Anderson you are pouting. The boy wonder takes over Larry King Live to prove a point.

1000

WOW. Tonight we get more assaults against the American Sanity from CNN's witch doctor Sanjay Gupta. Nothing like discussing the obvious. The carbon monoxide of fireplaces. You know I have a meter in the house that measures any CO2 levels. I purchased it years ago when I used natural gas and hot water to heat the house in New Jersey. It was encouraged to be purchased by the utility company. It was nominal and it was budgeted on my bill monthly. I think I know something about this already.

Most fireplaces are equipped with 'flues.' (CLICK ON. It's amazing what one can find on line.)

Do you know what happens when the chimney flue is closed? Do you, Anderson? The house fills with smoke far quicker than it fills with carbon monoxide. Hello? You know a person catches on quick when smoke is building out of the fireplace. No high IQ needed there. Dogs bark and everything. Do you believe the level of insult this audience sustains?

AARON WHERE ARE YOU !!!!!!!!!!!

"Taped below the Earth" - Bush. His soul is trapped below the Earth.

1009

Sanjay Gupta

CO - carbon monoxide - colorless, poisonous. 500 people per year die of this. Generator heaters run by propane. There are other reasons like cars left running in the garage for reasons not necessarily understood. I don't find this TERROR Capital Network helpful.

1013

Bush is great at mindspeak. It's only when Rove has prepared him that he actually finds something other than spiritual well wishes. LIKE, an investigation will have to ensue considering the poor track record of this particular mine.

1014

commercials

Here is an appropriate commercial for you:

Carbon Monoxide Law - Professional Advice
We are a group of experts, doctors and lawyers who specialise in Carbon Monoxide. Carbon Monoxide (CO) is the leading cause of poisoning morbidity and mortality in the US.
If you, your family or your friends have been effected by carbon monoxide, we can help you. Through our network of professionals we can locate the appropriate help quickly and effectively. You exposure does no have to be recent for you to benefit from this service.
Advice - What are your rights? What can be done? Who can you turn to?
Support - We can help you contact people who have had the same experiences. A private support group, people who understand.

Boring.

Ah, let's see it is 1020 and the News Secretary is hard at work.

1020

More commercials? Not bad thinking by CNN actually. At least there is some information there.

1026

Took a break.

So, now we have a camera in a mine. Notice the men being interviewed are senior members of any team who know not just their jobs but their product. It is safe to say that like most Americans they take pride in their product and their work.

1028

Commercials. Time for another break.

1031

The News Review

THE PATRIOT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL !!!!!!!

The invasion of privacy is lopsided and even the pundits of the Patriot Act ADMIT there is a bias that will develop in the USA due to the incumbent ADVANTAGE over political information. We don't want a dictatorship. We want our country back. George Tenet did the right thing before 911 with his report "Bin Laden determined to Attack Within the USA." It was Bush that didn't pay attention nor did he care to. We need competency returned to the USA and we won't need an overbearing government.

This country can't afford A Patriot Act. It's demoralizing this country. Spying on Americans is a deplorable act. Americans had NO HAND in 9/11. NONE. Iraq was parlayed from the Culture of Fear of Bush. No way. We don't need it. We don't want it. Bush is destroying the American Culture.

1032

The mine experienced an explosion. Sure there are short shifts. These people are 2 miles into the Earth. What do you think they are up against no matter how dedicated they are to find their piers? Incredibly brave people. This mine needs to be closed down. I don't care if there was a new company that took it over. It's there bad luck. Shut it down ! They didn't immediately make improvements to prevent this. They were interested in the coal at any cost. We don't need companies like this.

1036

A Family Profile. Most of these families traditionally have a deep abiding faith. They are great people, too. They are the 'personage' of this country. They are real. They are important. They aren't a commodity. Terry is a man. A Dad. A Spouse. A Community Member. A Co-worker. A person who worked a job that supplied an energy source to the country. A PERSON is what this country is about. Not companies. Not corruption in government. The ONLY thing a company is CAPITAL. It is never a person. There is no allegiance to companies. There is allegiances to the people of this country. The persons. Nothing else.

1040

Governor Manchin doesn't want to speculate to the causes of the explosion. It needs to be investigated. He is finding order in the way the dead miner was found. He feels some hope might exist in that the other workers walked away from the 'car' they travel into the mine. The workers were appropriate in their demeanor if the dead man was doing his job in the proper place within this mine. This is tragic. Sometimes carbon dust can cause a flash explosion that robs the people in the area of the very oxygen in their lungs. "Believe in Miracles and Give Us a Good Prayer." Fine. We'll all keep good thoughts.

1047

Greg Phillips, Former Miner and Rescuer. I never lost a family member. It is difficult work. No one in two generations of this family has worked in any mines either.

There you go. Mr. Phillips knows what a carbon powder explosion can do. "A Pop Shot." He's very good.

1051

commercials

I think I'll say 'enough.'

end

This speculation was on August 10, 2005. I thought it was insightful and a compliment.

Q: gene of chicago - Thanks for taking my question. Who do you think will eventually be the principal anchor for ABC's World News Tonight. We are all saddened by Peter Jennings' loss...

A: Tim Cuprisin - I don't have a guess on this one, although I heard an intriguing suggestion that Aaron Brown could return to ABC. I like him, and he seems to be falling out of favor at CNN.

This is empty reporting. This issue is far deeper than a matter of minutes. This story is on going. When does it stop !

1000

Frankenstein is detrimental to the serious content of the news. Frankenstein is a Non-entity. It's dehumanizing.

1002

Yeah, everyone has hope.

The real story is that these people are entrenched in this profession. This is a deeply felt issue throughout this region. I don't really care about the 'techniques' I am confident the engineering is as good as it comes. I am interested in knowing how much these people suffer and they continue to suffer year after year after year…

Coal Miners' Memorials

http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvcoal/memorial.html

One might note the names on this West Virginia monument are family members.

It's in front of the Courthouse of Madison - capital of Boone County, West Virginia


1014

The REAL story is the high amount of static electricity that ignited the Methane ! No one pays attention. They just send them in. Do your job. Nothing can go wrong. The gas leaks out of these VASTLY mined fields is abundant. The companies are negligent !

http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvcoal/red3t.htm

I have to say this? Dah !

1016

Texas Drought

http://www.texaswaterinfo.net/Monitoring/Meteorological/Drought/pdsi.htm

YOU WANT to know how immoral this program is. At the firt 'whiff' of a lawasuit, AC 360 sponsors a PR Campaign for the company. Amazing.

Oklahoma fire alert map. Updated every TWO hours.

http://agweather.mesonet.ou.edu/data/public/mesonet/models/realtime/firedanger/latest.bi.fire.gif

The Oklahoma Drought Index Updated Daily

http://climate.ocs.ou.edu/data/public/mesonet/maps/daily/drought/latest.kbdi.png

Oklahoma Rainfall Index

http://climate.ocs.ou.edu/data/public/mesonet/summaries/daily/recentrain.html

Departure from Normal

Departure from Normal: The amount, in inches, above or below the climate division's established normal precipitation for the period. This value is often referred to as the precipitation surplus (when above normal) or deficit (when below normal). Normals are based on 30-year averages and are updated every ten years for each climate division. The current normals are based on 1971-2000 values.

http://climate.ocs.ou.edu/rainfall_update.html

You can 'surf' from here. Click on "Home" It's some pretty interesting stuff.

GOES West Enhanced Infrared Satellite. These states will not see rain anytime soon. The Arctic Ocean Vortex isn't reaching those latitudes.

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_ir_enh_west_loop-12.html

1059

I DARE ANYONE. Anyone this is not a national emergency and top priority on any DC agenda! Anyone !

I have had enough of the Corporate Sympathetic Dribble of this program. This is not even close to being a HARD HITTING PROGRAM. You all like fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and spontaneous methane explosions. DO YOU? Stop being fools. This is bigger than any government. Demand relief this.

Maybe a mid-winter hurricane but be more satisfying of the American Pacifists. Let's see, Zeta is still a tropical storm with a central pressure of 997 millibars. "Irene" had a central pressure of 975 millibars at a Cat 2.

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_wv_east_loop-12.html

Hm?

Enough.

Just one last point. Why do I find it so easy to hold Bush in ridicule? He was once governor of Texas. His reputation of air quality is to look the OTHER WAY. Which might give some insight into MINE air quality standards.

Texas Non-Attainment of ALL it's major cities. Without exception. The rest of the state is ranching.

I defy anyone to find MORALITY in this ! (Click On)

I understand it was a hell of a New Year's Eve on AC360. It's called misplaced priorities.

December 21, 2005.

The Savage River at Grant's Pass, Oregon; had receded 4 feet when this picture was taken. Otherwise a picture wouldn't have been possible.

TV 2005: A look back at some of the events, fads and flops

November

CNN issues a press release announcing its new schedule and some of us can't help noticing there's a certain Aaron Brown missing from it. Classy way to go, CNN.

It was too much to hope for...

... the program started out with purpose. It was speaking to 'the truth' I have stated existed in New Orleans since the day the disaster struck. The reality that no one in this administration cared about those in The Ninth Ward except to bulldoze their lives into oblivion. Reclaiming the 'real estate' while ridding the country of it's own worst 'truth,' the poverty of they bayous of Louisiana.

What Anderson Cooper 360 doesn't state is the courts are 'onto' the fact the work to reclaim the dead citizens of New Orleans isn't done !

Judge puts hold on home razing
Activists' concerns to get a hearing
Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Frank DonzeStaff writer

http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1135840787161300.xml

The planned demolition of hundreds of hurricane-ravaged homes in New Orleans has been put on hold until Jan. 6, when a judge has scheduled a hearing on a legal challenge to the controversial proposal announced last week by Mayor Ray Nagin's administration.
City Hall officials agreed to the delay Wednesday following a brief appearance before Civil Court Judge Herbert Cade, who had been asked by a coalition of activists to ban the bulldozing of up to 2,500 homes over the next several weeks.

New Orleans lawyer Bill Quigley, a longtime advocate for the poor and working-class, is seeking an injunction to stop the demolitions on behalf of the People's Hurricane Relief Fund, an umbrella group consisting of about 60 local organizations dedicated to Hurricane Katrina recovery.

THE TIMES PICAYUNE should be required reading for the nation !

After that segment this program AGAIN sunk into Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy, seeking it's notoriety by presenting EVERY odd and unsolved medical condition on the face of Earth. They should devote the same energy into solving problems such as Global Warming. That will not happen here because the 'weird' and any type of subject of sensationalism is their speciality. This isn't a news program. It's a program for people with empty lives to feel and think of themselves as noble for the 'knowledge' they have regarding 'trendy' morality rather than lives of purpose and true values.

Anyone can 'perform' to moral standards in front of a camera interlaced with 'People Magazine' at it's heart, but, it takes a 'real journalist' to bring the news to the American Public in a way that matters. Anderson touts himself as CNN's Nicholas Kristoff. Not hardly.

Good night and good luck. Dear God, this is going to go on for another hour exploiting the president of the Ukraine's skin erosion as a stimulus.

S.O.S.

NewsNight with Aaron Brown ranked SECOND at CNN only behind Larry King and 13th (Unlucky number I guess.) overall in Cable News.

For this he is replaced? Talk about Anti-American. Now, we get the profound pleasure of being yelled at by a news anchor with misplaced loyalty and values. Smile 'purdy' for the camera, Anderson.

2005: The Program Ranker

Bill O'Reilly is the king of cable news again this year. He's #1 on the 2005 weekday program ranker, followed by H&C, Greta, Shep and Hume. The "Competitive Program Analysis" shows CNN's Larry King at #6 (and #5 in the 25-54 demo).

The defunct NewsNight with Aaron Brown comes in as CNN's #2 program of the year, ranking #13 overall. Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room is CNN's #3 and Paula Zahn now is #4. Headline News star Nancy Grace ranks 25th on the chart, averaging 510,000 viewers for the year. Prime News was the second most-popular HLN show, averaging 335,000.On MSNBC, Rita Cosby was #1. Chris Matthews (#2), Keith Olbermann (#3) and Joe Scarborough (#4) were all within 20,000 viewers of eachother. See it all for yourself:

McCarthy still manages to divide us

Comment: I don't have to watch PBS, but I do, regularly, for "Frontline," "Great Performances," "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," "American Experience" and specials. Widely beloved by seniors, Welk isn't the problem. It's stations like Channels 10/36, which rerun dog-eared entertainment shows endlessly.

A column on CNN replacing newscaster Aaron Brown with the younger, buffer Anderson Cooper stirred angry comment.

Their competitor, Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren, thanked me for calling her "the pride of Appleton."

"I'm very proud to be from there," she e-mailed. "I brag about Appleton and Wisconsin all the time and for good reason. Also, I miss living in Wisconsin."

The entire world has issues, you know what I mean?

1001

Andy and Frankenstein, the weather men.

1001

Andy is a fast talker, isn't he?

Blah, blah, blah….

1015

Red Tape at the Gulf Coast.

You know I am tired of hearing about the 'frustration' of 'dealing with' this dysfunctional society created by Bush. When are you going to bring news about facts that facilitate issues rather than promoting frustration.

1016

The news secretary.


1023

E. Coli. Now that is a subject that is burgeoning on the horizon of medical science as the daunting issue of the century. You actually got Sanjay Gupta to discuss BOWEL bacteria. I wonder if the poor child was infected by his own feces, Anderson? Imagine discussing 'bowel bacteria' on an international news program with a segment about children that got ill because that bacteria found it's way into their blood.

You are a sick SOB, Anderson. You ever play in your own feces, Bubba. I looked high and low on CNN e-page and nowhere appears an article on e.coli.

Nope. No e.coli anywhere except AC360.

http://search.cnn.com/pages/search.jsp?query=e.coli

There was this article on the net:

Shareholder dairy’s milk tests positive for E. coli

Cookson BeecherCapital Press Staff WriterSamples of raw milk from Dee Creek Farm in Woodland, Wash., have tested positive for E. coli, according to information from the Washington State Department of Agriculture.The investigation of the dairy was triggered by an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 that has sickened several people, most of them children, in southwest Washington and Clatsop County, Ore.Marni Storey, public health manager for the Clark County Health Department, said this latest finding of E. coli in the farm’s milk adds further support to the likelihood that the outbreak is linked to the consumption of milk from the farm.The county’s Public Health Department is investigating illness in 18 people for E. coli infection. Fifteen of those people are children between the ages of 1 and 13. All of them reported consuming unpasteurized milk products from the farm.Five children were hospitalized. Two are still in the hospital and improving.“We are pleased the hospitalized children have improved,” said Storey. “Our focus continues to be to do all that we can to prevent any more illness or hospitalizations.”Anyone who has consumed unpasteurized milk products from Dee Creek Farm or its shareholders within the past four weeks and who has had bloody or crampy diarrhea is urged to contact a local health-care provider or the local health department as soon as possible.The milk samples, which were provided by the shareholders of the dairy, will be sent to the Washington State Public Health laboratory to verify that the strain of E. coli found in the milk is the same that has sickened the people who drank unpasteurized milk from the farm.On Dec. 20, laboratory testing had confirmed that seven of the sick individuals have E. coli 0157:H7, a virulent form of E. coli, a bacteria that lives in the guts of people and animals. E. coli DNA “fingerprinting” results have been received on four of the seven samples taken from the sick people, and all have the same matching DNA fingerprints.Dee Creek Farm operates a shareholder dairy. Under this type of arrangement, consumers buy a “share” of a dairy animal in return for a portion of its milk. The farm is not licensed by the state to sell raw milk, authorities said.In August, the farm ignored a demand by the state’s Agriculture Department that it stop selling milk until it obtained a state license. Under state law, a shareholder dairy is legal but must be licensed by the state before it can distribute raw milk. State licensing includes monthly testing of milk samples and requires raw-milk producers to meet higher standards than those producing pasteurized milk.Many shareholder dairies say they don’t need a license because the dairy animals are owned by the shareholders and therefore the animals’ milk is also owned by the shareholders.Dee Creek operators Michael and Anita Puckett have five cows and arranged to distribute raw milk to about 45 families.Claudia Coles, food safety manager for the state’s Agriculture Department, said Dee Creek has been shut down. Reporters have not been able to reach anyone at the farm.In response to the E. coli outbreak in Washington state, the federal Food and Drug Administration is warning the public not to drink raw milk because it may contain harmful bacteria that can cause life-threatening illnesses.According to the FDA’s website, although the majority of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with E. coli 0157:H7 have involved ground beef, such outbreaks have also involved unpasteurized apple and orange juice, unpasteurized milk, alfalfa sprouts and water. Fresh vegetables have also caused outbreaks.Seattle lawyer Bill Marler, who has won hefty settlements for E. coli victims in other cases, said parents of two sick children have asked him to look into their case.“Its a tragedy all around,” said Marler. “Even though the parents purchased the milk their kids consumed, they certainly didn’t anticipate that the product would have a deadly pathogen in it that could make their kids sick.”Marler said a colleague is analyzing the seven- or eight-page contract that the shareholders signed with Dee Creek.Marler also said the state’s liability will also be investigated.

MAYBE there are more? Do you think there are more articles about e.coli, Anderson?

Let's find out.

1038

commercials

Why Anderson the planet is full of e. coli !

Escherichia Coli

O157:H7

Outbreaks Associated With Petting Zoos, N Carolina, Florida And Arizona, 2004-2005Category: Veterinary NewsArticle Date: 29 Dec 2005

During 2004-2005, three outbreaks of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections occurred among agricultural fair, festival, and petting zoo visitors in North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona. One hundred eight cases, including 15 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome* (HUS), were reported in the North Carolina outbreak; 63 cases, including seven HUS cases, were reported in the Florida outbreak; and two cases were reported in Arizona. No fatalities occurred. Illnesses primarily affected children who visited petting zoos at these events. This report summarizes findings from these outbreak investigations, which indicated the need for adequate control measures to reduce zoonotic transmission of E. coli O157:H7.

1040

Why Anderson, it could be a global emergency bigger than the bird flu. I'll keep looking, Anderson.

E coli warning for imported luxury cheese

RUSSELL JACKSON
FOOD standards officers are warning shoppers not to buy certain luxury brands of imported French cheese and butter which may be contaminated with a potentially lethal strain of E coli food poisoning.
The Food Standards Agency last night issued an urgent Food Alert about Camembert and Coulommiers cheese and Le Gaslonde unpasteurised butter because of possible contamination with the deadly E coli 026 strain.

Why look Anderson, people are sueing e. coli. There should a law !

Two families hurt by E. coli hire lawyers

Wednesday, December 21, 2005By DON HAMILTON, Columbian staff writer
A Seattle law firm specializing in food liability lawsuits will represent two families victimized by the recent E. coli outbreak with an eye toward suing the farm that provided the raw milk that sickened their children.
The law firm Marler Clark won recognition for winning more than $20 million in settlements following the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli outbreak in 1993 and a $12 million settlement in 1998 in the Odwalla apple juice outbreak.
Eighteen people, 15 of them children ages 1 to 13, have been sickened in the outbreak, and all 18 consumed raw milk from Dee Creek Farm near Woodland. Two children remain hospitalized but their conditions are improving.
Clark County and state health officials have been testing and cross-testing milk samples and E. coli victims to determine the scientific link between the milk and the bacteria.

Anderson look at this. Do you think it could be GERM WARFARE? Oh, no. Georgie was right about Iraq.

How E. Coli Bacterium Generates Simplicity From Complexity

The ubiquitous and usually harmless E. coli bacterium, which has one-seventh the number of genes as a human, has more than 1,000 of them involved in metabolism and metabolic regulation. Activation of random combinations of these genes would theoretically be capable of generating a huge variety of internal states; however, researchers at UCSD will report in the Dec. 27 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that Escherichia coli doesn’t gamble with its metabolism. In a surprise about E. coli that may offer clues about how human cells operate, the PNAS paper reports that only a handful of dominant metabolic states are found in E. coli when it is “grown” in 15,580 different environments in computer simulations.

1049

commercials

1051

Boy, it's a good thing you brought this up tonight. Glad I tuned in. Saved my life. Where would I be without Anderson Cooper. That was a close one !

Six E. coli cases linked to milk produced at unlicensed dairy
Wednesday, December 14, 2005By TOM VOGT, Columbian staff writer
Six confirmed cases of E. coli have been linked to drinking unpasteurized milk from an unlicensed Cowlitz County dairy.
All the victims are children between the ages of 5 and 14. Three are in area hospitals, including two in critical condition, said Dr. Justin Denny, Clark County health officer. The other hospitalized child is improving.
None of the children has been identified. The bacteria can cause life-threatening illnesses, but no information has been released about the children's medical problems.
Clark County health investigators have identified one common link, Denny said: All six drank unpasteurized milk that was produced by Dee Creek Farm, a family-run dairy in Cowlitz County.
Four cases were confirmed Monday and the other two cases had been categorized as probable.

Everything old is 2005

Retreads, remakes and revisions marked the culture this year.


...CNN channeled the spirit of Geraldo in its prime-time news program by replacing Aaron Brown with Anderson Cooper, who Rolling Stone magazine recently dubbed the first emo-anchor....

1000

Introduction. That kills three minutes with nothing to say.

1003

A knife welding man that won't cooperate with police. About a dozen officers. They couldn't shoot his knees out from under him? Give me a break !

1006

Police and the 'scary' mental cases. Doesn't that include most of the people at CNN?

1006

Eleanor Bumpers.

Eleanor Bumpers: shot by cop during eviction
by Mario Merola
On October 29, 1984, Eleanor Bumpurs, a black woman who weighed 275 pounds and walked with difficulty, was shot dead by police officer Stephen Sullivan as she was being evicted from her apartment at 1551 University Avenue.
After months of public debate about the killing, a grand jury had heard the entire story: how Bumpurs had owed a grand total of $417.10 on the 1-bedroom apartment she rented in a city housing project in the Bronx; how the city had stumbled and bumbled in its attempts to get the rent paid and avert the eviction; how the eviction process had continued to steamroller along; how the cops - the city service of last resort - had been called in to resolve the stand-off; how the situation had grown ugly; how Sullivan had then pulled the trigger not once but twice, ending the confrontation with Bumpurs's death.

http://bronxblotter.home.mindspring.com/merola/p009.html

"A Show of Force" doesn't require DEADLY FORCE. They over played their hand.

Oh, I love that. The officers need to be sure they had a clean shot where there are no other OFFICERS in the line of fire.

1013

Commercials

1016

So, Chad. No recreational focus today, huh? Jerks.

1020

commercials

1023

"Keeping them honest." If you say so.

1027

commercials

1030

Organized crime? Shoplifting. This has been a way of making money for a long time. It has been organized for a long time as well. I suppose if you want to showcase it this time a year it's a good idea. But, it's not easy to police an entire store. Why take OTC drugs? Because they can sell individual pills when others cannot afford to buy the entire bottle. They might give it away depending who you are to the shoplifter. Poverty is the 'enemy' not the shoplifter.

1037

commercials

1040

Pakistan earthquake. Assistance by MASH unit.

The Pakistani Doctor is exceptional. 212th MASH unit. Why do they have to leave?

1045

commercials

1050

"No thanks."
Gary Tuchman.
Shopping with Steven Hawks.
Brigham Young University.
"The Intuitive Diet"

No, thank you. If one is on a diet then you need to be ON A DIET. Not pretending to be on one.

1052

I'm saying '...until tomorrow.'

AC 360 is a program of Sensationalized Hypocracy.

This is the Water Vapor Satellite of North America Today.

While Carbon Dioxide Density as furnished by the consumer habits of the USA enabled by the oil administration in DC continues to cause huge problems with Global Warming, CNN's AC360; who promoted themselves over the tragedy of Katrina; now treats the impending West Coast storms as a commercial opportunity.

The 'Climate Diversion' is furnished by Chad Myers. The AC360 team would have you believe they are honorable, moral people of the highest standards and truth. Wouldn't seem to be the case.

This is 360.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: For the next few days, the weather out West promises to be -- well, challenging. While some areas got a white Christmas, for others, the week after Christmas looks to be mostly wet and very, very windy. In Modesto, California, rains may have already caused a mudslide that caused a multi-car accident that left one person dead. And there's more rain on the way -- a lot more. (AUDIO GAP) for you as you try to make it home this holiday week, let's go in and check in with CNN meteorologist and severe weather expert Chad Myers. Hey, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Heidi. The good news is, this is a warm system. So, if you get to the passes around Truckee, you get to the passes over the Cascades, it's going to be rain.But above 8,000 feet, there's literally a potential, with this connection to the tropics out in the Pacific, for four to eight feet of snow above 8,000 feet. And that's great, because you can drive to the resort. You can go skiing. You get tons of snow. You have to be careful, of course, with the avalanches at eight feet. But, anyway, you can at least get there. And then the snow levels kind of come up and down, maybe one to three inches of snow around Truckee possible, but that literally will be it. The forecast, though, this is the next 48 hours. And I want you to pay attention to these dark purple areas. Everywhere that you see a dark purple area is a foot of snow or more. Now, talking the 14ers. We are talking Telluride, right up into Summit County, back all the way across, even to the Tetons, the Wasatch, and then right through the Sierra and up into the Cascades. Get above that snow threshold, and it's really going to be coming down -- some light snow in the East, but nothing in the purple range. We will see that rain change over to snow as you get higher in the elevations. We are looking for flooding in the North Bay area, I mean, from San Francisco up to Eureka, looking at the Russian River, could see six inches of rain by Friday, and then these higher elevations, as the air is pushed up the mountains. That's where the snow will be, right where it should be.

(LAUGHTER)

MYERS: Back to you, Heidi.

COLLINS: Sometimes, I wish if I should have -- wonder if I should have moved from Colorado. I don't know.

(LAUGHTER)

COLLINS: All right, Chad Myers, thank you.

MYERS: You're welcome.

I didn't know they were taking a poll.

NYDN Readers Say: Keep Schieffer

Nearly 75 percent of Richard Huff's readers say CBS should keep Bob Schieffer in the anchor chair.In a "highly unscientific poll," readers chose between Schieffer, Lara Logan, Katie Couric or Shepard Smith. Logan came in a distant second with 13 percent of the vote. Couric and Smith were "no-shows," and John Roberts received a few write-ins. (Aaron Brown got one, too.)"

As a longtime NBC/Tom Brokaw man, I have recently switched to watching Bob Schieffer and the CBS news," one reader said. "He gives the news in an easy, matter-of-fact manner and seems to be very comfortable and sincere, like he's in my living room talking to me."

Aaron spent days covering the tsunami from the toughest and most dangerous front, Banda Aceh Province

While the 'Thought Engineers' of AC360 would have a selective memory; those of us that appreciate excellance in journalism recall very clearly, it was Aaron Brown that lead the teams into The Asian Tsunami. While 'the team' put together a comprehensive view of the devastation both physical and human; Aaron took the toughtest assignment in Banda Aceh where a militia was still alive and well post tsunami.

Aaron Brown also lead 'the team' to Rome for the Pope's passing and funeral onto the anchoring of the choice of a new Pope. Aaron anchored the entire months of presentations of Katrina and Rita. It was only when the news became 'routine' again would he be leaving us to an inferior news anchor still today.



Aaron Brown: (on camera): And what strikes you coming here is this. In Thailand, it was the tourist resorts, the fishing villages right by the sea that were destroyed. Here, we're talking about a capital city of a province. We are four kilometers inland and just look at it. As far as the eye can see, it is destroyed.

(voice-over): Television deals in the human senses of sight and sound, but it is an inadequate medium when it comes to conveying what it's really like here. This is a city pervaded by death, the sight of it, yes, but also the smell of it. Death is everywhere. Today in Banda Aceh, you cannot escape it.

(on camera): Everywhere you drive in Banda Aceh, you come across scenes like this here, teams of workers pulling out bodies from the river that flows through the center of Banda Aceh. We've been here 15 minutes or so and we've seen them pull out five bodies. And this, of course, is 10 days after the waves struck.

(voice-over): Help is here, of course, but seldom can anywhere have needed it as much as this place, this city, or, rather, what remains of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And, once again, that was Mike Austin of Britain's ITV reporting. Back to Aaron now, looking at some of that same devastation in Banda Aceh. I guess, Aaron, one of the things you were talking about earlier this evening that really struck me -- and it's really hard to understand this -- that you're staying at a point that is a mile and a half inland from the ocean.

BROWN: Yes. It's -- I mean, again, I think, I would just echo everything that Mark Austin said. The difference between what happened here and what happened in Thailand and Sri Lanka is that it isn't just the coast, that we're a mile and a half from the coast here and look what's in front of us. And believe me when I tell you that, if you were to look the other way, it doesn't look any prettier. When Mark was reporting that, I knew exactly where in town he was talking about, four miles in, about 3 1/2 miles from the ocean . And it's just devastated. And the aftershocks continue. We were standing here, what, 2 1/2 hours ago, I guess, and another one rolled through. There was one earlier this morning. How that must traumatize the people who lived through it, the peril they must feel. In any case, we'll take a break. When we come back, this disaster as seen through the lens, as we often do, of some of the world's great still photographers. CNN's special coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: That wraps it up from New York for me this evening. And, Aaron, you'll get to close out the hour here.

BROWN: Thank you very much. There is this kind of dead look that takes over the faces of people when they've grieved at this scale, as if there is nothing else inside.This hour tomorrow looks at the special plight of children in this disaster. We hope you'll join us for that.Until then, good night for all of us.


January 6

Nowhere is the situation worse than it is in Banda Aceh. And that's where we find Aaron Brown tonight -- Aaron.

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We are outside a refugee camp, very much a makeshift refugee camp that is being run by university students and their professors. Jeliteng Pribadi was an economics professor two weeks ago and he's a refugee camp director today. And he's with us. My Indonesian isn't very good, so we'll do this in English, as best we can.

JELITENG PRIBADI, REFUGEE CAMP DIRECTOR: OK.

BROWN: They found you, in a sense. People flooded here, because we're on relatively high ground, and you decided you had to do something, basically, right?

PRIBADI: Yes, you're right.When the tsunami came here, in the very beginning of the day, like, first until the fourth day, we just helped people inside the city, take the dead body, other some people still alive to the doctors, to the hospitals. And after the fourth day, start from the fifth day, we still to be focused, who we need to help? Do we still in there in the city to collect the dead body or we just help the people who still alive?

BROWN: Just a couple -- how much better are things now than they were a week ago here?

PRIBADI: Here. It's just around 1,500, but now it's well into 2,000 people here.

BROWN: You have medicine enough here?

PRIBADI: Right now, we have so many donation from other countries, from other organizations, like from Mercy, from International Red Cross. But, in the very beginning of the day, until -- the first week here, we still have no -- even for like Betadine, alcohol, we have not enough medical.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Just a final question. Can you imagine a time when things will be normal again?

PRIBADI: No. I don't think we will have normal condition in one or two months after the tsunami. And even for six months, I don't think we will have normal condition again like before.

BROWN: Thank you.

PRIBADI: OK. You're welcome.

BROWN: Thank you. One of the tasks here is to figure out, literally figure out who is here, who survived it, who did not. Foremost among that task is reuniting children and parents. UNICEF has set up an office here. Atika Shubert -- it's literally across the street. Atika Shubert has been over there to report on their efforts pretty much.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Aaron. UNICEF feels it is very important that children are able to stay, if not with their immediate family, with their extended family, or at least with the community they feel comfortable with. So one of the things we're doing is trying to identify and register all the tens of thousands of displaced children. We followed them around yesterday.And here's what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT (voice-over): Children play amid the wreckage while a government teams picks its way through. Their mission, to identify children whose parents have gone missing in the disaster. Together with United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, the government is trying to register tens of thousands of displaced children in the hope they can be reunited with family.

ANANDA MELVILLE, UNICEF: It's to try to prevent not only the issue of trafficking of children, but also to prevent very well- meaning people taking the children and putting them in institutions in other countries or in other parts of Indonesia where -- and without -- and later it could be very hard to find them. S

HUBERT: In each camp, the faces of the missing are plastered everywhere, most of them, children. Parents line up at UNICEF, clutching pictures of their sons and daughters.

(on camera): In this camp, there are makeshift shelters and there are makeshift families. In these two tents, a hobbled together community of neighbors who have lost their homes, mothers who have lost their children, and children who have lost their parents.

(voice-over): Twelve-year-old Igbal was registered with UNICEF by Khaidir Stamsul. They seem like father and son. But it was only by chance that Igbal was away from his family, playing near Khaidir's home when the tsunami struck. It saved Igbal's life, but his family is gone. Khaidir has taken him in. "We're his parents as long as he's in this camp," he tells us. "We don't allow him to be left alone in silence, and my kids like him. Honestly, I couldn't give him away now even if someone wanted to adopt him."While other children play, Igbal seems pensive. He says he wants to be a soldier when he grows up, not a doctor, as Khaidir suggests. The reason is understandable. "I don't want to do that. I'm afraid of the ghosts from all of those dead bodies," he says. Despite their smiling faces, the ghosts that will surely haunt these children for years to come.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Now, it's hope against hope to try and reunite these families, Aaron. There are so many orphans and so many parents looking for missing children. But the good news is, a lot of these Acehnese communities are taking in these orphans, so at least they're not completely on their own.

BROWN: Do the aid workers feel that -- here, we'll raise that up just a little bit.

SHUBERT: Sorry.

BROWN: Do the aid workers feel that the world's attention will stay here long enough to get the work done?

SHUBERT: Well, that's certainly what they're hoping. There's a very desperate need here. And one of the things that UNICEF has pointed out is that the reason why it's so important to register and identify these children is because one of the problems down the line could be something like child trafficking. This is a situation where traffickers exploit the situation, exploit those children. And it's important to identify, register and get those children into communities that are safe for them before the traffickers get to them.

BROWN: It's actually -- it's one of the difficult parts of the story, is to know how much of that is actually happening and how much that is just fear of it happening -- Paula.

ZAHN: Aaron, I wanted to ask you what else you could share with us about the conditions at these camps. You spent the better part of the day at the one you are reporting from now.

BROWN: Were you able to hear? The condition of the camps generally?

SHUBERT: The conditions are a lot better now than they were. Just when I first got here, actually, a week ago, it was quite chaotic. Now there is certainly order. Sanitation is a lot better. But it still needs to be improved. The risk of disease is still there. And so a lot of help still needs to come in.

BROWN: Just to give you an idea, they -- we're, what, 10, 11 days since the tsunami hit. They just got sanitation facilities at this camp yesterday. So, it's -- it's pretty rugged living here, but they are living. And they are being fed. And that's encouraging for them -- Paula.

ZAHN: Aaron and Atika, thanks.Coming up, the world responds with an outpouring of aid. How marine muscle is playing a big part in relief operations. Then, born of the tsunami, a tiny child brings happiness and hope where there was none.


January 7

ZAHN: A little boy with a giant hole in his heart. In Banda Aceh, as in many other areas, the cleanup after the tsunami is beginning to show some signs of progress. But even with a massive effort, getting lives and livelihood back on track is not easy. That story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ZAHN: And welcome back to our special report, "Turning the Tide."My colleague Aaron Brown joins us from Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Aaron, you have been telling us over the last couple of days how complicated it is to distribute this aid. Have you seen any progress from where you stand?

AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you know, look, I mean, you measure progress in funny ways. And every helicopter that goes out with water and medicine and food is progress. If you're looking for some big sea change, no. But another village gets fed or another refugee camp gets set up and food gets delivered, another wound gets healed, and that -- you measure progress in a kind of simple or small way. But it's -- in fact, nobody knows that better than Dr. Cesar Campo, who is a surgeon, a Spanish surgeon. He's with the Spanish medical team that works here.When you walk up and down the line here, the Aussies, the Americans, everybody says, talk to the Spaniards, because they are the ones who have really done the work. And the doc here has been doing the work. What kind of wounds principally and injuries are you seeing?

DR. CESAR CAMPO, SURGEON: Well, we are seeing very dirty wounds, because they are people that was affected by the tsunami. And then we are the first attendant that are looking for them, you know? Then those wounds are very, very dirty, very infected. And we have to do a work for cleaning, for debriding. It's (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

BROWN: All you can -- is it right that all you can really try to do is try and stabilize the patient and hope for the best?

CAMPO: Yes. Our first work is to stabilize the person and give the first aid here in Banda Aceh. Afterwards, the persons can go to hospitals in Medan, in Banda Aceh, or can go to the refugee camps after our work.

BROWN: Just a quick final question, Doc. What are their chances, generally? Do you think most of them will make it, some of them will make it? What do you think? Will they live?

CAMPO: Well, no, I think all of them will -- won't do, won't live, because there are many people very, very ill. We try to do our best with them with our work, cleaning, debriding, fixing fractures, using antibiotics and so, then -- but we don't know when another doctor or us will review them.

BROWN: I know you've got a lot of work to do. You have got a patient in there now, Doc. Muchos gracias, senor.

CAMPO: Thank you very much.

BROWN: Thank you.

CAMPO: Thank you.

BROWN: We appreciate it. We were talking a moment ago about how you measure progress here. A helicopter goes out, that's progress. You see a heavy piece of machinery come into the city to start clearing the rubble, it's a -- the rubble, the mess here is so vast, it doesn't seem like much to start clearing a block. But it is a small measure of progress. Atika Shubert was out on the bridge that we were broadcasting from the other day, and she, too, found small measures of progress, small measures of normalcy.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Aaron. What we find is that people are starting to get back to normal life, but it's going to take a long time. There just isn't the kind of equipment needed to clear the area quickly. So, we did is, we went to some of the areas that were hardest hit in Banda Aceh to see how they were dealing with the clear-up. And this is what we found.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)


SHUBERT (voice-over): Friday prayer in the great mosque of Banda Aceh, the first area to be cleared of debris and bodies. The faithful come to pray. Soldiers stand on guard. Signs of life returning to normal. In the market, shops still in ruins, but order has been restored. Residents line up patiently for food and for water dispensed by Australian soldiers.

(on camera): Residents still live amid the wreckage. Heavy moving equipment is hard to come by and it may take months for any of this to even begin to be cleared.

(voice-over): Boats are still marooned in the center of town more than a kilometer inland. The most spectacular wrecks have become something of a tourist attraction for visiting aid workers. Here we found Mohammad Amwar Illas (ph), a fisherman watching over his family's boat jammed atop a bridge. He was fishing four kilometers offshore in another boat when the tsunami struck, feeling nothing but the rise and fall of a large wave. He came back to this. His home and his parents gone, he focuses on salvaging what he has left. "If I can, I'll build another boat. The engine still works," he says. "We will have destroy the rest of this to get the engine. I just don't think anything else is usable." Mohammad figures it will take six months for his life to return to normal. He waits every day for a cleanup crew to arrive, but they're not stopping here today.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Now, there are still some more encouraging signs this morning, Aaron. Actually, supermarkets are starting to open and that's a good thing, but it is going to think many months yet.

BROWN: Thank you. Every day, another piece of heavy machinery moves in. Every day, the area inches towards recovery. But you're talking about three months before, four months maybe, before bodies are all cleared out of the city and really years before anything approaching what was -- and what was wasn't all that great -- but what was is recreated again -- Paula.

ZAHN: Aaron, we're reading here that in the province where you're spending most of your time, they're beginning to see outbreaks of cholera and malaria. What can you tell us about what you've seen in the refugee camps you have visited?

BROWN: Well, Atika may weigh in here, too. You know, the conditions are ripe. I mean, you have all of the ingredients for a horrible outbreak of disease. You've got a lot of standing water. The water table, without getting too technical here, is so high that it's just -- standing water is all over the place, mosquitoes all over the place. And so, all of the things that create a health disaster are in place. And while there are actually a lot of doctors here, there's not necessarily -- I'm trying to think of the best way to say this -- there's not necessarily a system set up to get patient to doctor. And so cholera spreads very quickly. And if that were to happen, then -- you've got the worst disaster that anyone can imagine and that would only make it worse.

ZAHN: Well, we hope things improve there, given the speeding up of the distribution, as you've talked about.Atika, Aaron, thank you so much.

So, there is 'Big Business' assisting the illegal government tapping.

You mean businesses we can sue for invading our privacy. Businesses we pay fees to for our privacy. Businesses that have GUARANTEED our privacy under Federal Law. You mean those telephone and internet businesses?

Businesses like Carlyle Group?

Telecom & Media
Carlyle’s global network of telecommunications and media investment professionals spans both venture and buyout opportunities in North America, Europe and Asia.

Ford Motor Company yesterday announced it had completed the sale of The Hertz Corporation to a group of private equity firms composed of Clayton Dubilier & Rice, The Carlyle Group and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. They purchased the equity of The Hertz Corporation in a transaction valued at approximately $15 billion including debt. Ford received $5.6 billion in cash for the sale of its 100 per cent holding in Hertz. and will recognize a pre-tax gain in the fourth quarter of 2005 estimated to be in the range of $1.1-$1.3 billion. Hertz operates the largest general-use car rental business in the world and one of the largest industrial, construction and material handling equipment rental businesses in North America, based on revenues. The roll of financial advisors for the investor group in the transaction included Deutsche Bank AG, Lehman Brothers, Inc., Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., JP Morgan Case Co., BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Calyon.


KKR Plays Catch-Up With Warburg, Carlyle in Asian Asset Fight
Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the firm that engineered the biggest-ever leveraged buyout, is now racing to catch up with rivals in the fight for Asian assets.
KKR opened a Hong Kong branch in September, seven months after co-founder Henry Kravis said in an interview at a Frankfurt conference that he had no plans to establish an office in Asia.
Buyout funds are targeting banks, insurers and computer- related companies in India and China as incomes rise in the world's most populous nations and local business owners court overseas investors. Firms such as Warburg Pincus LLC and Carlyle Group invested $10.1 billion in Asia in the nine months to Sept. 30, up 40 percent from a year earlier, according to the Center for Asia Private Equity Research Ltd. in Hong Kong.
``It's difficult to tell investors why you're not here in Asia,'' says Vincent Fan, 57, a Hong Kong-based partner at Capital Z Investment Partners LLC, which manages $2.3 billion in buyout and hedge funds. ``In the last two years, you've seen returns in the multiples of two-to-three, to six times.''


Carlyle picks up a quarter stake in Pacific Life

BEIJING, Dec. 20 -- US buyout firm Carlyle Group said yesterday it agreed to buy a quarter of China Pacific Life Insurance Co, making the deal the biggest private equity investment on China's mainland.

Carlyle Group signed an agreement to buy a 3.3 billion yuan (US$408.7 million) stake in China Pacific Life Insurance Co (CPIC) on December 19, 2005. [newsphoto]Carlyle and Prudential Financial Inc, the third-largest US life insurer, will pay a combined 3.3 billion yuan (US$409 million) for a 24.975 percent of the mainland's No. 3 life insurer, according to a corporate statement. The statement didn't specify the investment amount from each company.

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co, the Chinese insurer's parent, will also inject 3.3 billion yuan into the venture, the statement said.


CPIC Life gets US$815m from investors(Xinhua)Updated: 2005-12-19 16:41

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd. (CPIC Group) and U.S.-based Carlyle Group signed an agreement Monday to inject 6.6 billion yuan (815 million US dollars) into China Pacific Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (CPIC Life), a subsidiary of CPIC Group.

After the injection, Carlyle, a global private equity firm, together with its strategic investor, U.S.-based Prudential Financial Inc., will hold a 24.975 percent stake in CPIC life, China's third largest life insurer.

The injection of 3.3 billion yuan from the Carlyle partnership is the largest private equity investment in China to date.

Wang Guoliang, Chairman of CPIC life said that the agreement with Carlyle will dramatically accelerate CPIC Life's expansion plans and its participation in the world's fastest growing life insurance market.

Currently, CPIC Life has an 11 percent share in the China market, of which the country's top three players combined have over 80 percent.

It testifies to the maturing investment and regulatory environment in China and to the government's commitment to financial reform, said Yang Xiangdong, Managing Director and Co-head of the Carlyle Asia Buyout Group.

The transaction is considered a significant move for the CPIC Group to become a financial holding company.

The agreement follows the approval by the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), China's insurance watchdog. The transaction, which has gained overwhelming approval from shareholders of the CPIC Group in October, is expected to close within a month.

After the transaction, Carlyle will nominate a new management team in CPIC life.
This is Carlyle's second major investment in China in the past two months.

Carlyle signed a definitive agreement to acquire an 85 percent stake in Xugong Group Construction Machinery Co. Ltd., China's leading construction machinery manufacturer, for 375 million US dollars this October.

Carlyle is a global private equity firm with 35 billion US dollars under its management.

Truthiness - "The Spin" of AC360, CNN and FOX - Not the truth, exactly. But, truthiness !

Not quite fact, not quite fiction, it's neither here nor there. But it's all over cable news.

By JACQUES STEINBERG

JUST as the most-discussed coverage of the 2004 presidential election was by a fake-news outlet - "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central - the pundit who probably drew the most attention in 2005 was only playing one on TV: Stephen Colbert, who presides over a "Daily Show" spinoff, "The Colbert Report."
In his debut, on Oct. 17, Mr. Colbert not only gave the show's title a faux-French flourish - cole-BEAR ruh-PORE - but also added a made-up word to the lexicon of political journalism. It was "truthiness," which Mr. Colbert intended as a summation of what he sees as the guiding ethos of the loudest commentators on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.

"Truthiness is sort of what you want to be true, as opposed to what the facts support," Mr. Colbert said in a recent interview. "Truthiness is a truth larger than the facts that would comprise it - if you cared about facts, which you don't, if you care about truthiness."

The success of Mr. Colbert's program (its eight-week tryout was quickly extended to a year) came in a year of sizable changes in real broadcast news, most notably among the network evening newscasts.

By Dec. 2, when Brian Williams celebrated his first anniversary in Tom Brokaw's old chair on "NBC Nightly News," Dan Rather had stepped down as anchor of the "CBS Evening News" after nearly a quarter-century, and Peter Jennings of ABC had died of lung cancer, also after nearly a quarter-century as anchor. Last month, Ted Koppel left the ABC program "Nightline," after more than a quarter-century as its host.

While CBS struggled to reinvent the evening news post-Rather, considering alternatives to the "voice of God" format, ABC forged ahead. It named three reporters to replace Mr. Koppel and two anchors to replace Mr. Jennings.

The biggest roster change on cable news probably came at CNN, which replaced Aaron Brown, a no-nonsense newsman, with Anderson Cooper, who drew attention not only for his marathon coverage of Hurricane Katrina but also for a fashion-style portrait in Maxim magazine.

"I think Anderson needs another disaster," Mr. Colbert said. "I think the heat is off his sewage-soaked trousers."

"He needs to be deeply moved by someone else's misfortune," he said. "Fast."

Mr. Colbert quickly added that Mr. Cooper had been his favorite guest on "The Colbert Report."

Joanna Weiss's Picks

CNN's Anderson Cooper becomes the symbol of journalistic outrage during Hurricane Katrina. CNN elevates Cooper to a marquee anchor slot, ousting Aaron Brown.

The Menorah outside the Jerusalem Knesset

Hanukkah Observation

Hanukkah, beginning on 25 Kislev (usually in December), commemorates the triumph of the Jews, under the Maccabees, over the Greek rulers (164 BCE) - both the physical victory of the small Jewish nation against mighty Greece and the spiritual victory of the Jewish faith against the Hellenism of the Greeks. Its sanctity derives from this spiritual aspect of the victory, and the miracle of the flask of oil, when a portion of sacramental olive oil meant to keep the Temple candelabrum lit for one day lasted for eight days, the time it took for the Temple to be rededicated.

Hanukkah is observed in Israel, as in the Diaspora, for eight days. The central feature of this holiday is the lighting of candles each evening - one on the first night, two on the second, and so on - in commemoration of the miracle at the Temple. The Hanukkah message in Israel focuses strongly on aspects of restored sovereignty; customs widely practiced in the Diaspora, such as gift-giving and the dreidl (spinning top), are also in evidence. The dreidl's sides are marked with Hebrew initials representing the message "A great miracle occurred here"; in the Diaspora, the initials stand for "A great miracle occurred there." Schools are closed during this week; workplaces are not.

AC 360, the Non News

The usual junk begins the 'show.' Here's Johnny.

1005

Cheney lies backed by Dana Bash. Count the dead. The world is NOT a far safer place. Jordan, Madrid, London, Luxor, Egypt, Beirut experienced two assassinations and the list goes on and on and on………

1009

Iraq - the tribute to "The Lionesses" is a repeat of a previous broadcast.


Blair: troops could begin Iraq pullout within six months
Tania Branigan in Basra and Ewen MacAskill
Friday December 23, 2005
The Guardian
Tony Blair indicated yesterday that a phased withdrawal of British troops from Iraq could begin within six months in the first official confirmation of an exit plan. Speaking during a lightning visit to Basra, his fourth in the past 12 months, Mr Blair held out the prospect of a pullout beginning in the first half of 2006.
Mr Blair refused to divulge a specific timetable, but he sounded an optimistic note and gave the clearest signal yet of British military intentions.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,16518,1673279,00.html


Get used to. We are leaving !!!!!!!!!


Australia's 270 mln aud wheat trade with Iraq in jeopardy - report

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/12/22/afx2411193.html

Most think propaganda campaign in Iraq wrong
By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY
Almost three-quarters of Americans think it was wrong for the Pentagon to pay Iraqi newspapers to publish news about U.S. efforts in Iraq, a new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
USA TODAY reported earlier this month that the Pentagon plans to expand beyond Iraq an anti-terrorism public relations campaign that has included secret payments to Iraqi journalists and publications who printed stories favorable to the USA. In some cases, the stories will be prepared by U.S. military personnel, as they have been in Iraq.
The military will not always reveal it was behind the stories, said Mike Furlong, deputy director of the Joint Psychological Operations Support Element. The global program will be part of a five-year public relations campaign costing up to $300 million.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-12-22-poll-propaganda_x.htm

Iraq war has had a crippling effect on Iraq's orange growers
By Mohammed Alawsy
Knight Ridder Newspapers
BAQOUBA, Iraq - Basim Alwan, 50, still walks the orange groves that surround the small house where he grew up. He still looks past the dark green leaves, searching for the fruit that's defined his life.
But these days he finds that fruit less often, and he's worried about what that means for his future, his community's future and even his nation's future.
"Without the orange trees, we'd be fish out of water, we'd die," he said. "We don't have any other jobs here. But since the war, the trees have been bare."
While the trees are still green and plentiful, they haven't borne enough fruit to yield a decent harvest for two and a half years, since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Bombs and bullets didn't rip the fruit from the branches, but residents still blame the war, which has affected the local economy in a surprising number of ways.
Baqouba, the capital of Diyala Province and Iraq's self-proclaimed City of Oranges, has about a quarter-million people. Just northeast of Baghdad, it marks the eastern edge of the world's oldest fertile region, a vast green crescent that cuts through the heart of Iraq's tan, dead desert.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/13467815.htm

1017

The New York Transit Strike


THIS TOOK PLACE UNDER REAGAN'S WATCH.

Caspar W. Weinberger
January 21, 1981 - November 23, 1987
15th Secretary of Defense
Reagan Administration

http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/secdef_histories/bios/weinberger.htm

AND WHERE was Don Rumsfeld during this time?

During his business career, Mr. Rumsfeld continued public service in a variety of posts, including:
Member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control – Reagan Administration (1982 - 1986);
President Reagan's Special Envoy on the Law of the Sea Treaty (1982 - 1983);
Senior Advisor to President Reagan's Panel on Strategic Systems (1983 - 1984);
Member of the U.S. Joint Advisory Commission on U.S./Japan Relations – Reagan Administration (1983 - 1984);
President Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East (1983 - 1984);
Member of the National Commission on the Public Service (1987 - 1990);
Member of the National Economic Commission (1988 - 1989);
Member of the Board of Visitors of the National Defense University (1988 - 1992);
Member of the Commission on U.S./Japan Relations (1989 - 1991);

http://www.medaloffreedom.com/DonaldRumsfeld.htm


Dutchman faces jail on Iraq genocide charge
22 Dec 2005 23:01:41 GMT
Source: Reuters
AMSTERDAM, Dec 23 (Reuters) - A court in The Hague will pass judgment on Friday on a Dutch businessman charged with selling chemicals to Iraq used to carry out poison gas attacks.
Frans van Anraat, 63, is charged with complicity in genocide and war crimes for supplying agents to make poison gas used by Iraq in the 1980-1988 war with Iran and against its own Kurdish population, including a 1988 attack on the town of Halabja.
If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
In a magazine interview in 2003, Van Anraat admitted to supplying the chemicals but he denies knowing they were destined for Iraq and that they would be used to make poison gas.
Prosecutors said Van Anraat delivered more than 1,000 tonnes of thiodiglycol -- an industrial chemical which can be used to make mustard gas but also has civilian uses -- to Iraq and more than 800 tonnes ended up on the battlefield.
They said he shipped chemicals from the United States to Belgium and from Belgium to Iraq via Jordan.
He also shipped chemicals from Japan to Italy, and then overland to Iraq, but defence lawyers said a key witness -- Van Anraat's Japanese business partner Tanaka -- was not reliable.
Saddam Hussein, his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali", and others used chemical weapons including mustard gas and nerve gas in Halabja, Gukk Tapah and Bergin to target the Kurdish population, the charges against Van Anraat said.
The Halabja attack on March 16, 1988, killed an estimated 5,000 people. Some of their relatives were present during the trial.
Defence lawyers said the case was inadmissible as the chief suspect of genocide and war crimes, Saddam, is already on trial in Baghdad. Saddam has denied the charges.
Van Anraat is the first Dutchman to be tried on genocide-related charges.
Sixteen Kurdish victims from Iraq and Iran who joined the criminal trial are seeking the symbolic amount of 680 euros ($800.70) each in damages.
The United States said Iraq's suspected weapons of mass destruction were one of its main reasons for going to war in 2003, but significant stockpiles of chemical and biological arms have not been found.
Van Anraat was detained in Milan in 1989 following a U.S. request but was released after two months. He then fled to Iraq, where it is thought he stayed until the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, when he returned to the Netherlands through Syria.
Dutch officials arrested him last December as he was preparing to leave the country.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L22786584.htm

1025

Speculation regarding medical euthanasia in New Orleans.

1030

Commercials

1033

The news review. You know the 10 second flash news reel.

1034

Katrina's Home Movie - he was lucky.

1039

Alaska's 'projects' - pork and nothing else

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday night voted to approve the House-Senate conference report legislation related to the defense appropriations. Included in the conference legislation was $29 billion funding for the hurricane victims from the Gulf Coast. The vote was passed by unanimous vote.

The final appropriations bill did not include the controversial ANWR drilling. The ANWR matter has been very contentious since the drilling issue was attached to the defense appropriations bill by the House of Representatives and had angered environmentalists and most democrats in the Senate.

Earlier today, a vote on cloture of the ANWR-defense appropriations issue failed by a slight margin in the Senate.

The cloture vote put the funding for Katrina and Rita in a wild zone of uncertainty and speculation.

Before the Conference Report vote Wednesday night, the Senate voted to remove the ANWR provision from the defense appropriations.

http://www.bayoubuzz.com/articles.aspx?aid=5796


1045

Commercials

Then

Kids and Lunch

Funding to feed hungry children
As we celebrate the holidays, most of us have more food than we could ever need. During this season of giving, state Sen. Teresa Fedor, state Rep. Mark Wagoner, and I encourage each of you to stop and think of the thousands of Ohio children who have an empty dinner table.
As illustrated in a Sept. 2 Blade editorial, 120,000 children in Ohio go hungry each day and 500,000 are at risk of hunger. That's one in every six children in our state. Even more startling is that hungry children suffer a variety of devastating consequences: increased health problems, more disruptive behavior, tardiness or absence from school, and lower scores on achievement tests than their classmates.
While this news is disheartening, there is hope. The National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs, funded by the federal government, exist as a "safety net" by providing children nutritious breakfasts and lunches. Using these programs does not increase our state spending. Rather, taking advantage of them helps us maximize what funds are already available from the federal government.
Here in Lucas County, Senator Fedor, Representative Wagoner, and I have met with the Children's Hunger Alliance (a private, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to end childhood hunger in Ohio) in order to help more local schools offer school breakfast programs. We encourage parents to join us in our efforts. They should contact their child's school for information on its breakfast program, or get in touch with one of us. We can all take action. In doing so, we will help local children be prepared to learn and avoid the devastating consequences of hunger, without increasing state spending.
We can end childhood hunger in Lucas County and across Ohio. That's something we can all celebrate.
Jeanine Perry

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051217/OPINION03/512170376


1054

Commercials

END IT.

Government Television - any subject except those that criticize Bush/Cheney. No mention of citizen spying or IMPEACHMENT.

0959

A CNN Exclusive and Frankenstein, the boy toy, is back. Heeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrreeeeeeeee's Johnny.

1001

Lengthy lead in. The News Round Up. (The Whip with an egotistical center.)

1002

Euthanasia on the coming holiday.

1003

Drew Griffin and his exclusive. Thursday nurses were making decisions about who would be removed from the hospital due to a ?need? for triage and who would survive. Louisiana Attorney General's Office. CNN states more than one person is being looked at regarding euthanasia. Life Care of New Orleans and Tenent Health Care are involved with the query.

1010

The New York Transit Strike - the laws governing public unions are oppressive.

An Unnecessary Transit Strike

Personally, I think New York Law is oppressive of Collective Bargaining. Across the river in New Jersey the public workers' unions are permitted to strike with notice. Those NJ unions are in large cities and in health care settings as well.

How is a union to do anything but give concessions if they can't assert their rights under collective bargaining to strike.

I think the pension issue is huge and shows a clear movement by the city away from supporting their workers rather than asking for 'participation' in an enforced payment for pensions.

The disciplinary actions are also huge. If there is overbearing performance pressure to every transit worker given the already dangerous circumstances they find themselves dealing with regularly then the job is nothing but a revolving door. There won't be pensions. The OBVIOUS fact that leads to this conclusion is that THESE are the TWO issues surrounding this strike. Where the two have common ground is the change in 'payment' to the pension fund.

No matter how much everyone likes the mayor of New York, he is still a Republican with ties to Bush who want privatization of SSI.

It seems very obvious to me what the city is 'up to' and whom pays the price of years of service only to be eliminated before they can be 'vested' enough to retire comfortably.

A unpopular position and the New York Times needs to investigate the disciplinary claims keeping in mind the people involved deserve having this issue treated with confidentiality, especially if they are "W"rongly disciplined. I would also like to know how many members of this union were dismissed before this job action could be called. I don't see this as a disciplinary matter either to relieve all those involved of their jobs. It seems to me where 'discipline' and 'pension' come together there is some solid ground of concern for these city employees.

Additionally, there is a real concern for the oppressive nature of New York law concerning public employees. I think we have the makings of a scandal. Possibly a constitutional scandal.

By the way, why shouldn't pay issues be generous considering the members are in a revolving door and never achieve the higher levels of pay rates.


1013

Commercial

New Year's Eve hosted by Anderson Cooper. Hm?

Just say no to New Year's Eve
By Anderson Cooper

Editor's note: Anderson Cooper anchors CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360°," which airs weeknights at 10 p.m. ET. He also is a regular contributor for Details Magazine. This article was published in the December 2004 issue.

If you ask me, New Year's celebrations are proof that we are essentially optimistic creatures.
Despite hundreds of years of pathetic parties, ridiculous resolutions and hellacious hangovers, we still cling to the notion that it's possible to have fun going out on New Year's Eve.

It isn't.

There's too much pressure, too many people, and too few bathrooms.

New Year's Eve always frightened me as a kid. It seemed so mysterious, so adult, like a cocktail lounge I was too little to enter.

I'd try to stay up to watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV, but inevitably I'd fall asleep.
I didn't want to be in Times Square, mind you -- I was watching Dick Clark as a kind of sociological study, trying to understand why on earth anyone would want to stand in the freezing cold, crammed next to tens of thousands of people, all of whom screamed every time someone pointed a camera in their direction.

Even in those pre-hi-def days, you could almost smell the alcohol through the TV screen. It just didn't make sense.

I was born in Manhattan, and to most residents of this thin little island, the ball drop was best left to out-of-towners, like eating at Tavern on the Green or taking the Circle Line.
Pretty lights, sure, but not for us.

I know there's a whole industry built around maintaining the lie that going out on New Year's Eve is fun, and I certainly don't want to make anyone lose his job, but let's be honest, have you ever been to a New Year's Eve party that surpassed or even came close to meeting your expectations?

I didn't think so.

If you go to a party and drink on New Year's Eve, it's inevitable: You will at some point find yourself alone and despondent, and the manic merriment and slurred singing of "Auld Lang Syne" won't help.

I don't want to sound like Scrooge McDuck, but whenever I hear that maudlin, melancholy melody on New Year's Eve I'm instantly ravaged by the twin ghosts of failures past and future.
Sadly, these twins look nothing like the Olsens.

A friend of mine who works the door at a big Manhattan nightclub always tries to take New Year's Eve off.

"It's amateur night," he explains. "All these people who never go out try way too hard to have fun. As the hours go by, they begin to realize this party isn't going to be the best ever, this night is going to end, and this next year won't be all that better than the last one. So they drink or take another pill, and that's when it gets really messy."

I was stuck in Moscow one New Year's, and about the only difference is that in Russia the party starts much earlier and the vodka is much stronger.

By the time the new year actually rolled around, my Russian host had passed out and his friends had taken off to find themselves some prostitutes.

The following year I was in London. Everyone talks about how elegant and refined the British are, but stand outside a London pub on New Year's Eve and those aren't the two words that come to mind.

Roman Vomitorium more accurately describes the scene.

Chunky lads and lasses standing in gutters spewing chunky bits and pieces, then returning inside to guzzle more Guinness. Cheerio!

Given my lifelong aversion to New Year's Eve, I was reluctant when asked two years ago to host CNN's special coverage of the ball drop in Times Square.

I was going to say no -- after all, Dick Clark has had a lock on the night for decades. But it had been a couple of years since I'd gone out on New Year's, and I figured, "What the hell?"

Dick Clark's face may not have grown older, but I have, so I decided to give New Year's Eve one last chance.

New York City sets up a stage and bleachers right in the center of Times Square, and each news organization is allotted a small spot on which to place a camera and correspondent.

On TV it looks like you are the only reporter in Times Square, but in fact you are jammed in almost shoulder to shoulder with dozens of others, many of whom seem pissed that they pulled the short straw and have to work.

A lot of the visitors who come to Times Square on New Year's have been before, but the newbies often don't know what they are in for.

First of all, it's cold -- really, really cold. I met a Spanish couple who arrived wearing denim jackets.

Within 10 minutes they seemed to be in the early stages of hypothermia, their teeth chattering like Castilian castanets. They wisely decided to go back to the warmth of their hotel and watch it on TV.

What many first-time visitors don't realize is that when they get to Times Square, they enter a maze of barricades and end up herded into pens.

Once they find a spot, they're stuck, unable to move -- much like ducks being bred for pâté.
As a reporter, there are certain Times Square traditions you are expected to adhere to.
The company that makes the ball supplies you with endless factoids about its weight and history and how it's made, so when you run out of things to talk about, you can always fall back on that.
New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg comes by and makes the rounds of reporters. It being New Year's, you have to ask him about his resolutions.

The first time I did, he made a joke about his golf score. I should have known it was a joke, because I saw him sort of chuckle, but the truth is I don't know anything about golf, and I think I kind of stared at him blankly.

I resolved to at least attempt a smile the next year .

I started a new tradition for CNN, although I'm not sure it's going to last.

In addition to the ball drop in Times Square, we had cameras covering the Drag Queen Drop in Key West, where, at the stroke of midnight more or less, a drag queen named Sushi, sitting inside a giant ladies' shoe, is lowered from the roof of a gay bar.

We'd interviewed Sushi live a couple of times throughout the night, and by midnight ... well, let's just say that Sushi was no longer too fresh.

When she started to descend, something malfunctioned, and the shoe stalled. The last we saw of Sushi, she was crawling on all fours along the roof of the bar.

I told the director to cut away. Seeing a drag queen actually drop off a roof is not how I wanted to kick off the new year.

Say what you will about New York, but it sure does know how to throw an amazing public party.
At the stroke of midnight, when the ball has landed and the new year has begun, it is a sight and a scene that can't adequately be captured in words or by the small lens of a TV camera.

It is a hurricane of confetti and light, a clash of neon and noisemakers, a collision of past, present, and future.

It is like New York itself: noisy and messy, cold and chaotic, wildly, exasperatingly wonderful.
As a television production, the ball drop gives off so much energy that all you really have to do is let the cameras roll and get out of the way. After that first time, I've continued to volunteer to host New Year's specials for CNN.

Something very magical happens in those crowded, confetti-covered streets. There is a continuity to it, a connection between strangers, a connection from one year to the next.
I still think going out on New Year's Eve is lame, so if you can't make it to Times Square, I recommend curling up with someone and watching it on TV.

The truth is the parties and promises never quite live up to expectations. And maybe that's the whole point. It gives us something to look forward to the next year.

After all, if New Year's Eve really were the most fun night of our lives, the wildest, the best, then what would be the point of waking up the next day?

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/27/new.years.eve/

1016

A rapist on the loose

1022

The News Secretary

1020

commercials

1023

Murder in Raleigh of a man. Suspect is spouse and her teen lover.

1026

Commercials

1029

Dick Cheney and his upcoming segment. Hm.

1030

The Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Bulldozing bodies is illegal and a cover up.

1034

The airliner crash near Miami Beach.

1036

Cheney and his Mideast Trip Interruption. Breaking the tie of a Senate vote. Cheney, the bad boy. The Energy Task Force. The erosion of the Executive Office Powers. The Sixth Month extension of the Patriot Act.

NO MENTION OF 'The Government Spying Issue' or 'The National Dialogue regarding Impeachment.'

1042

Commercials


1044

Hurricane Katrina - try and keep the 'Anderson bounce' alive.

Elizabeth Cohen and the homeless that have medical problems. Cute story about Tony's Fishing Pier. Well done, Elizabeth.

1047

Commercials



1052

The Gay Marriage compliments of the Brits - and a diversion to heterosexual dilemma's of The Pre-Nup. This has to be the worst program on the television screen. I have no patience with the level of insult this 'blanding' of the news brings to the American public. It's the Non-News Cable News Networks. It's not exactly censuring the news so much as diminishing it's impact on the political 'climate of Bush.' No wonder the only 'interest' in AC 360 is the yelling. It's the only time concerns of the people are actually addressed. The odd aspect is that the 'yelling' is always focused on Democrats. I dare Anderson to yell at Cheney or Bush in an EXCLUSIVE interview.

CNN is a government focused media service. It's unfortunate it can't break out of the mold that is destroying it.

1100