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new weblog from tom paine! bookmark it.

http://www.tompaine.com/blog.cfm

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so innovative! from may 14th.

http://www.operationstrangelove.org/

Be part of a national anti-war action on May 14. Screen "Dr. Strangelove," and raise money for groups still working hard for peace, justice and relief in Iraq. Pre-emptive strikes. Cowboy diplomacy. Men conspiring in the War Room, bent on world domination. Weapons of mass destruction. And most terrifying of all, an invasion begun for one overwhelming reason: precious fluids... As the war on Iraq winds down (at least on TV), as the perils (and profits) of occupation loom, and as the Bushies plot the next pre-emptive strike, Operation Strangelove aims to show the warmongers in their true light. On May 14, put on a screening of "Dr. Strangelove" – in your living room, at the local theater, on campus, on your laptop, anywhere you can – and say no to unilateral invasions, to endangering our troops for the sake of oil, to flouting international law and the world community in the name of empire.

Follow the film with discussions, forums, debates. Keep talking. Keep acting. Let’s give new meaning to the old Strategic Air Command motto, "Peace Is Our Profession." ...We’ve suggested five underfunded organizations doing critical work in the region that you can raise money for with your screening and provided their contact information – Voices in the Wilderness, MADRE, United for Peace and Justice, Doctors Without Borders and, lest we forget about Afghanistan entirely, RAWA.

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that's my bush

http://www.wishtv.com/global/story.asp?s=1278487&ClientType=Printable

President Bush came to Indianapolis to send the message that his tax cut plan will help everyone and not just the wealthy... George W. Bush came to Indianapolis for the picture. And in that picture, the White House wanted ordinary people... That's why everyone sitting behind the president wearing a necktie was instructed to take it off.

...Former state Republican chairman Mike McDaniel helped organize the event. “They wanted them to be themselves and that's what we were trying to get out of those shots and it worked for the most part,” he said.

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the price of liberty

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40240-2003May10.html

About 340 workers at an Omaha plastics factory will lose pay or have to work next Saturday to make up for time lost during a visit by President Bush on Monday to promote his "jobs and growth plan," their boss said today. Brad Crosby, president of Airlite Plastics Co., said about 170 of his workers will lose a full day's pay and another 170 will be docked for part of their pay for Monday unless they make up the time they spend attending Bush's speech.

Airlite, which will shut down for its first shift and part of the second shift to provide a photogenic backdrop for Bush's speech, will be the Monday afternoon stop on a two-day swing by Bush to pressure senators to support a large tax cut as the measure heads to the Senate floor. Bush will stand near a production line that makes polystyrene containers for shipping steak, vaccines and other goods... A White House official declined comment except to say that Bush looks forward to talking to the people of Nebraska about his plan to "put money in their pockets."

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exciting texas news

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/topstory/1906961

AUSTIN -- A group of Democratic lawmakers who threw the Legislature into turmoil when they went into hiding-- to block a Republican congressional redistricting plan-- turned up Monday evening in Ardmore, Oklahoma. House Speaker Tom Craddick announced in the state Capitol that most of the missing Democrats were at the Holiday Inn in Ardmore and that officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety were sent to offer to escort them back to Austin, an offer that was rejected. He said the DPS officers did not have arrest authority in Oklahoma but he was seeking federal assistance to arrest the lawmakers. A spokesman for Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry said his state's troopers had no authority to get involved.

...More than 50 Democrats skipped the legislative session scheduled for Monday morning, depriving the body of the two-thirds majority required to conduct business. The tactic threatens to kill dozens of bills besides the redistricting measure, and possibly trigger a special session. House rules allow for the arrest of members who thwart a quorum.

...State Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, said he was in Ardmore with several other Democrats from Harris, Fort Bend and Galveston counties. Coleman said none of the legislators with him felt in danger of imminent arrest. He said the lawmakers were working on budget-related legislation and other measures. "It's a serious mood," he said... The errant House Democrats issued a statement saying a walkout was the only way they could protect current congressional district lines from being changed solely for political reasons.

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more exciting texas news

http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/051403/0514tag.html

The familiar tag that tells Texans who paid for political advertising is unconstitutional, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled Wednesday. State lawmakers years ago added the required disclaimer as a way to help Texans understand who is trying to influence their votes. But the law was challenged in the late 90s by a political consultant charged with violating it... The consultant [is] listed as John Doe in the court case.

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this is a paid announcement by none of your damn business

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-15013601.apds.m0948.bc-ct--statmay15,0,3898751.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dlocal%2Dwire

The Center for Public Integrity... found that lobbying state lawmakers and government officials cost businesses, unions and issue-advocacy groups at least $715,000,000.00 nationwide last year, with nearly half the money spent in California, New York and Massachusetts. The Center for Public Integrity study also concluded that many state laws did a poor job of letting the public know the details of lobbyists' spending on lawmakers, and what issues were discussed.

...The study found that $715,900,000.00 was spent by 34,000 principals... They hired 42,000 individuals to lobby legislators and other state elected officials, which breaks down to nearly six lobbyists and $126,000 devoted to each legislator in those 39 states.

...Legislators and lobbyists said that the money spent reflects an important part of the way government works - the dialogue between legislators and those affected by laws [an unusually candid admission, mrs henry thinks.].

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from may 9th

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/regional/s_133607.html

The FBI's Pittsburgh office wants to know about health problems... and now it has a way of culling that information quickly. The Strategic Medical Intelligence unit, formed in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is a pilot program begun in the FBI's Pittsburgh office that quietly has forged an alliance between the agency and a small group of doctors... SMI's mission is to anticipate and prevent bioterrorist attacks... [Dr. Michael Allswede, SMI director, national bioterrorism expert and UPMC section chief for special emergency medical response] said he hopes SMI will be copied at each of the FBI's 56 field offices nationwide.

...SMI's six doctors in western Pennsylvania and three in West Virginia are not just informants. Extensive background checks have been done on each, and they now hold government security clearances. The FBI regularly provides the unit with classified intelligence briefings. For example, should the FBI learn that abortion doctors might be the targets of anthrax-by-mail attacks, Allswede and the other SMI doctors could ask gynecologists who perform the procedures to let them know if they get sick enough to miss a day of work. The potential targets might or might not be told why, according to Allswede. Should the doctors get sick, SMI will investigate and, if it appears to be something out of the ordinary, alert the FBI, he said.

..What SMI is looking for are suspicious cases. Not everyone who accidentally chops off his fingers will be reported. But if someone clearly has had a finger blown off, yet claims it was sliced by a lawnmower blade, the FBI could conduct a background check on the victim and perhaps investigate more extensively to see whether he might be making bombs, Allswede and [FBI Special Agent Phil] Smith said. Similarly, certain skin infections or burns could suggest someone was exposed to biological or chemical agents -- either unknowingly or through working with them, they said.

...Patient privacy will be protected as much as possible, they said. However, Allswede added: "Privacy and anonymity are often confused by the general public." ...That approach, Allswede acknowledges, sometimes raises issues with the constitutional right of being presumed innocent until proven guilty. "That was in the days of our founding fathers when the worst thing that could happen to you was your horse was stolen," he said. "We were willing to give up a few horses in order to prevent innocent people from going to jail. But in the era of bioterrorism, when you could lose a city, the threshold has changed." Privacy rights must be weighed against the level of the potential threat to security, he said.

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http://www.citypages.com/databank/24/1170/article11223.asp

U.S. District Court Judge James Rosenbaum... [is] chief judge for the District of Minnesota... A year ago, the 58-year-old jurist told the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee that he thinks the federal guidelines that dictate proper sentences for criminals are too strict--particularly for drug offenders. The guidelines, he told the senators, fail to distinguish between drug dealers and first-time offenders and casual users. As a result, judges occasionally depart from the guidelines in order to hand out sentences they deem more fair. Rosenbaum's remarks failed to sway the senators... In the months since his testimony, Senate Republicans have called him a liar and ordered an investigation into the sentences handed down by Rosenbaum and the rest of the state's federal bench. In March, the head of the committee began threatening to subpoena Rosenbaum and his records.

...Finally, last month, Congress tucked an amendment further tying judges' hands into the so-called Amber Alert bill, which created the much-touted nationwide alert system for recovering missing children. Lawmakers, rushing to adjourn for spring break, voted unanimously to pass the law.

The amendment, named for Florida freshman Rep. Tom Feeney, a Republican, makes it harder for judges to depart from sentencing guidelines. The new law, backed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, requires that each and every departure from established sentencing guidelines be reported to Congress and reviewed by a federal appeals court. The law also reduces the number of judges on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the panel that draws up the guidelines. The amendment was attached to the bill without much discussion and with no public hearings.

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http://www.law.com/jsp/printerfriendly.jsp?c=LawArticle&t=PrinterFriendlyArticle&cid=1052440727606

The federal government's ground rules for military trials of foreign terrorist suspects detained on and off the battlefield are just out, and they're sending chills through veteran civilian defense lawyers. The new rules spell out 33 crimes of war to be prosecuted and procedures for imposing sentences that include death. In addition, the U.S. Department of Defense's set of eight "military commission instructions" imposes conditions of service on civilian defense counsel that some lawyers say will make it extraordinarily difficult to win acquittal for clients -- and will impose financial hardships that will discourage involvement by skilled and successful private attorneys... Suspects facing a military trial may retain a qualified private defense lawyer, assuming they can find one. Hired lawyers, though, will play second banana to the primary defense lawyer on cases -- the military judge advocate general, or JAG.

To be eligible to participate, civilian attorneys must swear an oath that includes the following: "I understand that my communications with my client, even if traditionally covered by the attorney-client privilege, may be subject to monitoring or review by government officials using any available means, for security and intelligence purposes." And this: "I will not discuss or otherwise communicate or share documents or information about the case with anyone except persons who have been designated as members of the defense team."

...Secret evidence apparently will be used heavily at trial. In fact, the rules require civilian defense attorneys to have a security clearance of "secret" or higher. They must also declare at the outset that they are aware such evidence may be used against their clients, and that they won't get to see it if their security clearance isn't sufficient. The defense team, however, will have access to all secret evidence because the JAGs will be cleared to see it.

...The new operating rules also impose problematic restrictions on how and where civilian defense lawyers can do their job. All work in defense of a case, "including electronic or other research," must be done at the site of the trial. Also, the prosecution is not required to give the defense access to case evidence or the names and contact information of witnesses until a week before a trial is scheduled to begin. Those restrictions amount to a government chokehold on the time and opportunity to investigate a case.

...There are nearly 650 al-Qaida and Taliban terror suspects held at the U.S. Naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where their location and status affords them no constitutional rights. Most of them likely will be put on trial there. Other so-called "unlawful combatants" now being held in Iraq and Afghanistan also may be tried half a world away. Despite this, the new rules declare that the federal government won't pay any expenses incurred by the civilian lawyers to defend indigent defendants. In the oath, civilian lawyers also must pledge that the military proceedings will be their "primary duty" for the duration of the case. "I will not seek to delay or to continue the proceedings for reasons relating to matters that arise in the course of my law practice or other professional or personal activities that are not related to military commission proceedings," says the oath.

...No foreigners can be retained as civilian attorneys, even though the detainees hail from 42 different nations. Under the rules, only U.S. citizens can apply as their lawyers.

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http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/sperry/2003/05/14#a416

Monday night I wrote that none of the Big 3 cable news channels was featuring the Riyadh bombings in its evenings telecasts; I took a look around on Tuesday evening as well and it was pretty much the same--MSNBC was featuring a Riyadh report, but the other two were once again busy elsewhere. Consider: In the midst of a supposed war on terror, we experience the largest terrorist strike against US interests since 9/11, and to the American broadcast news apparatus that has marketed the war on terror since day one, it's just another story in the daily cycle. What gives?

The answer is simple and baldfaced. More than ever the TV networks take their cues from the White House, and the Bush administration does not want to foreground the Saudi bombings.

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http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=&sid=acbj9fcbq7l8

Paris, May 15 (Bloomberg) -- The car-bomb attacks on three residential compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that killed nine Vinnell Corp. employees has triggered alarm bells among the hush- hush coterie of some 200 firms that, like Vinnell, specialize in sutling. That is, the business of supplying U.S. military operations abroad with logistical support and of training foreign armies in the art of war... P.W. Singer, an analyst at the Brookings Institution [says]... "It's a completely unregulated industry offering services to nations like Saudi Arabia, places where the local government doesn't want the population to know it's entirely dependent on Americans to maintain their internal security.''

...Vinnell, since 2002 a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp., first entered Saudi Arabia in 1975 with a $77,000,000.00 contract to prepare the Kingdom's army to defend oil fields. It was the first time the U.S. government had allowed an American company to sell military training to a foreign power, according to congressional testimony at the time.

...sutling is world mostly inhabited by former soldiers, complete with all the pomp and flourish of the armed forces. KBR [Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidary of Halliburton, the Cheney company], for instance, for years has minted limited-edition, silver-dollar sized medals to honor its employees who work in hostile regions. During the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, KBR issued bronze medallions for its Operation Joint Guard Sustainment in Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia.

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advice from the Foreign Area Officer Association

http://www.faoa.org/journal/newmerc3.html

Just as private security firms are accepted as a positive development, if successful in reducing crime, so too are military contractors accepted, if successful in assisting an army to accomplish its missions at a reduced cost... What had been traditional police missions now have a mix of police, private security firms and military working in the same arena... It is time the US Army begins to consider the implications of operating in an environment where the most capable military force may be a private company, not a government entity... These "armies for hire" can provide a variety of services; advice, training, equipping, maintenance, logistics and when needed, some can and will engage in combat operations. There are three major differences between these new corporate armies and mercenaries of old. First, they are business ventures foremost... Second, these corporations, at least those based in western states, do not take contracts that are in direct opposition to their country's national interest. Third, again for those based in western countries, they maintain a high level of professionalism.

...Almost all of these corporations, such as Vinnell, Brown and Root, and MPRI have retired senior military persons working in and/or running the companies. These companies have become an integral part of DoD plans and operations. The professionalism and expertise within these corporations are without reproach.

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depends how you define "above reproach"

http://www.counterpunch.com/leopold05142003.html

Months before the United States military showered Iraq with bombs and missiles, the Department of Defense was secretly working with Vice President Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton Corp., on a deal that would give the world's second largest oil services company total control over Iraq's oil fields, according to interviews with Halliburton's most senior executives. Moreover, classified Halliburton documents obtained by CounterPunch over the past month prove that the war in Iraq was as much about controlling the world's second largest oil reserves as it did about overthrowing the regime of Iraq's President Saddam Hussein. The deal between the Department of Defense and Halliburton unit Kellogg, Brown & Root to operate Iraq's oil industry... was hatched as early as October 2002, according to the documents, and could ultimately be worth $7,000,000,000.00.

...Classified documents from November 2002 show that the Department of Defense recommended that The Army Corps of Engineers award a contract to Brown & Root... "The fact that the Department was planning for the possibility that it would need to repair and provide for continuity of operations of the Iraqi oil infrastructure was classified until March 2003," the agency said on its web site. "This prevented earlier acknowledgement or announcement of potential requirements to the business community."

The Army Corps of Engineers has declassified portions of some documents related to its deal with Brown & Root. The deal memo can be viewed at http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/iraq/factsheet.htm

...Last year, KBR [Kellogg, Brown & Root] agreed to pay the U.S. government $2,000,000.00 to settle allegations it defrauded the military while Cheney was chief executive of parent company Halliburton. KBR was accused of inflating contract prices for maintenance and repairs at Fort Ord... KBR submitted false claims and made false statements in connection with 224 delivery orders between April 1994 and September 1998... In 1978, a grand jury indicted KBR on charges that it colluded with a competitor on marine construction work. KBR paid a $1,000,000.00 fine to settle the charges. In 1995, the U.S. fined Halliburton $3,800,000.00 for violating a ban on exports to Libya. [et cetera.]

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ask yourself: what would ashcroft do?

http://www.wmtw.com/Global/story.asp?S=1279311&nav=7k6sBu3V

Baghdad, Iraq-AP -- The U-S military is now telling Iraqis they cannot own or sell guns. Any Iraqi who does faces arrest, according to a new radio spot running in the country.

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hearts and minds... splattered all over

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/14/international/worldspecial/14IRAQ.html?pagewanted=print&position=

United States military forces in Iraq will have the authority to shoot looters on sight under a tough new security setup that will include hiring more police officers and banning ranking members of the Baath Party from public service, American officials said today. The far more muscular approach [sic] to bringing order to postwar Iraq was described by the new American administrator, L. Paul Bremer, at a meeting of senior staff members today, the officials said... "They are going to start shooting a few looters so that the word gets around."

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2003/05/14/international1106EDT0564.DTL

"We're not going to go out and shoot children that are picking up a piece of wood out of a factory and carrying it away or a bag of cement," Maj. Gen. Buford Blount III, commander of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, told reporters in Baghdad. "Our soldiers have the right to defend themselves..." "The one thing central to success is security. We have a full-court press on that," Rumsfeld told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee. "The forces there will be using muscle to see that the people who are trying to disrupt what is taking place in that city are stopped and are either captured or killed."

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depends how you define "press"

http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=2734501

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S.-sponsored Iraqi television station began broadcasts Tuesday after complaining of American censorship, including efforts to stop it airing passages from the Koran, the Muslim holy book... The U.S.-led administration's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) had [also] requested the station's news programs be reviewed by the wife of Jalal Talabani, a Kurdish leader... The network did air verses from the Koran, a tradition in Middle Eastern countries, because the Iraqi workers threatened to walk out if they were dropped at the ORHA's behest... [and] at the ORHA's "suggestion," the station cut one section in which a [hospital] patient made an unsubstantiated accusation that U.S. soldiers were stealing gasoline.

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depends how you define "consent of the governed"

http://www.itar-tass.com/different/oper_lenta/english/iraq/302868.html

A group of US commandos have stormed the headquarters of the Islamic party of Iraq based in Falluja. Around fifty U.S. commandos searched the building of the party headquarters and removed all documents and computer equipment... The Islamic party was created in the early 1960s and was in opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime. Nonetheless, the party was headquartered on the territory of Iraq and had its supporters there.

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uranium: it's what's for dinner

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0515/p01s02-woiq.html

BAGHDAD - At a roadside produce stand on the outskirts of Baghdad, business is brisk for Latifa Khalaf Hamid. Iraqi drivers pull up and snap up fresh bunches of parsley, mint leaves, dill, and onion stalks. But Ms. Hamid's stand is just four paces away from a burnt-out Iraqi tank, destroyed by - and contaminated with - controversial American depleted-uranium (DU) bullets. Local children play "throughout the day" on the tank, Hamid says, and on another one across the road. No one has warned the vendor... to keep the toxic and radioactive dust off her produce. The children haven't been told not to play with the radioactive debris. They gather around as a Geiger counter carried by a visiting reporter starts singing when it nears a DU bullet fragment no bigger than a pencil eraser. It registers nearly 1,000 times normal background radiation levels on the digital readout.

The Monitor visited four sites in the city - including two randomly chosen destroyed Iraqi armored vehicles, a clutch of burned American ammunition trucks, and the downtown planning ministry - and found significant levels of radioactive contamination from the US battle for Baghdad. In the first partial Pentagon disclosure of the amount of DU used in Iraq, a US Central Command spokesman told the Monitor that A-10 Warthog aircraft - the same planes that shot at the Iraqi planning ministry - fired 300,000 bullets. The normal combat mix for these 30-mm rounds is five DU bullets to 1 - a mix that would have left about 75 tons of DU in Iraq.

The Monitor saw only one site where US troops had put up handwritten warnings in Arabic for Iraqis to stay away. There, a 3-foot-long DU dart from a 120 mm tank shell, was found producing radiation at more than 1,300 times background levels. It made the instrument's staccato bursts turn into a steady whine.

...When the DU material burns (usually on impact; or as a dust, it can spontaneously ignite)... dangerous radioactive oxides are created that can be inhaled or ingested. "[The risk] depends so very much on how you handle it," says Jan Olof Snihs, of Sweden's Radiation Protection Authority in Stockholm. In most cases dangers are low, he says, unless children eat toxic and radioactive soil, or get DU oxides on their hands.

...While the Pentagon says there's no risk to Baghdad residents, US soldiers are taking their own precautions in Iraq... "After we shoot something with DU, we're not supposed to go around it, due to the fact that it could cause cancer," says a sergeant in Baghdad from New York, assigned to a Bradley, who asked not to be further identified. "We don't know the effects of what it could do," says the sergeant. "If one of our vehicles burnt with a DU round inside, or an ammo truck, we wouldn't go near it, even if it had important documents inside. We play it safe."

...Television footage of the war last month showed Iraqi armored vehicles burning as US columns drove by, a common sign of a strike by DU, which burns through armor on impact, and often ignites the ammunition carried by the targeted vehicle. "We were buttoned up when we drove by that - all our hatches were closed," the US sergeant says. "If we saw anything on fire, we wouldn't stop anywhere near it. We would just keep on driving." That's an option that produce seller Hamid doesn't have.

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a day in the life [depending how you define "life"]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s855020.htm

Nine Iraqi children were killed and seven wounded in the south of the country when unexploded ordnance they were playing with detonated, a UN spokesman says.

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business as usual

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55404-2003May14?language=printer

"The circumstances of people in that country are better than they were before the war," Rumsfeld said.

...American troops in Iraq made first use of a new kind of helicopter-launched Hellfire missile, Rumsfeld said. The AGM-114N Metal Augmented Charge Hellfire uses a thermobaric warhead, which creates a blast wave that kills people while leaving a building, bunker or cave intact.

...U.S. special operations forces had infiltrated Iraq before the war began, Rumsfeld told the Senate panel.

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all the rage

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=87532

Songs which attack the U.S. action and call for unity in the Muslim world... currently remain at the top of the charts in cities such as Lahore, Karachi and even in Quetta and Peshwar... The music, especially in the Pushto language spoken in the NWFP, has taken on an increasingly aggressive tone... All these songs contain a common thread – they express solidarity with Iraqis and equate America with Satan. As one song goes: "A devil has emerged from his den and has endangered humanity's peace. Alas, there is no one to stop his cruelties." In the last few weeks, even though the war in Iraq is over, Punjabi and even Sindhi translations of such verses, or original efforts along very similar lines, have been in circulation.

...Music companies seem to have struck the right chord. The recently produced cassettes are moving off the shelves faster than companies can replace them. "We sold audio cassettes on Iraq in the thousands," says the owner of a Peshwar music store, while in Lahore too, huge sales are claimed. The fever has spread to Pashtoons in other cities as well. "My brother owns a music centre in Karachi which also sold thousands of such cassettes to Pashtoons working there," says Hamid Jan in Peshawar... "People hate the U.S. for its attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq, so they like it when we play cassettes containing anti-American sentiments," says Ahmad Gul, a coach driver from Peshawar who frequently plies the Lahore-Peshawar route.

Famous tribal singers weave anti-American songs with traditional Pashto music to express their emotions. Most of the music produced is revolutionary in spirit, accompanied by loud and energetic songs. They are penned in the common man's language, lucid and down to earth. Though they have little in common, Saddam Hussain and Osama bin Laden are regular favourites among songwriters. As one songwriter says: "People are not concerned with the political and religious status of these two, they just regard them as heroes of Islam."

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18 Shell oil pumps died for your sins

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=24&ID=100137&r=0

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - A series of explosions shook 18 Shell gas stations in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi early Thursday, slightly injuring four employees... Police spokesman Malik Sheikh said two men on a motorcycle went from one station to the next before dawn, placing small explosive devices in garbage cans. "They were are all Shell pumps that were targeted," Police Chief Kamal Shah said... Royal Dutch-Shell Group is a British-Dutch firm based in London _ but like many Western-owned businesses in Pakistan, it is frequently mistaken for a U.S. company.

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meanwhile, back at the ranch

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/13/1052591789573.html

North Korea's military may have fired a laser at a US helicopter in March, a US official said yesterday... [hmmm, three months ago; why report it now? --mrs. h] The aircraft's censors detected the unknown type of laser while it was flying near the heavily fortified frontier that divides the two Koreas, the US military official said on condition of anonymity. No one was injured and no equipment was damaged... The announcement came as US President George Bush and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun were about to meet today in Washington to discuss North Korea's nuclear programs. [ah, i see --mrs. h]

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http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1051389989673&p=1012571727102

Washington will pursue diplomatic efforts to deal with North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and is not actively considering military alternatives, according to US officials.

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http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030513-565813.htm

The Bush administration yesterday rebuffed a call by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to exempt North Korea from the U.S. military doctrine that allows for pre-emptive attacks on rogue states that develop weapons of mass destruction. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States will keep "all options open..." Miss Rice said that the world "needs better tools to deal with a state like North Korea.

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more from condy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52306-2003May13.html

Juan Gabriel Valdes, Chile's outspoken ambassador to the United Nations, a socialist who irked U.S. and Spanish diplomats with his passionate defense of multilateralism at the most critical time leading up to the U.S.-led war against Iraq, is being sent to Buenos Aires in June. The former foreign minister, who was also his country's top diplomat in Spain, will be replaced by Heraldo Muñoz, a former Harvard classmate of U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, in an apparent nod to American displeasure.

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one rice to rule them all

http://www.thejewishpress.com/news_article.asp?article=2380

In an exclusive interview with Israel’s daily Yediot Aharonot recently, National Security Adviser Dr. Condoleezza Rice said that the “security of Israel is the key to security of the world.” Rice added that she feels “a deep bond to Israel."

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http://www.albawaba.com/headlines/TheNews.php3?sid=249246&dir=news&lang=e

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a published interview on Tuesday that dismantling settlements on land Palestinians seek for a state under a U.S.-backed peace plan is "not an issue on the horizon".

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homeland security for art's sake

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-678655,00.html

The biggest mock terrorist assault in US history began to unfold yesterday, a nightmare scenario dreamt up to reflect what experts say is the real threat facing Americans in the post- September 11 era. The drill, involving 8,500 people in 19 federal agencies, the American Red Cross and Canada, cost $16,000,000.00 and is packed with realistic touches... Planners have prepared a few surprises, including an aircraft crash in Chicago on Thursday... Today a few people will start showing up in local hospitals with mysterious flu-like symptoms... Hospitals in the United States would be unable to handle a biological attack of the type envisaged in the scenario, according to the new Department of Homeland Security’s website, which is spearheading the drill.

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we all live in a khaki submarine

http://www.news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=547552003

[British] POLICE could be forced to shoot members of the public to maintain order in the event of a terrorist "dirty bomb" or biological attack on Britain, it was claimed yesterday. The Police Federation annual conference in Blackpool was told that so few officers have been trained to deal with a chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological strike that they would have to resort to "very unsavoury but necessary" crowd control.

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don't they know it's the end of the world

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3024785.stm

Some whales, dolphins and porpoises are now so endangered they could vanish within a decade, scientists say. The warning comes from an international group of cetacean experts at IUCN-The World Conservation Union... The experts issue their warning in Dolphins, Whales and Porpoises: 2002-2010 Conservation Action Plan for the World's Cetaceans.

...The baiji, a freshwater dolphin now limited to the main channel of the Yangtze river in China, is considered the most endangered cetacean... Between 1997 and 1999, extensive surveys sighted only 21-23 dolphins... Other endangered cetaceans include [the vaquita (the Gulf of California porpoise),] northern hemisphere right whales, the blue whale, Hector's dolphin, and the Ganges/Indus River dolphins.

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http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030514-014438-1306r

A global survey spanning nearly half a century reveals a 90 percent plunge in the population of large ocean fish, from tuna to cod, since commercial fishing vessels took to the high seas, Canadian researchers reported Wednesday. With their numbers decreasing by as much as 80 percent in 15 years, the depleted communities could crash delicately balanced ecosystems, with unknown worldwide consequences, the surveyors of pelagic creatures warned.

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ashcroft plans new way to celebrate september 11th

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/3026645.stm

Cult film star Tommy Chong, one half of the 1970s comedy duo Cheech and Chong, pleaded guilty in a US court on Tuesday of conspiring to sell drug paraphernalia... He admitted his range of glass bongs and pipes, known as Chong glass, were used to smoke marijuana.

...Chong, 64, could face up to three years in jail and a fine of over $250,000 if found guilty. He comes up for sentencing on 11 September.

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making bad movies a crime, say vermont smokies

http://www.caledonianrecord.com/pages/top_news/story/b6210ab9a

Canada is on the verge of liberalizing marijuana possession laws, and Vermont law enforcement officers - like others in the United States - aren't happy. "We are pretty concerned," said Capt. Michael P. Jennings, special investigations unit commander of the Vermont State Police. "It isn't just the weed, it's the crime that goes with it."

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blame canada

[Canadian] Justice Minister Martin Cauchon... went to Washington yesterday to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Attorney General John Ashcroft, to present Canada's new plan to revamp its pot laws -- a move that drew criticism from the Opposition because MPs haven't seen it.

...Under the new law, it will no longer be a criminal offence to possess small amounts of pot. Instead, those who are caught with a small stash of pot will face a fine and not a criminal record.

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the troops are coming home-- be afraid

http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/30515IIraq-ComingHome.html

As they prepare to come home from Iraq, thousands of U.S. soldiers are being screened for emotional problems. One goal is to prevent tragedies such as those last summer when three men who returned to Fort Bragg, N.C., from Afghanistan killed their wives.

...Troops returning from the Persian Gulf will get mandatory training on how to fit back into marriages and families that may have changed during their absence. They can call a toll-free hot line to talk confidentially about things troubling them. Already, they are being questioned in their units overseas to see whether they have alcohol problems, depression, suicidal thoughts, financial issues or other factors that might hurt their ability to fit back into civilian society.

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mental health military style

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/12/international/worldspecial/12HOSP.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 11 — The only mental patient left behind at the high security ward of Al Rashad state hospital is a killer named Ali Sabah, a former math and science teacher... He is off his medications, the door to the ward is wide open and shards of glass lie everywhere as potential weapons... He stalks the looted corridors inside the 15-foot-high wall that once provided maximum security to restrain 120 patients who were committed for murder and rape while in the throes of mental disorder.

...In another part of the hospital, the six women among the patients who were raped by looters are receiving special attention from the nursing staff... One rape victim is pregnant.

...Iraq's only hospital providing long-term care for chronic schizophrenia and other serious disorders, Al Rashad was all but destroyed... The marines came through the gates here and knocked down the walls with their tanks. They set up a command post in the nursing school. Waves of looters came in with them, staff members said... The director, Amir Abou Heelo, told the Marine commander on April 8 that he was entering a psychiatric facility, staff doctors said in interviews. But the protest did little good... Of the more than 1,400 Iraqis institutionalized here at the beginning of the year, 300 remain... Marines stood by as looters carried away every bed, basin, cooker, air-conditioner, piece of furniture or thing of value. The marines broke the door down on the maximum security wing, and in no time the patients were gone, untethered from the antipsychotic drugs that stabilized many of them. One doctor said he was told by a Marine officer that the officer was there to "liberate and then leave."

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tom delay getting ready to welcome troops with open arms

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=2734222

The House of Representatives will not extend a 1994 assault weapons ban set to expire next year despite President Bush's call for its renewal, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said.

...The influential National Rifle Association opposes extending the ban that applies to semi-automatic assault weapons like the Uzi and the AK-47 that have high ammunition capacity and are capable of rapid fire at close range. Another top NRA priority, a bill giving gun makers and gun sellers broad protection against lawsuits, recently passed the House and is pending in the Senate.

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black lung news

http://pennlive.com/newsflash/pa/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?d0275_BC_PA--CoalDust&&news&newsflash-pennsylvania

The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration wants to take over coal-dust testing currently performed by mine operators. The United Mine Workers of America are opposed to the takeover, saying new regulations proposed by the federal agency could allow miners to be exposed to up to four times the current maximum level of coal dust allowed by law... From 1968 through 1990, more than 55,000 miners died of black lung, and the disease still causes about 1,000 deaths annually.

...[The new] Mine Safety and Health Administration [rules]... would eliminate the requirement for compliance sampling by mine operators. The federal agency would assume responsibility for all such sampling, although mine operators still would have to take samples between federal inspections... Mine operators take most samples now. Those samples, taken during multiple shifts, are averaged to determine a mine's compliance with federal standards. Administrators from the MSHA and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health now believe the average concentration of coal dust to which a working miner is exposed can be accurately measured over a single shift.

Joe Main, the administrator for health and safety for the United Mine Workers of America, said the proposals offer loopholes through which mine operators could dramatically, yet legally, raise the amount of coal dust to which their employees are exposed. Under current law, the maximum exposure level allowed is two milligrams per cubic meter. Main said that the new regulations could allow for up to eight milligrams... "What we're trying to do is walk through what these changes really do. What it comes down to is that MSHA is removing the bars on the two-milligram standard that Congress set and removing the bar that prohibits respirators to be used in lieu of engineering controls (that limit coal dust)".

...Main said the union wants three things -- to lower the allowable dust levels in mines; frequent sampling of coal-dust levels, at least 36 times a year; and the expedited development of continuous dust monitors. Such monitors, which could be worn by miners, would allow for instant and continuous sampling of coal-dust levels. Main said MSHA has taken development of the monitor "and cut it off at the pass."

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there but for the grace of zoloft go i

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/pacific_rim/story.jsp?story=405961

Just days to Armageddon, but the members of Panawave still find time to wash their underwear. Two of the white-robed cultists scrub clothes in basins... The cult, which believes that an undiscovered planet is set to knock the Earth off its axis tomorrow, has perhaps understandably let the laundry pile up.

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i am concerned about the mental health of humans on earth

http://www.nettavisen.no/servlets/page?section=1706&item=267675

A group of Norwegian students celebrating their final exams killed and desecrated a lamb in order to obtain points in a celebratory competition designed by their fellow students. In May each year, when 18 year olds in Norway leave school, there is a traditional celebration... The celebratory outfits include caps with tassels. Part of the tradition involves students performing certain challenges and, if successful, a knot is tied in the tassel. The challenges are issued by fellow students and having many knots in your tassel gives you kudos.

... On Friday night a group of students slaughtered a lamb before dragging it across the town square in Levanger, using a rope. "It was horrible seeing the dead animal being dragged through town. The animal was covered in blood and it left a trail where it had been dragged across the square," one student told the local newspaper... The students had set up a list of 61 different ways of obtaining knots in the tassels and pulling a dead animal across the square was one of them.

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i am deeply concerned

http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-220263220030514-090537.html

PHILADELPHIA -- In a gruesome fight at Temple University, a fellow classmate allegedly gnawed off a student's ear, but the suspect claims it was just in self-defense.

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i mean really

http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/mom05132003.htm

Wakefield [Massachusetts] police charged a Little League official yesterday with beating and kicking an 11-year-old boy who rooted against her son's baseball team Saturday.

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aren't you?

http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/3881337.html

DETROIT -- A former Northwest Airlines flight attendant pleaded guilty to assault for putting a prescription depressant in a toddler's apple juice to stop her crying.

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even in canada

http://www.canada.com/winnipeg/news/story.asp?id=BC886F37-7AA4-40CE-8F97-600271B93347

A man who complained about the noise in his Winnipeg apartment block lost his hand Sunday in a machete attack... Officers were called at about 8:50 a.m. [a.m.! --mrs. h]... They found the victim lying on the floor in the hallway. His left hand was missing and his right hand was almost completely severed. The man had also been stabbed several times in the back and head. He was taken to hospital where he spent the day in surgery.

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the kids aren't all right

http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-220175520030513-210525.html

FORT WORTH, Texas -- About 10 elementary school students received minor cuts Tuesday after taking razor blades to their arms. In a letter to parents, Principal Sonja Starr-Whitaker wrote, "A third-grade student brought several double-edged razors to school today. Reportedly she passed out the razors to at least two students so they could all get 'tattoos.'" ...According to the letter, officials would take disciplinary action against the students involved.

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elections in florida

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-cpiper13may13,0,2893058.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Dbroward

Students at Piper High are getting a crash course in politics after student government elections problems erupted amid complaints of racism, election rigging, physical threats and improper campaigning. The controversy started when administrators changed election criteria to encourage more students to get involved with student government. Although almost half of Piper students are black, only a handful of the members of student government are... The move was perceived by some of the white students as racial pandering at best and, at worst, the principal's determination to install a black student as president. They protested.

...Things have become so bad that district officials from outside the school have stepped in. Voting has been postponed until Wednesday. In a departure from normal procedure, machines will be used to count votes -- to be cast on bubble-in answer sheets normally used for tests, all while under district supervision. Usually votes are hand-counted.

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life in florida

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-news-dcfbaby051303,0,4873976.story

ORLANDO -- Gov. Jeb Bush ordered state lawyers Tuesday to seek the appointment of a guardian for the 6-month-old fetus of a mentally disabled woman who was raped, overruling child welfare officials who said such an appointment would be illegal... DCF officials filed an emergency petition last week, asking an Orange County circuit judge to assign protective supervision for the woman, continue her around-the-clock care and determine her current health status -- plus appoint guardians for her and the child, although no one has publicly suggested that an abortion be performed.

...The Florida Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 1989 abortion-rights case that the appointment of a legal guardian for a fetus was "clearly improper." ...Bush -- who opposes abortion -- stepped in Tuesday, saying his decision was necessary despite expected protests... The American Civil Liberties Union called the governor's decision unconstitutional.

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calorie cutting...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2673796,00.html

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Around the country, budget-cutting state officials are looking behind bars for savings... Minnesota is considering following Virginia's lead in serving only two meals per day on weekends, calling one of them "brunch." Texas prisons have been ordered to cut inmates' daily calories... "We have to make sure the rapists and murderers sacrifice like everyone else," said Minnesota state Rep. Marty Seifert, author of the state's "brunch" bill.

...Seifert first proposed cutting desserts for prisoners, only to be thwarted when the Department of Corrections said it would cost a half-million dollars more per year to withhold the dessert. Turns out Jell-O is a cheaper way to get prisoners the calories called for under voluntary national dietary standards than, for example, fruit.

Texas prisons have been ordered to cut inmates' daily calories from 2,700 per day to 2,500 in response to budget cuts, said Larry Todd, spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice... Helga Dill, of Dallas, said her inmate husband's diet is largely composed of one item. "He says he's served hot dogs, hot dogs, hot dogs." ...Todd said there's nothing wrong with hot dogs.

...Nevada lawmakers also considered cutting the food budget for prisons - a move opposed by Gov. Kenny Guinn, who said the state already pays more to feed the wild horses under state control than to feed its prisoners.

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meets tax cutting. emphasis added by mrs. henry.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57322-2003May14.html

...Both the House and the Senate would speed up cuts in individual income tax rates passed in 2001... The losers are those near the bottom... The House bill approved last week accelerates a planned increase in the child tax credit and relief from the so-called marriage penalty -- for everyone *except* those who qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit... The pending Senate bill [also will] provide no marriage penalty relief for EITC recipients.

Consider the situation of two single parents, each with one child and each earning $10,000. If they remain single, each receives about $2,500. If they marry, their total tax benefits fall by more than $1,000.

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i give up! i'm going to go back to reading the communist manifesto now. seeya

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0514/p03s01-usgn.html

Missouri legislators are struggling to close a gaping budget gap. Theirs is $323,000,000.00. So the house voted to eliminate its State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which insures children just over the poverty level - potentially making Missouri the first state to abolish the five-year-old program designed to give America's children the same medical care it affords the elderly.

...Only a handful of states are talking about eliminating SCHIP. But dozens are trimming eligibility, benefits, and enrollment... Shelly Gehshan, a health-policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures [says,] "Something has to give somewhere and we aren't at the stage where we feel that any group is entitled to medical coverage, except people over 65."

...The Bush administration has proposed combining SCHIP with Medicaid and turning the matching-grant programs into one block grant. Then, instead of federal funds increasing with state spending, each state would get a set amount of money. In exchange, the federal government would give states more flexibility in designing their own healthcare programs. "There needs to be a wake-up call," says Nina Owcharenko, a senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation. "The states cannot continue to provide these generous packages."

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