Another Angle 11 - March - 2007

ANOTHER ANGLE
News others won't tell you



The Highwaymen
Since its emergence as a major political issue in the Reagan era, privatization has become a default option for politicians of both parties aiming to off-load everything from prisons and welfare offices to Social Security. The movement has spawned its own industry of contractors, consultants, think tanks (with the Reason Foundation in the lead), and lobbyists; as a result, private companies now do everything from feeding soldiers in Iraq to taking welfare applications and even operating entire city halls for towns such as Sandy Springs, Georgia, a city of 85,000 that has outsourced its public works, administration, and finance to the Colorado-based firm ch2m hill. But the brass ring has long been seen to be the nation's enormous, and aging, infrastructure.



NATIONAL:



Democrat fury over Fox chief's Obama joke
A televised debate between Democratic candidates scheduled for Nevada in August was cancelled on Friday after local party leaders took offence at a joke told by Roger Ailes, chairman of the Fox News network.



INTERNATIONAL:


'Gringo go home', Bush told
In Sao Paulo, the President shook a ganya, a silver, cylinder-shaped musical instrument, while his wife Laura and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice danced a samba with a group of Brazilian teenagers. Yet the local media remained unimpressed and said Bush remained ill at ease with the region. That a US President should be so on the defensive in his back yard is a turnaround all the more dramatic, since the former governor of Texas had promised to make the region his foreign policy priority. However, the 9/11 attacks diverted his attention and the following year he angered many by seeming to support a bungled coup attempt against the Venezuelan President.



Bushehr power plant's key facilities to be operational by March 13




How an article in the 'IoS' led to the conviction of Lewis 'Scooter' Libby
The IoS was told by a source that we would find someone in Washington who knew the truth about the Niger affair. That led us to Mr Wilson, who said his findings had been ignored by the US and Britain. He asked us to identify him in our report of 29 June 2003 only as a "retired ambassador to Africa who went to Niger". But in his book he says the IoS approach convinced him he had to go public; the following week he told the story in The New York Times, under the headline: "What I didn't find in Africa". In the ensuing furore, the then CIA director, George Tenet, had to take responsibility for the Niger claim appearing in the State of the Union address.



IRAQ:



Struggle to find fresh troops for Iraq buildup
One official said planners are scrambling to figure out what combination of units and schedules can be fashioned that could give Petraeus what he wants and have the least negative impact on the troops. The complex scheduling must identify which units would have been home for 12 months and be trained and ready to go, plus whether the needed equipment would be available and what impact a schedule change has on other plans for the equipment or troops months down the road.



Is the Bush surge already failing?
There is still no good evidence that the Iraqi government can achieve "freedom" or that it can sustain or defend itself anytime soon. On Tuesday, the Iraqi parliament failed to convene because it could not garner the requisite quorum. The stony-faced prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is speaking darkly of having parliamentarians arrested for involvement in death squad activity, and of dismissing from his cabinet members of the Shiite bloc of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr that helped elect him in the first place. As a parliamentary democracy, Iraq is broken.



BUSH CRIME FAMILY:



Priests to Purify Site After Bush Visit
"That a person like (Bush), with the persecution of our migrant brothers in the United States, with the wars he has provoked, is going to walk in our sacred lands, is an offense for the Mayan people and their culture," Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders, said Thursday. Tiney said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites — which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles — would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.



Video: Bush, Laura, Condi get jiggy in Latin America
Dear Lord, I have seen trained seal acts that had more talent! I am hearby revoking Condi's black card. Any objections?


ECONOMY:



Halliburton to move HQ to Dubai
The Houston, Texas-based multinational oilfield services Halliburton Energy Services plans to move its coroprate office to Dubai, it was revealed Sunday. Halliburtons chairman, president, and chief executive officer David J. Lesar revealed the plans in Manama on the sidelines of the opening of the 15th Society of Petroleum Engineers Middle East Oil &Gas Show and Conference (MEOS 2007). Lesar said the move would help the company focus on the Middle East, as he would lead efforts to increase Halliburton business inthe Eastern Hemisphere. "The Middle east would be the seat of our operations," said Lesar."As we invest more heavily in our Eastern Hemisphere presence, we will continue to build upon our leading position in the North American gas-focused market through our excellent mix of technology, reservoir knowledge and an experienced workforce."



Crisis Looms in Market for Mortgages
On March 1, a Wall Street analyst at Bear Stearns wrote an upbeat report on a company that specializes in making mortgages to cash-poor homebuyers. The company, New Century Financial, had already disclosed that a growing number of borrowers were defaulting, and its stock, at around $15, had lost half its value in three weeks. What happened next seems all too familiar to investors who bought technology stocks in 2000 at the breathless urging of Wall Street analysts. Last week, New Century said it would stop making loans and needed emergency financing to survive. The stock collapsed to $3.21.
Loan turmoil closes doors for buyers
China may sell U.S. bonds


OP-ED:



One Nation Under God
The way you talk about Jesus and Muhammad, Brothers and Sisters, they are Brothers that come from the same Eternal God. How dare we try to split up the prophets and make them enemies of each other to justify our being enemies? If Jesus and Muhammad were on this stage, they would embrace each other with love. If Moses and the Prophets and Abraham, the father would be on this podium with all the Prophets, they would embrace each other. How come we, the people of God, cannot embrace each other in the love of God and the love of the Prophets that we claim?



Children of Black Wall Street - The Real Survivors
The tragedy side of the Black Wall Street massacre, replete with fire-bombings, shootings, and burning bodies, is usually dominates conversations related to Tulsa on May 31, 1921. The aftermath of Black survivors being rounded up, placed in makeshift concentration camps, and having to wait for a white person to come and “claim” them, to the mass graves, abandoned mines, and the river in which Black bodies were discarded, to the families torn apart and left with absolutely nothing, are the primary aspects of most discussions of Black Wall Street. But there is “the rest of the story.”



HEALTH&FITNESS:



Cocktail of additives found in child medicines
Children's medicines contain a cocktail of additives which are banned in food and drink aimed at under-threes, says a report out today from the Food Commission. Dyes, preservatives, and sweeteners were found in cough syrups, paracetamol tablets and teething gels. One product contained eight E numbers. The campaign group looked at 41 medicines for children under three. Only one, Superdrug children's dry cough syrup, was totally free of colourings and preservatives. Some of the additives can lead to asthma or act as mild laxatives, and most are banned from food and drink for under-threes, even though they are allowed in medicines aimed at young children.



FOOD&DRINK:



CREOLE CHICKEN AND OKRA GUMBO
Pass warm biscuits, or stick with tradition and mound some cooked white rice in the center of each bowl of soup. For a nice go-with, toss shredded lettuce with artichoke hearts, sliced mushrooms and creamy buttermilk dressing. Stay with the southern theme by ending with pecan pie.


REVIEWS/INTERVIEWS:



Belafonte's Fires Undimmed at 80
Harry Belafonte at 80 has a real story to tell. He remembers, for example, a barely known political hopeful turning up at his apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. John F Kennedy, who was trying to become the Democratic candidate for the presidency, wanted advice and endorsement from the biggest black star in showbusiness. Nearly half a century on, Belafonte sits in an easy chair and reflects on the meeting: "I listened to him and I refused to endorse him, telling him that his best bet was that he should begin to seek out more details of our struggle and who our leaders were and begin to talk to them rather than just seeking to talk to celebrities." He advised JFK to seek out Martin Luther King, then a young activist preacher in Montgomery, Alabama. "He hardly knew who Dr King was. That pointed out to me that he was really distant from our struggle." But Kennedy listened and learned, and made contact with the black leader. In a tight election, the black vote split 70:30 Kennedy's way, enough to tip the finest balance.


HUMOR?:



Chris Rock - Who's more racist? black people or white people