Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday October 6 2006 - (813)

Friday October 6 2006 edition
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Congress Adds Last-Minute Loopholes To Border Fence Plan 2006-10-06 00:23:18 No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts. GOP leaders have singled out the fence as one of the primary accomplishments of the recently completed session. Many lawmakers plan to highlight their $1.2 billion down payment on its construction as they campaign in the weeks before the midterm elections. But shortly before recessing late Friday, the House and Senate gave the Bush administration leeway to distribute the money to a combination of projects - not just the physical barrier along the southern border. The funds may also be spent on roads, technology and "tactical infrastructure" to support the Department of Homeland Security's preferred option of a "virtual fence." Read The Full Story Bush Environmental Policy Irks Judges In West 2006-10-06 00:22:25 Using language that suggests they are fed up with the Bush administration, federal judges across the West have issued a flurry of rulings in recent weeks, chastising the government for repeated and sometimes willful failure to enforce laws protecting fish, forests, wildlife and clean air. In decisions in Oregon, California, Montana and Wyoming, judges have criticized the judgment, expertise and, in some cases, integrity of the federal agencies that manage natural resources on public lands. The rulings come at a time when an emerging bipartisan coalition of western politicians, hunters, anglers and homeowners has joined conservation groups in objecting to the rapid pace and environmental consequences of President Bush's policies for energy extraction on federal land. Read The Full Story Thousands Nationwide Protest Bush 2006-10-06 00:20:40 Hundreds of people called the Bush administration's policies a crime and held up yellow police tape in front of the White House on Thursday amid a nationwide day of protest against the president. The 500 demonstrators were among many who gathered for similar events in more than 200 cities to protest Bush on issues ranging from global warming to the war in Iraq. "We are turning the corner in bringing forward a mass movement of resistance to drive out the Bush regime," said organizer Travis Morales with the activist group World Can't Wait. Read The Full Story Senator: U.S. Should Rethink Iraq Strategy 2006-10-06 00:17:43 The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee warned Thursday that the situation in Iraq was "drifting sideways" and said that the United States should consider a "change of course" if violence did not diminish soon. The chairman, Senator John W. Warner, of Virginia, expressed particular concern that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki had not moved decisively against sectarian militias. "In two or three months if this thing hasn't come to fruition and this level of violence is not under control, I think it's a responsibility of our government to determine: Is there a change of course we should take?" said Senator Warner. Read The Full Story Analysis: The World Bank And Its Dirty Power Plan 2006-10-05 15:36:06 Intellpuke: The following analysis was written by Daphne Wysham for TomPaine.com  Ms. Wysham is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, and is a co-author of the recent report, "How the World Bank Energy Investment Framework Sells The Planet and the Poor Short". Ms. Wysham's analysis raises some very alarming issues but is written with intelligence and insight, so I thought it merited a broader readership. Her analysis follows: A closed-door meeting wrapped up Tuesday in Mexico City that may determine the fate of the earth's atmosphere. There, energy and environment ministers from the world's eight wealthiest countries (the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) were sitting down with their peers from the world's most populous and prosperous developing countries (China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico) to discuss how to tackle climate change. The plan they were discussing was not developed through any United Nations agency or other open process. Instead, the plan was developed by officials at the World Bank, acting on the 2005 request from leaders of the Group of Eight countries (G-8). While some initially saw this new "investment framework" on climate change as an opportunity to break the logjam in climate negotiations, according to a recent report issued by the Institute for Policy Studies and others, the plan assumes business as usual: a sea-level rise of at least 3 feet over the next century, and the massive extinction of a large share of the world's plant and animal species. Of course, among those most threatened are the world's poorest populations. Equally troubling, among the technologies the World Bank advocates as "solutions" to climate change is nuclear power, despite massive subsidies that are its only key to viability and global concern over nuclear accidents, waste and terrorism. Read The Full Story U.S. Denies Claims Al-Qaeda Leader In Iraq Is Killed 2006-10-05 15:35:01 U.S. forces in Iraq today denied reports that the new leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq was killed in an air strike and ground assault. Iraqi government sources claimed today that Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took charge of the group in June, was killed yesterday along with three of his aides by U.S. forces in Haditha after a tip-off. The deputy interior minister said officials were doing DNA tests on a slain militant to determine if he was al-Masri. Al-Arabiya TV also reported the death of al-Masri, but gave no further details. However, a spokesman for the U.S. military said it was "highly unlikely" the Egyptian national had been killed. Read The Full Story Los Angeles Times Publisher Fired 2006-10-05 15:34:02 Jeff Johnson, the publisher of The Los Angeles Times, was fired today after refusing last month to go along with cutbacks at his paper ordered by The Tribune Company. The company asked Dean Baquet, the paper's editor, who had also resisted the cuts, to stay at the Los Angeles Times, and he has agreed to do so. Colleagues said he saw an opportunity to start fresh with a new publisher and to make his case for why the staff should not be cut back as much as Tribune has proposed. But one colleague noted that Baquet still retained the option to leave. David D. Hiller, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, has been named as a replacement for Johnson. Read The Full Story House Ethics Panel To Subpoena Documents In Foley Scandal 2006-10-05 11:58:37 The House ethics committee on Thursday launched an investigation of a congressional page sex scandal that has imperiled Republican election prospects, approving dozens of subpoenas for documents and testimony. The committee's chairman, Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Washington, said a newly formed subcommittee's investigation "will go wherever our evidence leads us." Asked if embattled House speaker Dennis Hastert was among those subpoenaed, Hastings would not comment. "We are looking at weeks, not months," said the committee's senior Democrat, Rep. Howard Berman, of California. Read The Full Story Astonomers Find 16 Probable Planets In Milky Way Galaxy 2006-10-05 11:57:51 NASA scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered what they believe are 16 new planets deep in the Milky Way, leading them to conclude there are probably billions of planets spread throughout the galaxy. Over the past 15 years, astronomers have identified more than 200 planets outside our solar system, but the new ones identified by the Hubble are at least 10 times as far from Earth. That planets can be found at the center of the galaxy, as well as near our solar system, has given NASA researchers confidence that they are likely to be everywhere. If that is the case, then the likelihood of other Earth-like planets becomes greater. Read The Full Story Al-Qaeda Has A New, Far-Reaching Partner 2006-10-05 00:11:47 In a video released last month on the Internet, al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, declared that he had "great news." Al-Qaeda, he reported, had joined forces with an obscure Algerian underground network and would work in tandem with the group to "crush the pillars of the crusader alliance". The Algerian partner, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, had fought the Algerian government in a barbaric civil war for almost a decade, but Zawahiri said the new alliance had different targets in mind. "Our brothers," he said, "will be a thorn in the necks of the American and French crusaders and their allies, and a dagger in the hearts of the French traitors and apostates." Zawahiri's statement was the latest sign of how, with al-Qaeda's help, the Algerian network has rapidly transformed itself from a local group devoted solely to seizing power at home into a global threat with cells and operations far from North Africa. Read The Full Story Iraq Universities And Schools Near Collapse 2006-10-05 00:10:25 Iraq's school and university system is in danger of collapse in large areas of the country as pupils and teachers take flight in the face of threats of violence. Professors and parents have told the Guardian they no longer feel safe to attend their educational institutions. In some schools and colleges, up to half the staff have fled abroad, resigned or applied to go on prolonged vacation, and class sizes have also dropped by up to half in the areas that are the worst affected. Professionals in higher education, particularly those teaching the sciences and in health, have been targeted for assassination. Universities from Basra in the south to Kirkuk and Mosul in the north have been infiltrated by militia organisations, while the same militias from Islamic organisations regularly intimidate female students at the school and university gates for failing to wear the hijab. Read The Full Story FCC Opens Media Ownership Hearings 2006-10-05 00:08:50 The concentration of media ownership by a few large corporations came under attack Tuesday as the Federal Communications Commission opened a series of hearings on the issue. "Without diversity in ownership and participation, our democracy is in danger," Rep. Maxine Waters said at the initial hearing held at the University of Southern California. Waters, a Los Angeles Democrat, and others criticized ownership of the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV by Chicago-based Tribune Co. Speakers said the situation stifled competition and diversity of local opinion. Read The Full Story	16,000 Asked To Evacuate U.S. Industrial Plant Fire Area 2006-10-06 00:22:51 Authorities asked about 16,000 residents to evacuate the Raleigh, North Carolina, suburb of Apex early Friday after a hazardous material fire at an industrial plant. No injuries were immediately reported, although a spokeswoman for Rex Hospital in Raleigh said the hospital expected to receive as many as 11 people needing oxygen. Officials said the fire started around 10 p.m. Thursday at EQ Industrial Services, a hazardous waste business that town manager Bruce Radford said contained a variety of volatile chemicals, including chlorine. Radford said that when he arrived at the plant, a chlorine cloud rose 50 feet in the air. He estimated that 20 to 30 explosions had occurred. Read The Full Story Appeals Court Blocks Arizona Voter I.D. Law 2006-10-06 00:21:46 A federal appellate court has blocked the enforcement of an Arizona law that requires voters to show identification before casting a ballot and submit proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday came a month before the Nov. 7 general election, and just before Monday's deadline to register. The law had already been used for the Sept. 12 primary and in some municipal elections. The 2004 law requires that voters at polling places produce government-issued picture I.D. or two pieces of other non-photo identification specified by the law. Other parts of the law dealt with ineligibility of illegal immigrants to receive some government services and benefits. Critics said that the law would disenfranchise voters, particularly minorities and the elderly, and that requiring voters to acquire and produce identification would be burdensome in time, money and effort. Read The Full Story Big Government Gets Bigger 2006-10-06 00:20:09 The federal government keeps getting bigger. The Republican Party's oft-stated affinity for smaller government has not applied during the Bush administration. According to a recent study, not only is the number of federal civil servants on the rise, but so are the numbers of employees working for government-funded contractors and for organizations that receive government grants. Roll all of those together - and mix in the numbers of postal workers and military personnel on the federal payroll - and the "true size" of the federal government stands at 14.6 million employees, said Paul C. Light, the study's author and a government professor at New York University. Read The Full Story British Find No Evidence Of Arms Traffic From Iran 2006-10-05 15:36:32 Since late August, British commandos in the deserts of far southeastern Iraq have been testing one of the most serious charges leveled by the United States against Iran: that Iran is secretly supplying weapons, parts, funding and training for attacks on U.S.-led forces in Iraq. A few hundred British troops living out of nothing more than their cut-down Land Rovers and light armored vehicles have taken to the desert in the start of what British officers said would be months of patrols aimed at finding the illicit weapons trafficking from Iran, or any sign of it. There's just one thing. "I suspect there's nothing out there," the commander, Lt. Col. David Labouchere, said last month, speaking at an overnight camp near the border. "And I intend to prove it." Read The Full Story Poll: U.S. Troops Say Armed Forces Stretched Too Thin 2006-10-05 15:35:29 A solid majority of American soldiers returning from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan say that U.S. armed forces are stretched too thin, according to a poll released yesterday by a veterans group. VoteVets.org, a group headed by an Army reservist based near Pittsburgh, found that 63 percent of veterans of both conflicts describe the Army and Marine Corps as "overextended," while many soldiers also complained about encountering emotional and physical problems when they came back from active duty. "We hope that this poll is a wake-up call for Congress," said Jon Soltz, who served in Iraq in 2003 and is now a captain with a reserve unit at the Charles E. Kelly Support Facility in Oakdale and chairman of VoteVets. Read The Full Story Top Diplomats Meet Friday To Discuss Iran 2006-10-05 15:34:29 Major world powers will meet on Friday to decide how to tackle Iran over its nuclear program, U.S. officials said, as the European Union's top diplomat said the West should be open to more talks with Tehran. Remarks by ministers from some of the major powers signalled uncertain resolve over Iran before the London meeting at which the United States, backed by Britain, is likely to seek a decision on preparing sanctions at the U.N. Security Council. U.S. and British officials said U. S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would join counterparts from Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany at 5 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Friday after talks earlier in the day between senior officials. Read The Full Story Hastert Takes Responsibility For Page Scandal 2006-10-05 12:37:30 House Speaker Dennis Hastert apologized and took responsibility on Thursday for the unfolding page sex scandal involving fellow Republican Mark Foley. "I'm deeply sorry this has happened and the bottom line is we're taking responsibility," Hastert said at a news conference outside his district office in Batavia, Illinois. "Ultimately, the buck stops here," said Hastert. Read The Full Story Oil Price Rises Slightly On OPEC Cut 2006-10-05 11:58:13 Oil rose on Thursday after OPEC officials said the producer group will cut output by 1 million barrels per day as soon as possible to prop up prices. Top world exporter Saudi Arabia will lower production by 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) as part of the plan, an OPEC delegate said. Oil has slid from a peak of $78.40 in July, alarming OPEC, partly due to brimming inventories. "Prices would have kept coming down unless we saw concrete action by OPEC," said Adam Sieminski, analyst at Deutsche Bank. "The build in inventories is telling you the market is pretty well supplied." U.S. crude rose 9 cents to $59.50 a barrel by 1714 GMT. London Brent advanced 32 cents to $59.54. Read The Full Story Ex-Aide To Foley Warned Hastert Office In 2003 2006-10-05 00:12:16 A longtime chief of staff to disgraced former representative Mark Foley (R-Florida) approached House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's office three years ago, repeatedly imploring senior Republicans to help stop Foley's advances toward teenage male pages, the staff member said Wednesday. The account by Kirk Fordham, who resigned Wednesday from his job with another senior lawmaker, pushed back to 2003 or earlier the time when Hastert's staff reportedly became aware of Foley's questionable behavior concerning teenagers working on Capitol Hill. It raised new questions about Hastert's assertions that senior GOP leaders were aware only of "over-friendly" e-mails from 2005 that they say did not raise alarm bells when they came to light this year. Read The Full Story Court Allows Warrantless Wiretapping During Appeal 2006-10-05 00:10:59 The Bush administration can continue its warrantless surveillance program while it appeals a judge's ruling that the program is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday. The president has said the program is needed to fight terrorism. Opponents argue that it oversteps constitutional boundaries on free speech, privacy and executive powers. The unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit gave little explanation for the decision. In the three-paragraph ruling, judges said that they balanced the likelihood an appeal would succeed, the potential damage to both sides, and the public interest. Read The Full Story Bush Comment Stirs Up Debate On Iraq War 2006-10-05 00:09:22 When the president speaks, every word can be subject to scrutiny. Even the punctuation marks. As he heads out on the campaign trail, haunted by an unpopular war, President Bush has begun reassuring audiences that this traumatic period in Iraq will be seen as "just a comma" in the history books. By that, aides say, he means to reinforce his message of resolve in the long struggle for Iraqi democracy. But opponents of the war have seized on the formulation, seeing it as evidence that Bush is indifferent to suffering. To them, it sounds as if the president is dismissing more than 2,700 U.S. troop deaths as "just a comma." And a lively Internet debate has broken out about the origins of the phrase, with some speculating that Bush means it as a coded message to religious supporters, evoking the aphorism "Never put a period where God has put a comma." Read The Full Story
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