The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: 01/09/2005 - 01/16/2005

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Still images of video 2

These are still images of the second video !

Still images of video 1

These are still images of the first video!

This second video shows the suspect shooting Sgt. Howard Stevenson. Stevenson later died from his injuries

The videos show the shooting of two Ceres, Calif. police officers Sunday night.

The videos were captured on surveillance cameras outside of the scene, and were released Monday by the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department.*


This first video shows the suspect shooting Officer Sam Ryno.

The Ceres, Calif. Ambush Cop Killing, Shootout, Minute-By-Minute

U.S. Marine Shot Dead After Fatally Shooting Calif. Officer, Injuring Another
by The Modesto Bee

Information from The Modesto Bee

Less than two years ago, Andres Raya graduated from Ceres High School, where one friend remembered him as "the class clown." Less than four months ago, he was in Iraq with the Marine Corps. Another friend said Raya had been having nightmares about Iraq. Saturday, he went AWOL from Camp Pendleton, and by Sunday he was back in Modesto � shooting at police, killing one officer, wounding another, and ending up shot dead in an alley.

September � Lance Cpl. Raya, 19, returns from Iraq. His base is Camp Pendleton, in Southern California.

Dec. 16 � Raya comes home to Modesto for holiday leave.

Jan. 2 � His family puts him on a plane back to Camp Pendleton.

Saturday � Raya tells his barracks mates that he is going to get something to eat. Instead he goes AWOL, or absent without leave, and makes his way back to Modesto.

Sunday, around 8 p.m. � Using an assault rifle, Raya fires a shot into the pavement in the parking lot outside George's Liquors, 2125 Caswell Ave. He goes inside and tells the clerk, "Somebody just fired at me, call the police." Police said they received the call at 8:05 p.m. and arrived at the liquor store at 8:07. A surveillance video shows police arriving about 8:16, which means the camera's timer may have been as much as nine minutes fast.

8:15:37 � Surveillance video shows Raya pacing outside the liquor store door, at a corner of the building.

8:15:47 � The first Ceres police unit pulls up, behind an opposite corner of the building. Two officers emerge: Sam Ryno and an unidentified trainee.

8:15:49 � The officers walk to the building.

8:16:14 � A second police car, with one officer inside, pulls up.

8:16:19 � Ryno and the trainee peer around the corner.

8:16:20-8:16:23 � Raya sees them and steps back, reaches under his poncho and levels his rifle.

8:16:24 � Raya fires, and Ryno goes down. Raya keeps shooting as he advances on the corner. A third officer, who arrived in the second car, returns fire as Ryno crawls back to his car.

8:16:33-8:16:41 � Raya runs back to the other corner.

8:17:20 � He keeps the rifle out and throws part of the poncho over his shoulder.

8:17:34 � He notices something to his left, apparently Sgt. Howard Stevenson driving up. Raya crouches behind a sedan in the parking lot.

8:17:37 � He fires through one of the car's side windows and hits Stevenson outside his car. Raya continues firing, and Stevenson returns fire.

8:17:42 � Raya runs toward the downed officer. Police say he shot him twice in the back of the head.

8:18 � Officers from around the region respond to the "officer down" call, and cordon off the neighborhood as they search for the gunman.

About 10 p.m. � Police evacuate residents from several homes around a house where officers believe Raya may be holed up. Police shoot out streetlights to obscure the suspect's vision.

11:08 � Four officers see Raya climb over a fence, entering an alley between Glenwood and Myrtlewood drives. He fires on them, and they return fire, striking him. He drops his rifle, but remains standing. He reaches under his poncho and officers fire again, killing him.

Friday, January 14, 2005

Tsunami Baloney - Hoax pic that is going around the Net

Amazing Tsunami Picture

Netlore Archive: Emailed image purports to show the devastating tsunami of December 26, 2004 washing ashore on the Thai island of Phuket (or Indonesia, depending on version) (Click on above title for access to photo)

Comments: Virtually everyone who has submitted this image for authentication expressed disbelief, and small wonder. Given the enormity of the actual event, this is a snapshot which, if real, would have appeared on the front page of every major newspaper in the world by now. But it hasn't. It is evidently the work of a prankster who combined two entirely unrelated photographs into a striking, but bogus, montage.

In one version of the accompanying email the locale is specified as Phuket, Thailand; in another, Indonesia. Neither is plausible, however, because in both places vehicles are driven on the left side of the road, not the right, as shown here.

Nor does the form and magnitude of this wave match eyewitness accounts or authentic images of the tsunamis that actually struck parts of Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere in the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004. Those waves didn't crest at a height of twenty storeys and crash down on the shoreline as depicted here. On the contrary, the waters were described as rising swiftly and steadily to a maximum height of around 10 meters (less, in most cases) as they swept relentlessly inland, retreated, and swept inland again.

In short, the image above represents someone's fantasy of what a tsunami looks like, not the real deal � as if the real deal and the devastation it caused weren't fantastic enough in the first place.


Iraq rebels in video taunt

Wed Jan 12, 2005 03:05 PM ET

By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Departing from fiery Islamic slogans, Iraqi guerrillas have launched a propaganda campaign with an English-language video urging U.S. troops to lay down their weapons and seek refuge in mosques and homes.

The video, narrated in fluent English by what sounded like an Iraqi educated in the United States or Britain, also mocked the U.S. president's challenge to rebels in the early days of the insurgency to 'bring it on'.

"George W. Bush; you have asked us to 'bring it on'. And so help me, (we will) like you never expected. Do you have another challenge?," asked the narrator before the video showed explosions around a U.S. military Humvee vehicle.

Threats intended to demoralise and frighten in the tense build up to elections at the end of the month were tempered with invitations to desert and escape retribution.

A masked guerrilla from an unknown group called the Islamic Jihad Army, eschewing past impassioned Arabic-language threats of holy war, told U.S. soldiers: "This is not your war, nor are you fighting for a true cause in Iraq."

"To the American soldiers we say you can also choose to fight tyranny with us. Lay down your weapons and seek refuge in our mosques, churches and homes. We will protect you," he said.

There was no way of verifying the authenticity of the video obtained by Reuters.

Previous insurgent videos have been dominated by grisly beheadings of foreign hostages who kneel beside radical Islamic banners before their deaths.

The Islamic Jihad Army video featured familiar scenes of guerrillas blowing up U.S. convoys but also highlighted some of the key issues of the Iraq war, from weapons of mass destruction to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"We have not crossed the oceans and seas to occupy Britain or the U.S. nor are we responsible for 9/11. These are only a few of these lies that these criminals present to cover their true plans," said the narrator, apparently referring to the Bush administration's assertion of a link between Saddam Hussein and those attacks.

A masked speaker with a machine gun beside him delivered his message to triumphant music with the ring of U.S. military propaganda films during World War Two.

He said the enemy was on the run as the video showed guerrillas firing on U.S. convoys, standing beside the corpse of an American soldier, or loading a large shell for an attack.

The U.S. military has said it would stay in Iraq until the country is by its definition secure.

The rebels focused on political issues that divided the United States and its European allies over the war in Iraq while reminding troops of casualties with images of burning trucks.

"We also thank France, Germany and other states for their positions, which we need to say are considered wise and valid until now," said the narrator, who also urged economic warfare against Washington.

"Stop using the U.S. dollar. Use the Euro or a basket of currencies," he said on the video dated December 10, 2004.

At least 1,067 U.S. troops have died in combat since the start of the war that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Vietnam vets to get 'true homecoming'

Grand-scale, weeklong event with 100,000 to say thank you


� 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
On the 30th anniversary of the end of the war, Vietnam veterans will be given the "homecoming celebration they never received" at a conference organizers hope will draw 100,000 people.

"During those three decades, the brave men and women who served in that conflict have never been given the recognition they deserve for their heroic sacrifices in service to our country," the organizers, Operation Homecoming USA, say in a statement.

"Now, the time for that recognition has come."

The board of directors for the first-ever national event, scheduled for June 13-19 in Branson, Mo., include entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Ross Perot, chairman emeritus of UPS Stores Jim Amos and NFL Hall of Famer Jackie Smith.

"By honoring those who answered their country's call during a difficult time in our nation's history, the legacy of duty, honor and country will be passed on to America's sons and daughters who will be called to serve in the future," the organizers say. "It's an idea whose time has come."


The weeklong tribute will be capped off by a festival of national acts, including the Oak Ridge Boys, the Fifth Dimension, the Temptations, the Supremes, the Beach Boys, Creedance Clearwater Revisited, Ann-Margret, Mary Wilson, Tony Orlando, Les Brown's Band of Renown with Les Brown, Jr., and the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

It also will feature a flyover of every type of aircraft used in the war.

During the week, smaller-scale reunions of veterans will be organized.

Operation Homecoming USA said it "approached a broad spectrum of national and regional experts to provide oversight of this sensitive project."

The event comes after a presidential election campaign that revisted some of the war's most contentious issues. But the spotlight on John Kerry's 1972 characterization of Vietnam servicemen as war criminals -- regarded as a major reason why they were scorned -- brought out many veterans publicly to help set the record straight and defend their honor.

A promotional video on the organizers' website says, "Over 3 million proud men and women served their country. Unfortunately, in the political debate, the Vietnam veteran was left on the battlefield."

The video says the idea for the conference began as a conversation between two Missouri veterans, Gary Linderer and Steve Presley.

Speaking at a news conference captured on the video, Amos said putting the event together is "a duty born out of love, and it is the right thing to do."

"What has remained for more than 30 years has been a hole in the heart of America," he said. "Now is the time for healing. Now is the time to welcome home the only veterans group that has never been officially welcomed home in American history."

The event, Amos said, will say "thank you to our fallen brothers and sisters on the other side of that wall. And, while its been a long time coming, to those Vietnam veterans on this side of the wall, welcome home."


Poll: Few Americans Trust Media

A new Harris Poll measures the levels of trust which Americans have in important institutions, and compares the results with those in a virtually identical European survey. For many institutions the levels of trust, or distrust, on both sides of the Atlantic were similar. There were also some striking differences.



Americans showed much less trust than Europeans in the media and in the United Nations. On the other hand, Americans, more than Europeans, trust religious institutions. Both Americans and Europeans had relatively high levels of trust in their police and military. Both Americans and Europeans had very little trust in political parties, their governments, trade unions and big business.


The American data are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 2,092 adults surveyed online between December 8 and 15, 2004. The European data come from the Eurobarometer survey of adults in the 25 member countries of the European Union surveyed nine months earlier in February and March 2004.

American attitudes toward the press, radio and television were much more negative than European attitudes. Specifically:

- A 62 to 22 percent (almost 3-to-1) majority of Americans did not trust "the press"; Europeans were split 47 to 46 percent.

- A modest 43 to 33 percent plurality of Americans were inclined to trust the radio; a larger than 2-to-1 majority (62% to 29%) of Europeans did so.

- A substantial 58 to 22 percent majority of Americans did not trust television; a 54 to 39 percent majority of Europeans did trust TV.

In the five largest EU countries:

- Trust in radio was above 55 percent everywhere and highest in Spain and France (67%).

- Trust in the press was highest in Spain (61%) and France (60%) and lowest in the U.K. (20%) -- with its own special mass market tabloid journalism.

- Trust in television was highest in Germany (59%) and the U.K. (54%) and lowest in Italy (37%) where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi owns several powerful networks.


Majorities in both the United States and Europe did not trust their politicians or their governments. A plurality of Europeans trusted the United Nations, while a plurality of Americans distrusted the U.N. Specifically:


- Very large majorities of both Americans (77% to 8%) and Europeans (77% to 14%) distrusted political parties.

- Substantial majorities of both Americans (55% to 27%) and Europeans (63% to 28%) distrusted their governments.

- A substantial majority of Americans (56% to 22%) distrusted the Congress. A substantial majority of Europeans (57% to 32%) distrusted their parliaments or elected chambers.

- A 44 to 30 percent plurality of Americans tended not to trust the United Nations. In contrast, in Europe, a 49 to 34 percent plurality were inclined to trust the U.N.


Trust in other institutions:

Large majorities of between 3-to-1 and 2-to-1 trusted the police and the military in both the United States and in Europe. Large majorities also trusted charitable and voluntary organizations. On the other hand, very large majorities in both the U.S. (70% to 12%) and in Europe (60% to 26%) distrusted big companies. Adults also tended not to trust trade unions in both the U.S. (51% to 19%) and Europe (50% to 34%). When it comes to justice and legal systems, Europeans were split with 45 percent trusting their systems and 47 percent distrusting them. In the U.S. a 47 to 36 percent plurality did not trust the legal system.

Thursday, January 13, 2005

New toll puts tsunami casualties at 272,000

Indonesia restricts military, aid workers.

By Tim Johnson
Knight Ridder

Banda Aceh, Indonesia � An official document posted here says that nearly 210,000 people in Indonesia are dead or missing from the Dec. 26 tsunami, a death toll that appears to be far higher than officials have reported publicly. Rescue workers think even that number may be low.
The Indonesia toll would bring the total of dead and missing from the tidal surge across the Indian Ocean to nearly 272,000, ranking the tsunami as the fifth or sixth deadliest natural disaster in about 250 years.

The new death toll came as Indonesian officials restricted the movements of foreign relief workers, U.N. employees and journalists in devastated north Sumatra, the Indonesian island that took the brunt of the tsunami's force, and said foreign military units would be allowed to work in the country for only a limited time.

Indonesia's vice president told the United States and other nations that have sent troops to deliver relief that their forces won't be permitted to remain in Sumatra longer than three months, and should leave as soon as their work is completed.

The blunt comments seemed to end what had been tacit Indonesian acceptance of a foreign presence in an area that has been off limits to foreigners for years. But it wasn't clear that the comments would have any real impact on rescue efforts.

No WMDs? Tons of Uranium, Sarin Gas, Buried MiGs

The U.S. has ended the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, with the press here and abroad describing the effort as a abject failure that turned up no evidence whatsoever that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Even President Bush appears to be throwing in the towel, telling ABC's Barbara Walters in an interview set for broadcast Friday night: "I felt like we�d find weapons of mass destruction � like many here in the United States, many around the world. We need to find out what went wrong in the intelligence gathering."

Predictably, Democrats are rushing to make political hay over the news.

"Now that the search is finished, President Bush needs to explain to the American people why he was so wrong, for so long, about the reasons for war," demanded top House Dem Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, filled with pseudo outrage.

Instead of taking Pelosi's advice, Bush would do better to explain to the American people just what U.S. forces did find in their search for banned weapons in Iraq - starting with, for instance, the 1.8 tons of partially enriched uranium Saddam had socked away.

Here's how the Associated Press covered that news last June:

"In a secret operation, the United States last month removed from Iraq nearly two tons of uranium and hundreds of highly radioactive items that could have been used in a so-called dirty bomb, the Energy Department disclosed Tuesday.

"The nuclear material was secured from Iraq's former nuclear research facility and airlifted out of the country to an undisclosed Energy Department laboratory for further analysis," the AP said.

"Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham described the previously undisclosed operation, which was concluded June 23, as 'a major achievement' in an attempt to 'keep potentially dangerous nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists.'"

And if Bush needs more ammunition to refute Pelosi, he could cite the discovery of Sarin gas-filled artillery shells.

"We've found ten or twelve Sarin and Mustard rounds," Iraq Survey Group chief Charles Duelfer told Fox News, after his team uncovered the WMD cache last June.

"We're finding things and we're getting reports of hidden caches almost every day which we have to investigate," Duelfer added.

And if the White House wants some dramatic imagery to show how easy it was for Saddam to hide banned weapons, how about those photos of the 30 Iraqi jet fighters that weapons searchers found buried in the sand near Baghdad.

Here's how the Associated Press covered that development in Aug. 2003:

"American teams hunting for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction found dozens of fighter jets from Iraq's air force buried beneath the sands, U.S. officials say.

"At least one Cold War-era MiG-25 interceptor was found when searchers saw the tops of its twin tail fins poking up from the sands, said one Pentagon official familiar with the hunt. He said search teams have found several MiG-25s and Su-25 ground attack jets buried at al-Taqqadum air field west of Baghdad. . . ."

The find astonished even then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman , now CIA Director, Porter Goss.

"Our guys have found 30-something brand new aircraft buried in the sand to deny us access to them," Goss told the AP. "These are craft we didn't know about."

No weapons of mass destruction? President Bush needs to spend more time examining the evidence, and less time working through his mea culpas with Barbara Walters.

How to help mudslide, storm victims

By Star staff
January 12, 2005
The following fund-raising efforts have been organized for victims of flooding and mudslides in La Conchita and the rest of Ventura County:

Pierpont community members will hold a clothing drive for victims in La Conchita from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Pierpont Elementary School, 1254 Martha's Vineyard Court. Financial donations also will be accepted at the school on Saturday.

KVTA has set up a La Conchita Relief Fund at County Commerce Bank. Checks should be made payable to La Conchita Relief Fund, account number 0901004705. Donations also may be dropped off at the radio station, 2284 S. Victoria Ave. in Ventura from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.

United Way of Ventura County and the Ventura County Community Foundation have established an emergency relief fund to benefit victims in La Conchita and flooding elsewhere in the county. Each organization will contribute $3,000 to start the victim's relief fund. Individuals, businesses and companies may make donations to VCCF at 1317 Del Norte Road, Suite 150, Camarillo, CA 93010, or to the United Way at 1317 Del Norte Road, Suite 100, Camarillo, 93010. More information is available from VCCF at 988-0196, and from the United Way at 485-6288.

The American Red Cross will also collect money for victims of the mudslides. Checks should be made payable to the American Red Cross. Somewhere on the check donors should also state, "For La Conchita disaster," to ensure the money is used solely in that community. Checks may be mailed to P.O. Box 608, Camarillo, CA, 93011.

Copyright 2005, Ventura County Star. All Rights Reserved.

Powell: Some troops may withdraw this year

Washington, DC, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- U.S. troops will begin leaving Iraq this year, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview released Wednesday by the State Department.


Powell said he hoped the Iraqi army, national guards and police will soon play a larger security role, allowing the United States to withdraw some troops.

In the interview with National Public Radio, Powell gave no timetable for troop withdrawal but said: "I believe that during 2005 (the Iraqis) will be able to assume a greater burden, and ... the burden on our troops should go down, and we should start to see our numbers going in the other direction."

Almost 140,000 U.S. troops are currently deployed in Iraq while the Pentagon has listed more than 2,800 U.S. soldiers as killed or wounded.

So far nearly a million U.S. troops have been deployed for war in Iraq or Afghanistan since those conflicts began.

Fossil Fuel Curbs May Speed Global Warming: Scientists

Wed Jan 12, 7:31 PM ET

By Matt Falloon

LONDON (Reuters) - Cutting down on fossil fuel pollution could accelerate global warming and help turn parts of Europe into desert by 2100, according to research to be aired on British television on Thursday. "Global Dimming," a BBC Horizon documentary, will describe research suggesting fossil fuel by-products like sulfur dioxide particles reflect the sun's rays, "dimming" temperatures and almost canceling out the greenhouse effect.

The researchers say cutting down on the burning of coal and oil, one of the main goals of international environmental agreements, will drastically heat rather than cool climate.


"When the cooling affect goes away -- and it must do because particles like sulfur dioxide are damaging to humans -- global warming will be much stronger," climate change scientist Dr Peter Cox told Reuters on Wednesday.


Temperatures could increase in the worst case by up to 10 degrees by the end of the century, the researchers said -- much more than current estimates.


Scientists differ as to whether global warming is caused by man-made emissions of carbon dioxide and other "greenhouse" gases, by natural climate cycles or if it exists at all.


Take away fossil fuel by-products like sulfur dioxide without tackling greenhouse gas emissions, and the extra heat will speed warming, irreversibly melting ice sheets and rendering rain forests unsustainable within decades, Dr Cox said.


"The climate will warm more in the future but the ability of the land to store carbon dioxide will be compromised," he said, adding that warmer soil was less able to hold the greenhouse gas.




Has U.S. threatened To Vaporize Mecca ?

Intelligence expert says nuke option is reason bin Laden has been quiet

January 7, 2005
� 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Why hasn't Osama bin Laden's terror network executed an attack on U.S. soil since 9-11?

Simple, says Dr. Jack Wheeler, creator of an acclaimed intelligence website dubbed "the oasis for rational conservatives": The U.S. has threatened to nuke the Muslim holy city of Mecca should the terror leader strike America again.

On his website, To the Point, Wheeler explains how the Bush administration has identified the potential of wiping Mecca off the map as bin Laden's ultimate point of vulnerability � the Damoclean Sword hanging over his head.


"Israel � recognizes that the Aswan Dam is Egypt's Damoclean Sword," writes Wheeler. "There is no possibility whatever of Egypt's winning a war with Israel, for if Aswan is blown, all of inhabited Egypt is under 20 feet of water. Once the Israelis made this clear to the Egyptians, the possibility of any future Egyptian attack on Israel like that of 1948, 1967, and 1972 is gone."

Wheeler says talk of bin Laden's Damoclean Sword has infiltrated the Beltway.

Writes Wheeler in his members-only column: "There has been a rumor floating in the Washington ether for some time now that George Bush has figured out what Sword of Damocles is suspended over Osama bin Laden's head. It's whispered among Capitol Hill staffers on the intel and armed services committees; White House NSC (National Security Council) members clam up tight if you begin to hint at it; and State Department neo-cons love to give their liberal counterparts cardiac arrhythmia by elliptically conversing about it in their presence.

"The whispers and hints and ellipses are getting louder now because the rumor explains the inexplicable: Why hasn't there been a repeat of 9-11? How can it be that after this unimaginable tragedy and Osama's constant threats of another, we have gone over three years without a single terrorist attack on American soil?"

Available only to subscribers of To the Point, Wheeler ends his column by explaining the effectiveness of the Mecca threat.

"Completely obliterating the terrorists' holiest of holies, rendering what is for them the world's most sacred spot a radioactive hole in the ground is retribution of biblical proportions � and those are the only proportions that will do the job.

"Osama would have laughed off such a threat, given his view that Americans are wussies who cut and run after a few losses, such as Lebanon in 1983 and Somalia in 1993. Part of Bush's rationale for invading Afghanistan and Iraq � obviously never expressed publicly � was to convince Osama that his threat to nuke Mecca was real. Osama hates America just as much as ever, but he is laughing no more."

Wheeler says bin Laden is "playing poker with a Texas cowboy holding the nuclear aces," so there's nothing al-Qaida could do that could come remotely close to risking obliterating Mecca.

Writes Wheeler: "So far, Osama has decided not to see if GW is bluffing. Smart move."



White House Says Iraq Weapons Search Over

NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has quietly concluded without any evidence of the banned weapons that President Bush cited as justification for going to war, the White House said Wednesday

The Iraq Survey Group, made up of some 1,200 military and intelligence specialists and support staff, spent nearly two years searching military installations, factories and laboratories whose equipment and products might be converted quickly to making weapons. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said there no longer is an active search for weapons. ``There may be a couple, a few people, that are focused on that'' but that it has largely concluded, he said.
``If they have any reports of (weapons of mass destruction) obviously they'll continue to follow up on those reports,'' McClellan said. ``A lot of their mission is focused elsewhere now.''

Chief U.S. weapons hunter Charles Duelfer is to deliver his final report on the search next month. ``It's not going to fundamentally alter the findings of his earlier report,'' McClellan said, referring to preliminary findings from last September. Duelfer reported then that Saddam Hussein not only had no weapons of mass destruction and had not made any since 1991, but that he had no capability of making any either. Bush unapologetically defended his decision to invade Iraq.

Bush has appointed a panel to investigate why the intelligence about Iraq's weapons was wrong.

Copyright � 2005 The Associated Press

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

More Bodies Found After Calif. Mudslide

More Bodies Found After Calif. Mudslide
NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005
LA CONCHITA, Calif. -- Rescuers searching with shovels, their bare hands and tiny video cameras dropped into holes found the bodies of a woman and three of her children before dawn Wednesday, bringing the death toll from a mudslide in this seaside hamlet to 10, officials said.

Ventura County Fire Capt. Danny Rodriguez said the bodies were found as crews worked around the clock for a second straight night, swarming over the debris pile under a clear sky and powerful lights. Officials said 13 people remained missing after Monday's 30-foot-deep mudslide, which was triggered by five days of nearly nonstop rain. It was not immediately known if that number included the four people found Tuesday. With the 10 known dead at La Conchita, the storm's toll in California has risen to 25 since Friday.
The four dead were the wife and three daughters of La Conchita resident Jimmie Wallet, Ventura County sheriff's chaplain Ron Matthews told The Associated Press.

Wallet had been among the most visible of the town's residents since the slide as he frantically searched alongside firefighters for his 37-year-old wife, Mechelle, and daughters Hannah, 10, Raven, 6, and Paloma, 2.

After the bodies were found, friends took him out of town with his 16-year-old daughter, who was in Ventura when the slide hit.

``I'm very pleased with the hard work and all the effort in finding my family,'' Wallet said in a statement relayed by Matthews.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger planned to visit the area Wednesday.

The days of torrential rain also triggered fatal traffic accidents all across the state, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands, imperiled hillside homes and caused flash floods.

In La Conchita, firefighters remained hopeful they might still find at least some people alive, while acknowledging that any survivors would have to be found quickly.

``The rescuers are continuing to find some voids between the collapsed structures,'' Ventura County Fire Chief Bob Roper said Wednesday on NBC's ``Today'' show.

Ten people were injured in the slide, which came down like a curving, rolling waterfall onto the tiny town between Highway 101 and a coastal bluff.

Fifteen homes were destroyed and 16 were damaged. Roper said the slide rolled homes over and intermixed debris, hindering efforts to identify the rubble of specific houses.

The painstaking search through layer upon layer of muck was made more difficult by the jumble of building wreckage mixed with the mud. Rescuers tried to carefully scoop out parts of the pile to make sure they checked sections of trapped air where a survivor might be able to breathe. The tiny video cameras were inserted into voids.

The searchers were using dogs trained to search for live victims and others that can locate cadavers. If rescuers believed they had located an air pocket, both types of dogs would be called over to determine if anyone was nearby, said Capt. Bill Monahan, head of the Los Angeles County Fire Department canine unit.

Monahan said he had been up for four days straight working on rescue efforts elsewhere during Southern California's record downpours, before he was called to La Conchita.

``It's been four days of death and destruction,'' he said.

Rescuers got a break Tuesday when the rain finally stopped. National Weather Service forecaster Stuart Seto said clear weather was expected to continue through at least the weekend.

The storms' effect was also felt outside California.

Muddy rivers roared through towns along the Nevada-Arizona-Utah lines on Tuesday, flooding homes in the Nevada resort town of Mesquite and forcing the evacuation of about 100 people in nearby Overton.

Seven of Arizona's 15 counties have declared states of emergency to qualify for cleanup funding and aid, with the hardest hit in the northwestern tip of the state and central regions.

Fourteen houses were destroyed or washed away at the northwest Arizona community of Beaver Dam. ``Beaver Dam as we know it is gone,'' said Tim Stejskal, 53. No deaths or serious injuries were reported.

National Guard helicopters were sent to airlift residents of two areas of southern Utah's Washington County who were stranded by washed-out bridges and roads. The county was declared a state disaster area.

``It's a situation that one must see to believe,'' Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said. ``Property has been lost, homes have been lost, families have been relocated.''

Copyright � 2005 The Associated Press

Ohio Court Dismisses Election Challenges

The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a challenge from voters to the presidential election in light of last week's certification of the electoral vote and the upcoming inauguration.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs, a group of 37 voters, had moved Tuesday to drop the lawsuit, saying it is now moot. The high court agreed without comment to dismiss it. Citing fraud, the suit had asked the court to examine several problems with voting procedures in the hopes of overturning President Bush's victory in the state.

The election turned on Ohio's 20 electoral college votes, and not until preliminary results were available early Nov. 3 did Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry concede.

Attorney Cliff Arnebeck, who represented the voters, wanted the court to examine several Election Day problems such as long lines, a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority neighborhoods and problems with computer equipment.

Arnebeck said Tuesday the voters couldn't expect to win the suit given the congressional certification of the electoral votes last week and the inauguration next week.

The voters' challenge to the re-election of state Chief Justice Thomas Moyer was also dismissed at their request. � 2005 The Associated Press

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Rescuers Search for Mudslide Survivors

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005
LOS ANGELES -- Rain lashed water-logged Southern California again Tuesday, hampering efforts to find survivors buried by a mud slide in a coastal community and prompting hundreds to flee a mountain town before a rain-swollen lake spills over a dam.

The succession of storms that have brought heavy snow to the mountains of Northern California and astonishing amounts of rain to the south was blamed for the deaths of at least 12 people. The National Weather Service said Tuesday that downtown Los Angeles had recorded its wettest 15 consecutive days on record, with a total of 17 inches of rain falling in the period ending Monday.
The storm was forecast to taper off late Tuesday or early Wednesday and no new system is expected through the coming Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

In La Conchita, a small community on a spit of land between the hills south of Santa Barbara and the Pacific Ocean, a massive mudslide Monday killed three people, injured eight and left 21 unaccounted-for.

Some of those 21 may have been out of town, but firefighters were certain at least some were trapped in the 15 homes that were crushed under a pile of mud 30 feet high, said Keith Mashburn, the Ventura County Fire Department's chief investigator.

Rescuers using hand tools resumed their search before daybreak Tuesday when they detected what appeared to be slight movement in the mud and debris. Fire officials advised them to ``look for small hands and small fingers'' because three children were among the missing, said department spokesman Joe Luna.

Joining the search was Jimmie Wallet, who said he had left his wife and three daughters to buy ice cream and was leaving the store when he saw the river of earth curve toward his block. He ran toward his home but it was buried.

Wallet, 37, told The Associated Press he worked alongside firefighters to rescue two people from the debris Monday, and saw one of his neighbors pulled out dead.

Early Tuesday, Wallet's face and clothes were caked with mud but he said he had not given up hope of finding his family.

``I know they've got to be there. I'm not going to stop,'' he said.

However, he said, there were no longer screams coming from beneath the debris, as there had been Monday.

Some 20 miles away, about 350 people in Piru took shelter overnight at a school after the entire town of 2,000 residents was advised to evacuate.

``Lake Piru is filling faster than it's releasing water,'' said Rod Megli, division chief for the Ventura County Fire Department. ``That volume of water could affect a number of residents. We'd rather be safe than sorry.''

Some Piru residents, however, refused to leave.

``God is with me and I'm not afraid of anything,'' said Moses Hernandez, refusing to abandon his Elva's Center Market even though others waiting out the storm had cleaned out most of his supplies. ``I'm out of everything - eggs, milk, potato chips.''

Early Tuesday, however, there was a break in the weather and the sky cleared. ``As of now, it's looking good,'' said county fire Capt. Tom Retan.

The storm also forced the evacuation of an apartment complex in Alhambra, a suburb on the edge of Los Angeles, where authorities feared a rain-saturated hill might give way, and a man was trapped Tuesday in a cave in San Bernardino County. It was not immediately known how long he had been in the cave.

In Glendale, Glendale Community College was ordered closed Tuesday because of fears of mudslides. Roads all over Southern California were being closed periodically because of high water.

The storm also triggered daring rescue efforts throughout the region.

In the San Dimas Canyon area, firefighters used a raft to rescue a toddler but it tipped over and flung everyone into the water. Two firefighters went into the rushing water after the baby and one of them managed to carry the child to safety.

On Sunday, firefighters threw a rope to a man floating downstream after his car had plunged into a creek, but he lost his grip on the rope as they tried to pulled up to a bridge and fell back into the rushing water. He was rescued farther downstream.

To the north, the storm system dumped more than a dozen feet of snow on much of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California and was expected to pile up 3 more feet before subsiding there late Tuesday.

Last week's heavy rain and snow also produced flooding along the Ohio River that has affected communities in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, covering riverside roads and forcing some residents to evacuate.

One person died Monday in Ohio when he drove into high water. The storm also knocked out power in some areas and authorities believe carbon monoxide poisoning killed five people using generators for electricity in Ohio and two in Pennsylvania.


Copyright � 2005 The Associated Press



Marines Disarm to Aid Tsunami Victims

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005
ABOARD THE USS BONHOMME RICHARD -- Cpl. Sean Foley looks around the ship's main armory and takes a quick inventory. The room is overflowing with guns. Pistols, sniper rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers.

But for the time being, it's all staying right here. In an effort to ease the fears of local officials, Marines participating in the humanitarian mission to help Indonesia recover from the earthquake and tsunami that have killed more than 100,000 people on the island of Sumatra have agreed to leave their weapons behind whenever they go ashore.
For many Marines, that's tantamount to traveling naked.

``They didn't even want us to have protection like helmets and body armor, let alone weapons, because it might look threatening,'' said Foley, of Erie, Pa. ``That's crazy.''

His concern isn't unfounded.

Though the nearly 2,000 Marines on this ship and another nearby have only just begun to trickle ashore, and are generally returning to the ship each night, the area in which they are operating presents some significant security threats.

Rebels have long been active in this region, so much so that the Indonesian government had largely restricted it from foreigners. Though a lull followed the Dec. 26 disaster, firefights near the provincial capital of Banda Aceh have been reported recently.

``We are concerned,'' said Col. Tom Greenwood, commanding officer of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which was diverted from duty in Iraq to join in the humanitarian operation. ``The Indonesian government is taking it very seriously.''

But Indonesian officials have also been reluctant to let the Marines come ashore with their weapons because of the image that might project.

``We are very concerned about force protection,'' Greenwood said. ``But if you go in there and look like an invading force instead of a humanitarian force, that could be just as detrimental as having no security whatsoever. So you have to balance it.''

In the devastated city of Meulaboh, where the Marines are expected to do much of their work and unload the bulk of their relief supplies, heavily armed Indonesian soldiers provide security.

In an exception to the no-weapons orders, Marine helicopter pilots have been allowed to carry their standard protection. Marines have also been careful to maintain close communications with their ship.

Officials stressed, however, that security was in the Indonesians' hands.

``We have full confidence in their ability to provide adequate force protection,'' said Gunnery Sgt. Robert Knoll, a spokesman for the Marines.

``We won't be using any of these,'' Cpl. Jeff Austin, of Salt Lake City, Utah, said as he set up a .50 caliber sniper rifle in the armory. ``I guess the no weapons rule is understandable, since this is a humanitarian thing. But it's quite a switch for us. Usually, we never leave home without them.''

Copyright � 2005 The Associated Press

Officials: U.S. submarine hit undersea mountain

From Mike Mount
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy submarine accident that killed one sailor and injured 24 others occurred when the vessel -- traveling at high speed -- hit an undersea mountain head-on, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Saturday's accident near Guam caused part of the sonar dome, which is part of the submarine's nose, to flood, officials said.

The commander of the USS San Francisco, Kevin Mooney, has not been relieved of duty while the investigation of the accident continues.

Mooney could be relieved of duty if officials determine there is enough evidence that the accident could have been averted.

The investigation will look at the sub's speed, its location and whether the undersea formation was on navigational charts, officials said.

The submarine was traveling in excess of 33 knots -- about 35 mph --when its nose hit the undersea formation head-on, officials said.

The nuclear submarine docked Monday at a U.S. naval base in Guam, a spokesman with the U.S. Pacific Fleet said.

The San Francisco was escorted to port by U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels, according to Lt. j.g. Adam Clampitt. The submarine suffered "some external damage," he said.

"The injured sailors are being treated at a U.S. military medical facility on Guam and will be transferred to other facilities -- possibly Pearl Harbor in Hawaii or Okinawa in Japan -- as necessary," Clampitt said.

According to a military statement, the injuries included "broken bones, lacerations, bruises and a back injury."

The accident occurred about 350 miles (560 kilometers) south of Guam, the U.S. Navy said. There were 137 crew on board at the time of the accident.

Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio, died Sunday from injuries suffered in the accident, Clampitt said. "The Navy continues to offer its sincerest condolences and prayers to the family and friends of Petty Officer Ashley," he said.

Navy sources said the submarine was en route to Brisbane, Australia, for a port visit at the time of the accident. There was no damage to the sub's nuclear reactor, according to Clampitt.

Heyward: Rather Personally Vetted Bogus Story

CBS's investigation into the Rathergate scandal went to great lengths to exonerate the disgraced anchorman, apparently to the point of even bending the truth.

The report on the in-house probe claims that Rather had almost no role in checking out the bogus Sept. 8 report on President Bush's National Guard record, saying that the CBS newsman "does not appear to have participated in any of the vetting sessions or to have even seen the Segment before it was aired."

But according to CBS News President Andrew Heyward, nothing could be further from the truth.

In a development first covered Tuesday morning by "Fox and Friends" host E.D. Hill, the report says:

"Heyward recalled speaking to Rather on Monday, September 6, and being told that the story was thoroughly vetted. Heyward also told the Panel that Rather said he had not 'been involved in this much checking on a story since Watergate.'� [page 104]

Instead the CBS investigation claimed Rather had even less time than usual to check out the phony story, because he was busy covering the GOP convention and a Florida hurricane.

Bush Picks Chertoff for Homeland Post

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005
WASHINGTON -- President Bush has chosen federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff to be his new Homeland Security chief, turning to a former federal prosecutor who helped craft the early war on terror strategy, The Associated Press has learned.

Chertoff headed the Justice Department's criminal division from 2001 to 2003, where he played a central role in the nation's legal response to the Sept. 11 attacks, before the president named him to appeals court position in New Jersey. Bush was to formally announce Chertoff's selection later at the White House, two government officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The AP.
Chertoff would replace Tom Ridge, the department's first chief.

Chertoff, who rounds out Bush's second-term Cabinet, was actually the president's second pick for the job. Former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik withdrew as nominee last month, citing immigration problems with a family housekeeper.

After failing to disclose the nanny problem during an initial screening, Kerik acknowledged it during a subsequent vetting phase as he filled out a clearance form.

The choice of a new homeland security chief completes a substantial makeover of the Bush team as the president awaits his swearing-in Jan. 20 for a new term.

Donald H. Rumsfeld, John Snow and Norman Mineta have remained as secretaries of defense, treasury and transportation, but Bush has changed most other key agency positions.

He turned to close associates Margaret Spellings and Alberto Gonzales for the positions of secretary of education and attorney general and chose his first-term national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, to be secretary of state.

Congress has started the process of confirmation hearings, and Gonzales appeared last week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Democrats quizzed him aggressively about his role in the writing of an administrations policy paper interpreting what kinds of interrogations of enemy combatants could be permitted under a 1994 law banning torture.

Rice has her initial confirmation hearing on Jan. 18, two days before Bush's inauguration.

Copyright � 2005 The Associated Press

U.S.: Bin Laden Could Be in Afghanistan

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005
KABUL, Afghanistan - Osama bin Laden and other militant leaders could be hiding in eastern Afghanistan, the commander of U.S. forces along a key stretch of the Pakistani border told The Associated Press on Monday.

Col. Gary Cheek, who controls U.S. forces in 16 Afghan provinces, also said Taliban leaders appear to be losing control of a stubborn insurgency, three years after their ouster for harboring the al-Qaida leader.
Forces loyal to Taliban commanders such as Jalaluddin Haqqani, and to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar still attack U.S. forces near the mountainous Pakistani frontier, and Cheek said the rebel leaders could also be present in his area of responsibility.

"Leaders like Hekmatyar, Haqqani, bin Laden could possibly be in our region, but any information we have on them would be very close-hold (closely guarded) for operational reasons," Cheek told AP by e-mail.

American officials insist there is no let up in the hunt for the al-Qaida leader, who is believed to have escaped Afghan and U.S. forces near the Tora Bora cave complex in eastern Afghanistan in late 2001.

There are now about 18,000 mainly American soldiers in Afghanistan, pursuing militants in the south and east as well as helping the government of President Hamid Karzai to regain control of the war-ravaged country.

Speculation about bin Laden's whereabouts has centered on the border region, particularly areas of Pakistan populated by tribes who share the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam and where foreign veterans of the 1980s war against Soviet forces in Afghanistan settled.

Pakistan has mounted a series of bloody military operations there, claiming to have killed or captured hundreds of foreign fighters and that they found no trace of the chief suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

American generals and senior diplomats have said recently they have no firm intelligence of where bin Laden is hiding. However, Karzai said last month that bin Laden was "definitely" still in the region.

Cheek said that while insurgents remained a danger to his forces, the number of foreign fighters among them was not "significant."

Moreover, militant activity in the east had been "sporadic over the past six months and does not appear tied to any specific strategy or agenda."

"It would appear that the Taliban in particular may be fragmenting and that its central core of leadership is unable to direct coordinated actions," Cheek said in a written response to an AP reporter's questions. "I would guess that there are a lot of things the Taliban and others want to do, but their ability to do those things are limited."

He said most of the leaders he was tracking are field commanders suspected of attacks and bombings.

A roadside bomb killed one U.S. soldier and injured three more on Jan. 2 in eastern Kunar province, but Cheek suggested criminal activity was a bigger problem in that region, where Hekmatyar loyalists are believed to find sanctuary among sympathetic villagers.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Celebrated U.S. Media Scandals

Jan 10, 12:05 PM (ET)

CBS News on January 10, 2005 said it will fire four employees for their roles in an erroneous story...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An independent report on Monday found a CBS News story about U.S. President Bush's National Guard service record was deeply flawed and came from the network's "myopic zeal" to be first with the news.

CBS said it would fire four employees for their roles in the erroneous story, broadcast on Sept. 8, 2004, and would take steps to bolster its credibility.

Following are some celebrated media scandals over inaccurate or fabricated stories.

April 1981

-- The Washington Post relinquishes a Pulitzer Prize for a story written by Janet Cooke about "Jimmy," an 8-year-old heroin addict who did not exist.

February 1993

-- NBC News admits that it attached explosive devices to a General Motors truck to show the vehicle's dangers in a fire for a November 1992 "Dateline NBC" report. NBC apologized to GM, which filed a lawsuit against the network for staging the crash.

May 1998

-- New Republic magazine fires Stephen Glass for embellishing a story on teenage computer hackers. A month later, editors apologize to readers after finding that Glass invented all or part of 27 of 41 articles he wrote for the weekly.

July 1998

-- CNN retracts its discredited "Operation Tailwind" report broadcast the month before. The report alleged U.S. use of nerve gas on deserters in Laos during the Vietnam War. The cable news network apologized to the Pentagon and fired two producers associated with the story.

May 2003

-- The New York Times national reporter Jayson Blair resigns after fabricating quotes, falsifying datelines and using material from other newspapers in dozens of articles. The Times publishes a four-page account in two articles detailing Blair's fabrications. The scandal led to the resignations of the paper's top two editors.

March 2004

-- USA Today says it found numerous examples of fabrication and plagiarism by star reporter Jack Kelley, who was forced to resign in January that year. The paper's editor resigned in the wake of the scandal.

January 2005

-- Independent panel finds that CBS News failed to authenticate the documents used to substantiate a Sept. 8, 2004, broadcast that said Bush received preferential treatment while serving in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. CBS fires four employees. The network's anchor Dan Rather had already said he would step down on March 9.

Saddam Teamed Up with OBL's Wahhabists

Saddam Teamed Up with OBL's Wahhabists

Starting in the mid-1990s, Saddam Hussein forged alliances with Muslim radicals from Saudi Arabia who practiced the same brand of militant Islam as Osama bin Laden, Saudi dissidents in London revealed last week.

In a development that experts call astonishing, the Sunni dictator made common cause with radical Wahhabists in a bid to keep Iraq's Shiite majority at bay. "Saddam invited Muslim scholars and preachers to Iraq for his own survival," Saad Fagih, a London-based dissident, told the Associated Press. "He convinced them that Shiites are the danger."

Wahhabism began trickling into Iraq nearly a decade ago, with radical Muslims coming from Saudi Arabia as well as other Arab countries. A Wahhabi mosque was even built in the Shiite holy city of Karbala at a time when Shiites were banned from worshipping their religion freely, the AP said.

In Oct. 2001, two Iraqi defectors told U.S. intelligence that they taught radical Islamists at the terrorist training camp Salman Pak to hijack U.S. aircraft in groups of four and five using small knives.

The hijack trainees, who were recruited from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Morocco and other Mideast nations, were avid students, the defectors told the London Observer - except that they stopped five times a day to pray to Allah.

U.S. intelligence agencies eventually rejected the notion of a link between Salman Pak and the 9/11 attacks, based in part on the presumption that secularist Saddam would have never conspired with religious fundamentalists.

Officials at the CIA and State Department concluded that while hijack training did take place at Salman Pak, it was actually to instruct Iraqi counterterrorism units in anti-hijacking tactics.

Hillary Knew About Campaign Cash

Peter Paul: Hillary Knew About Campaign Cash

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton personally negotiated some of the fees for a star-studded Aug. 12, 2000 Hollywood fundraiser, the event's producer, Peter Paul, said in an interview aired on Sunday - as the event comes under increasing scrutiny by a Los Angeles grand jury and the Justice Department.

And in another sign of potential legal trouble for the top Democrat, a spokesman for the lawfirm championing Paul's case said his client informed Mrs. Clinton that her finance director, David Rosen, had failed to accurately report costs for the event to the Federal Election Commission. "Hillary Clinton personally called the producer of the concert part of this event," Mr. Paul told Fox News Channel's Eric Shawn. "She asked him to lower the fee that he was charging of $850,000 at my request. So I don't understand how she could possibly say that she didn't know."

A secret four-count indictment against Rosen was unsealed by the Justice Department late Friday, charging that he deliberately underreported costs for the Aug. 2000 gala.

The indictment prompted a new round of denials from Clinton lawyer David Kendall.

"[Mrs. Clinton's] Senate Campaign Committee has fully cooperated with the investigation. Mr. Rosen worked hard for the Campaign, and we trust that when all the facts are in he will be cleared," he said in a statement.

But according to Judicial Watch, the lawfirm that has pressed the case since 2001 through a series of lawsuits and court filings, Mr. Paul personally informed Sen. Clinton that Rosen's filings were inaccurate.

"Peter wrote her a letter in 2001 telling her that the FEC forms from her campaign were false," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told NewsMax on Sunday. "Hillary Clinton knew Peter was paying for the event and was personally involved in negotiating the production fee for the event."

Fitton said Judicial Watch has "pictures, video, and thank you notes to prove [Clinton's] involvement" - evidence they have shared with the Justice Department.

"We hope politics does not protect her from prosecution again," Fitton added.

Sunday, January 09, 2005

2005 Suggestions for Michael Moore and Others - (Don't miss this one!...a hoot!)

CHRONWATCH.COM ^ | JANUARY 8, 2005 | JIM SPARKMAN


We received this in our e-mail pile without any indication of who wrote it. It was so good, we decided to post it anyway.


To Michael Moore: Sit down and shut up. Your fifteen minutes are up. And do something about your hair. Looks can be deceiving, but not in your case...


To Jimmy Carter: Big mistake to sit down next to Michael Moore at the convention. Spend more time with drywall and the glue gun. Or start lusting in your heart again.


To Tom Daschle: If you lean too far to the left, voters will tend to lean right for a while, but will eventually push you out of the boat.


To Al Gore: Please, sir, before it's too late: seek an experienced mental health professional. You're beginning to make Christopher Lloyd in "Back To The Future" look normal.


To Dan Rather: Enjoy your early retirement. The next memo you get will be real.


To the DNC: Your platform must not have lurched far enough to the left. Keep it tilting southpaw. Read more Marx. P.S. Keep insulting the voters with your moral and intellectual condescension too. It goes well with that warp-speed registering of folks in plaid wool blankets pushing shopping carts. Lovely constituency.


To Bill Clinton: Thanks for hitting the campaign trail for Kerry. Some of us needed a reminder of what we were trying to avoid.


To Hillary Clinton: PLEASE run in '08. The Heartland will be hungry for more hors d'oeuvres by then.


To John "Breck Girl" Edwards: Can you help Michael Moore and Whoopi Goldberg with a little basic grooming?


To Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Bono, etc.: A few of us still like your music, but if you ever want to sell another record, just sing and don't go where you don't know. We don't pay to hear Don Rumsfeld do air guitar either.


To George Soros: Want to buy an election? Not in "MY" America, you monomaniacal, socialistic buffoon.


To the Mainstream Media: Congratulations on getting Kerry at least thirty more electoral votes than he would have gotten without your covert support Imagine how badly he would have lost if you were actually unbiased.


To the United Nations: Your worst nightmare will continue for another four years. Deal with it! "Oil for Food" will be your Waterloo,


To Howard "I Have A Scream" Dean: Stick with something you understand; like proctology, for instance.


To Richard Holbrooke: Learn to tell a joke. Learn to laugh at one.


To John Zogby: Monster.com will post your resume.


To Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, Robert Scheer, and your minor league imitators, Greg Plast and Mark Morford: You have no readers in the red states.


To Teddy Kennedy: Sigh, it's still the blonde in the pond who leads your highlight reel.


To Ron Reagan "Junior": Do you have talent for anything, other than narrating dog shows?


To the Exit Pollsters: As long as you keep skewing the results in an attempt to influence the election, we'll keep lying to you. If you quit, so will we. Deal?


To Teresa HEINZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Kerry: Teaching is a REAL job, you pompous arrogant bitch! The Teachers Union, who supported your husband right up until you stepped in this one, can clarify any continuing confusion. Oh, and it's definitely NOT a "real job" to sleep with a third-generation ketchup heir and then cash the plane-crash check. See message for Michael Moore...

To the European Union: Sorry all the graft and corruption monies from Saddam have stopped coming in. Your pathetic economies will have to find some legitimate ways to prop up your socialist governments. Good luck with that...

To Terry McAuliffe: See message for Dan Rather. And pay a little attention to what Zell Miller reminds us of: 20 Democratic senators from the south in 1960 and only six from the GOP. Today, 22 Republicans and four Dems.You must be so proud!


To MoveOn.org: See message for George Soros.


To James Carville: You're the only guy who seems to get it; and you're very smart, even if you are obnoxious. Good luck finding an audience that's neither medicated nor mendacious.



And finally, to John Kerry: Thank you for your interest in national defense. And thank you for reporting for duty. You are hereby dismissed.

America's first, again

Whenever and wherever disaster strikes on the globe, the U.S. responds immediately with relief and medical supplies as they have in Asia, writes Peter Worthington

By PETER WORTHINGTON

Thank goodness for the Americans. What would this world would be like without the U.S.?

Especially in times of natural disasters like the Boxing Day tsunami that killed so many and shocked the world into unprecedented humanitarian generosity.

Such generosity often seems muted. Not this time. The world's people have responded more ardently than their governments, and in case after case governments have taken a cue from their citizens, and increased their initial aid response.

Canada is just one example, but typical of the world. Prime Minister Paul Martin started by pledging $1 million, then $4 million, then $40 million and now $80 million -- not because our government now realizes as it didn't before that the catastrophe was so severe, but because Canadians from every strata of society have opened their hearts and wallets.

The U.S. initial pledge of $35 million, later upped to $350 million is just the start. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell anticipates $1 billion from the U.S. -- double the $500 million pledged by Japan, which will likely also up its giving.

U.S. President George Bush has recruited two former presidents -- his dad and Bill Clinton -- to head U.S. fundraising for the tsunami victims. It is one of those moments in history where the world is united -- and America is leading.

As well as being the world's wealthiest nation, Americans are the world's most generous -- $249 billion given annually to various corporate and private charities.

So a world that failed to anticipate or respond to the genocide of 800,000 in Rwanda, or 2.5 million displaced in Congo, and is still lukewarm in all except rhetoric about Sudan and Darfur, has reacted with humane fervor to the tsunami disaster, which is Hollywood animation come to life.

Pledging money is vital, but it doesn't save lives immediately. Again, that's where the Americans shine.

The first large-scale international relief to the victims was from a U.S. warship, the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln which sent relays of a dozen helicopters loaded with relief and medical supplies into the stricken area. The U.S. military has field hospitals, and soldiers, Marines, sailors who turn instantly into social workers and bleeding-heart aid workers.

Every time

And it's not just for this tsunami in the South Pacific. It happens every time there's a horrendous natural disaster -- an earthquake in Turkey, Iran, or the Balkans, mud slides, floods, whatever -- the Americans are invariably first with direct, on-the-spot aid, no questions asked.

Some see the tsunami disaster as a chance for the U.S. to mend fences with the Islamic world with its aid -- showing the people of Indonesia (the world's largest Muslim country) that America is not the devil incarnate.

Maybe this will happen, but not likely.

Ordinary people in the under-developed world rarely view Americans as anything except what's desirable.

The supposed unpopularity of the U.S. is often propaganda and rhetoric, and not shared by the people of the world who, even after 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan and the war against terror, seek to come to America to live in freedom and prosperity.

Those anxious to get in have no doubts about what America is -- the most desirable country on Earth.

Canada views itself as compassionate, and we are. To a point.

Not so rapid

But we don't react with the speed and passion of Americans. Out vaunted Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) is supposed to react quickly, to "bridge the gap" until formal aid arrives at a disaster scene. The tsunami underlines that ours is a not-so-rapid response team, partly because it exists mostly in theory and partly because we have no way of getting it to a disaster zone -- insufficient transport aircraft.

The announcement yesterday was that DART would begin leaving tomorrow -- 13 days late. Better luck next disaster.

A world without the U.S. would be a sorrier world indeed, especially when leadership in humanitarian causes is needed.