Nam Vets who insist on running down Dan Rather are IDIOTS!


Dan Rather Suggests Bush Is Manipulating The Media?

rense.com
Dan Rather Suggests Bush Is Manipulating The Media?
Thu Jul 1, 2004 22:54
64.140.158.47

Dan Rather Suggests Bush Is Manipulating The Media?
Address: http://www.rense.com/general54/manipu.htm

While appearing on the "Larry King Show" last night, nary a word was
said after Dan Rather suggested that the "Bush Administration" was
manipulating the media, i.e., the "wire services" (and others) in
regards to the "accurate number" of causalities being reported in Iraq!
To wit, Rather stated, ". . . Larry, let's point out that the
administration and one can like it or not like it, they just about
convinced the wire services and others [emphasis added] only to carry
the killed in actual combat rather than the total number of casualties
killed in the country."

Last night's "panel" on King's show, along with Rather, included "
Senator John McCain, journalist/author Bob Woodward, as well as CNN
reporter on location in Bagdag, Anderson Cooper. Astonishingly, after
Rather made his comment, King went to commercial, and upon return, no
one remarked on the suggested "manipulation of the media" by the Bush
administration as pointed out by Rather.

One would have imagined that King would have interrupted Rather, and
asked him to clarify himself; e.g., "are you saying Dan, that the Bush
administration is involved in 'altering the truth' in terms of what is
really happening and being reported in Iraq?" Moreover, since the panel
consisted of two journalists and a Senator, one would think that
Rather's statement would at the very least have drawn some inquires, yet
that didn't happen either.

Apparently tampering with the rights guaranteed to all Americans didn't
merit conversation by the panel in attendance. Rather went on to say, "
. . . I don't want to make a big thing of it, but frankly I think that's
unworthy of a great country such as ourselves. We had more than 800
young men and women killed here. Each and every one of them came here,
did their service. And whether they're officially classified as having
died in combat or not, you know, the number is 800. That's the number.
And that's the number of families who have something missing at the
table, missing around the house. . . "

Since "public opinion is shaped by what people absorb in the media" it
doesn't take a rocket scientist to point out the magnitude of the act in
"omitting the facts" in reporting the news. "Omission of the facts," and
or it's partner "propaganda" is what we expect from countries who's
people don't share the rights that we are "supposed to have," which is
guaranteed by our Constitution.

Moreover, the thought that "any news organization would voluntary alter
and or omit the facts" from it's reports it quite frankly appalling! The
desire of the Bush administration to not want to publicize the negative
aspects of the war they have initiated is no surprise, however; acts
affecting the "freedom of the press" and or "free speech" by our elected
officials is, to be blunt, "frightening!"

Finally, although questions weren't asked by the panel, or Larry King
last night, Rather's statement certainly invokes many; one big one is,
"if the 'Wire Services' (and others) have 'omitted' and or altered the
facts in reporting the news to the American public at the request of the
White House--how often has this happened, and to what extent?"

The Trial Of Saddam Hussein
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/saddam.htm

Everything Repugs do is racist at some level! It's in their DNA! As are all the Stupid things Dems do are derived from theirs!
New York Times
Washington
By RON NIXON and LESLIE EATON
Published: January 18, 2007

The federal government’s biggest program to help people rebuild after natural disasters is on the verge of running out of operating money because of budgeting problems at the agency that runs it, the Small Business Administration.

If Congress does not intervene in the next month or so to cover the administrative costs of the program, it will have to shut down, according to an internal agency memorandum given to The New York Times by a critic of the agency.

Agency officials say, and Congressional leaders agree, that the legislature will almost certainly act to keep the program running. “It would be very surprising to us if they wouldn’t address this,” said Steven C. Preston, the administrator of the S.B.A.

But even a temporary shutdown could delay aid to victims of the ice storms in the Midwest and other recent natural disasters, and would further hamper a program that was widely criticized for its slow response to the hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.

The current money shortage is related to what agency officials concede was an unusual decision in early 2005 not to ask Congress for any money to pay for running the disaster program in the 2006 fiscal year, relying instead on money left over from previous disasters. The program also ran into financial trouble last year and required an emergency infusion of money in February.

Longtime critics of the agency said the current problem highlighted a continuing pattern of mismanagement and poor planning at the S.B.A.

“We need to look at a comprehensive overhaul of the agency as well as the disaster loan program,” said Representative Nydia M. Velazquez, Democrat of New York and the new chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee. “Something has to change in the management of this agency.”

After the 2005 hurricanes, the agency did not have enough employees to handle the 423,000 loan applications it ultimately received from homeowners and businesses, and had switched to a troubled computer system that slowed its disaster response. The Government Accountability Office cited the agency’s poor planning as a factor in “significant delays and backlogs in processing loan applications.”

In the face of withering criticism from disaster victims, government officials and even agency employees, the director of the agency, Hector V. Barreto, resigned last April. His successor, Mr. Preston, has pledged to improve the disaster response.

The small-business agency has now approved more than $8 billion in loans to homeowners trying to rebuild after the hurricanes, according to its own data, but has distributed less than half of that amount. Businesses have received loans of about $1.2 billion, although the agency has approved almost $2.6 billion in loans.

In the Senate, Democrats have proposed major changes to the disaster assistance program, including allowing banks to make disaster loans, rather than funneling them all through the S.B.A.’s staff.

“The administration mismanaged the response to Katrina from Day 1,” Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and the new chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said in a statement yesterday. “We need legislation to overhaul the program and make it work efficiently for every business owner and homeowner in the country.”

But Senator Olympia J. Snowe, Republican of Maine and the former head of the committee, blamed Congress for the current financial problem, saying it stemmed from lawmakers’ failure to approve the agency’s budget request for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, which agency officials said included about $200 million to run the disaster program.

“It is unacceptable that at a time when we are all too aware of how valuable these programs are to American families whose lives have been turned upside down by disaster, we were unable to provide the S.B.A. with the funding it requested for this fiscal year,” Ms. Snowe said in a statement yesterday.

The Republican-led Congress passed 2 of 11 spending bills last year. The new Democratic leadership decided to keep most government agencies operating by extending their current budget levels and is expected to continue those spending levels until fall.

The 2006 budget is the one that did not ask for money to operate the disaster program. According to the internal memorandum, which was prepared by the agency’s chief financial officer, Jennifer Main, the agency needs $306 million for administrative costs in the current fiscal year but had only $157 million left as of Sept. 30.

The short-term problem could be solved, as in the past, if Congress allows the agency to cover administrative costs by dipping into some of the money it has allocated for loans, said C. Edward Rowe III, the agency’s chief liaison to Congress.

But Ms. Velazquez said she would oppose such a measure. “I am not willing to take money out of disaster money intended for victims to cover administrative costs,” she said.

The agency is also facing a shortfall of about $20 million in its regular budget, which has dropped by about 30 percent since 2001. According to the memorandum, the shortfall could require the agency to take drastic steps, including furloughing every one of its employees one day a month until the end of September.

“We don’t really think Congress will forget to fund disaster assistance,” said Joel Szabat, the agency’s chief of staff. “The real issue is the $20 million.”

Under the disaster loan program, homeowners can borrow up to $200,000 at low interest rates to repair houses; owners and renters can borrow up to $40,000 to replace damaged furnishings. Businesses of any size can borrow up to $1.5 million to cover physical losses, and some small businesses are eligible for loans to cover economic losses. Maximum interest rates range from 4 percent to 8 percent.

The disaster loan program also serves as a screening mechanism for some grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which referred 2.4 million people to the S.B.A after the hurricanes. Only after they are rejected by the S.B.A. do applicants become eligible for some FEMA grants.

The homeowner loan program has come under fire in Louisiana and Mississippi because it is requiring people who receive federally financed recovery grants through state-run programs to use the money to repay S.B.A. loans.

We may be onto how it is Germany has landed us in two World War!

Reuters
Obedient motorist crashes on satnav command

Tue Jan 16, 9:02 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A 46-year-old German motorist driving along a busy road suddenly veered to the left and ended up stuck on a railway track -- because his satellite navigation system told him to, police said Sunday.

The motorist was heading into the north German city of Bremen "when the friendly voice from his satnav told him to turn left," a spokesman said.

"He did what he was ordered to do and turned his Audi left up over the curb and onto the track of a local streetcar line. He tried to back up off the track but got completely stuck."

The police spokesman said about a dozen trams were held up until a tow truck arrived to clear the car off the track.

Several German motorists have crashed their cars in recent months, later telling police they were only obeying orders from their satnavs.

...how the country is really run...if you weren't payng attention!
Law groups want Pentagon official fired

By JoAnne Allen Tue Jan 16, 9:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior
Pentagon official should be fired for suggesting a boycott of American law firms defending detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, four law organizations said in a letter to
President Bush on Tuesday.

Charles Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, said last week in a Washington radio interview he found it "shocking" that major U.S. law firms would agree to represent Guantanamo detainees pro bono.

Stimson predicted that those firms would suffer financially once their involvement in Guantanamo cases was known to their corporate clients. He then listed law firms involved in Guantanamo cases.

Stimson's remarks were aimed at "chilling the willingness" of lawyers to represent Guantanamo detainees and were contrary to the "bedrock principles" of the right to counsel and the presumption on innocence, read the letter signed by the American Association of Jurists, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the National Lawyers Guild and the Society of American Law Teachers.

"The threats by Mr. Stimson are not subtle. They imply these pro bono lawyers are terrorists," the letter read. "The administration must not only disavow these remarks, but Mr. Stimson should be publicly admonished and relieved of his duties for making these allegations and threats."

Stimson was not immediately available for comment. The Pentagon last week disavowed Stimson's comments, which came under fire in the legal community.

The
American Civil Liberties Union condemned what it called an administration attack on lawyers representing the detainees. Neal Sonnett, president of the American Judicature Society, said Stimson's remarks were a "blatant attempt to intimidate lawyers and their firms."

Col. Moe Davis, chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo tribunals, told journalists at there in March 2006 that several major law firms that have defense contractors as paying clients are providing pro bono lawyers to defend Guantanamo detainees in habeas petitions.

"It's somewhat ironic that the weaponry that we use in the war on terrorism is helping fund the defense of the alleged terrorists," Davis said at the time.

About 50 U.S. federal public defenders are also representing Guantanamo detainees, pro bono, in habeas corpus petitions.

About 395 prisoners remain at the Guantanamo prison camp, suspected of al Qaeda and Taliban links. More than 770 captives have been held at the facility which opened five years ago, soon after the U.S.-led invasion of
Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attacks. Only 10 detainees have charged with crimes.

(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton)

New 7 Wonders of The World list contest update...
Jordan's Petra named 7 wonders candidate

52 minutes ago

PETRA, Jordan - Jordan's ancient city Petra was officially declared a candidate Tuesday in the contest to name the new seven wonders of the world at a ceremony amid its rose-colored stone buildings.

Contest founder Bernard Weber presented Jordan's Queen Rania with Petra's official candidacy at the event that included a presentation on the way the city's first inhabitants lived.

The New 7 Wonders of the World contest was launched in 2001 by Weber's Geneva-based NewOpenWorld Foundation, which aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights. Twenty-one sites around the globe are vying to be declared wonders of the world.

Petra, located 162 miles south of the Jordanian capital Amman, is built on a terrace around the Wadi Musa or Valley of Moses. It was the capital of the Arab kingdom of the Nabateans, a center of caravan trade, and continued to flourish under Roman rule after the Nabateans' defeat in A.D. 106.

It is famous for water tunnels and stone structures carved in the rock, including Ad-Dayr, "the Monastery," an uncompleted tomb facade that served as a church during Byzantine times.

Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burchhardt in 1812 discovered the city that is hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier of rugged mountains.

The city is one of 830 places that the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or
UNESCO, has designated a World Heritage Site.

Nominations for the contest were whittled down by public votes to 77 last year. Then a panel of architectural experts, chaired by former UNESCO chief Federico Mayor, shortened the list to 21.

Interest has grown as Weber and his 10-member team visit the 21 sites. Their final visit will be March 6 to New York's Statue of Liberty.

Egypt's pyramids of Giza is the only other site in the Arab world that has reached the contest's short-list.

The New 7 Wonders of the World will be announced at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal on Saturday, July 7, 2007.

____

On the Net: http://www.new7wonders.com

snm-wnt

The Rev. Sharpton protests NYC cops' aledged brutality! Cops expected to use the, "I was scared," defense.
Sharpton calls for NYC police summit

By KAREN MATTHEWS, Associated Press Writer Mon Jan 15, 7:21 PM ET

NEW YORK - The Rev.
Al Sharpton used Monday's holiday commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. to call for a summit on police practices in light of the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by officers.

"You have been tough on a lot of stuff," Sharpton told Gov. Eliot Spitzer, one of a roster of elected officials attending at a forum honoring King at Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters. "We need you tough on this."

Spitzer, who met earlier with the family and fiancee of the slain man, Sean Bell, promised to monitor the case.

"As Reverend Sharpton just said, I did meet with (fiancee Nicole Paultre-Bell) and the whole Bell family," Spitzer said. "And let's just say this: We all grieve with them. And there are no words that can be sufficient for the tragedy that you have gone through."

Spitzer said he would work with Sharpton and others to improve communication between law enforcers and the communities they serve. He did not specifically address Sharpton's call for a summit.

Bell, 23, was killed Nov. 25 outside a Queens topless bar where he was having a bachelor party. Five officers using semiautomatic pistols fired 50 rounds, killing Bell and injuring two of his friends as they sat in a car. Police have said they suspected the men were going to retrieve a gun to settle a dispute, but no weapon was recovered.

The three victims of the shooting, which sparked community outrage and led to protests, were black; the five New York Police Department officers were black and white. The officers have been placed on leave pending the outcome of a grand jury investigation.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "The tragedy of Sean Bell was a terrible moment for New York and certainly for his family. It showed us that despite all the progress we've made in this city we really do have a long ways to go."

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 300 squeezed into Sharpton's Harlem headquarters to hear a lineup that also included Rep. Charles Rangel (news, bio, voting record), the newly minted chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee; Reps. Gregory Meeks (news, bio, voting record) and Nydia Velazquez (news, bio, voting record); hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons; state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo; Lt. Gov. David Paterson; City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and teachers' union head Randi Weingarten.

Rangel, who holds the most powerful position in Congress that any black has ever held, said King made his ascent possible.

"When you see that gavel and you see bills coming out of the Ways and Means Committee, yes, it will be coming from the House of Representatives," he said. "But I want you to know that Martin Luther King is going to be on every page of every bill that comes out of that committee."

The slain civil rights leader's legacy was honored elsewhere in the city with music, speeches and protests.

Four people including the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of the House of the Lord Church in Brooklyn, were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for blocking the doors to the Sudan Mission to the
United Nations, police said. They were demonstrating over the crisis in Darfur, where 200,000 people have died since rebels from the region's ethnic African community took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.

Daughtry, who had announced that he would stage the civil disobedience demonstration, did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment Monday evening.

Eighth-graders from a Manhattan private school rallied against the war in
Iraq at the Times Square military recruitment Center.

In the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, volunteers with the New York City Habitat for Humanity marked the holiday by building affordable houses.

Other volunteers served the needy at food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the city.

DON'T LET RWANDA SLIP FROM YOUR MIND!
Canadian court hears genocide testimony in Rwanda

Mon Jan 15, 11:20 AM ET

KIGALI (Reuters) - A specially-convened Canadian court began hearing witness testimony in Rwanda on Monday against a man facing charges in Canada of participating in the 1994 genocide.

Desire Munyaneza was arrested by Canadian police in October 2005 and charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Rwanda during the massacres, in which some 800,000 people died.

The legal proceedings were conducted in a room at Rwanda's Supreme Court in Kigali, but Munyaneza will be tried in Canada.

Rwanda's ethnic massacres mostly targeted minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Soldiers and militias of the then Hutu-led government have been accused of orchestrating the carnage.

Munyaneza, accused of multiple rape and murder in Rwanda's southern Butare province, fled to Canada in 1996 and claimed refugee status. At the time of his arrest he was living in Toronto with his wife and two children.

Canadian prosecutor Pascale Ledoux said the unusual decision to hear witnesses overseas was fully in accordance with Canadian law.

The 20-strong Canadian team, which includes court clerks and interpreters, will hear evidence from at least 10 witnesses.

The current Rwandan government insists dozens of key planners of the slaughter still remain at large in Europe and North America despite a repeated call to have them arrested.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Arusha, Tanzania, has convicted 27 people and acquitted five suspects since its first trial in 1997.

Back in 1999 Rob Rheiner had it right! Bush is a moron! A self absorbed, utterly stupid asshole!
Bush sees himself as flexible with "thick hide"

Sun Jan 14, 8:07 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
President George W. Bush says he is flexible and open-minded, rather than stubborn, but with a "thick hide" to absorb criticism.

In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" conducted last week, Bush also denied his spirits had suffered because the
Iraq war had not gone as well as hoped.

"Quite the contrary," he said, according to a transcript of the interview airing on Sunday. "My spirits are strong.

"I really am not the kind of guy that sits here and says, 'Oh, gosh, I'm worried about my legacy.' I'm more worried about making the right decisions to protect the United States of America," he said.

"I understand criticism. But I've got a pretty thick hide."

Bush was asked if he agreed with a perception that he was stubborn.

"I think I'm a flexible open-minded person. I really do. I really do," he said.

Bush said he spent a lot of time listening to people about Iraq policy. His new strategy to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq has met a wall of opposition from Democrats who now control Congress, as well as disagreement from some Republicans.

"I fully understand the decisions I make could affect the life of some kid who wears the uniform," Bush said. "Or could affect the life of some child growing up in America 20 years from now."

Propaganda forces completely confused following 9/11, chose most likely suspects...IRA dropped out early pleading "No Contest."
Iran Guard says U.S., Britain, Israel "axis of evil"

Sun Jan 14, 1:50 PM ET

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The commander of
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday the United States, Britain and
Israel were an "axis of evil" trying to drive a wedge between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.

President Bush originally labeled Iran,
North Korea and
Iraq -- before U.S. troops invaded -- as part of an "axis of evil." Washington accuses Iran of backing terrorism and trying to build atomic bombs, charges Tehran denies.

"America, Britain and the Zionist regime (Israel) are an axis of evil against the Islamic world and the whole of humanity," Guards Commander-in-Chief Yahya Rahim Safavi was quoted as saying by Iran's student news agency ISNA.

"They are trying to make enmity among Islamic countries and to make divisions among Shi'ites and Sunnis," he said.

He was echoing comments by other Iranian officials who have accused Washington of stoking sectarian tensions in Iraq where the majority of Iraqis are Shi'ite Muslims, like most Iranians. Washington blames Iran for fuelling violence in Iraq.

"Our powerful country does not worry about American and Zionist regime threats and in case of any kind of attack by intruders, we are able to defeat them," he added.

A British newspaper this month said Israel had drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment facilities -- the part of Iran's nuclear program that most worries the West -- using tactical nuclear weapons. Israel would not comment on the story, which touched on its assumed atomic arsenal.

The United States has said it wants to resolve Iran's nuclear dispute with West diplomatically, but has refused to rule out using force if diplomacy fails.

Toilet Tank Aquarium.
New toilet is flush with fish

Thu Jan 11, 9:05 AM ET

NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters Life!) - Home renovators looking to bring life to the smallest room in their home now have the chance -- with a toilet that doubles as an aquarium.

The Fish 'n Flush is a clear two-piece toilet tank that replaces a standard toilet tank, with a see-through aquarium wrapping itself around a conventional toilet tank.

"We wanted to develop a product that had a dual purpose - to serve as a proper, fully functional toilet and also as a source of entertainment and conversation," said Devon Niccole, marketing director of California-based designer AquaOne Technologies Inc. which has just started to selling the tank.

He said the company, which specializes in water conservation equipment for home appliance, had worked with a marine biologist to design a tank that ensured the fish were not harmed when the toilet was flushed.

The aquarium toilet tank, which sells for $299, fits most toilets with the 2.2-gallon aquarium piece able to be easily removed for cleaning. The toilet tank itself holds 2.5 gallons which gives sufficient pressure for flushing.

"Some people think we're nuts but other just love it and parents are using it to help their children with potty training. One thing you can guarantee is that people will be talking about it after seeing it in your home," said Niccole.

Tubby tabby found!
Missing tubby tabby returned to owner Fri Jan 12, 4:43 PM ET PORTLAND, Ore. - A 20-pound cat whose girth got him stuck in a pet door while trying to plunder some dog food was reunited with his owner Thursday. Owner Geoff Ernest said the tubby tabby, Hercules, went missing while he was in Seattle for a lung transplant six months ago. Jadwiga Drozdek, who lives in suburban Portland, found the feline stuck in the dog door of her home a few days ago, helped free him and gave him a plate of food on her patio. While at the Humane Society, Hercules was diagnosed with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, similar to HIV in humans. The society says cats can live years with the virus and still make good pets, but owners should keep them indoors to keep it from spreading. Veterinarians say about 40 percent of America's cats are obese, putting them at risk for a variety of diabetes-related disorders. Hercules, meanwhile, has had his 15 minutes of fame, piling up stacks of hits on YouTube and other Web sites.

Recently Out of Africa Theory reinforced!
Skull Supports Theory of Human Migration

From the NYC Times…
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: January 12, 2007

From a new analysis of a human skull discovered in South Africa more than 50 years ago, scientists say they have obtained the first fossil evidence establishing the relatively recent time for the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens out of Africa.

Scientists used radiation absorbed by sand in this skull to find its age.

The migrants appeared to have arrived at their new homes in Asia and Europe with the distinct and unmodified heads of Africans.

An international team of researchers reported yesterday that the age of the South African skull, which they dated at about 36,000 years old, coincided with the age of the skulls of humans then living in Europe and the far eastern parts of Asia, even Australia. The skull also closely resembled skulls of those humans.

The timing, the scientists and other experts said, introduced independent evidence supporting archaeological finds and recent genetic studies showing that modern humans left sub-Saharan Africa for Eurasia between 65,000 and 25,000 years ago; probably closer to 45,000 to 35,000 years ago for Europe.

Until now, however, paleontologists had been frustrated by the absence of fossils to test the hypothesis of most geneticists that the people of sub-Saharan Africa and in Eurasia at that time were one and the same — modern humans. The human fossil record in Africa from 70,000 to 15,000 years ago had been virtually blank.

Some scientists, on the other hand, have contended that the migration could have begun as early as 100,000 years ago and that in the intervening time, contact with more archaic populations like the Neanderthals could have produced recognizable changes in what became the modern humans of Eurasia. But no scientists in the migration debate have disputed that ancestors of the human species originated in Africa.

In a report in today’s issue of the journal Science, a research team led by Frederick E. Grine of the State University of New York at Stony Brook concluded that the South African skull provided critical corroboration of the archaeological and genetic evidence indicating that humans in fully modern form originated in sub-Saharan Africa and migrated, almost unchanged, to populate Europe and Asia.

Dr. Grine and his colleagues said in an announcement by Stony Brook that the skull was the first fossil evidence “in agreement with the out-of-Africa theory, which predicts that humans like those that inhabited Eurasia should be found in sub-Saharan Africa around 36,000 years ago.”

Ted Goebel, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University who was not connected to the research, said the skull opened the way to important insights about “the missing years of modern humans.”

Writing in an accompanying commentary in the journal, Dr. Goebel said, “Here is the first skull of an adult modern human from sub-Saharan Africa that dates to the critical period, and one that can speak to the relationship of early moderns from Africa and Europe.”

The new findings pivoted on fixing the skull’s age. When it was uncovered in 1952 near the town of Hofmeyr, South Africa, the cranium was almost complete, but the bone was degraded. Not enough carbon remained for scientists at the time to extract a radiocarbon date.

Using new technology, Richard Bailey and other researchers at the University of Oxford measured the amount of radiation that had been absorbed by sand grains that had filled the braincase since its burial. They calculated the yearly rate at which radiation had collected in the sand and checked this with data from a CT scan of the bone. In this way, they determined that the Hofmeyr skull belonged to a human who lived 36,000 years ago, plus or minus 3,000 years.

Another member of the team, Katerina Harvati of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, made a detailed examination of the shapes, sizes and contours of all parts of the skull. She compared these three-dimensional measurements with those of early human skulls from Europe and with skulls of living humans in Eurasia and southern Africa, including the Khoe-San, commonly known as the Bushmen.

Because the Bushmen are well represented in the more recent archaeological record, Dr. Harvati said, they were expected to bear a close resemblance to the Hofmeyr skull. Instead, the skull was found to be quite distinct from all recent Africans, including the Bushmen, she said, and it has “a very close affinity” with fossil specimens of Europeans living in the Upper Paleolithic, the period best known for advanced stone tools and cave art.

“Much to my amazement,” Dr. Grine said in an interview, “the skull linked very closely with those from Europe at the time and not with South African remains 15,000 years on.”

Dr. Grine said these modern humans probably originated in East Africa, which is rich in fossils of ancestors of the species, and moved into Eurasia and also south to the tip of Africa.

“It would be nice,” he conceded, “if we had more than one specimen.”

Another report in Science describes one of the earliest occupation sites of modern humans in Europe, at Kostenki on the Don River, 250 miles south of Moscow. Its stone and bone tools and a human figurine appeared to have been made about 45,000 years ago, perhaps earlier than human sites to the west.

The lead author of the report was Michael Anikovich of the Russian Academy of Sciences. John Hoffecker of the University of Colorado, a team member, said the small figurine might be “the oldest example of figurative art ever discovered.”

Dr. Goebel said the new research, archaeology, genetics and the Hofmeyr skull should help explain when and how modern humans leaving Africa spread out to different environments, which, he added, “is one of the greatest untold stories in the history of humankind.”

I used to know a guy named Bates in Cubs. He ate the candles on everyone's birthday cakes and found them to be delicious!
For sale: World's smallest country with sea view

By Paul Majendie Tue Jan 9, 8:14 AM ET

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters Life!) - For sale: the world's smallest country with its own flag, stamps, currency and passports.

Apply to Prince Michael of Sealand if you want to run your own nation, even if it is just a wartime fort perched on two concrete towers in the North Sea.

Built in World War Two as an anti-aircraft base to repel German bombers, the derelict platform was taken over 40 years ago by retired army major Paddy Roy Bates who went to live there with his family.

He declared the platform, perched seven miles off the east coast of England and just outside Britain's territorial waters, to be the principality of Sealand.

The self-styled Prince Roy adopted a flag, chose a national anthem and minted silver and gold coins.

The family saw off an attempt by Britain's Royal Navy to evict them and also an attempt in 1978 by a group of German and Dutch businessmen to seize Sealand by force.

Roy, 85, now lives in Spain and his son Michael told BBC Radio on Monday his family had been approached by estate agents with clients "who wanted a bit more than a bit of real estate, they wanted autonomy."

He suggested Sealand, which has eight rooms in each tower, could be a base for online gambling or offshore banking.

Asked to describe the delights of living on what he described as a cross between a house and a ship, the 54-year-old said: "The neighbors are very quiet. There is a good sea view."

As yet, no response from the Von Helsings!
Dracula's castle is for sale for $78M

By ALISON MUTLER Wed Jan 10, 8:47 AM ET

BUCHAREST, Romania - The Habsburg family said Wednesday that it wanted to sell a Transylvanian castle famous for its connections to the 15th century medieval ruler who inspired "Dracula" for 60 million euros, or $78 million, to the local authorities, an attorney said.

The local council says it is interested in buying Bran Castle, but a government minister criticized the price tag, calling it too expensive.

Dominic Habsburg, the owner, insisted the family had honorable intentions.

"We are trying to find the best way to preserve the castle in the interest of the family and the people of Bran," Habsburg said in a statement made available exclusively to The Associated Press.

The castle was returned to Habsburg, a New York architect, on May 26, decades after it was confiscated by the communists from Habsburg's mother, Princess Ileana, in 1948, the year the royals were forced to leave the country.

After the restitution, concerns were raised that the family could sell castle to a hotel chain and that the site could end up being the centerpiece of a Dracula theme park that would blight the surrounding, pristine countryside.

The castle, perched high on a rock and surrounded by snowcapped mountains in southern Transylvania, is one of Romania's top tourist attractions and is visited by 400,000 people each year.

Faced with the enormous expense of the castle's upkeep, Habsburg said he wanted to place the property in the hands of the local council with an eye toward ensuring its historic character is preserved.

"The family has the country and the people in their heart. We are grateful for the restitution as a moral act to amend injustice," the statement from Habsburg said.

But he added, "The way of life cannot be returned and the restitution has come with financial sacrifice. ... We would like Castle Bran to remain a symbol of everything that is honorable and good in Romania."

The community of Bran, where the fortress was built in the 14th century to help stave off invasion, gave it to Ileana's mother, Queen Marie, in 1920 to thank her for her efforts in unifying the country. It was briefly associated with Prince "Vlad the Impaler," whose cruelty inspired novelist Bram Stoker's creation, the vampire Count Dracula. History says he spent one night there.

In 1938, Ileana inherited the castle, which is located some 105 miles north of Bucharest.

In recent years, the castle — complete with occasional glimpses of bats floating around its ramparts in the twilight — has attracted movie makers as a backdrop for films about Dracula and other spooky themes.

Lia Trandafir, an attorney for Habsburg, said the local authorities are interested in buying it. "They'd like to see it coming back to the community and they consider it a central pillar of tourism in Brasov county," she said.

Aristotel Cancescu, head of the local city council is due to travel to Vienna, Austria, on Monday to open discussions about a bank loan. If he manages to secure a loan, it will need to be approved by local councilors.

Culture Minister Adrian Iorgulescu has criticized the planned purchase of the castle, saying it is too expensive. "I have nothing against the castle being bought by the city council if they are stupid enough to pay this money," he said. He added he believed the castle was worth a fourth of Habsburg's asking price.

Please circulate widely! www.answercoalition.org
U.S. Peace Movement Plans to “Escalate” Street Protests

The ANSWER Coalition Responds to
Bush’s War Speech of January 10, 2007

ANSWER Coalition Statement:

Unwilling to accept the failure of his war of aggression in Iraq, his “war of choice,” Bush announced tonight a plan that will succeed only in sending thousands of Iraqis and U.S. soldiers to their graves in the next year.

What Bush is really proposing is using thousands of additional U.S. soldiers in a planned reign of terror in the streets and neighborhoods of Baghdad against those who want the U.S. to leave. Bush chose to use a euphemism about the planned reign of terror when he stated that one of the past “mistakes” of the U.S. military operation in Baghdad was that, “there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have.” The blood will flow just as Bush promises but this plan will fail just as badly as every announced initiative since Bush arrogantly taunted the Iraqi resistance with his infamous “Bring em on” speech back in 2003.

Bush gave the people of the United States a warning that they should expect the coming year will be "bloody and violent," with "television screens filled with images of death and suffering." He tried to innoculate himself from responsibility for this carnage although his plan makes it inevitable.

Bush’s aspiration to salvage his “legacy” and his place in history isn’t worth one more life. Every mother and father of a U.S. soldier, every person who has a loved one in the U.S. armed forces should make it clear that the lives of their family members are too precious to be sacrificed for such an ignoble cause.

For the last six years, Bush has provided huge tax breaks for the billionaires and multimillionaires of this country. But it will not be their children who will be sent to fight and die in Iraq. The privileged ultra-rich, Bush's real "base," are shielded from the horrors of the war.

The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis since March 2003 (see Lancet medical journal 10/06), proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Bush’s claim that his invasion was for the liberation of the Iraqi people is a complete and utter lie.

“Clearing and holding neighborhoods in Iraq” is not the duty or right of members of the U.S. military. The people who live in those neighborhoods lived in peace before the arrival of the occupation forces. The occupation is illegal and the order to stiffen the occupation is illegal too. U.S. soldiers have the right and duty to disobey illegal orders.

Neither one more Iraqi nor one more soldier should die so that the politicians, who inaugurated a criminal “pre-emptive” invasion of a country that posed zero threat to the people of the United States, can postpone the verdict of history.

For their part, the Democrats in Congress are involved in a slightly more complicated dance. They want to posture as opponents of Bush’s escalation and so-called surge without taking responsibility for bringing the war to a close. They could cut funding for the war which is their exclusive Constitutional prerogative. But they will absolutely refuse to take this responsibility. They are merely posturing for the 2008 elections hoping to take advantage of the well deserved public disgust for Bush and the Iraq war.

The issue right now for the anti-war movement can not simply be opposition to a surge or an escalation: the issue is the war itself. The troops must be brought home now. As in Vietnam, that is the only solution. Those who initiated the war and who funded the war should be held accountable for one of the great crimes of the modern era.

Everything that Bush has said about the Iraq war has proved to be a lie. This was always a war for Empire in a strategic area that possesses two thirds of the world's oil supply. He proclaimed tonight that, "failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States." If Bush fails in Iraq the people of the United States lose nothing. It is not our Empire.

On March 17, 2007, the anniversary of the start of the criminal invasion of Iraq, tens of thousands of people from around the country will descend on the Pentagon in a mass demonstration to demand: U.S. Out of Iraq Now! 2007 is the 40th anniversary of the historic 1967 anti-war march to the Pentagon during the Vietnam War. The message of the 1967 march was "From Protest to Resistance," and marked a turning point in the development of a countrywide mass movement.

Thousands of organizations and individuals are mobilizing for the upcoming March on the Pentagon. Organizing committees and transportation centers are being established to bring people to the March on the Pentagon.

Tomorrow, January 11, there will be emergency demonstrations in scores of cities around the country protesting Bush's planned escalation of the war in Iraq.

The March 17 demonstration will assemble at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Constitution Gardens) at 12 noon in Washington, D.C. and march to the Pentagon. Go to http://www.answercoalition.org/ for more information. There are more than 1,000 endorsers for the March on the Pentagon...

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311
Seattle: 206-568-1661