Free Internet Press Newsletter - Monday January 22 2007 - (813)

Monday January 22 2007 edition
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Commentary: Job Hunt Update 2007-01-21 23:35:22   As many of you know, FIP suffered an outage in late November 2006, when I was laid off without notice and my access to all servers (including my own) was blocked.   Since then, I've been looking for work.  That's been a lot harder than it initially appeared.   I haven't actually been unemployed in about 12 years, I've simply moved on from job to job, 3 of them to be exact.    This last two months has been rough.   I'm unaccustomed to not working.  I've done some work for a friend who has a small hosting company, but since they're just making ends meet,  they can't afford to pay me.  My payment has been colocation for FIP.  That is hugely appreciated.    My time has been filled with searching for positions, sending resumes, and doing interviews on the phone.  I've been flown around to do "final" interviews at a couple of places, but the offers haven't been great. ! By not great, I mean if I pay my current mortgage and car payment, I will have a whopping $100 per month to pay bills and buy food with.   The positions would require me relocating, but with the current housing market, I can't get rid of my house.      I only recently moved into this house.  It's the first house I've ever bought, and I didn't have a lot of savings to buy it with, so it's almost entirely financed, and since I only bought it about 6 months ago, I have aboslutely no equity in it.  I bought it, because I was told "If you don't move back here, you won't see any more advancement in the company."  That kind of implied, when I do move back, I will be advanced.  Instead, it meant "laid off" Read The Full Story Bush To Urge New Tax Plan For Health Care Coverage! 2007-01-21 17:08:54 President Bush intends to use his State of the Union address Tuesday to tackle the rising cost of health care with a one-two punch: tax breaks to help low-income people buy health insurance and tax increases for some workers whose health plans cost significantly more than the national average. White House officials say Bush has decided to forgo the traditional formula for the State of the Union - a laundry list of ideas, many of them dead on arrival - in favor of a more thematic speech that will concentrate on a few issues, like health care, immigration and energy, on which he hopes to make gains with the new Democrat-controlled Congress. The basic concept is that employer-provided health insurance, now treated as a fringe benefit exempt from taxation, would no longer be entirely tax-free. Workers could be taxed if their coverage exceeded limits set by the government. But the government would also offer a new tax deduction for people buying health insurance on their own. “I will propose a tax reform designed to help make basic private insurance more affordable,” Bush said in his weekly radio address on Saturday, “whether you get it through your job or on your own.” He did not offer specifics, but an administration official provided details of the plan. Read The Full Story U.S. Army: Colonel's Improper Orders Led To 4 Iraqi Civilian Deaths 2007-01-21 17:08:22 Army investigators say that Col. Michael D. Steele, a decorated combat veteran and brigade commander in Iraq,  issued improper orders to his soldiers that contributed to the deaths of four unarmed Iraqi men during a raid in May, according to military documents. No charges have been filed against Colonel Steele in the Army’s continuing investigation, but two Defense Department officials said last week that Colonel Steele was formally reprimanded in the summer by Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the former commander in Iraq, for not reporting the deaths and other details of the raid. The action was not made public. The reprimand and the controversy surrounding the raid have effectively ended the career of Colonel Steele, an aggressive officer known for unorthodox methods and who was portrayed in the book and movie “Black Hawk Down” as a fearless fighter during Special Operations missions in Somalia in 1993. Read The Full Story 24 U.S. Troops Killed In Iraq 2007-01-21 16:07:52 A U.S. Black Hawk helicopter crashed Saturday afternoon northeast of the capital, killing all 12 American soldiers on board, and at least 12 service members soldiers died in other parts of the country, said officials. The deaths made the day the third-deadliest for U.S. service members in Iraqsince the war began. The incidents came as the Bush administration was extending the tours of some troops in Iraq and sending additional ones for a buildup that has met strong resistance in Congress. The administration has billed the increase as a key step toward securing the viability of Iraq's young government and bringing down the level of violence. The third most lethal day for American soldiers in Iraq also coincided with the arrival of the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division, the first unit to arrive in Baghdad as part of a 21,500 troop surge that the Bush administration hopes will restore order in the country's violent capital. Read The Full Story Have Pakistani Intelligence Agencies Been Backing Islamic Insurgency? 2007-01-21 02:41:30 The most explosive question about the Taliban resurgence here along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is this: Have Pakistani intelligence agencies been promoting the Islamic insurgency? The government of Pakistan vehemently rejects the allegation and insists that it is fully committed to help American and NATO forces prevail against the Taliban militants who were driven from power in Afghanistan in 2001. Western diplomats in both countries and Pakistani opposition figures say that Pakistani intelligence agencies - in particular the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence - have been supporting a Taliban restoration, motivated not only by Islamic fervor but also by a longstanding view that the jihadist movement allows them to assert greater influence on Pakistan’s vulnerable western flank. Read The Full Story Actor Peter O'Toole, A Cheerful Rebel Up For An Oscar For The 8th Time 2007-01-21 02:40:53 Intellpuke: This is one of the most charming and entertaining interviews I've come across in a long time, so I thought I'd better post it so you can enjoy it, too. It was written by Gaby Wood and posted on The Observer's website Sunday, January 21, 2007. Enjoy: Peter O'Toole emerged during Hollywood's glittering golden age - acting, and partying wildly, alongside legends Richard Burton and Richard Harris. Now, at 74, his performance as a lecherous old actor in "Venus" has placed him among the favorites to win the Oscar he has been denied seven times. Peter O'Toole is feeling rather fragile, he tells me as he hobbles into a smart New York hotel room, unzipping one of several jumpers he is wearing. He is 74, but that's not the problem. No, no, it's just that he went out last night with friends, and they took him to some "wretched place" and made him have red wine. Just like old times, you might think, only most of his drinking pals are dead now - "wretchedly inconsiderate" of them - and ... Suddenly, O'Toole looks up with a comically vacant stare, followed by a broad, cavalier smile. "Am I boring you with all these tales of mortality?" he says. The last of a generation of hell-raising, gut-wrenching Shakespearean actors who made it in the movies, O'Toole has had more comebacks than a phoenix with repetitive strain injury. In the critic David Thomson's expression, death's door is one of his regular residences. More than 30 years ago, O'Toole had so soured his stomach with drink that he very nearly went ungently, yet he's managed to tot up nominations for seven Oscars. Along with his late friend Richard Burton, he holds the record for the most nominations without a win, and when the Academy offered him a Lifetime Achievement Award four years ago, he famously quipped (before accepting it anyway) that he ought to turn it down because he still hoped to "win the lovely bugger outright". Read The Full Story 20 U.S. Service Members Killed In Iraq 2007-01-21 02:40:21 At least 20 American service members were killed in military operations Saturday in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in two years, including 13 who died in a helicopter crash and five slain in an attack by militia fighters in the holy city of Karbala, military officials said. Saturday's toll was the third-highest of any single day since the war began in March 2003, eclipsed only by 37 U.S. deaths on Jan. 26, 2005, and 28 on the third day of the U.S. invasion. U.S. authorities also announced two American combat deaths from Friday. The heavy toll comes at a critical time of rising congressional opposition to President Bush's decision to dispatch 21,500 additional soldiers to the conflict to try to curb sectarian slaughter. Read The Full Story Mother, 4 Children, Seized By Gunman In Indiana 2007-01-21 02:39:15 A gunman shot a man and held his ex-girlfriend and their four young children hostage for about nine hours Saturday before forcing them into a car and fleeing, said Indiana police. Elkhart, Indiana, police issued an Amber Alert and said the children and their 31-year-old mother, Kimberly N. Walker, are in extreme danger. The children range in age from 16 months to 9 years old, said authorities. Police are looking for Jerry D. White, 30, and believed he might be headed to Chicago, Illinois, after the shooting in the northern Indiana city. Detective Sgt. Bill Wargo of the Elkhart Police Department said an arrest warrant with charges of attempted murder and several counts of confinement had been issued for White. Read The Full Story Mexico-Bound Jet Diverted As Pilot Dies 2007-01-21 02:38:29 The pilot of a Continental Airlines flight became ill after takeoff and was later pronounced dead after the plane made an emergency landing Saturday, said a company spokeswoman. The 210 passengers on the flight, which departed from Houston, were never in danger and the co-pilot landed the plane safely, said Continental spokeswoman Macky Osorio. The airline said only that the pilot suffered a "serious medical problem." Continental believes the pilot died of natural causes, said Osorio. The pilot's name was not released. Read The Full Story	7.3 Earthquake Rattles Indonesia 2007-01-21 17:09:04 An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 shook buildings for several minutes in northeastern Indonesia Sunday and caused minor damage, the U.S. Geological Survey and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or a tsunami after the underwater tremor off the eastern coast of Sulawesi island. Three people were slightly injured when a church was damaged in the regional capital, Manado, a witness told the Associated Press. And frightened residents on the islands of Maluku and Sulawesi ran in panic to higher ground. The Indonesian seismological institute, which put the tremor at 6.7 magnitude, issued a tsunami alert via local television and radio after the earthquake hit around six miles under the Molucca Sea. Read The Full Story Turkish Police Arrest Teenage Suspect In Editor's Murder 2007-01-21 17:08:38 The Turkish police on Saturday arrested a 17-year-old suspect in the killing of newspaper editor Hrant Dink who championed Armenian rights, said Turkish authorities. Dink, 52, a Turk of Armenian descent, was shot Friday afternoon outside the office of his newspaper, Agos. A gunman was recorded by a surveillance camera nearby, and the police appealed to the public for help in identifying him. On Saturday night, Ogun Samast was captured in Samsun, a Black Sea port, after his father recognized his images from the surveillance video and notified the police in Trabzon, their hometown, said Muammer Guler, Istanbul’s governor, at a news conference just before midnight. “The suspect was captured in Samsun on a passenger bus destined to Trabzon, together with all the evidence, including his gun and the white beret” seen in the video, said Guler. Read The Full Story Pakistan Denies It Harbors Taliban 2007-01-21 16:09:33 Faced with new charges that Pakistan is harboring Islamic insurgents, including fugitive Taliban leader Mohammad Omar, Pakistani officials this weekend denied such allegations and defended their efforts to curb cross-border insurgent attacks in Afghanistan as sincere if not totally successful. "We don't deny the Taliban come and go, but that is not the entire truth," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan's military spokesman, said in an interview Saturday. "If 25 percent of the problem lies on our side of the border, 75 percent of it lies on the Afghan side." Of four known top Taliban commanders, he said, three are Afghan and one is Pakistani. Sultan and other officials denied statements by a Taliban spokesman arrested in recent days in Afghanistan that Omar has been living in the Pakistani border city of Quetta under the protection of Pakistani intelligence agents. Omar's capture has been a top priority for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the overthrow of Taliban rule in 2001. Read The Full Story New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Enters Presidential Hunt 2007-01-21 16:07:36 New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson began a run for the Democratic presidential nomination Sunday morning, betting that his deep resume and Hispanic heritage will boost his chances in a field already stocked with better-known candidates. "I am taking this step because we have to repair the damage that's been done to our country over the last six years," Richardson wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "Our reputation in the world is diminished, our economy has languished, and civility and common decency in government has perished." Richardson also announced his intentions - in Spanish and English - on his campaign Web site. Richardson will file paperwork establishing a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, but will not formally announce his bid until New Mexico's legislative session ends in March. Read The Full Story Experts: Global Warming Will Happen Faster, And Be More Devastating Than Previously Thought 2007-01-21 02:41:12 Global warming is destined to have a far more destructive and earlier impact than previously estimated, the most authoritative report yet produced on climate change will warn next week. A draft copy of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, obtained by The Observer, shows the frequency of devastating storms - like the ones that battered Britain last week - will increase dramatically. Sea levels will rise over the century by around half a meter; snow will disappear from all but the highest mountains; deserts will spread; oceans become acidic, leading to the destruction of coral reefs and atolls; and deadly heatwaves will become more prevalent. The impact will be catastrophic, forcing hundreds of millions of people to flee their devastated homelands, particularly in tropical, low-lying areas, while creating waves of immigrants whose movements will strain the economies of even the most affluent countries. "The really chilling thing about the IPCC report is that it is the work of several thousand climate experts who have widely differing views about how greenhouse gases will have their effect. Some think they will have a major impact, others a lesser role. Each paragraph of this report was therefore argued over and scrutinized intensely. Only points that were considered indisputable survived this process. This is a very conservative document - that's what makes it so scary," said one senior U.K. climate expert. Read The Full Story British Panel Urges Alternatives To Guantanamo 2007-01-21 02:40:32 A panel of British lawmakers urged the government Sunday to work with the United States to develop an alternative to holding terror suspects at Guantanamo - aiming to speed up the closure of the much-criticized U.S. military prison. The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee released a report that also called for an overhaul of the Geneva Conventions and suggesting Prime Minister Tony Blair lead efforts to update the international standards to reflect the challenge of terrorism. "The international community as a whole needs to shoulder its responsibility in finding a longer-term solution" to the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo. Read The Full Story Blair Administration, Scotland Yard At War Over Arrest In Cash-For-Honors Investigation 2007-01-21 02:39:39 No. 10 Downing street, England's equivalent of the White House, was plunged into a full-scale war with the police Saturday after senior officers hit back at criticism of the way the cash-for-peerages investigation is being handled. They responded after Cabinet Minister Tessa Jowell expressed bewilderment at the manner in which Ruth Turner, Number 10's director of devolvement relations, was arrested at home at dawn - while former Home Secretary David Blunkett accused police of "theatrics". Also Saturday, Scotland Yard made clear its anger at what it sees as undue political pressure. Sir Chris Fox, the former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers who remains close to Scotland Yard, accused political critics of "scheming to discredit a very important inquiry". Chief constables feared a potential threat to police independence, he added. His intervention came as it emerged that rebel Labor members of Parliament are actively discussing raising a delegation of senior backbenchers to go to the Prime Minister and appeal for him to quit early. Read The Full Story 8 Dead As Snow Storm Rolls Across Plains 2007-01-21 02:38:49 A winter storm rolled across the U.S. Plains states Saturday, causing numerous accidents that killed at least eight people in three states. Heavy snow hit western and central Kansas, limiting visibility and creating hazardous driving conditions. A couple and their 20-month-old daughter died when their car drove off U.S. 50 in western Kansas and collided with two others cars, said authorities. The couple's 6-year-old daughter, was critically injured, added the authorities. In Oklahoma, a 5-year-old boy died after being thrown from a sport utility vehicle that rolled over after it left a snow-covered highway. Four people also died in crashes on Nebraska highways. In Kansas, a heavy snow warning was in effect until 6 a.m. Sunday from areas around Wichita westward, said the National Weather Service. Up to 6 inches of snow were forecast for some sections by Sunday, with more to follow. Read The Full Story Kansas Senator Brownback Announces Bid For President 2007-01-21 02:38:06 Declaring himself a proud conservative before a crowd of cheering supporters waving American flags, Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, on Saturday announced his candidacy for president. Brownback, an evangelical Protestant turned Roman Catholic and a former Kansas agriculture secretary, said he would focus on reviving faith and families in America; combating abortion, poverty and wasteful government spending; opposing same-sex marriage; and revamping Social Security and the federal tax system. “The last thing we need in America is to take God out of our public lives and institutions,” said Brownback during his speech in Topeka, Kansas. “We need to embrace our nation’s motto, ‘In God we trust,’ and not be ashamed of it. “To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation,” he said. “To embrace him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations.” Read The Full Story
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