...frog lived about 25 million years ago, based on the geological strata where the amber was found.
Frog in amber may be 25M years old

1 hour, 12 minutes ago

MEXICO CITY - A miner in the state of Chiapas found a tiny tree frog that has been preserved in amber for 25 million years, a researcher said. If authenticated, the preserved frog would be the first of its kind found in Mexico, according to David Grimaldi, a biologist and curator at the American Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the find.

The chunk of amber containing the frog, less than half an inch long, was uncovered by a miner in Mexico's southern Chiapas state in 2005 and was bought by a private collector, who lent it to scientists for study.

A few other preserved frogs have been found in chunks of amber — a stone formed by ancient tree sap — mostly in the Dominican Republic. Like those, the frog found in Chiapas appears to be of the genus Craugastor, whose descendants still inhabit the region, said biologist Gerardo Carbot of the Chiapas Natural History and Ecology Institute. Carbot announced the discovery this week.

The scientist said the frog lived about 25 million years ago, based on the geological strata where the amber was found.

Carbot would like to extract a sample from the frog's remains in hopes of finding DNA that could identify the particular species, but doubts the owner would let him drill into the stone. "I don't think he will allow it, because it's a very rare, unique piece," said Carbot.

Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History called the idea of extracting DNA "highly, highly unlikely," given that — as other scientists have noted — genetic material tends to break down over time.

But George O. Poinar, an entomologist at Oregon State University who founded the Amber Institute, said extracting DNA is theoretically possible.

"If it's well-preserved ... and none of the frog has been exposed to the outside, where air could enter in and oxidize the DNA, it could be possible to get DNA."

DON'T POKE THE BEAR!!!
Israeli construction hits raw nerve

By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 16, 1:43 PM ET

JERUSALEM - No single symbol ignites Middle Eastern emotions more than the rectangle of sacred ground in the heart of Jerusalem known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

An Israeli plan for a new pedestrian walkway up to the hilltop compound has recently become a magnet for Muslim anger. But the rage goes far beyond the construction project — it's about the loaded history and politics of one of the world's most fiercely contested places.

The compound is Islam's third-holiest site, and Muslim leaders are using the walkway controversy to send an unequivocal message to
Israel: hands off.

For 1,300 years, the 35-acre compound in Jerusalem's Old City has been home to the Dome of the Rock, with its intricate mosaic walls and golden cap, and to the black-domed Al Aqsa Mosque. Muslims believe that the site is where Muhammad ascended to heaven in a mystical nighttime journey recounted in the Quran.

The site is Judaism's holiest, marking the place where the first Jewish temple stood until it was destroyed by the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar 2,500 years ago, and where the second stood before being razed by Roman legions in the year 70.

In some Jewish traditions, the hilltop is also where the world was created, where God formed Adam from dust and where the biblical Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice him. Jews have gathered for centuries to pray outside the compound at the Western Wall.

Jews and many Christians believe the site will be the stage for the world's end, when the Messiah will arrive and the temple will be divinely rebuilt.

Israel captured the compound from Jordan in June 1967. Even though Israel left its day-to-day administration in the hands of the Islamic trust known as the Waqf and barred Jews from praying there out of respect for Muslim sensitivities, Jewish sovereignty has been seen by Muslims as an affront to their religion and by Palestinians as a desecration of their most important national symbol. Disagreements over who should control the holy site have played a leading role in scuttling past peace talks.

Muslim anger has repeatedly taken shape in the form of allegations, never substantiated, that Israel is tunneling under the compound to destroy the mosques to make room for the third Jewish temple. In 1990, and again in 1996, similar rumors set off riots that left some 100 people dead, nearly all of them Palestinians.

Two incidents helped fuel those fears. In 1969, a Christian tourist from Australia set fire to the Al Aqsa mosque, hoping to speed the coming of the Messiah. In 1984, Israeli authorities arrested a group of Jewish extremists who had planned to dynamite the Dome of the Rock to expedite the rebuilding of the temple.

The Israeli government's reasons for the new project seemed simple: The existing walkway partially collapsed in a 2004 snowstorm, it was unsafe and it had to be replaced. The structure is meant to serve Jews and tourists. Palestinians enter the compound from elsewhere.

Early this month, when archaeologists began a salvage dig outside the compound's Mughrabi Gate ahead of the walkway's construction, the Waqf claimed it had sovereignty over the ramp because it touched the compound and charged that Israel was harming an integral part of the holy site.

That claim was quickly followed by a more inflammatory charge: The dig was cover for another attempt to tunnel under the Islamic holy places and cause their collapse.

Israel says the accusations are ludicrous and that it notified all relevant parties, including the Waqf, before beginning construction. Muslim officials, however, said they were never consulted.

Adnan Husseini, the Waqf's director, told The Associated Press that there are "ongoing" Israeli attempts to undermine the mosques from below, and that he suspected Israeli archaeologists were currently tunneling underneath the compound.

"We are against all of these excavations, because they threaten the future of the mosque," Husseini said.

Husseini denies that Israel has any rightful claim on the compound, and has questioned the existence of any Jewish history there. A Waqf booklet for tourists says the existence of the temples is supported by "no documented historical or archaeological evidence," a radical view that contradicts the consensus of biblical scholars.

Since the Mughrabi Gate project started, there have been only limited clashes, including a scuffle between police and protesters Friday, and nobody has been seriously hurt.

But Israel has been condemned, reprimanded or warned by nearly every Islamic country. During a trip to Turkey this week, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to a suggestion that a Turkish team be allowed to observe the construction work to help calm Muslim fears. Turkey is Israel's closest Muslim ally.

Israel also began broadcasting live images of the work site on the Internet Thursday.

History shows that Israel does not want to harm the Islamic holy sites, said Gershom Gorenberg, an Israeli historian and journalist who wrote, "The End of Days," a book about the struggle over the Temple Mount.

In Israel, only an extremist fringe demands the right to pray on the compound, he said, noting that most Orthodox Jews believe it is forbidden to go there before the Messiah arrives. Instead, they pray at the Western Wall.

For Muslims, fears that Israel wants to harm the mosques "fly in the face of their experience of the last 40 years," during which Israel has done nothing to compromise the Muslim holy sites, Gorenberg said.

"But Israel's inability to take those fears into account," he said, "also flies in the face of the experience of the last 40 years."

Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior research fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, noted that when Israeli troops fought their way onto the compound in June 1967, they found an old Arab gatekeeper with a large key around his neck. He opened the Mughrabi Gate, let them out, and showed them the way down to the Western Wall, which was what they were really interested in.

"For the paratroopers, the Mughrabi Gate wasn't a way on to the Temple Mount — it was a way off," Klein Halevi said.

_____

On the Net:

http://www.antiquities.org.il/home_eng.asp

Father of Couch Potatos dies!
Inventor of the TV remote dies

By SHANNON DININNY, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 56 minutes ago

BOISE, Idaho - Hit the mute button for a moment of silence: The co-inventor of the TV remote has died.

Robert Adler, who won an Emmy Award along with fellow engineer Eugene Polley for the device that made couch potatoship possible, died Thursday of heart failure at a Boise nursing home at 93, Zenith Electronics Corp. said Friday.

In his six-decade career with Zenith, Adler was a prolific inventor, earning more than 180 U.S. patents. He was best known for his 1956 Zenith Space Command remote control, which helped make TV a truly sedentary pastime.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded Adler and co-inventor Polley, another Zenith engineer, an Emmy in 1997 for the landmark invention.

Adler joined Zenith's research division in 1941 after earning a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna. He retired as research vice president in 1979, and served as a technical consultant until 1999, when Zenith merged with LG Electronics Inc.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published his most recent patent application, for advances in touch screen technology, on Feb. 1.

Adler is survived by his wife, Ingrid.

A question of whether US can do what it wants when it wants wherever it wants...!
31 to stand trial in CIA kidnapping case

By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writer Fri Feb 16, 10:37 AM ET

MILAN, Italy - A judge Friday indicted 26 Americans and five Italians in the abduction of an Egyptian terror suspect on a Milan street in what would be the first criminal trial stemming from the
CIA's extraordinary rendition program.

The judge set a trial date for June 8, although the Americans, who have all left the country, almost certainly will not be returned to Italy.

Prosecutors allege that five Italian intelligence officials worked with the Americans to seize Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr on Feb. 17, 2003.

Nasr was allegedly transferred by vehicle to the Aviano Air Base near Venice, then by air to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, and on to Egypt, where his lawyer says he was tortured. Nasr was freed earlier this week by an Egyptian court that found his four years of detention in Egypt "unfounded," and he is at a family home in Alexandria.

All but one of the Americans have been identified as CIA agents, including the former Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady and former Rome station chief Jeffrey Castelli. The other is Air Force Lt. Col. Joseph L. Romano III, who was stationed at the time at Aviano. Prosecutors believe many of the other American names in the indictment are aliases.

Among the Italians indicted by Judge Caterina Interlandi was the former chief of military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, and his former deputy, Marco Mancini.

Pollari, the only defendant who appeared at the preliminary hearing, has insisted that Italian intelligence played no role in the alleged abduction, and told the judge he was unable to defend himself properly because documents clarifying his position had been excluded from the proceedings because they contain state secrets.

The CIA declined to comment Friday on the case, which has put an uncomfortable spotlight on its operations.

Prosecutors are pressing the Italian government to seek the extradition of the Americans. The previous government of Silvio Berlusconi refused, and Premier Romano Prodi's center-left government has yet to make its decision.

Even if a request is made for their extradition — a move bound to further strain U.S.-Italian relations — it was unlikely that the CIA agents would be turned over for trial abroad.

The proceedings could be suspended by Italy's Constitutional Court, which has been asked by the government to rule on whether prosecutors overstepped their bounds by ordering wiretaps of Italian agents' phone calls.

All of the U.S. agents have court-appointed lawyers, who have acknowledged having no contact with their clients. In Italy, defendants can be tried in absentia.

Alessia Sorgato, a lawyer who represents three Americans, said she has not been able to talk to her clients.

"I'm happy because I will be able to fully argue the case," Sorgato said after the ruling. Sorgato and Guido Meroni, who represents six Americans, have argued that the evidence connecting their clients to Nasr's disappearance was circumstantial, based on phone records and their presence in locations in Italy during the period before the abduction.

During the proceedings, two other Italians reached plea bargains. A police officer who admitted stopping Nasr and asking for his identity papers during the course of the abduction was given a suspended sentence of one year, nine months and a day. A former reporter accused as an accessory was given six months, which was converted to a fine.

Two other Italian intelligence agents also were indicted on lesser charges as accessories.

Prosecutors say the alleged kidnapping operation was a breach of Italian sovereignty that compromised Italy's own anti-terrorism efforts.

According to Italian officials, Nasr fought in
Afghanistan and Bosnia and was suspected of recruiting fighters for radical Islamic causes. But his lawyer, Montasser al-Zayat, said Nasr had only traveled to Jordan, Yemen, Albania and Germany before entering Italy illegally in 1997.

No charges have ever been brought against Nasr. He was under investigation for terrorism-related activities at the time of his abduction, and Milan prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest more than two years after he disappeared, while he was in Egyptian custody. Italy and Egypt do not have an extradition treaty.

Nasr's lawyer in Egypt told Italian state TV that he wants to return to Italy, where he had been granted the status of political refugee.

Prosecutors elsewhere in Europe are moving ahead with cases aimed at the CIA program.

This week, the Swiss government approved prosecutors' plans to investigate the flight that allegedly took Nasr over Swiss airspace from Italy to Germany.

A Munich prosecutor recently issued arrest warrants for 13 people in another alleged CIA-orchestrated kidnapping, that of a German citizen who says he was seized in December 2003 at the Serbian-Macedonia border and flown to Afghanistan.

The awe-struck reactions of pilots to a mistake can not reflect badly on US...so why resist it being shown?
Britian won't show 'friendly fire' video

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 1 minute ago

OXFORD, England - A British coroner reluctantly agreed Friday to a U.S. request not to show in open court a cockpit video capturing the horrified reaction of two American pilots in
Iraq after they fired on British troops.

But Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker made clear he was doing so only in the interest of speeding up the inquest into the death of Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, who was killed when his convoy was strafed by a U.S. warplane in southern Iraq on March 28, 2003. Four others were wounded in the attack,

"If it were not for potential delay and distress this would cause the family, I would not be willing to be bound by an agreement between the U.S. and the U.K. on the use of evidence I consider crucial," Walker said.

Walker said that, despite his own reservations, lawyers' representing Hull's family did not object to U.S. demands that the inquest only play video behind closed doors. It will be shown to the coroner, select witnesses and lawyers representing the family and Britain's Defense Ministry.

The
Pentagon previously had said the video was classified and could not be shown, but changed its position last week after a copy of the video was leaked to a British newspaper and broadcast.

The lawyer representing Hull's family called the American conditions "unprecedented and wholly artificial," but said she accepted because a private screening would move the investigation forward.

"It's not just to avoid delay," Geraldine McCool said after the hearing. "We want to get on to the video."

The family was eager to examine the two-hour long tape in its entirety, and McCool said the previously unseen footage might provide new insight into the incident.

A widely circulated excerpt from the tape, shot from the gun camera of A-10 jet, captures the pilots' horror as they realize they had hit coalition forces. "I'm going to be sick," one says, before adding, "We're in jail, dude."

Walker also asked to be supplied with additional evidence during the hearing, including the pilots' training records and an uncensored version of the U.S. military's investigation into the incident.

"The time has come where I should be entitled to see all the evidence," he said. "I just want to know, and I'm sure the family want to know, why this happened, in as much detail as possible."

McCool appealed to the United States to hand over the evidence quickly.

"If (the Americans) don't cooperate, they will give the impression there is something they wish to conceal," she said. "That's an unhelpful impression to give allies."

The inquest is due to resume on March 12.

What if "God" sparked abortion loss?
Portugal church says mutation sparked abortion loss

Fri Feb 16, 1:55 PM ET

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Catholic church blamed "cultural mutation" on Friday for the large number of people who voted to legalize abortion in a referendum and urged doctors to refuse to carry out the operation if asked.

Portugal held a referendum on abortion on Sunday in which 59.3 percent voted to lift an abortion ban and 40.8 percent voted against. Even though less than half the electorate voted, making the referendum non-binding, Prime Minister Jose Socrates said he would legalize abortion in parliament.

The Catholic church led the campaign to maintain the ban, which liberals say has no place in modern Europe, where only Poland, Ireland and Malta still prohibit abortions.

"The favorable result for the 'yes' is a sign of accentuated cultural mutation by the Portuguese people, which we have to confront with realism," the national conference of bishops said in its first statement since the referendum.

It said this was caused by "the globalization of ways of thinking and opinions by the media" and urged doctors and nurses to refuse to operate if women want abortions.

"We appeal to doctors and health professionals not to hesitate in turning to the statute of 'conscientious objector' that the law guarantees," the statement said.

Portugal is 90 percent Catholic.

It said all those Catholics who had turned against the church's doctrine in the referendum should examine the "demands of loyalty to the church they belong to and the true fundamentals of their doctrine."

The ruling Socialists, who had argued the current abortion ban leads to thousands of clandestine abortions every year, said the new law allowing abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy should go through parliament by July.

I wouldn't drive a Chrysler if you bought it for me and paid me, but....
GM in preliminary talks to buy Chrysler: source

By Megan Davies and Kevin Krolicki Fri Feb 16, 2:14 PM ET

NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) is in preliminary talks to buy Chrysler, the struggling U.S. arm of DaimlerChrysler AG (DCXGn.DE) (NYSE:DCX - news), a source familiar with the situation said on Friday.

The talks, described by the source as exploratory, were first reported on Friday by the trade journal Automotive News.

GM and Chrysler parent DaimlerChrysler declined to comment.

Shares of DaimlerChrysler rose in reaction to reports of the talks. GM shares slipped at first but then moved higher.

Automotive News, citing unnamed sources in Germany and the United States, said the companies were engaged in high-level talks about GM buying Chrysler Group, which sells Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles, in its entirety.

The source who spoke to Reuters said it was questionable whether GM would want Chrysler's finance business, having sold its own finance arm, GMAC, last year.

Speculation surrounding a possible sale or spinoff of Chrysler has built since DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said earlier this week that all options were open for its struggling North American unit.

DaimlerChrysler shares were up 4.1 percent to $73.11 in afternoon trading on the
New York Stock Exchange. Shares in GM, the world's largest automaker, were up 14 cents at $36.58.

Analysts questioned whether GM would benefit from an outright merger with Chrysler, since both automakers are struggling with excess production capacity, sliding sales and a heavy exposure to trucks and sport utility vehicles.

The GM talks with Chrysler come four months after GM broke off talks with Renault SA (RENA.PA) and Nissan Motor Co. (7201.T) after concluding that it would not have gained as much as the other two automakers from a proposed alliance.

GM and DaimlerChrysler have an ongoing joint venture with BMW to develop a hybrid system that will be used in an upcoming version of the Dodge Durango SUV.

David Feinman, a fund manager who specializes in distressed debt with Havens Advisors, said he doubted that GM would complete a deal to buy Chrysler.

Feinman, who does not own GM debt, said both GM and Chrysler have too many overlapping models, and any merger would have to result in even deeper cuts to jobs and output.

"If they do merge, there would have to be massive streamlining and there would be hundreds of thousands of more jobs lost," he said.

Feinman added, "The only one to benefit would be Daimler because they would get rid of Chrysler."

David Healy, an automotive analyst with Burnham Financial Group, was also skeptical.

"My own feeling is that a full merger wouldn't make any sense," said Healy. "They're bitter competitors, they have the same costs, and they have a similar footprint in the U.S. and Canada.

"That said," Healy continued, "I think there's room for cooperation on joint ventures where, for example, one company lacks a model or a diesel engine -- why do it twice rather than once as a joint venture?"

Burnham owns GM shares. The firm does not have investment banking relationships with GM.

CHRYSLER RESTRUCTURING

Chrysler announced a restructuring plan this week that will cut 13,000 jobs, close an assembly plant in Delaware, and reduce production shifts at other facilities.

The Detroit-based automaker merged with Daimler in 1998, but that combination of the Mercedes luxury brand with the mass-market Chrysler has failed to deliver on its growth targets.

Chrysler, which lost over $1.4 billion in 2006 after running up a costly inventory of unsold vehicles, is aiming to return to profitability in 2008 on the strength of new models and a lower cost base.

A GM spokesman said on Friday the company has ongoing discussions with other automakers.

"We often have discussions with automakers routinely. We don't comment on speculation regarding discussions," GM spokesman Tony Cervone said.

DaimlerChrysler, the world's fifth-largest automaker by global sales, also declined comment. "We have said everything there is to say on this subject," a spokesman said.

Republicans far more than others seem to intentionally set up traps for opponants, then deny it.
House Republicans defend Bush in oil royalty error

By Tom Doggett 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Republicans on Friday sought to deflect blame off the Bush administration for not acting earlier to fix faulty oil drilling contracts that could cost the government billions in lost royalty fees, saying former President
Bill Clinton's administration was at fault for issuing the leases.

The dispute centers around drilling contracts the Interior Department gave oil companies in 1998 and 1999 to search for crude in the Gulf of Mexico. The contracts accidentally omitted language that would have ended a waiver of royalties for the companies if the price of oil exceeded about $38 a barrel, as it has in the current market.

The royalty relief was provided at a time when oil prices were very low, and incentives were needed to make it more profitable for companies to drill in the expensive deeper Gulf waters. Companies normally pay royalties based on 12.5 to 16.7 percent of the value of the oil they find on federal leases.

The department's inspector general, Earl Devaney, said the oil price threshold was left out due to a bureaucratic mistake. Nonetheless, the error already has cost the government $1 billion in lost royalties and the total loss could reach $10 billion over the life of the leases.

At a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Friday looking into the issue, Republicans put the blame on the former Clinton administration for writing the faulty drilling contracts in 1998 and 1999.

"This is not a Bush-cronyism deal" with oil companies, said Republican Rep. Steve Pearce (news, bio, voting record).

Democrats on the panel acknowledged the contracts were signed during Clinton's last term. But they faulted Bush administration officials at the Interior Department for not correcting the contracts when the error was brought to their attention several years later.

"What we want to know is what this administration is going to do to fix this mistake," said Democratic Rep. Ed Markey.

The Interior Department has reached new lease terms with half a dozen oil companies to begin paying royalties on their oil discoveries going forward, but not any past royalties.

About 40 oil companies have yet to sign new contracts.

Markey criticized the department for not supporting legislation that would require oil companies with the disputed leases to negotiate new terms and pay back royalties.

Devaney, the Interior Department's inspector general, said there was plenty of blame to go around.

"I would say mistakes were made in both administrations," he said.

"Although we found massive finger-pointing and blame enough to go around, we did not find a 'smoking gun' or any evidence that the omission of price thresholds was deliberate," Devaney said.

According to these guys, God is a Pig!
Conservative Anglican leaders snub liberal U.S. bishop

By Katie Nguyen Fri Feb 16, 1:48 PM ET

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Seven conservative Anglican archbishops refused to take communion with the head of the U.S. branch of the church on Friday, in protest at her pro-gay stance in a row pushing the Church toward schism.

"This deliberate action is a poignant reminder of the brokenness of the Anglican Communion," said a statement posted on the Web site of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola.

"We are unable to take the Holy Table with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church because to do so would be a violation of the traditional Anglican teaching," it said.

The archbishops behind the move to snub U.S. presiding bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori at this week's Anglican meeting in Tanzania came from Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Their action highlights the disarray in the Anglican union of 38 self-governing churches as traditionalists in poorer countries -- where congregations are growing -- challenge the declining churches in the rich West.

The group said its boycott of holy communion with Jefferts Schori was to "declare that our relationship is either broken or impaired," in a sign the divisive issue of homosexuality may yet force a formal split among the world's 77 million Anglicans.

Jefferts Schori, the first female leader of the small but powerful U.S. Episcopal Church, has shown no sign of bowing to pressure from conservatives to denounce the consecration of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in 2003.

An aide said she would continue to listen carefully to the concerns of her fellow primates despite the slight against her.

Jefferts Schori's refusal to back down has infuriated conservatives including Akinola, who heads the second largest province after the Church of England with 17.5 million members and is one of the fiercest Anglican critics of gay rights.

He has called homosexuality "an aberration unknown even in animal relationships," a view prevalent in Africa where gay relations are often taboo, or, as in the case of Tanzania, punishable with a jail sentence.

African Anglicans have criticized liberal trends, fearing they will lose followers to Islam and more conservative Christian denominations.

COVENANT

It is the second time senior Anglicans have sidelined the leader of the liberal U.S. church in recent years. Several primates refused to take communion alongside Frank Griswold, Jefferts Schori's predecessor at their last meeting in 2005.

The snub came a day after Anglican primates cloistered in an Indian Ocean beachfront hotel were presented with a report that said the U.S. church had made steps to address criticism for backing the Robinson elevation and same sex unions.

The assessment angered conservatives who say it was too soft on the Episcopal Church, which has become increasingly isolated in the long-simmering row.

Most archbishops in Africa, home to more than half the world's Anglicans, say ordaining gay clergy flouts Biblical commands. But, liberals argue the Anglican church in its 450 years of history has traditionally embraced diverse views.

Global reactions to pro-gay US Anglican Bishop.
U.S. pro-gay bishop attends Anglican meeting

By Katie Nguyen Wed Feb 14, 9:47 AM ET

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The Anglican Church's spiritual leader on Wednesday defended the presence of a pro-gay U.S. bishop at a summit to prevent schism over homosexuality, despite pressure from conservatives to have her banned.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who admits he fears losing control over the row dividing the world's 77 million Anglicans, has insisted Katharine Jefferts Schori meet her critics face to face.

But he also appeased traditionalists, who have threatened to refuse to sit at the same table as the Episcopalians' first female leader, by inviting conservative U.S. church leaders to the private meeting that opened in Tanzania on Wednesday.

"Her presence is absolute. There's no question about her presence -- that's actually what the archbishop said," Jim Rosenthal, director of communications of the Anglican Communion, told reporters.

"She's here because she's the elected primate of the American church and there's no expectation she's not going to be here for the rest of the time," he added.

Williams has been fighting for years to avert schism in the loose global union of 38 churches whose festering division over homosexual priests and same-sex marriages reached near revolt by the burgeoning Global South with the appointment of openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson in 2003.

The Tanzania meeting promises to be the most fractious meeting yet between the small but powerful liberal U.S. church and conservatives in developing countries, where archbishops have wielded more power since the Anglican Communion's center of gravity shifted south.

The Global South group of African, Asian and Latin American countries may this week recommend to Williams that the U.S. church appoint a moderator to rival Jefferts Schori.

The issue may come up for discussion when three American bishops -- a hard-line conservative, a moderate conservative and a liberal -- meet the Anglican primates on Thursday to express their different views on topics including sexuality.

In a sign of the malaise within the Anglican Communion, at least 45 parishes have left the Episcopal Church, where congregations are dwindling, and aligned themselves with African dioceses.

Most archbishops in Africa, home to more than half the world's Anglicans, denounce homosexuality as sinful and regard the ordination of gay clergy as a violation of centuries old Anglican teaching.

They have called on the U.S. church to repent its ways and some may skip communion with Jefferts Schori at a special Eucharist in Zanzibar on Sunday.

Liberals argue the Anglican Church in its 450 years of history has traditionally embraced diverse views.

From Socially Relevant comedy writer in the seventies, to The US Senate?
Comedian Al Franken makes Minnesota Senate bid

2 hours, 8 minutes ago

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Comedian and political commentator Al Franken said on Wednesday he will seek the Democratic nomination to run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Minnesota Republican Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record).

The 55-year-old Harvard graduate, in an announcement posted on his Web site, said, "I'm not a typical politician (but) nothing means more to me than making government work better for the working families of this state."

Franken gained national fame as a performer and Emmy-winning writer on the NBC comedy show "Saturday Night Live" and also is a best-selling author.

He likely will face several other would-be candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Franken's announcement coincided with his last day as an on-air commentator for Air America, a radio network he helped launch in 2004 as a voice for the political left. He said his contact with the people of Minnesota, where he grew up and still lives, show "they're sick of politics as usual and they're sick of the usual politicians."

God makes doing the right thing a struggle so when we finally do it, we become it!
Portugal votes on legalizing abortion

By Axel Bugge Sun Feb 11, 5:58 AM ET

LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese voters were deciding on Sunday whether to legalize abortion in a referendum which could bring the overwhelmingly Catholic country closer into line with most other European states.


Opinion polls showed a majority of voters support making abortion legal in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. But rain swept the country as voting began, raising the possibility of a low turnout which could make the ballot invalid.

"The 'Yes' is surely going to win, I have no doubts about that," said Rui Oliveira Costa, a pollster from Eurosondagem.

But voting was slow on Sunday morning. If the turnout is lower than 50 percent, the vote will be invalidated, as was case in a similar referendum in 1998 when only 32 percent of the electorate turned out.

"Whether voter turnout will be above 50 percent depends on some factors, namely meteorology," Costa said.

Voting in the Iberian country of 10 million people was due to end at 1900 GMT.

Portugal is among a small group of European countries, including Ireland and Poland, which still ban abortions. It allows pregnancies to be terminated only in cases of rape, a deformed fetus or if the woman's health is at risk.

Women who are caught performing abortions can go to jail for up to three years although most trials have ended in suspended sentences or acquittals.

TRADITION OR CHANGE?

Traditional Catholics fear their values will be undermined if abortion becomes legal. Liberals, led by the urban young, hope Portugal will end an abortion ban which they see as antiquated.

The "Yes" campaign to legalize abortion has focused on an estimated 23,000 clandestine abortions every year, which Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates has called "Portugal's most shameful wound."

Supporters say legalizing abortion would end back-street abortions and allow women proper treatment.

Catholic leaders have voiced concerns that a legalization of abortion could roll back other traditional values in Portugal, which is western Europe's poorest country.

Those campaigning against the referendum have said a vote in favor of lifting the ban will increase the number of abortions, raise state health costs and give momentum to easing other laws such as gay marriage.

Voters are answering the question: "Do you agree with the decriminalization of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, in the first 10 weeks, in a legally authorized health establishment?"

"O Virgin Mary, mother of God, do not allow these people that have always been faithful to forget you at this time," a Catholic priest prayed on Saturday before almost 1,000 people at a Mass in Lisbon's huge Jeronimo's monastery church.

But on the other side of town, along the narrow, bar-filled streets of Lisbon's trendy Bairro Alto neighborhood, Fernanda Ribeiro, 30, was confident. "I'm sure we will win," she said, drinking beer outside a bar.

Free Expression vrs fear of law suits and los of endowment moneys, etc.
Blackface, KKK costumes criticized

1 hour, 35 minutes ago

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A party that asked students to come dressed "politically incorrect" has prompted an investigation by Macalester College officials who learned one student was costumed as a Ku Klux Klan member and another wore blackface with a noose around his neck.

Students at the private school told administrators about the Jan. 16 party on campus.

"My initial reaction was shock," said Paul Maitland-McKinley, a member of the Black Liberation Affairs Committee, a student group. "I thought, this can't really happen on my campus."

A campus-wide discussion is planned for Tuesday.

"We hope we can start a deeper dialogue on ... why these types of activities hurt people and why they get the kind of response they do," said Jim Hoppe, the school's associate dean of students.

The student newspaper, The Mac Weekly, quoted senior David Nifoussi, who attended the party, as saying it was meant to be a satiric comment on "things that would be considered taboo in most situations" at the liberal school.

Macalester is the latest in a series of colleges to investigate student parties and incidents that have involved racial overtones.

Earlier this school year, Trinity College and Whitman College had parties where students showed up in racially offensive costumes or blackface. At Texas A&M University, students made a racist video that apparently was intended as satire, and a fraternity at Johns Hopkins University was suspended after a "Halloween in the Hood" party displayed a fake skeleton hanging from a noose.

The Macalester party was held a week before spring classes started and did not draw a large crowd, Hoppe said.

Macalester President Brian Rosenberg sent a statement to students, faculty and staff members condemning the offensive costumes and party theme.

"It is important to understand that the college condemns and will not tolerate activities of this type," he wrote. "It is deeply disappointing that Macalester students would be so insensitive and demonstrate such a lack of understanding of the college's values and mission."

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On the Net:

Macalester: http://www.macalester.edu/

Mac Weekly: http://www.themacweekly.com/

(SUBS lead to correct that party was on campus sted off.)

It's impossible to list all reasons this is funny here, but try to come up with three on your own...
Vietnamese voters at epicenter of O.C. political earthquake
With just 7 ballots separating them, Trung Nguyen and Janet Nguyen take nearly half of those cast for supervisor. They relied on ethnic loyalties and the absentee vote.
By Christian Berthelsen and Dave McKibben, Times Staff Writers
February 10, 2007


The two Republicans named Nguyen entered the race for a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors as blips on the establishment's screen: He an obscure school board member, she a neophyte councilwoman.

Against them stood candidates anointed by the Republican and Democratic machines — as well as the wisdom that in immigrant-rich central Orange County, party loyalties won elections.

When the votes for the 1st District race were tallied this week, the Nguyens, who are not related, had easily eclipsed the two favorites by shrewdly courting ethnic loyalties and the absentee vote.

Between them, the two bitter rivals won nearly half of the 46,000 votes cast in the Tuesday special election, with Trung Nguyen defeating Janet Nguyen by just seven ballots. She has asked for a recount. But whoever prevails will be Orange County's first Vietnamese American supervisor, demonstrating the emergence of Vietnamese political power.

"There was a major political earthquake in central Orange County this week," said Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Garden Grove), who became California's highest-ranking Vietnamese American official when he was elected to the Legislature two years ago.

The strong showing by two Vietnamese candidates is further indication that the stereotype of Orange County as an all-white, wealthy, image-conscious community is not accurate, said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. He called the county "wonderfully pluralistic."

"It's not playing by the usual playbook, which is: Minorities tend to vote Democratic," he said. "This is not your father's Orange County."

Trung Nguyen, 49, a lawyer and member of the Garden Grove school board, and Janet Nguyen, 30, a first-term Garden Grove city councilwoman, campaigned as conservatives who promised to crack down on illegal immigration in a district where Latinos make up nearly a third of registered voters.

The split between Republicans and Democrats is nearly even in the district, which includes Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster

"All candidates should know by now they can't win an election around here without the support of the Vietnamese community," said Lan Nguyen, president of the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Trustees and no relation to either candidate, who supported Trung Nguyen. He called the election a milestone for the county's Vietnamese community.

Political operatives and observers were surprised by the extent to which ethnic identity played a role in voters' decisions.

Janet Nguyen said the election showed that Vietnamese voters "understand the political philosophy that every vote counts," adding: "They are now entering American politics."

Vietnamese comprise just a quarter of the registered voters in the 1st District, but they cast roughly half the absentee ballots — in an election where about 75% of the votes were cast by absentees. Both Nguyen campaigns, correctly predicting an anemic election day turnout (22.4%), focused their efforts on reaching absentee voters.

Trung Nguyen operative Saulo Londono said the campaign contacted every absentee voter six to 10 times.

Orange County now has 10 elected Vietnamese American officeholders on city councils, school boards, a county water district and in the Assembly.

"Ethnic voting is a long-established pattern in American politics," Pitney said. "As the Vietnamese community has matured, it's logical they'd exercise their voting strength."

He said most Vietnamese vote Republican for reasons ranging from anti-communism to anti-abortion sentiment. "Just as Cubans are the most strongly Republican Latino community, the Vietnamese are the most strongly Republican Asian Community," Pitney said.

Tran is credited with spearheading the local Vietnamese political surge. In Tuesday's election, Tran threw his political machine behind Trung Nguyen. Tran said the Nguyens' strong showing will likely give rise to more, qualified Vietnamese candidates.

In this week's election, the Nguyens each took 24.1% of the vote. The union-backed Democratic favorite, Tom Umberg, a former assemblyman and Clinton administration official, finished third with 21.4%, while the anointed Republican, Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante, was fourth with 16.5%.

Compared with the Nguyens, the other candidates paid little attention to absentee voters. Latino voters, considered natural constituents of Bustamante and Umberg, returned fewer than 4,000 absentee ballots, or 12% of the total absentees.


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Some blogs from around the Mideast

By The Associated Press Fri Feb 9, 2:23 PM ET

Some blogs in the Middle East:
ADVERTISEMENT

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EGYPT:

• http://misrdigital.blogspirit.com Arabic-language blog by democracy activist Wael Abbas. Has been instrumental in bringing attention to police torture and sexual attacks on women, publishing videotaped accounts of both in recent months.

• http://karam903.blogspot.com Arabic blog by Abdel Kareem Nabil, on trial for allegedly insulting Islam and causing sectarian strife with Internet writings critical of Islamic institutions in Egypt.

• http://www.manalla.net Arabic and English political blog by husband and wife team, Alaa Abdel-Fattah and Manal Hassan. Abdel-Fattah held six weeks last year after being arrested during rally at Cairo court in support of other detained democracy activists.

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SYRIA:

• http://saroujah.blogspot.com English blog by Sasa Kajam. Called
Syria News Wire, says it features "independent news from the streets of Syria and Lebanon."

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SAUDI ARABIA:

• http://saudijeans.blogspot.com English blog by Ahmed al-Omran, pharmacy student who writes about politics, social issues and trends.

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IRAN:

• http://hamedmottaghi.blogfa.com Farsi blog by Hamed Mottaghi, freelance journalist who lives in holy city of Qom and writes about human rights, culture and other social issues.

• http://www.kosoof.com Farsi photo blog that publishes pictures of Iranian dissidents with their families after release from prison.

(Both Iranian blogs were awarded Reporters Without Borders prize during 2006 Deutsche Welle International Weblog Awards for taking strong stands on freedom of information.)

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BAHRAIN:

• http://mahmood.tv English blog by Mahmood al-Yousif, Bahraini businessman who writes about politics, human rights and daily life on Persian Gulf island kingdom.

• http://www.mideastyouth.com; http://www.mefaith.com; http://www.inter-iman.com Run by Esra'a al-Shafei, first two are in English, third in Arabic. Focus on bringing together voices from across region, including
Israel and
Iran, to discuss politics, gender and religion.