http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070327/sc_space/bizarrehexagonspottedonsaturn ...check out links
Bizarre Hexagon Spotted on Saturn

SPACE.com Tue Mar 27, 1:30 PM ET

One of the most bizarre weather patterns known has been photographed at Saturn, where astronomers have spotted a huge, six-sided feature circling the north pole.

Rather than the normally sinuous cloud structures seen on all planets that have atmospheres, this thing is a hexagon.

The honeycomb-like feature has been seen before. NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged it more than two decades ago. Now, having spotted it with the Cassini spacecraft, scientists conclude it is a long-lasting oddity.

"This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides," said Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We've never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn's thick atmosphere, where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate, is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."

The hexagon is nearly 15,000 miles (25,000 kilometers) across. Nearly four Earths could fit inside it. The thermal imagery shows the hexagon extends about 60 miles (100 kilometers) down into the clouds.

At Saturn's south pole, Cassini recently spotted a freaky human eye-like feature that resembles a hurricane.

"It's amazing to see such striking differences on opposite ends of Saturn's poles," said Bob Brown, team leader of the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer at the University of Arizona. "At the south pole we have what appears to be a hurricane with a giant eye, and at the north pole of Saturn we have this geometric feature, which is completely different."

The hexagon appears to have remained fixed with Saturn's rotation rate and axis since first glimpsed by Voyager 26 years ago. The actual rotation rate of Saturn is still uncertain, which means nobody knows exactly how long the planet's day is.

"Once we understand its dynamical nature, this long-lived, deep-seated polar hexagon may give us a clue to the true rotation rate of the deep atmosphere and perhaps the interior," Baines said.

* Video: The Hexagon on Saturn
* Wildest Weather in the Galaxy
* Earth's Weirdest Weather

* Original Story: Bizarre Hexagon Spotted on Saturn

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"Tuesdays with Cheney..."
Bush serves jokes at broadcasters dinner

By ANN SANNER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - Tell us, Mr. President, how have things changed since the last broadcasters' dinner?
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"A year ago my approval rating was in the 30s, my nominee for the Supreme Court had just withdrawn, and my vice president had shot someone,"
President Bush said Wednesday night during the annual gathering.

"Ah," he said, "those were the good ol' days."

In keeping with the lighthearted traditions of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner, Bush poked fun at himself and a few others in remarks that drew laughter and applause at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

Bush thanked the organization for providing dinner, "and I'd like to thank Senator Webb for providing security."

Virginia's Democratic senator, Jim Webb, had to explain this week why an aide was carrying a loaded handgun as he tried to enter a Capitol complex building.

Noting that Vice President
Dick Cheney was not in attendance, Bush said: "He's had a rough few weeks. To be honest, his feelings were kind of hurt. He said he was going on vacation to
Afghanistan where people like him."

Cheney's recent trip to Afghanistan was marked by a bombing near where he was meeting with officials.

On the controversy over the Justice Department's firing of eight federal prosecutors, Bush said: "I have to admit we really blew the way we let those attorneys go. You know you've botched it when people sympathize with lawyers."

Acknowledging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., at the head table, Bush said some had wondered how he'd get along with her. "Some say she's bossy, she's opinionated, she's not to be crossed," he said. "Hey, I get along with my mother."

Looking ahead to life after leaving the White House, Bush said he might follow
President Clinton's lead and produce a memoir.

"I'm thinking of something really fun and creative for mine," he said. "You know, maybe a pop-up book."

Possible titles: "How W. Got His Groove Back," "Who Moved My Presidency?" and "Tuesday with Cheney."

But seriously, folks, Bush noted that another person missing from the audience of broadcast journalists was Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), the Illinois Democrat running for president.

"Not enough press," the president cracked.

Comics from the TV show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" provided the professional humor. Among other things, they persuaded Bush political adviser Karl Rove to participate in an improvised rap song.

The black-tie dinner, the group's 63rd annual gathering of journalists, politicians and their guests, features political and topical humor.

Power does not always assume Privilege.
China warns officials on family planning

Thu Mar 29, 12:38 AM ET

BEIJING - Communist Party officials in China's most populous province have been told they will not be promoted if they have more children than the law allows, state media said.

China's family planning policy — implemented in the late 1970s — limits urban couples to one child and rural families to two to control the population and conserve natural resources.

In Henan in central China, the provincial Communist Party boss warned party officials they would be banned from serving as department leaders or earning promotions if they had more children than they were allowed, the Xinhua News Agency reported late Wednesday.

"Any mistake in population work would have an irreversible impact on the rise of central China. We must make a low birth rate the top priority in our population and family planning work," Xu Guangchun was quoted as saying.

Henan, which has more people than Germany, has vowed to keep its population to 101 million by 2010 and 107 million by 2020, Xinhua said.

Population control laws vary from province to province in China, with some allowing couples who are both single children themselves to have a second child, but Xinhua said Henan does not.

China has 1.3 billion people — 20 percent of the world's population. The government has pledged to keep the population under 1.36 billion by 2010 and under 1.45 billion by 2020.

Evidence of cops' efforts to leave no witnesses...?
New arrest made in NYPD shooting

By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer 54 minutes ago

NEW YORK - A man has been accused of trying to discourage a last-minute witness from testifying before a grand jury that was investigating the police shooting of a bridegroom on his wedding day.

Melvin Cordero, 46, was arrested Wednesday and was awaiting arraignment on charges of intimidating a witness and other offenses, Queens district attorney's office spokesman Kevin Ryan said.

Authorities said Cordero was a supervisor for a cleaning service that employed the witness, whose identity was not disclosed. They allege Cordero repeatedly warned the witness he might be deported if he got involved in the case, which has sparked community outrage.

The witness appeared at the end of the grand jury probe into last year's fatal police shooting by five officers of 23-year-old Sean Bell outside a strip club. Two of Bell's friends were wounded.

"This office will not tolerate the intimidation of, or tampering with, witnesses and is committed to the vigorous prosecution of those who engage in such conduct," District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement.

The district attorney's spokesman did not have the name of Cordero's attorney, and there was no home telephone number listed for Cordero.

Earlier this month, the two officers who fired the most rounds were indicted on manslaughter charges. A third was charged with a misdemeanor for a bullet that struck an elevated train station across the street where the witness was working the morning of the shooting, authorities said.

Union representatives and lawyers for the officers have said their clients, who were conducting an undercover investigation at a strip club, became convinced Bell and his friends were going to retrieve a gun from a car after overhearing them argue with another patron. No gun was found.

When one of the officers approached the car, it lurched forward and bumped him, then twice rammed into an unmarked police minivan as bullets flew, police said.

...under the heading, "Boys and Their Toys!"
Base tests latest Army concept vehicles

By MELANTHIA MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 35 minutes ago

SEATTLE - Taking a page from auto manufacturers, the Army has rolled out several concept vehicles it hopes will help spawn new technologies for the next generation.

The two utility trucks and two maneuver sustainment vehicles are part of a $60 million Army program to modernize military tactical vehicles like the Humvee and the Hemmet, the Army's large transport truck. They are to be used strictly for demonstration and aren't likely to go into production, Army officials said.

The trucks, which arrived at Fort Lewis earlier this month, were tested Wednesday by soldiers with the 14th Battalion and the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.

"We've given them to the soldiers to play with them and try to break 'em," said Tim Connor, a Defense Department contractor based at Fort Lewis who is overseeing the project.

All four trucks are equipped with remote weapons systems, night-vision capabilities and diesel-electric hybrid engines. They also include ballistics glass, video cameras and touch-screen controls.

The Army wants to explore such technology for future use on aging vehicles like the Humvee, which doesn't have enough power or protection to carry out today's military missions.

"What we're running with now has become antiquated," Connor said.

The quieter hybrid system would be especially useful during combat missions, Connor said.

"If you want to sneak up on someone, you turn on the electric ... which also boosts the horsepower," he said.

Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp., Warrenville, Ill.-based International Military and Government LLC and Jacksonville, Fla.-based Armor Holdings Inc. built the concept trucks, called joint light tactical vehicles.

Connor said the two utility variant vehicles are comparable to a Humvee, but are heavily armored, have bigger wheels and — like the other concept trucks — are designed to sustain a blast from beneath the carriage.

The larger maneuver sustainment vehicles have a robotic crane capable of lifting 13 tons of cargo. They also have a companion trailer with its own motor so it can be operated independently of the truck, Connor said.

"As big as they are and as heavy as they are ... when they hit dips in the road you hardly feel it," he said.

After testing them on gravel roads Wednesday, soldiers used the vehicles to move container-sized metal platforms, utilizing the crane to lift one end of the platform, then roll it on and off the truck. The test simulates supply drops at an airfield, Army officials said.

The trucks were then driven through large puddles of water that would intimidate most passenger cars.

The demo trucks will remain at the post south of Tacoma through April. The Marine Corps plans its own tests of the vehicles during the last two weeks of April, and then they will go on display at the
Pentagon, Connor said.

What happens when the Church (any religion) keeps people down to keep them!
Catholic-Muslim turf war still resonates at Cordoba cathedral
The scuffle over La Mezquita is echoed throughout Spain these days as members of each faith tests the other's tolerance.
By Tracy Wilkinson, Times Staff Writer
March 28, 2007

CORDOBA, SPAIN — Mansur Escudero knew the answer before he asked.

Approaching the guard at Cordoba's majestic once-a-mosque, now-a-cathedral, Escudero posed the question: May I say Muslim prayers inside?

The slightly startled Spanish guard gave an emphatic no. This is a Catholic church, he said, and as such it is absolutely prohibited to pray in any other faith. Escudero persisted, but the guard was firm.

This is a cathedral, the guard repeated, growing more agitated: "A CA-THO-LIC CHURCH."

The 1,200-year-old architectural wonder that is one of Spain's most renowned landmarks is at the center of a turf war over religious space, cultural recognition and rivalries that are both ancient and contemporary.

Known as La Mezquita in Spanish and the Great Mosque in English, its spectacular forest of striped arches and jasper-and-marble columns constitutes one of ancient Islam's most iconic legacies. But La Mezquita has served as a consecrated Catholic church for nearly 800 years — ever since Spain's Catholic monarchs ejected Islamic forces that had ruled most of the Iberian Peninsula for more than five centuries.

The scuffle over La Mezquita is echoed throughout Spain these days as members of each faith tests the other's tolerance in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country with a fast-growing Muslim minority. Tensions were further inflamed when Islamic militants blew up commuter trains in Madrid three years ago, killing nearly 200 people.

The dispute has special resonance in Cordoba, an Andalusian crossroads that beginning more than a millennium ago was the capital of Moorish Spain and one of the Western world's greatest centers of intellectual and artistic culture.

Some of today's Muslims may long for Islam's glorious past, but Mansur Escudero insists he just wants a place to pray.

"We could be an example for the world," he said, "awakening the consciences of both Christians and Muslims and showing it's possible to put aside past conflicts."

Inspired by the pope

Escudero, a Spaniard who converted to Islam 28 years ago, has been fighting to gain prayer rights here for much of his life. He decided to try again, inspired by the journey to Istanbul last fall of Pope Benedict XVI, who stood alongside an imam in that Turkish city's famous Blue Mosque, faced Mecca and prayed.

Escudero and the Islamic Council of Spain that he heads took the case straight to the Vatican, writing the pope to suggest that the site in Cordoba become a "singular and unique ecumenical space" in which both Christians and Muslims could pray.

The pope did not write back.

However, the bishop of Cordoba, Juan Jose Asenjo, was more than happy to respond. Far from fostering peace, he said, the sharing of places of worship would only "generate confusion" among the faithful.

The stone compound that embraces the cathedral, with courtyards and fragrant orange trees, abuts Cordoba's old Jewish Quarter, testament to a community that flourished and lived in relative peace under the Muslim caliphate. A few narrow, winding streets away is one of only three medieval synagogues that have survived in Spain.

Muslims are not allowed to pray inside the Great Mosque, with its ornate, golden mihrab, or prayer niche, that points to Mecca. But Catholics can attend Mass every day. On a recent Sunday, soon after Escudero made his quixotic pitch to the guard, Cordoba's clerics donned purple robes and led a morning service for about 50 parishioners.

There is something a bit incongruous about a Catholic Mass inside what still looks like a mosque: a life-size crucifix hangs under a horseshoe-shaped Moorish arch; arches also frame the priests' red velvet chairs.

Christian elements were added as a church was in effect erected inside the mosque during the 16th to 18th centuries, including giant mahogany choir stalls and altars, numerous gated chapels along the walls, Gothic crosses and a baroque bishop's throne.

On this particular Sunday, perfumed smoke floated from silver censers toward the cathedral's vaulted ceilings while parishioners recited the Lord's Prayer and took Communion.


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Pathetic! Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was cleared to be installed on the Texas Supreme Court!
Aide: Prosecutors fired over priorities

By LAURIE KELLMAN and LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writers 11 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Eight federal prosecutors were fired last year because they did not sufficiently support
President Bush's priorities, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff says in remarks prepared for delivery to Congress on Thursday.

Separately, the Justice Department admitted Wednesday it gave senators inaccurate information about the firings and presidential political adviser Karl Rove's role in trying to secure a U.S. attorney's post for one of his former aides, Tim Griffin.

In a letter accompanying new documents sent to the House and Senate Judiciary committees, Justice officials acknowledged that a Feb. 23 letter to four Democratic senators erred in asserting that the department was not aware of any role Rove played in the decision to appoint Griffin to replace U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark.

Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, in remarks obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, spoke dismissively of Democrats' condemnation of what they call political pressure in the firings.

"The distinction between 'political' and 'performance-related' reasons for removing a United States attorney is, in my view, largely artificial," he said. "A U.S. attorney who is unsuccessful from a political perspective ... is unsuccessful."

Democrats have described the firings as an "intimidation by purge" and a warning to remaining U.S. attorneys to fall in line with Bush's priorities. Political pressure, Democrats say, can skew the judgment of prosecutors when deciding whom to investigate and which indictments to pursue.

Sampson, who resigned this month because of the furor over the firings, is to testify Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In his prepared testimony, he maintained that adherence to the priorities of the president and attorney general was a legitimate standard.

"Presidential appointees are judged not only on their professional skills but also their management abilities, their relationships with law enforcement and other governmental leaders and their support for the priorities of the president and the attorney general," Sampson said.

He strongly denied Democrats' allegations that some of the prosecutors were dismissed for pursuing Republicans too much and Democrats not enough in corruption cases.

"To my knowledge, nothing of the sort occurred here," he said.

The White House said it will withhold comment on Sampson's testimony until he testifies.

In a letter accompanying documents sent to lawmakers on Wednesday, Acting Assistant Attorney General Richard Hertling said that certain statements in last month's letter to Democratic lawmakers appeared to be "contradicted by department documents included in our production."

The Feb. 23 letter, which was written by Sampson but signed by Hertling, emphatically stated that "the department is not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the decision to appoint Mr. Griffin." It also said that "the
Department of Justice is not aware of anyone lobbying, either inside or outside of the administration, for Mr. Griffin's appointment."

Those assertions are contradicted by e-mails from Sampson to White House aide Christopher G. Oprison on Dec. 19, 2006, about a strategy to deal with senators' opposition to Griffin's appointment. In the e-mail, Sampson says there is a risk that senators might balk and repeal the attorney general's newly won broader authority to appoint U.S. attorneys.

"I'm not 100 percent sure that Tim was the guy on which to test drive this authority, but know that getting him appointed was important to Harriet, Karl, etc.," Sampson wrote. Former White House counsel Harriet Miers was among the first people to suggest Griffin as a replacement for Cummins.

In his written testimony to the Senate committee, Sampson also refers to the White House role in the firings, beginning with the quickly rejected idea of replacing all 93 U.S. attorneys after the 2004 election. He said he periodically provided to the White House over two years updated lists of U.S. attorneys whose dismissals were under consideration.

Sampson's testimony Thursday is voluntary, though committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) told reporters he has kept a signed subpoena in case Gonzales' chief of staff backed out.

There was no indication of that happening. In his remarks, Sampson said he was pleased to appear and pledged to stay as long as necessary.

Nothing will stop the investigation, Leahy said Wednesday — not even Gonzales' resignation.

"In case anybody's thinking of shortchanging it that way, I have a message for them: We'll finish this investigation before we'll have any confirmation hearings for a new attorney general," said Leahy, D-Vt. "I want to know what the facts were."

The developments reflect the fragile hold Gonzales has on his job and the escalating tensions between Democrats in Congress and Bush over any testimony by White House aides and documents related to the firings.

Leahy indicated Gonzales' credibility had suffered from repeated attempts to explain contradictions between his account of his involvement in the firings and e-mails released by his department that suggest he may have done more than sign off on them.

"You can only do, 'What I really meant to say,' three or four or five or six times," Leahy said sarcastically. "Then people tend not to believe it."

Sampson said in his testimony that any inconsistencies were innocent mistakes.

"This is a benign rather than sinister story," he said.

Gonzales has refused to resign over the firings and the Justice Department's bungled response to questions about them from Congress. For now, he retains Bush's support — though the president has put the onus on Gonzales for resolving lawmakers' questions.

"I'm traveling a bumpy road these days," Gonzales said Wednesday during a brief lunch speech to about 1,000 members of the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

In another sign that the saga was far from over,
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (news, bio, voting record) has signed a contract with the law firm Arnold & Porter worth up to $225,000 through the end of the year to help with the investigation.

Republicans said the contract, which was first reported by The Washington Times, was evidence Democrats were willing to invest taxpayer money in efforts to conduct political investigations of the administration.

There are too many sad ironies here to make a comment!
Arab lesbians hold rare public meeting

By DIAA HADID, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 36 minutes ago

HAIFA, Israel - Arab lesbians quietly defied Islamist protesters and a social taboo to gather at a rare public event Wednesday in a northern Israeli city.

Many of the attendees said they were sad that the only place safe enough to hold a conference for gay Arab women was in a Jewish area of Haifa, which has a mixed Arab-Jewish population.
Israel's Jewish majority is generally tolerant of homosexuality

"This conference is being held, somehow, in exile, even though it's our country," said Yussef Abu Warda, a playwright.

Driven deep underground for the most part, only 10 to 20 Arab lesbians attended the conference, organizers said. Most blended in with Israeli lesbians and heterosexual Arab female supporters without making their presence known.

"We'd like all women to come out of the closet — that's our role. We work for them," said Samira, 31, a conference organizer who came with her Jewish Israeli girlfriend. Samira agreed to be identified only by her first name for fear of reprisals.

Outside the conference hall, 20 women protesters in headscarves and long, loose robes held up signs reading, "God, we ask you to guide these lesbians to the true path."

Security was tight. Attendance was by invitation only, and reporters were not allowed to take photographs, use tape recorders or identify people.

Israel's secular metropolis, Tel Aviv, is home to a thriving gay community. Jerusalem, with its large proportion of Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox Jews, is strongly anti-gay.

Homosexuality, which is strictly forbidden by Islam, is considered taboo among most of Israel's Arab citizens, who make up 20 percent of the country's population.

Poetry readings, music and Arab women rappers entertained the conference, called "Home and Exile in Queer Experience," organized by Aswat, an organization for Arab lesbians with members in Israel, the
West Bank and
Gaza Strip.

"We are here to say they (Arab lesbians) are not alone," said Rawda Morcos, Aswat's spokeswoman, one of a tiny minority of Arab women who are openly gay.

Morcos said her car was vandalized repeatedly and she received threatening phone calls at her family home after her village in northern Israel found out she was a lesbian.

Even rapper Nahwa Abdul Aal, who performed for the gathering, didn't support it.

"Being at this conference hasn't changed my mind," she said. "I still think it's wrong."

Samira, who has a dozen brothers and sisters, said she told a sibling she was gay two years ago. The news quickly spread among the family, and her 70-year-old mother fell into a depression, begging her daughter to change her ways.

But she eventually accepted her daughter's homosexuality "in her own way," by packing large boxes of food for Samira whenever she came to visit.

"My mother said, 'take the food, for you and your girlfriend'," Samira recalled, agreeing to be identified only by her first name for fear of reprisals.

Some of her family never came around. A pregnant sister told Samira she would "never touch her children."

___

On the Web: http://www.aswatgroup.org/english/

Reinforcing Dark Age superstition is worse than sheltering child molesters, it's about POWER!
Nun in late pope's beatification named

9 minutes ago

Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre is the French nun whose testimony of a mystery cure from Parkinson's disease will likely be accepted as the miracle the Vatican needs to beatify Pope John Paul II, an official at the Paris maternity hospital where she works said Wednesday.

The identity of the nun has been one of the Catholic Church's most closely guarded secrets. The nun says that she was cured of Parkinson's after she and her community of nuns prayed to John Paul.

The nun, a member of the "Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood" in Aix-en-Provence in southeast France, works at the Sainte-Felicite hospital in Paris, the official said on condition of anonymity because an official announcement was expected Sunday.

In Rome, Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Polish cleric spearheading the John Paul's beatification cause, said the bishop in the woman's diocese would announce details about her case during his Palm Sunday Mass this weekend.

French newspaper Le Figaro, in an unsourced report late Wednesday on its Web site, first identified the nun by name, saying she was 45 years old.

The nun is traveling to Rome for ceremonies Monday marking the second anniversary of the pontiff's death and the closure of a church investigation into his life which began after chants of "Santo Subito!" or "Sainthood Now!" erupted during John Paul's 2005 funeral.

The Vatican's saint-making process requires that John Paul's life and writings be studied for its virtues. The Vatican also requires that a miracle attributed to his intercession be confirmed, before he can be beatified — the last formal step before possible sainthood.

Pope Benedict XVI announced in May 2005 that he was waiving the traditional five-year waiting period and allowing the beatification process to begin. There is still no word on when any beatification or canonization might occur.

Only one document about the long-mysterious nun's experience has been made public: an article she wrote for "Totus Tuus," the official magazine of John Paul's beatification case.

She wrote of being diagnosed with Parkinson's in June 2001, having a strong spiritual affinity for John Paul because he too suffered from the disease and suffering worsened symptoms in the weeks after the pope died on April 2, 2005.

The nuns of her community prayed for her, and exactly two months after the pontiff's death, she awoke in the middle of the night cured, she wrote.

We don't care where you go, Yankee, but get the fuck out of Dodge, and Grow Up!
Militants attack Iraqi, U.S. forces with chlorine bombs

Wed Mar 28, 8:26 AM ET

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - Insurgents with two chlorine truck bombs attacked a local government building in Falluja in western
Iraq on Wednesday, the latest in a string of attacks using the poisonous gas, the U.S. military said.

It said 15 Iraqi and U.S. soldiers were wounded in the blasts and many more suffered chlorine poisoning.

"Numerous Iraqi soldiers and policemen are being treated for symptoms such as labored breathing, nausea, skin irritation and vomiting that are synonymous with chlorine inhalation," a U.S. statement said.

It said no Iraqi or U.S. forces were killed in what it called a "complex attack" using mortars and small arms as well as the truck bombs.

Chlorine gas was widely used in World War One but its use in insurgent attacks in Iraq has particular resonance there.
Saddam Hussein attacked Kurdish areas with chemical weapons in the 1980s during the
Iran-Iraq war.

Earlier Iraqi police said two car bombs exploded near an Iraqi checkpoint outside a U.S. military base in Falluja, killing eight Iraqi soldiers.

U.S. spokesman Lieutenant Shawn Mercer said the U.S. statement referred to the same incident but he could not confirm the deaths of the Iraqi policemen.

"Iraqi police identified the first suicide attacker and fired on the truck, causing it to detonate before reaching the compound," the U.S. statement said.

"Iraqi Army soldiers spotted the second suicide truck approaching the gate and engaged it with small arms fire, causing it to also detonate near the entrance of the compound."

U.S. commanders and the Iraqi government have blamed al Qaeda militants for several recent attacks using chlorine gas in Anbar, a restive mainly Sunni Arab province in western Iraq.

"The extent of the injuries from the inhalation is varied. It was very light to more severe. As far as we know none life-threatening at this point," Mercer said.

On March 17, insurgents deployed three chlorine car bombs on one day near Falluja and Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province.

Chlorine, which is turned from solid or liquid form to a gas by the blast, causes severe burns when inhaled and can cause death.

The U.S. military said it discovered an al Qaeda car bomb factory last month near Falluja with chlorine tanks..

who is still stupid enough to believe governments represent their people!? Gates is a dick like Iran's President!
Pentagon chief warns against "illusions" on Iran

26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday said the United States was open to high-level talks with Tehran, but warned against "illusions" about Iran's government and its intentions.

"We should have no illusions about the nature of this regime or about their designs for their nuclear program, their intentions for
Iraq or their ambitions in the Gulf region," Gates said at a speech to the American-Turkish Council in Washington.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran are high and at risk of worsening with Iran's capture and continued detention of 15 military personnel from Britain, America's closest ally.

The United States has repeatedly accused
Iran of fueling Sunni-Shi'ite violence in Iraq by providing arms and other support to Shi'ite militias. The United States and others also say Iran's nuclear energy program is being used as a cover to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.

Gates, who advocated U.S. dialogue with Iran before he took the
Pentagon job in December, said talks this month in Baghdad that included U.S., Iranian and Syrian officials were "a good start" toward improving cooperation.

"Our government is open to high-level exchanges," he said.

"But in dealing with a regime like Iran one has to be realistic. The American search for elusive Iranian moderates is a recurring and mostly fruitless theme since the (Iranian) revolution in 1979."

It is UNACCEPTABLE when the State victimizes the victim! Do something about this, Fred!
Bullock Film Company Sues Mental Health Agency
By WENN | Friday, September 22, 2006

HOLLYWOOD - Sandra Bullock is suing Tennessee's mental health agency to ensure it notifies her when her alleged stalker is released from a mental health institution.

The suit, which was filed last week on behalf of her film company Fortis Films, does not seek financial damages but calls for the agency's agreement to alert Bullock when Thomas James Weldon is released from Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute.

The lawsuit describes Weldon's "fixation on a certain employee of Fortis Films Inc."

Weldon is under court order in California to stay at least 200 feet away from Bullock since 2003, and the order has been extended until 2009.

Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities spokeswoman Jill Hudson claims not to have seen the lawsuit and declined to comment.

Article Copyright Entertainment News Network All Rights Reserved.
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This looks to us to be a really good deal for John Deere...
GM offered Daimler GM stock in Chrysler bid: report

Mon Mar 26, 12:59 PM ET

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - news) offered DaimlerChrysler AG (DCXGn.DE) a stake of less than 10 percent of its own stock in an early, "longshot" bid to acquire Chrysler Group, the Detroit News reported on Monday.

GM's bid for Chrysler, which was made in January before Daimler opened discussions with a range of bidders, did not include a cash transfer to Daimler, the newspaper reported.

GM's offer remains active as other bidders prepare to tender their own offers for Chrysler this week, but unnamed sources close to the sale process consider it a "longshot," the paper said.

GM has been in discussions with Daimler about an acquisition of Chrysler and on other areas of cooperation, including vehicle development, people familiar with those talks have said.

But the Detroit News report marked the first time that details of the GM offer for Chrysler have been reported.

Han Tjan, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler, declined to comment.

Tony Cervone, a GM spokesman, declined to comment on the report, saying only that the automaker had frequent discussions about areas of potential cooperation with other companies in the industry. "Often they don't lead to anything," he said.

The Detroit News said GM had asked for more than $1 billion from Daimler to defray Chrysler's health-care costs and sought cooperation in negotiating concessions from the
United Auto Workers Union.

GM also offered Daimler an equity stake of less than 10 percent of its own stock, the newspaper said.

Chrysler, the No. 4 U.S. automaker and home to the Jeep, Chrysler and Dodge brands, was put into play in mid-February, when DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche announced that the company was keeping all options open for the unit.

The Detroit News reported that Daimler rejected GM's initial offer for Chrysler as too low, a move that prompted Zetsche's announcement of a potential sale.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner had first discussed a deal to acquire Chrysler with Zetsche in December, the Detroit News said, quoting unnamed sources.

Last week, analyst Bret Hoselton of KeyBanc Capital Markets said that auto supplier Magna International (Toronto:MGA.TO - news) had joined with an unnamed private equity partner to offer to acquire Chrysler for $4.7 billion.

Daimler is looking to get initial bids from potential buyers before the end of the month and ahead of an April 4 shareholder's meeting in Berlin.

Daimler executives are expected to be pressed for an update on progress in the Chrysler sale but are unlikely to offer new details, a person close to the process said.

Other private-equity bidders for Chrysler include Cerberus Capital Management and an alliance between Blackstone Group and Centerbridge Partners, people familiar with the talks have said.

Cerberus has reportedly hired former Chrysler Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Bernhard as an adviser.

Otherwise known as "Containment." We will never hear from her again!
Victim wears Mohammad bomb cartoon to Madrid trial

1 hour, 25 minutes ago

MADRID (Reuters) - A woman who lost her husband in the 2004 Madrid train bombings displayed an infamous cartoon mocking the Prophet Mohammad on her T-shirt in front of 29, mostly Muslim, suspects on trial for the attacks on Monday.

The woman's white T-shirt showed Mohammad wearing a bomb as a turban -- one of a series published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten which unleashed violent protests by some Muslims last year.

Ten bombs ripped through four commuter trains on March 11, 2004, killing 191 people -- attacks which public prosecutors blame on a group of Islamist militants inspired by al-Qaeda.

The woman sat in the front row of the court wearing the T-shirt for around half-an-hour before getting up, walking up to the glass cage containing the defendants and finally walking out of the court, judicial sources said.

The lead judge in the case, Javier Gomez Bermudez, asked security staff to identify the woman as she left the court. She later received support from psychologists drafted to help victims' families through the trial, Spanish media reported.

Well crap, here goes the neighborhood...!
Iowa's Vilsack endorses Hillary Clinton for 2008

28 minutes ago

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who dropped his brief presidential bid last month, endorsed Democratic Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy for the White House on Monday.

"This is the person to be the next president of the United States," Vilsack said at a news conference with Clinton. "She is tried, she is tested and she is ready."

Vilsack said the endorsement was in part a result of the former first lady's fund-raising efforts on his behalf during his first campaign for governor in 1998.

"In politics, loyalty is a commodity that is rare," Vilsack said.

His endorsement is a boost for Clinton in Iowa, which traditionally holds the first contest of the nominating race. Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York, leads a crowded Democratic field in national opinion polls but trails 2004 vice presidential nominee
John Edwards in many Iowa polls.

Vilsack dropped out of the 2008 White House race after finding he could not keep pace in raising money.