Missing boy scout found...
Updated:2007-03-21 14:27:22
Rescued Scout Survived on Creek Water
Hero Dog Leads Searchers to Lost Boy
By ESTES THOMPSON
AP

McGRADY, N.C. (March 21) - The lost Boy Scout who survived on creek water for four days in the North Carolina mountains had told a friend before wandering off -- apparently to try to hitchhike home -- that he didn't want to camp out anymore, a fellow Scout said Wednesday.

Talk About It: Post Thoughts
Twelve-year-old Michael Auberry had slept in that morning while the other Scouts went hiking, but he seemed fine when they returned for lunch.

The boys thought he had just gone to clean his mess kit after eating, fellow Boy Scout Griffin Prufer told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday. But as the time wore on, they grew worried.

"I noticed my dad going into the woods yelling and screaming his name and blowing whistles and stuff," Griffin said.

"I was scared," he said. "He (Michael) said something to his tent mate. He said he didn't want to go on camping trips anywhere."

That was early Saturday afternoon. The hours became days as scores of searchers with trained dogs and heat-sensing helicopters scoured the area for the missing Scout. Then, just before noon on Tuesday, a search dog named Gandalf caught Michael's scent about a mile from the Scout troop's camp site.

'A Tremendous Blessing'
Boy Scout Michael Auberry's father discusses his son's condition.

Next Video: Boy Scout Rescued
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Gandalf "popped his head three times" and there was Michael, walking along a stream, said Misha Marshall, the 2-year-old Shiloh shepherd's trainer.

"He was a little dazed," Marshall said, and he was tired, hungry and dehydrated, but calm. The searchers help Michael out of the woods and gave him granola bars, crackers and water. Later, at a hospital with his parents, Michael ate chicken fingers and asked for cookies.

"He was homesick," said his father, Kent Auberry. "He started walking, and at one point when he was walking he thought maybe he'd walk as far as the road and hitchhike home."

"We're going to have our lectures about hitchhiking again," the father said. "We've had them in the past, but with a special vigor, we'll go over that again with Michael."

Michael said he slept in tree branches, drank river water and curled up under rocks while he was in the wilderness. "He saw the helicopters and heard people calling him, but he yelled back and they didn't hear him," Auberry said.

"He's got a tremendous life spirit," the father said, adding that Michael "wants to thank Gandalf especially -- even though he ate the peanut butter crackers they gave him."

A celebration service was planned Wednesday evening at the family's church in Greensboro, though organizers said they didn't expect Michael or his family to attend.

Michael had worn two jackets, one of them fleece, and was believed to have a mess kit and potato chips with him when he disappeared. The temperature dropped into the 20s some nights, and he said he lost his hat and glasses in the woods.

Once rescued, though, the first thing he said to searchers was that "he wanted a helicopter ride out of there," said Blue Ridge Parkway ranger David Bauer.

Aside from a few cuts and scratches, Michael was in good health. He was given IV fluids in the ambulance to help him rehydrate and told his father he wanted to sleep, said ambulance driver Bud Lane.

Hours earlier, the boy's father had talked about one of Michael's favorite books when he was younger, a story titled "Hatchet" about a boy whose plane crashes in the wilderness, and how the boy survives on his own.

"I think he's got some of that book in his mind," Auberry said.

He said Michael had been reluctant to go on the trip. The boy had asked his dad if he would give him $5 if he didn't have a good time. Auberry said he assured him that if he wasn't happy on the trip, they would do something fun together the next day.

"To have our son back is a tremendous blessing," Auberry said Tuesday afternoon. He also offered a plea from Michael about making up his sixth-grade schoolwork.

"He's worried about make-up work in Miss Self's class," Auberry said. "So if Miss Self could cut him a break, he would be very, very grateful."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-03-18 15:15:16

The "Pro-Life" Warmongers don't seem to give a rat's ass about Our Children!
VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 12-16-2005 #5

HOW MUCH MONEY IS THE VA SPENDING PER VETERAN IN YOUR CONGRESSIONAL

DISTRICT? -- IS YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE DOING A GOOD JOB TAKING CARE

OF VETERANS? -- REP. STEVE BUYER'S DISTRICT IS NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE LIST!



I would like to thank Kenneth S. Colburn, Principal in Techpolitics.org for letting me know about his website.

Here's a brief explanation of what Techpolitics.org does: Techpolitics uses computer assisted research to disclose votes by Members of the House of Representatives that fail to align with the interests of large numbers of their constituents. Those constituencies often include minorities, less affluent persons, Social Security recipients, veterans, rural residents and students. Information on political contributions and other factors that may also influence House decisions are also presented.

This site contains a wealth of information. Link to home page here... http://www.techpolitics.org/

And, here are some statistics you'll want to take a look at. From Techpolitics.org: Veterans Administration figures for number of veterans and expenditures by congressional district for FY 2004 are compiled in a single interactive table. A figure is calculated for expenditures per veteran for each congressional district.

The full table is here... http://www.techpolitics.org/congress/veteransdata04.php?sort_field
=veteransdata04.totalexpend*1000/veteransdata04.totalpatients&sort_order=desc

The first thing I noticed when sorting was that of the 50 Districts where veterans received the most, 33 of 50 Representatives are Democrats.

Then, of the 50 Districts where veterans received the smallest amount, 41 of 50 Representatives are Republicans.

And, one of the Districts with the lowest amount of money being spent on veterans is Indiana's 4th District...Represented by Steve Buyer, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

That speaks for itself.

Another interesting table is here... http://www.techpolitics.org/congress/1091vote224.php

Explanation from Techpolitics.org: The House on May 26, 2005 defeated 213-214 an amendment by Representative Charles Melancon (D-LA) to the military and veterans appropriations bill to provide a $53 million increase in veterans' services. Nineteen Republicans joined 193 Democrats in voting for the Melancon Amendment. However Republican Members representing 16 of the 18 districts with the highest number of veterans (excluding Texas, as explained below) voted against the Melancon amendment to increase funds for services for veterans.

Take a look and see how your representative voted.

Enjoy the info on Techpolitic.org.



Larry Scott

After this article says suicides are disturbing, it becomes useless! A whole lot of blather!
MILITARY GOES ONLINE TO STEM TROOP SUICIDE --

Web site helps soldiers cope with trauma

and stress of Iraq.





Story here... http://www.sfgate.com/
cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/0
3/16/MNG4GOMICN1.DTL

Story below:

---------------

Military goes online to stem troop suicide

Web site helps soldiers cope with trauma and stress of Iraq

Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer



Here's a future scene from the Iraq battlefield, circa July 2007: A U.S. soldier battles against the enemy all day long. At night, after returning to base, he's troubled by what he's seen. But he knows better than to speak up.

Just outside the view of his fellow soldiers, he logs on to a virtual therapy Web site provided by the military called www.afterdeployment.org . He knows that if his comrades see him talking with one of the shrinks on base, they would lose trust in him, label him a head case. A medical file soon would contain records of the visit. If he ever wanted a promotion, he'd have to explain the weakness of his mind.

Or that's the thinking among the male-dominated, therapy-averse troops, according to researchers, therapists and military psychologists who met at the fifth annual Military Suicide Prevention Conference in Hollywood, Fla., last week. Attendees discussed how to stem military suicides -- in 2005 alone, the last year for which there are confirmed figures, 22 service members killed themselves in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Although the suicide rate among soldiers in combat is comparable to that of the general male population of the same age group, concern is growing in the military that, due to the traumatic events of recent U.S. wars, both active soldiers and veterans are psychologically vulnerable. A study of troops returning from the Iraq war, published in the January issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, showed that 16 percent of them met the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder within one year of returning home. The disorder has been defined as a lingering anxiety or depression triggered by past extreme traumatic events, such as serving in combat.

Since the military is 85 percent male and the majority of its members are ages 17 to 24, conference attendees hailed the planned July 1 launch of www.afterdeployment.org as the best way to reach a group skeptical about counseling and most prone to suicide.

"If you told me to try therapy when I was 22, I would have told you you were the crazy one," said Keith Armstrong, a family therapist at UC San Francisco who spoke at the conference. He is one of the authors of the recently published "Courage After Fire," a book that helps families and soldiers cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Armstrong said the military's Web site, which will include an on-screen therapist who can appear in video workshops, will not have the nuance and feel of face-to-face meetings between client and therapist. But, he added, "If a large portion of your population won't step foot into a therapist's office in the first place, maybe this is the precursor to therapy that's necessary."

The Web site has been under construction for two years as part of a Congressional mandate to address post-traumatic stress disorder and after studies showed that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan were reluctant to visit field counselors for fear of being stigmatized by their peers, said Air Force Col. Dr. Robert Ireland, program director for mental health policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Defense.

In 2003, the Office of the U.S. Army Surgeon General conducted a study of military suicides after five soldiers in Iraq killed themselves within a month. The new Web site would allow soldiers in the field and veterans at home to log on anonymously. Since the Web site is considered self-help rather than professional therapy, soldiers won't receive medical advice or prescriptions for anxiety-relief drugs. Ireland said traffic on the site would not be tracked, nor would the Department of Defense monitor it.

"We won't know what's going on unless they contact a provider and say they used the site," Ireland said.

Army Col. Dr. Gregory Gahm said the site's design, including the URL -- .org instead of .mil -- is geared toward the young male who is unlikely to seek official military help for mental health needs. The test site, which Gahm presented at the conference, showed a home page with a decidedly hip look: images of young soldiers, surrounded by links that are spelled out in a style normally found on hip-hop CD covers: "KnOW your stUff." Another asks, "How am I doing?" and leads the user to a self-assessment survey.

In focus groups, Gahm said viewers complained that the initial site included photographs of men who looked "too depressed." The military hired a screenwriter and teamed with a psychiatrist to write dialogue for typical sessions.

After users progress through a series of self-analysis surveys and listen to video testimonials from fellow soldiers, they enter a workshop led by an on-screen therapist, to whom they e-mail their thoughts and questions. In response, the therapist offers prerecorded video answers about anxiety and depression as well as tips to address those emotions.

Gahm said the ideal therapist, who has yet to record the workshops, would be a multicultural female young enough to draw trust from her viewers yet old enough to be viewed as credible. She would also be a psychologist who works for the military.

"It's a small window we're working with to find this person," Gahm said, adding that the military would not turn to an actress. "But we're really trying to reach a young crowd who wouldn't ordinarily turn to therapy."

The video sessions are designed to increase in intensity and to allow users to save their workshops on private computer files. Eventually, Ireland said, he hoped users who logged on over several weeks or months would seek out a traditional therapist and share the work they've done.

"That way they've got a huge jump-start for themselves and the providers," Ireland said. "They've done the groundwork, and they don't feel like they're starting from scratch."

Army Reserve Sgt. Mike Durant, 33, who fought in Al Doha, Iraq, about 20 miles south of Baghdad from February 2005 to January 2006, said the view toward therapy among the ranks was "comparable to what it was in the 1940s."

During his tour, Durant, who now lives in Sacramento, saw a friend blown up by an improvised explosive device. At the time, his wife at home was in the process of divorcing him.

Researchers at the conference said that psychological autopsies of suicides showed failed relationships at home were among the leading causes. That, coupled with sleep deprivation and traumatic episodes of combat plus the proximity of loaded weapons, makes those on the battlefield particularly vulnerable to suicide.

Durant admitted he had thought of killing himself. "I wanted the waiting to be over," he said. "We'd do IED sweeps along the same roads, some days all day. You were just waiting for it to happen to you. You were waiting to get blown up."

After the death of his friend and with the divorce pending, Durant said his officers ordered him to visit a field Combat Stress Center for a mandatory 72-hour evaluation. Even before he returned to his battalion, he knew his commanders had lost faith in him. Anyone who was shipped to the shrinks, or sought treatment, was a liability.

"In their eyes, I was no longer reliable," Durant said. "I couldn't be trusted. I was unstable to them."

Even though he had been a member of the unit for 10 years and had served as an infantry team leader who was responsible for three men, Durant said that, while he was not officially demoted on paper, his duties dropped from one of leadership to that of a rifleman.

"Before I was sent there, I was fairly respected and highly regarded," he said. After his time at the Combat Stress Center, Durant said, "Peers and friends didn't want anything to do with me; it was like I had some sort of disease."

Durant, who now receives treatment at a Veterans' Affairs hospital in Sacramento, said the virtual therapy experiment might work for the soldiers who have already returned home. "In combat, there's just not a lot of time to cry about things. You try not to think about them; you push it out of your head. If you didn't, you wind up going crazy.

"But once you get back to the States, that's when you unwind. You start processing. You realize what you did, what you felt. That's when it becomes overwhelming."

In light of studies that estimate 16 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq have post-traumatic stress disorder, practitioners like Armstrong are bracing for a sharp increase of mental health patients into VA hospitals and the public health system. Even though there is no evidence that the disorder alone can lead to suicide, left undiagnosed and untreated, it can play a role in a soldier taking his life, Armstrong said.

Ireland said comparing the disorder and suicide rates in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with past conflicts is difficult since reporting methods have varied. Just last year, the Department of Defense standardized the definition of suicide for all branches.

At the conference, a report from the Army Reserves showed that of the 20 confirmed suicides from its military branch in 2006, all occurred in the United States. Ten of the dead had served in Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Nineteen of the 20 suicides were male.

Lt. Col. Dr. Steven Pflanz, who manages the suicide prevention program for the Air Force, said, "We'll have to see how it plays out. If we did nothing, it would be a mental health care crisis. But if we can manage care now, it can possibly offset any problems down the line."



U.S. military fatalities in Iraq

Information available from March 19, 2003, to Feb. 3, 2007

Total deaths

All hostile deaths: 2,485

Total non-hostile deaths: 606

Total non-hostile deaths

Accidents: 390

Suicide: 99

Illness: 57

Pending: 42*

Homicide: 12

Undetermined: 6

* Final category to be determined at a later date

Source: U.S. Department of Defense



E-mail Justin Berton at jberton@sfchronicle.com.


---------------

Larry Scott --

This is a sleazy power struggle based in nothing meaningful except denial of constitutional rights!!
UPDATE: SENATOR CORRECTS DAV'S ANTI-ATTORNEY

STATEMENTS -- "I believe that veterans are mature,

responsible and capable enough to decide for

themselves whether to hire legal representation."





The "Attorneys for Veterans" issue remains in the news.

Last week, the DAV sent out a letter and petitions to their Commanders and members. They were urged to sign the petitions and send them to Congress in an effort to repeal the "Attorneys for Veterans" legislation passed last year.

Background on all of this with backlinks can be found here...
http://vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfMAR07/nf031607-1.htm

Now, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), who favors "Attorneys for Veterans" and who was mentioned in the DAV's letter, speaks out to correct what appears to be a "misrepresentation" by the DAV.

As the DAV continues to oppose a veteran's right to an attorney, we can expect more "misrepresentations" from them.

And, we have commentary from an attorney who represents veterans in the VA claims process: "I believe Senator Craig wrote a very well reasoned response to the DAV. The only thing I would have added is since the new law only allows attorney representation after a denial by the VA Regional Office and the submission of a Notice of Disagreement, attorney representation would only occur after a Veterans' Service Organization (VSO) (if the veteran was so represented) has failed to obtain a favorable decision. I believe this is a very important point. If the veteran first obtained VSO representation [from the DAV, for example], and that representation failed to obtain a favorable result, why shouldn't the veteran then be allowed to seek other representation, if he or she so chooses?"

Craig's letter below:

---------------

---------------

Larry Scott --

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

email Larry PGP key on request

Send this page to a friend:

(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)

It is the death of the Porn industry! Retinas will be seared and tumors will grow inside brains!
December Playboy Cover featuring Nude Ann Coulter

By Dood Abides
11/14/2006 07:20:17 AM EST

Ann Coulter bares all this December for Playboy and WILT


Los Angeles, CA (APE) - She's been abhorred for years as the most downrated person on the internet, which means... aw heck, you know what it means. People love retching over Ann Coulter.

What it hasn't meant, all these years, though, as all those thousands of disappointed freepers know, is seeing even one picture of this 18th-century tossup queen without anything strategically covering her.

No longer.

At 44, Coulter, who has been scintillating fans with her own brand of historic revisionism, has posed au natural for Playboy. The December issue, with her on the cover, attacks newsstands Friday. The pages of pictures on the inside leave readers scrambling for imagination.

It was for a good cause, Coulter, almost 45, explained when Associated Press Extraterrestrial caught up with her, fully loathed, at her undisclosed location.

Q: Why now?

Ann Coulter: My decision to do Playboy is literally one week in the making. I've always chided others for taking their clothes off and posed as the girl next door. I'm the number one right-wing talking head, and for years I've been known as "The Queen of Slime", all while keeping my clothes on, and that's taken some real discipline. Every couple of years when Hef would call I would graciously decline, because it would kill that whole androgynous legend that I've got going for me, and I thought that I could maintain the mystery by keeping my clothes on.

But this year, when I got the call from Hef, it was almost my 45th birthday. The Republican party had just received a humpin', so I thought, "Wow... at 45, America doesn't want us anymore?" And I thought it's almost an epiphany... like a "F--- 'em all!" moment. I feel empowered that you can criticize other people's morals and yet still be single, with no children, sexy and confident, and then bare all for the world.

Q: So what's the story on the androgynous deal?

Coulter: I feel proud of myself. I work out really hard, and people will just have to decide for themselves. The reason that I wanted to do it the most is because I am posing for a purpose: a portion of the proceeds from each issue sold is going to my charity.

Q: That would be...?

Coulter: I am the celebrity spokesperson for WILT, the national anti-erectile function association. It stands for Whitebread Ideology Less Tumescence. If you think about it, this last midterm election in which the Republican Party received such a humpin' was all because of this vast priapism of the party over the last six years that resulted in all the scandals. My charity is devoted to wresting control of erections from the parties and putting them back in the hands of voters. Celibacy is not just for Paris Hilton anymore.

KEYWORDS: Ann Coulter, December Playboy, Cindy Margolis, Satire

Join the fun and get yourself a FREE Cortex member account (if you haven't already). It's fast. And it'll allow you to take advantage of all this site's great features!
< The Gods of a Beaten Enemy | Rudy Giuliani In Drag Being Molested by Donald Trump >
Display:
December Playboy Cover featuring Nude Ann Coulter | 3 comments (3 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Tips/Flames? (1.00 / 2)

by Dood Abides on 11/14/2006 07:20:51 AM EST

Hey. (1.00 / 2)
I see you were able to cleanly rip off your address label.

Good Work;)

Political Cortex -- Brain Food for the Body Politic
by Tom Ball on 11/14/2006 02:01:18 PM EST

Bonds, Stocks, Pillaries of Justice (none / 1)
Right centerfold -- wrong mag.

S&M Magazine wrapped up Ann and other sexflints in a "monster" mx-page whips and chains spread with Ann as centerfold for Christmas.

It's their "The Women of Abu Graib and Gitmo" edition.

Speaking of which...remember J. Geil's Centerfold from the 80's? I wonder what pimply-faced malevolents actually went to high school with Coulter at New Canaan(CT) High and were just sick enough to dream she'd be a centerfold one day.

PS: By the way, you can see Ann's pre-bulemia amino acids at:

http://photos2.flickr.com/1 881708_180ba7d24f.jpg

No doubt she took up fencing to shish kebob homeless, disgusting Washingtonians. Seems their ranks have grown as they now include Repugs who find themselves between being forced from office and their next lobbying gig.

by FlyCatcher on 11/14/2006 09:28:57 PM EST

December Playboy Cover featuring Nude Ann Coulter | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Only one woman could soil the sacred halls of Porn!
Ann Coulter Poses Nude for Esquire
By Max Lindenman
Nov 28, 2006, 06:41

LOS ANGELES - This grave, grand room with its Isfahan carpet, mahogany desk and bookshelves, and sofa of wine-colored leather, could almost be a judge's chambers. Or my shrink's office.

Except reclining Cleopatra-style on that couch is none other than Ann Coulter. She's wrapped in a kimono of royal blue silk—"The color of the Virgin Mary," she laughs softly—and nothing else. In less time than it takes me to write this, she will unwrap herself and pose for the photographers who are fussing with the lights.

Yes, I am speaking of the Ann Coulter: pundit, author of Godless, frequent foil for Fox News' Alan Colmes, and right-wing America's queen of mean. She's lanced many a Hollywood celebrity for pulling this kind of stunt, so what gives now? Is Coulter making the ultimate ironic gesture? Or is the onetime top jurist truly convinced that disclosing her willowy corpus, for photos due to appear this spring in Esquire, will enable her to command higher fees on the lecture circuit?

ML: Why, Ann? Why?

an image
AC: I'm not doing it because I drank too many Red Bulls, I can promise you that much. Hi, Britney! Nice to see you back in form.

ML : Seriously.

AC: Seriously? Okay. I'm doing this because I can. I'm a beautiful woman with a beautiful body in a field dominated by stiffs in suits and tortoiseshells. Hundreds of thousands of people actually want to see me naked. Who would want to see George Will naked? His mother—or if she's dead, maybe his doctor.

ML : You really think that many men find you desirable?

AC: If mash notes were votes, I'd be president-for-life. I get more imploring messages each month than the Wailing Wall.

ML : I guess certain people do have a lot of time on their hands.

AC: Very funny. The wards of the state are too busy listening to Air America to know who I am. My demographic is the quality—investment bankers, corporatate lawyers, captains of industry. Just last week an Episcopalian bishop boxed his little bishop in front of a webcam and sent me the video, wasn't that nice? Actually, that was probably a mistake. If he was Episcopalian, he must have meant to send it to Jonah Goldberg.

an image
ML : Touche, touche, touche. So why are these hotshots looking to media figures for their jollies?

AC: Why else? Because contemporary American women don't do it for them anymore. They can't possibly. They've read so much [1960s feminist] Bella Abzug that they've started to look like her.

ML: So we're all looking for a new ideal and you're it?

AC: You could do a lot worse. Look at Hollywood harpies like Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston. None of them has the brains to spell GOP, much less vote that way.

ML: You don't think Michelle Malkin could fill the role?

AC: Ah, Michelle. Her writing's very good, but she's too into the mom role to start a revolution. But, hey, you might want to sit near her on an airplane in case she starts nursing. Turn your head now. I have to skin to show.

ML: I don't get to watch?

AC. You're nowhere near my demographic.

You can question the guy who knows everything, but you have to let him lie if he wants to!
Rove offered for unsworn testimony

By Thomas Ferraro and Tabassum Zakaria 49 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House offered on Tuesday to make
President George W. Bush's senior political adviser, Karl Rove, available to congressional investigators but rejected Democratic demands he testify under oath regarding the firings of U.S. attorneys.


In a letter to relevant members of Congress, White House counsel Fred Fielding made clear he was not offering Rove and other aides to give sworn testimony as had been requested.

"Such interviews would be private and conducted without the need for an oath, transcript, subsequent testimony or the subsequent issuance of subpoenas," Fielding wrote.

Democratic lawmakers described the offer as unsatisfactory, saying they wanted the witnesses under oath. But they also said they would consider it before formally responding.

"It is sort of giving us the opportunity to talk to them, but not giving us the opportunity to get to the bottom of what really happened here," said Sen. Charles Schumer (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat. "In that way, it is a pretty clever proposal."

Congressional committees plan to vote this week on whether to subpoena those who refuse to testify. They are particularly interested in hearing from Rove. A former aide to Rove was named to replace one of the prosecutors fired last year.

The White House said Bush would address the issue at 5:45 p.m./2145 GMT when he returned from Kansas City. Officials said Bush would reiterate his support for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, after speaking to him by phone earlier in the day, and call on Congress to accept Fielding's offer.

The fallout over the dismissals of eight U.S. attorneys has triggered a Democratic investigation over whether the action was politically motivated and raised doubts about how long Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can remain in his job.

A number of Democrats and a few Republicans in Congress calling for Gonzales to step aside.

Scrambling to contain the damage, Fielding was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday trying to arrange an agreement with the heads of the judiciary committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

In addition to Rove, Fielding offered Bush's former White House counsel Harriet Miers for interviews. Miers initially was blamed for coming up with the idea of firing all 93 U.S. attorneys after Bush's re-election in 2004.

Also offered by Fielding were deputy White House counsel William Kelley and political adviser Scott Jennings.

"We believe that such interviews should be a last resort, and should be conducted, if needed, only after Congress has heard from
Department of Justice officials about the decision to request the resignations of the U.S. attorneys," Fielding wrote.

Critics charge the administration dismissed the prosecutors to make room for its allies or because it felt some were too tough on Republicans and not tough enough on Democrats.

Recently released documents showed the administration had considered firing all the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys at the end of president's first term. But later, according to the documents, dismissed just eight.

The documents also showed the U.S. attorneys were judged on such factors as their effectiveness as well as their loyalty to the administration and support of its initiatives.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan and Steve Holland)

Brits don't like being cast with Genocidal US Americans!
Most Britons say Iraq invasion a mistake

Tue Mar 20, 12:30 PM ET

LONDON - Nearly six in 10 people in Britain believe it was a mistake to invade
Iraq, according to a BBC poll published Tuesday.


Fifty-five percent of respondents said they felt the war in Iraq has made Britain less safe, and only 5 percent said it left them feeling safer, according to the British Broadcasting Corp. poll commissioned to mark the invasion's fourth anniversary.

"Four years on from the war, most people in the country have now come to the view that the United States and Britain were wrong to take military action against Iraq in 2003," said Nick Sparrow from ICM Research, which conducted the poll.

More than half of respondents, 51 percent, said they would not trust the British government if it said military action was needed elsewhere because a country posed a threat to national security. Thirty-two percent said they would trust the government.

However, 57 percent said they would support sending British troops in overseas for disaster relief missions or to stop genocide — 24 percent opposed such missions.

ICM interviewed 1,019 adults across the country by telephone between March 2 and March 4. The poll had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

In the U.S., public sentiment toward the war has changed dramatically. Almost three-fourths of people in the U.S. supported the war when it began in March 2003, while one-fourth opposed it, according to Gallup polling at the time.

Last month, AP-Ipsos polling found that not quite four in 10 people surveyed agreed with the decision to go to war and six in 10 opposed.

Name what US corporations are involved here as beneficiaries of this mutual admiration society?
Vietnam, U.S. sign nuclear conversion agreement

Mon Mar 19, 11:19 PM ET

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam has agreed to work with the United States to begin converting a nuclear research reactor to using low-enriched uranium fuel from highly-enriched uranium, state media said on Tuesday.

Vietnam's Atomic Energy Commission also signed an agreement with the
United Nations nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, to send any highly-enriched uranium back to Russia, where it was originally imported from, the reports and a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi said.

The statement said U.S. and Vietnam government agencies "recently signed contracts to further enhance security at the Dalat Research Reactor and at three radiological facilities in Vietnam to protect materials that could be used for harmful purposes."

It said the two contracts stem from last November's state visit to Vietnam by
President Bush, the second visit by a U.S. President to Hanoi since the former war enemies established diplomatic relations in 1995.

The U.S.
Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration will administer the project at Dalat, capital of south-central Lam Dong province and the other sites.

Vietnam, which signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in 1982, plans to start building a nuclear power plant in 2015 to help drive the energy-hungry economy.

The Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission says the country will need 2,000 megawatts to 4,000 megawatts of nuclear power from 2017, but does not want to enrich uranium on its soil.

International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei said on a visit to Hanoi in December that the communist-run government had involved the agency from the beginning of its nuclear power development.

"It's those damned Carpetbaggers again, George."
Homeowners drop insurance after Katrina

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 19, 3:49 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS - Disgusted with his insurance company after Hurricane Katrina, the Rev. Simmie Harvey let his homeowner policy lapse and left his house in the hands of a higher power.

Somebody up there must like the 88-year-old Baptist minister: His newly uninsured house escaped serious damage last month when a tornado ripped through the city's Uptown neighborhood and toppled a tree that narrowly missed his home.

"I wasn't lucky. I'm blessed," he said. "I'm going to be all right. The Lord takes care of me."

Facing soaring premiums or feeling shortchanged by their insurers, a growing number of homeowners and businesses in Louisiana and Mississippi are "going bare," or dropping their coverage altogether, insurance agents and consumer advocates say. Many more are drastically reducing their coverage.

"I have every belief that it's going to be more and more common," said Amy Bach, executive director of the United Policyholders advocacy group. "If it's a choice between eating or paying their insurance bills, of course they're going to eat."

With the new hurricane season beginning June 1, it is a risky strategy. These people could lose everything in a storm or some kind of tragic accident around the house.

"You're basically playing Russian roulette with your most valuable asset," said Robert Hartwig, president and chief economist of the Insurance Information Institute, an industry-funded group.

Elderly homeowners — particularly those on fixed incomes and those who have paid off their mortgages — may be the most likely to go uninsured. Most homeowners don't have that choice, because mortgage companies require borrowers to have insurance. Those whose homes are paid off can drop their policies, unless they are getting government grants or loans that require one.

"Definitely, you'll be seeing more of this," said Bennett Powell, a Metairie insurance agent whose firm sold Harvey his policy.

Exactly how many policyholders are going bare is unclear. The insurance commissioners in Mississippi and Louisiana are not keeping track, and insurers say they do not how many of their former customers are simply buying new policies from a different company.

Shopping around can also be a risky strategy, because homeowners in Louisiana who switch are no longer protected by a state law that bars insurers from canceling policies that have been in effect for three years or longer.

"Do not shop," said Louisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon. "That protection outweighs the advantage of shopping, in my opinion."

Homeowner insurance typically covers wind damage from hurricanes, as well as damage to the home from fires, auto accidents and other misfortunes. It also protects a homeowner if someone gets injured on the property. Along the Gulf Coast, flood insurance is sold separately from homeowner insurance, and made available thorugh a federal program.

Robert Page, a Houma, La.-based insurance agent and president-elect of the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents, said the owners of three large apartment complexes in Houma recently dropped their wind and hail coverage after their premiums doubled. Page said only a few of his thousands of customers have gone completely bare after Katrina.

But "it's only the beginning," he said. "In my opinion, it's going to get worse before it gets better."

Harvey, whose modest ranch-style house has a neat lawn and a long driveway for his black Cadillac, rode out Katrina in his home during the summer of 2005 and only briefly evacuated the city in the storm's chaotic aftermath.

His roughly $1,800 annual premium did not increase significantly after Katrina, but he said he elected to drop his Farmers Insurance Co. policy because the company paid him about $4,000 even though he blames the wind for about $10,000 in damage to his roof.

"If that's all I can get, I don't have any need to get insurance," he said, figuring he is better off saving his money than paying premiums.

In Louisiana, insurance companies raised their homeowner rates an average of 13.2 percent in 2006, according to Amy Whittington, spokeswoman for the Louisiana Insurance Department. Some insurers went far higher.

Many small business owners are feeling the sharpest pinch. The insurer of last resort for many Mississippi homeowners and businesses is the state's "wind pool," and its commercial rates have jumped 268 percent since Katrina.

Tom Simmons, who owns three office buildings in Gulfport, Miss., said he paid $3,070 in premiums for the rental properties before Katrina. Maintaining that level of coverage this year would cost more than $25,000, he said.

Simmons is considering dropping his wind and hail policies but holding onto his fire and liability coverage. Even though none of his properties flooded during Katrina, the thought of heading into the next storm season without wind coverage is "scary as hell."

"The whole darn area is facing this sort of thing," he said. "The insurance companies obviously want out. Maybe they're just pricing us out of the market rather than just saying they're leaving the state."

Jeffrey O'Keefe, president of the Bradford-O'Keefe Funeral Homes on Mississippi's Gulf Coast, already has scaled back his coverage.

Before Katrina, he paid $61,224 in annual premiums to insure five funeral homes, two cemeteries and a crematorium. Renewing that $7 million in coverage would have cost about $781,000, so he reduced his coverage to $2 million. But he is still paying $122,113 in premiums, twice as much as before the storm.

"As a small business owner, it's really putting a hurt on us," he said. "It's a bad problem."

well,we wouldn't want any laws to stand created out of "thin air" by "Liberal" Judges!
Court hears "Bong hits 4 Jesus" case

By James Vicini Mon Mar 19, 2:31 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In its first major student free-speech rights case in almost 20 years,
U.S. Supreme Court justices struggled on Monday with how far schools can go in censoring students.

In a case involving a Juneau, Alaska, high school student suspended for unfurling a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," several justices seemed wary about giving a principal too much authority at the expense of the student's right to express his views.

"It's political speech, it seems to me. I don't see what it disrupts," a skeptical Justice
David Souter said.

"And no one was smoking pot in that crowd," Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, referring to the group of students standing near the banner as the Winter Olympic torch relay passed by in January 2002.

The incident occurred during school hours but on a public sidewalk across from the school.

Student Joseph Frederick says the banner's language was meant to be meaningless and funny in an effort to get on television.

Principal Deborah Morse said the phrase "bong hits" referred to smoking marijuana. She suspended Frederick for 10 days because the banner advocated or promoted illegal drug use in violation of school policy.

Justice
Stephen Breyer said he was struggling with the case.

A ruling for Frederick could result in students "testing limits all over the place in the high schools" while a ruling against Frederick "may really limit people's rights on free speech," Breyer said.

Kenneth Starr, the former special prosecutor who investigated former President
Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, said Morse acted reasonably and in accord with the school's anti-drug mission.

A Bush administration lawyer, Edwin Kneedler, argued for a broad rule that public schools do not have to tolerate a message inconsistent with its basic educational mission.

"I find that a very, very disturbing argument," Justice
Samuel Alito said, adding that schools could define their educational mission so broadly to suppress political speech and speech expressing fundamental student values.

Justice
Anthony Kennedy asked Kneedler if the principal could have required the banner be taken down if it had said "vote Republican, vote Democrat."

Kneedler replied the principal has that authority.

Frederick's lawyer, Douglas Mertz of Juneau, said: "This is a case about free speech. It is not a case about drugs."

Mertz argued the court should not abandon its famous 1969 ruling that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," a decision that allowed students to wear black armbands in class to protest the Vietnam War.

But the Supreme Court's last major rulings on the issue went against the students.

The court ruled in 1986 that a student does not have a free-speech right to give a sexually suggestive speech at an assembly and in 1988 that school newspapers can be censored.

A decision in the case is expected by the end of June.

Why does anyone continue to trust the forked tongue promises of The Great White "Parent?"
Canada Scolded over Exploitation of Indigenous Peoples' Lands

Haider Rizvi, OneWorld US Fri Mar 16, 6:48 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 16 (OneWorld) - Canada, like the United States, is facing international scrutiny for its treatment of indigenous people.

This week, a
United Nations treaty body took the rare step of telling Canada to change its behavior on the human rights of native populations.

In a report, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) said it was concerned about complaints of exploitation of indigenous resources by corporations registered in Canada.

CERD, which is based in Geneva, told the Canadian government to take "appropriate legislative or administrative measures to prevent the acts of transnational corporations on indigenous territories."

The CERD report comes in response to a petition filed by indigenous organizations that charged private businesses from Canada were unlawfully involved in the exploitation of their lands located in the United States.

Their petition particularly focused on the situation facing the Western Shoshone, a native American tribe, whom some non-natives also refer to as "Snake Indians," although in their own language they are called Newe people.

Stretching across the states of Nevada, California, Idaho, and Utah, the Shoshone lands are currently the third largest gold producing area in the world, where numerous multinational corporations are operating and many are planning to move in.

Many of these companies, which include Bravo Venture Group, Nevada Pacific Bold, Barrick Gold, Glamis Gold, Great Basin Gold, and U.S. GoldCorp, according to the complaint, are registered in Canada.

Many areas where mining is going on have been used by natives for spiritual ceremonies and cultural purposes for thousands of years. Certain areas are home to Shoshone creation stories and vital to indigenous traditions of acquiring knowledge.

"The sites where the Canadian [corporations] are operating or preparing to operate are akin to a church or mosque to us," said Carrie Dann, a Shoshone elder. "We believe we're placed here on this land as caretakers. We are responsible for the health and preservation of our lands."

Shoshone elders have repeatedly charged that the enormous amount of toxic material produced as a result of mining is causing enormous damage to the health and well being of their people and the environment.

Last year, in response to the Western Shoshone petition, CERD assailed the U.S. government for violating the tribes' rights and said Washington had run afoul of the international antiracism treaty.

The 18-member UN panel of experts, set up to monitor global compliance with the 1969 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, said it had "credible information" that the Shoshone were being denied their traditional rights to land.

In its petition, the tribe had challenged the U.S. government assertion that it owned 90 percent of Shoshone lands covering about 60 million acres. CERD members said the U.S. government must cease all commercial activities on tribal lands, including mining operations.

The United States recognized Shoshone rights to their land under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. However, the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that the pact gave Washington trusteeship over tribal lands.

The federal government justified its position by saying that tribe members had abandoned traditional land tenure and practices and cited "gradual encroachment" by non-natives as evidence to claim much of the land as federal territory.

The Western Shoshone, in their petition to the UN panel, countered that "gradual encroachment" in fact took place as part of a U.S. policy to steal their lands, and that this constituted racism.

The Geneva-based panel agreed with the Shoshone by noting that Washington's claim to the land "did not comply with contemporary international human rights norms, principles, and standards that govern determination of indigenous property interests."

Shoshone leaders said they went before the UN panel because they had exhausted all other legal options to prevent the U.S. government from taking over their ancestral lands, and for similar reason they had to challenge the role of the Canadian government.

In addition to recommending legal steps to change corporate behavior, the UN panel has also asked Canada to submit a report on the effects of the activities of transnational corporations in Canada on indigenous peoples abroad.

For their part, Dann and other indigenous leaders said they were pleased with the UN response to their petition.

"This is ground breaking news," Dann said about the CERD report on Canada. "This is the first time a UN treaty body has addressed government accountability to its corporate profiteering of ongoing human rights violations against indigenous peoples."

Sinbad: "I'm Not Dead"

Sinbad: "I'm Not Dead"
AP

MIAMI - March 17, 2007 - Actor-comedian Sinbad had the last laugh after his Wikipedia entry announced he was dead, the performer said Thursday.


Rumors began circulating Saturday regarding the posting, said Sinbad, who first got a telephone call from his daughter. The gossip quieted, but a few days later the 50-year-old entertainer said the phone calls, text messages and e-mails started pouring in by the hundreds.

"Saturday I rose from the dead and then died again," the Los Angeles-based entertainer told The Associated Press in a phone interview.

The St. Petersburg-based nonprofit organization, which describes itself as "the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit," leaves it to a vast user community to catch factual errors and other problems. Apparently, someone edited it to say Sinbad died of a heart attack. By the time the error was caught, e-mail links of the erroneous page had been forwarded to hundreds of people.

A note on Sinbad's Wikipedia page Thursday night said the site has been temporarily protected from editing to deal with vandalism.

Wikipedia was created in 2001 as a Web research tool. It has more than 1.6 million articles, contributed by members of the public.

A telephone call and an e-mail left for Wikipedia were not immediately returned Thursday night.

When asked if he was upset about the mix-up, Sinbad, whose real name is David Adkins, just laughed.

"It's gonna be more commonplace as the Internet opens up more and more. It's not that strange," the Los Angeles-based entertainer told the Associated Press in a phone interview.

Sinbad, who is currently on the road doing stand up, said he hasn't received an apology from the Internet site. He has appeared in the films, "Houseguest," and "Jingle All the Way."

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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.