Bush Administration acting against DEMOCRACY!
U.S. acting against Kurdish rebel group

By DESMOND BUTLER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 48 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The United States is dealing with Turkish complaints about Kurdish separatists operating in northern
Iraq and has not ruled out military action against the rebels, the U.S. official assigned to handle the problem says.

Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, a special envoy tasked with countering the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, said Wednesday in an Associated Press interview that U.S. pressure has resulted in moves against the group's operations by Iraqi and European authorities.

Turkish officials repeatedly have accused the United States of insufficient efforts to prevent attacks into Turkey from Iraq by the PKK, which has waged a guerrilla war for autonomy since 1984 at a cost of 37,000 lives. Turkey also has threatened military incursions into Iraq against the rebels, which the United States fears would alienate Iraqi Kurds, the most pro-American ethnic group in the region.

Ralston said the United States has not yet met Turkish demands for the capture of PKK operatives and destruction of a rebel base in a mountainous area of Iraq near the Turkish and Iranian border. He said, however, that the United States would consider options against the group available to a U.S. military stretched by many challenges in Iraq.

"All options are on the table," he said. "The PKK is a terrorist organization and needs to be put out of business."

Ralston, a former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe who is to testify on U.S.-Turkish Relations in a congressional hearing Thursday, stressed the importance of resolving the deep-seated Turkish worries about the PKK. Turkey, a crucial
NATO ally, provides vital support to U.S. operations in
Afghanistan and Iraq through Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, one of the most important U.S. military assets in the region.

"This is a country that has suffered greatly at the hands of the PKK," Ralston said. "We ought to be working with our ally to try to solve this problem."

Ralston said negotiators from the United States, Turkey and Iraq are close to a deal to close a Kurdish refugee camp in northern Iraq that Turkey says is a haven for the PKK. In late January, U.S. and Iraqi forces searched the camp, known as Makhmur, and found artillery shells they believe belonged to the PKK, Ralston said.

He said PKK fighters have held a cease-fire since October that was arranged by Masoud Barzani, leader of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region, after a discussion with Ralston.

"We would prefer the PKK announce they are laying down their arms and renouncing violence," Ralston said. "But on the good news side, to my knowledge there have not been major incidents since that time."

Under pressure, the Iraqi government legally banned the PKK in January from operating in Iraq and closed its offices. Ralston said some of the offices had reopened under different names. U.S. and Turkish pressure, he said, also led this year to the closure of PKK fundraising operations in France and Belgium and arrests there of more than a dozen Kurds accused of supporting the PKK.

Officials from Turkey, Iraq and the
United Nations will meet next month to resolve a few remaining issues preventing the closure of the Makhmur refugee camp. Ralston said negotiators need to agree on arrangements for repatriating refugees to Turkey and what to do about those who do not want to go.

Benny reveals himself to be a pig, anti-life; anti-planet; anti-GOD!
Vatican condemns writings of theologian

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer Wed Mar 14, 4:18 PM ET

VATICAN CITY - The
Vatican on Wednesday condemned as "erroneous or dangerous" some of the writings of a well-known champion of liberation theology but took no immediate disciplinary action against the priest involved.

It was the first such move under the nearly two-year papacy of
Pope Benedict XVI, who as
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger led the Vatican's crackdown on theologians judged to be perilously straying from church doctrine.

The Vatican began building its case in 2004 against the writings of the Rev. Jon Sobrino, a Spanish Jesuit, calling the procedure "urgent" because of the wide diffusion of his works in Latin America.

The judgment by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "deals specifically with the works, not with the person," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters.

He said it was the congregation's "duty to explain what was found erroneous in the writings, and thus to alert the faithful."

"Other sanctions, such as whether the person could teach or not is an open question to be dealt with by the competent authorities," Lombardi said.

The Vatican declaration, called a Notification, effectively serves as a caution to Catholic faithful who may read Sobrino's work, although it does not specifically forbid them to do so. It was signed by American Cardinal William Levada, head of the congregation, and carried Benedict's approval.

A spokesman at Jesuit headquarters in Rome said Sobrino did not plan to make a public comment on the Vatican decision.

"Sobrino says that his faith is the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, but he expresses it in less-traditional ways," said the spokesman, the Rev. Jose De Vera.

The Vatican has objected to liberation theology, citing its basis in Marxist analysis of society — particularly the idea of class struggle in the promotion of social, political and economic justice for the poor.

During his two-decade tenure at the congregation's helm, Ratzinger, who is a theologian, worked to cripple support for the "liberation theology" movement that is especially popular in Latin America.

Sobrino has been based in
El Salvador for decades and was close to the Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, an insistent critic of human rights abuses in the country. The churchman was slain in 1980 while celebrating Mass.

Lombardi, himself a Jesuit, said that six of Sobrino's fellow priests were murdered for their "social commitment with the Salvadorian people."

The Vatican singled out two of Sobrino's theological works, "Jesus the Liberator: A Historical-Theological Reading of Jesus of Nazareth" and "Christ the Liberator: A View from the Victims."

It said the works "contain propositions which are either erroneous or dangerous and may cause harm to the faithful."

Although it expressed support for his work for "the poor and oppressed," the Vatican accused Sobrino of distorting the nature of Christ — in particular the core belief of Christianity in his divinity.

Lombardi said that several of Sobrino's positions put into question "very basic points of the church's permanent faith."

___

Associated Press Writer Daniela Petroff contributed to his article.

No-Child Left Behind is nothing but a dredging tool creating prospects for the mindless military...
Education law faces renewal amid reform calls

By David Alexander Wed Mar 14, 9:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A far-reaching education law
President George W. Bush hails as one of his signature achievements is being reviewed by Congress this year amid widespread demands for it to be reformed.

Critics of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, complain it puts too much emphasis on testing, fails to hold states to the same educational standards and is a huge federal intrusion into matters traditionally left to state and local government.

"NCLB in its current form is burdensome and demoralizing to teachers," Edward McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told a congressional hearing this week.

Many question whether the law is working. The aim is to achieve universal proficiency in reading and math for all students by 2014, a goal few people believe is achievable.

The most recent national test results -- from 2005 -- showed minimal progress since 2002. The number of fourth graders performing proficiently in reading improved slightly to 31 percent, but eighth and 12th graders showed little change, at 31 percent and 35 percent.

"Unacceptable achievement levels continue to plague our schools," the independent Commission on No Child Left Behind, headed by former Bush Cabinet secretary Tommy Thompson and former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, said in a report last year.

For all its flaws, there are strong incentives for Congress to reach an agreement to reauthorize the law, which would continue in its current form unless a deal is reached. That has Bush, a self-confessed C student, visiting schoolrooms in a bid to gain political headway on the law he has made the domestic cornerstone of his presidency.

With test results showing American students lagging their counterparts from Finland to Slovakia to Hong Kong, the president sees education as key to future national prosperity.

"Our students are going to have to compete for jobs with students in China or India or elsewhere," he told educators in Indiana.

WAR ON POVERTY

The No Child Left Behind Act was the 2002 version of an education law first passed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty that has been extended ever since. It channels some $12 billion annually to help disadvantaged children, a fraction of the cost of meeting its requirements.

The current law capped a 20-year effort to bring accountability and testing to schools nationwide after a warning that mediocre education was jeopardizing America's economic future.

It for the first time required states to set standards for reading and math and conduct tests annually in certain grades. It also established penalties for schools where students failed to learn.

That has been its primary accomplishment.

It has met opposition in Utah and Connecticut and a spate of other jurisdictions and produced distorted outcomes.

Many teachers feel pressed to stop teaching the broader curriculum in order to help students learn to take the reading and math tests.

"Educators tell us they are required to administer test upon test upon test, including school, district and state tests," McElroy said.

And while states were required to set standards, they were allowed to decide the level at which students could be considered proficient.

As a result, in 2003, state exams found 87 percent of Mississippi fourth graders were proficient, whereas national tests found only 18 percent at that level. Other states had similar disparities.

Calls for change are coming from all sides.

Dan Lips, an education analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, favors letting states opt out of the law without losing funding. A group of three Republican lawmakers will introduce a similar measure this week, he said.

"States would have the freedom to take their share of federal funding free from the existing rules and regulations and spend it on state-level initiatives," Lips said.

The Commission on No Child Left Behind proposed more than 50 changes. Educators and business groups have offered suggestions, as has Bush, who wants to use scientists and engineers in the classroom, even if they're not teachers.

"It's not cool, but it's important to emphasize math and science," Bush said.

Withholding funds unless allowed access by junior rotc and recruiter slime, is child molestation/RAPE!
Education law faces renewal amid reform calls

By David Alexander Wed Mar 14, 9:39 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A far-reaching education law
President George W. Bush hails as one of his signature achievements is being reviewed by Congress this year amid widespread demands for it to be reformed.

Critics of the law, the No Child Left Behind Act, complain it puts too much emphasis on testing, fails to hold states to the same educational standards and is a huge federal intrusion into matters traditionally left to state and local government.

"NCLB in its current form is burdensome and demoralizing to teachers," Edward McElroy, president of the American Federation of Teachers, told a congressional hearing this week.

Many question whether the law is working. The aim is to achieve universal proficiency in reading and math for all students by 2014, a goal few people believe is achievable.

The most recent national test results -- from 2005 -- showed minimal progress since 2002. The number of fourth graders performing proficiently in reading improved slightly to 31 percent, but eighth and 12th graders showed little change, at 31 percent and 35 percent.

"Unacceptable achievement levels continue to plague our schools," the independent Commission on No Child Left Behind, headed by former Bush Cabinet secretary Tommy Thompson and former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes, said in a report last year.

For all its flaws, there are strong incentives for Congress to reach an agreement to reauthorize the law, which would continue in its current form unless a deal is reached. That has Bush, a self-confessed C student, visiting schoolrooms in a bid to gain political headway on the law he has made the domestic cornerstone of his presidency.

With test results showing American students lagging their counterparts from Finland to Slovakia to Hong Kong, the president sees education as key to future national prosperity.

"Our students are going to have to compete for jobs with students in China or India or elsewhere," he told educators in Indiana.

WAR ON POVERTY

The No Child Left Behind Act was the 2002 version of an education law first passed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty that has been extended ever since. It channels some $12 billion annually to help disadvantaged children, a fraction of the cost of meeting its requirements.

The current law capped a 20-year effort to bring accountability and testing to schools nationwide after a warning that mediocre education was jeopardizing America's economic future.

It for the first time required states to set standards for reading and math and conduct tests annually in certain grades. It also established penalties for schools where students failed to learn.

That has been its primary accomplishment.

It has met opposition in Utah and Connecticut and a spate of other jurisdictions and produced distorted outcomes.

Many teachers feel pressed to stop teaching the broader curriculum in order to help students learn to take the reading and math tests.

"Educators tell us they are required to administer test upon test upon test, including school, district and state tests," McElroy said.

And while states were required to set standards, they were allowed to decide the level at which students could be considered proficient.

As a result, in 2003, state exams found 87 percent of Mississippi fourth graders were proficient, whereas national tests found only 18 percent at that level. Other states had similar disparities.

Calls for change are coming from all sides.

Dan Lips, an education analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, favors letting states opt out of the law without losing funding. A group of three Republican lawmakers will introduce a similar measure this week, he said.

"States would have the freedom to take their share of federal funding free from the existing rules and regulations and spend it on state-level initiatives," Lips said.

The Commission on No Child Left Behind proposed more than 50 changes. Educators and business groups have offered suggestions, as has Bush, who wants to use scientists and engineers in the classroom, even if they're not teachers.

"It's not cool, but it's important to emphasize math and science," Bush said.

With whom is George picking a fight NOW? Can someone coral this idiot before he makes everyone our enemy?!
Germany seeks consensus on U.S. missile shield

By Louis Charbonneau 39 minutes ago

BERLIN (Reuters) - The decision to build a U.S. anti-missile shield in eastern Europe cannot be a bilateral one, especially when the decision will have consequences for other European states, a senior German official said on Thursday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gernot Erler said in an interview on German radio that Chancellor Angela Merkel would make this point when she arrives in Poland on Friday for a two-day visit.

"She will argue something very important, that this can't be done on a bilateral basis when the decisions will have consequences for other European states," Erler said.

Last week Polish officials, including the deputy foreign minister, said Warsaw needed a bilateral security pact with the United States because it was concerned that
NATO lacked the resolve to counter any serious threats.

U.S. Lieutenant General Henry Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, is in Berlin to explain to German foreign and defense ministry officials and German lawmakers the U.S. plan to install a missile battery in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.

Moscow sees the planned U.S. shield as an encroachment on its former sphere of influence and as an attempt to shift the post-Cold War balance of power.

Erler said the missile shield plan has created problems that need to be discussed within the NATO military alliance. He said it was good that Washington has now acknowledged the need for serious discussion inside NATO.

NEW ARMS RACE, PROBLEMS WITH IRAN

He reiterated Germany's concerns that the missile should could spark a new arms race in the post-Cold War world.

Also, the decisions of nuclear powers Britain, France and the United States to modernize their nuclear arsenals are making matters worse for non-proliferation efforts, Erler said.

"That means three of the most important states are building up arms," he said.

Clearly referring to
Iran, which the West fears is developing atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian energy program, Erler said it would now be difficult to convince countries with nuclear ambitions to give up such programs.

"That makes it harder and harder to then argue that we want to have other countries ... desist from developing nuclear weapons," Erler said.

During a visit to Kiev on Wednesday, Obering proposed more talks to convince Moscow to accept the plan meant to protect Europe, and U.S. forces there, from missiles fired by what Washington calls "rogue states," such as Iran and
North Korea.

"We had a reaction from the Russians that was unexpected. They referred to changing the strategic balance between the United States and Russia. We disagree with this respectfully," Obering told a news conference in Kiev.

The interceptor missiles and radar, he said, would "have no effect" on Russia's thousands of warheads and their positioning was such that they would anyway prove ineffective against them.

Russia says the shield has no logic since Iran lacks a missile capability which could reach the United States. Moscow has implied the real purpose is to guard against Russian weapons and has promised countermeasures.

In Poland, an opinion poll by CBOS showed 56 percent of Poles oppose government plans to host the anti-missile shield.

Opinion polls in the Czech Republic, which has also been asked to host parts of the shield, have shown similar results.

(Additional reporting by Dave Graham)

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.