Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday May 11 2007 - (813)

Friday May 11 2007 edition
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U.S. House Approves Phased-Funding Bill For Iraq War 2007-05-11 02:30:29 The U.S. House of Representatives last night pushed through its second plan to fund the Iraq war and reshape war policy, approving legislation that would provide partial funding for the conflict but hold back most of the money until President Bush  reports on the war's progress in July. Coming only a week after the Democrats' first war funding bill was vetoed, the House's 221 to 205 vote defied a fresh veto threat and even opposition from Democrats in the Senate. "The president has brought us to this point by vetoing the first Iraq Accountability Act and refusing to pay for this war responsibly," declared House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California). "He has grown accustomed to the free hand on Iraq he had before January 4. Those days are over." Read The Full Story Iraqi Lawmakers Back Bill On U.S. Withdrawal 2007-05-11 02:30:00 A majority of members of Iraq's parliament have signed a draft bill that would require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Iraq and freeze current troop levels. The development was a sign of a growing division between Iraq's legislators and prime minister that mirrors the widening gulf between the Bush administration and its critics in Congress. The draft bill proposes a timeline for a gradual departure, much like what some U.S. Democratic lawmakers have demanded, and would require the Iraqi government to secure parliament's approval before any further extensions of the United Nations mandate for foreign troops in Iraq, which expires at the end of 2007. "We haven't asked for the immediate withdrawal of multinational forces; we asked that we should build our security forces and make them qualified, and at that point there would be a withdrawal," said Bahaa al-Araji, a member of parliament allied with the anti-American Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters drafted the bill. "But no one can accept the occupation of his country." Read The Full Story Michael Moore Under Investigation For Cuba Film Trip 2007-05-11 02:27:26 Michael Moore, film-maker and scourge of the Bush administration, has been handed a timely gift of pre-release publicity for his new documentary, SiCKO, by the U.S. Treasury Department which is investigating him for filming in Cuba in violation of a travel ban. A letter from the treasury posted on Moore's website asked him to explain how he came to be in Cuba in March without authorization. Dated May 2, the letter requested information on his travel dates, a list of people who went with him and justification for his presence in Cuba in apparent contravention of the terms of the U.S. embargo of the country imposed since 1962. By deciding to investigate Moore, government officials seemed unaware that he has consistently thrived on such confrontation. His last film, "Fahrenheit 9/11", hit the headlines in 2004 when Walt Disney refused to let its subsidiary Miramax release it because of its attack on the Bush administration. Miramax went ahead anyway, and the film took the top prize at Cannes, the Palme d'Or. Read The Full Story Peruvians Sue Occidental Petroleum Over Amazon Pollution 2007-05-11 02:24:49 Members of an indigenous tribe from the Peruvian Amazon sued the oil giant Occidental Petroleum Thursday in California's superior court, alleging that the company knowingly put the health of the Achuar people at risk and damaged their habitat. The claim alleges that over the course of three decades Oxy, as it is known, engaged in "irresponsible, reckless, immortal and illegal practices" in an "unchecked effort to profit from Amazonian oil". It adds: "These practices were below accepted industry standards, prohibited by law, and Oxy knew they would result in the severe contamination of water and land." Marco Simons, a lawyer for EarthRights International, which is representing the Achuar, said: "If you think about the harm that was done here, the widespread lead poisoning of hundreds of children and the exposure of hundreds of adults and children to contamination, you're certainly looking at substantial damages. But more important than that, the Achuar want injunctive relief to clean up the mess." Read The Full Story Suicide Risk Higher For Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans 2007-05-10 15:21:22 Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are at increased risk of suicide because Veterans Administration health clinics do not have 24-hour mental health care available, an internal review found. The report by the Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general, which was scheduled to be released later Thursday, is the first comprehensive look at V.A. mental health care, particularly in the area of suicide prevention. It found that nearly three years after the V.A. adopted a comprehensive strategy of mental health care, services were inconsistent throughout its network of 1,400 clinics. Many facilities lacked 24-hour staff, adequate screening for mental problems, or personnel who were properly trained. With about one-third of veterans reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, it is "incumbent upon VHA to continue moving forward toward full deployment of suicide prevention strategies for our nation's veterans," the five-page executive summary stated. Read The Full Story U.S. Trade Deficit Shoots Up In March 2007-05-10 15:20:39 The trade deficit shot up in March to the highest level in six months, driven by a big jump in imported oil. The politically sensitive deficit with China shrank as U.S. exports to that country hit an all-time high. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the gap between what the United States imports and what it sells to the rest of the world rose to $63.9 billion in March, up 10.4 percent from the February level. That was a bigger-than-expected deterioration in the trade deficit from the $60 billion deficit that analysts were forecasting. It reflected a big 17.6 percent jump in oil imports, which climbed to $24.6 billion, the highest level in six months. Read The Full Story OxyContin Maker, Executives Plead Guilty 2007-05-10 15:20:01 The maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin and three of its current and former executives pleaded guilty Thursday to misleading the public about the drug's risk of addiction, a federal prosecutor and the company said. Purdue Pharma L.P., its president, top lawyer and former chief medical officer will pay $634.5 million in fines for claiming the drug was less addictive and less subject to abuse than other pain medications, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee said in a news release. The plea agreement comes two days after the Stamford, Conn.-based company agreed to pay $19.5 million to 26 states and the District of Columbia to settle complaints that it encouraged physicians to overprescribe OxyContin. "With its OxyContin, Purdue unleashed a highly abusable, addictive, and potentially dangerous drug on an unsuspecting and unknowing public," Brownlee said. "For these misrepresentations and crimes, Purdue and its executives have been brought to justice." Read The Full Story Blair: 'I Did What I Thought Was Right' 2007-05-10 15:18:56 Tony Blair Thursday announced he was stepping down after 10 years as prime minister and 13 as Labor Party leader. The prime minister returned to his political roots in the north east for his swansong, telling supporters at Trimdon Labour club he would stand down as P.M. on June 27. He will tender his resignation to the Queen on that day. In an emotional 17-minute speech, he said the judgment on his 10-year administration was "for you, the people, to make". Blair paid special tribute to his wife and children "who never let me forget my failings". And he apologized for "the times I have fallen short". Read The Full Story Syria Refuses To Cooperate With U.N. Hariri Tribunal 2007-05-10 15:17:52 Syria will not cooperate with a United Nations tribunal set up to try suspects in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, a defiant President Bashar al-Assad pledged in Damascus Thursday. Assad's message came as pressure mounted for movement in the case, which triggered mass protests and the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. A U.N. investigation has implicated Lebanese and Syrian security officials in the 2005 killing in Beirut. Assad denies involvement but has said that any Syrian found to be involved will be tried by a Syrian court. "We consider that the international tribunal concerns only Lebanon and the U.N. and that we are not directly concerned," he said. "Any cooperation requested from Syria which could compromise our national sovereignty is rejected." Read The Full Story Fires, Extreme Weather Befall U.S. 2007-05-10 02:42:23 Nature's fury made life miserable Wednesday from one end of the nation to the other, with people forced out of their homes by wildfires near both coasts and the Canadian border and by major flooding in the Midwest. And although the calendar still said spring, the first named storm of the year was whipping up surf on the beaches of the Southeast. Overall, it wasn't quite a day for the record books. ''It's a major flood,'' National Weather Service meteorologist Suzanne Fortin said Wednesday of the flooding in Missouri. ''It won't be a record breaker, but it will be in the top three.'' Read The Full Story 9th U.S. Attorney Firing Revealed 2007-05-10 02:41:30 The former U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Missouri, Todd P. Graves, said Wednesday that he was asked to step down from his job by a senior Justice Department official in January 2006, months before eight other federal prosecutors would be fired by the Bush administration. Graves said he was told simply that he should resign to "give another person a chance." He said he did not oppose the department's request, because he had already been planning to return to private practice. He did appeal to Missouri's senior senator to try to persuade the White House to allow him to remain long enough to prosecute a final, important case - involving the slaying of a pregnant woman and kidnapping of her 8-month fetus. Justice officials rejected the request. The former prosecutor's disclosure, in an interview on the eve of a second appearance today by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzalesbefore lawmakers investigating the firings, means that the administration began moving to replace U.S. attorneys five months earlier than was previously known. It also means that at least nine prosecutors were asked to resign last year, a deviation from repeated suggestions by Gonzales and other senior Justice officials in congressional testimony and other public statements that the firings did not extend beyond the eight prosecutors already known to have been forced out. Read The Full Story Psychiatrists, Children And The Drug Industry's Role 2007-05-10 02:39:30 When Anya Bailey developed an eating disorder after her 12th birthday, her mother took her to a psychiatrist at the University of Minnesota who prescribed a powerful antipsychotic drug called Risperdal. Created for schizophrenia, Risperdal is not approved to treat eating disorders, but increased appetite is a common side effect and doctors may prescribe drugs as they see fit. Anya gained weight but within two years developed a crippling knot in her back. She now receives regular injections of Botox to unclench her back muscles. She often awakens crying in pain. Isabella Bailey, Anya’s mother, said she had no idea that children might be especially susceptible to Risperdal’s side effects. Nor did she know that Risperdal and similar medicines were not approved at the time to treat children, or that medical trials often cited to justify the use of such drugs had as few as eight children taking the drug by the end. Read The Full Story	Wildfire Threatens Santa Catalina Resort City 2007-05-11 02:30:15 A wind-driven wildfire threatened Santa Catalina Island's main city of Avalon Thursday, and residents and visitors were urged to leave the resort isle more than 20 miles off Southern California. Flames towered at the edge of Avalon at dusk as hundreds of people lined up at its harbor to board a ferry back to the mainland. Many covered their faces with towels and bandanas as ashes fell. "The city is threatened right now," said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Ron Haralson. The blaze scorched more than 500 acres, including a commercial building and several storage buildings, but no homes had been destroyed as of Thursday night. Read The Full Story Europeans Press Wolfowitz To Quit As World Bank Chief 2007-05-11 02:29:41 European leaders have told the Bush administration that Paul D. Wolfowitz must resign as president of the World Bank in order to avoid a vote next week by the bank’s board declaring that he no longer has its confidence to function as the bank’s leader, European officials said Thursday. The officials said the board is drafting a resolution reflecting its view that the relationship between Wolfowitz and the governing body of the bank had “broken beyond repair.” They noted that, if he remained in office, some European countries were planning to reduce contributions to the World Bank that would aid poor countries and instead would channel the money to European agencies and other groups for distribution. “The administration has been told that its battle to save Wolfowitz cannot be won,” said a European official, who like others who discussed the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential. “His relationship with the board is not only damaged. It is broken.” Read The Full Story As Gas Prices Rise, Democrats Blame Big Oil 2007-05-11 02:25:16 A week after U.S. gasoline prices hit a near-record $3.05 a gallon, Democrats in Congress are promoting legislation taking aim at the big oil companies, although industry experts say that the efforts aren't likely to have any effect. Standing in front of an Exxon station near the Capitol on Wednesday with the posted $3.05-a-gallon price for unleaded regular in the background, half a dozen senators railed against the oil industry. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said Congress would look into breaking up the giant companies. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) promoted her anti-price-gouging bill, which the Senate Commerce Committee adopted on Tuesday; and Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vermont) backed a windfall profits tax, pointing to $440 billion in profits over the past six years for the nation's five biggest oil companies. "I think it's time to say to these people, 'Stop ripping off the American people'," said Sanders. Read The Full Story Navy's Olson Picked To Head Special Ops Command 2007-05-11 02:23:15 President Bush Friday nominated Navy Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson to lead U.S. Special Operations Command, replacing Army Gen. Bryan "Doug" Brown, according to a Pentagon release. Olson would be the first Navy officer to head Socom. The command is responsible for about 48,000 elite troops, such as Army Green Berets, Rangers, Delta Force operatives, Navy SEALs and Air Force rescue teams. Olson is now Socom's deputy commander. Socom's influence and budget - projected at more than $6 billion for 2008 - have grown since Sept. 11, 2001. In 2004, Bush designated Socom as the lead military organization for combating terrorism. In recent years, about 80 percent of deployed Special Operations forces have been engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan. Olson, a longtime Navy SEAL, has served in Israel, Egypt and Tunisia. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1973 and received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Silver Star. Read The Full Story Haditha Marine 'Watched Superior Kill Surrendering Civilians' 2007-05-10 15:21:05 A U.S. marine told a court Wednesday that he had "pissed" on the head of one of 24 dead Iraqi civilians killed by his unit and watched a superior officer kill five Iraqis as they tried to surrender. Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz made the admission at a pre-trial hearing ahead of a series of military trials over the killings and alleged cover-up at Haditha, 120 miles west of Baghdad, in November 2005. He said he knew urinating on the dead Iraqi was wrong but was enraged after one of his colleagues, Lance Corporal "T.J." Miguel Terrazas, had been torn apart by a roadside bomb. "I know it was a bad thing what I've done, but I done it because I was angry T.J. was dead and I pissed on one Iraqi's head," Sgt Dela Cruz said. Read The Full Story Virus Spread By Oral Sex Linked To Throat Cancer 2007-05-10 15:20:27 The sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer also sharply increases the risk of certain types of throat cancer among people infected through oral sex, according to a study being published Thursday. The study, involving 100 people with throat cancer and 200 without it, found that those infected with the human papillomavirus were 32 times as likely to develop one form of oral cancer than those free of the virus. Although previous research had indicated HPV caused oral cancer, the new study is the first to definitively establish the link, researchers said. "It makes it absolutely clear that oral HPV infection is a risk factor," said Maura L. Gillison, an assistant professor of oncology and epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, who led the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings could help explain why rates of oral cancer have been increasing in recent years, particularly among younger people and those who are not smokers or heavy drinkers, which had long been the primary at-risk groups, experts said. Read The Full Story New Questions For Gonzales 2007-05-10 15:19:26 Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales told the House Judiciary Committee Thursday that the removal of a U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Missouri, was not part of the same process that led to the firings of eight other prosecutors last year. Todd P. Graves said in an interview Wednesday that he was asked to leave his post as U.S. attorney in January 2006 - the same month that his name appeared on a firing list compiled by Gonzales' chief of staff. Gonzales, without explicitly confirming that Graves was asked to resign, sought to cast the departure as separate from others that came later in the year. "It's always been my understanding that this focus has always been on the eight United States attorneys," Gonzales testified, adding later: "As part of this review process ... these were the individuals that were identified." Read The Full Story Israel's Olmert Blames Military Over Hezbollah Conflict In Lebanon 2007-05-10 15:18:41 Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told an inquiry he blamed the military for failings in the Lebanon war, according to testimony released Thursday. "I think the army disappointed itself to a large degree," he told the Winograd commission, which is investigating last year's costly and inconclusive war against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas. "Something in the command and control concept did not meet expectations and undoubtedly led to a disparity between what we were capable of achieving and what we actually achieved," Olmert told the inquiry. Zevulun Orlev, a Knesset member from the opposition National Religious party, accused Olmert of trying to evade responsibility by placing blame on the army. "He should take responsibility now for his failings and resign," Orlev told reporters. Read The Full Story Bush Told Iraq War Is Harming The GOP 2007-05-10 02:42:45 House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months. The meeting, which ran for an hour and a half Tuesday afternoon, was disclosed by participants yesterday as the House prepared to vote this evening on a spending bill that could cut funding for the Iraq war as early as July. GOP moderates told Bush they would stay united against the latest effort by House Democrats to end U.S. involvement in the war. Even Senate Democrats called the House measure unrealistic. But the meeting between 11 House Republicans, Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, White House political adviser Karl Rove and presidential press secretary Tony Snow was perhaps the clearest sign yet that patience in the party is running out. The meeting, organized by Rep. Charlie Dent (Pennsylvania), one of the co-chairs of the moderate "Tuesday Group," included Reps. Thomas M. Davis III (Virginia), Michael N. Castle (Delaware), Todd R. Platts (Pennsylvania), Jim Ramstad (Minnesota) and Jo Ann Emerson (Missouri). Read The Full Story Shaha Riza: In The Sadow Of A Scandal 2007-05-10 02:41:52 She is the invisible woman at the center of the storm swirling around embattled World Bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz. Serious, discreet and strong-willed, Shaha Ali Riza has been variously described as Wolfowitz's "girlfriend," his "female companion" and, according to Salon.com, his "neoconcubine." Yet little beyond labels is publicly known about the 52-year-old British citizen who has been dating Wolfowitz, one of Washington's most high-profile and powerful men, for the past seven years. People close to Riza have encouraged her to go public and tell her side of the story, but she remains silent. When a friend is asked how Riza is feeling at the moment, the friend, who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation, says, "What would you expect? How would you like to be portrayed as somebody's bimbo when you're a highly educated person who has actually worked hard to make life better for women and civil society in the Middle East and has actually achieved a lot." Read The Full Story Wednesday, The Beginning Of The End For Tony Blair 2007-05-10 02:41:03 Intellpuke: There are two articles here about British Prime Minister Tony Blair's political legacy. The first is by the political editor of the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper and, beneath that, you will find the Washington Post's take on the same event. That event is Blair's announcement, anticipated Thursday, that he will be stepping down as Prime Minister. The Guardian's article follows: Tony Blair will Thursday return to Durham's Trimdon Labour Club, and the room where he launched his Labour leadership campaign on June 11, 1994, to announce that he is standing down as party leader, before finally endorsing Gordon Brown as his successor. Blair wants to bring down the curtain on his time in high office in the place where he began his fight to succeed John Smith and create the New Labour electoral success story. He will inform the cabinet Thursday morning before flying to his Sedgefield constituency to announce his decision at noon amid the party workers who first selected him as their parliamentary candidate on May 20, 1983, at the age of 30. He is expected to make a personal speech that will insist he is a product of Labour and that his government has left Britain stronger than he found it. Read The Full Story U.S. House Passes Ban On Gifts From Student Lenders 2007-05-10 02:38:00 The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to ban gifts and payments by student loan  companies to universities, showing bipartisan resolve to clean up the $85 billion industry. The vote, 414 to 3, demonstrated how politically potent the issue of paying for college has become at a time when tuition is steadily rising and millions of students depend on borrowing to finance college. “With this vote,” said Representative George Miller, the California Democrat who leads the House education committee, “the House has taken a huge step in the right direction to put a stop to those practices and make sure that the student loan programs operate on the level, in the best interests of students and families trying to pay for college.” The bill passed a day before Education Secretary Margaret Spellings was scheduled to testify before the House education committee about oversight of the industry. Read The Full Story
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