- Signs of the Times Archive for Thu, 04 Sep 2008 -



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SOTT Focus

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Best of the Web
The Dumb, the Stupid, the Clueless and the Uninformed

Les Visible
Smoking Mirrors
2008-09-04 16:49:00

I've been away for awhile... maybe a month or more... maybe I've always been away and just drop in on occasion with a new personality for the next period of engagement. It's hard to know what's what. Look at the problem people have with reality. They must have a problem with it because they will accept anything but it, and they generally prefer to be told what is happening rather than look into the situation themselves. By the title of this piece and by your own observations, I guess you know I'm talking about significantly more than half of the population.

I've long been of the opinion that all of the great and transformative acts for good that are practiced on this Earth are accomplished by ten percent of the people. I've also felt that the majority of evil is accomplished by another ten percent. The people in the middle are the hamburger meat in the fast food restaurant of the times in which we live. Among this group are thirty six personality types and you meet them all as you go and long before you actually leave. There are a handful of unique characters who exemplify their time and there is a much larger group that plays a tape loop over and over again until it wears out. You could no more talk to these people about what is really going on than you could convince them that they have anything to do with it.

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Hope? Obama Might Pursue Criminal Charges Against Bush

Elana Schor
The Guardian
2008-09-04 05:28:00

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

"If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued," Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

"[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution," he added, "out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law."

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U.S. News
Repairman denies killing actor's former girlfriend

Christina Hoag
Associated Press
2008-09-04 17:53:00

Los Angeles - An air conditioning repairman pleaded not guilty Thursday to the stabbing deaths of two women, including a former girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher.

Michael Thomas Gargiulo, 32, of Santa Monica faces two counts of murder and two counts of burglary in connection with the killings of 22-year-old Ashley Ellerin, Kutcher's former girlfriend, and Maria Bruno in Monterey Park, prosecutors said.

Ellerin who was found dead in February 2001 in her Hollywood Hills home. Bruno was fatally stabbed in 2005.

Gargiulo pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court as part of a separate case.

"He is adamant he was not involved," his lawyer Anthony Salerno said.

No decision has been made on whether to seek the death penalty, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

Gargiulo was arrested in July and is being held in lieu of $1.1 million bail in connection with an April 28 knife attack on a Santa Monica woman. He is facing attempted murder and burglary charges in that case.

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Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms

Paul Kane
Washington Post
2008-09-02 17:03:00

Palin funding cuts
©Unknown
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wrote in her line-item veto changes by hand in this copy of a 2008 spending bill obtained by The Washington Post.


Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.

After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Inking her initials on the legislation -- "SP" -- Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.

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New York construction worker falls to his death

Richard Pyle
Associated Press
2008-09-04 13:53:00

New York -- A construction worker fell about 40 stories to his death Thursday at a Manhattan skyscraper being built by the developer of the World Trade Center, authorities said Thursday.

The man, who was a rigger on a crew dismantling a crane, fell either from the crane or a 20-foot, moveable walkway linking it to the glass-walled skyscraper, said Deputy Fire Chief Anthony DeVita.

The accident happened on W. 42nd St., where trade center developer Larry Silverstein is building two 60-story luxury apartment buildings.

Silverstein referred questions to the general contractor, Gotham Construction, which didn't return a message seeking comment.

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Web Site With Speeches and Sermons From Palin's Former Church Shuts Down as Religious Views of Candidate Face Scrutiny

Jake Tapper
ABC News-Political Punch Blog
2008-09-03 12:16:00

Officials of Gov. Sarah Palin's former church, Wasilla Assembly of God, in Alaska, shut down part of their Web site Wednesday, stating that their server could not handle the higher-than-normal traffic.

The part of the Web site no longer functioning appears to be the section where the sermons of senior Pastor Ed Kalnins were available, including one from 2004 -- after Palin left the church -- where he suggested heaven wasn't necessarily in the cards for anyone who voted for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

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Small plane crashes into Wisconsin resort; 2 students burned


Associated Press
2008-09-03 04:21:00

Cassville, Wis. - Two student aviators crashed a small plane into a tree and cabins at a southwestern Wisconsin resort on Wednesday, causing a fire and leaving both severely burned, authorities said.

The Grant County sheriff's office said the crash happened just before 4 p.m. at the Eagle's Roost Resort in Cassville, a village on the Iowa border. The resulting fire destroyed a cabin and caused extensive damage to another.

Both of those on board, students at the nearby University of Dubuque, in Iowa, were taken to an area hospital with severe burns and then flown to University Hospital in Madison, the sheriff's office said.

A University Hospital spokeswoman said the two were in critical condition Wednesday night.

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McCain Camp Battles National Enquirer Over Alleged Palin Affair

Sam Stein
The Huffington Post
2008-09-03 21:56:00

John McCain's presidential campaign is threatening a lawsuit against the National Enquirer over a print edition story the tabloid ran today alleging that Gov. Sarah Palin has had an extramarital affair with her husband's business partner.

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'Clark Rockefeller' charged with using false name

Steve LeBlanc
Associated Press
2008-09-03 19:24:00

Boston - A man calling himself Clark Rockefeller, who is accused of kidnapping his 7-year-old daughter and is being investigated in a California couple's disappearance, was charged Wednesday with giving a false name to police.

Investigators say Rockefeller is really German citizen Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who came to the United States as a high school student in 1978 and has been living under aliases ever since.

The new charge was added during a brief appearance by Gerhartsreiter in Boston Municipal Court. He remains jailed without bail after pleading not guilty to charges of kidnapping a minor relative, assault and battery, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

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Would-be hang glider falls 2,000 feet


KPHO
2008-09-03 19:21:00

A Phoenix man died Saturday after falling nearly 2,000 feet in a hang gliding accident, the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office said.

Kunio Yoshimura, 36, fell from the glider shortly after taking off from the Mingus Mountain launch site near Cottonwood, Ariz., deputies said.

Yoshimura's wife told deputies her husband took off and realized his body harness was not locked into the glider frame, according to the sheriff's office. While in the air, her husband struggled to secure his harness to the frame, but he let go of the glider a few minutes later, deputies said.

Though Yoshimura deployed his parachute, it did not fully open during the descent, and he struck the ground after falling around 2,000 feet, deputies said.

Because he landed in an area inaccessible by cars and trucks, the Department of Public Safety sent a Ranger helicopter to the site, the sheriff's office said. Paramedics confirmed Yoshimura was dead and recovered his body, deputies said.

Deputies said they interviewed several witnesses to the accident who confirmed the story related by Yoshimura's wife.

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Woman kept grandson in closet


Associated Press
2008-09-03 19:16:00

Tucson, AZ. - Sheriff's deputies in Pima County say they've arrested a woman on child abuse charges after discovering she kept her 9-year-old grandson in a small closet and rarely let him out.

Deputy Dawn Hanke says the boy didn't attend school, can't read or write and weighed only 48 pounds.

The boy and his 8-year-old brother are in protective custody.

Hanke says 50-year-old Becky Lee Tortellet was arrested on a warrant Saturday. Deputies learned of the alleged abuse when she brought her older grandson to a behavior center and officials there became concerned after he told them he lived in his grandmother's closet.

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UK & Euro-Asian News
Greece gets antiquities back from U.S. collector

Renee Maltezou
Reuters
2008-09-04 12:52:00

Athens - Greece celebrated on Wednesday the return of two rare smuggled antiquities from a prominent U.S. collector and expressed hope other ancient Greek treasures housed overseas would one day be sent home.

A fourth century B.C. bronze vase and the upper part of a marble tombstone were returned by U.S. collector Shelby White in August, a year after the Culture Ministry started lobbying to get them back on evidence they had been smuggled out of Greece.

The lower part of the broken tombstone, depicting a young man and a warrior, was found in Greece during a 1960s excavation. The fragments, which archaeologists feared would never be reunited, can now be exhibited for the first time as a whole.

"Fortunately, the archaeologists' prediction was wrong. I feel privileged as the culture minister to share the scientists' joy," Culture Minister Michalis Liapis told reporters at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. "I'm sure we will see such events more often in the future."

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Ukraine to hold air defense drills with live firing in September


RIA Novosti
2008-09-04 11:18:00

Ukraine is planning to conduct large-scale air defense exercises with live firing on the Crimean peninsula at the end of September, a Ukrainian navy source said on Thursday.

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VP Dick Cheney arrives in Georgia


PressTV
2008-09-04 08:41:00

US Vice President Dick Cheney has arrived in Georgia in a show of support for the South Caucasus nation and its pro-Western president.

The visit occurs one day after the White House announced a $1 billion economic aid package for Georgia after Russian troops attacked the country last month.

During his stay in Georgia, Cheney is to confer with President Mikhail Saakashvili on regional developments.

The Kremlin is not satisfied with the visit as rhetoric between US and Russia is on rise, however.

Cheney first visited neighboring Azerbaijan as the starting point for a major oil pipeline that crosses Georgia and ends in Turkey.

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Caspian Sea Security meeting in Baku involves Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan


ABC.AZ
2008-09-04 08:35:00

Baku, Fineko/abc.az. Today and tomorrow the 23rd session of the special workgroup for Caspian Sea involving experts from Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan will be held in Baku.

The Representative of Azerbaijan said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalaf Khalafov said during the session Azerbaijan will hold opinion exchange with five Caspian countries and present its version of the project of security in Caspian Sea.

"At the last summit in Teheran the heads of the five Caspian countries recommended Azerbaijan to prepare the project of security in Caspian Sea with generalization of opinions and approaches of all parties. The project reflects the issues of security cooperation. It joins the interaction between boundary, customs services and internal affairs bodies," K.Khalafov said.

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Cheney in Baku for pipeline talks


PressTV
2008-09-03 08:32:00

US Vice President Dick Cheney has called for 'additional routes' for Central Asian oil and gas on the first day of his trip to the Southern Caucasus.

Cheney arrived in Azerbaijan on Wednesday and met with local representatives of British Petroleum and US oil company, Chevron, who briefed him on the energy situation in the region following the Russia-Georgia conflict.

"Energy security is essential to us all and the matter is becoming increasingly urgent," Cheney said after talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

"We must work with Azerbaijan and other countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia on additional routes for energy exports," he said.

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Russian military force to assist EU mission in Chad


The Irish Times
2008-09-04 05:16:00

Russia HAS agreed to send four helicopters and up to 200 military personnel to take part in the EU mission to Chad despite recent tensions with Europe over its role in the Georgian crisis.

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree earlier this week authorising the deployment of the military force, which will provide the EU mission (Eufor) with much-needed tactical air support for its humanitarian mission.

The 3,700-strong EU contingent will use the helicopters to transport troops and support military operations on the ground.

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Third US Navy ship heads for Georgia


Agence France-Presse
2008-09-03 21:11:00

A US military ship sailed through the Turkish Straits and into the Black Sea Wednesday to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia, an AFP photographer witnessed.

The USS Mount Whitney, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet, is the last of three vessels that Washington has sent to deliver blankets, hygiene kits, baby food and infant care supplies to Georgia after Russia sent troops there last month.

The first of the ships, the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul, sailed back through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits into the Aegean Sea late Monday.

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Around the World

No new articles.


Big Brother
Are Forced Injections the New Taser?

Gerri L. Elder
Total Criminal Defense
2008-09-04 17:08:00

While most people are aware of police use of Taser weapons, many may be fairly shocked to learn of an alternate method used by police in Nashville, Tennessee to subdue "unruly" people. The city has a policy allowing police to inject unruly people that they encounter on the street with a strong sedative.

One of the doctors responsible for this bright idea claims that it is the safest option available and that it is being used all over the country. However, a top medical ethicist says that it is troubling.

The drug used by police is Midazolam, which is better known as Versed. This drug is commonly used with patients undergoing a colonoscopy. It has an amnesia side effect, according to biomedical ethics and law enforcement expert Dr. Steven Miles.

While the use of the drug is safe for patients who have been screened and had their medical histories reviewed, its use on the street is a bit alarming.

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Flashback: Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren't Allowed to See on Google Maps


IT Security News
2008-07-15 05:43:00

Depending on which feature you use, Google Maps offers a satellite view or a street-level view of tons of locations around the world. You can look up landmarks like the Pyramids of Egypt or the Great Wall of China, as well as more personal places, like your ex's house. But for all of the places that Google Maps allows you to see, there are plenty of places that are off-limits. Whether it's due to government restrictions, personal-privacy lawsuits or mistakes, Google Maps has slapped a "Prohibited" sign on the following 51 places.

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You Tube: Camera Shy Big Brother: The Police State on Film


Youtube
2008-08-31 05:11:00

Surveillance cameras are now everywhere in Britain, ostensibly to fight crime. But things become very different when the police come under surveillance themselves:



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UK: Millions of confidential patient records 'at risk'

Kate Devlin
The Daily Telegraph
2008-09-04 03:54:00

Confidential patient records could be lost unless "urgent action" is taken to stop doctors carrying them around on unsecure computer discs, a new survey suggests.

Almost nine out of 10 doctors asked carried the tiny discs, called "memory sticks", containing patients names and dates of birth as well as X-ray results, diagnoses and treatment, the vast majority without any password protection, the research shows.

The clinicians who carried out the research said there was "no reason why this lack of security would not be mirrored in surveys across every hospital in the UK".

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US: City employees to become "eyes and ears" for police

Sandra Haros
Associated Press
2008-09-03 18:50:00

Glendale, AZ - Glendale is launching a new program aimed at making the city safer.

Police Chief Steven Conrad said the ''Fleetwatch" program will get more eyes and ears focused on the community.

''Essentially, training city employees who are out there operating city vehicles as they're on duty to give us a call when they see something suspicious," Conrad explained.

''With about 3,000 employees in our city, this gives us the opportunity to have a significantly greater impact," he said. ''I kind of look at this as a forced multiplier, but we have more eyes and ears on the street that are just helping us make sure our city's safe."

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Dumbest salvo yet in the war on terror, courtesy of the London police

Cory Doctorow
Boing Boing
2008-08-30 18:05:00

dumbest salvo yet
©Cory Doctorow


Today I spotted this sign at a Tesco's grocery store in Islington, London -- it might just be the single stupidest salvo in the war on terror to date, courtesy of the London Metropolitan Police:

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Axis of Evil
A Major War: Not Just Rumors

Srdja Trifkovic
Chronicles Magazine
2008-09-04 10:38:00

The crisis in relations between the United States and Russia over Georgia heralds a particularly dangerous period in world affairs: the era of asymmetrical multipolarity. A major war between two or more major powers is more likely in this configuration than in any other model of global balance known to history. The most stable system is bipolarity based on the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), which was prevalent from the 1950s until the end of the Cold War. The awareness of both superpowers that they would inflict severe and unavoidable reciprocal damage on each other or their allies in a nuclear war was coupled with the acceptance that each had a sphere of dominance or vital interest that should not be infringed upon.

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Media Blackout: The Armada in the Gulf

Gary North
LewRockwell.com
2008-09-04 10:35:00

The media have covered such recent events as the Olympics, the selection of Joe Biden as the Vice Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, and what John McCain is going to do about the selection of the Vice President of the Republican Party. Now the media will focus on the national convention of the Democratic Party.

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Congress is about to pour lighter fluid on Iran

William O. Beeman
Minneapolis Start Tribune
2008-09-04 10:28:00

The U.S. Congress may inadvertently lay the foundations for war against Iran when it reconvenes in Washington this month.

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Israel plans for war with Iran and Syria

Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter
Times Online
2008-09-04 10:30:00

The conflict with Hezbollah has led to a strategic rethink in Israel. A key conclusion is that too much attention has been paid to Palestinian militants in Gaza and the West Bank instead of the two biggest state sponsors of terrorism in the region, who pose a far greater danger to Israel's existence, defence insiders say.

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Flashback: Mossad uses Azerbaijan for covert and overt Ops against Iran


HN/RA
2008-07-03 13:41:00

Azerbaijan and Israel enjoy broad cooperation aimed at averting the threat posed by Iran, an institute at the Washington University claims.

"The Israeli intelligence service, Mossad does whatever within its power to protect Azerbaijan from the threats posed by (the Islamic Republic of) Iran," Azeri daily Yeni Musavat quoted the political analyst at the University of Washington's institute for Middle East Studies, Alexander Morinson as saying.

He pointed out to what he called "extensive covert and overt preemptive cooperation in security, intelligence and military areas between Azerbaijan and the Israeli intelligence services, Mossad against the Iranian influence" in the ex-Soviet republic.

Morinson also referred to installation of "highly-advanced satellite espionage equipment on the Azeri soil, wiretapping centers in frontier areas, eavesdropping centers in the Caspian Sea and continuous training of Azeri intelligence and security agents in Israel" as instances of the collaboration.

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Middle East Madness
Energy giants slammed over Iranian gas by ADL

Benjamin Weinthal
Jerusalem Post
2008-09-02 12:03:00

The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Austrian political organization Stop the Bomb have sharply criticized European energy giants OMV in Austria and Royal Dutch Shell over their sponsorship of the 2nd Iranian Gas Export Conference to be held on October 4 and 5 in Teheran.

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Sarkozy visit off to bad start as Assad stands firm on Iran's nuclear option


The Irish Times
2008-09-04 04:54:00

Syria: President Nicolas Sarkozy's two-day visit to Damascus got off to a bad start yesterday when it became apparent that he and the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are engaged in a dialogue of the deaf regarding the Iranian nuclear programme.

Matters were further complicated when the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan first cancelled his attendance at a meeting with Mr Sarkozy, Mr Assad and the Emir of Qatar here today, then relented on condition the summit be moved forward by an hour or more.

At a press conference in the Syrian presidential palace, Mr Sarkozy stressed repeatedly that he expected Mr Assad to convey to Tehran how serious the crisis over the Iranian nuclear programme has become. "I told [Assad] again Iran must not possess nuclear weapons," Mr Sarkozy said. "An Iranian nuclear weapon would be a threat to peace throughout the region and the world."

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Seven killed in Dubai helicopter crash

Lin Noueihed
Reuters
2008-09-04 04:06:00

Dubai - A helicopter crashed off the coast of Dubai on Wednesday killing all seven people on board, the civil aviation authority said on Thursday.

It said the helicopter, which was traveling from Dubai's main international airport to an offshore oil field in the Gulf, was carrying an American, a Briton, a Pakistani, a Filipino, a Venezuelan and two Indians.

"The General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates immediately set up an investigation team to find out the cause of the aircraft crash," it said in a statement.


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Grand Theft Economics
Toll Brothers posts 3Q loss as revenue falls

Alex Veiga
Associated Press
2008-09-04 17:49:00

Los Angeles - Toll Brothers Inc. said Thursday it swung to a loss in its fiscal third quarter as weak demand for new homes forced the luxury builder to mark down the value of its land and unsold homes.

But Chief Executive Robert Toll said he is seeing signs the market is stabilizing - the company had the lowest contract cancellation rate in more than two years, and more buyers are putting down deposits.

"We believe that there is pent-up demand," Toll said in a statement, but noted the housing market won't begin to recover until the trove of foreclosed homes on the market are sold.

"Unfortunately, we can't predict when that will occur," he said.

The Horsham, Pa.-based builder lost $29.3 million, or 18 cents a share, in the three months that ended July 31. That's a reversal from a profit of $26.5 million, or 16 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Toll absorbed $84.3 million in after-tax write-downs in the quarter. Excluding the charges, earnings were $55 million, or 35 cents a share, and in line with Wall Street estimates.

Quarterly revenue fell 34 percent to $797.7 million from $1.21 billion, as revenue from completed contracts declined.

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A cunning plan with the milk rations

Beck Eleven
stuff.co.nz
2008-09-04 17:38:00



Comment: This is from a journalist employed by Fairfax Media in Australia who is looking at the chopping block. Many Fairfax Media pieces have appeared on SOTT over the years, it being one of the last bastions of semi-independent journalism downunder.




With the benefit of hindsight, I understand now why Fairfax cut our milk rations before they announced job cuts.

They want our bones all soft and breaky so we don't have the strength to fight back.

Fairfax, who owns The Press and other newspapers here and in Australia, plans to cut 550 jobs.

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US: Stocks plummet after retail, unemployment data

Madlen Read
Associated Press
2008-09-04 17:32:00

New York -- Dejected investors sent stocks plunging Thursday, hurtling the Dow Jones industrials down more than 340 points after retailers and the government added to a mountain of bad economic news and devastated hopes for a late-year recovery.

The market was already nervous as it waited for the government to release its August employment report on Friday. So news from the nation's major retailers that shoppers curtailed their spending last month due to higher gas and food prices came as a heavy blow.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, beat expectations because of its big discounts, but many teen retailers and luxury chains did poorly, a sign that consumers are spending mostly on essentials and putting discretionary buying on hold.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said new applications for unemployment insurance rose by 15,000 last week from the previous week. That broadly missed expectations for a fourth-straight week of declines, heightening worries that the average American _ already feeling the effects of the weak housing market _ will have even less means to spend.

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U.S. Must Buy Assets to Prevent 'Tsunami', Says World's Biggest Bond Fund Manager

Jody Shenn
Bloomberg
2008-09-04 12:59:00

The U.S. government needs to start using more of its money to support markets to stem a burgeoning ''financial tsunami,'' according to Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund.

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US Airways plans to cut jobs, flights

Hanna Scott
Associated Press
2008-09-03 19:18:00

Now that Labor Day has come and gone, airlines, including Tempe-based US Airways, are looking to make some changes.

Jobs and schedules are on the chopping block.

''Particularly in October, our passengers will notice about a 10 percent reduction in our schedule in Phoenix," said US Airways' Morgan Durrant. ''We do have some job cuts coming around the same time frame."

Those job cuts include ''roughly 300 pilots," about 175 of those based in Phoenix.

Durrant added, ''I'm happy to report that we are not going to see any flight attendant job cuts. We are managing head counts there through attrition and voluntary leaves of absence."

US Airways also is slashing schedules, with about a 10 percent cut in flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, including flights to Las Vegas, St. Louis and Oklahoma City.

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US: GMAC slashing work force by 5000, closes all 200 retail offices

Alex Veiga
Associated Press
2008-09-03 19:00:00

Los Angeles - Lender GMAC Financial Services said Wednesday it will close all of its 200 retail offices and lay off about 5,000 employees as part of plan to reduce its mortgage lending and servicing because of the housing market downturn.

The majority of the layoffs are slated for GMAC's mortgage lending division, Residential Capital LLC, known as ResCap, and will reduce work force at the unit by 60 percent, the company said.

In the first half of the year, ResCap's U.S. mortgage loan production was valued at about $35.7 billion, down nearly 39 percent from the same period in 2007. Yet it was still the seventh-largest mortgage originator, with 3.9 percent market share, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance.

"While these actions are extremely difficult, they are necessary to position ResCap to withstand this challenging environment," Tom Marano, ResCap's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Conditions in the mortgage and credit markets have not abated and, therefore, we need to respond aggressively by further reducing both operating costs and business risk."

Some 3,000 employees may get their pink slips this month. The rest are expected to lose their jobs by the end of the year, the company said.

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The Living Planet
Category 4 Hurricane Ike fiercer as Hanna strengthens


Reuters
2008-09-04 10:57:00

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Hurricane Ike strengthened rapidly into an fiercely dangerous Category 4 hurricane in the open Atlantic on Wednesday and Tropical Storm Hanna intensified to a lesser degree as it swirled over the Bahamas toward the southeast U.S. Coast.


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Nearly a month's rainfall will soak Britain on Friday

Lucy Cockcroft
The Daily Telegraph
2008-09-04 03:57:00

Parts of Britain will be deluged by almost a month's rainfall on Friday, as the abysmal summer weather shows no sign of letting up.

Met Office forecasters have warned that a storm rolling in from the Atlantic will soak South West England, Wales, the West Midlands, London and parts of the South East with more than 1.9in (50mm) of rain.

A spokesman said: "There will be no respite from the miserable summer weather just yet."

Heavy rain and gusting winds are expected, with forecasters predicting that some areas will suffer localised flooding.

South-west England and Wales will bear the brunt of the Friday storms with 50mph winds expected.

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Australia: Rain deluges southeast Queensland coastal areas

Darren Cartwright, David Earley and Robyn Ironside
The Courier Mail
2008-09-04 01:58:00

Up to 95mm of rain has fallen in southeast Queensland today, and it's been in all the right places. What's more, it's set to continue for another 24 hours.

Rain Deluge in Queensland
©Peter Wallis
Waterworld... Cars drive through a pool of water on Newmarket Road. Brisbane is expecting heavy rain Thursday.


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Ike strengthens into major Category 4 hurricane


Associated Press
2008-09-03 23:57:00

WASHINGTON - Hurricane Ike strengthened rapidly into an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm in the Atlantic Ocean with 135 mph (215 kph) winds late on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.


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Inept response to floods outrages India

Bappa Majumdar
Reuters
2008-09-03 23:40:00

For several days, Urmi Mahato and her family were glued to the radio and TV, eager for information on rising floodwaters and waiting for the government to tell them whether and when to evacuate their home.

The warning never came, and officials assured there was no danger. Then one morning a wall of water crumpled the river's mud embankment, swamping the village and sweeping away her family.

"I do not know where to look for them, there is no one to help me," said the 24-year-old woman, sitting at a government relief camp in Bihar, one of India's poorest states.

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It's Atlantic Coast's turn as Hanna eyes Southeast

Bruce Smith
Associated Press
2008-09-03 19:26:00

Charleston, SC - Officials along the southern Atlantic coast held off ordering evacuations Wednesday amid uncertainty about where Tropical Storm Hanna might come ashore and how strong it will be when it gets there.

Instead, they kept close tabs as Hanna battered the southern Bahamas and Haiti. Forecasters tentatively predicted the storm would return to hurricane strength before hitting somewhere along the South Carolina and North Carolina coasts, probably Saturday.

Some coastal residents booked inland hotel rooms while others gave a collective shrug. Officials contemplated whether to order evacuations, make them voluntary or simply tell people to sit tight, a decision complicated by Hanna's unpredictability.

"It's much more difficult than if it's coming straight at you," said Clayton Scott, emergency management director for the county that includes Savannah, Ga.

Hanna, responsible for at least 26 deaths in Haiti, had state disaster planners considering turning major highways into one-way evacuation routes for the roughly 1 million people who live between Savannah and Wilmington, N.C.

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Health & Wellness
Participating In Religion May Make Adolescents From Certain Races More Depressed


Science Daily
2008-09-04 12:00:00

One of the few studies to look at the effects of religious participation on the mental health of minorities suggests that for some of them, religion may actually be contributing to adolescent depression.

Previous research has shown that teens who are active in religious services are depressed less often because it provides these adolescents with social support and a sense of belonging.

But new research has found that this does not hold true for all adolescents, particularly for minorities and some females. The study found that white and African-American adolescents generally had fewer symptoms of depressive at high levels of religious participation. But for some Latino and Asian-American adolescents, attending church more often was actually affecting their mood in a negative way.

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Pre-packed salad 'will lead to increased food poisoning'

Caroline Gammell
The Daily Telegraph
2008-09-03 05:55:00

Researchers have discovered how salmonella and E.coli germs - more commonly associated with chicken and bovine products - can spread to salad and vegetable leaves.

A salmonella outbreak in the UK last year was traced back to imported basil while an E.coli outbreak in America in 2006 was linked back to pre-packed baby spinach.

Professor Gadi Frankel, from Imperial College, said consumers needed to be aware of the risk of contaminated salad to avoid potential food poisoning.

"All of these factors, together with the globalisation of the food market, mean that cases of salmonella and E.coli poisoning caused by salads are likely to rise in the future.

"In their efforts to eat healthily, people are eating more salad products, choosing to buy organic brands and preferring the ease of 'pre-washed' bagged salads from supermarkets, than ever before," he said.

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Flashback: Finger on the Pulse: Why doctors are prescribing drugs they know won't work

Max Pemberton
Telegraph
2008-07-28 05:47:00

I have a confession to make. I throw my hands up, safe in the knowledge that a great many doctors have performed the same misdeed. I like to think that my prescribing habits are sensible. I read and appraise the latest research, ensure I am aware of Government advice and, whenever possible, practise evidence-based medicine. Despite this, there have been times when I have prescribed medication knowing that it isn't going to work.

The symptoms are some of the most disheartening that doctors have to face: a sigh and a roll of the eyes. Sometimes, these develop into a raised voice or even foul language. And the medication guaranteed to abate them? Antibiotics.

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Flashback: Eat Cheaper and Healthier (While Saving the Bees)


George Washington's Blog
2008-07-26 05:12:00

You can cut out the middle man and get food for less. You can also eat healthier, while saving the bees.

How?

Well, for one thing, regulation of the U.S. food supply has become worthless, with hundreds of cases of mad cow and salmonella poisoning a year. Growing your own food ensures your safety, and may even save money in the long run by preventing expensive medical bills. But there's a lot more to it than that . . .

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UK: Parents may boycott cervical cancer jabs after MMR controversy

Nicola Woolcock and David Rose
Times Online
2008-09-04 04:00:00

Girls aged 12 will be inoculated from today in a nationwide schools programme against a virus that can cause cervical cancer. Many are expected to boycott the jabs, however, because parents are fearful of vaccines after the MMR controversy.

The Government began an advertising campaign yesterday to raise awareness. Some families complained, though, that they had received too little information too late to make a decision. In a trial last year a fifth of parents refused permission for their daughters to have the injection.

About 600,000 girls will be vaccinated initially, followed by a catch-up programme for older teenagers. It will give protection against strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV), considered to be responsible for 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer, which kills more than 1,000 women a year in Britain.

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Science & Technology
Do 68 Molecules Hold The Key To Understanding Disease?


Science Daily
2008-09-04 11:55:00

Why is it that the origins of many serious diseases remain a mystery? In considering that question, a scientist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has come up with a unified molecular view of the indivisible unit of life, the cell, which may provide an answer.

molecular building blocks
©University of California - San Diego
Illustration of "molecular building blocks."


Reviewing findings from multiple disciplines, Jamey Marth, Ph.D., UC San Diego Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, realized that only 68 molecular building blocks are used to construct these four fundamental components of cells: the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), proteins, glycans and lipids. His work, which illustrates the primary composition of all cells, is published in the September issue of Nature Cell Biology.

Like the periodic table of elements, first published in 1869 by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, is to chemistry, Marth's visual metaphor offers a new framework for biologists.

This new illustration defines the basic molecular building blocks of life and currently includes 32 glycans (sugar linkages found throughout the cell) and eight kinds of lipids (which compose cell membranes) along with the more well-known 20 amino acids that are used to make proteins and the eight nucleosides that compose the nucleic acids, DNA and RNA.

"These 68 building blocks provide the structural basis for the molecular choreography that constitutes the entire life of a cell," said Marth. "And two of the four cellular components are produced by these molecular building blocks in processes that cannot be encoded by the genes. These cellular components - the glycans and lipids - may now hold the keys to uncovering the origins of many grievous diseases that continue to evade understanding."

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Jerusalem dig uncovers ancient city walls

Avida Landau
Reuters
2008-09-03 11:50:00

Jerusalem - Israeli archaeologists unveiled on Wednesday a 2,100-year-old Jerusalem perimeter wall -- along with beer bottles left behind by 19th century researchers who first discovered the stone defences.

Jerusalems Old City excavation site
©REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
People stand at an excavation site in Jerusalem's Old City September 3, 2008. Israeli archaeologists unveiled on Wednesday a 2,100-year-old Jerusalem perimeter wall -- along with beer bottles left behind by 19th century researchers who first discovered the stone defences. The wall, on Mount Zion at the southern edge of Jerusalem's Old City, dates back to the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.


The wall, on Mount Zion at the southern edge of Jerusalem's Old City, dates back to the Second Jewish Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.

Yehiel Zelinger, who headed the excavation for the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the location of the wall indicated that Jerusalem had expanded to the south at the time, reaching its largest size in biblical times.

The 3.2-metre (10.5-foot)-high wall was not supported by any mortar or other bonding material and formed part of a 6 km (3.5-mile)-long fortification around the city, he said.

The present wall around Jerusalem's Old City is 4 km (2.5 miles) in circumference.

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Physicists Discover 'Doubly Strange' Particle


Science Daily
2008-09-04 11:44:00

Physicists of the DZero experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered a new particle made of three quarks, the Omega-sub-b (Ωb).

Image
©DZero collaboration
Once produced, the decay of the Omega-sub-b (Ωb) proceeds like fireworks. The particle travels about a millimeter before it disintegrates into two intermediate particles called J/Psi (J/ψ) and Omega-minus (Ω-). The J/Psi then promptly decays into a pair of muons. The Omega-minus baryon, on the other hand, can travel several centimeters before decaying into yet another unstable particle called a Lambda (Λ) baryon along with a long-lived particle called kaon (K). The Lambda baryon, which has no electric charge, also can travel several centimeters prior to decaying into a proton (p) and a pion (π).


The particle contains two strange quarks and a bottom quark (s-s-b). It is an exotic relative of the much more common proton and weighs about six times the proton mass.

The discovery of the doubly strange particle brings scientists a step closer to understanding exactly how quarks form matter and to completing the "periodic table of baryons." Baryons (derived from the Greek word "barys," meaning "heavy") are particles that contain three quarks, the basic building blocks of matter. The proton comprises two up quarks and a down quark (u-u-d).

Combing through almost 100 trillion collision events produced by the Tevatron particle collider at Fermilab, the DZero collaboration found 18 incidents in which the particles emerging from a proton-antiproton collision revealed the distinctive signature of the Omega-sub-b. Once produced, the Omega-sub-b travels about a millimeter before it disintegrates into lighter particles. Its decay, mediated by the weak force, occurs in about a trillionth of a second.

Theorists predicted the mass of the Omega-sub-b baryon to be in the range of 5.9 to 6.1 GeV/c2. The DZero collaboration measured its mass to be 6.165 ± 0.016 GeV/c2. The particle has the same electric charge as an electron and has spin J=1/2.

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Closest Look Ever At Edge Of A Black Hole


Science Daily
2008-09-04 11:38:00

Astronomers have taken the closest look ever at the giant black hole in the center of the Milky Way. By combining telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, and California, they detected structure at a tiny angular scale of 37 micro-arcseconds - the equivalent of a baseball seen on the surface of the moon, 240,000 miles distant. These observations are among the highest resolution ever done in astronomy.

Image
©NASA
This image is from a computer animation illustrating a spinning black hole. The close-up view here represents the immediate vicinity of the black hole, with the event horizon depicted as a black sphere. The surrounding disk of gas, represented by white and blue rings, whirls around the black hole. The white column over the pole of the black hole represents a jet of gas being ejected from the vicinity of the black hole at nearly the speed of light.


"This technique gives us an unmatched view of the region near the Milky Way's central black hole," said Sheperd Doeleman of MIT, first author of the study that will be published in the Sept. 4 issue of the journal Nature.

"No one has seen such a fine-grained view of the galactic center before," agreed co-author Jonathan Weintroub of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "We've observed nearly to the scale of the black hole event horizon - the region inside of which nothing, including light, can ever escape."

Using a technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), a team of astronomers led by Doeleman employed an array of telescopes to study radio waves coming from the object known as Sagittarius A* (A-star). In VLBI, signals from multiple telescopes are combined to create the equivalent of a single giant telescope, as large as the separation between the facilities. As a result, VLBI yields exquisitely sharp resolution.

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Our Haunted Planet
The UFOs of Sussex

Miles Godfrey
The Argus
2008-09-03 05:12:00

Sussex is a hotbed of UFO sightings. According to the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), there is about one sighting in the county a week. So is the truth out there?

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UK: Did close encounter light up our skies?

Matthew Davis
The Stockport Express
2008-09-03 18:42:00

STOCKPORT - Forget Roswell, it seems Strines maybe the new Area 51 after claims a UFO was spotted in the sky on Sunday night.

Pub-goers at the Royal Oak on Strines Road were mystified by three red lights in a triangular formation slowly moving across the sky at around 9pm.

Image
©Trevor Haywood
UFO: Three red lights were spotted travelling slowly across the sky in a triangular formation


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Don't Panic! Lighten Up!
Inside the Republican Mind: Palin & Russia (Take 5)


CBS News
2008-09-04 13:35:00

Take 1

Cindy McCain: Alaska Gov Gets National Security Issues Because Of State's Proximity To Russia
Aug. 31, 2008
Associated Press

Cindy McCain said Sunday that Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin understands what's at stake in national security issues in part because she is governor of Alaska, located some 300 miles from Russia.

The wife of soon-to-be GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain also said she's "offended" by Democrats calling her husband elitist because of the number of homes their family owns.

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