Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday February 25 2007 - (813)

Sunday February 25 2007 edition
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Al Gore, Rock Star 2007-02-25 03:48:21 In the annals of vice presidential history, Sunday night will be something different. In his black tux, the man known to his most fervent fans as "The Goracle" will arrive by hybrid eco-limo and, surrounded by fellow Hollywood greenies Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio, will stroll down the red carpet at the Academy Awards to answer the immortal question: "Al, who are you wearing?" What a year it has been for Al Gore and his little indie film. "An Inconvenient Truth," the 100-minute movie that is essentially Gore giving a slide show about global warming, is the third-highest-grossing documentary ever, with a worldwide box office of $45 million, right behind blockbusters "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "March of the Penguins." "AIT," as Team Gore calls it, is also the hot pick tonight for Best Documentary, and if its director, Davis Guggenheim, wins an Oscar, he plans to bring Gore along with him to the stage to accept the golden statuette and perhaps say a few words about ... interstitial glacial melting? (More likely, Gore will deliver a favorite line about "political will being a renewable resource.") Read The Full Story Who's Killing Putin's Enemies? 2007-02-25 03:47:35 Intellpuke: The following analysis was written by Michael Specter for The Observer edition of Sunday, February 25, 2007. Mr. Specter writes that Vladimir Putin has presided over a staggering economic boom in the six years since he took control of the Kremlin. Meanwhile, a dozen of his critics have been assassinated and the country's vast natural resources are in the pockets of a chosen few. Mr. Specter writes on the corruption and gangsterism gripping Russia in the analysis that follows: Saturday, October 7 was a marathon of disheartening tasks for Anna Politkovskaya. Two weeks earlier her father, a retired diplomat, had died of a heart attack as he emerged from the Moscow metro while on his way to visit Politkovskaya's mother, Raisa Mazepa, in hospital. She had just been diagnosed with cancer and was too weak even to attend her husband's funeral. "Your father will forgive me, because he knows I have always loved him," she told Anna and her sister, Elena Kudimova, the day he was buried. A week later she underwent surgery, and since then Anna and Elena had been taking turns helping her cope with her grief. Politkovskaya was supposed to spend the day at the hospital, but her 26-year-old daughter, who was pregnant, had just moved into her flat, on Lesnaya Street, while her own place was being prepared for the baby. "Anna had so much on her mind," Elena Kudimova told me when we met in London, before Christmas. "And she was trying to finish her article." Politkovskaya was a special correspondent for the small, liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and, like most of her work, the piece focused on the terror that pervades the southern republic of Chechnya. This time, she had been trying to document repeated acts of torture carried out by squads loyal to the pro-Russian prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. In the past seven years Politkovskaya had written dozens of accounts of life during wartime; many had been collected in her book A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. Politkovskaya was far more likely to spend time in a hospital than on a battlefield, and her writing bore frequent witness to robbery, rape and the unbridled cruelty of life in a place few other Russians - and almost no other reporters - cared to think about. Read The Full Story Prodi Gets Go Ahead To Continue As Italy's Prime Minister 2007-02-25 03:46:49 Three days after dramatically resigning in the wake of a narrow defeat in parliament, Romano Prodi has stiffened his crumbling coalition and received the go-ahead to push on as Prime Minister of Italy. Following two days of emergency talks with political leaders, culminating in a one-to-one talk with Prodi on Saturday morning, President Giorgio Napolitano refused Prodi's resignation and told him to return to parliament for a confidence vote, which could be held as soon as Wednesday. Prodi quit last Wednesday after his nine-party coalition was defeated by two Senate votes on a motion backing the government's foreign policy. His return is boosted by new declarations of allegiance from partners and the recruitment of a Catholic centrist senator Marco Follini, a deputy prime minister in the government of Silvio Berlusconi. Asked if he was now sure of a Senate majority, Prodi said: "I think so, but there will be a debate and we will see." Berlusconi attacked Napolitano's statement that "there was no other concrete alternative" to Prodi, claiming: "The left will never find the consensus for providing this country with the reforms it needs. The agony is set to continue." Read The Full Story Record FCC Fine Expected For Univision 2007-02-24 15:47:00 When Univision began broadcasting a show three years ago about the misadventures of 11-year-old identical twin girls who swapped identities after discovering they had been separated at birth, it characterized the episodes as educational programming for children. That decision is expected to cost Univision, the nation’s largest Hispanic network, $24 million in what would be the largest fine the Federal Communications Commission has ever imposed against any company. The penalty is also expected to send a strong signal to broadcasters that they will be expected to meet their required quota of shows that educate and inform children, after years of permissive oversight in this area. The commission has decided to impose the heavy fine - disclosed by Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the commission, in an interview - as a tough rebuke to Univision for claiming to meet its obligations to broadcast educational children’s programs by showing the Latino soap opera “Complices al Rescate” (“Friends to the Rescue”) and other so-called telenovelas. Read The Full Story 2 Die In Guatemala City 300-Feet Deep Sinkhole 2007-02-24 15:45:19 A 330-foot-deep sinkhole killed two teenage siblings when it swallowed about a dozen homes early Friday and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood. Officials blamed the sinkhole on recent rains and flow from a ruptured underground sewage main. The bodies were found near the enormous fissure, floating in a river of sewage. From the pit came foul odors, loud noises and tremors that shook the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard, and authorities feared the pit could widen or others open up. Edward Ramirez, 26, said he and other residents had been hearing noises and feeling tremors for about a month before the ground opened, waking many before dawn in the impoverished neighborhood. Read The Full Story Commentary: Tony Blair Makes 'Comical Ali' Seem The Voice Of Reason 2007-02-24 00:16:46 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Marina Hyde and is posted on the Guardian Unlimited's website edition for Saturday, February 24, 2007. In her column, Ms. Hyde writes that the former Iraqi regime spokesman's boasts seem almost prophetic ... unlike the British prime minister's deluded declarations. Her column follows: If one is to endure a prime ministerial discourse on Iraq for any length of time these days, it is necessary - in the name of sanity - to cultivate strategies of detachment. Destroying another radio solves nothing, and there may be health risks associated with beginning one's waking day shouting dementedly at the glottal-stopped voice drifting over the airwaves. And so it was, listening to Tony Blair sing the praises of his Iraq adventure on the Today programme on Thursday, that my mind began to wander. If it wasn't all such a bleeding mess, I thought vaguely, the prime minister's delusions of success would be almost comical. Comical ... comical ... the word triggered some neural connection. But what? Gradually but inexorably, the memory of another charismatic proselytiser for Iraq's rude health began to resolve itself. Cast your mind back to the Iraq war as it was originally billed - the one where we won in three weeks - and which revisionist historians may just come to classify as a kind of phoney war curtain-raiser to the prolonged horror that succeeded it. Quite the most entertaining cameo of the day - even counting Clare Short's hilarious insistence on staying in the cabinet so she could oversee the reconstruction effort - was that played by Saddam's information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, who we came to know as Comical Ali (or as Baghdad Bob by some). Not for him the relentless negativity that so exasperates Tony Blair where critics of his mission's success are concerned. "There are only two American tanks in the city," the information minister would beam beatifically during one of his must-watch daily briefings in early 2003, surrounded by reporters who would have been to able to count at least three if they stood on a low chair. Or recall his declaration as news channels screened footage of coalition troops patrolling Saddam international airport: "They are not in control of any airport." Read The Full Story	11 Days Till Baghdad ... And Counting 2007-02-25 03:47:57 Their camouflage on, their wives carrying infants, their older children carrying flags, the soldiers of George W. Bush's surge crowded into a gymnasium for their brigade deployment ceremony, a last public viewing before they disappeared into Iraq.  Baghdad, long an abstraction, was now imminent. Of the 21,500 additional troops President Bush decided to send to Iraq in the coming months, about 3,500 were coming from here. "Are you frightened?" a TV reporter called out. "I'm confident," one of those soldiers replied. An enormous American flag hung on the back wall. A military band lined up in formation. "Ready to go," said another soldier. Outside, snow was coming toward this isolated place. Inside, as the bleachers filled and the doors swung closed against the cold, a 41-year-old soldier near the middle of the floor began clapping his hands in anticipation. And now waved at his wife and children. And now took his position in front of the soldiers he would soon be leading into combat. Read The Full Story Rep. Murtha Stumbles On Iraq Funding Curbs 2007-02-25 03:47:05 The plan was bold: By tying President Bush's $100 billion war request to strict standards of troop safety and readiness, Democrats believed they could grab hold of Iraq war policy while forcing Republicans to defend sending troops into battle without the necessary training or equipment. But a botched launch by the plan's author, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha (Pennsylvania), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week. "If this is going to be legislation that's crafted in such a way that holds back resources from our troops, that is a non-starter, an absolute non-starter," declared Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah), a leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Murtha's credentials as a Marine combat veteran, a critic of the war and close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) were supposed to make him an unassailable spokesman for Democratic war policy. Instead, he has become a lightning rod for criticism from Republicans and members of his own party. Read The Full Story Justice Department Fires 8th U.S. Attorney 2007-02-24 15:47:12 An eighth U.S. attorney announced her resignation Friday, the latest in a wave of forced departures of federal prosecutors who have clashed with the Justice Department over the death penalty and other issues. Margaret Chiara, the 63-year-old U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Michigan, told her staff that she was leaving her post after more than five years, said officials. Sources familiar with the case confirmed that she was among a larger group of prosecutors who were first asked to resign Dec. 7. Chiara is the second female U.S. attorney to be dismissed. The other is Carol Lam of San Diego. Before the firings, 15 of 93 U.S. attorneys were women, department records show. The firings have been criticized by lawmakers in both parties and have prompted proposals in Congress to restrict the ability of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to appoint interim prosecutors indefinitely. Read The Full Story Truck Bomb Kills At Least 35 At Baghdad Sunni Mosque 2007-02-24 15:46:45 A truck exploded Saturday as worshippers left a Sunni mosque west of Baghdad, killing at least 35 people and injuring more than 60 in an apparent sign of increased internal Sunni battles between insurgents and those opposing them. The imam of the mosque in Habbaniyah, about 50 miles west of Baghdad, had spoken out against militants fighting the U.S.-backed government, including the group al-Qaida in Iraq. At least 35 people were killed and 62 injured, said Lt. Abdul-Aziz Mohammed in Habbaniyah, which lies between the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah - both hotbeds of the insurgency. There was no claim of responsibility, but suspicion fell on battles between Sunni groups in Anbar province west of Baghdad. Militants have increased attacks against Sunni leaders who support the government and denounce violence. Read The Full Story Britain Supports Call For Ban On Cluster Bombs 2007-02-24 00:16:57 Britain has signed up to a new arms control declaration calling for an international ban on cluster bombs to protect civilians, despite having used the weapon in conflicts in Kosovo and Iraq and still stockpiling so-called "smart" versions of the munition. Its position, praised by humanitarian groups, puts it at odds with the U.S., Russia, China and Israel, which did not attend the Oslo conference where the declaration was agreed by 46 countries Friday. The U.K.'s Foreign Office strongly denied Britain had changed tack or would now back a blanket ban, saying the move would "complement" parallel United Nations-organized disarmament efforts in Geneva, Switzerland. Read The Full Story Former President Clinton Tops Speakers' Earnings List 2007-02-24 00:16:25 Former president Bill Clinton, who came to the White House with modest means and left deeply in debt, has collected nearly $40 million in speaking fees over the past six years, according to interviews and financial disclosure statements filed by his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York). Last year, one of his most lucrative since he left the presidency, Clinton earned $9 million to $10 million on the lecture circuit. He averaged almost a speech a day - 352 for the year - but only about 20 percent were for personal income. The others were given for no fee or for donations to the William J. Clinton Foundation, the nonprofit group he founded to pursue causes such as the fight against AIDS. His paid speeches included $150,000 appearances before landlord groups, biotechnology firms and food distributors, as well as speeches in England, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia that together netted him more than $1.6 million. On one particularly good day in Canada, Clinton made $475,000 for two speeches, more than double his annual salary as president. Read The Full Story
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