Life in OUR America, Volume 6, The Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

I had been staying away from that story, Snuf, to be truthful!

And after reading this piece by Cal Thomas, I think I recall why that was .....

It is something that happened, but to me, it was not news ....

Not news of anything that I cared to discusss, anyway .....

It is an American story, to be sure, but again it is not an American story that I wish to know about, or to hear about .....

And so ....

"Soldier: Honor troops like Va. Tech dead"

By ALISA TANG, Associated Press Writer

Mon Apr 23, 11:16 AM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Army sergeant complained in a rare opinion article that the U.S. flag flew at half-staff last week at the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for those killed at Virginia Tech but the same honor is not given to fallen U.S. troops here and in Iraq.

In the article issued Monday by the public affairs office at Bagram military base north of Kabul, Sgt. Jim Wilt lamented that his comrades' deaths have become a mere blip on the TV screen, lacking the "shock factor" to be honored by the Stars and Stripes as the deaths at Virginia Tech were.

"I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. service member," Wilt wrote.

He noted that Bagram obeyed President Bush's order last week that all U.S. flags at federal locations be flown at half-staff through April 22 to honor 32 people killed at Virginia Tech by a 23-year-old student gunman who then killed himself.

"I think it is sad that we do not raise the bases' flag to half-staff when a member of our own task force dies," Wilt said.

According to the Defense Department, 315 U.S. service members have died in and around Afghanistan since the U.S.-led offensive that toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001, 198 of them in combat.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force said that the flags of all its troop-contributing nations are flown at half-staff for about 72 hours after the service member's death "as a mark of respect when there is an ISAF fatality."

Sgt. 1st Class Dean Welch, who works with Wilt at the U.S.-led coalition public affairs office, said the essay is a "soldier's commentary, not the view of the coalition and not the view of the U.S. forces."

Welch added that such outspoken opinion pieces are rare.

Wilt suggested that flags should fly at half-staff on the base where the fallen service member was working and in the states where they hail from.

He said some states do this, but not all of them.

He wrote that the death of a U.S. service member is just as violent as those at the university last week, but it lacks the "shock factor of the Virginia massacre."

"It is a daily occurrence these days to see X number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan scrolling across the ticker at the bottom of the TV screen."

"People have come to expect casualty counts in the nightly news; they don't expect to see 32 students killed," he wrote.

"If the flags on our (operating bases) were lowered for just one day after the death of a service member, it would show the people who knew the person that society cared, the American people care."
___

On the Net:

U.S. military in Afghanistan: http://www.cfc-a.centcom.mil/

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK POST

"SUITE LIFE FOR RUDY - HITS SWANKY HOTELS ALONG CAMPAIGN TRAIL

By MAGGIE HABERMAN

April 23, 2007 -- He's running for president, but some of Rudy Giuliani's campaign-trail hotels have been fit for a king.

Giuliani, whose campaign boasts of having spent the least cash of all the Republican White House candidates, rented rooms at a string of high-end hotels as he stumped around the country over the last three months, his campaign filings show.

They included the swank Fairmont San Francisco, the Arizona Biltmore hotel in Phoenix and the Hotel Andalucia in Santa Barbara, where the campaign paid $2,457 at the end of last month.

Some $4,600 went to the Conrad Hotel in Indianapolis, a city where the candidate held a fund-raiser last month co-hosted by former Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, a policy adviser to Giuliani.

Despite light campaign travel in January and February, Giuliani's three-month tab on out-of-town hotels was $48,500.

While Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had posh hotel stays of her own - including the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel - Republican Giuliani's campaign topped the $35,082 her team spent on hotels.

"It's a bad message," said University of Virginia political-science expert Larry Sabato.

"Americans expect their candidates to work hard and, yes, grovel a bit running for president."

"And they want to know that you're sacrificing."

Giuliani's two main GOP rivals spent more than he did overall, and the same was true for their hotel bills.

Mitt Romney's campaign shelled out $60,000, and Sen. John McCain's spent $53,500 - and both had ritzy sleepovers.

But those campaigns had bigger operations in place earlier, and had staffers stay primarily in such lower-end lodgings as the Days Inn and Holiday Inn chains.

Giuliani campaign sources said two bills were mislabeled in the election filings - a Conrad Hotel bill for roughly $7,000, and a $1,500 bill at the Marriott West Palm Beach in Florida, where he stayed to attend a roundtable discussion.

The sources said that Giuliani's hotel bills are for himself and staffers, but that costs rose for certain events, such as ones involving members of the campaign-finance team.

Giuliani spokeswoman Maria Comella noted that the campaign leads its GOP rivals with more than $11 million still in the bank.

California-based Republican consultant Dan Schnur, who worked for McCain in 2000, said Giuliani shouldn't be singled out.

"It could have been worse - he could have been going to John Edwards' barber," said Schnur, referring to the Democratic candidate's two $400 haircuts.

"The fairest way to look at these things is overall spending levels."

maggie.haberman@nypost.com

[Livyjr]

"Taking aim"

By Cal Thomas

April 20, 2007

Inevitably, evil finds ways to break through and nothing can prevent it, but we might have a better chance against evil and the people it controls if more of us were trained how to fight back, just in case the police are not close, as in Blacksburg, Va.

Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist.

FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS "DAILY POLITICS" BLOG:

Human life in America, topo, is one damn cheap commodity!

In fact, it is mostly worthless!

Valueless!

How it came to be that way is a mystery to me, but if one goes back and reads all 200+ pages of the Dred Scott decision from back in the 1850's, one gets a glimmer of an idea, I think, anyway, since Chief Justice Taney and his brothers in black robes make it pretty clear that human life did not mean very much, even back then!

These VT shootings and the other daily crap that goes on in America reminds me of that book by H.G. Wells, "The Time Machine", where humans had evolved into two distinct parts, with one being predators, and the other being nothing but prey!

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice have all done their level best, as I see it, being a combat veteran, to totally devalue human life with their dismissals of the wanton, indiscriminate killing of the women and children that they call "collateral damage", and since followers emulate "leaders", I cannot help but think, as an older person, that those three bear some responsibility for how violent this America has become since the year 2000.

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | April 20, 2007 6:36 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...6.html#comments

[Livyjr]

"Car bombing in Iraq kills 9 U.S. troops"

By HAMID AHMED, Associated Press Writer

25 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - In one of the deadliest attacks on American ground forces since the Iraq war started more than four years ago, a suicide car bomber struck a patrol base northeast of Baghdad and killed nine U.S. soldiers and wounded 20, officials said.

An Iraqi civilian also was wounded in the attack on Task Force Lightning soldiers in Diyala province, a volatile area that has been the site of fierce fighting involving U.S. and Iraqi troops, Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias.

At least 48 Iraqis were killed in seven other bombings, violence that has persisted despite a nearly 10-week-old U.S.-Iraqi security crackdown aimed at pacifying Baghdad.

Of the 20 wounded in the attack on the patrol base, 15 soldiers were treated and returned to duty while five others and the Iraqi were evacuated to a medical facility for further care, the military said.

It was the second bold attack against a U.S. base north of Baghdad in just over two months and was notable for its use of a suicide car bomber.

Militants have mostly used hit-and-run ambushes, roadside bombs or mortars on U.S. troops and stayed away from direct assaults on fortified military compounds to avoid U.S. firepower.

On Feb. 19, insurgents struck a U.S. combat post in Tarmiyah, about 30 miles north of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding 17 in what the military called a "coordinated attack."

It began with a suicide car bombing followed by gunfire on soldiers pinned down in a former Iraqi police station where fuel storage tanks were set ablaze by the blast.

American troops are facing increasing danger as they step up their presence in outposts and police stations in the Baghdad area as part of the security crackdown to which President Bush has committed an extra 30,000 troops.

Sunni militants are believed to have withdrawn to surrounding areas such as Diyala province where they have safe haven.

The U.S. command also deployed an extra 700 soldiers to the area last month.

A U.S. soldier also was killed Monday in a roadside bombing in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, a predominantly Shiite area that also is in Diyala, the military said in an earlier statement.

A British soldier was shot to death while on patrol in the southern city of Basra, officials said.

The deaths raised to 85 the number of U.S. service members who died have in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for American troops since December, when 112 died.

It was the single deadliest attack on ground forces since Dec. 1, 2005, when a roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 on a foot patrol near Fallujah.

Twelve soldiers died when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Diyala on Jan. 20.

The military said it might have been shot down but the investigation is still ongoing.

In other devastating attacks, 14 Marines were killed when a roadside bomb struck an amphibious assault vehicle near the western town of Haditha on Aug. 3, 2005.

And a suicide bomber struck a mess tent in a base near Mosul on Dec. 21, 2004, killing 22 people, including 14 U.S. soldiers and three American contractors.

On Tuesday, two car bombs exploded near the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, police said.

The bombs exploded within two minutes of each other at about 10 a.m. in a public parking lot located about 150 yards from the front of the Iranian Embassy, wounding six civilians but causing no damage to the embassy or its guards, a police officer said on condition of anonymity out of concern for his own security.

On Monday, two parked car bombs exploded outside the Iranian Embassy.

One bomb exploded near the same public parking lot, killing one civilian and wounding another; the other parked car bomb exploded close to a police patrol near the Iranian Embassy, killing one civilian and wounding two officers, police said.

The prominent Iraqi Sunni insurgent group Islamic Ansar al-Sunnah issued a statement on its Web site claiming responsibility for Monday's bombing near the parking lot.

At least 68 Iraqis were killed or found dead Monday, according to police, including 10 in a suicide car bombing against a police station in the Diyala provincial capital of Baqouba.

With the U.S. casualty toll mounting, Democratic leaders in Washington agreed Monday on legislation that requires the first American combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1 with a goal of a complete pullout six months later.

Bush has promised to veto any such measure as the legislative confrontation intensifies.

[Livyjr]

"Ancient Rainforest Revealed in Coal Mine"

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff, LiveScience.com

Mon Apr 23, 12:25 PM ET

Scientists exploring a mine have uncovered a natural Sistine chapel showing not religious paintings, but incredibly well preserved images of sprawling tree trunks and fallen leaves that once breathed life into an ancient rainforest.

Replete with a diverse mix of extinct plants, the 300-million-year-old fossilized forest is revealing clues about the ecology of Earth’s first rainforests.

The discovery and details of the forest are published in the May issue of the journal Geology.

“We’re looking at one instance in time over a large area."

"It’s literally a snapshot in time of a multiple square mile area,” said study team member Scott Elrick of the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS).

Forest find

Over millions of years as sediments and plant material pile up, layer upon layer, the resulting bands become time indicators with the newest, youngest layer on the top and the oldest layer at the bottom.

Typically geologists peel away a vertical slice of rocky material to look at material, including fossils, over a period of time.

A coal mine offers a unique view of the past.

Instead of a time sequence, illuminated in the layer upon layer of sediments, the roof of an underground mine reveals a large area within one of those sediment layers, or time periods.

Miners in Illinois are used to seeing a few plant fossils strewn along a mine’s ceiling, but as they burrowed farther into this one, the sheer density and area covered by such fossils struck them as phenomenal, Elrick said.

That’s when they called paleobotanist Howard Falcon-Lang from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and William DiMichele, a curator of fossil plants at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

"It was an amazing experience."

"We drove down the mine in an armored vehicle, until we were a hundred meters below the surface,” Falcon-Lang said.

“The fossil forest was rooted on top of the coal seam, so where the coal had been mined away the fossilized forest was visible in the ceiling of the mine.”

Forest snapshot

Here’s what the miners and other scientists saw underground: Relatively narrow passageways wind through the “cave,” marked off with stout 100-foot-wide pillars to ensure the roof doesn’t collapse.

“It’s like in some bizarre Roman temple with tons of Corinthian pillars that are 100 feet across and only six feet tall,” Elrick told LiveScience.

“As you’re walking down these passageways you see these pillars of coal on either side of you and above you—imagine an artist’s canvas painted a flat grey and that is sort of what the grey shale above the coal looks like.”

The largest ever found, the fossil forest covers an area of about 40 square miles, or nearly the size of San Francisco.

This ancient assemblage of flora is thought to be one of the first rainforests on Earth, emerging during the Upper Carboniferous, or Pennsylvanian, time period that extended from about 310 million to 290 million years ago.

A reconstruction of the ancient forest showed that like today’s rainforests, it had a layered structure with a mix of plants now extinct: Abundant club mosses stood more than 130-feet high, towering over a sub-canopy of tree ferns and an assortment of shrubs and tree-sized horsetails that looked like giant asparagus.

Flash freeze

The scientists think a major earthquake about 300 million years ago caused the region to drop below sea level where it was buried in mud.

They estimate that within a period of months the forest was buried, preserving it “forever.”

“Some of these tree stumps have been covered geologically speaking in a flash,” Elrick said.

Because the spatial layout of the forest has been maintained, the scientists can learn about entire plant communities, not just individual plants.

"This spectacular discovery allows us to track how the species make-up of the forest changed across the landscape, and how that species make-up is affected by subtle differences in the local environment," Falcon-Lang said.

The fossil forest extends along the ceiling of two adjacent mines, the Riola mine and the Vermillion Grove mine, which are located in Vermillion County, just south of Danville, Ill.

[Livyjr]

"Mystery fossil turns out to be giant fungus"

Mon Apr 23, 5:29 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists have identified the Godzilla of fungi, a giant, prehistoric fossil that has evaded classification for more than a century, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

A chemical analysis has shown that the 20-foot-tall (6-metre) organism with a tree-like trunk was a fungus that became extinct more than 350 million years ago, according to a study appearing in the May issue of the journal Geology.

Known as Prototaxites, the giant fungus originally was thought to be a conifer.

Then some believed it was a lichen, or various types of algae.

Some suspected it was a fungus.

"A 20-foot-fungus doesn't make any sense."

"Neither does a 20-foot-tall algae make any sense, but here's the fossil," C. Kevin Boyce, a University of Chicago assistant professor of geophysical sciences, said in a statement.

Francis Hueber of the National Museum of Natural History first suggested the fungus possibility based on an analysis of the fossil's internal structure, but had no conclusive proof.

Boyce and colleagues filled in the blanks, comparing the types of carbon found in the giant fossil with plants that lived about the same time, about 400 million years ago.

If Prototaxites were a plant, its carbon structures would resemble similar plants.

Instead, Boyce found a much greater diversity in carbon content than would have been expected of a plant.

Fungi, which include yeast, mold and mushrooms, represent their own kingdom, neither plant nor animal.

Once classified as plants, they are now considered a closer cousin to animals but they absorb rather than eat their food.

Samples of the giant fungi have been found all over the world from 420 million to 350 million years ago during a period in which millipedes, bugs and worms were among the first creatures to make their home on dry land.

No animals with a backbone had left the oceans yet.

The tallest trees stood no more than a couple of feet (a meter) high, offering little competition for the towering fungi.

Plant-eating dinosaurs had not yet evolved to trample Prototaxites' to the ground.

"It's hard to imagine these things surviving in the modern world," Boyce said.

[Livyjr]

"Great Lakes fish virus may threaten U.S. aquaculture"

By Lisa Haarlander Mon Apr 23, 4:02 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A virus in the U.S. Great Lakes that has killed tens of thousands of fish in recent years is spreading and poses a threat to inland fish farming, a U.S. Agriculture Department official said on Monday.

The pathogen, viral hemorrhagic septicemia, or VHS, causes internal bleeding in fish.

It does not harm humans, even if they eat infected fish.

The federal agency issued an emergency order in October to limit movement of live fish caught in the eight states bordering the Great Lakes and two Canadian provinces.

"We're concerned that this virus could get out of the Great Lakes and affect other populations," Jill Roland, a fish pathologist and assistant director for aquaculture for the USDA in Riverdale, Maryland, said in a telephone interview.

"The virus could potentially affect the catfish industry," she said.

Catfish make up the largest sector of the $1 billion U.S. aquaculture industry, accounting for $462 million in sales, according to a 2005 USDA aquaculture census.

The public first began hearing about the virus after a die-off of fish in Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and the upper St. Lawrence River in May 2006 with dead fish washing up on beaches.

There is little the government can do to prevent the spread of the disease, other than limiting human movement of fish that may have the virus.

Fish caught in the Great Lakes may be used as bait in other parts of the country, with extra fish dumped into the water.

Commercial farms sometimes get their breeding stock from wild fish.

However, fish migrate naturally and the Great Lakes does connect with the Mississippi River, a major waterway that runs to the Gulf of Mexico.

Scientists believe the VHS virus has been in the Great Lakes since 2003.

Its origin is unknown but researchers think it may have come from bilge water released from one or more of the hundreds of ocean-going vessels plying the Lakes.

Another strain of the virus has affected trout and other freshwater fish raised commercially in Europe for several years.

"It has caused huge problems," said Roland of the virus in Europe.

Scientists are not sure how easily the virus is transmitted between fish and what percentage of infected fish develop symptoms and die.

Fish can also be infected by water contaminated with the virus.

"We're not quite sure just how deadly to fish it's going to be yet," said John Dettmers, senior fishery biologist at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in Michigan.

"There are 37 susceptible species so far that we are aware of."

Those species include lake whitefish, walleye and yellow perch, all among the top commercially fished species in the Great Lakes, Dettmers said.

Symptoms can include bulging eyes, bloated abdomens and lesions that look similar to other diseases, so testing is necessary to confirm VHS is the cause.

The virus has been detected in three of the five Great Lakes -- Huron, Ontario and Erie.

It will probably eventually spread to lakes Michigan and Superior, Dettmers said.

[Livyjr]

"Wolfowitz pledges changes in bank flap"

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

2 hours, 13 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz pledged Tuesday to make "major changes" in the way his office operates as he fights to keep his job for arranging a lucrative compensation package for his girlfriend.

The fresh overture — made in a message to the bank's staff — comes as a special panel at the bank is investigating Wolfowitz' handling of the promotion of bank employee Shaha Riza to a high-paying job at the State Department in 2005.

The memo was read to The Associated Press by a bank official not authorized to speak on the record.

The World Bank's 24-member board will ultimately decide what action, if any, to take.

The controversy has provoked allegations of favoritism from staff and prompted calls for Wolfowitz to step down.

Wolfowitz has acknowledged making a mistake, has apologized and has said he won't resign.

In his message to employees, Wolfowitz reached out to the bank's vice presidents for feedback on management changes.

He didn't give specifics.

"I will be finding ways to consult them as a collective sounding board for finalizing major changes in the way my office and the senior management team work in order to address the concerns that have emerged in my discussions over the past few days," Wolfowitz said in the message.

Critics fear the flap has tarnished the institution — which fights global poverty — and threatens to hinder the bank's ability to raise close to $30 billion from donor countries to help poor countries, many of which are in Africa.

Wolfowitz praised the staff for their development work and asked them to be patient.

"You have all been working very hard, and I assure you that the management team and our development partners are proud of your efforts in these difficult circumstances," he said.

"I understand the importance of coming to closure in a timely manner on the issue involving me and would ask for your continued patience in allowing time for the board to do its work."

[Livyjr]

"Cheney criticizes Reid over Iraq policy"

By ANNE FLAHERTY, Associated Press Writer

38 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday of pursuing a defeatist strategy in Iraq to win votes in the next election — a charge Reid said did not warrant a response.

The two sparred hours after President Bush said he will veto the latest war spending bill taking shape in Congress, which includes a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq.

Cheney, after attending the weekly Republican policy lunch on Capitol Hill, lashed out at Reid.

"Some Democratic leaders seem to believe that blind opposition to the new strategy in Iraq is good politics," Cheney said.

"Sen. Reid himself has said that the war in Iraq will bring his party more seats in the next election.

"It is cynical to declare that the war is lost because you believe it gives you political advantage," Cheney said.

Reid, D-Nev., dismissed Cheney's remarks later to reporters, but not before getting in his own dig at the vice president.

"I'm not going to get into a name calling match with the administration's chief attack dog," Reid said.

Democrats are preparing to send Bush a $124.2 billion bill that would, among other things, fund the war in Iraq but require that troops begin pulling out on Oct. 1, or earlier if the Iraqi government does not make progress in tamping down sectarian violence and forging political agrements.

The bill ultimately sets a nonbinding goal for combat operations to end by April 1, 2008.

"It's a good piece of legislation," Reid said.

"I would hope the president would stop being so brusque and waving it off."

"This is a bill that is good for the troops."

"It's good for the country."

Bush stood firm Tuesday against any measure that would set a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops.

"I'm disappointed that the Democratic leadership has chosen this course," Bush said.

"They chose to make a political statement," he said.

"That's their right but it is wrong for our troops and it's wrong for our country."

"To accept the bill proposed by the Democratic leadership would be to accept a policy that directly contradicts the judgment of our military commanders."

Democrats said they won't back down and pointed to past remarks by Gen. David Petraeus, the new Iraq commander, that security in Iraq requires a political solution.

Reid, who says the war in Iraq is "lost," likened Bush to President Lyndon Johnson, saying Johnson ordered troop escalations in Vietnam in an attempt "to save his political legacy" only to watch U.S. casualties climb steadily.

Bush said U.S. troops should not be caught in the middle of a showdown between the White House and Congress.

"Yesterday, Democratic leaders announced that they planned to send me a bill that will fund our troops only if we agree to handcuff our generals, add billions of dollars of unrelated spending and begin to pull out of Iraq by an arbitrary date," Bush said on the South Lawn.

He said the bill would mandate the withdrawal of U.S. troops beginning as early as July 1 and no later than Oct. 1, despite the fact that Petraeus has not yet received all the reinforcements he has said he needs in the latest military buildup to help secure Baghdad and the troubled Anbar Province.

Democrats have argued that the election that left Democrats in control of Congress was a referendum for a change of strategy in Iraq.

Bush used the same election results to argue his point.

"The American people did not vote for failure," he said.

"That is precisely what the Democratic leadership's bill would guarantee."

"It's not too late for Congress to do the right thing."

Petraeus will try to persuade lawmakers in a private briefing this week to pursue a difference course.

As part of the president's push, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was expected to meet Tuesday with key senators, including members of the Senate Finance Committee, to discuss the funding bill.

The topic also likely will be discussed at a policy lunch that Vice President Dick Cheney is having on Capitol Hill.

Radio ads expected to air Tuesday will attack Reid as treating troops like a "political football," GOP officials said.

According to a transcript, an Iraq veteran identified as Capt. Trip Bellard says, "Senator Reid's remarks undercut the morale of our soldiers and undermine our troops on the ground."

As outlined by Democratic officials, the emerging legislation would require the withdrawal of U.S. forces to begin by Oct. 1, even earlier if Bush cannot certify that the Iraqi government is making progress in disarming militias, reducing sectarian violence and forging political compromises.

Another provision in the measure would withhold about $850 million in foreign aid from the Iraqis if the government does not meet those standards.

end quotes

The damn fool Dick Cheney is just about the last man on the face of the earth who should be criticizing anyone over Iraq policy, since he is one of the damn fools who got us into the mess that is being criticized, and rightly so, because America followed a damn fool like Dick Cheney to war, when it was a damn stupid thing to do ....

And "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice don't have any credibility, at all ....

And so ...

[Livyjr]

"6 dead as storms strike Texas community"

Associated Press

Last updated: 5:12 a.m., Wednesday, April 25, 2007

EAGLE PASS, Texas -- Six people were killed when severe storms spawned a tornado that struck a small community near the Mexican border Tuesday, officials said.

The six people killed were reportedly in one home, said Eagle Pass Fire Chief Roy Delacruz.

The tornado took the greatest toll on the unincorporated areas of Maverick County known as Loma Linda, Chula Vista and Rosita Valley, officials said.

The tornado destroyed Rosita Valley Elementary School, more than 20 homes and the Eagle Pass municipal sewer treatment plant, Eagle Pass Mayor Chad Foster said.

Nobody was in the school when the tornado hit, he said.

Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center, the Eagle Pass hospital, received 74 injured patients, Foster said.

Four patients in critical condition were transported to other regional hospitals, four patients were admitted locally and 32 were discharged, Foster added.

"The hospital in the early stages was being overrun, but they had called in additional doctors and were able to take care of business," Foster said.

"I spoke with the hospital administrator and they're under control."

Hospital officials could not immediately be reached Tuesday.

The Eagle Pass school district canceled classes for Wednesday, Foster said.

The National Weather Service said the tornado struck a few miles south of Eagle Pass just after 7 p.m.

More than 200 emergency responders, including National Guard units attached to the Border Patrol, were conducting search and rescue efforts, he said.

Their door-to-door checks were halted late Tuesday as another series of dangerous storms swept the area.

The thunderstorm that produced the deadly tornado developed over Mexico and moved southeast over the Rio Grande and across Maverick County, said Clay Anderson, a senior forecaster with the Austin-San Antonio office of the weather service.

In Piedras Negras, Mexico, at least three people were killed and at least 40 were injured in the severe weather, authorities said.

The violent storm ripped roofs from homes, toppled power poles and damaged dozens of cars and homes, said Oscar Murillo, the city's civil protection director.

Eagle Pass is located about 145 miles southwest of San Antonio.

[Livyjr]

"Ex-VA cancer chief admits role in scandal - Researcher who ran Stratton center program that caused death of a veteran pleads guilty to failing to protect patients"

By BRENDAN J. LYONS Senior writer, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Wednesday, April 25, 2007

ALBANY -- An oncologist who headed the cancer research program at Stratton VA Medical Center during a time when veterans were used like guinea pigs pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor federal charge Tuesday, admitting he failed to protect his patients from a rogue researcher who caused at least one patient to die.

Dr. James A. Holland, 49, who has recently worked at a cancer program for a hospital in Georgia, where he now lives, faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $100,000.

But under federal sentencing guidelines, Holland could escape any jail time.

He pleaded guilty to one count of wrongfully and unlawfully failing to establish and maintain adequate and accurate cases on patients participating in drug studies.

It's not clear whether the conviction will affect Holland's professional licenses or research credentials.

At least one veteran died and 64 others suffered unduly or were harmed by the forgeries, which involved manipulating their medical backgrounds so they would qualify for drug studies that were lucrative for the hospital and which had furthered the researchers' careers.

The corruption took place over several years and centered largely around the work of Paul H. Kornak, 55, a Stratton research specialist who posed as a doctor even though he never finished medical school.

Kornak was sentenced in November 2005 to six years in prison for his part in the research scandal.

Federal prosecutors did not provide advance notice of Holland's plea proceeding despite the case having generated national attention and congressional action, including a nationwide ramping up of VA hiring practices and mandatory background checks for prospective employees.

While federal authorities claim the research violations took place over about three years, beginning in May 1999, other VA workers have said the cancer program's problems, including the endangering of patients, stretched back years and involved other researchers.

Indeed, Kornak once said he was "used" by Holland, and that others within the hospital knew what was taking place.

Kornak, formerly of Clifton Park, pleaded guilty to one count each of mail fraud and criminally negligent homicide.

He cooperated with investigators and offered to testify before a grand jury.

But it's not clear if prosecutors ever took that step before negotiating their misdemeanor plea bargain with Holland.

Holland and Kornak were fired by the hospital in 2002 after a private drug company investigator noticed problems with the medical records of patients.

Authorities have never offered a clear motive for the forgeries.

At his sentencing nearly two years ago, Kornak laid blame squarely with Holland.

"Every action and decision in this case was ordered and prescribed by the program director (Holland)," Kornak had said.

"It was his decision that all patients should fit into his study; and that without any consequence to those affected."

"I wish to further state that even though I accept all the responsibility, I was used and not even given a full opportunity to express myself to him at that time."

It was not Kornak's first brush with the federal justice system.

In 1992, he pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to a felony fraud count for forging a medical license application.

Despite his conviction, Stratton's former cancer research director, Dr. William Hrushesky, gave Kornak a job that included processing patients for drug studies.

The federal investigation confirmed only one veteran's death from the scandal, although more deaths were suspected, according to court records filed as part of lawsuits filed by the widows of more than five veterans.

The veteran whose death was proven to be caused by the researchers was James J. DiGeorgio, a 71-year-old Air Force veteran from Brunswick who died at the hospital in June 2001 while being infused with experimental drugs.

Holland, as part of his plea, admitted that he had never reviewed any of DiGeorgio's medical records or checked their accuracy, which is required for the leaders of drug studies.

Stratton officials could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

They have never placed any blame with Holland, previously saying only that they were victimized by Kornak.

However, under Holland's watch, Kornak openly served in a doctor's role, including treating patients and advising their families about research alternatives.

Several widows of veterans said Kornak was introduced to them as "Dr. Kornak," and that he gave them VA-issued business cards that indicated he had a medical license, which he does not.

A Times Union investigation found that Stratton's cancer research program was the target of internal complaints dating to the mid-1990s.

Hospital staffers said they were harshly retaliated against for warning hospital administrators as early as 1994 that cancer patients were being placed at risk and being enrolled in drug studies without signing consent forms indicating they knew the risks.

Anthony Mariano, Stratton's former pharmacy director, said he and Jeffrey Fudin, another Stratton pharmacist, went to the FBI eight years ago to report allegations of widespread corruption at the embattled hospital.

As early as 1995, they had warned that patients with cancer and other illnesses were being placed at risk -- or had died -- because of the way experimental drugs were being used.

Patients also were enrolled in drug studies without signing consent forms indicating they had been informed about the risk, they said.

Instead of investigating the allegations, hospital administrators allegedly retaliated against the men and ended the pharmacy's role in monitoring research drugs, according to court records.

Mariano said he eventually was forced to leave his job while Fudin was fired, but later had his job reinstated by a federal court.

Both men have said their efforts to get federal authorities and elected leaders to closely examine their situations have been rebuked.

Lyons can be reached at 454-5547 or by e-mail at blyons@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Al-Qaida group claims 9 U.S. deaths"

By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

Wed Apr 25, 1:48 AM ET

BAGHDAD - An al-Qaida-linked group claimed Tuesday that it used "new methods" in staging a double suicide bombing with dump trucks that blasted a paratrooper outpost in volatile Diyala province, killing nine Americans from the 82nd Airborne Division and wounding 20.

The attack underscored the ability of guerrillas of the Sunni Arab-dominated insurgency to wage war in Iraq four years after the U.S.-led invasion, and it came in a region that has seen violence escalate since U.S. and Iraqi troops launched the security crackdown in Baghdad.

The first truck hit outlying concrete barriers surrounding the outpost at Sadah and exploded after soldiers opened fire.

A second truck rammed into the wrecked vehicles, dragging it and other rubble before it exploded 30 yards from the building housing the post's troops, said Lt. Col. Michael Donnelly, U.S. military spokesman in north Iraq.

Neither vehicle penetrated the patrol base's inner perimeter, but the second powerful blast ruptured the wall of the building, collapsing its second floor and causing most of the soldier casualties, a U.S. military statement said Wednesday.

A civilian house was destroyed and several smaller structures collapsed in a nearby neighborhood, the military said.

A civilian hospital and a mosque about 200 yards from the patrol base also were damaged.

All the casualties were in the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, which has been conducting operations in largely impoverished villages in the area as part of a security push to tame insurgent activity in Diyala.

The deaths made April the deadliest month of the year for the U.S. military.

It was also the single deadliest attack on U.S. ground forces since Dec. 1, 2005, when 10 Marines were killed by a bomb inside an abandoned flour mill near Fallujah.

"We are recovering, supporting the families during this time of loss, praying for them and continuing our mission," Donnelly told The Associated Press in telephone interview.

"The enemy brings nothing to benefit the people — nothing."

The attack at Sadah inflicted the biggest loss on the 82nd Airborne since June 1969, when 12 paratroopers were ambushed and killed in Vietnam, a spokesman, Maj. Tom Earnhardt, said at the division's base at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Donnelly said the patrol base was set up less than a month ago after an operation that sought to drive militants from the area.

Sadah, a rural Sunni town of about 7,000 people near the capital of Diyala province, Baqouba, has been an al-Qaida stronghold.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Sunni militants that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, said it was behind the suicide attack.

Its account on the Internet was similar to that of the U.S. military, but claimed it used new techniques.

"Almighty God has guided the soldiers of the Islamic State of Iraq to new methods of explosions," the statement said without elaborating, while claiming 30 Americans died.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the style of the attack fit the pattern of al-Qaida but he said an investigation was under way into who was to blame and exactly what happened.

When asked about the "new methods" claimed by the group, he said the military was on heightened alert for dump trucks as they had been used in several recent high-profile attacks.

"The use of dump trucks seems to be a recurring theme recently in the last few weeks," he said.

He said the military had foiled several attempts to use the large vehicles, mentioning the discovery earlier this month of a dump truck filled with barrels of gasoline that overturned north of Baghdad.

Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, said he didn't think the attack demonstrated a particular new technology, adding that securing remote bases in Iraq has always been difficult for U.S. troops.

"Small arms fire followed by two truck bombs is not new, it's just effective use of time-tested tactics," he said in an e-mail message.

American troops are facing increasing danger as they step up their presence in outposts and police stations in Baghdad and areas surrounding the city, as part of the security crackdown to which President Bush has committed an additional 30,000 soldiers and Marines.

"The new counterinsurgency strategy takes U.S. forces out of relatively safe positions and exposes them," said Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq watcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"It simultaneously gives any hostile faction in their area of operation greater incentives to attack them, while making them more dependent on the Iraqi army and police, and local support, to avoid infiltration and spying that can lead to more effective attacks."

Sunni militants are believed to have moved out of the capital to seek haven in nearby areas like Diyala.

The U.S. command deployed an extra 700 soldiers to Diyala last month.

The military, meanwhile, reported a Marine killed Monday in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar province, west of Baghdad.

That was in addition to a U.S. soldier reported killed the same day in a roadside bombing in Diyala, raising to 86 the number of American troops killed this month.

In other violence, 83 Iraqis were killed or found dead around Iraq.
___

Associated Press writer Sarah DiLorenzo in New York contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

"Dow passes 13,000 on earnings data"

By MADLEN READ and TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writers

55 minutes ago

NEW YORK - It looks like a cause for celebration: The Dow Jones industrial average surged from 12,000 to 13,000 in just six months.

But appearances can be deceiving, and there may be more reason to worry rather than rejoice about Wall Street's latest accomplishment.

Stronger-than-expected profits from several large companies helped push the stock market to historic heights.

But many big corporations, including the Dow components, made a chunk of that money overseas, where economies are growing faster than in the U.S.

And many of the same worries that weighed on investors earlier in the year remain: rising energy costs, a slumping housing market and a possible credit crunch.

Still, the stock market's best-known indicator surged past its latest milestone shortly after trading began Wednesday, and even made it past 13,100, rising as high as 13,107.45.

According to preliminary calculations, it closed at 13,089.89, up 135.95 or 1.05 percent.

The broader market shared in the rally.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 15.01, or 1.01 percent, to 1,495.42, after reaching 1,496.59, a six-and-a-half-year high.

The technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index advanced 23.35, or 0.92 percent, to 2,547.89, after hitting a six-year high of 2,551.39.

And the Russell 2000 index, which reflects the performance of smaller companies, also had a record close, rising 5.71, or 0.69 percent, to 832.07.

It took the Dow just 129 trading days, since Oct. 18, to make the trek from 12,000 to 13,000, far less than the 7 1/2 years the blue chips took to go from 11,000 to 12,000.

But the swiftness of this latest trip does recall the days of the dot-com boom when the major indexes were soaring and it took the Dow a mere 24 days to barrel from 10,000 to 11,000.

The Dow climbed to a record this time as many of the country's biggest companies surpassed analysts' first-quarter earnings projections.

Among those beating forecasts Wednesday: soft-drink maker PepsiCo Inc., materials manufacturer Corning Inc. and Dow component Boeing Co.

Wall Street got an additional lift from the Commerce Department's report on durable goods last month, which showed a gain in orders of business capital goods and reassured investors that demand for U.S. products remains strong.

The department also reported that sales of new homes rebounded slightly in March.

About two-thirds of U.S. companies so far have reported earnings that were in line with or higher than analyst expectations, said Jim Herrick, director of equity trading at Baird & Co.

"We've had pockets of companies report better earnings, and in light of the Fed not appearing to raise rates anytime soon, that bodes well for the market," said Herrick.

"Going forward, the market's going to be data-driven."

"The market's going to focus on economic data to get a hint about what the Fed will do in the latter half of the year."

Wednesday's advance gained even more momentum from the Federal Reserve's assessment that economic growth seemed moderate in much of the country.

Inflation appeared tame, according to the Fed's Beige Book, which describes economic conditions in regions around the country and arrives two weeks before the central bank's next meeting.

Investors have been encouraged by stable earnings growth, which shows that U.S. companies are faring well despite a slow economy.

A large reason why corporate growth has held up is strength in international sales; PepsiCo Inc., for one, said Wednesday its overall profit rose 16 percent, despite a drop in operating profit at its North America unit.

Also giving exporters an advantage, the dollar is trading near historical lows versus the euro.

The 13-nation currency rose as high as $1.3664 Wednesday.

"International sales are a huge part of S&P 500 revenues, and this lower dollar makes these companies more competitive," said Scott Wren, equity strategist for A.G. Edwards & Sons.

He said analysts estimate 30 to 40 percent of sales at S&P 500 companies come from countries outside the United States.

The biggest gainer in the 30 Dow companies was Alcoa Inc.

The aluminum producer said Wednesday it's considering selling its packaging and consumer businesses, which account for about 10 percent of annual revenue.

Alcoa rose $1.81, or 5.3 percent, to $35.76.

The technology-dominated Nasdaq was lifted by Amazon.com, which reported late Tuesday that its first-quarter profit more than doubled, besting analyst estimates.

The Web retailer also boosted its revenue outlook for the year, reassuring investors that technology companies have the potential to keep posting profits.

Amazon rose $12.06, or 27 percent, to $56.81.

The Dow was the first of the major indexes to recover from the stock market's prolonged slump in the early part of the decade.

The S&P 500 has yet to reach its closing peak of 1,527.46, set in March 2000, and no one expects the Nasdaq to equal its record of 5,048.62, also reached in March 2000, anytime soon.

Wednesday's run-up helped buoy the major indexes gains for the year, sending the Dow, S&P and Nasdaq each up more than 5 percent.

The Dow's latest achievement did not come without setbacks and volatility — the index lost 416 points in a single session on Feb. 27 amid fears that the U.S. economy would fall into recession and that China's economy would slow as well.

Wall Street has since had periodic shudders over signs that inflation might be getting out of hand — a trend that would lead the Fed to resume interest rate hikes — and over data showing weakness in the housing market.

Just two weeks ago, the Dow fell nearly 90 points after minutes from the last Fed meeting showed the central bank's level of concern about inflation.

Inflation could re-emerge as an obstacle to the stock market's uptrend if energy costs keep surging.

On Wednesday, crude oil futures settled up $1.26 to $65.64 per barrel and gasoline futures rose to 8 1/2 month highs on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after the Energy Department reported a decline in U.S. gasoline inventories.

Bonds fell after the positive economic data and amid the advance in stocks.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.65 percent from 4.62 percent late Tuesday.

Gold prices rose.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.68 billion shares.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 1.24 percent.

Britain's FTSE 100 closed up 0.50 percent, Germany's DAX index gained 1.00 percent, and France's CAC-40 added 1.04 percent.
___

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

[lenal]

It is strange how silent the financial community is about how the fantastic amount of government spending on the war has goosed this economy to such extreme levels-----the rise before the fall perhaps.

Instead we are fed the propaganda about how great the economy is and how it is all due to the uber rich getting those Bush tax cuts.

Does the awakening cometh?


lenal

[Livyjr]

Howdy, lenal!

And thanks for expressing those thoughts in so few words, which makes the point real clear!

Maybe that is because as we get older, we have more time to think and see through the hype ....

I listen to what is going on with "the economy" where I am, where the government is the prop that puts profits into business ....

And I can't help but think that we are living in a time of absolute madness akin to the "Great Leap Forward" in Maoist China, where Chairman Mao's downright stupid economic policies caused the starvation and death of untold numbers of people ....

Or perhaps the 3 and 5 year plans of the former Soviet Union ....

The government now has a responsibility to assure that certain profit levels are reached by this business or that ....

And it is the "state" which is now determining what businesses shall be "the business" of the future ....

Incredible!

This post has been edited by Livyjr: Apr 26 2007, 04:39 AM

[Livyjr]

"9 dead in Iraqi army checkpoint attack"

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer

6 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomb attack on an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Iraq killed at least nine soldiers Thursday, police said.

The attack occurred at about 9 a.m. in Khalis, 50 miles north of Baghdad, a police officer said on condition of anonymity out of concern for his own safety.

Ten Iraqi soldiers and five civilians were wounded, the officer said.

The city is located in Diyala province, which has seen some of the worst violence recently as mostly Sunni militants are believed to have fled to the area since U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a security crackdown in Baghdad on Feb. 14.

On Wednesday, four Iraqi police officers were killed when a suicide bomber struck a police station in the Diyala city of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Two days earlier, a double-suicide bombing struck a paratrooper outpost in the province, killing nine U.S. troops.

An al-Qaida-linked group claimed responsibility.

In other violence on Thursday, two suicide bombers attacked an office of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Massoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, killing three of its guards and wounding five, police said.

The casualties could have been higher if guards had not opened fire on the two attackers, forcing them to detonate their explosives at least 50 yards from the office, police said.

The attack occurred at about 8 a.m. in Zumar, a town that is 45 miles west of Mosul, the capital of Ninevah province.

It was the second suicide attack this week aimed at the KDP in that area.

On Monday, a suicide car bomber attacked a KDP office in another town near Mosul, which is 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20.

In a separate attack in Mosul on Monday, suspected insurgents assassinated a local KDP official in a drive-by-shooting, police said.

[Livyjr]

"U.S. soldier accused of aiding the enemy"

1 minute ago

BAGHDAD - A U.S. Army lieutenant colonel has been charged with nine offenses, including aiding the enemy, the U.S. military announced Thursday.

Lt. Col. William H. Steele was accused of providing "aid to the enemy" by supplying an unmonitored cell phone to detainees, a U.S. statement said.

The other charges included unauthorized possession of classified information, fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee, maintaining an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter, storing classified information in his quarters, as well as possessing pornographic videos, the statement added.

Steele also was charged with improperly marking classified information, failing to obey an order, and failing to fulfill his obligations in the expenditure of funds, the military said.

The offenses allegedly were committed between October 2005 and last February, the statement said.

No further details were released and there was no word on where Steele was being held and whether a court martial has been set.

[Livyjr]

And while we are on the subject of con-jobs, here's "CON-JOB CONNIE" Rice now ....

"Rice signals rejection of House subpoena"

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:33 a.m., Thursday, April 26, 2007

OSLO, Norway -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has already answered the questions she has been subpoenaed to answer before a congressional committee and suggested she is not inclined to comply with the order.

Rice said she would respond by mail to questions from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the Bush administration's prewar claims about Saddam Hussein seeking weapons of mass destruction, but signaled she would not appear in person.

"I am more than happy to answer them again in a letter," she told reporters in Oslo, where she is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

The comments were her first reaction to a subpoena issued on Wednesday by the committee chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Rice said she respected the oversight function of the legislative branch, but maintained she had already testified in person and under oath about claims that Iraq had sought uranium from Africa during her confirmation hearing for the job of secretary of state.

"I addressed these questions, almost the same questions, during my confirmation hearing," she said.

"This is an issue that has been answered and answered and answered."

Rice noted that she had been serving as President Bush's national security adviser during the period covered by the panel's questions and stressed the administration's position that presidential aides not confirmed by the Senate cannot be forced to testify before Congress under the doctrine of executive privilege.

"This all took place in my role as national security adviser," she said.

"There is a constitutional principle."

"There is a separation of powers and advisers to the president under that constitutional principle are not generally required to go and testify in Congress."

"So, I think we have to observe and uphold the constitutional principle, but I also observe and uphold the obligation of Congress to conduct its oversight role, I respect that."

"But I think I have more than answered these questions, and answered them directly to Congressman Waxman."

Rice declined to respond when asked if she would absolutely refuse to testify under subpoena.

Her spokesman, Sean McCormack, said later that no final decision had been made about Rice appearing before the committee.

Waxman's committee voted 21-10 on Wednesday to subpoena Rice despite the State Department's insistence that the questions have already been answered and that the doctrine of executive privilege .

The congressman has complained for weeks that Rice and the State Department have failed to respond to questions about the claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to by uranium from Niger.

[Livyjr]

"Petraeus eyes long commitment in Iraq"

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 4 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday that conditions in Iraq may get harder before they get easier and will require "an enormous commitment" over time by the United States.

Speaking as the Senate debated veto-threatened legislation to start bringing home U.S. forces in October, Petraeus called the war there "the most complex and challenging I have ever seen."

The four-star general, named by President Bush to oversee the recent buildup of American forces, cited some progress in the two months since the troop increase began.

Still, he said, "there is vastly more work to be done across the board."

"... We are just getting started with the new effort."

He avoided commenting directly on the legislation before the Senate, which passed the House Wednesday night.

"I have tried to stay clear of the political minefields of various legislative proposals," he said.

But his comments made it clear that his war plan did not include a significant reduction of U.S. forces anytime soon.

"This effort may get harder before it gets easier," Petraeus told reporters at a Pentagon briefing, depicting the situation as "exceedingly complex and very tough."

He said that the increasing use of roadside bombs and suicide attacks, plus the greater concentration of U.S. troops among the population, has "led to greater U.S. losses" as well as increased Iraqi military casualties.

Asked how many troops he thought would have to remain in Iraq — and for how long — to finish the job, Petraeus said, "I wouldn't try to truly anticipate what level might be some years down the road."

However, he noted historical precedents to long U.S. peacekeeping missions.

"It is an endeavor that clearly is going to require enormous commitment and commitment over time, but beyond that time I don't want to get into try to postulate how many brigades or when we would start to do something," he said.

Petraeus said matters were made worse by "exceedingly unhelpful activities by Iran and Syria, especially those by Iran."

Asked whether senior officials in the Iranian government were sanctioning sending weapons and technology to insurgents in Iraq, the U.S. general said it was hard to say.

"We do not have a direct link of Iranian involvement," in attacks, he said.

Petraeus also said that, while the fledgling Iraqi government is often billed as a unity government among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, it actually is not.

"It is not a government of national unity."

"Rather, it is one comprised of political leaders from different parties that often default to narrow agendas and a zero-sum approach to legislation," the general said.

He said that was one reason why progress has been so slow on deciding how to divide up oil revenues and pass budget and emergency powers laws.

Despite the disappointing pace, Petraeus said he believes that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other leaders "are committed to achieving more in this area in the months ahead."

Petraeus cited slowly improving conditions in turbulent Anbar province in western Iraq, noting it had been "assessed as lost six months ago."

He said the increased U.S. presence in various outposts has enabled Iraqis "to stitch together the fabric of society that was so torn."

But he said improvements, such as the reopening of shops and the return by some residents to their homes, are "often eclipsed by sensational attacks that overshadow our daily accomplishments."

"Iraq is in fact the central front of al-Qaida's global campaign," he said.

"Al-Qaida-Iraq remains a formidable foe with considerable resilience and a capability to produce horrific attacks."

"This group's activities must be significantly disrupted at the least for the new Iraq to succeed," he added.

"The key to success is disrupting their attacks."

[Livyjr]

"Lenders act to limit US foreclosures"

By Mark Trumbull, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Thu Apr 26, 4:00 AM ET

The home-loan industry, facing the worst housing downturn since the early 1990s, is ramping up efforts to help strapped borrowers stay in their homes.

The goal is to restrain a gathering wave of foreclosures that carries big costs for both lenders and borrowers.

This rescue effort isn't expected to save every at-risk homeowner.

But it promises to reduce monthly payments for many who have fallen behind on mortgages.

In the process, it could help to stabilize a struggling real estate market.

So far the housing slump, precipitated in part by overzealous borrowing and subprime lending, continues its downward slope.

In discouraging news for homeowners and homesellers nationally, a report Tuesday showed "the deceleration and declines in home prices are showing no signs of turnaround."

Citing February data, Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller index of housing prices in 10 cities posted a 1.5 percent drop from February 2006 – an annual decline not seen in 15 years.

That news follows hard on a revised 2007 price forecast by the National Association of Realtors.

NAR said this month it no longer expects the median price of an existing home to rise this year, predicting instead a 0.7 percent decline.

The slower recovery, it said, is a result of "tighter lending criteria and fallout from the subprime loan debacle."

Some lenders offer to refinance

Impelled by financial and political pressures to try to curtail foreclosures, lenders are taking action on several fronts:

• Fannie Mae, America's leading mortgage lender, says it plans to help as many as 1.5 million "subprime" borrowers – people with low credit ratings – refinance out of high-interest loans.

• Freddie Mac, which like Fannie Mae is a government-backed corporation, is creating new products to make homes more affordable to buyers with poor credit.

Freddie Mac doesn't make loans directly but pledges to buy as much as $20 billion worth of these mortgages from participating lenders.

• Washington Mutual, another giant lender, says it will refinance $2 billion in subprime loans, helping borrowers avoid foreclosure.

The new loans will come with below-market interest rates.

• Some finance companies are partnering with nonprofit organizations that act as advocates for at-risk borrowers.

• In addition to efforts by specific companies, the Mortgage Bankers Association announced a foreclosure-prevention campaign in partnership with the nonprofit group NeighborWorks America.

They will link homeowners to a free counseling hotline (888-995-HOPE) provided by the Homeownership Preservation Foundation, boost the capacity for homeownership counseling within NeighborWorks, and conduct a national ad campaign for homeowners in financial distress.

All of this represents significant relief, but the magnitude of the problem is large and growing.

"We're struggling to provide help" to troubled borrowers, says Robert Pulster, who heads a Boston nonprofit group called Ensuring Stability through Action in our Community.

"We're seeing double the problem that we were seeing last year."

The lenders themselves are careful not to overstate what the new projects can achieve.

"While these efforts will help cushion the expected rise in foreclosures, we need to be clear that these offerings are not a panacea," said Richard Syron, chief executive of Freddie Mac, as he unveiled the new products at a congressional hearing April 17.

Even when the economy and the housing market are strong, some borrowers run into financial difficulty because of events such as job loss, divorce, or illness.

Over the past year, two other factors have driven the rise in past-due loans and foreclosure filings.

One is known as "payment shock," when adjustable-rate loans reset sharply upward.

Lenders in recent years failed to consider whether the borrowers will be able to afford their loans once initial "teaser" rates adjust, critics charge.

The other is simply that a decade-long housing boom stalled out.

Some who bought homes near the market peak – often with no down payment – owe more than the house is now worth.

So selling it offers no sure escape route from foreclosure.

But foreclosure is costly for lenders, chewing up tens of thousands of dollars in missing loan payments, home-sale expenses, and property maintenance.

If foreclosures are concentrated in a community and drag down home values, that's bad for lenders' business prospects.

Politicians have been prodding lenders to help at-risk homeowners.

In congressional hearings, Democrats have bashed the mortgage industry for helping to create the problem.

Nonprofit organizations have added to the pressure.

Rita Askew, safe at home

Rita Askew of Evanston, Ill., is one borrower who remains in her red-brick townhouse thanks to help from her lender and community groups.

Her husband, the family breadwinner, had to leave his school-maintenance job for several months last year because of an accident.

"I probably would have been selling my house," Mrs. Askew says, if the National Training and Information Center (NTIC) hadn't stepped up for her.

NTIC helped win a loan-modification accord that cut the monthly payment from $1,668 to $1,117.

The interest rate dropped from 10.6 percent to 6.0 percent.

Several major lenders, including Ocwen Financial Corp., CitiFinancial, and Select Portfolio Servicing Inc., have agreed to partner with NTIC to negotiate "workout" deals when possible for troubled loans.

But for people who face difficulty paying their mortgages, the choices can narrow quickly if the loans go unpaid for a month or more.

Borrowers can seek a traditional refinance deal with any lender.

They can seek temporary forbearance or a loan modification deal.

Some can successfully sue the lender, showing that the original loan process violated state or federal laws.

Or they can try to sell the home, perhaps talking the lender into accepting proceeds that fall short of the loan balance due.

Housing advocates say to beware of "rescue" scams, outfits that charge big fees and then fail to help people stay in their homes.