Most recent R. Crumb non-interview!
Crumb Interview; San Francisco Chronicle; March ‘07

San Francisco Chronicle
Drawing out artist R. Crumb

Delfin Vigil

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Robert Crumb isn't a cartoonist. He's an escape artist.

"Wait a minute," says Crumb in his New York hotel room before the first question of this telephone interview is even asked. "I think I hear people having sex in the room next door."

A shuffling of the phone is followed by an awkward pause.

"Yeah. It's two guys," he says. "Those are definitely male voices."

With that, Crumb has not only solved the mystery of the sounds coming from next door, but he's also three minutes closer to getting out of another interview.

Crumb is no Picasso. He's more like MacGyver.

On Saturday, when the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts opens its exhibition "R. Crumb's Underground," it promises to be the most extensive collection culled from Crumb's entire comic-book art career. Spanning from 1959 (his homemade comics days with his brother Charles), his late '60s Zap Comix years in San Francisco and a New York Times series from 2005, the retrospective tribute also includes sketchbooks, sculptures, posters and every random ephemera you can think of.

Fritz the Cat will be there. Mr. Natural will be there. The Snoid will be there.

But R. Crumb will not.

"Robert wears his nerves on the outside of his body," explains Crumb's wife, Aline, as they swap the Sheraton room telephone back and forth. "He appreciates the fact that all these people love him. He wants that love. But he doesn't know what to do with it. And when he shows up to these things, it takes him a while to recover and get back to work. The only reason he's in New York City now is because it's a Valentine's Day present for me. I eat it up. That's why I can't wait to get to San Francisco."

To call Robert and Aline Kominsky Crumb eccentrics would be too simple a way to describe a very complicated but content couple, who met and started drawing comics together in the 1970s in San Francisco.

Robert, 63, became famous almost from the start for his narrative and satirical approach that could cover everything from masturbation to racial tension. His influence shines brightly through the works of fans, such as in Art Spiegelman's Maus as well as in that of contemporaries such as Harvey Pekar's American Splendor.

Aline, 59, says she became so used to having her comic book art rejected, it got to the point where she'd rather spend her time painting or teaching yoga classes in the South of France village where the couple live. They moved there about 16 years ago because "if we lived here in New York we'd be impoverished," she says.

Actually, with the "2 cents" for every R. Crumb book that sells, the Crumbs are living in a nice big house and are financially comfortable and quite happy, she says.

"The thing that bugs me sometimes is when people think that my self-image is affected by the way Robert draws these big Amazon-type women," says Aline, who first sought out Crumb after seeing a character of his that looked a little like her. "Some people think he's a big chauvinistic pig monster guy and I'm just a browbeaten woman living in his shadow. I don't feel that way at all."

The connection between the Crumb couple is a big focus of the show, according to Rene de Guzman, Yerba Buena's director of visual arts.

"Robert has been recast into this isolated-genius mold where he goes off on his own until the muse visits him to help him do his work," says de Guzman, who had been in contact with Crumb for a show for several years. "In reality, his work comes out of direct contact and sets of relationships between him and Aline and his daughter, Sophie, and in some parts of the show, his relationship with San Francisco and the comic book community."

Back in the New York Sheraton hotel room, Crumb gets back on the phone. What does he think about the forthcoming tribute?

"On the one hand, it's flattering," he says. "On the other hand, I'm old enough to perceive that so much in this world is bull -- . It seems to me that the same fuss could easily be made for an artist that I have utter contempt for and think is total nonsense. So I can't get too excited. On the other hand, if it enhances the value of our art ... well, hey. ... We've lived in difficult times before, so that would be OK with me."

To avoid allowing Crumb to escape the interview to investigate more hotel room sounds, I came prepared with a pop quiz.

Q: When was the last time a work of art made you cry?

A: I don't cry too easily. It must have been a long, long time ago because I really don't remember. Aline, on the other hand -- she cries at almost every movie. They manipulate her very easily.

Q: What's the worst advice you've ever been given?

A: The world is full of bad advice. A few years ago this guy wanted me to do artwork for his company and he offered to pay me in stock options. I refused, even though all these people, including our accountant, urged me to take the offer. They'd say, "What? Are you crazy? You don't want stock options?" I said, "No, I want money!" That company went bust, but I got paid well. I don't want anything to do with that stock market crap.

Q: Where do you feel most at home?

A: In my room. With my stuff. My record collection. My artwork. My desk. My letter files. My photo files. My photocopy machine. When we moved to France, I basically just moved my room to France. Wherever I am, I just want to be in my room. If we had to live in Peking, China, I'd still be in my room.

Q: If you had 48 hours to spend in San Francisco and never see it again, how would you spend the time?

A: I'm not thrilled or feel anything special about San Francisco particularly. I guess I'd visit my brother Max, my friend Terry Zwigoff and my friend Spain. That would probably take up a good 48 hours.

Q: Any particular food or restaurant you'd want to eat at here?

A: Food, schmood. That's not important to me.

Q: When are you most happy?

A: When I'm fulfilling my sex fantasies. When I listen to music that makes me ecstatic. I won't go into details, but my old '78 records give me musical ecstasy. There are also moments I've had with loved ones, with Aline and my daughter, that make me very happy.

Q: When were you most miserable?

A: I was quite miserable for a good chunk of my youth. I was chronically depressed between the ages of 17 and 25. Suicidal depressed. Over decades it gradually ... gradually ... diminished. I'm less depressed right now. That's not to say I'm happy. I used to feel a profound alienation from the world. You can't even imagine. I felt like an invisible ghost moving but not able to affect anything around me. But I did get a lot of artwork done. I lived those years on paper.

Q: If you could travel in time and change one thing in history -- personal or for the world -- where would you go and what would you do?

A: S -- , I don't know. (About 30 seconds passes, wherein Aline, in the background, recommends stopping the Holocaust.) Wait a minute. I would go back to 1932 and take all the records left over in the warehouse of Paramount Records in Port Washington, Wis. I'd take all the records that were there when the company ran out of business. I'd hide them in another warehouse and write that address down. Then I'd go find my father and give the address to him. I'd tell him to keep that address and not to lose it. I'd tell him, "You will have a son named Robert. When he is 25 years old, you will give him this address. Your son will need this and will be very happy." Countless records were thrown away and lost forever in the Depression.

Q: If you could design your tombstone, what would it look like?

A: (Confers first with his wife.) Aline says she wants her ashes burned and placed in an Art Deco vase. My ashes will have to go with hers. On it should read: "We lived for the pretty things." I guess now we'll have to tell Sophie to do that.
R. Crumb's Underground

A collection of more than 150 original drawings, sketchbooks, sculptures, posters and other printed material spanning Robert Crumb's career from 1959 to 2005, will be on display at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from Saturday through July 1. Opening night party will be 8-11 p.m. Friday at the gallery. 701 Mission St., San Francisco. (415) 978-2787. www.ybca.org.

E-mail Delfin Vigil at dvigil@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page PK - 18 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Animal owners frantic on pet food recall!
Animal owners frantic on pet food recall

By MATTHEW VERRINDER, Associated Press Writer 35 minutes ago

UNION, N.J. - Pet owners were worried Saturday that the pet food in their cupboards could be deadly after millions of containers of dog and cat food sold at major retailers across North America were recalled.

Menu Foods, the Ontario-based company that produced the pet food, said Saturday it was recalling dog food sold under 48 brands and cat food sold under 40 brands including Iams, Nutro and Eukanuba. The food was distributed throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico by major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and Safeway.

An unknown number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said.

Many stores that sold the affected brands frantically pulled packages off shelves.

At a Petsmart store in Union, Silviene Grzybowski became worried when the four types of Iams products she buys for her cat, Smokey, had vanished from shelves. The cat was very sick and had not been eating for days, she said.

"The vet told us to buy her her favorite food, but I'm going to call the vet right now," Grzybowski said, looking at an announcement Petsmart had taped to shelves announcing the recall.

A complete list of the recalled products along with product codes, descriptions and production dates was available from the Menu Foods Web site, http://www.menufoods.com/recall. The company also designated two phone numbers that pet owners could call for information — (866) 463-6738 and (866) 895-2708 — but callers kept the lines busy for much of Saturday.

Menu Foods' chief executive and president Paul Henderson told the Associated Press on Friday that the company was still trying to figure out what happened.

He said that the company had received an undisclosed number of owner complaints that dogs and cats were vomiting and suffering kidney failure after eating its products. He estimated that the recall would cost the company, which is mostly owned by the Menu Foods Income Fund, an estimated $26 million to $34 million.

Sarah Tuite, a company spokeswoman, has said the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, which has since been dropped for another source. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said it is still too early to determine what could have affected the food. Zawisa added that even if wheat gluten is the source "it doesn't necessarily mean the wheat gluten per se. It could be another substance associated with the wheat gluten."

The recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches from Dec. 3 to March 6.

In Omaha, Neb., Susan Balvanz said she sometimes feeds her five cats packets of sliced meat and gravy sold by Nutro Products, one of the brands affected.

"I've done so much research on pet food. It didn't surprise me but it scared me all the same," said Balvanz.

She said her 9-year-old cat, Boots, was especially fond of the food but seemed to have lost its appetite in the last few days.

At the Missouri Valley Veterinary Clinic in Bismarck, N.D., veterinarian Jacob Carlson has been referring worried pet owners to the Menu Foods web site.

"We've had a lot of calls," Carlson said, although none of his patients were sick.

The company said it makes pet food for 17 of the top 20 North American retailers. It is also a contract manufacturer for the top branded pet food companies, including Procter & Gamble Co.

___

Associated Press writers Phyllis Mensing in Bismarck, N.D., and Rebecca Santana in Trenton also contributed to this report.

"An Inconvenient Truth," may impact in Finnish election.
Finland's Greens hope for Gore windfall

By KARL RITTER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 45 minutes ago

HELSINKI, Finland - A small environmental party has been showing
Al Gore's global warming documentary all over Finland — where recent mild winters have people worried — in the hope of a record result in Sunday elections.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's Center Party is widely expected to win the election but some polls show the Greens on target to win a record 10 percent. That could give the environmentalists, who have been in earlier governments, a good chance of joining a new coalition.

"This has really helped us a lot," Heidi Hautala, a candidate for the Greens, said of the party's screenings of "An Inconvenient Truth."

The party is hoping to benefit from a growing concern about climate change in the Nordic country of 5.3 million, which has seen warmer winters in recent decades. A survey released Friday showed global warming has overtaken terrorism as the Finns' greatest worry.

The opposition Conservative Party has made strong gains in recent polls, and could replace the left-leaning Social Democrats as Vanhanen's main coalition partner.

A survey released Friday showed Center with 24.7 percent support, while the Social Democrats had fallen to 21.3 percent. The Conservative Party, which managed to win 18.6 percent in the last election, was up to 20.4 percent.

The Greens overtook the ex-communist Left Alliance to become the fourth-biggest party, with 9.7 percent support, according to Taloustutkimus market research, which interviewed 1,995 people on March 13-15 for the survey, which had a margin of error of two percentage points.

"There may be some kind of center-right surprise brewing, and this could have an impact on the formation of the next government, which is of course the most important and critical question," Tuomo Martikainen, political science professor at the University of Helsinki, said of the Greens' apparent popularity.

Finland, home to the world's largest mobile-phone maker,
Nokia Corp., has a booming economy and an extensive welfare state. Its main political parties differ little on substance, with broad agreement on foreign and domestic policies.

In the previous election in 2003, the Center Party narrowly defeated the Social Democrats to take the top spot, and it has maintained its lead in polls. A book by Vanhanen's former girlfriend, exposing details about their love life, has only boosted Vanhanen's popularity, analysts say.

Social Democratic leader Eero Heinaluoma said his party was not despondent over its bad showing in the polls, and would give out 100,000 red roses during weekend campaigning in a bid to win over voters.

"We're going to knock the polls. There's a surprise in store tomorrow," Heinaluoma said in Helsinki.

Some 4.3 million people were eligible to cast ballots in Sunday's vote, which falls on the 100th anniversary of Finland's first elections in 1907.

___

Associated Press Writer Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki contributed to this report.

The dream of clean, safe, non-fossil burning Power remains alive where no choice is accepted!
Russians plan more nuclear power reactors

Fri Mar 16, 2:55 PM ET

MOSCOW - Government officials said Friday that Russia will build two nuclear reactors annually through 2015, and increase to four a year by 2020 in an effort to sharply increase atomic power generation, according to Russian news agencies.

First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov, one of two likely contenders to succeed President
Vladimir Putin in next year's election, said Russia should not rely exclusively on dwindling oil, gas and other hydrocarbons.

"The need to diversify our energy balance is obvious," Ivanov was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA Novosti.

Russia has 31 reactors at 10 nuclear power plants, accounting for 16 percent to 17 percent of its electricity generation. Putin has called for raising the share of nuclear-generated power to at least 25 percent by 2030.

Ivanov said that Russia will launch two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors a year under a program for which the government has allocated $26 billion through 2015.

"Nuclear industry must become a backbone of Russia's modern energy sector," Ivanov was quoted as saying.

Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Federal Nuclear Power Agency, said that starting in 2016, Russia will be building three reactors a year and four annually beginning in 2020, the agencies said.

In recent years, Russia has overcome a public backlash against nuclear power that followed the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and the government has supported efforts to revive the industry.

An idea easy to ridicule, except for Marlin Brando's image, "piles of little arms," in Apocalypse Now!
FBI: Extremists driving school buses

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 50 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An
FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear."

Asked about the alert notice, the FBI's Rich Kolko said, "There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern," although law enforcement agencies around the country were asked to watch out for kids' safety.

The bulletin, parts of which were read to The Associated Press, did not say how often foreign extremists have sought to acquire licenses to drive school buses, or where. It was sent Friday as part of what officials said was a routine FBI and
Homeland Security Department advisory to local law enforcement.

It noted "recent suspicious activity" by foreigners who either drive school buses or are licensed to drive them, according to a counterterror official.

Foreigners under recent investigation include "some with ties to extremist groups" who have been able to "purchase buses and acquire licenses," the bulletin says.

But Homeland Security and the FBI "have no information indicating these individuals are involved in a terrorist plot against the homeland," it says. The memo also notes: "Most attempts by foreign nationals in the United States to acquire school bus licenses to drive them are legitimate."

Kolko said the bulletin was sent merely as an educational tool to help local police identify and respond to any suspicious activity.

One counterterror official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the government felt it was likely that the foreigners investigated were merely employed as bus drivers, and did not intend to use them as part of any terror plot.

A second official said the government felt it prudent that the backgrounds of all those who come in contact with school children be checked.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the government has no credible information to suggest terrorists are "involved in buying school buses or seeking licenses to drive them." He said there was no indication of any immediate threat to the country.

___

Associated Press reporters Katherine Shrader and Beverley Lumpkin contributed to this report.

Support nothing less than a Free, completely intact Kurdistan!
PKK open to peace deal with Turkey

By YAHYA BARZANJI, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 16, 7:37 AM ET

IN THE QANDIL MOUNTAINS, Iraq - Kurdish rebels say they have enough weapons to defend themselves against Turkish raids on their bases in northern
Iraq but remain open to a political settlement with Turkey that recognizes Kurdish national identity.

Turkey is pressing Iraq and its American ally to crack down on rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, who launch attacks on Turkey from bases in northern Iraq. The group has been waging a bloody war in southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed 37,000 lives.

The Turks have not ruled out military incursions into Iraq to hunt PKK fighters, despite U.S. fears that such a move could lead to tensions with Iraqi Kurdish groups, important allies of the U.S. in Iraq.

During an interview last week with the a PKK mountain stronghold, a spokesman for the PKK insisted that the rebels have the weapons to resist any Turkish incursion.

"Our fighters are training very hard since we heard the Turkish threats," Rustam Jawdat said. "We have enough fighters to defend ourselves."

He added that the PKK was open to a deal — but on its terms.

"We want to solve the problem with Turkey peacefully. We have simple weapons. If we have guarantees to recognize Kurdish national identity, we would not need to carry weapons," he said.

The interview occurred in a PKK base in the rugged mountains of northern Iraq. Access to the camp was on foot, and the fighters would not allow photographs of the area for security.

Jawdat indicated the rebels are more confident now because they believed Kurdish politicians would put pressure on the United States, and by extension Turkey, to avoid any armed incursion.

"Now the Iraqi Kurdish leaders are against any Turkish interference to the Iraqi territories," Jawdat said. He noted that both Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and the leader of the Kurdish self-ruled administration in Iraq, Massoud Barzani, had spoken out strongly against any Turkish move into Iraq.

On Thursday, Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, a special envoy tasked with countering the PKK, said in Washington that the U.S. is addressing Turkish complaints about PKK activity and that reducing the PKK threat to Turkey would go a long way toward improving U.S.-Turkish relations.

"As the snows melt in the mountain passes along the Turkish-Iraqi border in several weeks, we will see if the PKK renews its attacks and how the Turkish government chooses to respond," Ralston said.

Jawdat said the PKK was willing to work with the Americans and Europeans to resolve the conflict with Turkey.

"America and the
European Union should know that we will not give up our weapons as long as (the Turks) do not accept our rights and do not recognize our national identity," Jawdat said. "It is impossible to get the right of self-determination in the Middle East without using armed struggle."

Got news for you, ALL US PILOTS ARE HOT DOGS! Exhibit "A," John McCain!
Iraq friendly fire death "criminal": UK coroner

By Peter Graff Fri Mar 16, 2:45 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A British coroner ruled on Friday a U.S. friendly fire air strike that killed a British soldier was "criminal," a scathing verdict in a case that has exposed rifts between the
Iraq allies.

A U.S. A-10 tankbuster attack plane killed Lance Corporal Matty Hull by firing on his vehicle near Basra in the first week of the 2003 invasion, after the American pilots mistook Hull's British convoy for Iraqis.

"The attack on the convoy amounted to an assault. It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it and in that respect it was criminal," coroner Andrew Walker said, recording a verdict of "unlawful killing."

He said the planes were not in danger and the incident could not therefore be justified as self-defense.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack disputed the coroner's findings.

"We certainly would not agree with any conclusion that categorizes this as a criminal act," he told reporters in Washington. "There was a terrible tragedy. There was an unfortunate chain of events that led to the actions that resulted in the death of this individual during a time of war."

Washington has said its own investigation into the incident exonerated the pilots. An earlier British military probe concluded "procedures were not followed" because the planes opened fire without seeking clearance from ground controllers.

The case has been covered extensively in British media, where the issue of friendly fire deaths has been vivid since the first
Gulf War in 1991, when another U.S. A-10 killed nine British soldiers in a mistaken attack.

British commentators have said Hull's death -- and the Pentagon's insistence no one was to blame -- demonstrate that rules for U.S. pilots allow them to be more gung-ho than their British comrades.

Washington does not publish the "rules of engagement" that explain when its forces can fire, but strongly denies they behave irresponsibly.

REMORSE

In a cockpit video, the U.S. pilots are repeatedly told there are no friendly forces in the area. They can be heard convincing themselves that orange panels -- meant to mark the British vehicles as friendly -- were in fact orange Iraqi rocket launchers, before they open fire without seeking permission.

The coroner and Hull's family have repeatedly accused Washington of trying to hide details from the inquest. At one point Walker suspended the inquest when Washington refused to allow him to see the cockpit video.

The inquest resumed after a British newspaper leaked the video, and Washington later said the coroner could see it. But parts of the transcript of the U.S. probe remained blacked out.

Hull's widow said she did not want criminal or disciplinary action to be taken against the American pilots.

"I hope that they are at peace with themselves and they can move on in their lives," Susan Hull told reporters. "I'm sure that they are feeling remorse for what they did."

Britain's Ministry of Defense said in a statement it was carefully considering the coroner's comments and apologized for the "confusion and upset" caused over the handling of the video.

Susan Hull said the lack of cooperation from the United States throughout the trial had been "very disappointing."

No American witnesses gave evidence.

But the video footage -- which was played out on television -- gave a graphic account of the incident. One of the pilots could be heard weeping after they realized what they had done.

"We're in jail, dude," one of them said.

(Additional reporting by Michael Holden, Paul Hughes and Katherine Baldwin)

Why US Commanders cover up such incidents, and how such elitist arrogance can cost us...
Brits rule friendly fire deaths criminal

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 46 minutes ago

LONDON - A British coroner ruled Friday that an attack by two American pilots that killed a British soldier in
Iraq was a criminal assault, contradicting a U.S. finding that the incident captured in a dramatic cockpit video was a tragic accident.

The finding has no direct legal consequences but the case has stirred tensions between Britain and the United States, which declined to send the pilots to give evidence and repeatedly refused to release the cockpit recording. The recording was eventually leaked to a British newspaper and broadcast across the world.

In the tape, one U.S. pilot says, "We're in jail dude," after realizing his team has killed a member of the coalition forces.

Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner Andrew Walker did not say whether he would recommend a criminal investigation, and the widow of Lance Cpl. Matty Hull, 25, said she would not pursue criminal charges against the pilots.

Walker said there was no evidence the attack that killed Hull resulted from either self-defense or an honest mistake. He did not offer a detailed explanation of his finding, but said the Idaho Air National Guard pilot who fired the fatal shots acted outside the law by failing to "properly identify the vehicles and seek clearance before opening fire."

"The attack on the convoy amounted to an assault," Walker said. "It was unlawful because there was no lawful reason for it, and in that respect it was criminal."

He criticized the U.S. military for failing to cooperate with his inquiry.

The
Pentagon extended its condolences to Hull's family but the U.S. State Department disputed the finding.

"We would not agree with the characterization of it as a criminal act," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

The cockpit video captured the attack on March 28, 2003, when two U.S. jets made a deadly mistake in assuming that a British convoy was a caravan of rocket-toting insurgents. Hull was killed and four other British soldiers were wounded.

British Staff Cpl. Stuart Matthews, a ground traffic controller, testified ground control never gave permission for the U.S. pilots to fire. The U.S. military has refused to provide the rules of engagement under which the pilots were operating, although it said procedures were followed.

Britain's Ministry of Defense refused to say Friday whether the U.S. pilots violated the separate U.S., British or coalition rules of engagement in place at the time. It also declined to describe those rules.

"The (U.S.) investigation determined that the incident took place in a complex combat environment; the pilots followed applicable procedures and processes for engaging targets, believing they were engaging enemy targets," and "that this was a tragic accident," the U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The "unlawful killing" ruling is the most serious Walker could have returned.

One of the pilots from the 190th Fighter Squadron of the Idaho Air National Guard spotted orange markers on top of the armored vehicles. The markers are routinely used to visually identify coalition forces, but the pilot said they looked like orange rockets.

A British military inquiry into the attack said the "lack of passage of positional data and target coordinates between the U.S. pilots and their U.S. ground control elements is worrying."

Three days after the attack, one of the wounded soldiers, Lance Corp. Steven Gerrard, said the U.S. pilot who fired at the British convoy circled after his initial attack and fired a second time. Gerrard called the pilot "a cowboy" who had "no regard for human life" and who had "gone out on a jolly."

Hull's widow, Susan, said 11 lines of the report into the incident had been blacked out in a copy supplied to the inquest, and has appealed to
President Bush to release the details of the military investigation.

"I feel we have been badly let down by the Americans," she said, adding that "lessons must be learned from my husband's death."

Walker asked for evidence beside the U.S. rules of engagement, including details of the pilots' training, Hull family lawyer Geraldine McCool said.

None of it had been supplied, she said.

McCool said the widow and her relatives would not seek criminal charges against the American pilots.

Last year, Walker ruled that U.S. forces in Iraq unlawfully killed a British TV journalist, Terry Lloyd, by shooting him in the head as he lay in the back of a makeshift ambulance in the opening days of the war. Walker has asked the attorney general to bring to justice those responsible for the death. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering the case.

It's harder to leave than to get in...
U.S. swamped with passport requests

By ASHLEY M. HEHER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 4 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Thirteen-year-old Eli Rogatz applied months ago for a passport so that he could fly to
Israel with his family for his bar mitzvah. It finally came through on Friday, with just days to spare.

"Everybody has a passport except my son, the bar mitzvah boy," Mitch Rogatz, a book publisher from the Chicago suburb of Glencoe, grumbled as he camped out in a federal office building for at least four hours. "Given what else is being spent, we want to make sure he's there."

Similar waiting games are being played out at passport processing sites across the country as the State Department wades through an unprecedented crush of passport applications. They are pouring in at more than 1 million per month.

Passport requests usually shoot up this time of year ahead of the busy spring and summer travel season. But the department has been really swamped since the government in late January started requiring U.S. airline passengers — including children — to show a passport upon their return from Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean.

Passport applications filed between October and March are up 44 percent from the same period a year ago, the department told lawmakers this week. In February alone, applications were up 25 percent.

Because of the glut, it could take 10 weeks instead of the usual six to process routine applications, according to the department. And expedited requests, which cost an extra $60 on top of the normal $97 fee, could take four weeks instead of two.

The State Department said it is working overtime to handle the load and hopes to have an additional 400 passport adjudicators by the end of next year.

That is little solace to travelers like Lisa Purdum, a newlywed from Yardley, Pa., who was told her husband's passport would not arrive until weeks after their planned April 2 honeymoon to Mexico. Worse, her birth certificate, which accompanied her own passport application, was reported missing, she said.

She was one of dozens of people waiting in a line that spilled into the lobby in Philadelphia's regional passport office Friday.

"My husband's is a month behind and mine is missing altogether and our honeymoon is in two weeks, and I'm either losing half my money or all of my money," she said.

People who had not received their passports two weeks before their trips were generally told to go to one of 14 big-city passport offices across the country. There, they were mostly confronted with long lines and no guarantee they would leave with a passport.

Jackie Moore drove overnight from Columbus, Ohio, to Chicago, hoping to pick up a passport for her 8-year-old grandson. The family had a 6 a.m. flight Saturday for a vacation in the Dominican Republic, and the boy was the only one whose passport had not arrived.

"My little grandson is going to be heartbroken if we don't get him on this plane," she said.

The line curled around the block outside the passport office in downtown Miami, where 29-year-old Qandeel Sakrani stood with her husband and their two young daughters, hoping to get a passport so she could travel to Pakistan next month.

"I haven't seen my parents in 18 months, and I haven't seen the rest of my family for five years," she said.

Lawndale, Calif., accountant Emilia Moreno sent in an application to renew her passport four weeks ago, only to discover there were no records it ever got there. The 48-year-old woman spent most of the week fighting for an appointment with the passport agency in Los Angeles so she would be able to travel to Italy and France for vacation on Wednesday.

"My employer already told me she's going to buy me a pizza, for me to think that I'm in Italy," she said.

For others, it may already be too late.

Judith Jones was supposed to fly to Jamaica on Friday for a vacation with friends. Instead, she spent a second day in line in Chicago, trying to track down her passport.

"It's supposed to be a girls' trip. The girls are there, but I'm not yet," said the 41-year-old from Griffith, Ind.

About 12 million passport applications were processed in 2006, and as many as 17 million are expected this year, according to the State Department said. Some 74 million Americans have valid passports.

___

Associated Press Writers Ron Todt in Philadelphia, Laura Wides-Munoz in Miami and Solvej Schou in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

U.N. must respond to humanitarian need, or everyone refusing support is guilty of MURDER!

AP
U.N. seeks $1.7M to feed Iraqi refugees

By SARAH DiLORENZO, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 15, 1:56 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - The World Food Program has launched an appeal for $1.7 million to help feed tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees who are continue to arrive in
Syria and increasingly without the resources to sustain themselves.

Worsening violence in
Iraq has forced many more Iraqis into neighboring countries, the U.N. body said, and many leave before they have time to make financial arrangements.

"Up to mid-2006, many Iraqi refugees entering Syria had adequate resources to cover their needs," the agency said in a statement Tuesday asking for donations. "As targeted violence continues in Iraq, the number of those fleeing and arriving unable to sustain themselves is rapidly increasing."

While the majority of refugees rely on extended family networks and savings to support themselves, the agency noted, many in the recent wave have no such support and have not even had time to sell their belongings before fleeing.

"Many of these are people who don't have financial reserves to meet the daily needs of their families, including the schooling of their children," said Pippa Bradford, WFP's representative in Syria.

Bradford added that as refugees have flooded into Syria, where they already number 1 million, the competition for jobs and work permits has become increasingly stiff, forcing many Iraqis into illegal and exploitative jobs.

The agency currently provides food assistance to 7,000 people and plans to help 2,500 more each month until the end of the year.

Last month, the Damascus office of the U.N. refugee agency said about 40,000 Iraqis arrive in Syria each month, almost double the rate from only a few months ago. The refugees have placed a strain on Syria, causing a rise in the prices of housing and goods and overcrowding the country's schools.

Syria's Interior Ministry said in December that the country has admitted more than 800,000 Iraqis fleeing the raging violence. An estimated 1.8 million Iraqi refugees are scattered throughout the Middle East, according to U.N. figures.

Can Bush's "hanging to dry out" be far behind?
Britain votes to stay nuclear despite revolt

By Adrian Croft Wed Mar 14, 6:36 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's parliament backed Prime Minister
Tony Blair's plans to renew the country's nuclear arsenal on Wednesday as opposition votes helped Blair survive a major rebellion by members of his own party.

Eighty-seven politicians from Blair's Labour Party voted against his plan to spend 15 to 20 billion pounds ($29 to 39 billion) on new nuclear-armed submarines to replace ones that go out of service in about 2024.

It was the biggest rebellion against Blair since a 2003 vote backing war in
Iraq and the largest rebellion on a domestic issue in Blair's decade in power.

The revolt could have overturned Blair's 67-seat majority in the 646-member lower house of parliament, but backing from the opposition Conservatives helped Blair secure a 409-161 vote in favor of renewing the Trident nuclear weapons system.

The rebellion was a further blow to Blair's authority over the party as he prepares to step down in the next few months.

Rebel politicians pledged to keep fighting the decision, which will mean Britain keeps a nuclear deterrent into the 2050s.

"This is not the end of the story by any means," Labour legislator Jeremy Corbyn told Sky News. "This is a very big rebellion ... in favor of peace."

As lawmakers voted, anti-nuclear demonstrators rallied opposite parliament, chanting "Trident, No!" and holding up banners saying "No to a new nuclear arms race."

Other protests were held outside the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh and at the Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland.

NEW THREATS

Blair is convinced Britain must renew its nuclear weapons, saying new threats from countries like
North Korea or nuclear terrorists make it unwise and dangerous to disarm. But he faced deep-rooted opposition within the Labour Party, which advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament until the late 1980s.

"We must lead the world in campaigning for the eradication of the nuclear threat and we must lead by example," said Nigel Griffiths, one of four Labour politicians who quit junior government jobs in protest at the renewal of Trident.

Opponents say Britain no longer needs weapons to deter an attack from a nuclear-armed Soviet Union, and renewing the arsenal will make it harder to persuade countries such as North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons.

They say the new system is a waste of money.

Blair said there was "absolutely no evidence" it would improve the prospects of other countries disarming if Britain gave up its nuclear weapons. "I think the reverse is the case," he told parliament.

Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Britain will reduce its stockpile of operationally available nuclear warheads by 20 percent this year to fewer than 160.

Britain's nuclear arsenal is the smallest among the five
U.N. Security Council permanent members who are legally recognised as nuclear states under the non-proliferation treaty.

It consists of four British-built Vanguard-class submarines that carry 16 U.S.-supplied Trident long-range missiles, armed with British-built nuclear warheads.

Blair offered an olive branch to Labour rebels by saying parliament could vote again between 2012 and 2014 on whether to approve contracts to build the new subs.

(Additional reporting by Peter Graff, Kate Kelland, Katherine Baldwin, Sophie Walker and David Clarke)

...a step by Israel toward admition to overbearance...I doubt it! Too Bad!
U.N. chief criticizes Israel, Lebanon

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Thu Mar 15, 2:25 AM ET

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday criticized
Israel and Lebanon for violating the resolution that ended last summer's Israeli-Hezbollah war, and suggested an independent mission examine the monitoring of their border amid allegations of arms smuggling.

In a report to the
U.N. Security Council, Ban cited violations by both countries of the U.N.-drawn boundary known as the Blue Line, Israeli claims of arms smuggling across the Lebanese-Syrian border, and Hezbollah claims that it is rebuilding its armed presence and has plenty of weapons.

In considering further steps to ensure full implementation of the arms embargo in the resolution, the new U.N. chief suggested that council members "consider supporting an independent assessment mission to consider the monitoring of the border."

He said the authentication of detailed information from Israel about alleged breaches of the arms embargo across the Lebanese-Syrian border would require independent military assessment.

Security Council Resolution 1701 authorized the cease-fire that brought an end to 34 days of fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas on Aug. 14. The war was triggered after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed Israel's northern border, killed three soldiers and returned to Lebanon with two captured Israeli soldiers.

The resolution called for both sides to respect the Blue Line drawn by the U.N. after Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. It authorized 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to help Lebanese troops take control of south Lebanon, which had been under de facto control of Hezbollah. And it instituted an arms embargo that blocks any entity in Lebanon except the national government from obtaining weapons from abroad.

In the report, Ban warned that without progress on "core issues" including Israeli and Lebanese prisoners, the disputed Chebaa Farms area, halting Israeli over-flights of Lebanon, and respect for the arms embargo "progress on 1701 could be severely tested in the months to come."

He singled out a significant increase in Israeli air violations by military jets and unmanned aerial vehicles in February and early March.

While the Lebanese government continues to protest that the over-flights are a serious cease-fire violation, he said Israel maintains they are "a necessary security measure" until the two abducted Israeli soldiers are released and the arms embargo is fully respected. He urged Israel to reconsider its policy.

Ban said he was nonetheless pleased that the overall commitment of the governments of Israel and Lebanon to the resolution "remains strong."

He said he also was encouraged by the near full deployment of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL and the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon — and the absence of any other "positions" along the Blue Line, an apparent reference to Hezbollah militants who controlled the south.

"However, this report is submitted against the background of an acute and continuing political crisis in Lebanon and mounting Israeli concerns about the unauthorized transfer of arms across the Lebanese-
Syria border," he said.

Ban called on all Lebanese parties to recommit to the government's seven-point plan, which says in part that the Lebanese state should be the only authority and should be the only one with weapons.

"An understanding that incorporates the principles of no rearmament of unauthorized groups and no movement of arms other than through the consent" of the Lebanese armed forces "should also be encouraged, especially in the current volatile security environment in the country," he said.

Ban also said the Chebaa Farms, captured by Israel during the 1967 war, "remains a key issue" in implementing the resolution. The
United Nations determined that the area is Syrian. But Lebanon claims Chebaa Farms — a claim backed by Syria — and Hezbollah continues to fight over the disputed land, arguing that Israel's occupation justifies its "resistance."

What self-respecting reptile want fur and tits stuck in his/her teeth?
Odd little critter sheds light on mammal evolution

By Will Dunham Wed Mar 14, 7:18 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have unearthed a fossil of a mammal the size of a chipmunk that skittered around with the dinosaurs, with a key feature in the evolution of mammals -- the middle ear bones -- fabulously preserved.

Writing in the journal Nature on Wednesday, the scientists said the unusual critter retrieved from a fossil-rich rock formation in northern China provides rare insight into a crucial element of mammalian evolution: ear structure that enabled highly sensitive hearing.

The mammal, named Yanoconodon for the Yan Mountains in China's Hebei Province, lived 125 million years ago during the Cretaceous period, the third and final act of the Mesozoic era, sometimes called the Age of Dinosaurs.

Its body was shaped very oddly for a mammal -- with an elongated torso and short, stubby limbs.

"In a way, it's sort of a salamander-like body form in a mammal," lead researcher Zhe-Xi Luo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said in an interview.

The scientists think Yanoconodon -- 5 inches long and weighing about an ounce (30 grams) -- was nocturnal and ate insects.

It lived in a lush environment with fresh-water lakes, early flowering plants and many other animals. These included a variety of dinosaurs that would have liked nothing more than to make it a furry snack.

Luo said Yanoconodon is particularly important because it displays an intermediate stage in the evolution of mammalian ear structure.

Mammals possess hearing superior to all other vertebrates, and that trait has been fundamental to mammalian life. Many early mammals are thought to have adopted a nocturnal existence that kept them away from the multitudes of dinosaurs and other nasty beasts looking for an easy daytime meal.

Scientists long have searched for clues on the origins of mammalian ear structure. The first true mammals appeared about 220 million years ago, not long after the first dinosaurs, but the process of acquiring the anatomy of fully modern mammals took many more tens of millions of years.

A sophisticated middle ear of three tiny bones called the hammer (malleus), the anvil (incus) and the stirrup (stapes), plus a bony ring for the eardrum (tympanic membrane), give mammals an acute sense of hearing.

Scientists believe these bones evolved from the bones of the jaw hinge in the reptiles from which mammals are thought to have evolved. Luo said the Yanoconodon provided a definitive piece of evidence of this evolution.

The ear bones in Yanoconodon are fully like that of modern mammals, but remain connected to the lower jaw, which is not the case with modern mammals.

Stupidity and Bigotry lead to oppression and persecution, in "Christ's" name!
Furor over Baptist's gay-baby article

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer Wed Mar 14, 11:10 PM ET

NEW YORK - The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary has incurred sharp attacks from both the left and right by suggesting that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified.

The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the country's pre-eminent evangelical leaders, acknowledged that he irked many fellow conservatives with an article earlier this month saying scientific research "points to some level of biological causation" for homosexuality.

Proof of a biological basis would challenge the belief of many conservative Christians that homosexuality — which they view as sinful — is a matter of choice that can be overcome through prayer and counseling.

However, Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., was assailed even more harshly by gay-rights supporters. They were upset by his assertion that homosexuality would remain a sin even if it were biologically based, and by his support for possible medical treatment that could switch an unborn gay baby's sexual orientation to heterosexual.

"He's willing to play God," said Harry Knox, a spokesman on religious issues for the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay-rights group. "He's more than willing to let homophobia take over and be the determinant of how he responds to this issue, in spite of everything else he believes about not tinkering with the unborn."

Mohler said he was aware of the invective being directed at him on gay-rights blogs, where some participants have likened him to Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor notorious for death-camp experimentation.

"I wonder if people actually read what I wrote," Mohler said in a telephone interview. "But I wrote the article intending to start a conversation, and I think I've been successful at that."

The article, published March 2 on Mohler's personal Web site, carried a long but intriguing title: "Is Your Baby Gay? What If You Could Know? What If You Could Do Something About It?"

Mohler began by summarizing some recent research into sexual orientation, and advising his Christian readership that they should brace for the possibility that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven.

Mohler wrote that such proof would not alter the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality, but said the discovery would be "of great pastoral significance, allowing for a greater understanding of why certain persons struggle with these particular sexual temptations."

He also referred to a recent article in the pop-culture magazine Radar, which explored the possibility that sexual orientation could be detected in unborn babies and raised the question of whether parents — even liberals who support gay rights — might be open to trying future prenatal techniques that would reverse homosexuality.

Mohler said he would strongly oppose any move to encourage abortion or genetic manipulation of fetuses on grounds of sexual orientation, but he would endorse prenatal hormonal treatment — if such a technology were developed — to reverse homosexuality. He said this would no different, in moral terms, to using technology that would restore vision to a blind fetus.

"I realize this sounds very offensive to homosexuals, but it's the only way a Christian can look at it," Mohler said. "We should have no more problem with that than treating any medical problem."

Mohler's argument was endorsed by a prominent Roman Catholic thinker, the Rev. Joseph Fessio, provost of Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla., and editor of Ignatius Press,
Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. publisher.

"Same-sex activity is considered disordered," Fessio said. "If there are ways of detecting diseases or disorders of children in the womb, and a way of treating them that respected the dignity of the child and mother, it would be a wonderful advancement of science."

Such logic dismayed Jennifer Chrisler of Family Pride, a group that supports gay and lesbian families.

"What bothers me is the hypocrisy," she said. "In one breath, they say the sanctity of an unborn life is unconditional, and in the next breath, it's OK to perform medical treatments on them because of their own moral convictions, not because there's anything wrong with the child."

Paul Myers, a biology professor at the University of Minnesota-Morris, wrote a detailed critique of Mohler's column, contending that there could be many genes contributing to sexual orientation and that medical attempts to alter it could be risky.

"If there are such genes, they will also contribute to other aspects of social and sexual interactions," Myers wrote. "Disentangling the nuances of preference from the whole damn problem of loving people might well be impossible."

Not all reaction to Mohler's article has been negative.

Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York City psychiatrist critical of those who consider homosexuality a disorder, commended Mohler's openness to the prospect that it is biologically based.

"This represents a major shift," Drescher said. "This is a man who actually has an open mind, who is struggling to reconcile his religious beliefs with facts that contradict it."

___

On the Net:

Mohler's column: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id 891

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.