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Friday, September 12, 2003
Israel faces international pressure on removing Arafat
 
The 74-year-old Palestinian leader was defiant, declaring before thousands of supporters Thursday night that no one will "kick me out." The Israeli threats only seemed to bolster Arafat, who has been trapped in his office for a year and a half by Israel.
Again on Friday, crowds of a few thousand people turned out in West Bank cities, saying they were ready to die defending Arafat.
Reacting to two Palestinian suicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis this week in a Jerusalem cafe and outside an army base near Tel Aviv, Israel's security Cabinet on Thursday declared Arafat "a complete obstacle" to peace.
"Israel will work to remove this obstacle in the manner, at the time, and in the ways that will be decided on separately," it said.
That wording makes room for several options: deporting Arafat, capturing him or killing him. The Haaretz daily, however, reported that when Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz talked of killing Arafat during the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked him not to use that language.
The immediate effect of the Israeli decision was an outpouring of Palestinian support for the embattled leader. Palestinian officials warned an expulsion would wreck all chances for peace.
posted by Frodgie at 11:25 AM
Scientists find new way to preserve blood platelets
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The lives of many cancer patients are saved by the transfusion of platelets, but there is a chronic shortage of these fragile blood-clotting components because of spoilage. A new technique may double the shelf life of platelets and create a more reliable supply, researchers say.
In a study appearing in the journal Science, Harvard University researchers have demonstrated that adding a bit of sugar to isolated blood platelets can allow them to be refrigerated and usefully preserved for at least 12 days.
That more than doubles the shelf life of the current technique used, which is to store the platelets at room temperature for only five days. Because of spoilage, more than 25 percent of all platelets taken from donated blood must be discarded. Extending the shelf life of platelets would significantly improve the supply, experts say.
"If this proves out in clinical trials, this would be an important advance in transfusion medicine," said Dr. Louis M. Katz, medical director of the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center in Davenport, Iowa. Katz is president of America's Blood Centers, an organization that collects about half the blood donated in the United States.
posted by Frodgie at 11:10 AM
Two Shootouts in Iraq Leave 2 Americans, 8 Iraqis Dead
Members of the Combined Joint Task Force-7 were conducting a raid in Ramadi at about 3 a.m. local time when a small arms firefight broke out.
The nine soldiers were evacuated to nearby medical facilities for treatment. Two died of their wounds. The soldiers' names were being withheld pending notification of next-of-kin; the shootout is under investigation.
In a separate incident Friday, U.S. soldiers mistakenly opened fire on a group of Iraqi policemen who were chasing bandits, killing eight Iraqis and wounding seven others, witnesses said. It was the deadliest "friendly fire" incident since the end of major fighting.
The Fallujah region has been one of the most dangerous for U.S. soldiers, with support for Saddam Hussein (search) running strong in the area.
In the Fallujah shooting, 25 policemen in two pickup trucks and a sedan were chasing a white BMW known to have been used by highway bandits, said Asem Mohammed, a 23-year-old police sergeant who was among the injured.
As the chase neared a checkpoint near the Jordanian Hospital on the west side of Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, the police turned around and an American Humvee (search) opened fire, Mohammed said. It was not immediately clear if any shots were fired at the Americans.
"We were chasing a white BMW with bandits. We turned around in front of Jordanian Hospital and some American forces started shooting at us," Mohammed said.
posted by Frodgie at 11:03 AM
CIA: Voice on Tape 'Probably' Bin Laden
But an official said there is no specific time reference on the tape and it could have been recorded at anytime. On Thursday, officials said they believed with a "high level of confidence" that a second voice on the tape was Ayman al-Zawahri (search), the number two person with the Al Qaeda (search) terror network.
President Bush (search) said Thursday that while the tape was still being analyzed, it "reminds us that the war on terror goes on."
"His rhetoric is trying to intimidate and create fear," Bush said after a trip to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (search), where he visited troops wounded in the war in Iraq. "He's not going to intimidate America. We are at war because of what he and his fellow killers decided to do two years ago today. We will stay the course until we have achieved our objective and dismantled the terrorist organizations."
The videotape was broadcast Wednesday over the airwaves of the Arab al-Jazeera television network. It contained a pair of voiceovers, one purportedly from bin Laden, and the other from al-Zawahri, an official said.
Initially, the technical analysis of the section with bin Laden's voice was inconclusive.
posted by Frodgie at 11:02 AM
Man In Black: Dead
NEW YORK — Johnny Cash (search), a towering figure in American music spanning country, rock and folk and known worldwide as "The Man in Black," has died, according to hospital officials in Nashville, Tenn. He was 71.
"Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure," said Cash's manager, Lou Robin, in a press release issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
The release said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT. He was released from Baptist on Wednesday where he had spent two weeks being treated for an unspecified stomach ailment.
"I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult time," Robin said.
posted by Frodgie at 6:32 AM
Emmy-winning actor John Ritter dead at 54
(CNN) -- Actor and comedian John Ritter has died unexpectedly after he was rushed to the hospital for a "dissection of the aorta," his publicist Lisa Kasteler told CNN.
Ritter, who would have turned 55 next week, was the star of the ABC series "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter."
In a statement, Kasteler said Ritter was rushed to the hospital after suffering from an unrecognized and undetected flaw in his aorta.
Surgeons at the hospital tried to save the Emmy Award-winning actor but were unable to do so, the statement said.
WebMD.com described an aortic dissection as "an abnormal separation of tissues within the walls of the aorta" caused by high blood pressure, family history of the condition, disease of connective tissue, or severe trauma to the chest.
posted by Frodgie at 6:29 AM
Thursday, September 11, 2003
Israel will work to 'remove' Arafat
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel's security Cabinet said Thursday it would work to "remove" Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, a decision that could mean the Palestinian leader's expulsion from his Ramallah compound, the Israeli prime minister's office said.
Thousands of enraged Palestinians in Ramallah, Gaza City, Nablus, Tulkarem and Khan Younis took to the streets in protest.
In Gaza, throngs of Palestinians -- many of them firing rifles and pistols into the air -- marched through the city Thursday night chanting slogans such as "With our blood, with our lives, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Arafat" and "Listen, Sharon, Arafat is not going out."
Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath called the Israeli announcement a "declaration of war" and said it could be a form of psychological warfare intended for shock effect.
In a TV report Arafat said, "This is the terra sancta. No one can kick me out."
Asked by a reporter if he was concerned for his life, Arafat said, they "can kill me by their bombs," but he will "definitely not" leave.
posted by Frodgie at 9:27 PM
Six fronts fight war on terror
Outside the country, the administration has deployed thousands of troops and covert operatives, worked to disrupt terrorist money sources, enlisted the cooperation of allies and made new ones, all to disrupt shadowy terrorist groups that experts say extend far beyond al-Qaeda.
But two years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, there is no clear way to gauge whether the United States is winning what U.S. national security officials call GWOT, the global war on terrorism.
For every al-Qaeda leader arrested in one distant corner of the globe, the terror group or its loosely linked affiliates manage to pull off a deadly attack in some other equally distant corner. Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the men accused of being most directly involved in planning the Sept. 11 attacks, are in CIA custody undergoing nearly daily questioning at an undisclosed location overseas. But Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the group's leaders, remain at large.
President Bush's repeated assertions that the war in Iraq was part of the broader war on terrorism have proved true, but in ways that the Bush administration may not have anticipated. Al-Qaeda is trying to turn Iraq into another Afghanistan, a place where loyal Muslims from across the Islamic world must flock to fight the "crusader forces" of the West. A U.S. intelligence official says tersely, "It's a matter of growing concern."
posted by Frodgie at 10:00 AM
FBI says it can't infiltrate al-Qaeda
WASHINGTON — The FBI has concluded that it may never be able to plant undercover agents inside al-Qaeda, and so agents are focusing more on recruiting terror operatives as informants and on continuing to get details from those already in custody.
The FBI's move, described to USA TODAY by top law enforcement officials who asked not to be identified, reflects the difficulties in meeting some of the goals that U.S. officials set for terrorism investigators.
Among the most damning criticisms of U.S. intelligence after 9/11 was that agents had not seen the attacks coming because they had not infiltrated Osama bin Laden's terror network. Since then, the FBI has made recruiting Arab and Muslim agents a priority.
But law enforcement officials say that al-Qaeda's radical Muslim culture and its strict recruiting process — which often requires life-threatening demonstrations of loyalty — have made it difficult for U.S. agents to get inside the network. "The risks are too great," said a former top FBI official who asked not to be identified. (The CIA won't comment on its activities regarding al-Qaeda.)
posted by Frodgie at 9:57 AM
Anger over London HIV claim
LONDON, England (CNN) -- A controversial claim that a small number of disaffected gay men in London are deliberately setting out to infect themselves with HIV has prompted an angry response from AIDS charities.
Dr. Melissa Parker, a medical anthropologist at London's Brunel University, bases her claim on anecdotal evidence from members of the capital's gay community.
She says the men believe that by contracting the virus they will receive the sense of belonging that they crave.
The men frequent "backrooms" at gay clubs, bars and saunas in London where they have unrestrained and unprotected sex with dozens of partners, she says.
"They begin to get a sense that those who have a diagnosis of HIV are a distinct group. They have a lot of benefits, like health care and help in housing.
posted by Frodgie at 9:55 AM
Gay rights group lauds two dozen U.S. companies
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Gay rights activists say corporate America is getting their message about fairness in the workplace.
Monday, the Human Rights Campaign said 21 major U.S. corporations have earned the group's top rating for how they treat homosexual, bisexual and transgender employees and consumers.
Last year, 11 earned top marks.
"What we see this year is improvement in every category measured, from written nondiscrimination policies to domestic partner benefits insurance and beyond," said Kim Mills, HRC's education director. "The bottom line is that successful businesses are increasingly recognizing that equality works."
Some of the nation's best-known brands scored the top grade from HRC for their handling of gay and transgender workplace issues this year, including Bank One Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM Corp., Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., MetLife Inc., PG&E Corp., Prudential Financial Inc., and S.C. Johnson & Son Co.
Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores, Emerson Electric Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. were cited for making major improvements in their workplace equality ratings for such things as adding sexual orientation to nondiscrimination policies, offering diversity training that covers workplace diversity issues or implementing domestic partner benefits.
posted by Frodgie at 9:54 AM
Two Years On
We have not taken control of our borders and entry points. Our diplomats have not given up their addiction to "peace processes" and "initiatives" and "deals" with people who plot our destruction. Our domestic Left has not stopped believing that everything bad in the world is our fault, and that our enemies will become our friends if we only grovel a little more, apologize a little more, retreat a little more. The self-styled "paleocons" have not budged an inch from their insistence that 9/11 was a judgment on us for our persistent, ill-considered meddling in Middle Eastern affairs, and that all will be well if we give up all those messy, un-American foreign entanglements and alliances and pull back to within our own borders. Our allies in Western Europe have not been woken from their opium dreams of security and peace, even as their ancient churches are pulled down to make way for mosques. Our universities are still filled with academics like Edward Said, lecturing us on our wickedness and cruelty.
9/11 raised a number of questioned that were discussed with much heat in the weeks that followed:
Why do they hate us?
Was the shock great enough, or will another be required?
Do we have the national stamina for a long struggle?
Can our armed forces handle the load?
What on earth do we do about Afghanistan? Iraq? The Saudis? The Iranians?
Is democracy possible for Arabs?
Can the Palestine problem be solved?
Some of these questions have been answered, or at least transformed into easier questions. Some are a little closer to being answered now than they were then. (To that last one, for example, we can at least reply with confidence: "Not while Yasser Arafat is alive.") Most, however, are still open and still being debated.
posted by Frodgie at 9:51 AM
New purported bin Laden tape raises fear of new attacks
Audiotape: 'The real battle has not started yet'
(CNN) -- On the eve of the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a taped statement purportedly from two al Qaeda leaders is raising concerns of new terror attacks against U.S. interests.
The Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera broadcast Wednesday what it said was a new tape of Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri encouraging new attacks against Americans.
The voice claiming to be bin Laden praises the suicide hijackers who crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field two years ago, killing more than 3,000 people. He mentions several of the hijackers by name.
"Those who don't agree with killing, then let them step out of the way," he says. "I would say to them, those who are afraid of climbing mountains will live in pits and holes."
Intelligence officials note that previous bin Laden/al Qaeda tapes have been followed by attacks on Western interests.
U.S. officials said the "chatter" level among suspected terrorists is up, but that there is no specific or credible intelligence about a particular target.
In the latest preproduced tape with separate video and audio portions, a voice purported to be that of al-Zawahiri, warned that the battle with the United States was far from over and exhorted fighters in Iraq to "bury them [the Americans] in the graveyard of Iraq."
posted by Frodgie at 9:49 AM
U.S. issues terror alert on 9/11
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The State Department has issued a "worldwide caution," warning U.S. citizens and employees of the threat of more terror attacks on the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks, saying there are "increasing indications that al Qaeda is preparing to strike U.S. interests abroad."
The State Department also said the terror network is pursuing actions "more devastating" than the deadly plane hijackings two years ago.
"The U.S. Government remains deeply concerned about the security of U.S. citizens overseas. U.S. citizens are cautioned to maintain a high level of vigilance, to remain alert and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness," the caution said.
Issued Wednesday, the caution also said U.S. government facilities "remain at a heightened state of alert" and "may temporarily close or suspend public services from time to time to assess their security posture."
The caution said that over the last few months, al Qaeda and its "associated organizations" hit targets in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Casablanca, Morocco; and Indonesia.
"We, therefore, assess that European or Eurasian locations could be venues for the next round of attacks, possibly to closely coincide with the anniversary of the 11 September attack."
Al Qaeda, the caution states, "will strive for new attacks that will be more devastating than the September 11 attack, possibly involving nonconventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents. We also cannot rule out the potential for Al Qaeda to attempt a second catastrophic attack within the U.S."
posted by Frodgie at 9:47 AM
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
9/11 Attack Praised on New Bin Laden Tape
The first video image of Osama bin Laden in nearly two years was broadcast on Al-Jazeera TV Wednesday, the eve of the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The al-Qaida leader was shown walking through rocky terrain with his top aide, both carrying assault rifles.
In an eight-minute audiotape accompanying the video footage, a speaker identified as bin Laden praises the "great damage to the enemy" Sept. 11 and mentions five hijackers by name. On a second tape, a voice said to be that of chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahri threatens more attacks on Americans and calls on Iraqi guerrillas to "bury" U.S. troops.
According to terrorism experts, such tapes reassure al-Qaida sympathizers that the terror network is still a force and its leaders still active and in seeming good health. A tape showing bin Laden would be crucial to that effort and the timing _ a day before the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, blamed on al-Qaida _ highly symbolic.
Al-Jazeera said the tapes were produced in late April or early May, but the Arab satellite channel did not say how or when it obtained them. The backdrop in the video resembled the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where U.S. officials believe bin Laden is hiding out.
U.S. intelligence officials will review the tapes to try to determine if they are authentic and when and where they were made, officials in Washington said.
"This is another reminder that they continue to plot to attack us and to attack freedom," Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Wednesday.
President Bush, asked about the tape during a tour of forensics labs at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., said he had not heard it yet.
posted by Frodgie at 9:07 PM
Border Breach?
Customs Fails to Detect Depleted Uranium — Again
"I think this is a case in point which established the soft underbelly of national security and homeland defense in the United States," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has been urging the Bush administration to do more to enhance port security.
The ABCNEWS test was criticized by officials at the Department of Homeland Security, who assigned agents in at least four cities to investigate ABC personnel and news sources involved.
"I think you're a news reporter that is trying to carry out a hoax on our inspectors," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Asa Hutchinson told Brian Ross, ABCNEWS' chief investigative correspondent, for a report to be broadcast Thursday on World News Tonight and PrimeTime Thursday.
posted by Frodgie at 8:44 PM
Hamas warns it will attack Israeli homes
 
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- In a warning of reprisal, Hamas says it will begin targeting Israel houses in response to an Israeli air force attack on the home of a senior Hamas leader on Wednesday -- the day after Hamas suicide bombings killed 15 Israelis.
A witness said he saw an Israeli F-16 jet drop a bomb on Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar's house, which was destroyed.
The attack left Mahmoud Zahar moderately wounded, along with at least 20 others -- five critically -- according to a hospital official. Zahar's 20-year-old son, Khaled, and his bodyguard were killed. Sources said Zahar's wife and daughter are in intensive care.
The Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas claimed responsibility for Tuesday's suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, saying it was retaliation for what it said were Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
Wednesday, Izzedine al-Qassam, Hamas' military wing, said in a leaflet that "the targeting of civilian houses is a violation of all red lines. Therefore, the Zionist enemy will have to shoulder responsibility for the targeting by us of houses and Zionist buildings everywhere in occupied Palestine."
In another development, Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Qorei on Wednesday said he has accepted the nomination to become Palestinian Authority prime minister. The nomination must be approved by the Palestinian parliament.
posted by Frodgie at 10:51 AM
Democratic Candidates Offer Grim View of America
 
The depiction of the president as the root of all evil began at the top of Tuesday night's debate, in which the candidates complained that Bush's rush to war in Iraq had distracted America from the real threat of terrorism.
"Where is bin Laden?" candidate Al Sharpton (search) asked in response to the lead-off question posed by National Public Radio national correspondent and Fox News contributor Juan Williams, one of three panelists questioning the nine candidates.
"This guy has out more videos than a rock star, but George Bush's intelligence agencies can't find him," Sharpton said of the Al Qaeda (search) terrorist leader.
"This was a mistake this war, and the president got us into it, and now we're going to have to get out of it," said former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (search), who added that walking away now would leave the United States facing a greater threat of terrorism than when Saddam Hussein was president.
"When you consider the fact that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11 ... I think that the attack in Iraq was a foregone conclusion after 9/11 even though they had nothing to do with it," said Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (search), who earned applause when he told the crowd that he voted against the war in Iraq.
"This administration did not have to go to war against Iraq, there are no weapons of mass destruction [that] have been found, and [Bush] basically misrepresented the case to the American people," Kucinich said.
posted by Frodgie at 10:46 AM
Bomb kills GI, wounds another in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) — A homemade bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding another along a supply route northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. Central Command said Wednesday.
The attack occurred at about 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Central Command said on a statement posted on its Web site.
The soldiers were from the U.S. Army's 3rd Corp Support Command, it said. The wounded soldier was evacuated to a field hospital.
The statement gave no further details and said the soldiers names were being withheld pending notification of their families.
posted by Frodgie at 10:45 AM
Edward Teller, 'Father of H-Bomb,' Dies
Edward Teller, a member of the Manhattan Project that created the first atomic bomb and who later emerged as the foremost champion of the vastly more destructive hydrogen bomb, has died. He was 95.
Teller, dubbed the "father of the H-bomb" and a key advocate of the anti-missile shield known as "Star Wars," died Tuesday at his home on the Stanford University campus.
Teller was a tireless advocate of a vigorous United States defense policy during and after the Cold War, urging development of advanced weapons as way to deter war.
"The second half of the century has been incomparably more peaceful than the first, simply by putting power into the hands of those people who wanted peace," he told a forum on the 50th anniversary of the atomic bomb attacks on Japan.
Teller's staunch support for defense stemmed in part from two events that shaped his view of world affairs _ the 1919 communist revolution in his native Hungary and the rise of Nazism while he lived in Germany in the early 1930s.
Witty and personable, with a passion for playing the piano, Teller nevertheless was a persuasive Cold Warrior who influenced presidents of both parties.
In 1939, he was one of three scientists who encouraged Albert Einstein to alert President Franklin Roosevelt that the power of nuclear fission _ the splitting of an atom's nucleus _ could be tapped to create a devastating new weapon.
He would later quip that he often believed the only reason he became a part of the trio was "because I was the only one who knew how to drive and had a car to get us there."
Two years later, even before the first atom bomb was completed, fellow scientist Enrico Fermi suggested that nuclear fusion _ fusing rather than splitting nuclei _ might be used for an even more destructive explosive, the hydrogen bomb.
posted by Frodgie at 7:04 AM
Girl, 12, Settles Piracy Suit for $2,000
Is this dumb or what?
WASHINGTON - A 12-year-old girl in New York who was among the first to be sued by the record industry for sharing music over the Internet is off the hook after her mother agreed Tuesday to pay $2,000 to settle the lawsuit, apologizing and admitting that her daughter's actions violated U.S. copyright laws.
The hurried settlement involving Brianna LaHara, an honors student, was the first announced one day after the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) filed 261 such lawsuits across the country. Lawyers for the RIAA said Brianna's mother, Sylvia Torres, contacted them early Tuesday to negotiate.
"We understand now that file-sharing the music was illegal," Torres said in a statement distributed by the recording industry. "You can be sure Brianna won't be doing it anymore."
Brianna added: "I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love."
The case against Brianna was a potential minefield for the music industry from a public relations standpoint. The family lives in a city housing project on New York's Upper West Side, and they said they mistakenly believed they were entitled to download music over the Internet because they had paid $29.99 for software that gives them access to online file-sharing services.
posted by Frodgie at 6:28 AM
Tuesday, September 09, 2003
Judge Allows 9/11 Suits Against Airlines
Joke? Why is NYC responsible? Or anyone for that matter, besides foreign governments?
The defendants had argued that the suits should be dismissed because they had no duty to anticipate and guard against deliberate and suicidal aircraft crashes and because any alleged negligence on their part was not the cause of the deaths and injuries.
In his 49-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Center property, "has not shown that it will prove its defense of governmental immunity as to negligence allegations made by WTC occupants."
The judge also said the evidence he had seen does not support Boeing's argument that the invasion and takeover of the cockpit by the terrorists frees it from liability.
The plaintiffs said Boeing should have designed its cockpit door to prevent hijackers from invading the cockpit.
The plaintiffs had also argued that American and United Airlines and the Port Authority were legally responsible to protect people on the ground when the hijacked aircraft smashed into the twin towers, causing them to collapse.
The ruling was based on the cases of about 70 of the injured and representatives of those who died in the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon (news - web sites) and the crash of a hijacked plane in Pennsylvania.
As a result of the ruling, court officials were preparing for a possible legal onslaught at the Manhattan courthouse as early as this week as some people choose lawsuits over applying to the federal victims compensation fund.
Dec. 22 is the last day families may apply for the fund, created by Congress to provide financial aid to the families of those killed or injured in the attacks and to protect the commercial aviation industry from crippling litigation.
As of late August, 2,275 claims had been filed. But roughly 1,700 families had yet to decide whether to enroll with the fund or sue the airlines, security companies and government agencies.
posted by Frodgie at 1:30 PM
Israel Shows Willingness to Work With Qureia; Shell Kills Palestinian Child
Israel initially said after the weekend resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (search) that it would not deal with a successor handpicked by Arafat. However, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's (search) aides said Tuesday that Qureia could be a partner if he carries out the Palestinians' obligations under a U.S.-backed peace plan, including disarming militants.
In the West Bank city of Hebron, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli tank shell fired at a suspected militants' hideout, witnesses said.
Israeli troops surrounded a seven-story apartment building early Tuesday, apparently in search of wanted men from the Islamic militant group Hamas. The Israeli military did not say who the target of the raid was.
A gun battle erupted and troops blew up a car, witnesses said. Later, soldiers fired several tank shells at the building, witnesses said. Twelve-year-old Thaher Siyouri, who was watching the fighting with his family from the third-floor of a nearby building, was killed -- according to hospital doctors by shrapnel from a tank shell that hit his head and neck.
Witnesses said the army sent two Palestinians into the building at one point, apparently to search it. Israel's Supreme Court has outlawed the practice of using Palestinian civilians as "human shields." The Israeli had no immediate comment on the report. In a similar raid in the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, witnesses also reported that troops used human shields.
Qureia, the Palestinian parliament speaker and one of the key people who helped negotiate the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Oslo accord, was tapped Sunday by Arafat to replace Abbas.
Qureia has accepted the post in principle, but says Israel must take action on a U.S.-backed peace plan and that both sides must commit to a cease-fire if he is to succeed. Qureia, also known as Abu Ala, warned that unless Israel lessens its hostility to Arafat and ends lethal airstrikes on militant leaders, he'd be doomed to failure.
posted by Frodgie at 9:09 AM
CDC-Funded Sex Ed Programs Draw Fire
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (search) came under heavy fire last year for its "Programs That Work" (search) initiative, which offers a number of lessons targeting different age groups from elementary school through high school.
The government-funded agency's Web site says “Programs that Work” has since been discontinued and the center is “considering a new process that is more responsive to changing needs and concerns of state and local education and health agencies and community organizations.”
But Robert Rector, a public health researcher at the Heritage Foundation (search), said he has learned that the lessons continue to be taught in schools around the country despite the fact the Bush administration pulled the plug on the program.
“These programs, I can say with confidence, are still being promoted through the CDC — even though they are trying to hide it,” Rector said.
Pro-safe sex organizations say the Bush administration is doing a disservice to schools and students by emphasizing abstinence-only programs over what they call “comprehensive sexuality education.”
“It’s more than just about the plumbing, about how the body functions,” said Adrienne Verrilli, spokeswoman for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (search) (SIECUS), which has so far received over $500,000 from the CDC as part of a five-year cooperative agreement for school health projects.
posted by Frodgie at 9:06 AM
Bacteria may be engineered to fight HIV
WASHINGTON (AP) — A modified form of bacteria normally present in the vagina may one day be used to protect women from AIDS, according to new research.
The engineered bacteria showed promise in laboratory testing, and researchers now plan to try them out in animals, said John A. Lewicki of Osel Inc., in Santa Clara, Calif.
The most common way AIDS is transmitted is through heterosexual intercourse, with women particularly vulnerable in countries where condoms and other protective measures are less available.
Researchers used a strain of Lactobacillus jensenii, generally abundant in mucus secreted by the mucous membrane lining a healthy vagina. The bacteria were modified to produce a protein called CD4, which binds to the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
In laboratory tests, the enhanced bacteria reduced the rate of HIV infection in susceptible cells by at least half, the researchers said. Their findings are reported in this week's online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
"The paper presents our first prototype for a product that will come to use," Lewicki said in a telephone interview. His company develops therapeutic products from common bacteria.
"This is something we believe is moving toward a clinical reality," he said. But, he said, animal testing is needed and the developers will work closely with the Food and Drug Administration before human testing can be done.
posted by Frodgie at 9:04 AM
Reserves face longer stay in Iraq
WASHINGTON (AP) — Like active duty troops held longer than expected in Iraq, National Guard and reservists also are having their tours of duty extended, defense officials said Tuesday.
With the Army stretched thin by the Iraq campaign, the global war on terror and other duty around the world, officials ordered that Guard and Army Reserve troops now in Iraq and surrounding countries serve 12-month tours.
The new order, signed Friday night and not publicly announced, covers some 20,000 people and means some of them will remain months longer than they thought they would, officials said.
There are 130,000 Americans — including active duty — inside Iraq and more than 40,000 more in Kuwait, Qatar and so on.
The subject of troop rotation has been a sensitive one in the Iraq campaign, with some soldiers and their families complaining bitterly about delays in their homecoming. Members of the 3rd Infantry Division, for instance, fought their way to Baghdad in late March and were told they'd be going home, only to remain in Iraq for months afterward because of continuing problems the coalition encountered in ending the violence there.
But officials said the Guard and reservists mobilized are still needed in Iraq to augment active duty troops in skills across the spectrum, including as military police, civil affairs officers and other duties.
Earlier in the summer, the Pentagon spent weeks struggling to come up with a troop rotation plan because the Army has become so stretched during the Bush presidency, with major commitments in Afghanistan and Iraq in addition to peacekeeping in Bosnia and Kosovo and long-standing deployments in South Korea, Japan, Germany and the Sinai peninsula.
The Army, the largest of the armed services, has had portions of every major active-duty combat unit committed to either Iraq or Afghanistan, with the exception of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is in Korea.
posted by Frodgie at 9:01 AM
Classes open at gay high school
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A newly expanded gay-themed high school began the school year Monday with about 100 students attending classes, about 200 supporters rallying outside and a small band of protesters demonstrating against it.
Since 1985, Harvey Milk High School has served students who are gay or believed to be gay, but its recent expansion to 100 students sparked criticism from conservative groups.
Application to the school is voluntary. Teens are admitted regardless of sexual orientation, but must show they are at risk of dropping out because of harassment.
The school, located in Manhattan's East Village, has a 95 percent graduation rate. With its expansion, it will be run like other alternative high schools in the city.
Small protest outside
About 10 protesters, led by stridently anti-gay Kansas minister Fred Phelps, demonstrated across the street from the school and screamed at supporters to repent for their "sodomite behavior." Phelps is best known for picketing the funerals of gay men, including the service for Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student beaten to death.
The Hetrick-Martin Institute, which studies gay youth, helps operate the school. The institute says nearly all gay teens are repeatedly harassed at school and are three times more likely to drop out or commit suicide than other youths.
The school is named after San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of a major U.S. city. Milk was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone in 1978.
posted by Frodgie at 9:00 AM
Hitler filmmaker dies aged 101
BERLIN, Germany -- Photographer and filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, best known for the Nazi propaganda films "Triumph of the Will" and "Olympia," has died at the age of 101.
Riefenstahl, who suffered cancer, died in her sleep at her home south of Munich on Monday night, her companion Horst Kettner told the online service for the German personality magazine Bunte.
"Her heart simply stopped," The Associated Press quoted Kettner as saying.
Riefenstah celebrated her 100th birthday last year amid renewed criticism of her work for the Third Reich.
Cologne-based organization Rom had accused her of using 120 Gypsies from concentration camps as extras in her film "Lowlands" between 1940 and 1942. It said she then failed to prevent them from being returned to the Nazi camp system, where many died.
The group also accused Riefenstahl of Holocaust denial, a crime in Germany, for dismissing the allegations as nonsense in an interview printed in the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper in April 2002.
posted by Frodgie at 8:57 AM
Bush Administration, Congress Evaluate War Costs
"It is my intention to aggressively expedite the president's request for supplemental funds for the war on terrorism in Iraq and around the world," Chairman C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., said Monday. "We have troops in harm's ways and we should provide them every resource available to ensure their safety."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who was traveling with the president to Nashville on Monday, issued a statement saying he looked forward to working with the administration on its request.
"The president's proposal for emergency funding to underwrite this effort; to seek U.N. assistance; expand the international coalition; and to speed the transfer of power to the Iraqi people warrants the support of the Congress," he said.
Young said he was not expecting to get details of the request for at least a week, but would move quickly through the process once a formal submission was made by the administration. Senior administration officials said Monday they would submit a request after a few days in order to consult with members of Congress about the form the request will take and the maximum amount of flexibility it can provide the president.
In an address to the nation on Sunday, Bush said his military advisers had carefully calculated their needs for fighting the war on terror in the next year.
The president said he would request $66 billion from Congress to pay for military and intelligence in both Iraq and Afghanistan, of which $52 billion would go to Iraq and $11 billion for Afghanistan. Another $3 billion would go to help with "mobilization of coalition partners."
posted by Frodgie at 8:55 AM
SoCal Couple Face Charges In Videotaped Child Molestation
Victims As Young As 3 Possibly Raped...Good ol Cali
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. -- A couple who allegedly videotaped and photographed themselves molesting girls as young as 3 have been charged with numerous felony counts in connection with the assaults.
David Shoutyh Hwang, 32, and his wife Sheila Sikat, 23, were arrested Wednesday after investigators searched their home on an anonymous tip. Police found more than 100 videotapes and pictures of 3- to 9-year-old children being molested, officials said.
Police believe some of the tapes, which may go back 10 years, were filmed in Laredo, Texas, where Hwang lived before moving four years ago to the area.
"A case like this will sicken even the most seasoned investigator," Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said Monday.
Sikat was released from custody over the weekend in lieu of $150,000 bail. Hwang remains in jail without bail.
The two were charged Friday with two counts each of using a minor for sex acts. Hwang was charged with 21 counts of lewd acts upon a child. Sikat faces four counts of that charge, according to court records.
On Monday, children sold lemonade and raced scooters and bicycles up and down the block of large Spanish Colonial-style homes where the couple lived, while adults expressed their shock.
"You think you're safe in Orange County, and then this happens," said Martina Lee, 32, who has two little girls. "God, it's so scary."
posted by Frodgie at 8:53 AM
File-sharers scoff at lawsuits
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- The recording industry continued to push mounds of paper Monday, filing suit against 261 people for allegedly pirating songs on file-sharing Websites like Kazaa.
That leaves about 59,999,739 to go.
But if the countless tune-swappers trolling through cyberspace were intimidated by the spate of lawsuits, you wouldn't know it. The consensus message from a bounty of cavalier posts aimed at the Recording Industry Association of America became abundantly clear: Bring it on!
Nanuk, for example, heartily pounded his chest along with his cronies on Yahoo: "You can take away my MP3's when you pry my mouse out of my cold dead hands."
It's all about the money, according to Tnintbubse: "Consumers will not tolerate their price gouging and they need to come up with something else besides suing college kids. The industry has gone unchecked too long and has passed the cost down to us. Now they are crying."
Howler24 drew a line of futility between what he feels are two ill-fated crusades: "Yes, you can cry and moan about the 'evils' of drugs and file sharing. But when you're through foaming at the mouth, you have to realize that they are BOTH here to stay. No law, no court can change that. The best thing to do is to control it and make it profitable, instead of driving it underground."
Needless to say, the RIAA's option for file-sharers to turn themselves in didn't go over to well. See full story.
From Rmonster: "I have a feeling that anyone who signs up for this 'amnesty' is going to find themselves up the creek. Sending a notarized copy of your ID and statement that you did, in fact, break the law (in their eyes at least) does not sound like amnesty, but suicide."
posted by Frodgie at 8:51 AM
Monday, September 08, 2003
Two U.S. Soldiers Injured in Baghdad Attack; Four Arrested in Tikrit Raid
The attack damaged two Humvees, one of which turned over and caught fire, according to a military spokesman.
Sunday afternoon the new military spokesman, Lt. Col. George Krivo, said the U.S. military had completed a 24-hour period in which no American soldiers had been killed or wounded.
Before dawn Monday, more than 100 U.S. troops stormed houses in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit (search), searching for Saddam loyalists accused of financing or coordinating attacks on American soldiers. Four wanted men were arrested, the military said.
Acting on tips from Iraqis detained in previous raids as well as intelligence sources, the troops stormed houses in downtown Tikrit almost simultaneously, catching the men asleep.
The bloodless raid involved three companies from the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division in Humvees, Bradley fighting vehicles and 5-ton trucks.
"All those targeted were involved in attacks on coalition forces and government officials," said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, 1st Battalion commander. "The message we communicate is if you involve (yourself) in this type of activity, we will hunt you down or we will kill you."
The raid targeted seven men suspected of financing attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces in and around Tikrit, the hotbed of support for Saddam. At least two of them were not in their homes, said Col. James Hickey, commander of the 4th Infantry's 1st Brigade.
posted by Frodgie at 8:38 AM
The imperial retreat begins
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We cannot do it by ourselves in Iraq. We need help.
That is the message sent in the clear to the Mideast and the world by our going back to the United Nations to ask for troops and aid in Iraq. Our enemies can read that message as well as our friends.
The four suicide bombings – of the Jordanian embassy, the U.N. headquarters, the mosque in Najaf, the headquarters of the Iraqi police in Baghdad – in one month underscored it. We do not have the troops to cope with the deepening crisis of a new terrorist threat, added to the classic guerrilla war our soldiers were already fighting.
Moreover – and here is the central point – the United States does not intend a dramatic increase in U.S. troop levels in Iraq. Sen. McCain's call for another division has been heard and rejected. There is apparently no constituency, or stomach in the White House, for a long bloody war, if that is what it takes to pacify Iraq.
Condi Rice may talk of a "generational commitment." McCain may echo her. But America has made no such commitment to Iraq. We were sold this war on a single compelling argument: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was working on atomic bombs, and was a grave and growing menace because Saddam would use them on us, or give them to al-Qaida for terror attacks on American cities.
Now we know the threat assessment was "sexed up."
posted by Frodgie at 8:37 AM
Poll finds one-quarter of Canadians believe HIV can be transmitted
through kissing, mosquito bites
Approximately one in four Canadians believes HIV/AIDS can be transmitted through kissing and mosquito bites, indicating a "knowledge gap" in the general public regarding the disease, according to a recently released national poll commissioned by Health Canada, CanWest/Calgary Herald reports.
Market research firm Ipsos-Reid in March administered the survey - titled, "HIV/AIDS - An Attitudinal Survey" - by telephone to 2,004 Canadians over the age of 15. When participants were asked to name the ways that HIV can be transmitted, six percent of respondents named kissing, two percent named mosquito bites and fewer than two percent named casual contact, coughing or sneezing. However, when respondents were specifically asked about kissing, mosquito bites and coughing and sneezing as possible transmission routes, 25 percent indicated that kissing and mosquito bites could transmit the virus and 11 percent said that coughing and sneezing could spread the virus, CanWest/Herald reports. According to the poll, 84 percent of Canadians said that unsafe sex could transmit HIV; nearly 50 percent cited sharing injection drug needles as a transmission route; and more than 33 percent said that blood transfusions could transmit the virus. The poll also found that nearly 20 percent of participants thought that AIDS could be cured if it was caught and treated early.
posted by Frodgie at 8:35 AM
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief presses Iran for 'full transparency'
VIENNA, Austria (AP) — The U.N. nuclear agency's chief on Monday pressed Iran to come clean with "full transparency" on uranium enrichment and other evidence that could point to a covert atomic weapons program.
In a statement to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran has been showing increased cooperation, but that his experts still don't have enough information to determine the nature of Tehran's nuclear activities.
"I would urge Iran in the coming weeks to show proactive and accelerated cooperation, and to demonstrate full transparency by providing the agency with a complete and accurate declaration of all its nuclear activities," ElBaradei said.
The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors, meeting Monday at the agency's Vienna headquarters, was expected to urge Iran to make its nuclear program accessible by agreeing to allow more intrusive inspections without notice.
Iran, however, has been warning the United States and others not to push for too much too soon, warning that an ultimatum could heighten nuclear tensions.
posted by Frodgie at 8:33 AM
Rare Tape of WTC Attack Surfaces
The only videotape known to have captured both planes slamming into the World Trade Center, and only the second image of the first strike, has surfaced days before the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The footage, obtained by The New York Times, was taken by a Czech immigant construction worker whose son at one point came close to accidentally erasing the rare, chilling footage, the newspaper reported on its Web site Saturday.
Federal officials investigating the trade center collapse are trying to obtain a copy of the hourlong tape, which could cast light on the cause of the north tower's collapse by helping to determine factors including the exact speed at which the first plane traveled, The Times said.
The only other known footage of the first plane's impact came from a French film crew making a documentary about a probationary firefighter.
Pavel Hlava, an immigrant construction worker from the Czech Republic, shot footage of the first plane hitting the north tower as a sport utility vehicle he was riding in entered the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel en route to lower Manhattan.
posted by Frodgie at 8:32 AM
Report: Davis Slams Schwarzenegger's AccentBut a Democrat wouldn't make fun of an immigrant?
SOUTH EL MONTE, Calif. — California Gov. Gray Davis (search) on Saturday took a dig at Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger (search ), telling one potential voter at a campaign stop that "you shouldn't be governor unless you can pronounce the name of the state."
And the Schwarzenegger campaign wants a formal apology.
In his public remarks to about 300 members of the Los Angeles Ironworkers Local 433, Davis suggested Schwarzenegger -- whom he referred to only as "the actor" -- would repeal Davis-backed union gains such as daily overtime pay and family-leave benefits, reported the Sacramento Bee.
"I've signed 300 bills to help working people," Davis said. "These are measures that strengthen your lives. Now my opponent, this actor, says 'I'm not going to ask for support from working people because they are a special interest.' He's got part of it right. You are special, and you have an important and special role to play in our future, and I am proud to stand with you."
Whipped into an anti-Schwarzenegger frenzy at the picnic, one crowd member screamed, "He's a foreigner!" as Davis criticized the Austrian-born Terminator, who hopes to take over his seat in the Oct. 7 recall election.
posted by Frodgie at 8:30 AM
Singer Warren Zevon dead at 56
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Warren Zevon, who wrote and sang the rock hit "Werewolves of London" and was among the wittiest and most original of a broad circle of singer-songwriters to emerge from Los Angeles in the 1970s, died Sunday. He was 56.
A lifelong smoker until quitting several years ago, Zevon announced in September 2002 that he had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and had only months to live. He spent much of that time visiting with his two grown children and working on a final album.
Zevon died Sunday of lung cancer at his home, his manager Irving Azoff told the Los Angeles Times. Azoff did not return calls from The Associated Press early Monday.
Phone messages also were not returned from Zevon's publicist, Dianna Baron; Baron's assistant, Cathy Williams; and Zevon's record company manager, John Baruck.
Zevon faced death with the same dark sense of humor found in much of his music, including songs like "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," "Life'll Kill Ya" and "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead."
posted by Frodgie at 8:28 AM
Bush to ask billions more for Iraq
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush told Americans Sunday night he will ask Congress for an additional $87 billion to continue the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He will also ask more nations to help pay the cost.
"This will take time and require sacrifice. Yet we will do whatever is necessary -- we will spend whatever is necessary -- to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom, and to make our own nation more secure," Bush said.
A congressional source said Bush's request is based on assumptions that the cost of military operations in Iraq alone will exceed $4 billion a month for at least the next year.
Billions more will be used for the reconstruction effort, which the White House at one point said would be paid for largely through the sales of Iraqi oil.
Bush said the world has changed since the war began and there will be "no going back."
"For [the Iraqis], there will be no going back to the days of the dictator -- to the miseries and humiliation he inflicted on that good country," Bush said in his televised address.
"For the Middle East and the world, there will be no going back to the days of fear -- when a brutal and aggressive tyrant possessed terrible weapons.
posted by Frodgie at 8:26 AM
Sunday, September 07, 2003
Bush Vows to Spend What Is Necessary to Win War
According to speech excerpts released by the White House, Bush also will say members of the United Nations "now have an opportunity, and the responsibility, to assume a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation."
Bush, in a speech he will deliver at 8:30 p.m. EDT, will say that recent bombings in Iraq are aimed at forcing the United States to leave the country.
"There is more at work in these attacks than blind rage. The terrorists have a strategic goal. They want us to leave Iraq before our work is done. They want to shake the will of the civilized world," he will say.
Bush will offer a stay-the-course commitment to Iraq, calling it part of the war on terrorism although no conclusive evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction has been found and no substantive links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda have been established.
"Enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there, and there they must be defeated. This will take time, and require sacrifice," he will say.
posted by Frodgie at 7:39 PM
World Reacts to Resignation of Palestinian PM
"We remain committed to implementation of the roadmap, working with Israelis, Palestinians, Arab States who seek peace," said the statement, referring to President Bush's vision for restoring order to the region.
But the statement also suggested that it was important to find someone else to fill the position — and soon. The creation of Abbas' job was a "key turning point for the Palestinian Authority in the development of new institutions to serve all the people, not just a corrupt few tainted by terror," said the statement, implying the change could exacerbate problems that have stood in the way of stability and democracy for the Palestinians.
The White House also cautioned both sides to "consider carefully the consequences of their actions."
Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was less measured in his reaction, saying Abbas' decision "unfortunately, tragically will delay" the peace process.
posted by Frodgie at 7:36 AM
Forgotten Forerunners of Gay Liberation
Stonewall is generally considered to be the starting point for the gay and lesbian movement in the United States. On the evening of June 27, 1969, the New York police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street, as they regularly did. But this time something had changed. The drag queens, male hustlers and working-class dykes resisted the police and a major fight ensued. Clashes and demonstrations continued the next days. The gay boys who had always accepted police violence against their kind, stopped being obedient and came out of their closets into the streets. Martin Duberman has given a very readable account of these events in his Stonewall (1993).
Mattachine Society
Bullough's Before Stonewall is a history of gay and lesbian activists whose efforts preceded Stonewall. It is the personal equivalent of John D'Emilio's social history Sexual Politics, Sexual Communities. The Making of a Homosexual Minority in the United States, 1940-1970 (1983).
While in Europe the homosexual rights movement started in Berlin in 1897, and spread to other European countries early in the twentieth century, the North-American movement started in 1950, after some failed attempts, with the foundation of the Mattachine Society (the name refers to a medieval French secret male society). This group initiated in 1953 the monthly One that grew into the One Institute that was a center of documentation and "homophile studies". The lesbian movement began in 1955 in the USA with the Daughters of Bilitis (DoB, this name refers to a lesbian novel of French author Pierre Louys) that produced The Ladder.
posted by Frodgie at 7:34 AM
Depp says comment wasn't anti-U.S. Mmmm Hmmmm....haha
Depp, star of the summer hit movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, apologized in a statement to those "who were offended, affected or hurt by this insanely twisted deformation of my words and intent." Stern, the German magazine that interviewed the actor, stood by its story.
Depp was quoted as saying that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth — that can bite and hurt you, aggressive."
In a statement Thursday, the 40-year-old actor complained that "the inaccurate and out of context misquote" was "virulently spreading in the news."
"Taken in context, what I was saying was that, compared to Europe, America is a very young country and we are still growing as a nation. It is a shame that the metaphor I used was taken so radically out of context and slung about irresponsibly by the news media," Depp said.
"There was no anti-American sentiment. In fact, it was just the opposite," he said. "I am an American. I love my country and have great hopes for it. It is for this reason that I speak candidly and sometimes critically about it. I have benefited greatly from the freedom that exists in my country and for this I am eternally grateful."
posted by Frodgie at 7:30 AM
Deborah Senn: Champion of workplace diversity wants to be our state's next Attorney General
Former State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn announced her intention to run for state Attorney General earlier this month at events in Yakima, Spokane and Seattle. She seeks to succeed current Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who is running for governor.
Her friendly face seen at countless GLBT events and fundraisers over the years, Deborah Senn was perhaps the state's most visible Insurance Commissioner ever. She served two terms as our state's seventh Insurance Commissioner before running for a Senate seat in the 2000 primary. Currently, Senn is a partner in the law firm of Bergman Senn Pageler & Frockt and is a principal with Deborah Senn Expert Services, which provides consulting on insurance and regulatory issues.
posted by Frodgie at 7:13 AM
Rumsfeld Blasts Iraqi Critics
"Instead of pointing fingers at the security forces of the coalition, ... it's important for the Iraqi people to step up and provide information," Rumsfeld said at a news conference.
Many Iraqis, as well as some members of Congress, have said they are frustrated that security remains a problem in Iraq four months after President Bush declared that major combat had ended. Rumsfeld acknowledged Iraq is not as safe as it should be but said the fault does not lie with American forces.
Accompanying Rumsfeld during the secretary's visit to the occupying American forces, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (search), the top U.S. commander in Iraq, held to his position that more American troops are not needed.
"There is no risk at the tactical, operational or strategic level," Sanchez said at the same news conference. "The only way we will fail in this country is if we decide to walk away in Iraq and fight the next battle on the war on terrorism in America.
posted by Frodgie at 7:11 AM
Sen. Clinton to Block Bush EPA Nominee
A report released by the EPA's inspector general on Aug. 22 said the White House Council on Environmental Quality persuaded EPA to "add reassuring statements and delete cautionary ones" from news releases the agency sent out after the attack.
"That was wrong. That was inexcusable," Clinton told a gathering marking the 100th anniversary of the Teamsters union. "I want to know exactly what happened."
The White House said Clinton's threat to block a Senate vote on Leavitt's nomination smacked of politics. The Senate must approve the nomination before Leavitt can take the post.
posted by Frodgie at 7:10 AM
Bush on warpath over UN's shock report on Iran A-bomb
America will tomorrow demand that the United Nations takes urgent action to prevent Iran acquiring the atom bomb as fears mount that Teheran is on course to develop a nuclear weapons capability within two years.
United States officials will make the demand at a special meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that has been arranged to consider a 10-page report by Mohammed al-Baradei, the agency's director-general, into the state of Iran's nuclear programme.
Washington has already expressed deep concern about the discovery of traces of weapons grade uranium found in soil samples taken from one of Iran's top secret nuclear facilities last July.
posted by Frodgie at 7:07 AM
Dean stumps for Davis in California
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Presidential candidate Howard Dean Saturday urged Californians to vote against the effort to oust Gov. Gray Davis, calling it part of a plan by right-wing Republicans to subvert democracy.
"I think this is the fourth attempt to undermine democracy in this country by the right wing of the Republican Party since the 2000 elections," said Dean.
Other examples, he said, were the refusal by the "conservative-dominated United States Supreme Court" to order a recount of the votes in Florida during the 2000 presidential election and separate GOP-led redistricting efforts in Colorado and Texas that could result in a loss of seats currently held by Democrats.
posted by Frodgie at 7:06 AM
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