San Diego hospital closed to accommodate Bush visit; No chemoEditor's note: This article was held over from last week because of the hurricane.
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 30 -- The Naval Medical Center in San Diego's Balboa Park was shut down to accommodate a visit by President George W. Bush Aug. 30, RAW STORY has learned, forcing patients to cancel chemotherapy treatments and hundreds of scheduled patient visits.
"The pharmacy is closed. The emergency room is closed. Even chemotherapy patients will not be allowed on base," the ... (more)
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Two Bush 2000 Florida recount aides were rewarded with top FEMA postsReversing an eight-year crusade to rid the now-embattled Federal Emegency Management Agency of political patronage, a newly elected George W. Bush in 2001 named two key players in his Florida recount fight to important FEMA posts.
Neither man, Jacksonville attorney Reynold Hoover and Miami lawyer Mark Wallace, had any experience in emergency management before they were named by the Bush administration to FEMA, now under fire for its botched response to Hurricane Katrina.
... (more)
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Cost to US economy could be ten times greater than 9/11Hurricane Katrina will be by far the costliest disaster in United States history, requiring $150bn (£81bn) to $200bn in relief, clean-up and reconstruction spending by the federal government, and causing the short-term loss of some 400,000 jobs.
This desolate picture emerges from preliminary estimates circulating on Capitol Hill and at the White House. Although the figures are highly tentative, it is already clear that the damage from the storm will eclipse the $20bn bill fo... (more)
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Big Brother Alert: Lexus, MCI Working to Help Cars Monitor YouDETROIT — Japanese automaker Toyota and U.S. telecom provider MCI have come up with two different safety devices whose basic premise is the same: monitor the behavior of drivers in an attempt to enhance safety.
Toyota said its 2007 Lexus GS 450h sedan, due next spring, will feature what may be the world's first production system to monitor the driver's face.
The system tracks the orientation of the driver's face, using a camera mounted on the steering column a... (more)
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Nuclear stockpiles could create 300,000 bombsThe world has made enough explosives for more than 300,000 nuclear bombs, according to the latest scientific assessment of countries' nuclear stockpiles.
Stores of plutonium are growing, and there are new dangers from two lesser-known nuclear explosives, neptunium-237 and americium. Experts are worried that terrorists could steal enough to trigger a nuclear catastrophe.
"Our first concern is the risk of nuclear terrorism," says David Albright, president of the Insti... (more)
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'China has f*cked us' - Bill GatesMicrosoft's internal politics - the slipping roadmaps, the meetings about meetings about meetings, and the lack of even a coherent medium-term strategy - are more than just a tech industry soap opera. They're a source of amusement for the Chinese Government, a departing Microsoft exec has alleged.
It's Dr Kai-Fu Lee, the former head of Microsoft's Chinese Labs and now a Google employee, who's at the center of an employment dispute between the two companies. After Google recruited ... (more)
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Republicans block efforts to amend Katrina relief bill, hold vote without providing copy of billIn the wake of what the Wall Street Journal projected may be the most expensive natural disaster in American history, the Republican Leadership in the House of Representatives limited floor consideration of the $52 billion Katrina relief bill proposed by President Bush and voted to reject any Democratic efforts to amend the bill to include a wider array of relief measures, RAW STORY has learned.
Democrats said no one had even seen a copy of the legislation.
Voting a... (more)
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Katrina + Oil = Profits for Our KingsHow are you feeling about your government’s response to Hurricane Katrina? The fact that the people who should have been there to help your desperate neighbors instead are off killing and being killed in Iraq? Along with all that equipment your taxes bought.
How do you feel about oil prices? The fact that Exxon Mobile Corp, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported a 32 % jump in profits during the second quarter of 2005, while the rest of us dug deep ... (more)
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New Orleans evictions falterWASHINGTON - Local and state officials wrangled Wednesday over whether to forcibly evict the thousands of people who were refusing to leave the crippled and contaminated city of New Orleans. Military leaders said that despite a mayoral order, they had no intention to force people out.
The White House, struggling to help the devastated region while fending off mounting public and political criticism, asked Congress on Wednesday to provide $52 billion for relief and reconstruction,... (more)
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Weatherman Claims Japanese Mafia Behind Hurricane KatrinaPOCATELLO, Idaho (Wireless Flash) – Here’s a theory that’s sure to cause a storm of controversy: A meteorologist in Pocatello, Idaho, claims Japanese gangsters known as the Yakuza caused Hurricane Katrina.
Scott Stevens says after looking at NASA satellite photos of the hurricane, he’s is convinced it was caused by electromagnetic generators from ground-based microwave transmitters.
The generators emit a soundwave between three and 30 megaher... (more)
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Largest Solar Flare On Record Could Disrupt Communications On Gulf CoastOne of the largest solar flares on record was observed Wednesday by forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Environment Center in Boulder, Colo. and continued eruptions could interfere with communications along the hurricane stricken U.S. Gulf Coast.
Click Here For More Information From NOAA
NOAA forecasters say more solar eruptions are possible and they say there cou... (more)
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Bush requests $51.8 billion for hurricane relief: Republican leaders try to contain political falloutWASHINGTON - President Bush sent to Congress Wednesday a request for $51.8 billion in additional hurricane relief, raising Katrina's cost to the federal government to $62.3 billion so far, easily a record for domestic disaster relief.
Separately, Republican leaders moved to try to contain the political fallout from Katrina, forming a joint House-Senate review committee of senior lawmakers who will investigate the government's preparation and early response to the catastrophe. Demo... (more)
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Czech Republic President's spokesman warns EU to keep off his property(PDM staff with CTK) 6 September - The spokesman of President Vaclav Klaus has mounted a signpost on the edge of his private estate welcoming passers-by to the Czech Republic and informing them that the EU does not extend beyond the perimeter of his private property.
The sign, written in Czech and English, is furnished with the Czech coat of arms and a distinctly crossed-out EU flag.
"Some people write 'no trespassing' on their signs and I simply put this there inst... (more)
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AG charges second store owner with gas price-gouging: Faces a $1,000 fine if convicted.With soaring gas prices, state officials have been on the hunt for suspected gas gougers, and they found some. Attorney General Paul Summers filed a second price-gouging lawsuit on Tuesday, this one against a McMinnville business owner.
Investigators say that Jess Whitlock from Whitlock's Market charged $7 a gallon last Friday. Whitlock now faces a $1,000 fine if convicted.
If you suspect gas gouging, you can report it by calling 1-800-890-8366 or 1-800-342-8385, or... (more)
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FTCR: Internal Memos Show Oil Companies Intentionally Limited Refining Capacity to Drive Up Gasoline PricesSANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) today exposed internal oil company memos that show how the industry intentionally reduced domestic refining capacity to drive up profits. The exposure comes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as the oil industry blames environmental regulation for limiting number of U.S. refineries.
The three internal memos from Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco (available at http://www.consumerwatchdog.... (more)
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South Carolina's Attorney General starts unfair practices investigation after oil prices failed to decrease after pipeline damaged by Katrina repairedGasoline prices in South Carolina have barely budged despite the supply chain's return to normal operations, and that has caught the eye of state Attorney General Henry McMaster.
Trey Walker, spokesman for McMaster, said Tuesday his office had received more than 150 complaints from the public of perceived price gouging or illegal gas-pricing activity since gasoline spiked in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"We are reviewing those complaints and based on that rev... (more)
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Who Really Hates Our FreedomWhile flipping through some TV channels, I was unfortunate enough to catch a few moments of a smirking politician rambling on about freedom and liberty. What a tragic comedy. The fact that politicians still have a market to spew their crap is a testament to the lack of thought of the average viewer of such pretended "news" programs.
A few minutes of thought and any literate person of any degree of intelligence would dismiss politicians as con men. However, has any "journalist... (more)
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Gasoline, Taxes, and Middle East PolicyMy constituents in the Texas gulf coast are very concerned about the price of gasoline, especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Katrina has left nine gulf coast refineries inoperable, and reduced capacity at four. This will mean the loss of 20 to 40 million barrels of oil in coming months, and prices at the pump well over $3.
Congress can help immediately by suspending federal gas taxes, which alone add 18.4 cents to the cost of every gallon. The state of Texas adds another 2... (more)
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Navy Pilots Who Rescued Victims Are ReprimandedPENSACOLA, Fla., Sept. 6 - Two Navy helicopter pilots and their crews returned from New Orleans on Aug. 30 expecting to be greeted as lifesavers after ferrying more than 100 hurricane victims to safety.
Instead, their superiors chided the pilots, Lt. David Shand and Lt. Matt Udkow, at a meeting the next morning for rescuing civilians when their assignment that day had been to deliver food and water to military installations along the Gulf Coast.
"I felt it was a gre... (more)
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Gallup: Americans to Bush -- Withdraw Troops from IraqNEW YORK Two separate Gallup polls, detailed today in the organization's weekly report, show that Americans favor withdrawing some or all U.S. troops from Iraq.
Perhaps most revealing was a new poll which asked 1,007 Americans, "If you could talk with President Bush for 15 minutes about the situation in Iraq, what would you, personally, advise him to do?" The poll taken in late August found that 41% said they would tell him to pull troops out of Iraq and end our involvement there.... (more)
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Military occupation turns New Orleans into war zoneNew Orleans is under military occupation as well as underwater, and people wave in delight at the huge convoys of troops rumbling by, some of their vehicles in desert camouflage either back from or on their way to Iraq.
As in a war zone, military bases are being established in a city divided into sectors, while the navy has moved warships up the Mississippi for helicopter operations.
Martial law and curfews are in force. This, with the arrival of thousands of troops... (more)
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British paratroops beat Iraqi civilian to death, court martial toldSEVEN British paratroops murdered an unarmed civilian in a “brutal and unprovoked” attack eleven days after the war in Iraq had been declared over, a court martial was told yesterday.
The soldiers, members of the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, used their fists, boots, helmets and rifle butts to attack civilians who included two women, one of them pregnant, the court was told.
Martin Heslop, QC, for the prosecution, said: “This was, I am afra... (more)
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