Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday October 10 2006 - (813)

Tuesday October 10 2006 edition
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GOP Officials Brace For U.S. House Losses 2006-10-09 23:56:05 Republican campaign officials said Monday that they expect to lose at least seven House seats and as many as 30 in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, as a result of sustained violence in Iraq and the page scandal involving former GOP representative Mark Foley. Democrats need to pick up 15 seats in the election to take back control of the House after more than a decade of GOP leadership. Two weeks of virtually nonstop controversy over President Bush's war policy and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's handling of the page scandal have forced party leaders to recalculate their vulnerability and placed a growing number of Republican incumbents and open seats at much greater risk. GOP officials are urging lawmakers to focus exclusively on local issues and leave it to party leaders to mitigate the Foley controversy by accusing Democrats of trying to politicize it. At the same time, the White House plans to amplify national security issues, especially the threat of terrorism, after North Korea's reported nuclear test, in hopes of shifting the debate away from casualties and controversy during the final month of the campaign. These efforts are aimed largely at prodding disaffected conservatives to vote for GOP candidates despite their unease. Read The Full Story Documents: CIA Warned Of Cuban Plane Bomb Plot 2006-10-09 23:55:06 An anti-Castro militant now in a Texas jail warned the CIA months before the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that fellow exiles were planning such an attack, according to a newly released U.S. government document. The document shows that Luis Posada Carriles, who had worked for the CIA but was cut off by the agency earlier that year, was secretly telling the CIA that his fellow far-right Cuban exiles opposed to Fidel Castro's communist government were plotting to bring down a commercial jet. The document does not say what the CIA did with Posada's tip. A CIA spokesman said he had no comment on Monday, a federal holiday. The CIA had extensive contacts with anti-Castro militants and trained some of them, but has denied involvement in the bombing. Read The Full Story Scientists Developing Robot Flies ... Make That Exploding Robot Flies 2006-10-09 23:54:05 Military scientists in Britain are developing robot flies that could be sent to spy out enemy positions. Project leader Dr. Rafal Zbikowski believes the first machine insects could fly within ten years, reports the Scotsman newspaper. He has already produced a non-airborne prototype that mimics the wing-beats of a hover fly. Dr. Zbikowski says the tiny drones could operate in confined and cluttered spaces within buildings, stairwells, tunnels or caves. They could help locate hidden terrorists, or find victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes. The U.S. military, which is partly funding the research, has even expressed an interest in using the robots to deliver small explosive charges. They would be the ultimate "smart" weapon, able to destroy a specific target - such as a computer - without having to bomb whole facilities. Read The Full Story Analysis: Bush Blunder In North Korea 2006-10-09 18:21:25 Intellpuke: The following guest analysis was written for the Washington Post by former U.S. National Security Advisor Donald Gregg. Mr. Gregg was a CIA official since 1951 and a liaison to President Carter's National Security Council; he was also National Security Advisor to Vice President George H.W. Bush and served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 1989 to 1993. He is now chairman of the board of the Korea Society. Mr. Gregg's analysis follows: First: Don't panic. Kim Jong Il's objective is survival and eventual change in North Korea, not suicide. The diplomatic situation in Northeast Asia will be immensely complicated by the North Korea test, which I think was a huge mistake on their part, but missiles are not about to start flying. The test may indicate the rise in influence of a hard-line faction in the KPA, which is holding sway, at least for now, over others more interested in transformational change in N.K. The initiation of a strong bilateral dialogue between N.K. and the U.S. would strengthen the moderates, and ease the situation in general, but that is not at all likely to happen. Read The Full Story Google Inc. Will Acquire YouTube Inc. For $1.65 Billion In Stock 2006-10-09 18:20:25 Google Inc. announced Monday it will acquire online video Website YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion in stock. The deal marks a huge jump in value for hot online social networking Websites, which have become acquisition targets for media companies looking to expand their presence and brand to online audiences. In a news release announcing the acquisition, Google said the combined companies will "focus on providing a better, more comprehensive experience for users interested in uploading, watching and sharing videos, and will offer new opportunities for professional content owners to distribute their work to reach a vast new audience". Read The Full Story U.S. Proposes Embargo, Sanctions On N. Korea 2006-10-09 14:13:05 The Bush administration on Monday proposed an arms embargo and a series of legally binding U.N. financial and trade sanctions to punish North Korea for apparently detonating a nuclear device, and it called for international inspections of all trade coming into and out of the secretive country to enforce them. The proposal followed promptly after Monday's unanimous condemnation of North Korea by the U.N. Security Council and statements by President Bush vowing to protect U.S. allies in the region and maintain a "nuclear-free Korean peninsula." It was contained in a U.S. draft resolution to be presented to the 15-nation council this afternoon. It is unclear when the body will vote. Read The Full Story Islam Vs. West In Battle Of Video Games 2006-10-09 14:12:20 A new video game lets players kill President Bush. It's called "Quest for Bush." It looks a lot like a game that hit the market three years ago, called "Quest for Saddam". In the venerable shoot-'em-up genre, who's the hero and who's the enemy depends on who's programming the game. "Quest for Bush," a.k.a. "Night of Bush Capturing," is a free online game released by the Global Islamic Media Front, a radical organization that has ties with al-Qaeda. Armed with a rifle, a shotgun or a grenade launcher, players navigate various missions that include "Jihad Growing Up," "Americans' Hell" and "Bush Hunted Like a Rat." In the final stage, you fight Bush. Read The Full Story Former Operative Suing CIA Over Book 2006-10-09 14:11:21 When Gary Berntsen sat down for dinner last year with the CIA's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, the agency's No. 3 tried to talk him out of resigning from the National Clandestine Service. Foggo even offered him a university position as a placeholder until the CIA's new director, Porter J. Goss, could fix the broken personnel system and other issues that frustrated him, according to Berntsen. The Capital Grille meal quickly degenerated when Berntsen told Foggo that not only was he planning to resign but he intended to write a book about his experiences. Foggo, according to Berntsen, stated flatly that Goss wanted no more books published by current or former CIA officials. Actually, according to a statement Berntsen filed last week in his ongoing lawsuit against the agency, Foggo's language was a little more colorful: "Mr. Foggo stated 'we will have no more books. I will redact the [expletive] out of your book so no one will want to read it'." Read The Full Story GOP Lawmaker Saw Foley Messages In 2000 2006-10-09 00:44:18 A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications. A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Arizona) confirmed Sunday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Florida) was taking their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted, a Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna Cline. The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) suggested that the first lawmakers to know, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Illinois), the chairman of the House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-Louisiana), became aware of "over-friendly" e-mails only last fall. It also expands the universe of players in the drama beyond members, either in leadership or on the page board. Read The Full Story E. Coli Concerns Lead To California Lettuce Recall 2006-10-09 00:43:20 Less than a week after the Food and Drug Administration lifted its warning on fresh spinach grown in California's Salinas Valley, a popular brand of lettuce grown there has been recalled over concerns about E. coli contamination. The lettuce does not appear to have caused any illnesses, said the president of Salinas-based Nunes Co. The lettuce scare follows other federal warnings that some brands of spinach, bottled carrot juice and recent shipments of beef could cause grave health risks - including paralysis, respiratory failure and death. Executives ordered the recall after learning that irrigation water may have been contaminated with E. coli, said Tom Nunes, Jr., president of the company. Read The Full Story Study: World Moves Into Ecological Overdraft Today 2006-10-09 00:42:19 Humanity slides into the red today and begins racking up an ecological overdraft driven by unsustainable exploitation of the world's resources, according to a report by the sustainable development organisation Global Footprint Network. In little more than nine months, humans have used up all that nature can replenish in one year, and for the rest of 2006 are destined to eat into the planet's ecological capital, the study claims. The network calculated the day the global economy started to operate with an ecological deficit by comparing world demand for resources with the rate at which ecosystems can replenish them. The study draws on surveys from bodies such as the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. Read The Full Story	Analysis: Foreign Policy Crises Center On Bush Axis Of Evil 2006-10-09 23:55:30 Nearly five years after President Bush introduced the concept of an "axis of evil" comprising Iraq, Iran and North Korea, the administration has reached a crisis point with each nation: North Korea has claimed it conducted its first nuclear test, Iran refuses to halt its uranium-enrichment program, and Iraq appears to be tipping into a civil war 3 1/2 years after the U.S.-led invasion. Each problem appears to feed on the others, making the stakes higher and requiring Bush and his advisers to make difficult calculations, said analysts and U.S. officials. The deteriorating situation in Iraq has undermined U.S. diplomatic credibility and limited the administration's military options, making rogue countries increasingly confident that they can act without serious consequences. Iran, meanwhile, will be watching closely the diplomatic fallout from North Korea's apparent test as a clue to how far it might go with its own nuclear program. "Iran will follow very carefully what happens in the U.N. Security Council after the North Korean test," said Robert J. Einhorn, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "If the United Nations is not able to act forcefully, then Iran will think the path is clear to act with impunity." Read The Full Story Navy Forces Guantanamo Defense Lawyer Out Of Service 2006-10-09 23:54:36 The Navy lawyer who took the Guantánamo case of Osama bin Laden's driver to the U.S. Supreme Court - and won - has been passed over for promotion by the Pentagon and must soon leave the military. Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, 44, said last week he received word he had been denied a promotion to full-blown commander this summer, "about two weeks after" the Supreme Court sided against the White House and with his client, a Yemeni captive at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. Under the military's "up-or-out" promotion system, Swift will retire in March or April, closing a 20-year career of military service. Read The Full Story Poll: Democrats Midterm Momentum Growing 2006-10-09 18:21:53 Democrats have regained a commanding position going into the final weeks of the midterm election, with support eroding for Republicans on Iraq, ethics and presidential leadership, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll. Apparent Republican gains in September have been wiped out in the face of mounting U.S. casualties and gloomy forecasts from Iraq and the scandal involving Rep. Mark Foley (R-Florida), who was forced to quit the Congress over sexually graphic e-mails with former House pages. Congressional approval has plunged to its lowest level in more than a decade (32 percent) and by a margin of 54-35 percent, Americans say they trust Democrats over Republicans to deal with the biggest problems facing the country. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said Democrats in Congress deserve to be reelected in November, but just 39 percent said Republicans deserve to be returned to office. Read The Full Story Brother Of Iraq Vice President Is Killed 2006-10-09 18:20:48 Men wearing military police uniforms broke into the house of the brother of Iraq's Sunni vice president on Monday, chased him onto a neighbor's roof and shot him in the head, killing him, said Iraqi authorities and witnesses. Amir al-Hashemi was the third sibling of Iraq's vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, to be killed since spring. His death underscored just how deeply Baghdad has sunk into lawlessness, particularly in its religiously mixed neighborhoods, and was reminiscent of the politically motivated assassinations that have plagued Iraq since the American invasion. A bomb in a parked car exploded in a crowded market area in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Shaab at nightfall on Monday, killing at least 13 and wounding 46, a police official said. The attack was the first large bombing in the capital in almost a month, and brought the number of Iraqis killed in violence on Monday to 18. Read The Full Story Roadside Bomb Kills Leaders Of Afghanistan District 2006-10-09 18:19:56 Five people, including three officials who were the entire leadership of a district in eastern Afghanistan, were killed Monday morning in a roadside bomb explosion on their way to investigate a school burning, said police officials. The blast, from a remote-controlled mine, killed the district administrator, the police chief and the intelligence chief of the Khogyani district of Nangarhar Province, as well as a driver and a bodyguard, a police spokesman, Col. Ghafoor Khan, said by telephone. Four policemen riding in the back of the pickup were wounded in the explosion. The men were traveling to Kharawan, a village in the district, to investigate the burning of its school the previous night, said Colonel Khan. Khogyani, a mountainous district bordering Pakistan, is an area of insurgent activity. American and Afghan police officers and border troops had surrounded the village and were searching for suspects, but detained no one, said Colonel Khan. Read The Full Story Mess Hall Chief Arrested In Iraq Food Poisoning Case 2006-10-09 14:12:44 Authorities arrested the head of the mess hall where at least 350 Iraqi policemen suffered food poisoning, and a military spokesman said Monday that it was likely the poisoning was intentional. Brig. Qassim al-Moussawi, a senior spokesman for the Iraqi military, denied that anyone had died after Sunday's evening meal breaking the daily Ramadan fast. On Sunday night, an official in the Environment Ministry, Jassim al-Atwan, said 11 policemen had died. Wasit provincial Gov. Hamad al-Latif said "hundreds of soldiers were poisoned" at the police base in Numaniyah, but nobody had died. Al-Moussawi put the number of poisoned policemen at 350 to 400, but said only four victims were hospitalized. Read The Full Story S. Korean Ban Ki Moon Tapped To Be U.N. Secretary General 2006-10-09 14:11:52 The U.N. Security Council approved South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon to be the world body's next secretary general Monday about 12 hours after North Korea slapped the United Nations in the face by conducting a nuclear test. The 15-member Security Council made the recommendation to the U.N. General Assembly for Ban to succeed Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose second five-year term expires at the end of the year. The 192-member General Assembly must give final approval to the nomination, which usually follows within a week or two. That vote is expected to be positive. Read The Full Story North Korea Nuclear Test Confirmed 2006-10-09 01:29:55 North Korea  completed a successful test of a nuclear weapon late Sunday night, a senior Bush administration official confirmed to FOX News. The official said, however, that initial readings from South Korea reported only a 3.58-magnitude seismic reaction, which is smaller than what would be expected from the 4-kiloton explosion the Axis of Evil nation sought. To put the bomb's capabilities in context, a 20-kiloton explosion could conceivably kill 200,000 people. "North Korea may not have got what they wanted," the official said. The U.S. Geological Survey, however, said it detected a 4.2-magnitude tremor at 10:35 p.m. EDT, which could mean the device was potentially deadlier than initially believed. Australia also said there was seismic confirmation that North Korea conducted a nuclear test. "It was a success from their perspective in that they achieved a nuclear yield, though that is not very difficult," the official said. "It's within their technical capabilities." Read The Full Story U.S., Iraqi Forces Clash With Sadr Militia 2006-10-09 00:43:50 U.S. troops engaged in ferocious clashes with militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in southern Iraq on Sunday, ratcheting up tensions between two of the most powerful forces in the country. The pre-dawn battles in the city of Diwaniyah, where the U.S. military said American and Iraqi forces killed 30 fighters, come amid growing concern by senior U.S. officials that the Iraqi government lacks the political will to tackle the militias and death squads threatening to plunge the country into civil war. The Mahdi Army, Sadr's well-armed militia, accused the U.S. military of trying to provoke an all-out war between the two forces and said that only one of its members had been killed and perhaps two wounded. Read The Full Story As Sea Levels Rise, Britain Is Losing Battle With Erosion 2006-10-09 00:42:56 Intellpuke: Britain's coastline has remained more or less intact since the end of the last ice age. But as sea levels rise, erosion is accelerating and more than a million homes are now under threat. Is the only solution for us to abandon the shore? Some of you may be thinking, "This is in Britain, why should I care?" Because water seeks its own level and if the sea around the U.K. is rising, it will also be rising on the U.S. Atlantic coast. Guardian correspondent Adam Nicolson's report on this follows: If you had been alive 18,000 years ago, you could have walked in a straight line from Cork to Stockholm. The floor of the North Sea was land. Objects have been found from that strange, drowned world. A carefully sharpened flint scraper has been retrieved by Norwegians drilling for oil in 450 feet of water 100 miles east of Shetland. Spearheads and mammal and rhinoceros teeth have been dragged up by trawlermen on the Dogger Bank. Sometimes in their trawls fishermen find lumps of peat from forgotten moors. It is an unsettling fact that tens of thousands of people once knew the floor of the North Sea as well as any of us might know the Yorkshire Dales or the Sussex Downs. When this periglacial world began to warm up about 20,000 years ago, the ice sheets melted and sea-level rose, on average, at about a centimeter a year. By 5,000 B.C. it was some 130 meters (430 feet) higher than it had been at glacial maximum and Britain had become an island. But then the warming slowed. Since 2,000 B.C., the sea level has remained extraordinarily constant, varying no more than a meter in 4,000 years. This period of sea-level stability has also seen the rise of urban and commercial civilization. We have built our cities on a constant shore. That long constancy has allowed us to forget that we have been living in a privileged world. But that privilege is now over. The physical conditions of the world are changing for the first time since humanity started to build. For thousands of years we have shaped the world. Now, for the first time, the world is going to shape us. Read The Full Story
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