Giuliani pisses on NYC firefighters heroism and hopes...doesn't need them!
Clinton a hero, Giuliani a no-show for firefighters

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent Wed Mar 14, 6:27 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Firefighters, hailed as heroes on September 11, cheered
Hillary Rodham Clinton when they gathered on Wednesday to size up U.S. presidential contenders minus Rudolph Giuliani.

Clinton, a 59-year-old Democratic senator from New York, and Giuliani, the 62-year-old former Republican mayor who led New York City during the attacks, are front-runners in polls months before the November 2008 vote.

Clinton and Illinois Democrat Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) were among the 10 presidential candidates who spoke from the two parties; Giuliani said he was busy.

On a stage flanked by photos of the World Trade Center devastation, Clinton evoked memories of those days, telling the cheering International Association of Firefighters: "You were there when we needed you."

Giuliani angered the 280,000-member union when he cut off efforts to recover the remains of September 11 victims before all had been found.

IAFF President Harold Schaitberger said Giuliani's actions were "so egregious" that union leaders debated whether to invite him, although they ultimately did.

Earlier this week, Giuliani said "the firefighters are my heroes," but unions had political agendas. He cited scheduling conflicts as his reason for missing the event.

"In some ways, the foundation of his entire candidacy is on the back of 9/11, and I view that as a pretty shaky foundation," Schaitberger said of Giuliani.

The forum featured contenders from both parties lavishing praise and promises on the union, which helped Sen.
John Kerry win the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination with its early backing.

Unlike most union political events, which are usually heavily Democratic, the bipartisan nature of the firefighters' union attracted four Republican candidates to the forum.

The union is more than 90 percent male and split roughly evenly between Republicans and Democrats, Schaitberger said. It has endorsed Republicans in the past, including Clinton's Senate opponent in 2000.

The union backed Clinton during her 2006 Senate re-election campaign, and Schaitberger enthusiastically introduced her as his "good friend."

Democrats also promised to back collective bargaining rights, promote universal health care plans and more adequately fund and equip the fire teams who were the first responders in emergency situations.

"It's a noble calling to see a building ablaze and to want to rush in," Obama said. "We love you for what you did on September 11."

Schaitberger said the union would make an endorsement later this year.

Abrupt end to talented personality...!
Family says Jeni committed suicide

Tue Mar 13, 8:51 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - Richard Jeni committed suicide after being diagnosed earlier this year with clinical depression and suffering bouts of psychotic paranoia, the late comic's family said Tuesday.

Jeni, 49, was found Saturday with a gunshot wound and later died at the hospital. An autopsy was performed Monday, although the coroner said an official cause of death would not be announced for several weeks.

"The family of Richard Jeni would like to put to rest any assumptions as to the cause of Richard's death. ... Richard Jeni did take his own life," the family said in a statement.

"He was not down or blue, he was ill," the statement said. "Perhaps Richard's passing will encourage people to have sympathy, compassion and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness."

Jeni, whose real name was Richard John Colangelo, was a longtime regular on "The Tonight Show," in addition to doing standup comedy.

He also created comedy specials for HBO and appeared in the films "The Mask," "The Aristocrats," "National Lampoon's Dad's Week Off" and "Burn, Hollywood, Burn."

Impovrished in Russia hurting!
Vodka and isolation: welcome to rural Russia

By James Kilner Tue Mar 13, 9:56 PM ET

ZIMNITSY, Russia (Reuters) - Friday is when the action happens in this isolated Russian village, six hours' drive north from Moscow along icy roads, past smoggy industrial towns and through vast pine forests.
ADVERTISEMENT

That's the day the mobile shop makes its weekly visit selling life's little luxuries to Zimnitsy's 10 inhabitants.

"I've bought bread, frozen fish, cigarettes and vodka," said 53-year-old Vitaly as he bent over to load his tattered rucksack. "What more can a Russian want?"

Village life in Russia seems to have been dragged unwillingly into the 21st century.

Zimnitsy once was three or four times bigger and boasted its own full-time shop, but the crumbling wooden houses now bear silent witness to a population movement away from Russia's countryside into the cities.

Alcoholism, devout religious faith and a sense of scratching a living on the fringes of civilization -- the hallmarks of the Russian countryside down the ages -- linger, sometimes just below the surface.

Vitaly looked up and grinned from beneath his ragged fur hat and grubby, thick-rimmed glasses. He wasn't finished yet: "I know English," he said and stood up straight. "To be or not to be, that is the question!" he bellowed, evidence that Shakespeare has penetrated even rural Russia.

The four people in the queue for the green goods truck in the center of the village took no notice, concentrating instead on keeping their positions in the line.

They stamped their felt boots to keep warm. Temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) below zero froze their breath.

SICKLY AFTER-TASTE

Some, though, have chosen to move here. In one house, Sergei Kopylov was philosophizing: "It's better to be first here than second in St Petersburg," he said.

He reached for a large clear bottle and poured another glass of samogon -- the Russian word for homebrewed alcohol.

Kopylov is 50 years old. But his long unkempt beard, unwashed hair, gaunt features and heavily lined face made him look 20 or 30 years older.

"To Russia," he said and slugged the clear samogon down his throat. Fermented from cow's milk, it is stronger than vodka and leaves a sickly after-taste.

Kopylov's cracked, dirty fingers lifted a fork full of iced cabbage to his mouth which he swallowed to wash away the taste.

It was midday and Kopylov was in fine mood. Five shots of samogon had jollied him and he had stocked up on sausages and fish from the mobile shop.

He shares his house with four cats, three dogs, his speechless father and his girlfriend, Tatyana. He used to live in cramped communal accommodation in St Petersburg but gave it up for a quieter life in the countryside.

Dirt coated the wooden interior walls of the house and a wood fire kept the place warm.

An energy-saving electric light bulb dangling by a single wire from the ceiling, a digital clock flickering in the corner and a mobile phone hanging by its cord from a nail in the wall were the only modern intrusions into the 19th-century scene.

Further down the lane an old woman lives alone in a Spartan wooden shack, Kopylov said. She spends her days praying, collecting fire wood or drawing water from a well.

DACHNIKI AS SAVIOURS

Russia is growing rich on from its minerals and energy resources. Moscow's streets are jammed with the latest Western cars and European chefs cook up fancy dishes in the restaurants.

Along the shores of Lake Seliger, just six km (four miles) through the woods from Zimnitsy, the Dacha or holiday home is returning. Muscovites and others -- known as Dachniki -- are either buying old houses or building new ones.

After a post-Soviet Union slump, the villages around popular beauty spots are returning to life.

"The Dachniki have been our saviour," said Viktor Vinogradov, who has lived in Priozyornaya on the lake all his life. He fishes and builds houses for the Dachniki. "They come here with their money and spend it."

Back in Zimnitsy, Kopylov had been showing off by thrashing his sleigh, pulled by a ragged-looking horse, through the snow.

He marched into his house primed for another shot of samogon.

"You can't just understand Russia with your head," he said. "You have to understand it with your heart."

Welcome to Rural Russia!
Vodka and isolation: welcome to rural Russia

By James Kilner Tue Mar 13, 9:56 PM ET

ZIMNITSY, Russia (Reuters) - Friday is when the action happens in this isolated Russian village, six hours' drive north from Moscow along icy roads, past smoggy industrial towns and through vast pine forests.

That's the day the mobile shop makes its weekly visit selling life's little luxuries to Zimnitsy's 10 inhabitants.

"I've bought bread, frozen fish, cigarettes and vodka," said 53-year-old Vitaly as he bent over to load his tattered rucksack. "What more can a Russian want?"

Village life in Russia seems to have been dragged unwillingly into the 21st century.

Zimnitsy once was three or four times bigger and boasted its own full-time shop, but the crumbling wooden houses now bear silent witness to a population movement away from Russia's countryside into the cities.

Alcoholism, devout religious faith and a sense of scratching a living on the fringes of civilization -- the hallmarks of the Russian countryside down the ages -- linger, sometimes just below the surface.

Vitaly looked up and grinned from beneath his ragged fur hat and grubby, thick-rimmed glasses. He wasn't finished yet: "I know English," he said and stood up straight. "To be or not to be, that is the question!" he bellowed, evidence that Shakespeare has penetrated even rural Russia.

The four people in the queue for the green goods truck in the center of the village took no notice, concentrating instead on keeping their positions in the line.

They stamped their felt boots to keep warm. Temperatures of around 20 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit) below zero froze their breath.

SICKLY AFTER-TASTE

Some, though, have chosen to move here. In one house, Sergei Kopylov was philosophizing: "It's better to be first here than second in St Petersburg," he said.

He reached for a large clear bottle and poured another glass of samogon -- the Russian word for homebrewed alcohol.

Kopylov is 50 years old. But his long unkempt beard, unwashed hair, gaunt features and heavily lined face made him look 20 or 30 years older.

"To Russia," he said and slugged the clear samogon down his throat. Fermented from cow's milk, it is stronger than vodka and leaves a sickly after-taste.

Kopylov's cracked, dirty fingers lifted a fork full of iced cabbage to his mouth which he swallowed to wash away the taste.

It was midday and Kopylov was in fine mood. Five shots of samogon had jollied him and he had stocked up on sausages and fish from the mobile shop.

He shares his house with four cats, three dogs, his speechless father and his girlfriend, Tatyana. He used to live in cramped communal accommodation in St Petersburg but gave it up for a quieter life in the countryside.

Dirt coated the wooden interior walls of the house and a wood fire kept the place warm.

An energy-saving electric light bulb dangling by a single wire from the ceiling, a digital clock flickering in the corner and a mobile phone hanging by its cord from a nail in the wall were the only modern intrusions into the 19th-century scene.

Further down the lane an old woman lives alone in a Spartan wooden shack, Kopylov said. She spends her days praying, collecting fire wood or drawing water from a well.

DACHNIKI AS SAVIOURS

Russia is growing rich on from its minerals and energy resources. Moscow's streets are jammed with the latest Western cars and European chefs cook up fancy dishes in the restaurants.

Along the shores of Lake Seliger, just six km (four miles) through the woods from Zimnitsy, the Dacha or holiday home is returning. Muscovites and others -- known as Dachniki -- are either buying old houses or building new ones.

After a post-Soviet Union slump, the villages around popular beauty spots are returning to life.

"The Dachniki have been our saviour," said Viktor Vinogradov, who has lived in Priozyornaya on the lake all his life. He fishes and builds houses for the Dachniki. "They come here with their money and spend it."

Back in Zimnitsy, Kopylov had been showing off by thrashing his sleigh, pulled by a ragged-looking horse, through the snow.

He marched into his house primed for another shot of samogon.

"You can't just understand Russia with your head," he said. "You have to understand it with your heart."

The answers, my friend, are blowing in the wind...
Mauritanians vote in poll to restore civilian rule

By Pascal Fletcher Sun Mar 11, 4:31 AM ET

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritanians began voting on Sunday to choose a president and restore civilian rule to the Saharan Islamic state after 19 months under a military junta.

Voters and international observers hope the poll can establish a multi-party democracy in the largely desert former French colony, which has experienced several coups and years of authoritarian rule since its independence in 1960.

As polling stations opened, men in flowing robes and turbans and women in colorful veils formed queues and squatted patiently on the sandy streets waiting to vote.

"We've never had an election like this before ... we hope it will change a lot in the country, God willing," said Ahmed Ould Brahim, 46, an unemployed mason. "We want more education and work, less corruption and tribalism."

Just over 1 million voters across the country, which is twice the size of France and straddles Arab and black Africa, are being asked to choose between 19 candidates.

The election, following multi-party legislative polls late last year, will be the first time power has changed hands freely via the ballot box in this largely desert former French colony.

Candidates include a veteran opposition figure, a former military ruler, an ex-central bank governor and a descendant of black slaves in the racially diverse nation, which has traditionally been ruled by a white Moorish elite.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the total votes in the first round, a second round will be held on March 25.

Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall and members of his junta, whose bloodless coup in 2005 ended more than two decades of rule by President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, barred themselves from standing and have vowed to respect the new head of state.

They organized a referendum reforming the constitution in June to limit a president's period in office.

RACIAL GRIEVANCES

Many voters said they want the new president to ensure wealth from the country's natural resources are distributed more fairly and to end inequality among the mixed 3 million population of white and black Moors and black Africans.

"We have everything in our country, fisheries, oil, mining. What we want is good government," said Diatahir Mamadou, 47, an unemployed driver who lives in Nouakchott's sprawling Keube shantytown, mostly inhabited by black Mauritanians.

"And we want no more racism," Mamadou said, expressing the feelings of black Mauritanians who say they have suffered discrimination and slavery under a centuries-old caste system that kept the white Moorish elite in power.

Slavery was outlawed in 1981 but rights groups say it continues in some areas.

International observers say Sunday's poll could be the freest and most open ever held in Mauritania, in contrast to the past when a single leader and party kept a tight grip on power.

"This can be a model of democracy to follow in Africa and the Arab world," said Marie Anne Isler Beguin, chief of the
European Union observer mission.

But some voters said they did not know who to vote for.

"They all make promises and then do nothing. I don't know who to trust, black or white. Only God knows," said Zeinabou Sey, sitting with her children in a ramshackle hut as dust swept by from the Sahara, where most of the population live as nomads.

I forget. Why is it Basques can't have independence and title to their own lands?
Crackdown on Basque separatists sought

By DANIEL WOOLLS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 39 minutes ago

MADRID, Spain - Hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Spain's capital Saturday to demand a tougher government policy toward Basque separatists.

Demonstrators demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, accusing him of insulting victims of the ETA separatist group by seeking peace talks and granting house arrest to a notorious ETA killer.

Madrid's government, which is controlled by the opposition conservative Popular Party, which called the demonstration, estimated the crowd at 2.1 million. That would make it Spain's largest protest in years.

The Interior Ministry, however, put attendance at more than 342,000. Such discrepancies are common in anti-government rallies in Spain.

It was the third protest in just over a month over the Popular Party's accusations that Zapatero is appeasing ETA. Spain has become increasingly divided over how to deal with ETA, which has killed 800 people since 1968 in its drive for Basque independence.

The crowd chanted "Zapatero, resign!" and carried banners reading, "Spain for freedom, no more concessions to ETA."

"Whoever does not see that the government has yielded to terrorists is blind," said Rogelio Casado, a 50-year-old tax consultant.

The protests were called after the government granted house arrest to Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos, a convicted ETA killer who is near death on a hunger strike over a new conviction stemming from newspaper articles deemed to be terrorist threats.

The new charges came just as he was about to be released after serving 18 years of a sentence of 3,129 years for killing 25 people in a string of ETA attacks. Under Spanish law, the maximum he could have served in prison was 30 years.

"Whereas other governments tried to keep ETA prisoners in jail, this is the first time a government has worked to free them," said Alvaro Soldevilla, a 30-year-old lawyer at the protest with his wife and two children.

Conservatives were already furious over the Socialist government's refusal to rule out negotiations after an ETA bombing in December killed two people in Madrid and shattered a nine-month-old cease-fire.

While conceding that many Spaniards may have a hard time accepting the house arrest decision, the government has argued it was the humane thing to do it.

The decision is also seen by many as an attempt to prevent De Juana Chaos from becoming a martyr by starving himself to death.

Who is defining what is Character here?
Poll: Character trumps policy for voters

By RON FOURNIER and TREVOR TOMPSON, Associated Press Writers Sat Mar 10, 10:47 PM ET

WASHINGTON - For all the policy blueprints churned out by presidential campaigns, there is this indisputable fact: People care less about issues than they do about a candidate's character.

A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll says 55 percent of those surveyed consider honesty, integrity and other values of character the most important qualities they look for in a presidential candidate.

Just one-third look first to candidates' stances on issues; even fewer focus foremost on leadership traits, experience or intelligence.

"Voters only look at policies as a lens into what type of person the candidate is," said Ken Mehlman, chairman of
President Bush's 2004 re-election campaign. That campaign based its voter targeting and messaging strategies on the character-first theory.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,001 adults, conducted Monday through Wednesday, found honesty was by far the most popular single trait — volunteered by 41 percent of voters in open-ended questioning.

The results might have been different had respondents been forced to choose between either issues or character. But this survey allowed people to volunteer any "qualities or characteristics," and a minority seized on issues.

The findings are consistent with an AP-Ipsos poll from September 2004, when 38 percent of voters chose honesty as the most important quality when picking a president. That was more than any other factor. At the time of that survey, a majority of voters found Bush to be honest.

But in an AP-AOL News poll conducted in January, only 44 percent said they thought Bush was honest.

His decline in the category of trust is widely attributed to the fallout from the
Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The drop is most prominent among people 30 to 39, suburban women, married women with children and people with household incomes in the $50,000 to $75,000 bracket.

Bush's collapse in the character test should serve as a warning to the 2008 presidential candidates. Character matters, voters say, and they already are sizing up the field.

Among Republican and GOP-leaning voters, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani leads Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) 35 percent to 22 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 11 percent, followed in the single digits by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record) of Kansas.

Giuliani leads the pack among voters who look first to a candidate's character, issues and leadership qualities. The only area when McCain pulls even to Giuliani is among voters who cite experience as the most important quality or characteristic in a president.

Among Democrats, Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York leads with 38 percent, followed by Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) of Illinois at 21 percent. Former Vice President
Al Gore is at 14 percent and 2004 vice presidential nominee
John Edwards is at 10 percent. The rest of the field is in single digits.

Clinton leads Obama among voters who mention honesty and strong character, compassion, intelligence and stance on issues. The former first lady is tied with Obama among the small number of respondents who value experience, a surprise given Obama's short stint in Washington.

Policies may not get candidates elected. But politicians can use their policies to connect with voters at a gut level.

Former
President Clinton's book-length economic blueprint showed voters he would work hard to tackle problems they cared about. His empathy was a winning trait in 1992.

Bush won re-election in 2004 when most people were opposed to the war in Iraq. He used the against-the-grain war policy to cast himself as a strong, decisive leader. It worked until voters started doubting his honesty and competence in 2005.

"Modern day presidential campaigns are essentially character tests, with character broadly defined to encompass a mosaic of traits — looks, likability, vision, philosophy, ideology, biography, communications skills, intelligence, strength, optimism, empathy, ethics, values, among others," said Democratic strategist Chris Lehane of California.

Steffen Schmidt, political science professor at Iowa State University, said the 2008 field faces many challenges in the character contest. The top half-dozen or so candidates have had their honesty or integrity called into question already, including relative newcomer Obama.

"The problem is it's almost impossible to find a human being who lives up to the expectations of voters. Everyone has things they've done that they're not proud of," Schmidt said. "Nobody's character is perfect."

The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. For Democrats and Republicans, it was 4.5 percentage points.

___

AP news survey specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Ipsos: http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com

Location, strength, times of strategic movement, not revealed here, but reputations more important to Administrators!
U.S. military: Censorship was justified

By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 10, 3:43 AM ET

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The U.S. military asserted that an American soldier was justified in erasing journalists' footage of the aftermath of a suicide bombing and shooting in
Afghanistan last week, saying publication could have compromised a military investigation and led to false public conclusions.

The comments came Friday in response to an Associated Press protest that a U.S. soldier had forced two freelance journalists working for the AP to delete photos and video at the scene of violence March 4 in Barikaw, eastern Afghanistan. At least eight Afghans were killed and 34 wounded.

"Investigative integrity is one circumstance when civil and military authorities will reluctantly exercise the right to control what a journalist is permitted to document," Col. Victor Petrenko, chief of staff to the top U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan, said in a letter Friday.

He added that photographs or video taken by "untrained people" might "capture visual details that are not as they originally were."

The AP disputed the assertions.

"That is not a reasonable justification for erasing images from our cameras," said AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll in New York. "AP's journalists in Afghanistan are trained, accredited professionals working at an appropriate distance from the bombing scene. In democratic societies, legitimate journalists are allowed to work without having their equipment seized and their images deleted."

Afghan witnesses and gunshot victims said U.S. forces fired on civilians in cars and on foot along at least a six-mile stretch of road from Barikaw following the suicide attack against the Marine convoy. The U.S. military said insurgents also fired on American forces during the attack. One Marine was wounded.

A U.S. soldier deleted the AP journalists' footage that showed a civilian four-wheel drive vehicle in which three Afghans were shot to death about 100 yards from the suicide bombing. The journalists had met requests from the military to not move any closer to the bomb site.

Other Afghan journalists said the military also deleted their footage.

Petrenko said that if people who are not part of the investigation entered such a "secured area" they could disturb evidence and other clues, "potentially fouling the conclusions of the investigation."

Petrenko said that taking pictures could also misrepresent what had happened in the incident.

"When untrained people take photographs or video, there is a very real risk that the images or videography will capture visual details that are not as they originally were," he said. "If such visual media are subsequently used as part of the public record to document an event like this, then public conclusions about such a serious event can be falsely made."

The AP also raised concerns about the military's efforts to restrict its coverage of the Feb. 15 crash of a U.S. helicopter in southern Zabul province in which eight soldiers were killed and 14 wounded. Two AP journalists and their vehicle were searched extensively in an effort to prevent footage of the wreckage getting out.

Petrenko justified that action on the grounds of "operational security" exercised when "equipment, aircraft or component parts are classified."

He maintained that the U.S. military had no intention of curbing freedom of the press in Afghanistan.

"We are completely committed to a free and independent press, and we hope that we can help encourage this tradition in places where new and free governments are taking root," Petrenko said.

"It so happens that on these two recent occasions, military operational or security requirements were compelling interests that overrode the otherwise protected rights of the press."

Where TALENT wins over cheap sexual sensationalism!
Foxx, Blige win at Soul Train Awards

By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 49 minutes ago

PASADENA, Calif. -
Jamie Foxx and
Mary J. Blige took best album honors Saturday at the 21st Anniversary Soul Train Music Awards.

Foxx won best male album for "Unpredictable" while Blige won best female album for "The Breakthrough."

John Legend won best male single for "Save Room," and Gnarls Barkley won for best single in the category for group, band or duo for "Crazy."

"I want to thank Soul Train for appreciating my music and black music over the years," said Legend, who did not attend the show, via a television feed.

Jennifer Hudson, who last month won a best supporting actress Oscar for the movie musical "Dreamgirls," was given the
Sammy Davis Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year.

After receiving her award, Hudson reflected on her rapid rise to stardom after being an "American Idol" finalist a few years ago.

"I just can't believe I got the Sammy Davis Jr. award," said Hudson, who also performed during the show. "I'm standing on the same stage where I made the top 32 of 'American Idol.'"

Jay-Z won the
Michael Jackson award for best soul or rap video for "Show Me What You Got." The Isley Brothers Featuring Ronald Isley won best album for a group, band or duo for "Baby Makin' Music."

Ne-Yo was awarded best new soul or rap artist for "Sexy Love." Best soul or rap dance cut went to Webstar & Young B Featuring The Voice of Harlem for "Chicken Noodle Soup."

Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds was presented the
Stevie Wonder Award for Outstanding Career Achievement in Song Writing.

"When you think of songwriting and where it comes from, you go to your space in your room and you write, and you try to write from the heart," Edmonds said.

Beyonce won best female single for "Irreplaceable" while best gospel album went to Kirk Franklin for "Sounds from the Storm, Volume 1."

LeToya and Omarion were co-hosts of the show at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which was scheduled to be televised in syndication between March 17-25.

The Soul Train Music Awards are sponsored by the syndicated music show "Soul Train" and celebrate artists in R&B, hip-hop and gospel music.

Winners are determined by a group of radio-station professionals, talent managers and performers.

Where can I get a 16 year old son who shuns TV and Video games, to meditaate in the yard.
Nepal's mystery "Buddha boy" goes missing again

1 hour, 15 minutes ago

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A 16-year-old Nepali boy who thousands of people believe is a reincarnation of Buddha has gone missing from the site where he had been meditating for more than two months.

Since first appearing in 2005, Ram Bahadur Bamjon has drawn more than 100,000 people to the dense forests of southeastern Nepal to see him sitting cross-legged beneath a tree.

Bamjon left the site late on Thursday, said a police officer in Jijgadh, 150 km (95 miles) southeast of Kathmandu.

The boy had been meditating there since December, when he reappeared after going missing for nearly 10 months last year.

"He quietly left the site around midnight on Thursday. Earlier that night he had told his attendants that he would move to a new location for meditation," policeman Rameshwar Yadav said on Sunday.

"We are searching for the boy in the forests but have found no trace of him so far."

Buddha was born a prince in Lumbini, a dusty village in Nepal's rice-growing plains about 350 km (220 miles) west of Kathmandu more than 2,600 years ago.

He is believed to have attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, which borders Nepal.

Help us, Maya, you're or only hope! Help us, Maya, you're our only hope!
Priests to purify site after Bush visit

By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 9, 12:20 AM ET

GUATEMALA CITY - Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits" after
President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday.

"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday.

Bush's seven-day tour of Latin America includes a stopover beginning late Sunday in Guatemala. On Monday morning he is scheduled to visit the archaeological site Iximche on the high western plateau in a region of the Central American country populated mostly by Mayans.

Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites — which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles — would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.

Bush's trip has already has sparked protests elsewhere in Latin America, including protests and clashes with police in Brazil hours before his arrival. In Bogota, Colombia, which Bush will visit on Sunday, 200 masked students battled 300 riot police with rocks and small homemade explosives.

The tour is aimed at challenging a widespread perception that the United States has neglected the region and at combatting the rising influence of Venezuelan leftist President Hugo Chavez, who has called Bush "history's greatest killer" and "the devil."

Iximche, 30 miles west of the capital of Guatemala City, was founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.

What is the dysfunction with these idiots?!
F.B.I. Head Admits Mistakes in Use of Security Act
Doug Mills/The New York Times

Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, yesterday in Washington

By DAVID STOUT
Published: March 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, March 9 — Bipartisan outrage erupted on Friday on Capitol Hill as Robert S. Mueller III, the F.B.I. director, conceded that the bureau had improperly used the USA Patriot Act to obtain information about people and businesses.
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Mr. Mueller embraced responsibility for the lapses, detailed in a report by the inspector general of the Justice Department, and promised to do everything he could to avoid repeating them. But his apologies failed to defuse the anger of lawmakers in both parties.

“How could this happen?” Mr. Mueller asked rhetorically in a briefing at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Who is to be held accountable? And the answer to that is I am to be held accountable.”

The report found many instances when national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain records from telephone companies, Internet service providers, banks, credit companies and other businesses without a judge’s approval, were improperly, and sometimes illegally, used.

Moreover, record keeping was so slipshod, the report found, that the actual number of national security letters exercised was often understated when the bureau reported on them to Congress, as required.

The repercussions were felt far beyond Mr. Mueller’s office. Democratic lawmakers, newly in control of Congress, promised hearings on the problems. Several Republicans expressed anger and dismay, as well.

“It is time to place meaningful checks on the Bush administration’s ability to misuse the Patriot Act by overusing national security letters,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader.

Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, “National security letters are a powerful tool, and when they are misused, they can do great harm to innocent people.” Mr. Leahy said his panel would hold extensive hearings on the inspector general’s findings.

In the House, Representative Silvestre Reyes, the Texas Democrat who heads the Intelligence Committee, said that the inspector general had painted “a highly troubling picture of mismanagement” and that it was up to Congress to “conduct vigorous oversight of this situation.”

Among the Republicans voicing anger was Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “When it comes to national security, sloppiness should be reserved for the hog lot, not the F.B.I.,” said Mr. Grassley.

Mr. Mueller attributed the inaccuracies to “deficiencies in the database” and the failure to retain signed copies of national security letters in all cases.

“We have already taken steps to correct these deficiencies,” he said.

Mr. Mueller emphasized that the report determined that the lapses were a result of errors rather than criminal or malicious intent, that apparently no person or business was harmed and that the inspector general, Glenn A. Fine, agreed that the national security letters were a vital tool in the post-Sept. 11 world.

But he conceded that the abuses, however unintentional, were contrary to American traditions of law and respect for privacy. And even if the actual number of mistakes is relatively small, “nonetheless it is a serious problem,” he said, promising to do whatever he could to reassure skeptics on Capitol Hill.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales noted that the information discussed throughout Mr. Fine’s document was the kind that the bureau “would have been entitled to if we had followed the rules.”

But Mr. Gonzales, who was by coincidence speaking to reporters after a privacy conference here, said he viewed Mr. Fine’s conclusions as serious.

Mr. Mueller left open the possibility that some F.B.I. employees might be disciplined for their errors involving national security letters. In response to a question, he said there had been “no discussion” on whether he should step down.

The inspector general traced the increase in the use of the letters after Sept. 11, 2001. There were 8,500 in 2000, the year before the Patriot Act broadened surveillance powers. There were 39,000 in 2003, 56,000 in 2004 and 47,000 in 2005, the years covered in Mr. Fine’s review.

But his office found that the number of letters in case files was 20 percent higher than those recorded in the central legal office at the bureau. Those discrepancies, plus slowness in gathering and transmitting data, meant that the numbers of national security requests reported to Congress were “significantly understated,” Mr. Fine wrote.

Although the investigation uncovered no examples of lives turned upside down or businesses disrupted, the privacy problems went beyond the theoretical in a few instances. One letter demanding telephone toll-billing records yielded voice messages because a recipient was overly cooperative.

Another letter demanding e-mail transaction records was answered by e-mail contents and images.

In other incidents, though rare, national security letters seeking data on individuals were answered by information on the wrong people “due to either to F.B.I. typographical errors or errors by the recipients” of the letters, Mr. Fine wrote.

Moreover, he added, mistakes of that nature were not always reported promptly to the legal office, as regulations require.

The inspector general also criticized the bureau for using what are called exigent letters in improper circumstances. An exigent letter is meant to be used to obtain information in an extreme emergency like a kidnapping when the bureau has already sought subpoenas for the information. In too many instances, such letters were used in nonemergencies when the bureau had not requested subpoenas, Mr. Fine wrote.

Some of the sternest critics of the bureau were not mollified by Mr. Mueller’s apologies and promises.

“This confirms some of our worst suspicions,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Romero scoffed at the notion that Mr. Gonzales could help turn around the problem.

“This attorney general cannot be part of the solution,” Mr. Romero said. “He is part of the problem.”

Mr. Romero said the Patriot Act, which Congress re-enacted a year ago after extensive debate, should be given another look, so the provisions on national security letters could be improved.

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee (and, like Mr. Leahy, a former prosecutor), told reporters that the bureau had apparently “badly misused national security letters.”

“This is, regrettably, part of an ongoing process where the federal authorities are not really sensitive to privacy and go far beyond what we have authorized,” Mr. Specter said.

Senator Russell D. Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat on the judiciary panel who voted against the original Patriot Act, said the inspector general’s inquiry “proves that ‘trust us’ doesn’t cut it” when it comes to the F.B.I.
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Notice to all current customers...!
AT&T, Yahoo downplay report partnership at risk

By Ritsuko Ando and Eric Auchard Fri Mar 9, 7:43 PM ET

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - news)and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) are negotiating how they could expand a broadband promotion deal to cover mobile Internet services and advertising, a source familiar with the talks said on Friday.

The source, who was responding to a report in the Wall Street Journal that said Yahoo was at risk of losing revenue of up to $250 million a year when the AT&T contract comes up for renewal next year, said new ties could offset any such threat.

Fearing the partnership could be in danger, investors drove down Yahoo shares 5.2 percent in Nasdaq trading.

Current discussions focus on a potential mobile phone deal with AT&T's mobile unit, Cingular, the largest U.S. cellphone company, where Yahoo would provide advertising, Web search and other services along the lines of the contract Yahoo struck late last year to act as exclusive provider of advertising for Vodafone mobile phone customers in Britain, the source said.

"It is pretty obvious that the next new thing is mobile services and advertising," the source said.

In a joint statement issued on Friday afternoon, AT&T and Yahoo said Yahoo also would be providing services on AT&T's Internet television service later this year.

"AT&T and Yahoo have already made adjustments over the years to reflect competitive conditions and the relative benefits each party brings to the relationship," Yahoo Chairman and Chief Executive Terry Semel said.

"As we continue our conversations, we have a common goal to increase the economic benefits for both parties."

Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Noto estimated the AT&T deal provides Yahoo with $210 million to $290 million per year in subscription and advertising revenues.

Doubts raised by the report came as an unexpected blow to Yahoo, which has been rebounding from a series of business missteps that caused shares to lose 35 percent last year.

Ahead of the Journal report, Yahoo shares had risen around 13 percent head in the year to date. Investors are betting on stronger growth this year and next, following a major upgrade of its Web search advertising system last month.

Yahoo spokesman Mark Plungy labeled the Journal story "rumor and speculation" and confirmed talks continue.

"AT&T and Yahoo's ongoing partnership is rooted in the open and ongoing dialogue we maintain about future opportunities," he said.

The two partners introduced advertising on the front page of their joint broadband marketing site earlier this year. Later this month, Plungy said, Yahoo is introducing advertising on their co-branded e-mail service for high-speed customers.

Further mobile ties remain under negotiation.

"We are discussing ways to expand our partnership in the mobile arena, now that AT&T has 100 percent ownership of Cingular," he said.

Yahoo shares closed down 5.2 percent at $29.12 on Nasdaq. AT&T closed up 4 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $36.55 on the
New York Stock Exchange.

AT&T, formerly known as SBC Communications, struck a broadband marketing partnership in 2001 in which SBC pays Yahoo a small cut for each high-speed Internet access customer in return for Yahoo building and managing Web services for customers. The deal covers AT&T customers in the 13 states where the top U.S. phone company offers local phone service.

Yahoo has similar broadband deals with major phone companies Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - news) and BT Group Plc (BT.L) and Canadian cable Rogers Communications (Toronto:RCIB.TO - news).

The Wall Street Journal highlighted how rivals Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) or Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) in the past year have struck a series of high-profile deals where they pay major computer and media companies for the privilege of marketing services to their partners' customers, reversing the trend of five years ago when AT&T and others agreed to pay Yahoo.

"Yahoo is likely in jeopardy of losing its AT&T deal, or at least a reworking of the deal that could materially scale back the relationship," analyst Scott Devitt of broker Stifel Nicolaus warned in a research note to clients issued Friday.

But the source close to the talks said the existing broadband contract includes a provision that AT&T customers who have signed up for the service would remain Yahoo customers for ads and Web services, whether or not AT&T chooses to renew.

Hence, the risk to existing revenue streams is low. Furthermore, Yahoo and AT&T are already focused on new areas such as mobile and TV partnerships as broadband use has become more widespread and growth in new customers has peaked.

(Additional reporting by Mark Porter in New York)

Is Gingrich pre-empting obstacles to the White House? Don't let him! He has no respect for women!
Clinton foe Gingrich admits impeachment-era affair

By Randall Mikkelsen Fri Mar 9, 8:28 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican Newt Gingrich, who led the U.S. House of Representatives as it prepared to impeach
Bill Clinton in a sex-and-perjury scandal, acknowledged in an interview released on Friday that he was having an affair at the time.

Gingrich, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, was asked by James Dobson of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, whether he was engaged in an extramarital affair when former
President Clinton was involved with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

"The honest answer is 'yes,"' Gingrich said in an interview released on the group's Web site. "But it's not related to what happened."

The affair has been widely reported previously.

Referring to his efforts as House speaker to oust Clinton, a Democrat, Gingrich said he was not judging the president personally.

"I drew a line in my mind that said even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept felonies and you cannot accept perjury in your highest officials," Gingrich said.

Gingrich stepped down as speaker and quit Congress in 1998 amid ethics allegations and Republican losses in midterm elections.

Although the House impeached Clinton in December of that year for perjury and obstruction of justice, he was acquitted two months later in a Senate trial.

Gingrich has been married three times. In an often-told story, he discussed divorce details with his first wife, Jacqueline, while she was recovering from cancer surgery.

In 1981, he married Marianne Ginther, and they were divorced in 2000. Later that year he married a young congressional aide, Callista Bisek.

NBC salivates and Ailes gets bogus award because he stayed up past his bedtime...
Danger shouldn't stop journalists, newswoman says

By Paul J. Gough Fri Mar 9, 12:07 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Hollywood Reporter) - A CBS News correspondent badly injured in an Iraqi bomb attack that killed two members of her crew said Thursday that it was still crucial that journalists cover the war despite the dangers.

Kimberly Dozier was critically wounded and James Brolan and Paul Douglas killed when a car bomb exploded last May while they traveled with U.S. troops in a Baghdad neighborhood. Dozier and ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, who was critically wounded in January 2006 by a bomb were among those honored Thursday night at the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation First Amendment dinner at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C.

"I've been asked (by executives) if it's worth it (covering
Iraq) ... I think we don't have a choice. We still have to go out on the ground," Dozier said. "We have to try to find the truth for our audiences back home and our leaders back home."

Dozier and Woodruff have both made miraculous recoveries from their injuries. Doctors feared that Dozier, for instance, would never walk again. Dozier hinted that she might return to a war zone someday.

"I hope to join you, not right away, but sometime soon," Dozier said.

Woodruff said that he and Dozier -- as well as Douglas, Brolan and Doug Vogt, who was hurt in the same blast as Woodruff -- were proof that reporting was not without risk. And he couldn't say why he and Dozier and Vogt were spared.

"I still don't think we'll ever, ever understand," Woodruff said. "But I know that we were very, very lucky." Woodruff called for journalists to spend more time "covering the planet" in a world where it's crucial to know about international stories and the U.S. can scarcely afford to ignore them.

Fox News chairman/CEO Roger Ailes received the First Amendment Leadership Award for, among other things, his tireless efforts to save correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig last August after they were kidnapped in Gaza. Centanni was on hand to present the award to Ailes and said he and Wiig owed their lives to Ailes behind-the-scenes, around-the-clock efforts that included Ailes' willingness to even go to Gaza.

"If our captors had known who they were up against, they never would have kidnapped us," Centanni said.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter