From el_viajero
Month: June 2004
-
Bush consults lawyer in CIA leak case
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush has consulted an outside lawyer in case he needs to retain him in the grand jury investigation of who leaked the name of a covert CIA operative last year, the White House said Wednesday.
A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame, wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, to the news media. Plame's name first surfaced last July in a column written by commentator Robert Novak, who said his information came from administration sources.
Wilson has said he believes his wife's name was leaked because of his criticism of Bush administration claims that Iraq had tried to obtain uranium from Niger, which Wilson investigated for the CIA.
-
Hippo sweat explained
The secret of a hippopotamus's 'magic' sweat has been revealed.
The sticky reddish substance that acts as a sunscreen was enough to make the ancient Greeks think hippos sweated blood, saysBBC Online.
But now a team from Kyoto Pharmaceutical University in Japan says the substance is made from two unstable pigments, one red and one orange.
They tell Nature magazine that the red pigment also has antibacterial properties.
These work to protect the hippo from certain pathogens and accelerate its recovery from wounds.
Scientists say the sunscreen element of the sweat is a useful survival technique.
Hippos, who usually forage at night, sometimes have to come out from the water in the day to top up their feed. The sweat protects them from the baking sun.
"The sunscreen property of the sweat was first suspected because albino hippos are often observed - and they seem healthy," said Kyoto's Kimiko Hashimoto.
-
Police car siren killed chickens
A farmer in western China has sued police after a squad car siren scared 435 of his chickens to death.
The siren went off just 10 metres from the chickens at the farm in Huxian, Shaanxi province.
Thirty five of the birds died on the spot and another 400 died later of shock, says the Procuratorate Daily newspaper.
A court ordered the police to compensate the farmer for the 35 chickens that died first, but said it couldn't be proved they were to blame for the other deaths.
-
Army widens 'stop-loss' program
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Army will prevent soldiers in units set to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving the service at the end of their terms, a top general said Wednesday.
The announcement, an expansion of an Army program called "stop-loss," means that thousands of soldiers who had expected to retire or otherwise leave the military will have to stay on for the duration of their deployment to those combat zones.
The expansion affects units that are 90 days away or less from deploying, said Lt. Gen. Frank L. "Buster" Hagenbeck.
Previously, the Army had prevented soldiers from leaving certain units scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan or Iraq. But Wednesday's move is the first time since September 11, 2001, that the stop-loss program has been ordered so widely.
**********************************************************
The Army National Guard is based in communities and is located in every State and Territory. When you become a member of the Guard, you serve where you live.
Many cities and towns have their own Armory where the Guard conducts training. This means you can join a unit right in your hometown or wherever you want to live.
To learn more about the units and armories in your area contact your local recruiter.
Initially, soldiers can serve for as little as three years, with longer periods available as well.
http://www.1800goguard.com/service/service.html
-
Teddy bear saves infant torn from mom in tornado
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATHENS, Ala. - Ripped out of her mother's arms by wind from a tornado, 1-year-old Natalie Edwards landed safely in the arms of a familiar companion - her teddy bear.
Tracy Edwards was holding her daughter when their mobile home in rural northwest Limestone County flipped several times, then landed upright.
"I screamed for help," said Edwards, 25. "It was pitch dark and I couldn't find Natalie."
About five minutes passed before she and neighbors heard a cry. They found the baby in the arms of her two-foot teddy bear with angel wings.
-
211 YEARS AGO TODAY
I
"It is dreadful, but necessary." -Journal deAutre Monde, 1794
Jun 2 1793
Jean Paul Marat recites names of 29 people to the French Assembly, virtually all of whom will be guillotined. Over the next year 17,000 will be executed in the Reign of Terror.
The guillotine, the new instrument of egalitarian justice, was put to work. Public executions were considered educational. Women were encouraged to sit and knit during trials and executions. The Revolutionary Tribunal ordered the execution of 2,400 people in Paris by July 1794. Across France 30,000 people lost their lives.
The Terror was designed to fight the enemies of the revolution, to prevent counter-revolution from gaining ground. Most of the people rounded up were not aristocrats, but ordinary people. A man (and his family) might go to the guillotine for saying something critical of the revolutionary government. If an informer happened to overhear, that was all the tribunal needed.
Watch Committees around the nation were encouraged to arrest "suspected persons, ... those who, either by their conduct or their relationships, by their remarks or by their writing, are shown to be partisans of tyranny and federalism and enemies of liberty" .
Civil liberties were suspended. The Convention ordered that "if material or moral proof exists, independently of the evidence of witnesses, the latter will not be heard."
The promises of the Declaration of the Rights of Man were forgotten. Terror was the order of the day. In the words of Maximilien Robespierre, "Softness to traitors will destroy us all."
-
Halle's 'wind problem'
Halle Berry has confessed she can't stop breaking wind.
According to Teenhollywood the actress has been on an intense exercise regime to shape up for her role in Catwoman and has been drinking protein shakes to help enhance her muscles.
But she has discovered the drinks have given her some unwanted side effects.
-
Tue May 25, 9:53 PM ET
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist has ordered a study of federal judicial ethics, a move that follows intense criticism of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's hunting trip with Vice President Dick Cheney and congressional complaints that judges were lax in policing themselves.
Supreme Court justices decide for themselves if they have conflicts of interest, and their decisions are final. Separately, a law allows complaints to be lodged alleging federal judges have engaged in "conduct prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the courts."
Scalia took the trip in January with Cheney three weeks after the court agreed to hear the Bush administration's appeal of a ruling that ordered public disclosure of details of an energy task force chaired by Cheney.
From soobee72
-
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas
'Black' hurricane names
brewing swirl of dissent
By Joe Kovacs
The congressional newspaper the Hill reported that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, feels that current hurricane names are too "lily white," and is seeking to have better representation for names reflecting African-Americans and other ethnic groups.
"All racial groups should be represented," Lee said, according to the Hill. She hoped federal weather officials "would try to be inclusive of African-American names."
A sampling of popular names that could be used include Keisha, Jamal and Deshawn, according to the paper.
Recent Comments