Even tears are for sale at CNN

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Bigotry for the sake of politics by George H. W. Bush

Bush Sr. Condemns 'Ugly' Politics at King's Funeral, Defends Son
Posted on Feb. 10, 2006
Former President George H.W. Bush damns “political shots” taken at his son by former President Jimmy Carter and the Rev. Joseph Lowery during the Coretta Scott King funeral last week. Bush defends the administration’s domestic spying program, tritely invoking 9/11 as a blanket justification for trampling constitutional freedoms.
Story
Listen.
See our Uncovered file on MLK and John. W. Whitehead’s timely and important piece, "Spying on Martin Luther King." CBS

Former President George H.W. Bush has expressed dismay and anger at attacks on his son, President Bush, at the funeral for Coretta Scott King.
“In terms of the political shots at the president who was sitting there with his wife, I didn’t like it and I thought it was kind of ugly frankly,” the former president said in an exclusive radio interview with CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer.

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20060210_bush_carter_king_funeral/

NOTHING IS MORE UGLY THAN A FORMER PRESIDENT THAT can't discern politics from the USA Constitution. He defends a son that has destroyed the Division of Civil rights, dismissed a 25 year employee and laughed the next day at the devastation and death in New Orleans. The Iron Triangle must be upheld above all else otherwise the Bush Dynasty will fall and so will the contracts with Carlyle to rule the world.
OH, yeah, Former Prez. About those nukes that China built and aimed at this country with American money channeled through Pakistan. How does Neil feel about that? Safer?
PLEASE !

CNN on 'Save the King Bush Mode' in the face of impeachment. The incredible realization it that pandering to the guilty is more Anti-American than any words they can utter.

So how many Christians dance on the head of a pin for Larry King Live to promote a president that needs impeachment?

Well, Michael W. Smith is crowned as savior by George H. W. Bush and Larry sells his soul for chance to televise it. And to think the souls of Flight 93 has to be brought back to life to save Son Georgie from Impeachment. Pulling out all the 'stops' for hope the people of the country can be deceived by 'good will' and 'trained Pavlov grieving and fear' that the Repuglicans still hold a corrupt majority in the House and Senate come November 2006.

You are all pathetic. You love your money and cronies more than you ever had loyalty to this country.

"The White House is not responding to Michael Brown stating they HAVE THEIR OWN report in the works." Jeanne Meserve, servant to the King. NO CLUE, Jeanne. Even tears are for sale at CNN. Those contracts must be an incredible tools for political fodder.

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Somehow walking around a home with mildew on the walls is a message that conveys something. I would think the better message would be a hammer in Anderson's hand rebuilding homes since people can't get into FEMA trailers. Or better yet, some real passion. A shovel over his shoulder after digging through the mud for still the unrecovered bodies of the dead.

Anderson 'revisits' every image possible to try to redefine the testimony by Brown and distract from the facts that Bush didn't care about the emergency.

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COMMERCIALS

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Vice President Cheney and The Fight Over "Inherent" Presidential Powers: His Attempt to Swing the Pendulum Back Began Long Before 9/11
By JOHN W. DEAN

Vice President Dick Cheney has stirred up an old fight in Washington. He sent a rookie, however, to make his case publicly. It did not work.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to offer what may have been the weakest legal argument for presidential power to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance since Nixon's Justice Department invoked the views of King George III.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060210.html

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Trent Lott suffered a loss. But not loss of life. Oh, insurance, of course.

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commercials

Bush lied over Katrina, sacked head of disaster agency says

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article344722.ece

Michael Brown, head of the federal disaster agency at the time of Hurricane Katrina, has reopened a painful wound for President George Bush, charging that the White House knew New Orleans' protective levees had broken far earlier than it had acknowledged.
Testifying to a Senate committee yesterday, Mr Brown said that by the evening of Monday 29 August, his Fema agency had reported to superiors that catastrophic floodwaters were pouring into the city, that fires were breaking out and large numbers of people were stranded.

...Further evidence that the administration had manipulated intelligence came in documents showing that Lewis Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, told prosecutors he had been "authorised by superiors" to leak classified intelligence to reporters in the early summer of 2003, as it became increasingly evident that contrary to White House claims, Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.

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Bush ignored CIA advice on Iraq, says former spy Julian Borger in WashingtonSaturday

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1707520,00.html

February 11, 2006The Guardian
The CIA official in charge of intelligence on the Middle East until last year has accused the Bush administration of ignoring assessments that sanctions and weapons inspections were the best way to deal with Saddam Hussein, and that an invasion would have a "messy aftermath".
In an article in the next edition of the bimonthly journal, Foreign Affairs, Paul Pillar, has become the highest-ranking CIA official from the prewar period to accuse the White House of manipulating the intelligence on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Ex-Abramoff client subpoenaed in Republican fundraising probeChannel One's parent donated to TRMPAC before education board's vote on resolution

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3649210.html

By CLAY ROBISON and R.G. RATCLIFFE

Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN - New subpoenas issued by Travis County prosecutors on Thursday cast light on a campaign contribution made by Primedia Inc. in 2002 just two days before the State Board of Education cast a vote that could have affected the company's profits in Texas.

Records: Abramoff Paid for GOP Aide's Trip
By ERICA WERNER Associated Press Writer © 2006 The Associated Press

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3647533.html
WASHINGTON — A former top aide to California Republican Rep. John Doolittle traveled to Puerto Rico on a trip paid for by Jack Abramoff's lobbying firm, records show.

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commercials

Hastert, Frist said to rig bill for drug firms Frist denies protection was added in secret

http://www.gallatinnewsexaminer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS02/602090405/1309/MTCN04

By BILL THEOBALDGannett News Service
WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert engineered a backroom legislative maneuver to protect pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits, say witnesses to the pre-Christmas power play.
The language was tucked into a Defense Department appropriations bill at the last minute without the approval of members of a House-Senate conference committee, say several witnesses, including a top Republican staff member.

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Recovery needs take-hold leadership

http://www.2theadvocate.com/opinion/letters/2275171.html

Published: Feb 8, 2006
It has been sometime since Katrina and Rita devastated coastal Louisiana, and the bickering continues. Instead of taking 10 years to recover, it will probably take 20 if all of our responsible officials continue to take potshots at each other. The Congress of the United States along with the president can get no positive vibes out of a local constituency that thrives on controversy and a history of corruption.Not only that, but each “principal” in the ongoing saga has an agenda propped up by several competing committees or commissions all “making noise” — cacophonous noise not harmonic.Getting a handle on the “science” doesn’t make things any easier. The Army Corp of Engineers can’t proceed (ever so slowly as always) with a clear-cut mission of what needs to be done and in what sequence without a cohesive scientific concept of what needs doing.Surely this has been the most devastating blow to hit this country in recent history. In the early days of the disaster, in spite of the confusion, some real leadership rose to the top and helped contain the loss of life and limit the damages. There were some real heroes out there. Surely the recovery deserves the same kind of “take-hold” leadership if New Orleans, for example, is ever to become a city again — not to mention protection for the rest of lower Louisiana. Where is that leadership today?Dick Schneider, director of developmentLSU School of the Coast and EnvironmentBaton Rouge

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Gupta went on and on about a congenital disease. There are many in the world. But, not once does he or Cooper proport any 'answer' to these maladies except sympathy. Anyone look into what is being done with genetic research? Nah. That would be turning their backs on Bush but it's okay to turn their back on helpless children seeking cures.

Jerks !

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Developer Lays Out Plans For Ore Dock

http://www.wluctv6.com/Global/story.asp?S=4431962&nav=81AX

A former Marquette resident has been working on plans to develop Marquette's Lower Harbor ore dock for the past six years. Monday night he presented his plans to the City Commission.
Gary Kropp told commissioners his plans for the ore dock will preserve its historic nature, increase the city's tax base, and be worthy of national attention. He also said the development will not disrupt the ore dock's quiet, serene, setting. Kropp wants to build 30 to 40 condos inside the dock with public space around the perimeter, including an area for large events.
The commission did not make a decision. Kropp said moving forward will be a lengthy process. Even if he gets city approval, he must also get approval from the Army Corp of Engineers and the DEQ.

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Fashion Week. Now, there is a thought. Anderson should go back walking the runway for Halston. At least that way he only has to strut and not speak.

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Feds offer seized-property deals online

http://www.newsday.com/business/realestate/ny-bzharn4618534feb10,0,6731981.story?coll=ny-realestate-headlines

KENNETH HARNEYKenneth Harney is a syndicated columnist.February 10, 2006
Whether you're a first-time home buyer, an investor, vacation property buyer, historic preservation buff - or even looking for a boat to convert into a live-aboard residence - you are not shopping the market to the max unless you check out the federal government's best real estate resources: the combined property disposition program inventories of 10 agencies, all rolled into one online access point.Want to buy a cabin in the woods near Lake Huron?

USG Makes $3.95 Bln Asbestos Pact to Exit Bankruptcy (Update2)

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aMfEV9GpYvmo&refer=top_world_news

Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- USG Corp., the No. 1 maker of gypsum wallboard, agreed to pay as much as $3.95 billion to settle asbestos liability claims and emerge from 4 1/2 years of bankruptcy.
USG's shares rose as much as 24 percent after it said the settlement would be financed by selling $1.8 billion in new shares, underwritten by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc., owner of 14.6 percent of Chicago-based USG. Berkshire Hathaway will buy whatever stock isn't purchased by current shareholders, who will be offered shares at $40 each, USG said.
The accord will enable USG to exit bankruptcy this year, the company said. Since 1982, at least 77 companies have cited asbestos liability in filing for bankruptcy. Compensating present and future asbestos plaintiffs may cost companies between $140 billion and $300 billion, according to private and public studies. Congress is weighing whether to establish a national asbestos trust to erase the related personal injury suits.
``We view it as another positive in the trend of resolving this longstanding problem'' of asbestos litigation, said Gene Pisasale, who helps manage $48 billion at Baltimore-based Mercantile Bankshares, which owns other company stocks beset with asbestos lawsuits including DuPont Co. ``I think you are going to see more stories like this.''

Publisher’s Note: The greatest sleazeballs of the 21st century

http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=2301

Wednesday 08 February @ 14:33:30
by Ed Felien

Dick Cheney is trying to push through the Senate a bill that would create a national trust fund for victims of asbestos poisoning. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? It does until you realize he’s doing it to cover his and Bush’s butts.A little background:

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Welcome to the first web site in America dedicated exclusively to raising awareness about the connection between hurricane Katrina and global warming.

http://www.katrinanomore.org/

Featured Link:LA Times: Mike Tidwell Commentary
It is clear that Hurricane Katrina was no ‘natural’ disaster. Though nature played a part, human action played a key role in exacerbating this disaster. This website is the first step in a bipartisan effort to raise awareness about the connection between hurricanes and global warming.
As we rebuild New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast, we must simultaneously work to prevent the tragedy of Katrina from happening all across our shores; we must work to stop global warming. We invite you to learn how global warming is affecting our country and to get involved in the fight!

Chevron paid agents who destroyed villages

COMPANY DENIES RESPONSIBILITY FOR NIGERIAN DEATHS OR INJURIES, SAYING IT PAID ONLY FOR GENERAL SECURITY SERVICES

By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News

The bodies of the dead Nigerian villagers had not yet grown cold when the Nigerian navy captain presented Chevron with a bill: 15,000 naira, or $165 for responding to "attacks from Opia village against security agents.''

Within 24 hours Chevron paid up. It would be years before the San Ramon-based energy company would acknowledge the role it played in the destruction of Opia and another small village called Ikenyan in Nigeria's oil-rich delta in January 1999.

The receipt for the January 4 army raid, which left four villagers dead and nearly 70 missing and presumed dead, came to light only this summer as part of a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of the victims in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. It is being reported first on MercuryNews.com.

The receipt also is among documents obtained by the Mercury News.

Chevron has denied any responsibility for the death or injuries that occurred that day. Charles Stewart, a Chevron spokesman, said the payment to the captain reflected ``a longstanding industry practice of paying a small amount for each day'' to military personnel who protected ``the people and the property of the oil companies located in the Niger Delta.''

The appearance of the receipt comes at a delicate moment for Chevron. The second-largest U.S. oil company is trying to drum up support for its $17 billion bid to buy Unocal, an oil-and-gas exploration company headquartered in El Segundo. Unocal shareholders are scheduled to vote on Chevron's bid on Aug. 10.

Chevron's principal rival in the deal was China's government-controlled CNOOC, that nation's third-largest oil producer. One of the top arguments Chevron's lobbyists have used to persuade members of Congress to side with Chevron is China's human rights record.

CNOOC withdrew its $18.4 billion bid for Unocal Corp. today, ending a politically charged takeover battle that highlighted the United States' growing apprehension about the economic rise of the world's largest country.

CNOOC's retreat clears the way for Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, to complete its acquisition of Unocal next week, even though its cash-and-stock offer is currently worth nearly $1 billion less.

Still, Chevron's involvement in the events in Africa are crucial, human rights activists say.
``It's important to look at Chevron's own record, '' said Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of several law firms representing the plaintiffs.

``It's important to look at the allegations of this lawsuit against the backdrop of violence and communal unrest in Nigeria,'' Stewart countered.

In a motion requesting dismissal of the lawsuit, Chevron initially cited press reports that Opia and Ikenyan had been destroyed by a rival tribe. But company documents later surfaced describing how the attacks had occurred a day after Opia youths had visited a nearby Chevron rig and demanded compensation.

Such demands have been common since the mid-1990s, as tribal communities around the Delta have sought a greater share of oil wealth and compensation for spoiled fishing areas and blighted farm land.

When oil exploration began in the 1950s, residents hoped for an economic bonanza. But the anticipated boom never materialized. Half a century later, the 20 million residents who live in the Niger River Delta continue to eke out a bleak existence while the oil fields surrounding their communities rank among the top producers of high-grade petroleum in the world.

By the late 1990s, demands for economic justice were being met with violence. In 1995 the military government executed Ken Saro-Wiwa, a prominent playwright and activist with the Ogoni tribe, along with eight sympathizers. In May 1998, Nigerian forces attacked about 100 members of the Ilaje tribe who were occupying an offshore oil platform belonging to Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary. Two protesters were killed and two were seriously injured. Later that year, Ijaw youth began holding oil company employees hostage.

In December, Ijaw activists issued ``The Kaiama Declaration,'' which called on all oil companies to stop ``exploration and exploitation'' activities in Ijaw areas of December 30. ``We are tired of gas flaring; oil spillages, blowouts and being labeled saboteurs and terrorists,'' the declaration stated. ``It is a case of preparing the noose for our own hanging.''

To oil company executives the declaration meant one thing: Get out by the end of December -- or else. Chevron began evacuating staff from Ijaw areas and preparing for mayhem.

That set the stage for the Opia violence, to which Chevron has been connected by court records.
It was at this time, when company leaders expected the worst, that youths from Opia, a community of thatched huts along Robin Creek, decided to press their grievances with a local Chevron representative. Months earlier, they had submitted a list of items, including fishing nets, traps, hooks and other materials that had been destroyed by Chevron's tug boats and floating barges.

Attorneys representing surviving villagers say their clients, who live without running water, electricity and newspapers, did not know about the Kaiama Declaration when they set out for the rig on January 3.

The returning residents found the rig deserted, except for guards who told the youths to leave. ``They rushed at them and they started beating them, you know, and they fell into the river,'' Anthony Lawuru, the chairman of the community, testified during a deposition in April 2005.
Back at the village, there was an urgent meeting.

``We'd been having a cordial relationship even with the security men,'' Lawuru said. A delegation that included women and elders decided to return with the youths to the rig the next day in order to demonstrate that the youths had community support.

The next day, the guards greeted the delegation with gunfire.

Shaken, the villagers returned to Opia. Not more than 15 minutes had passed before a blue-and-white helicopter dropped out of the sky. As it hovered above the center of the village, just below the level of the coconut trees, the helicopter door opened and gunfire sprayed out, according to sworn testimony,

``We were running into the bush, we heard the gun as it was going round,'' Lawuru said.
He estimated the fusillade continued 15 to 20 minutes. When villagers emerged from the bush nearly all the houses in the village were burning. Canoes, fishing materials, boats had been shot up and burned. Lawuru's brother lay dead.

There was panic as villagers rushed to pack their canoes and flee. In the confusion, Lawuru recalled, four boats known as ``sea trucks'' arrived, full of men in army uniforms. ``They did not land before they started shooting,'' Lawuru said. ``Then we started running again. Another round of running.''

The soldiers then moved downstream to Ikenyan.

There, the scene was replayed. In a declaration submitted in federal court in San Francisco, John Ikenyan, the son of the village chief, said a helicopter first appeared over the houses. ``I thought maybe that Chevron was coming to see my father again as they had before,'' Ikenyan said. Women and children waved.

A shot was fired from the helicopter and then another.

Villagers fled to the bush. Their homes were set on fire. The villagers returned and struggled to put out the flames. With no fire engine, no hoses and no pumps their efforts were hopeless. The sea trucks arrived. Once again, the villagers ran for the bush. Ikenyan said his father, the chief, stayed behind and was shot by the riverside.

``I later learned that many people had been killed or disappeared or were wounded at both Opia and Ikenyan on January 4,'' Ikenyan said.

According to Human Rights Watch, a total of four bodies were recovered from the two villages. Sixty-eight people were missing and believed dead.

Barbara Enloe Hadsell, an attorney for the villagers said that in addition to paying the security forces, Chevron loaned them the helicopter that was used in the attack. She said Chevron personnel not only accompanied the soldiers as they flew to Robin Creek but also directed the pilot to ``deviate from his course'' to pursue villagers who were ``getting away.''

``That's complete Chevron involvement,'' Hadsell said.

Stewart, the Chevron spokesman, admits that Chevron's Nigerian subsidiary helped transport the military reinforcements to the rig after gunfire was heard on the radio. Stewart also acknowledged that a Nigerian military officer onboard one of the helicopters ``discharged a gun during flight.''

But Stewart said Chevron did not authorize the weapons to be fired and that it occurred when no village was in sight. ``We are confident as the case progresses, Chevron will be vindicated,'' he said.

A jury trial on the villagers' claim is currently scheduled for the fall of 2006 in federal court in San Francisco.

Contact Elise Ackerman at eackerman@mercurynews.com or call (650) 688-7588.

Group claims New Orleans election plans hurt blacks; lawsuit filed

http://www.kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4483096&nav=5D7l

NEW ORLEANS An advocacy group is trying to stop city elections in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.The federal court suit argues that the process will keep blacks out of elected office.
The Advancement Project wants changes to the election plan, including polling stations outside the state.
Meanwhile, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People warned that it might organize protests and challenge the elections in court. It says displaced voters need to be given greater consideration in plans to hold elections April 22nd.
Among other races, voters will cast ballots for mayor. So far, the most striking aspect of that race is the number of prominent white business leaders and politicians who have jumped in.
Incumbent Mayor Ray Nagin remains the only black candidate.



Jailed pregnant reporter not accredited-Ethiopia

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09406220.htm

09 Feb 2006 18:29:54 GMTSource: ReutersADDIS ABABA , Feb 9 (Reuters) - A pregnant reporter has been jailed in Ethiopia for more than two weeks, and Ethiopia's Information Ministry said on Thursday she had not been legally accredited.
Press freedom advocates have criticised the arrest without charge of online journalist Frezer Negash, who works for the U.S.-based Ethiopian Review website, which is critical of the government.
Fanthaun Assres, the head of journalist accreditation for Ethiopia's information ministry, said Frezer did not have the proper paperwork.

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Cheney Spearheaded Effort To Discredit Wilson

http://www.countercurrents.org/us-leopold100206.htm

On September 14, 2003, during an interview with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney maintained that he didn't know Wilson or have any knowledge about his Niger trip or who was responsible for leaking his wife's name to the media.
"I don't know Joe Wilson," Cheney said, in response to Russert, who quoted Wilson as saying there was no truth to the Niger uranium claims. "I've never met Joe Wilson. And Joe Wilson - I don't who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back .. I don't know Mr. Wilson. I probably shouldn't judge him. I have no idea who hired him."
This article first appeared on TruthOut


Frank and 45 lawmakers ask Rice to explain U.N. denial

http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/february/0210065.htm

by Eric Resnick
Washington, D.C.--Openly lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and 44 other Democrats are demanding that Secretary of State Condolezza Rice explain and repudiate a January 23 United Nations vote against two international gay groups.
Their February 7 action followed Reps. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Tom Lantos of California, who issued separate statements condemning the Bush administration’s United Nations vote to deny status to the two groups.
Ohio Reps. Sherrod Brown and Dennis Kucinich are among the signatories to Baldwin’s effort, as is Lantos.
“I had hopes for better from you,” wrote Frank to Condolezza Rice on February 2.
“I was deeply troubled to learn that the U.S. government, presumably at your direction, sided with some of the most undemocratic, anti-human rights regimes in the world in voting against consultative status for two international organizations, solely on the grounds that they represent gay and lesbian people,” Frank continued.


US waives export restrictions on Pakistan

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200602091001.htm

Washington, Feb. 9. (PTI): The United States has waived restrictions on exports to Pakistan noting that it would facilitate the transition to democratic process in the country.
US President George W Bush yesterday eased the prohibitions under the 'Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Relations Programmes Appropriations Act of 2006', which targets countries where a coup has overthrown a democratically formed government.
Asking Secretary of State Condolezza Rice to inform about the waiver to the Congress, Bush said that the easing of prohibitions under the Section 508 of the Act was "aimed at facilitating the transition to democratic rule" in Pakistan.
The waiver was also "important to the United States' efforts to respond to, deter or prevent acts of international terrorism," the memo to Rice said.

IN CONCLDING for the evening? George H. W. Bush should have raised a son that was WILLING to be first honest.

E. N. O. U. G. H.

AC360 morphs into "Larry King, Jr. LIVE"

959

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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Commercials

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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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Commercials


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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


1036

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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1040

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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1051

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>

1054

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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1059

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.

1101

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.

1102

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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1112

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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1119

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

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.

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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.

"Redundancy 'R' Us" is not my cup of tea tonight.

We'll pick up again tomorrow.

Until then ...

... good night ...

... and good luck...

Domestic Violence Headlines Anderson Cooper 360

1000

Anderson, what are you doing about 'preventing' spousal abuse, murder and child death within the households in America? This is scandal ridden sensationalism.

The rest of the world has other issues on their minds. Like National Security realizing the islands of the Caribbean as they become unstable with lack of policy under this administration pose a very real threat for breeding grounds of terrorists.

Confusion mars early hours of voting in Haitian elections
By JOE MOZINGO
jmozingo@miamiherald.com
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Confusion and frustration mounted during the first hours of Haiti's national election today as masses of voters set out before dawn to cast their ballots but found many polling places disorganized and unable to open on time.
Haitian electoral officials and U.N. advisors said they were scrambling to fix the problems but described them as isolated. ''We are in control of the situation,'' electoral council spokesman Stephen Lecroix told a news conference.
But at one of three polling centers that serves the volatile slum of Cité Soleil -- a place where electoral officials and U.N advisors have repeatedly assured wary voters and observers that they were prepared -- supervisors were woefully unprepared.
By 6 A.M. when the center was supposed to open, an estimated 3,000 people had lined up. They continued to arrive by the hundreds, marching excitedly and jogging. An hour later there were at least 5,000 lined up a half-mile back.

THIS is so hideous. The motive for going to Britian is because they DO NOT extradite to countries with the death sentence. But. Why should Anderson state the obvious. It would cause the case to be plainly closed and there would be no show, now would there?

Do I have to say how hideous this program has become? Do I?

Police look into family’s past in murder case

In what appeared to be a picture-perfect family at first glance, the Entwisle’s activities before the murders are raising many questions as to who the couple truly were, and how they came to live in Hopkinton less than three weeks ago.

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Tanker wreck starts leaking oil

The Ece is lying about 70m downA tanker which sank in the English Channel with its 10,000-tonne load of phosphoric acid is leaking fuel oil.

The Ece had about 80 tonnes of fuel on board when it sank on Wednesday while being towed to Le Havre.

The vessel had been badly damaged following a collision with a cargo ship off the north west coast of Guernsey early on Tuesday.

A plane crew spotted what they described as a "reasonable quantity" of fuel oil bubbling from the wreck.

Greenpeace said it feared the fuel oil could have a "long-term" and serious effect on marine life.
David Santillo, a scientist at the Greenpeace research laboratory in Exeter, said that with a slow dilution, the phosphoric acid should not pose a long-term problem.

But the fuel oil posed a serious danger to marine life on the sea floor.

He told BBC News: "It's potentially significant. The scale of the problem will depend on sea currents and how much time it takes to leak out."

Officials from France, Channel Islands and the UK are being consulted.

The Ece sank near the site of the collision, in 70m (230ft) of water, 90km (56 miles) west of Cap de La Hague.

French divers had found a 5m (16ft 4in) hole below its waterline, although there was no leak of the phosphoric acid.

French authorities have now imposed a one-mile exclusion zone with warning signs pointing out the wreckage to other vessels.

Crew rescued

The alarm had been raised at about 0220 GMT on Tuesday when the Ece collided with the freighter General Grot-Rowecki about 50km (30 miles) north-west of Guernsey.

Twenty-two crew members of the Ece were rescued unharmed.

The Maltese-registered carrier, carrying 26,000 tonnes of phosphorus, was only slightly damaged.

About 500 vessels every day pass through the Channel, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

French fishing trawler Kleine Familie sank early this month, with the loss of five crew members, after colliding with a cargo ship in the same sector of the English Channel.

1021

The California Wildfires AGAIN.

Fierce Winds Fan Southern California Fires

Written by The Associated Press
Created:1/24/2006 9:29:20 AM
Last Updated:1/24/2006 6:02:17 PM

Fierce Santa Ana winds whipping through Southern California on Monday fanned brush and house fires, knocked out power to 77,000 utility customers and littered roads with palm fronds and trash cans.The dry wind, gusting near 70 mph in some places, roared out of the desert and down mountain passes and canyons to the coast, sending firefighters chasing outbreaks and toppling big rigs on highways.One fire destroyed a home and damaged five others in the Tujunga section, and a blaze in suburban La Canada Flintridge forced evacuation of 15 homes before it was contained.By Monday night, a wildfire pushed by 30 mph wind spread over about 100 acres of brush near Highland, in the foothills of the San Bernardino National Forest east of Los Angeles, a Forest Services spokeswoman said. The blaze did not immediately threaten any structures.Most of the power outages were in San Gabriel Valley foothills and communities farther east.The La Canada Flintridge blaze was ignited by a fallen power line. Authorities were investigating whether the Tujunga fire had the same cause.In Santa Ana, a freeway billboard blew over, broke a power pole in half and smashed a pair of RVs. A huge oak tree fell on a house in Pasadena, and winds hampered firefighters battling a blaze that burned eight cars in Garden Grove.Six tractor-trailers and one box truck were blown over on Interstate 15 and its transition roads with I-210 and I-10, the California Highway Patrol said. Another toppled rig blocked the truck lane on I-5 north of Los Angeles. No injuries were reported in the wrecks.

"Santa Ana Winds" occur every year. La Nina has nothing to do with these winds. They are annual. La Nina is not. Everytime I post the Global Warming REALITY of the planet Rob Marchiano tries to explain it away. He's an asshole.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, the News Secretary gets serious. For one night. Big deal. She is actually Anderson's cheerleader. Just can't help herself I am sure.

1027

The Anti - Violence Denmark Cartoons. Here is something you don't have on your Blog. There is a history regarding activism. Dah. Theo van Gogh was murdered because of his film promoting RIGHTS for Islamic Women. Activism is not new to that society. The violence against the brave who dare to confront the oppression of Arabian cultures is not new either. However. It needs to stop along with the chronic violence within that culture. This literally can go on forever. It's just that there is a maniac president in Islam that wants to ignite the Middle EAst on fire. They hate intensely and they want to destroy Israel. Hamas was simply taking 'the brotherhood' to the next level. It has to stop. If it doesn't I am confident the 'cresendo' this has reached this time will find an end put to it !


Van Gogh killer jailed for life

A Dutch court has sentenced a 27-year-old radical Islamist to life in prison for the November murder of controversial film-maker Theo van Gogh.
Mohammed Bouyeri, who has joint Dutch-Moroccan nationality, had made a courtroom confession and had vowed to do the same again if given the chance.
The murder in Amsterdam stunned the Netherlands. The court ruled that it was a terrorist act.
The judge said the murder had triggered "great fear and insecurity" in society.
"The murder of Theo van Gogh provoked a wave of revulsion and disdain in the Netherlands. Theo van Gogh was mercilessly slaughtered," said Judge Udo Willem Bentinck.

Where are the reports of Islamic Gay Rights, Anderson?

Dutch MP to make gay Islam film

A Somali-born Dutch MP who collaborated on the film that led to the murder of director Theo van Gogh has written a sequel, about Islam's attitude to gays.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali received death threats after her work on Submission, a film about Islam's treatment of women.
Van Gogh was shot and stabbed by a Muslim radical, Mohammed Bouyeri, as he cycled through Amsterdam in 2004.
The film will use anonymous actors and carry no credits in an effort to protect those involved in the project.
Ms Ali told Dutch media that she had co-written the script with Van Gogh in the summer of 2004, months before he was killed last November.

1040

commercials

1043

A segment about a treated childhood genetic illness of which there is still no cure.

1051

The news secretary. Let's hear it Erica. Ah, no flirting tonight? Erica, what a disappointment. Aaron was never off limits.

1052

commercials

1055

The King Funeral - well at least it got three minutes. There was so much to say. You could have done an entire hour on her.

1058

But then so do the commercials.

1101

Frankenstein is back ! Figures. Andy couldn't live without his boy toy.

1102

California Wildfires.

The Posey Murders.

January 3rd.

Hamas promoted their election by promoting honor in murder.

1114

La Nina doesn't exist during Human Induced Global Warming. You have been explained this before. You could pretend you didn't but the 'crew' at CNN can't stand any of my blogs. They are jerks.

1115

commercials

King eulogists jab Bush at funeral

By Karen Jacobs and Tabassum Zakaria / Reuters

LITHONIA, Georgia - Speakers took a rare opportunity to criticize U.S. President George W. Bush's policies to his face at the funeral on Tuesday of Coretta Scott King, widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Civil-rights leader the Rev. Joseph Lowery and former President Jimmy Carter cited Mrs. King's legacy as a leader in her own right and advocate of nonviolence as they launched barbs over the Iraq war, government social policies and Bush's domestic eavesdropping program.
Bush sat watching the long service before an audience of 10,000 including politicians, civil rights leaders and entertainers at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, and a national cable television audience.

Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped found in 1957, gave a playful reading of a poem in eulogy of Mrs. King.

"She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war/She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar," he said.

"We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there/But Coretta knew and we knew that there are weapons of misdirection right down here/Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor."

The mourners gave a standing ovation. Bush's reaction could not be seen on the television coverage, but after Lowery finished speaking, the president shook his hand and laughed.
Mrs. King, seen by many as the "first lady" of the American civil rights movement, died last week in a Mexican alternative health clinic at the age of 78, after complications from ovarian cancer and a recent stroke and heart attack.

Bush, speaking before his critics, said, "By going forward with a strong and forgiving heart, Coretta Scott King not only secured her husband's legacy, she built her own."
With Washington debating the legality of Bush's domestic eavesdropping on Americans suspected of al Qaeda ties, Carter also drew applause with pointed comments on federal efforts to spy on the Kings.

"It was difficult for them personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated, and they became the targets of secret government wiretapping and other surveillance," he said.
Speaking later, Bush's father, former President George Bush, broke any tension by recalling his own meetings as president with Lowery and gave a score: "Lowery 21, Bush 3, it wasn't a fair fight."

Former President Bill Clinton, a favorite among mainstream civil rights leaders, was able to offer a teasing hint of the possible presidential candidacy of his wife, New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

1121

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I shouldn't have to point this out to trained/educated climatologists. I suppose the Global Droughts are all from El Nina. Right, Rob? Simpletons !

Global Drought Monitor and European Wind Damage Forecasts Launched


Links:
Global Drought Monitor
Euro Tempest
Tropical Storm Risk
Professor Mark Saunders (UCL Benfield Hazard Research Centre) has launched two new on-line weather services. The first monitors drought intensity worldwide, and the second provides real-time damage forecasts for winter storms over seven European countries.

Try and keep up Rob.

This was at Coretta's funeral service.

Look at the Puss on Laura. Who does she think she is?

Her spouse is one of the worst bigots of modern times. He has raped the Division of Civil Rights sending a 25 year employee packing. He has tried to stop Affirmative Action at the Univeristy of Michigan and that doesn't even begin to address Katrina and it's continued lack of attention.

Then, they have the 'nerve' to take seat front and center. Did they actually think they were going to come away unscaved?

1132

Medicating to sleep. "More than ever before." I doubt that.

The second time we heard from Sanya. This time insomnia. "Cognitive Behavior Therapy" CBT.

Yeah, has to be a 'specialized CBT' because

Lunesta is horribly expensive. Many who are looking for an alternative to Ambien can't afford to change. The best sleep medication out there is neither. The most benign medications is 'Restoril.' Restoril, the generic name is Temazepam, has dosages as small as 7.5 mg. It isn't expensive. It does need a perscription. It's been out on the market long enough to have reduced costs.

1137

Night Terrors

I've had enough.

Google is looking after all of our fun.

As a brief note about the continued deceptive campaign of the Republicans. I found it estranging to have Senator Spector come out with statements about 'Impeachment' only to take it back demanding a decision by the courts as to the 'illegal eavesdropping' of this administration. I find it very odd the members of the Republican Party such as Orin Hatch who is due for re-election this year; won't take a stand demanding Bush's resignation.

Bush/Cheney broke the law.

We have an outed CIA agent who was conducting very valuable work to this nation's security. We have a military that cannot discern torture from imprisonment. The USA has 'kidnapped' Americans without warrants while spiriting them out of the country for torture in the Middle East only to learn they were not at all guilty. We have a disabling National Debt with a President demanding over a $2 trillion National Budget while cutting Medicare for our elderly who is supposed to feel secure on their 'fixed income.' Take about an assault on security.

All that and much, much more without retribution against the criminal in the Oval Office.

Amazing. They all need to be replaced, including Orin Hatch . I am sorry but Senator Feinstein has nothing to gain by being 'contrary' to the law or the truth, yet, alone lie to the American people. Her constituency is tried and true. They would never desire Senator Feinstein to violate her oath to the USA Consitution. Evidently, the constituents of Hatch feel completely differently.

I don't believe there is a Republican alive you can trust anymore, bar none by the simple truth that the majority is corrupt as Abramoff himself. With so much on the line in November one would expect every one of them to be crying for Bush and Cheney's resignation. Bush for authorizing illegal eavesdropping with reference completely irrelivant to Abraham Lincoln. Cheney for having an AID that has been indicted on charges in regard to an investigation to the outing of Valerie Plame.

This nation cannot afford the Republican Party.

Until tomorrow.

I pass on comment tonight.

Two hours last night covered enough territory to express the ravages of lies in connection with this administration and any advocacy here.

Besides, I am not much of a "Tunnel Rat"

http://www.tunnelrats.net/home.htm

You expected 'the Vietnam type,' right? Nope. Lots of definitions to tunnel rats and why a group might choose that name. The idea that the 'culture' of Mexican drug smugglers might manifest on this side of the border in a front of 'wholesomeness' is a temptation of racism and bigotry. I hope it doesn't lead to that.