Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday March 28 2007 - (813)

Wednesday March 28 2007 edition
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32 Children Taken Hostage In Philippines 2007-03-28 01:50:15 A day-care center owner hijacked a busload of his students and teachers and drove them to Manila's city hall Wednesday to demand better housing and education for the children. Jun Ducat and at least one other hostage-taker scribbled in large letters on a sheet of paper, taped to the bus' windshield, that they were holding 32 children and two teachers and were armed with two grenades, an assault rifle and a pistol, said officer Mark Andal. One child with a fever was released after four hours, and then was driven away in an ambulance. They said they were demanding improved housing and education for 145 children in a day-care center in Manila's poor Tondo district where the incident, televised live around the world, appeared to have begun. The driver was released soon afterward. Read The Full Story On 50 - 48 Vote, Senate Signals Support For Iraq Timeline 2007-03-27 19:21:41 The Senate Tuesday narrowly endorsed a Democratic-led effort to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq a year from now, voting down a Republican amendment that would have stripped the provision from a $122 emergency spending bill. Senators voted 50 to 48 to reject the amendment, which was introduced by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. In a vote several weeks ago on a similar measure, only 48 senators supported the timeline for withdrawal but, today, the Democrats secured the votes of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska). The vote came after the White House reiterated President Bush's threat to veto any bill that sets deadlines for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Read The Full Story Supreme Court Rules Against Nuclear Whistle Blower 2007-03-27 19:21:18 The Supreme Court left an 81-year-old retired engineer without a penny to show for his role in exposing fraud at a former nuclear weapons plant in a ruling that makes it harder for whistle-blowers to claim cash rewards. James Stone stood to collect up to $1 million from a lawsuit he filed in 1989 against Rockwell International, now part of aerospace giant Boeing Co., over problems with environmental cleanup at the now-closed Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant northwest of Denver. A court eventually ordered Rockwell to pay the government nearly $4.2 million for false claims the company submitted. Stone could have received up to a quarter of Rockwell's payment, under the False Claims Act. Read The Full Story Judge Dismisses Lawsuite Against Rumsfeld 2007-03-27 19:20:09 Former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cannot be tried on allegations of torture in overseas military prisons, a federal judge said Tuesday in a case he described as "lamentable." U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan threw out a lawsuit brought on behalf of nine former prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said Rumsfeld cannot be held personally responsible for actions taken in connection with his government job. The lawsuit contends the prisoners were beaten, suspended upside down from the ceiling by chains, urinated on, shocked, sexually humiliated, burned, locked inside boxes and subjected to mock executions. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First had argued that Rumsfeld and top military officials disregarded warnings about the abuse and authorized the use of illegal interrogation tactics that violated the constitutional and human rights of prisoners. Read The Full Story Insurgents Report A Split With Al-Qaeda In Iraq 2007-03-27 12:49:53 Insurgent leaders and Sunni Arab politicians say divisions between insurgent groups and al-Qaeda in Iraq have widened and have led to combat in some areas of the country, a schism that U.S. officials hope to exploit. The Sunni Arab insurgent leaders said they disagreed with the leadership of al-Qaeda in Iraq over tactics, including attacks on civilians, as well as over command of the movement. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, on his last day in Iraq, said Monday that American officials were actively pursuing negotiations with the Sunni factions in an effort to further isolate al-Qaeda. Read The Full Story Tests Show That Tony Snow's Cancer Has Returned 2007-03-27 12:49:15 White House press secretary Tony Snow, who has become the face of the Bush presidency over the last year, has cancer again. Snow's deputy, Dana M. Perino, broke into tears at an off-camera briefing this morning as she announced that the cancer has spread to his liver. Doctors discovered it when they operated on Snow on Monday to remove a small growth that had developed in his lower abdomen. President Bush, in brief remarks to reporters later in the White House Rose Garden, asked Americans to pray for his ailing spokesman, who he said called him this morning from the hospital to pass on the information that his cancer had returned. Read The Full Story Dollar Lower, Gold Up In Europe 2007-03-27 12:48:47 The U.S. dollar traded mostly lower against the other major currencies in late European trading Tuesday. Gold rose. The euro was quoted at $1.3346, up from $1.3331 Monday in New York. Later, in midday trading in New York, the euro fetched $1.3351. Other dollar rates in Europe, compared with late Monday, included 117.90 Japanese yen, down from 118.04; 1.2135 Swiss francs, down from 1.2157; and 1.1581 Canadian dollars, down from 1.1621. The British pound was quoted at $1.9652, down from $1.9698. Read The Full Story Gonzales' Senior Counselor Pleads 5th Amendment In Refusing To Testify Before Senate 2007-03-27 02:15:26 Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales' senior counselor Monday refused to testify in the Senate about her involvement in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Monica M. Goodling, who has taken an indefinite leave of absence, said in a sworn affidavit to the Senate Judiciary Committee that she will "decline to answer any and all questions" about the firings because she faces "a perilous environment in which to testify." Goodling, who was also Justice's liaison to the White House, and her lawyers alleged that Democratic lawmakers have already concluded that improper motives were at play in Justice's dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys last year. Goodling also pointed to indications that Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty blames her and others for not fully briefing him, leading to inaccurate testimony to Congress. Goodling's refusal to testify illustrates the rising political and legal stakes surrounding the removal of the federal prosecutors, and underscores the fissures developing among Gonzales and his current and former senior aides as the attorney general struggles to keep his job. Read The Full Story Editorial: Time For Answers 2007-03-27 02:14:50 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Tuesday, March 27, 2007: The news that Monica Goodling, counsel to the attorney general and liaison to the White House, is invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination takes the United States attorney scandal to a new level. Ms. Goodling’s decision comes just days after the Justice Department released documents strongly suggesting that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has not been honest about his own role in the firing of eight federal prosecutors. Mr. Gonzales is scheduled to testify before the Senate in three weeks, but that is too long to wait. He should speak now, and explain why he continues to insist that his department did nothing wrong. As the liaison between the White House and the Justice Department, Ms. Goodling seems to have been squarely in the middle of what appears to have been improper directions from the White House to politicize the hiring and firing of United States attorneys. Mr. Gonzales has insisted the eight prosecutors were let go for poor performance, and that the dismissals are an “overblown personnel matter.” But Ms. Goodling’s decision to exercise her Fifth Amendment rights suggests that she, at least, believes crimes may have been committed. Last Friday night, the Justice Department released a calendar entry that directly contradicts Mr. Gonzales’  insistence that he was out of the loop. It shows that he attended an hourlong meeting on Nov. 27 to discuss the upcoming firings of seven of the prosecutors. Previously, he had insisted that he never “had a discussion about where things stood.” Read The Full Story Global Warming: Heat Invades Cool Hights Above Arizona Desert 2007-03-27 02:14:16 High above the desert floor, this little alpine town has long served as a natural air-conditioned retreat for people in Tucson, one of the so-called sky islands of southern Arizona. When it is 105 degrees in the city, it is at least 20 degrees cooler up here near the 9,157-foot summit of Mount Lemmon. But for the past 10 years or so, things have been unraveling. Winter snows melt away earlier, longtime residents say, making for an erratic season at the nearby ski resort, the most southern in the nation. Legions of predatory insects have taken to the forest that mantles the upper mountain, killing trees weakened by record heat. And, in 2003, a fire burned for a month, destroying much of the town and scarring more than 87,000 acres. The next year, another fire swept over 32,000 acres. Read The Full Story U.S. Marines Call Up 1,800 From Ready Reserves 2007-03-27 02:13:17 The Marine Corps is recalling 1,800 reservists to active duty, citing a shortage of volunteers to fill some jobs in Iraq. Members of the branch's Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) will receive letters this week about plans to mobilize them involuntarily for a year, said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Riehl of Marine manpower and reserve affairs. Last week, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates approved the action, under which reservists would report for duty in October and deploy early next year, said Riehl. From the 1,800 Marines called, officials hope to get 1,200 for aviation maintenance, logistics support, combat arms and other skills needed for the early 2008 rotation into Iraq. Read The Full Story Arab Ministers Agree To Revive Initiative For Mideast Peace 2007-03-27 02:12:28 Arab foreign ministers agreed to relaunch a five-year-old peace initiative with Israel, including establishment of a working group to begin negotiations on the plan, according to reports from Riyadh, the Saudi capital. "The initiative includes a mechanism to promote it and gain its acceptance and especially registering it officially at the United Nations," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told reporters. "That's what's going to happen, so that it becomes a basis and a major reference point for peace in the Middle East." Under the plan, Arab nations would recognize Israel if it gave up land occupied after the 1967 Middle East war and granted Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes lost six decades ago when Israel declared it was a state. Read The Full Story	Arizona Veterans Director Resigns After Violations 2007-03-28 01:50:04 The director of the Arizona Department of Veterans Services resigned Tuesday, days after the public disclosure of health and safety violations at a nursing home for veterans. The violations included patients left in soiled undergarments and covered in bodily fluids leaking from medical devices. The list of violations was in a report dated March 16 and released last week by state health investigators who, acting on an anonymous complaint, examined the Arizona State Veteran Home in central Phoenix over an eight-day period last month. The report was obtained last week by the Arizona Republic newspaper and has been widely publicized around the state. The home, which has 200 beds serving primarily veterans of World War II and the Korean War, was fined $10,000 by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a result of the report. Read The Full Story Justice Department Blunder Lets Tax Cheat Avoid $100 Million Repayment 2007-03-27 19:21:29 Poorly written Justice Department documents cost the federal government more than $100 million in what was supposed to have been the crowning moment of the biggest tax prosecution ever. Walter Anderson, the telecommunications entrepreneur who admitted hiding hundreds of millions of dollars from the IRS and District of Columbia tax collectors, was sentenced Tuesday to nine years in prison and ordered to repay about $23 million to the city. But U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said he couldn't order Anderson to repay the federal government $100 million to $175 million because the Justice Department's binding plea agreement with Anderson listed the wrong statute. Read The Full Story Uranium Ignites 'Gold Rush' In U.S. West 2007-03-27 19:20:24 Given its connotations, Pandora is an oddly appropriate name for an uranium mine. But that does not seem to bother Denison Mines, its Vancouver-based owner, which recently reopened this mine about 30 miles southeast of Moab, Utah, along with several others in nearby western Colorado, after it lay dormant for the years in which the nation shunned nuclear power. The revival of uranium mining in the West, though, has less to do with the renewed interest in nuclear power as an alternative to greenhouse-gas-belching coal plants than to the convoluted economics and intense speculation surrounding the metal that has pushed up the price of uranium to levels not seen since the heyday of the industry in the mid-1970s. “There’s a lot of staking going on,” said Mike Shumway, a 53-year-old Vietnam veteran who owns the contracting business that is working the Pandora mine. “It’s like the Gold Rush.” Read The Full Story At Least 4 Dead As 'Sewage Tsunami' Floods Village In Gaza 2007-03-27 19:17:34 At least 4 people were killed Tuesday in the northern Gaza Strip and more than 30 injured when a sewage system collapsed, flooding a village with waste water, according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which helps Palestinian refugees and their families, posted photographs on its Web site showing Palestinians wading through the muck, and waters rising about half way up structures in the area known as Um al-Nasr. The local Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that at least nine people were killed and scores wounded. Hundreds of houses were flooded or damaged, said the U.N. agency and Wafa. “The waters destroyed houses, tents, shelters, everything in its way,” Musa Jaber, a 28 year-old Palestine refugee and father of five, told the U.N. agency. “It was very high, more than a meter. And horrifying! Women and children were screaming at the top of their lungs for help.” Read The Full Story Oops! Aide To Sen. Webb Had Gun In Briefcase 2007-03-27 12:49:36 A top aide to U.S. Sen. James Webb was charged Monday with trying to carry a loaded pistol and extra ammunition into a Senate office building, said U.S. Capitol Police. The staffer, Phillip Thompson, told police that the gun belonged to Webb (D-Virginia), said authorities. Thompson also said he forgot that the gun was in a briefcase and meant no harm, they said. Thompson, 44, a longtime friend of Webb's and the senator's executive assistant, was jailed pending an appearance Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court. He was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition. The gun was discovered at 10:30 a.m. when Thompson arrived at the C Street entrance of the Russell Senate Office Building, according to Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a Capitol Police spokeswoman. An X-ray machine revealed the gun in a briefcase. Police also found two fully loaded magazines, said officials. Read The Full Story U.S. Consumer Confidence Drops 2007-03-27 12:49:01 Rising gasoline prices and stock market turbulence undermined consumer confidence in March, increasing worries about one of the economy's pillars, a widely watched index showed on Tuesday. The New York-based Conference Board said that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 107.2, down from the revised 111.2 in February. Analysts had expected a reading of 109. The March index was the lowest since November 2006 when the reading was 105.3. ''Apprehension about the short-term future has suddenly cast a cloud over consumers' confidence,'' said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, in a statement. Read The Full Story U.S. Treasury Bond Prices Off To Shakey Start 2007-03-27 12:48:31 Treasury bond prices got off to a rickety start Tuesday, due to tough talk on inflation from a couple of Federal Reserve speakers abroad, which added to the market's nagging suspicion that the central bank may not be as keen on a rate cut as first thought. At 11 a.m. EDT, the 10-year Treasury note was down 31 cents per $1,000 in face value, or 1/32 point, from its level at 5 p.m. Monday. Its yield, which moves in the opposite direction, was unchanged at 4.61 percent. The 30-year bond fell 5/32 point. Its yield rose to 4.81 percent from 4.80 percent. The 2-year note rose 1/32 point. Its yield fell to 4.57 percent from 4.59 percent. Read The Full Story Private Businesses Flag Ordinary Customers As Terrorists 2007-03-27 02:15:05 Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list. The Office of Foreign Asset Control's list of "specially designated nationals" has long been used by banks and other financial institutions to block financial transactions of drug dealers and other criminals. But an executive order issued by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has expanded the list and its consequences in unforeseen ways. Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued Tuesday. "The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security," said Shirin Sinnar, the report's author. "The government is effectively conscripting private businesses into the war on terrorism but doing so without making sure that businesses don't trample on individual rights." Read The Full Story Commentary: If We Want To Save The Planet We Need A 5-Year Freeze On Biofuels 2007-03-27 02:14:36 Intellpuke: The following commentary is by Prof. George Monbiot who writes that oil produced from plants sets up competition for food between cars and people. People - and the environment - will lose. His commentary follows: It used to be a matter of good intentions gone awry. Now it is plain fraud. The governments using biofuel to tackle global warming know that it causes more harm than good. But they plough on regardless. In theory, fuels made from plants can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by cars and trucks. Plants absorb carbon as they grow - it is released again when the fuel is burned. By encouraging oil companies to switch from fossil plants to living ones, governments on both sides of the Atlantic claim to be "decarbonising" our transport networks. In the budget last week, Gordon Brown announced that he would extend the tax rebate for biofuels until 2010. From next year all suppliers in the U.K. will have to ensure that 2.5% of the fuel they sell is made from plants - if not, they must pay a penalty of 15 pence a liter. The obligation rises to 5% in 2010. By 2050, the government hopes that 33% of our fuel will come from crops. Last month George Bush announced that he would quintuple the U.S. target for biofuels: by 2017 they should be supplying 24% of the nation's transport fuel. So what's wrong with these programs? Only that they are a formula for environmental and humanitarian disaster. In 2004 I warned, on these pages, that biofuels would set up a competition for food between cars and people. The people would necessarily lose: those who can afford to drive are richer than those who are in danger of starvation. It would also lead to the destruction of rainforests and other important habitats. I received more abuse than I've had for any other column - except for when I attacked the 9/11 conspiracists. I was told my claims were ridiculous, laughable, impossible. Well in one respect I was wrong. I thought these effects wouldn't materialize for many years. They are happening already. Read The Full Story Heart Attack Study On Routine Use Of Angioplasty, Stents 2007-03-27 02:13:38 Propping open clogged arteries with a tiny wire-mesh tube called a stent is no better at reducing the risk of heart attack or death in patients with stable heart disease than treatment with medications, according to a large new study that challenges routine use of a procedure that rapidly became standard medical practice. The study of more than 2,000 patients found that those who underwent the expensive procedure, known as angioplasty, in non-emergency situations were no less likely to suffer a heart attack or die than those who took only aspirin and other medicines to lower blood pressure and cholesterol and prevent clots, along with adopting lifestyle changes. The study is the first large, well-designed comparison of angioplasty to non-surgical care for patients who are not having a heart attack or in imminent danger of having one. The procedure, often done to relieve chest pain and to reduce the risk of having or dying from a heart attack, has become one of the most common medical procedures in the United States. Read The Full Story Australian Hicks' Guilty Plea Is First At Guantanamo 2007-03-27 02:12:44 Australian David M. Hicks pleaded guilty to one charge of material support for terrorism during a brief military hearing Monday night, becoming the first Guantanamo prisoner to officially accept criminal responsibility for aiding terrorists since the detention facility opened more than five years ago. The plea during the first day of hearings under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 marks a victory for the Bush administration, which is now likely to secure a conviction in the first case it pursues under Congress's new rules. Col. Ralph H. Kohlmann, the military commission's presiding officer, has not accepted the plea but is expected to do so in hearings this week. Military commission officials at Guantanamo said Kohlmann and lawyers for both sides will work out details of Hicks' plea. Then a full military commissions jury panel will meet to decide on a sentence. Hicks faces a possible life term, but prosecutors said in recent days that they probably will not seek a term longer than 20 years. Read The Full Story U.S. Envoy To Iraqis: 'Our Patience Is Wearing Thin' 2007-03-27 02:12:01 The outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Monday delivered a blunt farewell message to Iraq's leadership, saying the Bush administration's patience is wearing thin and urging them to stem the bloodshed. Zalmay Khalilzad, who is due to leave today after 21 months in Iraq, said that despite encouraging results from the U.S.-Iraqi security plan, which had reduced attacks by 25% in its first six weeks, "there is a lot more that needs to be done." "Success requires Iraq and Iraqi leaders to make the compromises necessary to reduce the sources of violence," he said. Read The Full Story
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