Tag: Docudharma Times

Who Won America Idol?

I Don’t Know

Nor Do I Care To Know

As It Is Unimportant

Thursday’s Headlines:   Skyrocketing Oil Prices Stump Experts   Different goals take Clinton and Obama to Florida   UN head tours cyclone-hit Burma   Pakistan makes peace deal to end pro-Taliban violence   Mbeki deploys troops as xenophobic violence spreads to Zulu   Uganda: Implementing Tax Amendments   Berlusconi clamps down on Gypsies   The Big Question: Is Iceland the happiest place on the planet, and what can we learn from it?     Israel contemplates giving up Golan Heights to Syria    Lebanon rivals agree crisis deal    Mexico boosts police ethics to fight drugs

Senate reaches deal on Iraq war funding

Tentative $165 billion fund backs Pentagon operations in Iraq, Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – The Senate plans to vote Thursday on providing $165 billion to fund Pentagon operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, under a deal that likely would doom billions of dollars in domestic programs.

A plan announced Wednesday night by Senate leaders would pay for the wars until a new administration take over.

But it would likely kill money for 13 weeks of additional unemployment benefits for the jobless, heating subsidies, fighting Western wildfires and aid to rural schools, among many programs backed by senators in both parties despite a promised veto from President Bush.

Don’t Hesitate: Be The First and Not The Last Of Your Left Wing Friends

To Achieve The Ultimate Status Symbol

A Place On Bush’s Enemies List    

Tuesday’s Headlines: McCain Finds a Thorny Path in Ethics Effort    White House Role Cited in EPA Reversal on Emissions  Demolished by the Pakistan army: the frontier village punished for harbouring the Taliban    Beichuan to be laid to rest as China moves survivors to new settlement    Farmers face losing EU subsidies unless they promise to go green    Georgia’s leader vows to prevent Russia reviving the Soviet Union    War that traumatizes Iraqis takes toll on hospital that treats them    France admits contacts with Hamas in breach of boycott    Mbeki urged to use troops to halt attacks on migrants   Fighting resumes in Sudan flashpoint    Brazil’s sugar cane mills race to keep up with ethanol boom

Obama Expected to Hit Milestone in Today’s Votes

Senator Barack Obama is poised to reach a milestone in the presidential race on Tuesday by capturing a majority of pledged delegates, but he said he would not declare victory against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton or suggest the Democratic primary should end until the final three contests are finished on June 3.

For Mr. Obama, the situation is delicate. While eager to proceed to a general election match with Senator John McCain of Arizona, the likely Republican nominee, Mr. Obama is also trying to bring the contest to a close in a way that allows him to win over Mrs. Clinton’s supporters and unify the party.

For her part, Mrs. Clinton is making a counterargument that she is winning the popular vote if Florida and Michigan are counted, and that the party’s leaders should take that into consideration before deciding which candidate to support.

Seeking More Oil

Bush Leaves With A Fruit Basket

Monday’s Headlines:  McCain to Rely on Party Money   Medical marijuana and organ transplants don’t mix    Burma neighbours in cyclone talks    The last photo of Zhou Yao, 14 – one of thousands of children killed at their desks    Royal seeks second chance in battle to depose Sarkozy     Car bomb explodes in Basque town in Spain    South Africa gangs kill foreigners    Could unity government talks eclipse Zimbabwe runoff vote?    Gulf states may soon need coal imports to keep the lights on    US: 500 youths detained in Iraq; 10 in Afghanistan   Heart of Quito gets an urban revival

China Faces Economic Aftershocks

Fearful After the Quake, People Shun Jobs, Homes

SHIFANG, China, May 18 — Statistically speaking, Zhang Zhengjie and his factory are fine.

Number of workers injured: zero. Number dead: zero. The factory’s steel-reinforced walls shook but held during last week’s massive earthquake. After it was over, the only evidence that something nightmarish had taken place in other parts of the city was the presence of minor fractures in pipes that were easily fixed.

It’s All About The Maps

From The Flat Earth Society

Sunday’s Headlines:  Drilling for Defeat?    Obesity Threatens a Generation    China’s agony as quake parents cling to hope   Karma chameleon: He charms the West, but can the Dalai Lama save Tibet?   Sistine set-up: the 500-year-old art mystery    Jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky ‘framed’ by key Putin aide     Hezbollah’s actions ignite sectarian fuse in Lebanon    Fledgling Rebellion on Facebook Is Struck Down by Force in Egypt    Aid vessel hijacked off Somalia    ANC votes to rename streets after party activists     Resentment grows in Paraguay over hydroelectric dam

Burmese children ‘facing death’

Thousands of children in cyclone-hit Burma will starve to death within weeks unless food reaches them soon, UK charity Save the Children has warned.

The charity said 30,000 under-fives in the Irrawaddy Delta were malnourished before Cyclone Nargis hit on 2 May.

It says energy-rich food now needs to reach them “before it is too late”.

The warning comes as a UN envoy is due in Burma to join international efforts to try to persuade the ruling junta to grant more access to relief workers.

Humanitarian envoy John Holmes will carry a letter from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to Burma’s leader, Than Shwe, who has refused to answer Mr Ban’s calls.

Unlike A Flopping Fish Politician The News Here Is As It Should Be

Straight Forward

Saturday’s Headlines:  Obama Strikes Back at Bush On Diplomacy    Razor-sharp concertina wire installed at U.S.-Mexico border     Burma ‘guilty of inhuman action’   Beijing open to foreign aid and scrutiny in wake of tragedy    68% of Italians want Roma expelled – poll   EU may force car makers to reveal emissions in adverts    How picture phones have fuelled frenzy of honour killing in Iraq    Lebanese leaders gather in Qatar    Displaced Kenyans balk at government push to go home   Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa    Shakira, other Latin American stars sing for their cause — ALAS

U.S. Planning Big New Prison in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come.

The proposed detention center would replace the cavernous, makeshift American prison on the Bagram military base north of Kabul, which is now typically packed with about 630 prisoners, compared with the 270 held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Until now, the Bush administration had signaled that it intended to scale back American involvement in detention operations in Afghanistan. It had planned to transfer a large majority of the prisoners to Afghan custody, in an American-financed, high-security prison outside Kabul to be guarded by Afghan soldiers.

Only A Shrub Sees Appeasement

Friday’s Headlines: Bush warns of talks with ‘radicals’  Clean-air rules for national parks may be eased   Burma storm aid frustrations grow   Afghan death squads ‘acting on foreign orders’   Italian tolerance goes up in smoke as Gypsy camp is burnt to ground   Robert George puts parasites on the map with Atlas of the Fleas   How one Liberian helps others speak out   Zimbabwe’s rulers unleash police on Anglicans  Talks set on new government for Lebanon   Middle East: Invisible peace talk   Friction forecast at EU-Latin America summit

Chinese Open Wallets for Quake Aid

Individual Giving Blooms in a Society Long Under Sole Care of the State

BEIJING, May 15 At the headquarters of the Red Cross Society of China, volunteers turned a boardroom into a makeshift cashier’s office Thursday, sending tens of thousands of fluttering bank notes through counting machines and handing receipts to people like Cai Lili, 30, who stood in long lines with bricks of cash to donate to earthquake relief efforts.

Since a massive earthquake struck Sichuan province and surrounding regions three days ago, Chinese have donated $192 million to help their countrymen, according to China’s Civil Affairs Ministry. The fundraising has come as officials have issued a rare public appeal for cranes and rescue equipment, hammers and shovels, bandages and medicine.

California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

The California Supreme Court, striking down two state laws that had limited marriages to unions between a man and a woman, ruled on Thursday that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.

The 4-to-3 decision, drawing on a ruling 60 years ago that struck down a state ban on interracial marriage, would make California the second state, after Massachusetts, to allow same-sex marriages.

The decision, which becomes effective in 30 days unless the court grants a stay, was greeted with celebrations at San Francisco City Hall, where thousands of same-sex marriages were thrown out by the courts four years ago.

For Pundits The future Is Placed Squarely In The Past

Thursday’s Headlines: Republican Election Losses Stir Fall Fears: United Way to Target Health, Education and Income: New aid setback as storm nears Burma: Afghanistan: What hope is there for the lost children of the bazaar?: Ancient bust of Caesar found in French river: EU broadens inquiry into drug market: Political clashes underline limits to intelligence reform: Bridging a cultural Gulf promises a new media era in Middle East: Chavez tells Colombia not to build base for US

China airdrop for quake survivors

China is mobilising 30,000 extra troops and 90 more helicopters to help with the rescue operation after Monday’s devastating earthquake.

About 10 million people in Sichuan province have been directly affected by the 7.9 quake that flattened entire villages, state media said.

Nearly 15,000 people are known to have been killed, and another 26,000 are still trapped in the rubble.

Troops and helicopters will bring food and water to rescue survivors.

They will add to the efforts of almost 50,000 soldiers and police already despatched to the region to dig any remaining survivors out of the rubble and bring food, medicine and drinking water to those made homeless.

Winding Mountain Road Becomes Tenuous Lifeline

ZIPINGPU, China, May 14 — The road leading to the epicenter of Monday’s massive earthquake still wasn’t clear of obstacles, but stretches of it had been transformed into major staging areas. As workers arrived to check the safety of an ancient dam, soldiers and rescue teams massed before heading to remote mountain villages where thousands are believed to be trapped.

Trucks, ambulances and buses full of people and supplies jammed the winding mountain road, which is cracked or cratered in some places and narrows to half a lane in others because of rockslides. Some of the vehicles inching back down the road Wednesday were loaded with dazed passengers — those who had been strong enough to walk for hours on wooded paths from otherwise inaccessible mountain towns, carrying a few possessions and memories of devastation unlike anything they had ever seen.

Support disaster relief in Myanmar (Burma) Through the UN

Our Goal Posts Are As Solid As The Mud They Are Set In.

Tuesday’s Headlines: Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause: Charges dropped against ’20th’ hijacker: Burma continues to reject help: Japan’s teenage smokers face wrinkle test: Putin’s hardliners keep places in new cabinet: Socialists hold key to power in Serbia: The gulf that separates the sexes in Saudi Arabia: Hizbullah capture of mountain village seen as threat to Israel: U.S. high court allows apartheid claims against multinationals: South Africa: Markets Take ANC Left Turn in Their Stride: Roots of Haiti’s food crisis run deep  

Death toll rises in China quake

The most powerful earthquake to hit China in 30 years has killed at least 10,000 people in south-western Sichuan province, with thousands more trapped.

Chinese state media said that 10,000 people were thought to remain buried in one town alone near the epicentre of the earthquake in Wenchuan county.

A team of 1,300 troops and medics has now reached Wenchuan, which was largely cut off by the quake.

But rescue efforts are being hampered by heavy rain and badly damaged roads.

Premier Wen Jiabao – a trained geologist – had urged rescuers to clear roads into the worst-hit areas as fast as possible.

‘No Hope’ for Children Buried in Earthquake

DUJIANGYAN, China – The children who were considered fortunate escaped with a broken bone or a severed limb. The others, hundreds of them, were carried out to be buried, and their remaining classmates lay crushed beneath the rubble of the schoolhouse.

“There’s no hope for them,” said Lu Zhiqing, 58, as she watched uniformed rescue workers trudge through mud and rain toward the mound of bricks and concrete that had once been a school. “There’s no way anyone’s still alive in there.”

Little remained of the original structure of the school. No standing beams, no fragments of walls. The rubble lay low against the wet earth. Dozens of people gathered around in the schoolyard, clawing at the debris, kicking it, screaming at it. Soldiers kept others from entering.

Support disaster relief in Myanmar (Burma) Through the UN

No News Merry-Go-Round Here

Monday’s Headlines: Voter ID Battle Shifts to Proof of Citizenship: Pollution levels have dropped in U.S. coastal waters: First US aid flight reaches Burma: Earthquake strikes Western China: ‘Ghost city’ Mosul braces for assault on last bastion of al-Qa’ida in Iraq: Lebanese Army caught in crossfire between Druze and Hezbollah gunmen: Beatings and torture intensify as Zimbabwe prepares to vote again: Tadic claims victory for pro-Europeans in Serbian elections: Polish Holocaust hero dies at 98: Venezuelan president criticizes German chancellor  

News Organizations Are Reporting Between 3,000 and 5,000 Dead in One County

‘Hundreds buried’ by China quake

Almost 900 students are buried after an earthquake measuring 7.8 caused a building to collapse in south-western China, state media reports.

President Hu Jintao urged “all-out” efforts to rescue victims of the quake, which hit 92km (57 miles) from Chengdu, Sichuan’s provincial capital.

Premier Wen Jiabao is travelling to the area and troops are being sent to help with disaster relief efforts.

Officials have confirmed 107 deaths in the area but the figure could rise.

Cries for help

There are harrowing reports from the scene of the collapse in Dujiangyan city – about 100km (60 miles) from the epicentre in Wenchuan county.

U.S. spying is up, but not prosecutions

As more Americans are watched, fewer cases are made. The trend concerns civil liberties groups as well as some lawmakers and legal experts.

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court — one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing — has continued to decline, in some cases precipitously.

The trends, visible in new government data and a private analysis of Justice Department records, are worrisome to civil liberties groups and some legal scholars. They say it is further evidence that the government has compromised the privacy rights of ordinary citizens without much to show for it.

The emphasis on spy programs also is starting to give pause to some members of Congress who fear the government is investing too much in anti-terrorism programs at the expense of traditional crime-fighting. Other lawmakers are raising questions about how well the FBI is performing its counter-terrorism mission.

Support disaster relief in Myanmar (Burma) Through the UN

The Shinkansen of News

Sunday’s Headlines: Race may not be Obama’s biggest hurdle: Severe storms kill at least 18 in Missouri, Okla.: Sudan cuts Chad ties over attack: Southern Africa: SADC Divided Over Zimbabwe: Burma exports rice as cyclone victims starve: Abracadabra! Boy saves own life with magic: Parading of fighters’ bodies taunts Mahdi Army: Robert Fisk: Lebanon does not want another war. Does it?: 1968: Josef Koudelka and 1968, summer of hate: As Gazprom Goes, So Goes Russia: Behind the food riots: a debate on how best to farm

System of Neglect

As Tighter Immigration Policies Strain Federal Agencies, The Detainees in Their Care Often Pay a Heavy Cost

Near midnight on a California spring night, armed guards escorted Yusif Osman into an immigration prison ringed by concertina wire at the end of a winding, isolated road.

During the intake screening, a part-time nurse began a computerized medical file on Osman, a routine procedure for any person entering the vast prison network the government has built for foreign detainees across the country. But the nurse pushed a button and mistakenly closed file #077-987-986 and marked it “completed” — even though it had no medical information in it

Support disaster relief in Myanmar (Burma) Through the UN

You wanna play mind-crazed banjo

On the druggy-drag ragtime U.S.A.?

In Parkland International

Hey! Junkiedom U.S.A.

Where procaine proves the purest rock man groove

and rat poison

Saturday’s Headlines: Iraq Contractor in Shooting Case Makes Comeback: FBI, ATF Battle for Control Of Cases: Hizbullah success in west Beirut replaces impasse with uncertainty: Turkish strikes ‘kill 19 rebels’: Part of Guinness’s Dublin brewery to close: Tanks return to Red Square as Russia flaunts military might: Chinese factories, flouting labor laws, hire children from poor, distant villages:?S. Koreans Abuzz Over Their Obsession With the Office: Tsvangirai to run in second round: Pollution in paradise: Flamingos vs the factory: Mexico vows to continue war on organized crime

The River of Death

As Burma’s junta spurns the world’s offers of aid, Andrew Buncombe finds a landscape flooded with corpses – and a people begging for help

For the people living alongside the Payapon river – a branch of the mighty Irrawaddy – the slow-moving waters have always been a sustainer of life. The river has provided irrigation for their crops, as well as clean, sweet water for washing and bathing, and the fish from which so many of them make their livelihoods.

Now the same river is delivering the dead. The corpses of hundreds of people swept away and killed by the surging tidal wave of Cyclone Nargis are now being washed back.

They lie on the river’s edge, snagged in the roots of the mangrove swamps, bloated and burnt by the sun. Many of the corpses have already been buried by family or friends but there are plenty more that lie floating and abandoned, as anonymous in death as they must have been named and known in life.

Support disaster relief in Myanmar (Burma) Through the UN

Growing up it all seems so one-sided

Opinions all provided

The future pre-decided

Detached and subdivided

In the mass production zone

Nowhere is the dreamer or the misfit so alone

Friday’s Headlines: McCain Pushed Land Swap That Benefits Backer: Bush set to veto $300 billion farm bill: An Arab veteran of 1948 recalls Palestinian ‘catastrophe’: Lebanon on the brink as violence erupts: Berlusconi imposes his authority with cabinet of cronies and beautiful women: Spain launches legal war on US ‘pirates’: Effort to control HIV in Africa ‘badly targeted’: Zimbabwe army denies attacks, Mbeki to hold talks: North Korea Gives U.S. Files on Plutonium Efforts: Japan to allow military use of space: lawmakers: President Morales agrees to Bolivian recall vote  

U.N. Pressures Myanmar to Allow Aid

With up to 1.5 million people in Myanmar now believed to be facing the threat of starvation and disease and with relief efforts still largely stymied by the country’s isolationist military rulers, frustrated United Nations officials all but demanded Thursday that the government open its doors to supplies and aid workers.

“The situation is profoundly worrying,” said the United Nations official in charge of the relief effort, John Holmes, speaking in unusually candid language for a diplomat. “They have simply not facilitated access in the way we have a right to expect.”

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From the BBC: Burma impounds UN aid deliveries

The World Food Programme has halted aid shipments to Burma after the contents of its first delivery were impounded on arrival in the military-ruled country.

The UN body says the Burmese government seized aid material flown in to help victims of Cyclone Nargis, which has killed tens of thousands.

The WFP said it had no choice but to halt aid until the matter was resolved.

Burma’s ruling generals have faced mounting criticism over their handling of the crisis.

The UN fears more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the cyclone, with tens of thousands made homeless and vulnerable to disease.

Burmese state media say 22,980 people were killed, but there are fears the figure could rise to 100,000.