Tsunami Kills 21,000 in Nine Countries

By DILIP GANGULY, Associated Press Writer

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Rescuers piled up bodies along coastlines devastated by a tsunami that obliterated seaside towns in Asia and Africa, killing 21,000 people in nine countries. Hundreds of children were buried in mass graves in India, and morgues and hospitals struggled Monday to cope with the catastrophe.

The death toll rose sharply a day after the magnitude 9 quake struck deep beneath the Indian Ocean off the coast of Indonesia.

Walls of water sped away from the epicenter at more than 500 mph before crashing into the region's shorelines, sweeping people and fishing villages out to sea. Millions were displaced from their homes and thousands remained missing Monday.

Officials said the death toll would continue to rise, and the international Red Cross said it was concerned about waterborne diseases.

Sri Lanka said more than 10,000 people were killed along its coastlines, and Tamil rebels said 2,000 people died in its territory, raising that country's toll to more than 12,000.

Indonesia reported about 5,000 deaths and India 3,000. Thailand — a Western tourist hotspot — said hundreds of people were dead and thousands more were missing. Deaths also were reported in Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Somalia, 3,000 miles away in Africa.

On the remote Car Nicobar island, Police Chief S.B. Deol said another 3,000 people may have died. If confirmed, that would raise India's death toll to 6,000 and the overall number to 23,900.

 

An Indian man cries as he holds the hand of his eight-year-old son killed in a tsunami in Cuddalore.

In Bandah Aceh, Indonesia, 150 miles from the quake's epicenter, dozens of bloated bodies littered the streets as soldiers and desperate relatives searched for survivors Monday. Some 500 bodies collected by emergency workers lay under plastic tents, rotting in the tropical heat.

The Indian state of Tamil Nadu reported thousands of deaths.

Nearby beaches resembled open-air mortuaries as fishermen's bodies washed ashore, and retreating waters left behind others killed inland. In Cuddalore, red-eyed parents buried more than 150 children laid in a mass grave that a bulldozer filled with sodden earth.

Sri Lanka and Indonesia said at least 1 million people were driven from their homes in each country.

Dozens of bodies still clad in swimming trunks lined beaches in Thailand.

Because tsunamis are rare in the Indian Ocean, no warning system exists there. 

 

 

Researchers find 'gay penguins'
From correspondents in Tokyo
December 25, 2004

RESEARCHERS have found a number of same-sex pairs of penguins at aquariums in Japan.

A research group led by Keisuke Ueda, professor of behavioral ecology at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, found about 20 same-sex pairs at 16 major aquariums and zoos.

Penguins in captivity “may be more likely to form same-sex pairs” due to the difficulty of finding partners of the opposite sex because breeding facilities in Japan only have an average of 20 birds, the agency quoted Mr Ueda as saying.

It is not known if the frequency of homosexuality is higher than in the wild, where telling the sexes apart is tough, he said.

Many of the gay male pairs and two of the female pairs were seen performing mounting behavior, it said.

From QuidProQuo

 

 

 

 

Schwarzenegger pardons former Santa Cruz pot dealer

12/22/04

Sacramento (BCN) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today pardoned three people, including a Santa Cruz man, in the first pardons issued by a California governor since former Gov. Pete Wilson left office in 1998.

Schwarzenegger pardoned Santa Cruz resident Alec Webster, who was convicted of selling marijuana at the age of 24 in 1975.

Current Colorado resident James Brown was convicted of driving under the influence of drugs in Riverside County in 1971.

Hacienda Heights resident Antonio Garcia was convicted of drug dealing in 1978 in Los Angeles County.

The three pardons are Schwarzenegger's first as governor.

 

 

Nude farmers are pin-up hit in SA

South African farmers who revealed all for a calendar to raise money for their farmers' association and local charities have proved popular pin-ups.

Within a day of publication all 1,000 copies were sold out, mainly to women.

"We're surprised by the demand. We've had to order another 6,000 copies," the photographer Daniel Blignaut said.

The Viljoeskorron farmers were initially camera shy, but in the end had great fun modelling their "backsides and body flab", he said.

Inspired by the film Calendar Girls, the calendar has not been without controversy within the farming community.

The president of the Transvaal Agricultural Union said he was shocked.  

"The union distances itself from the actions of these farmers and due to the Christian character of our union, we can not identify ourselves with it," he said in a statement.

 

 

G.I. man kills himself in standoff

The incident began about 5 p.m. when members of the Police Department attempted to serve a federal arrest warrant on Paul E. Smidt Jr. for being a felon in possession of a shotgun. The officers contacted Smidt at his business, Smidt Lawn Care.Smidt refused to allow officers to enter the building and barricaded himself inside the business. Negotiations continued until after midnight, when the SWAT team entered the business.

Patrol Capt. Fred Ruiz said Smidt, who was armed with a chain saw, fled to a back bathroom and barricaded himself inside. The SWAT team was able to enter the bathroom, and when Smidt refused orders to drop the chain saw, a non-lethal beanbag round was fired at him.

According to the patrol's press release, Smidt "then lowered himself over the chain saw, taking his own life." Ruiz said Smidt's neck came into contact with the chain saw.

 

 

December 21, 2004

Pediatrician accused in porn case found victim through Big Brother program

By Jen Lawson
lawson@lasvegassun.com
LAS VEGAS SUN

The pediatrician accused of child molestation and child porn possession told Metro Police that one of his victims was a local boy he had met through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Nevada, according to the arrest report.

Dr. David Glenn Evans, 32, a resident at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, was charged Friday with a total of 61 felonies, including six counts of sexually assaulting a minor, 10 counts of lewdness with a minor and 40 counts of child pornography possession.

A biography on the university Web site says Evans has volunteered as a youth sports coach, rape crisis counselor and mentor for underprivileged children. He also spent two years as a volunteer in homeless shelters and orphanages in Italy.

 

 

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From Larrinator

 

 

The Fundamentalist Agenda

By Davidson Loehr

From 1988 to 1993, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences sponsored an interdisciplinary study known as The Fundamentalism Project. More than 100 scholars from all over the world took part, reporting on every imaginable kind of fundamentalism. And what they discovered was that the agenda of all fundamentalist movements in the world is virtually identical, regardless of religion or culture.

They identified five characteristics shared by virtually all fundamentalisms:

1) Their rules must be made to apply to all people, and to all areas of life. There can be no separation of church and state, or of public and private areas of life. The rigid rules of God—and they never doubt that they and only they have got these right—must become the law of the land.

2) Men are on top. Men are bigger and stronger, and they rule not only through physical strength but also through their influence on the laws and rules of the land. Women are to be supportive wives, mothers, and homemakers.

3) Since there is only one right picture of the world, one right set of beliefs, and one right set of roles for men, women, and children, it is imperative that this picture and these rules be communicated precisely to the next generation. Therefore, fundamentalists must control education. 

4) Fundamentalists spurn the modern, and want to return to a nostalgic vision of a golden age that never really existed. Several of the scholars observed a strong and deep resemblance between fundamentalism and fascism. 

5) Fundamentalists deny history in a radical and idiosyncratic way. What they don't want to see is the way culture colored the era when their scriptures were created.

More at http://www.uuworld.org/2004/01/feature2.html