. Transnational companies such as Shell, Repsol, and Maxus appropriate territorial spaces under the pretext that they are of “public utility”, they contaminate bodies of water and river beds, they deforest virgin forests and generate impacts destroying the future.
In Colombia, the Guahibo indigenous peoples who inhabited the Arauca savannahs were decimated by the activities of the Occidental Petroleum Company. The Yariguis and Aripis were exterminated by the Standard Oil Company in 1915; in 1931 the Bari-Motilon people were violently attacked by the Gula, Mobil and Texas Petroleum Companies that indiscriminately murdered, set up electrified fences or gave out poisoned salt which they threw from planes as presents.
In 1960, the Inga, Siona and Cofan peoples were scattered and their rivers turned into sewers by the oil industry. In 1980, Occidental and Shell subdued the Saliva and Sicuani, Betoye, Hitnu or Macaguane, Hitanu or Iguanito and Dome Jiwi, expropriating 70-95% of their territories and leaving them in utter poverty. In 1991 243 indigenous leaders of the Zenu, Koreguajes, Pastops and Pijao peoples were murdered. In 1992, the exploration company Fronteras launched the genocide of the Nukak people and at the end of the nineties Occidental frontally attacked the U’wa people.
These are not isolated cases. In Ecuador, companies such as Texaco wiped out the Tetete people and attacked the Signa, Secoya, Cofan and Huaorani people, almost exterminating them. In Peru, Shell pushed the Nahua people to the brink of extinction.
In Nigeria, the United States oil company Chevron Texaco continues to be accused of committing atrocious violations of Human Rights against the Niger Delta communities, in three incidents perpetrated between 1998 and 1999 against the Ilaje, Opia and Ikenyan communities. The attacks included assaults on unarmed people with firearms, summary executions, torture, maltreatment, unjustified destruction of properties and razing of their environment and way of life.
Environmental degradation included the loss of fresh water sources while the company opened up numerous channels from the sea towards the coast to install their equipment. According to Bola Oyibo, leader of a group of one hundred and twenty-one young people from 42 communities advancing on the Chevron Parabe platform to protest against the continuous destruction of their environment “For years Chevron has systematically undertaken a war against our lands, forests and waters. Come to the Awoye Community and see for yourselves what they have done. All is dead, mangroves, tropical forests, fish, fresh water, wildlife. All has been killed by Chevron…”
For its part, also in Nigeria, Shell started drilling oil wells in Owukubu without consulting the Odioma community. This led to a community crisis that snowballed into a series of fatal events, leading to the death of over 1,500 people, hundreds of injured, 3,000 people arrested as hostages and a considerable part of the population fleeing to the mangrove forest and other villages (see WRM bulletin No. 92).
In Indonesia, the Province of Riau, on the Sumatran coast has long been classified as a rich zone because there are oil fields, in addition to mining, gas and thousands of hectares of oil palm plantations. However the income from these activities has not enriched the lives of the Riau community. On the contrary, the poverty rates have reached 40.2 per cent of its population of 4.5 million inhabitants. The main actor in the exploitation of oil is PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CFI), owned by Chevron Texaco.
Within this picture of poverty in Riau, the Sakai tribe is the direct and indirect victim of oil action. They live on the forest edge and along the Siak River, using its waters to bathe, eat and drink. However the waters are polluted and they continue to use them as they have no other option. Their staple food is a kind of tuber, the ubi manglo, which grows around their houses. Although it is considered to be toxic, the Sakai people continue to eat it because they have become used to its secondary effects, but more because now they have almost no other food options left in the forest.
To the genocide of entire peoples are added isolated, concealed deaths caused by oil accidents and by the terrible contamination they generate.
The contact of pollution with the organism comes by way of personal hygiene, consumption and breathing, thus generating skin diseases, diseases of the respiratory system, the digestive apparatus, eyes, nose and throat and gynaecological troubles. However, it also contributes to increase malnutrition, anaemia, tuberculosis and miscarriages. The cancer prevalence rate has increased enormously in the peoples close to the sources of contamination, and most affects children under 14 years of age.
The wells close to the crude oil ponds are polluted by the chemical products that infiltrate them, also killing domestic animals which for many members of the communities, fulfil the functions of consumption, trade and economic reserves in times of emergency. For these families, their disappearance leaves them in poverty and deprives them of their food sovereignty.
Once it starts depending on oil, the State finds it hard to diversify its economy and promote other sectors that contribute more direct benefits to underprivileged sectors. The dependence on oil becomes an obstacle to types of economic activities that favour low-income sectors of the population.
Far from being the so-called “black gold” bringing prosperity and welfare to the peoples, oil ends up creating a cursed circle of impoverishment, contamination, disease and death.
Thousands of indigenous peoples are displaced from their land, which is militarized and expropriated in an unending genocide.
Oil exploitation is carried out – causing damages that go uncompensated – without consulting the communities and with the connivance of the government of the time. Transnational companies such as Shell, Repsol, and Maxus appropriate territorial spaces under the pretext that they are of “public utility”, they contaminate bodies of water and river beds, they deforest virgin forests and generate impacts destroying the future.
In Colombia, the Guahibo indigenous peoples who inhabited the Arauca savannahs were decimated by the activities of the Occidental Petroleum Company. The Yariguis and Aripis were exterminated by the Standard Oil Company in 1915; in 1931 the Bari-Motilon people were violently attacked by the Gula, Mobil and Texas Petroleum Companies that indiscriminately murdered, set up electrified fences or gave out poisoned salt which they threw from planes as presents.
In 1960, the Inga, Siona and Cofan peoples were scattered and their rivers turned into sewers by the oil industry. In 1980, Occidental and Shell subdued the Saliva and Sicuani, Betoye, Hitnu or Macaguane, Hitanu or Iguanito and Dome Jiwi, expropriating 70-95% of their territories and leaving them in utter poverty. In 1991 243 indigenous leaders of the Zenu, Koreguajes, Pastops and Pijao peoples were murdered. In 1992, the exploration company Fronteras launched the genocide of the Nukak people and at the end of the nineties Occidental frontally attacked the U’wa people.
These are not isolated cases. In Ecuador, companies such as Texaco wiped out the Tetete people and attacked the Signa, Secoya, Cofan and Huaorani people, almost exterminating them. In Peru, Shell pushed the Nahua people to the brink of extinction.
In Nigeria, the United States oil company Chevron Texaco continues to be accused of committing atrocious violations of Human Rights against the Niger Delta communities, in three incidents perpetrated between 1998 and 1999 against the Ilaje, Opia and Ikenyan communities. The attacks included assaults on unarmed people with firearms, summary executions, torture, maltreatment, unjustified destruction of properties and razing of their environment and way of life.
Environmental degradation included the loss of fresh water sources while the company opened up numerous channels from the sea towards the coast to install their equipment. According to Bola Oyibo, leader of a group of one hundred and twenty-one young people from 42 communities advancing on the Chevron Parabe platform to protest against the continuous destruction of their environment “For years Chevron has systematically undertaken a war against our lands, forests and waters. Come to the Awoye Community and see for yourselves what they have done. All is dead, mangroves, tropical forests, fish, fresh water, wildlife. All has been killed by Chevron…”
For its part, also in Nigeria, Shell started drilling oil wells in Owukubu without consulting the Odioma community. This led to a community crisis that snowballed into a series of fatal events, leading to the death of over 1,500 people, hundreds of injured, 3,000 people arrested as hostages and a considerable part of the population fleeing to the mangrove forest and other villages (see WRM bulletin No. 92).
In Indonesia, the Province of Riau, on the Sumatran coast has long been classified as a rich zone because there are oil fields, in addition to mining, gas and thousands of hectares of oil palm plantations. However the income from these activities has not enriched the lives of the Riau community. On the contrary, the poverty rates have reached 40.2 per cent of its population of 4.5 million inhabitants. The main actor in the exploitation of oil is PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CFI), owned by Chevron Texaco.
Within this picture of poverty in Riau, the Sakai tribe is the direct and indirect victim of oil action. They live on the forest edge and along the Siak River, using its waters to bathe, eat and drink. However the waters are polluted and they continue to use them as they have no other option. Their staple food is a kind of tuber, the ubi manglo, which grows around their houses. Although it is considered to be toxic, the Sakai people continue to eat it because they have become used to its secondary effects, but more because now they have almost no other food options left in the forest.
To the genocide of entire peoples are added isolated, concealed deaths caused by oil accidents and by the terrible contamination they generate.
The contact of pollution with the organism comes by way of personal hygiene, consumption and breathing, thus generating skin diseases, diseases of the respiratory system, the digestive apparatus, eyes, nose and throat and gynaecological troubles. However, it also contributes to increase malnutrition, anaemia, tuberculosis and miscarriages. The cancer prevalence rate has increased enormously in the peoples close to the sources of contamination, and most affects children under 14 years of age.
The wells close to the crude oil ponds are polluted by the chemical products that infiltrate them, also killing domestic animals which for many members of the communities, fulfil the functions of consumption, trade and economic reserves in times of emergency. For these families, their disappearance leaves them in poverty and deprives them of their food sovereignty.
Once it starts depending on oil, the State finds it hard to diversify its economy and promote other sectors that contribute more direct benefits to underprivileged sectors. The dependence on oil becomes an obstacle to types of economic activities that favour low-income sectors of the population.
Far from being the so-called “black gold” bringing prosperity and welfare to the peoples, oil ends up creating a cursed circle of impoverishment, contamination, disease and death.
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The Anderson Blog is for juveniles. It's a 'I love Andy' blog. You should try to have someone write it for you, Anderson. It might attract the people you are hoping to attact.
DRC: Journalist Jailed for More Than a Week for "Insulting" an Official
Committee To Protect Journalists (New York)
February 7, 2006
Posted to the web February 8, 2006
Jean-Louis Ngalamulume, publisher of the private newspaper L'Eclaireur, has been jailed since January 27 in the capital, Kinshasa, on charges of publishing "public insults" against a government official, according to the press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and the secretary-general of the Congolese press union.
Police questioned Ngalamulume about a January 11 article that described as "incompetent" and "tribalistic" an official who maintains real estate documents, according to JED. Ngalamulume was brought before a judge on January 28, and he was transferred to the Kinshasa central prison on January 31.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200602080686.html
Group protests treatment of migrants at Bahamas consulate in Miami
By LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com
The Democracy Movement plans picketing in front of the Bahamas Consulate General in downtown Miami today at noon to protest the treatment of Cuban migrants detained in the Bahamas.
The protest comes after news that four Miami TV journalists were injured and briefly jailed while covering the detention of Cuban migrants on the island.
Mario Vallejo, a reporter with WLTV-Univisión 23, sustained a cut to the left side of his head Tuesday. He was treated at a local hospital, received seven stitches and was released. He is back in Miami today.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13821440.htm
Ex-Music Executive Jailed in Celebrity Sleuth Case
By Gina Keating
Reuters
Wednesday, February 8, 2006; 4:19 PM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former music industry executive indicted as part of a Hollywood wiretapping scandal was sent to jail after talking of plans to flee or kill himself to avoid standing trial, a federal prosecutor said on Wednesday.
Robert Pfeifer, who served as president of Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Records in the mid-1990s, was ordered detained as a flight risk at a Tuesday hearing in Los Angeles federal court.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020801709.html
Group presses US military on jailed journalists
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called for the U.S. military to free two journalists, one held without charge in Iraq and the other, the media rights group said, detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The New York-based group also demanded an explanation from the U.S. military for holding a Reuters TV cameraman for eight months without charges until his release on Sunday.
Samir Mohammed Noor, a 30-year-old Iraqi freelancer, was freed from military custody after being held in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and then at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
"Samir Mohammed Noor should not have been jailed for eight months without charge, explanation, or due process," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said in a statement.
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10943723
Clubs help kids to beat bigotry
Pupils from local primary and secondary schools will be taught by the clubs' staff and learn about healthy lifestyles at the sessions at Garscube sports complex.
he sessions are part of a series of events at One Glasgow "diversity week" run by Glasgow University from February 20 to 25.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5048756.html
Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay Lands Spot on Appropriations Committee
By ANDREW TAYLOR
WASHINGTON Feb 8, 2006 (AP)— Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.
DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers. The subcommittee also has responsibility over NASA a top priority for DeLay, since the Johnson Space Center is located in his Houston-area district.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1595524
Human Rights Groups Are Not Yelling 'Yahoo!'
Feb. 9, 2006 — Business deals with oppressive regimes have gone on for centuries. But they are new for Internet companies, which supposedly traffic in freedom. Today the human rights group Reporters Without Borders accused Internet search-engine giant Yahoo of unconscionable complicity in the Chinese government's human rights violations.
"We have so many cyber-dissidents in jail that we are trying to get out of there, and knowing that some of them are in jail with the help of Western companies is really frustrating," said Lucie Morillon of Reporters Without Borders. "It's one thing to want to make money, to make profits. It's quite another one to become a weapon in the hands of the Chinese authorities."
Chinese dissident Li Zhi is in prison for exposing Chinese government corruption on a message board. Yahoo is accused of helping the government identify him. Chinese journalist Shi Tao anonymously e-mailed to pro-democracy Web sites examples of press censorship, including government instructions on how to cover the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. According to court papers, Yahoo helped the government trace that e-mail to Shi Tao's computer. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1600889&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
February 9th, 2006 6:49 pm
L.A. Mayor Blindsided by Bush Announcement
By Michael R. Blood / Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President Bush's announcement of new details on a purported 2002 hijacking plot aimed at a downtown skyscraper, and described communication with the White House as "nonexistent."
"I'm amazed that the president would make this (announcement) on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels," the mayor said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't expect a call from the president — but somebody."
The mayor also suggested that some funding from the Iraq war could be redirected to homeland security, including the protection of high-risk targets in Los Angeles. He did not advocate an immediate withdrawal of troops.
"I go to work every day knowing that we are a target," the mayor said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5809
Quote of the Day
"Everything will be measured by results. The victor is always right. History ascribes to the victor qualities that may or may not actually have been there. And similarly to the defeated." -- Karl Rove
I think this quote speaks volumes to the President's stay-the-course war policy. In the long run, winning pretty is irrelevant. Waging war under false pretences is irrelevant. It's all about getting from point A (despotic Iraq) to point B (stable-ish, democratic Iraq). The magnitude of the sacrifice and the bungling on the way? All will be forgiven if you win. And when the judgment of history is on the line, failure is not an option.
The primary reason we're fighting this war, it seems, is no longer American security. We're fighting for Bush's legacy. You can judge the nobility of that cause for yourselves.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/nataffdaily/story/9258257/quote_of_the_day?rnd=1139547382713&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1348
Environmentalists say Gov. Bush Energy Plan Not Good Enough
Powered by Topix.net
TALLAHASSEE, FL (AP) -- A group of environmentalists say Governor Jeb Bush's plan to diversify the types of fuel used to make electricity in Florida isn't good enough. They say it should better promote renewable sources like solar power.
The environmentalists also have a problem with Bush's energy plan for relying too heavily on nuclear power and coal and for not doing enough to slow global warming. They say Florida doesn't spend as much as other states on clean energy initiatives.
Bush administration officials acknowledge the plan may not have goals as lofty as those in some states but argue that promoting renewable energy sources is a central theme of Bush plan.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=51182
Pass-fail for Jeb
Bush earns top grades on funding hike, but flunks out on class-size and vouchers
Gov. Jeb Bush's education agenda for his last year in office is front-loaded with things worth cheering.
His newly proposed budget brings substantial financial help for public schools, including a 5.6 percent increase in per-pupil spending, much of which would go to help school districts keep class sizes low by hiring more teachers.
That infusion into the bottom line should boost Florida from its dismal ranking as 46th in the nation on per-pupil spending and, more importantly, contribute to greater academic achievement for all students.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060208/OPINION/602080369/1004
Have you had enough, Anderson? I'm just warming up.
The Anderson Blog is for juveniles. It's a 'I love Andy' blog. You should try to have someone write it for you, Anderson. It might attract the people you are hoping to attact.
DRC: Journalist Jailed for More Than a Week for "Insulting" an Official
Committee To Protect Journalists (New York)
February 7, 2006
Posted to the web February 8, 2006
Jean-Louis Ngalamulume, publisher of the private newspaper L'Eclaireur, has been jailed since January 27 in the capital, Kinshasa, on charges of publishing "public insults" against a government official, according to the press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and the secretary-general of the Congolese press union.
Police questioned Ngalamulume about a January 11 article that described as "incompetent" and "tribalistic" an official who maintains real estate documents, according to JED. Ngalamulume was brought before a judge on January 28, and he was transferred to the Kinshasa central prison on January 31.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200602080686.html
Group protests treatment of migrants at Bahamas consulate in Miami
By LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com
The Democracy Movement plans picketing in front of the Bahamas Consulate General in downtown Miami today at noon to protest the treatment of Cuban migrants detained in the Bahamas.
The protest comes after news that four Miami TV journalists were injured and briefly jailed while covering the detention of Cuban migrants on the island.
Mario Vallejo, a reporter with WLTV-Univisión 23, sustained a cut to the left side of his head Tuesday. He was treated at a local hospital, received seven stitches and was released. He is back in Miami today.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13821440.htm
Ex-Music Executive Jailed in Celebrity Sleuth Case
By Gina Keating
Reuters
Wednesday, February 8, 2006; 4:19 PM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former music industry executive indicted as part of a Hollywood wiretapping scandal was sent to jail after talking of plans to flee or kill himself to avoid standing trial, a federal prosecutor said on Wednesday.
Robert Pfeifer, who served as president of Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Records in the mid-1990s, was ordered detained as a flight risk at a Tuesday hearing in Los Angeles federal court.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020801709.html
Group presses US military on jailed journalists
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called for the U.S. military to free two journalists, one held without charge in Iraq and the other, the media rights group said, detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The New York-based group also demanded an explanation from the U.S. military for holding a Reuters TV cameraman for eight months without charges until his release on Sunday.
Samir Mohammed Noor, a 30-year-old Iraqi freelancer, was freed from military custody after being held in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison and then at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
"Samir Mohammed Noor should not have been jailed for eight months without charge, explanation, or due process," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said in a statement.
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10943723
Clubs help kids to beat bigotry
Pupils from local primary and secondary schools will be taught by the clubs' staff and learn about healthy lifestyles at the sessions at Garscube sports complex.
he sessions are part of a series of events at One Glasgow "diversity week" run by Glasgow University from February 20 to 25.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5048756.html
Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay Lands Spot on Appropriations Committee
By ANDREW TAYLOR
WASHINGTON Feb 8, 2006 (AP)— Indicted Rep. Tom DeLay, forced to step down as the No. 2 Republican in the House, scored a soft landing Wednesday as GOP leaders rewarded him with a coveted seat on the Appropriations Committee.
DeLay, R-Texas, also claimed a seat on the subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is currently investigating an influence-peddling scandal involving disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his dealings with lawmakers. The subcommittee also has responsibility over NASA a top priority for DeLay, since the Johnson Space Center is located in his Houston-area district.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1595524
Human Rights Groups Are Not Yelling 'Yahoo!'
Feb. 9, 2006 — Business deals with oppressive regimes have gone on for centuries. But they are new for Internet companies, which supposedly traffic in freedom. Today the human rights group Reporters Without Borders accused Internet search-engine giant Yahoo of unconscionable complicity in the Chinese government's human rights violations.
"We have so many cyber-dissidents in jail that we are trying to get out of there, and knowing that some of them are in jail with the help of Western companies is really frustrating," said Lucie Morillon of Reporters Without Borders. "It's one thing to want to make money, to make profits. It's quite another one to become a weapon in the hands of the Chinese authorities."
Chinese dissident Li Zhi is in prison for exposing Chinese government corruption on a message board. Yahoo is accused of helping the government identify him. Chinese journalist Shi Tao anonymously e-mailed to pro-democracy Web sites examples of press censorship, including government instructions on how to cover the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. According to court papers, Yahoo helped the government trace that e-mail to Shi Tao's computer. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1600889&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
February 9th, 2006 6:49 pm
L.A. Mayor Blindsided by Bush Announcement
By Michael R. Blood / Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday he was blindsided by President Bush's announcement of new details on a purported 2002 hijacking plot aimed at a downtown skyscraper, and described communication with the White House as "nonexistent."
"I'm amazed that the president would make this (announcement) on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels," the mayor said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't expect a call from the president — but somebody."
The mayor also suggested that some funding from the Iraq war could be redirected to homeland security, including the protection of high-risk targets in Los Angeles. He did not advocate an immediate withdrawal of troops.
"I go to work every day knowing that we are a target," the mayor said.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=5809
Quote of the Day
"Everything will be measured by results. The victor is always right. History ascribes to the victor qualities that may or may not actually have been there. And similarly to the defeated." -- Karl Rove
I think this quote speaks volumes to the President's stay-the-course war policy. In the long run, winning pretty is irrelevant. Waging war under false pretences is irrelevant. It's all about getting from point A (despotic Iraq) to point B (stable-ish, democratic Iraq). The magnitude of the sacrifice and the bungling on the way? All will be forgiven if you win. And when the judgment of history is on the line, failure is not an option.
The primary reason we're fighting this war, it seems, is no longer American security. We're fighting for Bush's legacy. You can judge the nobility of that cause for yourselves.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/nataffdaily/story/9258257/quote_of_the_day?rnd=1139547382713&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1348
Environmentalists say Gov. Bush Energy Plan Not Good Enough
Powered by Topix.net
TALLAHASSEE, FL (AP) -- A group of environmentalists say Governor Jeb Bush's plan to diversify the types of fuel used to make electricity in Florida isn't good enough. They say it should better promote renewable sources like solar power.
The environmentalists also have a problem with Bush's energy plan for relying too heavily on nuclear power and coal and for not doing enough to slow global warming. They say Florida doesn't spend as much as other states on clean energy initiatives.
Bush administration officials acknowledge the plan may not have goals as lofty as those in some states but argue that promoting renewable energy sources is a central theme of Bush plan.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=51182
Pass-fail for Jeb
Bush earns top grades on funding hike, but flunks out on class-size and vouchers
Gov. Jeb Bush's education agenda for his last year in office is front-loaded with things worth cheering.
His newly proposed budget brings substantial financial help for public schools, including a 5.6 percent increase in per-pupil spending, much of which would go to help school districts keep class sizes low by hiring more teachers.
That infusion into the bottom line should boost Florida from its dismal ranking as 46th in the nation on per-pupil spending and, more importantly, contribute to greater academic achievement for all students.
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060208/OPINION/602080369/1004
Have you had enough, Anderson? I'm just warming up.
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