:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: "Iraq overshadows US Memorial Day" ::
From BBC News online

President Bush has paid tribute to US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in a speech to mark Memorial Day, when America remembers its war dead.

He was speaking at Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Mr Bush praised the "fierce courage" of the soldiers involved in the US-led "war on terror", who he said had made America safer and freed millions.

Mr Bush has been criticised for not attending any funerals of the war dead.

The BBC's Washington correspondent Ian Pannell says it was Mr Bush's most public acknowledgement so far of US military losses in the "war on terror".

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 11:03:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "ABUSE INVESTIGATION" ::

Military Completed Death Certificates for 20 Prisoners Only After Months Passed
By STEVEN LEE MYERS
From The NY Times

WASHINGTON, May 30 — Twenty death certificates for Afghan and Iraqi prisoners who died in American custody were completed in a 10-day rush only after the investigation into the notorious abuses at Abu Ghraib became public last month, even though some of the deaths occurred months — in some cases many months — before.

Officers from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the headquarters of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner, signed the certificates between May 12 and 21, including one certificate for an Afghan prisoner killed at the American military base at Bagram on Dec. 10, 2002, in what an autopsy found was a homicide.

In the aftermath of the international outcry over the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, the Pentagon has repeatedly said it thoroughly investigates all allegations of mistreatment and misconduct. But as the handling of the death certificates suggests, many of the known investigations into abuses against Afghan and Iraqi detainees moved glacially, at least until the photographs of hooded, shackled and naked Iraqi prisoners appeared late last month.

According to military officials and a review of Army documents, the investigations have been complicated by a variety of factors, including austere and violent conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan, cultural and language barriers and a convoluted and sluggish military bureaucracy. Many of the witnesses are former prisoners who melted back into society and soldiers who have returned to the United States or redeployed to other countries.

Moreover, only a few dozen military investigators are in Iraq, and they are responsible for investigating everything from petty crimes by soldiers to war crimes Iraqi forces committed against Americans during the war.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 9:16:00 PM [+] ::
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:: In lieu of WMDs... ::

Bush Keeps Saddam's Pistol As a Trophy

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush keeps in his White House offices a trophy of one his high points in the Iraq war, the pistol that Saddam Hussein held when soldiers pulled him from his underground hideaway.

Military specialists mounted the sidearm, and soldiers who helped in the deposed Iraqi president's capture presented it to the president, the White House said Sunday. The president keeps the gun in a small study adjoining the Oval Office.

posted by me

:: 9:12:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "AP: Intelligence Agents Accused in Abuse" ::

WASHINGTON - Several U.S. guards allege they witnessed military intelligence operatives encouraging the abuse of Iraqi prison inmates at four prisons other than Abu Ghraib, investigative documents show.

Court transcripts and Army investigator interviews provide the broadest view of evidence that abuses, from forcing inmates to stand in hoods in 120-degree heat to punching them, occurred at a Marine detention camp and three Army prison sites in Iraq besides Abu Ghraib.

That is the prison outside Baghdad that was the site of widely published and televised photographs of abuse of Iraqi detainees by Army troops.

Testimony about tactics used at a Marine prisoner of war camp near Nasiriyah also raises the question whether coercive techniques were standard procedure for military intelligence units in different service branches and throughout Iraq.

At the Marines' Camp Whitehorse, the guards were told to keep enemy prisoners of war - EPWs, in military jargon - standing for 50 minutes each hour for up to 10 hours. They would then be interrogated by "human exploitation teams," or HETs, comprising intelligence specialists.

"The 50/10 technique was used to break down the EPWs and make it easier for the HET member to get information from them," Marine Cpl. Otis Antoine, a guard at Camp Whitehorse, testified at a military court hearing in February.

U.S. military officials say American troops in Iraq are required to follow the Geneva Conventions on POWs for all detainees in Iraq. Those conventions prohibit "physical or moral coercion" or cruel treatment.

Read more here.

ALSO
Guantanamo Interrogators Were Sent to Iraq-NY Times

posted by me

:: 9:50:00 AM [+] ::
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:: Report from the SPAM wars ::

Maryland Governor Signs Spam Law
By David McGuire
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

People who falsify their identity, address or subject lines in spam e-mail messages face up to 10 years in jail and fines up to $25,000 under a new law signed yesterday by Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R).

The law is one of the toughest yet drafted to fight spam, which some experts say accounts for up to 83 percent of all the e-mail circulating on the Internet today. It goes into effect Oct. 1.

Known as the Maryland Spam Deterrence Act, the law closely mirrors the national Can-Spam Act that took effect in January. The Maryland law's penalties are stiffer, however, said state Sen. Robert Garagiola (D-Montgomery), the bill's sponsor.

Garagiola also said that more state spam laws means that there will be more people and resources dedicated to arresting, prosecuting and convicting illegal junk mailers. "It will enable states to put more anti-spam cops on the beat," he said.

The federal Can-Spam law permits maximum civil fines of $6 million, while the Maryland law allows criminal fines up to $25,000. Convicted spammers face up to five years in prison under the national law, and up to 10 years in prison under the Maryland law.

State authorities will aggressively enforce the law when it takes effect, said Ehrlich spokeswoman Shareese DeLeaver.

U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), co-author of the national Can-Spam law, applauded Ehrlich's enactment of the Maryland law.

"It's good to see the continued effort against these kingpin spammers," said Burns. "This type of pressure from all levels is exactly the message we need to be sending to these guys."

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 9:27:00 PM [+] ::
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:: The Day After ... ::

Arctic Getting Warmer Faster
Environment: In Brief
From Wired News

Global warming is hitting the Arctic more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet, scientists reported this week.

The Arctic is particularly sensitive because the ice normally reflects vast amounts of solar radiation. But when icecaps recede, much more sunlight is absorbed by the darker mass of ocean and land. All that additional heat melts even more ice in what becomes a feedback loop.

Some parts of Alaska have heated up 10 times more than the global average, Robert Corell, a chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, told Reuters.

"I think it (climate change) can be stopped," he said, "but we will need an aggressive response."

- - -

Thirsty?: Paradoxically, as all that ice melts, the world faces a future with less fresh water, a new study released this week shows.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 9:08:00 PM [+] ::
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:: More May madness ::

Thunderstorms, Tornadoes Pummel Midwest

FREDERICKSBURG, Ind. (AP) - Powerful thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes and soaked the Midwest pushed southward on Friday, leaving flooded roads and toppled trees in its wake.

Dozens of West Virginia schools canceled or delayed classes Friday, while some residents had to be rescued by boat from flash floods that stranded them on highways or in flooded homes.

Tornadoes touched down Thursday in Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri, damaging a handful of homes. There was no immediate word of any injuries.

In Indiana, the Blue River surged out of its banks near Salem, lifting semi trailers from a parking lot and carrying them down river until they crashed into a bridge.

Thousands of homes lost power in Indiana and Kentucky, and state and county workers spent the early morning Friday trying to reopen routes made impassable by water and debris.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 8:53:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "E-Vote Printers' High-Stakes Test" ::

From Wired News
By Kim Zetter

Some outside election officials are hoping the new e-voting system that Nevada will be using this year -- a touch-screen machine that produces a voter-verified paper trail -- will cause the state many problems. If it does, it will prove their point that adding a paper trail to touch-screen machines is a bad idea.

"That's what we're hearing, that a lot of election officials hope we fail because they don't want to be bothered with paper ballots," said Steve George, spokesman for Nevada's secretary of state.

Several states, responding to public outcry for a physical record of votes, have mandated or announced legislative plans to demand that e-voting systems print a paper record so voters can verify that the machine registered their vote accurately before the record drops into a ballot box. The states include California, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia.

But many county election officials oppose the idea, saying printers will create more problems for poll workers if they break down or run out of paper, and they will cause longer poll lines if voters take more time to check their ballots. The officials also don't relish the election recounts and lawsuits that could arise if paper records don't match final digital vote tallies.

Nevada will be the first to implement a paper-trail system this year. The state plans to use modified touch-screen machines manufactured by Sequoia Voting Systems in seven counties during its September primary and November presidential election. That is, if the printers attached to the machines pass certification. The device malfunctioned during federal testing last week and stopped printing after eight hours, said Alan Glover, the clerk-recorder for Carson City County. But state officials weren't worried.

"All (voting systems) have problems, that's why they do the testing," George said.

Read more here.

ALSO from Wired News

GAO: Fed Data Mining Extensive
In a new report, the investigative arm of the government finds that data mining by federal agencies is ubiquitous. A watchdog group offers a second report suggesting ways to protect privacy. By Kim Zetter.

'Buffalo Spammer' Sent to Slammer
Notorious junk e-mailer Harold Carmack will spend at least three-and-a-half years behind bars for violating New York's forgery and identity-theft laws.

Tightening the Reins on Gmail
Amid growing concerns about Google's free e-mail service, California's state senate votes in favor of a law designed to protect the privacy of its users.

Green Cars Strive to End Oil Era
Students and carmakers gather to show off their alternative-fuel vehicles, and with gas prices on the rise again, more drivers are paying attention. John Gartner reports from Trenton, New Jersey.

posted by me

:: 10:48:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "War on terror lawless: Amnesty" ::

Bush administration decided to 'pick and choose which bits of international law it will apply,' report argues

LONDON (AP) — The United States and its supporters in the war against terror are flouting human rights in the pursuit of a global security agenda that has made the world more dangerous, Amnesty International said today.

The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops was the consequence of a Bush administration policy "to pick and choose which bits of international law it will apply and where," the group's secretary general, Irene Khan, said in presenting the annual assessment of human rights.

Khan condemned attacks by terror groups such as al-Qaida, but said the U.S. response was driving the most sustained erosion of human rights and international law in 50 years.

"As a strategy, the war on terror is bankrupt of vision and bereft of principle," Khan said. "Sacrificing human rights in the name of national security, turning a blind eye to abuse abroad and using pre-emptive military force where and when the powerful choose to act has damaged justice and freedom, and made the world a more dangerous and divided place.''

Asked about the report's assertions, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said, "I dismiss that."

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 2:47:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Occupation has boosted al-Qaida, says thinktank" ::

from The Guardian UK
Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday May 26, 2004

The occupation of Iraq has provided a "potent global recruitment pretext" for al-Qaida and probably increased worldwide terrorism, a leading thinktank said yesterday.
Despite some losses, al-Qaida has more than 18,000 potential terrorists at large and its ranks are growing, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said, adding that al-Qaida now had a presence in more than 60 countries.

Last night, a new warning emerged from the US that al-Qaida-type terrorists are preparing to launch a major attack in the US this summer. The warning came from a counter-terrorism official who told Associated Press that the intelligence was the most disturbing garnered since the September 11 attacks.

The IISS survey said that despite the death or capture of half of its 30 senior leaders, as well as some 2,000 rank-and-file supporters, a rump leadership of the al-Qaida network was still intact.

"Christian nations' forcible occupation of Iraq, a historically important land of Islam, has more than offset any calming effect of the US military withdrawal from Saudi Ara bia," the IISS said. It added: "With Osama bin Laden's public encouragement, up to 1,000 foreign jihadists have infiltrated Iraq."

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 10:51:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "U.S. Warns of Al Qaeda Threat" ::

Operatives in Country Said to Be Planning Summer Attack
By Susan Schmidt and Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 26, 2004; Page A02

Federal officials have information suggesting that al Qaeda has people in the United States preparing to mount a large-scale terrorist attack this summer, sources familiar with the information said yesterday.

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III intend to hold a joint news conference this afternoon to discuss the threat and to ask Americans to watch for several suspected al Qaeda operatives who may be in the country, officials said.

The concerns are driven by intelligence deemed credible that was obtained about a month ago indicating an attack may be planned between now and Labor Day.

That information dovetails with other intelligence "chatter" suggesting that al Qaeda operatives are pleased with the change in government resulting from the March 11 terrorist bombings in Spain and may want to affect elections in the United States and other countries.

"They saw that an attack of that nature can have economic and political consequences and have some impact on the electoral process," said one federal official with access to counterterrorism intelligence.

Intelligence and law enforcement officials are trying to strengthen security at the presidential nominating conventions this summer in Boston and New York. They are also concerned about the possible targeting of other prominent events, starting with the World War II Memorial ceremony Saturday in the District, the G-8 Summit June 8-10 in Sea Island, Ga., and the Summer Olympic Games in August in Athens.

Federal officials have been discussing raising the national threat level between now and Jan. 21, 2005, the day after the presidential inauguration, although Homeland Security Department officials said yesterday no such announcement is scheduled.

The Justice Department and the FBI plan to ask for the public's help today in locating several suspected terrorist sympathizers, including some whose names have not been made public before. The bureau likely plans another public push to find Aafia Siddiqui, 32,, a Pakistani woman who has a doctorate in neurological science and has studied at MIT and Brandeis University in the Boston area, as well as in Houston.

The FBI also could seek help locating a man Siddiqui has been linked to, Adnan G. El Shukrijumah. He is a suspected al Qaeda member who spent time in Florida, and his name has come up in interrogations of captured al Qaeda lieutenant Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

In April, an FBI bulletin to law enforcement agencies warned of possible truck bombs. A source familiar with the government's threat discussions said yesterday truck bombs are a primary concern.

"I'm more worried than I was at Christmastime," said one senior U.S. intelligence official, comparing the "election threat" to the cancelling of specific airline flights around the holidays. He said the U.S. government is convinced there are still as yet unidentified al Qaeda operatives residing in the United States, waiting for the word to launch plots.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 10:48:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Bush Losing Support on Iraq, Poll Finds" ::

President's Approval Ratings Hits Lowest Point
By Dan Balz and Richard Morin
Washington Post Staff Writers

Public approval of President Bush's handling of the conflict in Iraq has hit its lowest point in the latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll, with growing fears that the United States is bogged down, rising criticism of Bush's handling of the prison abuse scandal and slippage in support for keeping U.S. troops there until order is restored.

Support for Bush on virtually every aspect of the Iraq conflict has declined in the past month as the administration has battled insurgents on the ground and grappled with the expanding investigation into the treatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.

Bush's overall approval rating declined to 47 percent, the lowest the Post-ABC News polls have recorded since he took office, with 50 percent saying they disapprove. Just four in 10 Americans gave the president positive marks for his handling of Iraq, the lowest since he launched the conflict in March 2003.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 8:20:00 PM [+] ::
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Cannes Jury Emerges from 'Love Fest' to Defend Picks
By Blake Murdoch
A Reuters report

CANNES (Hollywood Reporter) - For the first time in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, the jury on Sunday met the international press to explain why and how it chose this year's winners, including Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11."

"It was a love fest, but that doesn't necessarily mean we agreed all the time; it was more of a respect fest," jury president Quentin Tarantino told the jam-packed conference.

Noting there were hours of passionate debate held every few days, he added: "This was my dream of what could possibly happen (on a jury)."

As for the decision to award the Palme d'Or to "Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore's broadside at the Bush administration, jury members said it was a unanimous choice based purely on its strength as a film, not a political statement.

Tarantino said it's what goes "through the projector" that mattered, not politics, as far as the jury was concerned.

Describing Moore as a Cheshire cat throughout the film, he said: "All that matters is the reels of film. In this case we all agreed it was the best film, not because of all this politics crap."

He criticized a journalist who asked him to explain the cinematographic merits of "Fahrenheit 9/11."

"I think you're coming from a narrow view of what it requires to be a good film. I think you're talking about pretty pictures and a movie doesn't have to be about pretty pictures," he said.

ALSO
Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Has Hollywood Buzzing

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The White House calls the film "outrageously false," but Hollywood is hot for "Fahrenheit 9/11," documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's caustic broadside at President Bush.

A day after the film won the top Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival in France, industry observers on Sunday predicted the controversial movie would be a box office hit, even if some early reviews have hardly been favorable.

"I think it will be hugely successful," said D.A. Pennebaker, veteran documentary director whose films include the Oscar-nominated 1992 election campaign saga "The War Room." "It's going to get a lot of publicity."

In "Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore takes aim at Bush's handling of Iraq and the war on terror and traces links between the Bush family and prominent Saudis including the family of Osama bin Laden. It was greeted with a rapturous standing ovation at its Cannes world premiere, but not everyone was impressed.

Dan Barlett, the White House communications director, was quoted by the New York Times last week as saying of the film "it is so outrageously false, it's not even worth comment."

posted by me

:: 10:22:00 PM [+] ::
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:: eBay nation ::

EBay Pulls Schwarzenegger's Cough Drop

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - A seller on eBay tried to auction off a cough drop that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger allegedly used, then tossed into a trash can - listing the item under the heading "Schwarzenegger's DNA."

But the ad posted on the popular Web site Friday was quickly yanked after eBay decided it fell into the category of "body parts," which the Web site will not list for sale.

The original listing was accompanied by two photos of a half-consumed cough drop and the words, "Own a piece of DNA from the man himself." The seller indicated she or he had seen Schwarzenegger discard the lozenge at a recent public event and had retrieved it.

"Like many people who collect items from international stars this is a must have," the ad stated.

The California governor's office confirmed Schwarzenegger routinely sucks on cough drops, but would say little more.

An eBay spokesman said the seller, identified only as "AMF814," could put the item back up for sale if he or she reclassified it as a collectible. As of Saturday, it was not among the 115 Schwarzenegger collectibles listed.

posted by me

:: 9:19:00 PM [+] ::
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:: So Weird ::

From Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird

In May, in the latest blooming of the lawyers' class-action money tree, California law firms asked a court to approve $258 million in fees for their handling of a lawsuit against Microsoft Corp., amounting to $3,000 an hour for the lead attorney (who billed for 6,000 hours of his own time, even though three dozen lawyers from more than 30 firms had a piece of the case) and $1,000 an hour for administrative work, all for the following consumer bonanza: Each victim will get a coupon worth $5 to $29 toward the purchase of another Microsoft product (coupons that are often routinely ignored by consumers in these settlements, as not worth the bother). [San Francisco Chronicle-AP, 5-12-04]

------------------------------------------------------------

Government in Action
Although 50 countries (including Japan) have now banned American beef because of inadequate mad-cow controls, the U.S. Department of Agriculture not only has declined to order widespread testing but has even prohibited one farm, Creekstone (Campbellsburg, Ky.), from voluntarily testing. USDA said such conscientious testing would imply that America's entire 35 million yearly slaughters should be tested (which the industry says is too expensive, even though Japan requires universal testing for its beef). USDA said it aims to test only 40,000 cows, up from 20,000 for the last two years (although it has been unable for nine months now to document those tests in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by United Press International). [New York Times, 4-10-04; United Press International, 12-24-03]

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Can't Possibly Be True
Sweden's Parliamentary Ombudsmen's office in Stockholm, looking through some old environmental records recently, discovered that in 1986 a regional environmental court in Jaemtland province had denied a resort-development permit to a builder on the ground that the Loch Ness-resembling "Storsjoe monster" (serpentlike body, catlike head, first rumored in 1635) often "sighted" there had been declared endangered. Declared the ruling, "(I)t is prohibited to kill, hurt or catch animals of the Storsjoe monster species" or to "take away or hurt the monster's eggs, roe or den." [Washington Post-AP, 5-3-04]

Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa FL 33679 or WeirdNews@earthlink.net

posted by me

:: 8:37:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "5,500 Iraqis Killed, Morgue Records Show" ::

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - More than 5,500 Iraqis died violently in just Baghdad and three provinces in the first 12 months of the occupation, an Associated Press survey found. The toll from both criminal and political violence ran dramatically higher than violent deaths before the war, according to statistics from morgues.

There are no reliable figures for places like Fallujah and Najaf that have seen surges in fighting since early April.

Indeed, there is no precise count for Iraq as a whole on how many people have been killed, nor is there a breakdown of deaths caused by the different sorts of attacks. The U.S. military, the occupation authority and Iraqi government agencies say they don't have the ability to track civilian deaths.

But the AP survey of morgues in Baghdad and the provinces of Karbala, Kirkuk and Tikrit found 5,558 violent deaths recorded from May 1, 2003, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations, to April 30. Officials at morgues for three more of Iraq's 18 provinces either didn't have numbers or declined to release them.

The AP's survey was not a comprehensive compilation of the nationwide death toll, but was a sampling intended to assess the levels of violence. Figures for violent deaths in the months before the war showed a far lower rate.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 8:30:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Twister ::

From The San Diego Tribune
One person killed as tornadoes descend on Nebraska
By Kevin O'hanlon

HALLAM, Neb. (AP) – Their ears popped because of the abrupt change in air pressure. Then they heard the cracking of trees being torn out of the earth.

"The wife told me, 'Let's get under the stairs," Richard Raley said.

Raley and his wife, Karleen, huddled beneath the basement steps Saturday as a tornado ripped away their house and much of the rest of the small village of Hallam.

In all, more than a dozen tornadoes swept across southern Nebraska, killing at least one person and prompting Gov. Mike Johanns to declare a state of emergency.

The tornadoes capped two days of severe weather that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people in from Nebraska to Michigan to West Virginia.

ALSO
From The Guardian UK
Tornadoes Destroy Tiny Iowa Town
By PATRICK CONDON

BRADGATE, Iowa (AP) - Nearly all of the 50 homes in this town were destroyed and 15 people were injured as a tornado carved a path through northwestern Iowa.

``When she hit, I just laid down on the floorboard and held on,'' Deputy Fire Chief Dennis Behnkendorf said. ``Everything was flying past the door. I jumped onto the ground and held on for dear life.''

While Iowa was hardest hit, severe weather wiped out power as it whipped through parts of West Virginia, Nebraska and Ohio late Friday.

Tornado Alley, a swath running from west Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas to Iowa, is ripe for stormy conditions because of colliding air masses that occur each spring.

In Iowa's Pocahontas County, sheriff's officers said a tornado moved through a golf course and cemetery in Rolfe, population 721, before ripping through Bradgate in neighboring Humboldt County.

``All of the houses and buildings have sustained some type of damage,'' said Brian Rickless, a Humboldt County sheriff's deputy who was headed to Bradgate when the tornado hit.

The head of the state's homeland security department, Ellen Gordman, estimated that 90 percent of Bradgate's homes in Bradgate were destroyed or sustained major damage, and reported 10 known injuries.

Weather Eye: Tornadic weather stirs Evergreen state
Sunday, May 23, 2004
PAT TIMM for The Columbian

It was a wild week around Washington state with numerous thunderstorms, flash floods, hail and tornadoes.

The Evergreen State averages about one tornado annually; but in just the past three weeks, we have recorded four.

From GrandForksHerald.com
Weather service teams looking at damage from night of tornadoes

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) - National Weather Service teams are investigating the damage caused by a cluster of tornadoes that ripped through eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

Meteorologists were in Towner and Griggs counties Friday, two days after about a dozen tornadoes hit the region. No injuries were reported, but the twisters caused damage in several counties.

Experts were talking to residents and taking photos to help rate the strength of the tornadoes, which are measured according to destruction.

Crews from the weather service office in Grand Forks had earlier visited sites in the Pembina County town of Leroy, and in Humboldt, in Minnesota's Kittson County.

AND
From Canada.com
Storms rock Southern Ontario
Canadian Press
Sunday, May 23, 2004

posted by me

:: 5:44:00 PM [+] ::
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:: More Moore ::

Michael Moore, Red-Hot and Golden
'Fahrenheit 9/11' Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes
By Desson Thomson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 23, 2004; Page D01

CANNES, France -- Michael Moore clutched his face last night as if he were trying to rip it off. He was experiencing disbelief at the words that had just come out of Quentin Tarantino's mouth: "The jury is proud to announce that 'Fahrenheit 9/11' has won the Palme d'Or."

"What have you done?" Moore jokingly asked Tarantino, president of the 57th Cannes Film Festival jury, at the podium. "I am completely overwhelmed by this. Uh, uh, merci."

Moore's movie -- a President Bush-bashing production that enjoyed almost universal acclaim from international critics and festival-goers -- had been the hottest ticket in the town. Now it was the toast of it. And the portly, bearded filmmaker, who beat out 18 other films for the top prize, was staring dumbfoundedly at the tuxedoed, bejewelled audience giving him a prolonged standing ovation.

For Moore, the win was more than an artistic triumph. It amounted to a political hand grenade lobbed at the White House. The documentary makes no bones about its point of view: that President Bush's invasion of Iraq amounted to a diversionary tactic -- to take attention away from Bush's personal and business links with oil-rich Saudi Arabians, including members of the bin Laden family. It also portrays the president as out of his depth as a leader.

Read more here.

ALSO
The official Cannes site.

"I can't begin to express my appreciation and my gratitude to the jury, the Festival, to Gilles Jacob, Thierry Frémaux, Bob and Harvey at Miramax, to all of the crew who worked on the film. [...] I have a sneaking suspicion that what you have done here and the response from everyone at the festival, you will assure that the American people will see this film. I can't thank you enough for that. You've put a huge light on this and many people want the truth and many want to put it in the closet, just walk away. There was a great Republican president who once said, if you just give the people the truth, the republicans, the Americans will be saved. [...] I dedicate this Palme d'Or to my daughter, to the children of Americans and to Iraq and to all those in the world who suffer from our actions."

-- Moore's acceptance of the Palme d'Or

popsted by me

:: 11:00:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Fahrenheit 9/11 Wins Cannes' Top Prize" ::

From an AP report
CANNES, France - American filmmaker Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11," a scathing indictment of White House actions after the Sept. 11 attacks, won the top prize Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" was the first documentary to win Cannes' prestigious Palme d'Or since Jacques Cousteau's "The Silent World" in 1956.

"What have you done? I'm completely overwhelmed by this. Merci," Moore said after getting a standing ovation from the Cannes crowd.

posted by me

:: 2:24:00 PM [+] ::
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:: RE Chalabi ::

Turning Friend Into Foe in Baghdad
By ASLA AYDINTASBAS
From The NY Times

Thursday's raid on the Baghdad home of Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi Governing Council member who for more than a decade was America's staunchest ally among the Iraqi resistance, is the latest bit of madness in the bungled occupation of Iraq. Unable to protect the lives of the governing council members — who, whatever one thinks of the body, are the only representative voices in Iraq — the Coalition Provisional Authority has now apparently decided to humiliate any who have the temerity to criticize its plans.

The Americans are claiming that Mr. Chalabi passed secret intelligence to Iran. This may or may not be true — he has long had ties to the Tehran government — but in any case it provides a convenient excuse to pin all the occupation's failings on him. No weapons found? It must be because of bad intelligence fed to the Pentagon by Mr. Chalabi's political group, the Iraqi National Congress. Terrorism on the rise? Must be because the Baath Party and the military were disbanded after the war at Mr. Chalabi's insistence. The growing insurgency? It would not have happened had Mr. Chalabi not told us that American troops would be welcomed with flowers.

Finding a scapegoat in an election year is a boon to the Bush administration. And silencing Mr. Chalabi is also essential for garnering United Nations cover for the June 30 transfer of sovereignty in Iraq.

Read More here.

posted by me

:: 10:56:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "First soldier sentenced in Iraq abuse scandal" ::

Bedford County reservist pleads guilty, given a year in military prison
From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Edmund Sanders and Richard Serrano, Los Angeles Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Choking back tears and expressing remorse, U.S. Army Spc. Jeremy C. Sivits pleaded guilty yesterday to abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib detention center and was sentenced to a year in a military prison -- making him the first American soldier court-martialed in an evolving scandal that authorities say could reach beyond the seven soldiers implicated so far.

At a heavily guarded military hearing in Baghdad, the 24-year-old Army reservist from Hyndman, in Western Pennsylvania's Bedford County, who snapped one of the now-infamous photos of prisoner maltreatment apologized to the detainees, the Iraqi people, the Army and his family for his actions last November.

"I let everyone down," said Sivits, his voice cracking with emotion during the 3 1/2-hour hearing in downtown Baghdad's Green Zone, headquarters for the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority. "I should have protected those detainees that night. ... I'm sorry for what I've done."

As the first of the guards to be prosecuted, and as one who has already admitted guilt, Sivits is shaping up as the government's star witness -- a fellow reservist from the 372nd Military Police Company who was on the prison tier when detainees were abused and humiliated. His testimony would give critical context to the photographs that prosecutors likely would use to seek convictions of the others.

But Sivits also could end up helping the defense. He has told military authorities that intelligence officers often encouraged the guards to "soften up" the detainees, an assertion that lies at the heart of their defense. Future criminal charges could be filed against intelligence officers.

Sivits testified that he watched and took one photograph as other soldiers physically abused and sexually humiliated seven Iraqi detainees, who were punched, stripped and forced to masturbate and simulate oral sex. As they carried out the abuse, the soldiers photographed themselves laughing and smiling next to the detainees -- images that spurred outrage throughout the world and launched numerous investigations in Washington and Iraq.

Before sentencing, the U.S. Army judge, Col. James Pohl, asked Sivits: "Did you know this was wrong?"

"Yes, sir," Sivits replied.

"Did you have a duty to prevent this?" the judge asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Did you try to stop this?"

"No, sir."

RELATED
U.S. Opens Criminal Investigation Over Iraq Abuse
A Reuters report

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government has opened its first criminal investigation into a civilian contractor in Iraq over possible mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, the Justice Department said on Friday.

"Yesterday, the Department of Justice received a referral from the Department of Defense regarding a civilian contractor in Iraq, and opened an investigation into the matter," said Justice Department spokesman Mark Corallo.

"We remain committed to taking all appropriate action within our jurisdiction regarding allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners."

posted by me

:: 10:46:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Morals & Iraq ::

Officer faces jail for refusing to fight
From The Guardian UK
David Zeiger in Fort Stewart, Georgia and Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

A US sergeant who left the battlefield in Iraq because of moral objections to the war was found guilty of desertion at a court martial yesterday. He could be sentenced to imprisonment for up to a year.

Camilo Mejia had argued that he left his unit as a matter of conscience after six months during which he witnessed shootings of Iraqi civilians, including children.

Read more here.

ALSO
From The Miami Herald
Miami soldier found guilty of desertion

After the conviction, an unapologetic, unrepentant Mejia took the stand in his sentincing hearing Friday and told the jury he felt no shame for what he had done.

"I sit here as a free man. I will sit behind bars as a free man. I strongly believed something had to be done. I followed my conscience and provided leadership." Mejia, 28, said in a calm voice, looking straight at the four officers and four enlisted soldiers on the jury.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 10:32:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Fahrenheit 911: Cannes Do ::

Grom News.Telegraph.co.uk:
Moore unveils his anti-Bush tirade to wild applause
By Hugh Davies

Michael Moore, the maverick director from Michigan, finally unveiled his inflammatory anti-war documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 to sustained applause at the Cannes film festival yesterday.

The audience chortled at the depiction of the Bush administration as cowboys riding into Iraq to the theme tune from the television show Bonanza. Tony Blair is portrayed as their Stetson-wearing sidekick, bowlegged and clad in full Western gear with six-guns at his hip, jumping up and down like a puppet.

Moore, who won an Oscar for Bowling for Columbine, was cheered as he entered a press conference but had difficulty explaining why Mel Gibson's Icon pictures, the original financiers, had dropped the project, suggesting that the actor was pressured by the White House. Icon denies this.

The financing was taken over by Harvey Weinstein's Miramax, which is owned by Disney. The studio is now refusing to handle the distribution, fearing that the film, with its liberal bias and sly one-sided portrayal of Bush might affect his re-election run in November.

Moore confessed that he let Blair off lightly as he was mainly aiming "to fix" what was happening in Washington. "The problem is in the White House, and not at No 10 Downing Street.

"Although I have to say that what has always depressed me about Tony Blair is that he knows better. At least, one thing you can say about Blair is that he's smart. What's he doing hanging out with a guy like George W Bush? I have just never understood that. They are the weirdest couple."

Taken from Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451, the temperature needed to burn books in an anti-Utopian society, Moore says his film is about the temperature in which freedom burns.

posted by me

:: 9:38:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Tell your story... CHOP CHOP! ::

From The Washington Post:

LIFE IS SHORT | Autobiography as Haiku

Like sifting for gold, patent examining can be a scrupulous activity. I mutter my mantra . . . find a way . . . find a way . . . there must be a way. My eyes scan documents and reference books with a determined fluidity. My brain wheels churn in frustration. Pausing for a moment, I gently massage my right wrist with my left thumb. In the background, I can hear the steady beat of my clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. Finally, as 12 strikes, I see it. A sly smile grows on my face, and my eyes gleam. Smelling success, I reach for the stamp. REJECTED.

Sindya Narayanaswamy
Arlington

At the height of lunchtime rush, I plunk a mug of decaf on Table 3 and a silver creamer next to it. My pinkie catches the handle of the creamer, drags it across the table and spews the contents in the customer's lap.

"Sorry . . . so sorry!" I give his ruined wool slacks an awkward pat with a napkin and dash off for a refill.

Moments later, I've delivered the creamer again, hooked it with the same pinkie and swept a second wave of milk into his sopping lap.

"Miss! MISS!" he laughs, arms held high in surrender. "I take my coffee black!"

Paulette Moore
Arlington

Find a way to give insight into your life in under 100 words. Authors of selected entries will be notified and paid $100. Send text (accompanied by a home phone number) via e-mail (lifeisshort@washpost.com), fax (202-334-5587) or mail (Style, Life Is Short, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071).

posted by me

:: 2:42:00 PM [+] ::
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