Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday October 24 2006 - (813)

Tuesday October 24 2006 edition
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Analysis: The Course Is Redifined In Stay The Course 2006-10-23 23:58:56 President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as "stay the course". A complete distortion, they say. "That is not a stay-the-course policy," White House press secretary Tony Snow declared Monday. Where would anyone have gotten that idea? Well, maybe from Bush. "We will stay the course. We will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed," he said in Salt Lake City in August. "We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course," he said in Milwaukee in July. Read The Full Story Editorial: Trying To Contain The Iraq Disaster 2006-10-23 23:56:37 Intellpuke: In the following editorial appears in the Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006, edition of the New York Times. In it, the Times' editorial writer puts the Iraq war in a realistic perspective. Because of this, I thought it merited a broader readership and hope the folks at the N.Y. Times agree. The editorial begins here: No matter what President Bush says, the question is not whether America can win in Iraq. The only question is whether the United States can extricate itself without leaving behind an unending civil war that will spread more chaos and suffering throughout the Middle East, while spawning terrorism across the globe. The prospect of what happens after an American pullout haunts the debate on Iraq. The administration, for all its hints about new strategies and timetables, is obviously hoping to slog along for two more years and dump the problem on Mr. Bush's successor. This fall's election debates have educated very few voters because neither side is prepared to be honest about the terrible consequences of military withdrawal and the very long odds against success if American troops remain. This page opposed a needlessly hurried and unilateral invasion, even before it became apparent that the Bush administration was unprepared to do the job properly. But after it happened, we believed that America should stay and try to clean up the mess it had made - as long as there was any conceivable road to success. Read The Full Story Capitol Hill Abuzz Over Google Forming A Political Action Committee 2006-10-23 23:47:43 Last month Washington's political set, always ready for a good gossip, were sent into a flurry of chattering by news that Google had registered a political action committee (PAC) with the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC). The creation of Google NetPAC is a first step toward making corporate donations to support candidates seeking elected office. Its foundation less than two months before the mid-term congressional elections, plus the recent appointment of a clutch of Washington, D.C., movers and shakers to Google's D.C. office, has observers painting the company as a possible kingmaker. Across the Atlantic, Google's chairman and chief executive, Eric Schmidt, has been courted by both main political parties. He lent his Google Zeitgeist conference platform in the summer to David Cameron so he could launch his "happiness" offensive. Earlier this month Schmidt met Tony Blair to discuss the Internet, and the next day addressed the Conservative party conference. Read The Full Story Connecticut Beef Recalled For Possible E. Coli 2006-10-23 23:46:23 A Connecticut company is recalling about 1,680 pounds of ground beef products because they could be contaminated with a dangerous strain of E. coli, the government said Monday. The government said no illnesses have been reported from consumption of the beef subject to the recall. Omaha Beef Co. Inc., of Danbury, Connecticut, produced the hamburger patties and bags of hamburger Oct. 18 and sent it to restaurants in Connecticut and southern New York state, said the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service. The affected beef was packaged in 10-pound boxes of "HAMBURGER PATTIES, OMAHA BEEF CO., INC." and in 5- and 10-pount bags of "HAMBURGER, OMAHA BEEF CO., INC." The packages have the establishment number "Est. 2769" inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture mark of inspection and the case code 101861. Read The Full Story Violence Erupts In Hungary As Protesters Clash With Police 2006-10-23 23:44:46 Anti-government protesters clashed with Hungarian police Monday as political tension erupted into violence on the anniversary of the bloody 1956 revolution. Police fired rubber bullets, teargas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of demonstrators, some of whom hurled stones and waved nationalist flags, as they marched towards the parliament where dozens of dignitaries were commemorating the 1956 uprising [against the former Soviet Union]. Thousands of police flooded central Budapest to quell the riots, as Hungarians marked 50 years since the crushing of their demand for an end to Russian domination. A T-34 tank - like those used by the Soviet army to crush the 1956 uprising - was taken by protesters from a nearby exhibit and driven towards the police lines. "The whole crowd started cheering. The police started firing teargas, then the tank stopped," said a Reuters cameraman. Police then rushed the tank, pulling out at least one person. Read The Full Story Ex-Enron Chief Skilling Gets 24 Years 2006-10-23 23:43:01 Jeffrey K. Skilling, the brash former chief executive of Enron Corp., was ordered to serve 24 years and four months in prison Monday after an emotional court hearing in which he watched a series of former employees blame him for the fraud at the heart of the company's collapse. Skilling's face reddened but he remained impassive as he listened to more than a half-dozen angry and tear-choked workers tell the court about their difficulties since losing their jobs and retirement savings after the Houston energy company hurtled into bankruptcy five years ago. Dawn Powers Martin, who worked at the company's credit union for 22 years, called Skilling a "liar, a thief and a drunk" who "cheated me and my daughter out of our retirement". Read The Full Story Diplomats: Iran Expanding Nuclear Enrichment 2006-10-23 12:23:59 Iran is expanding its uranium enrichment program even as the U.N. Security Council focuses on possible sanctions for its defiance of a demand to give up the activity and ease fears it seeks nuclear weapons, diplomats said Monday. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge the information to media, told the Associated Press that within the past few weeks Iranian nuclear experts had started up a second pilot enrichment facility. While the 164 centrifuges were not producing enriched uranium, even the decision to ''dry test'' them showed Iran's defiance of the Security Council. The council had set an Aug. 31 deadline for Tehran to cease all experiments linked to enrichment. It may start full deliberations on sanctions as early as later this week. Read The Full Story IBM Sues Amazon Over E-Commerce Patents 2006-10-23 12:22:37 Key aspects of Amazon.com Inc.'s retailing Website are improperly built on technologies developed at IBM Corp., Big Blue alleged Monday in two lawsuits against Amazon. Amazon is accused of infringing on five IBM patents, including technologies that govern how the site recommends products to customers, serves up advertising and stores data. Some of the patents were first filed in the 1980s, including one titled "Ordering Items Using an Electronic Catalog." "Given that time frame, these are very fundamental inventions for e-commerce and how to do it on the network," said John Kelly III, IBM's senior vice president for intellectual property. "Much, if not all, of Amazon's business is built on top of this property." Read The Full Story Hurricane Paul Threatens Southern Baja California 2006-10-23 12:21:36 Hurricane Paul was gaining force Monday as it began curving toward the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Paul had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph and was moving northwest at about 5 mph. Forecasters predicted it would strengthen further and could hit Mexico's Pacific coast in the next few days, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. A hurricane watch was issued for the tip of Baja California, a resort area that has been battered by two other hurricanes this season .The storm was on a course that would bring it just south of the peninsula late Tuesday before plowing into Mexico's Pacific coast near the resort of Mazatlan. Read The Full Story	Poll: Independents Favor Democrats Two To One 2006-10-23 23:57:18 Two weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans are losing the battle for independent voters, who now strongly favor Democrats on Iraq and other major issues facing the country and overwhelmingly prefer to see them take over the House in November, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. The new poll underscores how much of a drag the war threatens to be on Republican candidates in competitive races. With debate underway in Washington about possible course changes in Iraq, Americans cite the war as the most important issue in determining their vote next month more often than any other issue, and those who do favor Democrats over Republicans by 76 percent to 21 percent. Independents are poised to play a pivotal role in next month's elections because Democrats and Republicans are basically united behind candidates of their own parties. Ninety-five percent of Democrats said they will support Democratic candidates for the House, while slightly fewer Republicans, 88 percent, said they plan to vote for their party's candidates. The independent voters surveyed said they plan to support Democratic candidates over Republicans by roughly 2 to 1 - 59 percent to 31 percent - the largest margin in any Post-ABC News poll this year. Forty-five percent said it would be good if Democrats recaptured the House majority, while 10 percent said it would not be. The rest said it would not matter. Read The Full Story U.K. Poll: British Voters Want Troops Home At Year End 2006-10-23 23:48:33 A clear majority of voters want British troops to be pulled out of Iraq by the end of this year, regardless of the consequences for the country, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published Tuesday. In a sign that public opinion is hardening against Britain's military presence in Iraq, 61% of voters say they want British troops to leave this year, even if they have not completed their mission and Washington wants them to stay. Only 30% now back Prime Minister Tony Blair's commitment to keep troops in Iraq as long as is considered necessary. Read The Full Story U.S. Scientists: Cell Phone Use May Reduce Sperm Count 2006-10-23 23:47:04 Men who use cell phones for long periods at a time may be at risk of damaging their sperm, according to research by American scientists. Samples taken from men attending a fertility clinic revealed that their sperm declined steadily in number, quality and ability to swim as mobile phone usage increased. Where men used their cell phones for more than four hours a day, researchers found a 30% drop in sperm motility or movement and viability when compared with men who did not use a cell phone. Scientists believe the study is too preliminary to prove an unequivocal link between cell phones and falling sperm counts, but the work received a cautious welcome from other scientists who called for further studies to rule out other factors known to influence sperm quality, such as age, weight, smoking, stress and whether people had sedentary jobs. Read The Full Story Iraq Prime Minister Rebukes Shiite Militias 2006-10-23 23:45:41 Iraq has ordered its security forces to crack down on unlawful acts by armed factions, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Monday in a rare public rebuke to the Shiite militias allied with his government. Although the statement was bolder than usual for Maliki, it fell short of directing that the illegal militias be disbanded, a move that American officials are increasingly urging as sectarian bloodletting and other violence soar. Shiite militias have been accused of targeting Iraq's Sunni minority in a growing number of brazen killings. The largest of the militias belong to the two Shiite religious parties leading Maliki's government. Read The Full Story Portion Of Yellow River In China Mysteriously Turns Red 2006-10-23 23:43:50 A half-mile section of China's Yellow River turned "red and smelly" after an unknown discharge was poured into it from a sewage pipe, state media said Monday. The incident in Lanzhou, a city of 2 million people in western Gansu province, follows a string of industrial accidents that have poisoned major rivers in China over the last year, forcing several cities to shut down their water systems. It wasn't immediately clear what was tainting the section of the Yellow River. Environmental protection officials took samples and are trying to determine whether the sewage was toxic, said the official Xinhua news agency. Read The Full Story Sony To Recall 250,000 Batteries For Its Own PCs 2006-10-23 23:38:58 Sony Corp. said on Tuesday it would recall about 250,000 batteries for its own notebook computers worldwide. Sony had previously said it would recall 90,000 batteries for its own PCs in Japan and China. Sony has set aside 51 billion yen ($427.2 million) for costs related to the recalls of its batteries used in its own laptop PCs as well as in computers made by other PC makers including Toshiba Corp. The makers have said that in rare cases the batteries may overheat and catch fire. Read The Full Story Electric Companies Deregulation Was To Save Consumers Money: It Did Not 2006-10-23 12:23:32 Four big investment firms bought a group of Texas power plants in 2004 for $900 million and sold them the next year for $5.8 billion. Sempra Energy, parent of the utility in San Diego, bought nine Texas power plants with two partners in 2004 for $430 million, selling two of them less than two years later for more than $1.6 billion. Goldman Sachs and its partners bought power plants in upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio starting in 1998 and sold them in 2001 at a profit of more than $1 billion. These extraordinary profits have come during a decade-long effort in about half the states to overhaul the business of producing electricity - in the name of stimulating competition and lowering utility bills. Read The Full Story Ford Reports $5.8 Billion Third-Quarter Loss 2006-10-23 12:22:07 Ford Motor Co. said Monday its loss widened to $5.8 billion in the third quarter, weighed down by the costs of its massive restructuring plan aimed at reshaping the company and cutting expenses so it can compete better against lower-cost rivals from overseas. It was the largest quarterly loss in more than 14 years for the nation's second biggest automaker, and company officials predicted things would get worse in the fourth quarter as market share drops and Ford pays for further plant closures and restructuring costs. The July-September performance brings Ford's losses to $7.24 billion for the first nine months of the year. Read The Full Story
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