Incredible Discoveries Made in Remote Caves

Robert Roy Britt

LiveScience Managing Edito

Thu Jul 31, 9:11 AM ET

ExclusiveScientists exploring caves in the bone-dry and mostly barren Atacama Desert in Chile stumbled upon a totally unexpected discovery this week: water.

They also found hundreds of thousands of animal bones in a cave, possibly evidence of some prehistoric human activity.
The findings are preliminary and have not been analyzed.
The expedition is designed to learn how to spot caves on Mars by studying the thermal signatures of caves and non-cave features in hot, dry places here on Earth. Scientists think Martian caves, some of which may already have been spotted from space, could be good places to look for life.
No hot place on Earth is drier than the Atacama Desert. Many parts of the high-plateau desert have never received rain that anyone can remember. Average rainfall across the region is just 1 millimeter per year. (Parts of Antarctica are considered the driest places on Earth, however.)
So nobody was looking for water.

Total Surprise
The research team was exploring Cueva Chulacao, the largest known cave in the Cordillera de la Sal. Naturally curious, they took note of things they saw while conducting their primary research. Other than a single black hair that was likely from an indigenous person, this cave was pristine, virgin territory, explained J. Judson Wynne, a cave expert with the SETI Institute and Northern Arizona University.
"There were no footprints where we were going, and I only saw the slightest evidence of human use," Wynne told LiveScience by email Monday night as the day's work was sinking in.
Wynne and his colleagues moved carefully through the cave to place a sensor along the wall, part of their NASA-funded research.
"Much to my surprise, as we moved about halfway through this passage, my foot completely sunk into the soil," Wynne said. "It was mud! There was a lot of it. It was all contained within the salt stream flow that meandered through this passage."
There is no known source of water nearby.
The finding may prove exciting for scientists searching for water on Mars. Water is considered a prerequisite for life as we know it.
"In arguably the driest desert in the world, we've found water in a cave far away from any known water source," Wynne said. "Essentially, we found water in a barren area below the Earth's surface. Why was water there? What are the mechanisms for the presence of water in these hyper-arid caves? Is this merely a phenomenon related to these caves in particular? Is there some sort of moisture sink that results in the water concentrating in certain caves and not others in the Atacama Desert?"

Bones, Bones, Bones
Another discovery yesterday left the researchers just shaking their heads.
In a different cave in the same region, they found animal remains. Lots of them.
"We found hundreds of thousands of bones and skulls eroding out of the cave walls," Wynne wrote in his blog. "So, we've renamed this small cave Cuevita de Huesos (or Small Cave of the Bones)."
The researchers had to climb about 13 feet up to find a walkable passage.
"This is where we found all the bones mixed in with tree branches," Wynne wrote.
It's not clear if the animals were dumped into the cave by prehistoric people or if perhaps they were trapped by a flood. After all, the expedition is related to figuring out the thermal signatures of Mars caves, and the finding was made just this week.
"Whatever the mechanism for their deposition, this find was incredibly cool and rather exhilarating," Wynne said. Pete [Polsgrove] and I had a blast marveling over the extent of this deposition as well as discussing what could have possibly led to the deposition of these bones. Once the sensors were deployed in this feature we moved on."
Wynne's colleagues on this expedition: Pete Polsgrove, a Northern Arizona University Ph.D. student in microbiology; Dan Ruby, associate director of Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center in Reno; geographer and speleologist Knutt Peterson; self-taught astronomer John DeDecker; expedition doctor Lynn Hicks; commercial pilot and wilderness guide Christina Colpitts; and U.S. Geological Survey astrophysicist Tim Titus.
The research is funded by NASA's exobiology program.

Caves on Mars
"Our overall goal is to define mission and instrumentation requirements for detecting caves on Mars using thermal infrared imagery," Wynne explained.
That means figuring out what caves look like in infrared, and what time of day the heat signatures of caves and surrounding features is optimal for cave hunting from, say, a craft orbiting Mars. The air around a cave entrance can be cooler or warmer than what is being radiated off sunlit rocks.
"Martian have already been detected through techniques developed by this project, and are significant as a potential habitat for microorganisms and other extremophiles that might exist or have existed on Mars," Ruby said in a statement prior to departure earlier this month. "They may also serve as future habitats for astronaut explorers to the red planet, as they offer protection from radiation and the harsh environment of the surface."
The work will continue in various visits through 2010, and a similar program will be conducted in the Mojave Desert in California.

State Department gives Away 125,000 Square Miles of Alaskan Ocean Floor

BLACK-GOLD BLUESOil? Ah, let Russia have itState Department gives away 125,000 square miles of Alaskan ocean floor

Posted: July 29, 2008, 9:52 pm Eastern

WorldNetDaily

Even if Congress follows President Bush's lead in opening off-shore oil exploration, there exist over 125,000 square miles of sea bottom that won't be explored, because the State Department – amid controversy and against the will of Alaskans – has surrendered the land to Russia.

Eight islands and their surrounding sea floors were ceded to the former Soviet Union as part of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Treaty in 1991, a treaty signed by the U.S. Senate and President George Bush but never ratified by the Soviets. Nonetheless, an executive agreement enforcing the terms of the treaty until ratification has been in place through three presidencies, meaning the State Department officially recognizes the islands as Russian territory.
Alaskan legislators, who were given no input or authority on the island giveaway, have long protested the treaty, declaring it null and void without Russian ratification.
And since last week's U.S. Geological Survey estimating that 90 billion barrels of oil lie undiscovered and technically recoverable above the Arctic Circle, those 125,000 square miles of seabed have taken on newly appreciated value. Five of the islands lie north of the Artic Circle, and the other three sit at the western end of Alaska's Aleutian island chain.
Carl Olson, a retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and chairman of State Department Watch, a nonpartisan foreign policy watchdog group, explained to WND the significance of the State Department's stance: "The area off the coast of an island that a nation may use is called the exclusive economic zone. The group in charge of defining that is the State Department. So (the president and Congress) can say the off-shore areas are opened up, but still not recognize these quarter of a million square miles available for American oil exploration."
Alaska state Rep. John B. Coghill told WND earlier, "The issues involve not only state sovereignty over vital territories but also significant national defense concerns and substantial economic losses over fisheries and petroleum."
The Alaskan legislature and a sympathetic California legislature have both passed resolutions asking Congress to allow Alaska at the bargaining table with Russia to resolve the islands' ownership. After almost 20 years of official protests, the U.S. State Department has yet to acknowledge Alaska's arguments.
"It's totally anti-public, anti-Congress, anti-state actions – but unfortunately the State Department thinks it has the power to adopt this boundary line with the Russians without anybody's consent outside themselves, " Olson told WND. "The State Department is basically chopping off a piece of Alaska and giving it to a foreign government without Alaska having any say in it."
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The lands in dispute include the islands of Herald, Bennett, Henrietta, Jeanette, Copper Island, Sea Lion Rock, Sea Otter Rock, and Wrangel, which is the largest of the eight, roughly the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
The U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867, including the Aleutian Islands, which presumably would include Copper Island, Sea Otter Rock and Sea Lion Rock. In 1881, U.S. Captain Calvin L. Hooper landed on Wrangel Island and claimed it for the U.S. Also in 1881, the U.S. Navy claimed the islands of Bennett, Jeannette, and Henrietta. The British held Herald Island, but they gave up that claim, permitting the U.S. to take it.
American citizens had occupied Wrangel Island from approximately 1881 to 1924, when Russian soldiers landed and forcibly removed the American occupants from its shores. The Russians then reportedly used the island as a concentration camp.
Many Alaskan legislators believe the islands were part of their state, even after the Wrangel invasion, though the U.S. State Department officially disagrees. Without a ratified treaty designating them as Russian, those same legislators and Carl Olson believe the islands still are American territory and can be reverted to the U.S. easily.
The only thing binding the islands to Russia is "in the form of an executive agreement," Olson told WND, "which means it can be changed with the stroke of a pen by the president, because it has no force of law."
"We have been steadily maintaining the pressure," said Olson. "It's just a matter of finding sympathetic people in Washington and the other states to go for it. There's plenty of organizations who have endorsed our efforts, so we keep up the drumbeat."
Coghill has also sought the support of other states, claiming that the federal State Department has overstepped its authority in giving away a state's land. "If they can do this to Alaska," he warns, "they can do this to any state."
U.S. State Department officials did not return WND telephone calls to discuss the matter, but a State Department webpage devoted to the island controversy denies that islands were ever claimed by the United States and explains that though the treaty between the U.S. and Russian Federation was never fully ratified, "In a separate exchange of diplomatic notes, the two countries agreed to apply the agreement provisionally."
The webpage concludes, "The U.S. has no intention of reopening discussion of the 1990 Maritime Boundary Treaty."

U.N. Did Not Notice $10 Million Disappearance

Official confesses world body 'arguably a bit slow to recognize' relief scam
Posted: July 29, 20089:36 pm Eastern
By Matt Sanchez© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Cyclone Nargis killed more than 140,000NEW YORK – As much as $10 million of United Nations relief funds designated for Burma in the wake of Cyclone Nargis have been siphoned off by "private money exchangers" and the military government, according to a U.N. official.
The U.N. called for an initial $200 million in emergency aid in response to the storm, which killed more than 140,000 people, but not all the promised funds are reaching the intended destination, admitted John Holmes, under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, at a news conference at the agency's New York headquarters.
The funds are being siphoned through an exchange-rate scam that forces the U.N. to buy the Burmese currency, the kyat, at above the market rate.
Holmes confessed, "We were arguably a bit slow to recognize ... how serious a problem this has become for us."
The U.S. government has made a $39 million contribution to the relief effort and is expected to give more.
Much of the initial aid consisted of goods supplied directly to the victims of the cyclone, but Holmes estimated as much as $10 million dollars has been lost.
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The Burma government requires the purchase of a "foreign exchange certificate" effectively taking between 15 percent to 25 percent of every dollar spent on aid to the cyclone victims.
"It's a very complicated system," said the U.N. coordinator, who recently toured Burma, where he cited "significant progress" in the relief effort.
The official rate for the kyat is 1,100 per dollar, but the U.N. rate is about 880, according to the Inner City Press, a newssite that broke the exchange scandal.
Holmes said the U.N. was initially, "not aware of the extent of the loss," but insisted to WND that access to the people of Burma was worth the cover charge the Burma government required for entry into the country.
"Our priority is to get aid to the people," Holmes said. "This has to be a needs-based operation and not based on politics."
Although many governments have responded to the worldwide appeal for international aid to the cyclone victims, private individuals and organizations have been the biggest contributors and may be the biggest losers.
The Bill and Melinda Gates charity donated an estimated $3 million for relief in Burma "so they can go in there and help as quickly as possible," Gates told the Associated Press in an interview in May.
After the initial appeal for aid in May raised most of the $200 million requested, another appeal for an additional $280 million was made. The "extraordinary exchange losses" were not mentioned in the appeal.
Holmes said the U.N. did not bring up the issue of the exchange rate losses in the appeal, because officials "were not aware of the extent of the loss."
"No reason not to be transparent about this, we haven't tried to conceal it," Holmes said.
The Burma government was initially reluctant to accept international aid and workers from the U.N. and non-governmental organizations, but conceded due to the enormity of the disaster. An estimated 2.4 million people are affected.
There are approximately 100 foreign relief workers in Burma, Holmes said.
"Unfortunately, members of the international press are not allowed to enter Burma," he added.
The Burma government has not responded to calls to exclude foreign relief aid from the foreign exchange certificate requirement. But Holmes rejected setting currency exchange conditions to the flow of international aid in Burma or in future relief aid efforts.
Yesterday, President Bush signed the Tom Lantos Block Burmese Jade Act of 2008, a sanction against the import of Burmese precious gems.
Bush has aggressively criticized Burma on human rights, but Russia and China have expressly blocked efforts to approve resolutions through the U.N. Security Council.
First Lady Laura Bush has publicly called for the unconditional release of Nobel laureate and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 years.
Bush said in a ceremony at the Oval Office in the presence of Tom Lantos' widow, "I'm going to sign a piece of legislation and a joint resolution that will continue some sanctions, propose new sanctions, and extend the import restrictions. On the Burmese regime, our message is: The United States believes in democracy and freedom."

Senator Edwards' Hush Money to His Mistress

A NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation has uncovered John Edwards’ mistress, Rielle Hunter – the mother of his “love child” – has been secretly receiv­ing $15,000 a month as part of an elaborate cover-up orchestrated by the former presidential contender.The money is being funneled to Hunter by a wealthy colleague who was closely tied to the Edwards’ campaign. This same man is also shoveling cash to Edwards’ pal and former aide Andrew Young – who tried to take the heat off the ex-Senator by claiming he is the father of Rielle’s baby.

And The ENQUIRER is also exclusively revealing that Rielle’s baby is a girl named Frances Quinn Hunter and was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. “A super-rich pal – who was closely involved with the campaign finances – is helping John. It’s likely this man doesn’t know all the dirty details of John’s extramarital affair, but is acting out of loyalty and is not asking a lot of questions – only writing the checks,” revealed a source very close to the situation. A year-long ENQUIRER investigation exploded spectacularly into the open on the night of July 21 when our reporters caught Edwards making a secret late-night visit to Rielle, 44, and their infant child at Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton hotel.Edwards, 55, was confronted by ENQUIRER reporters, but refused to answer questions and instead hid in a public men’s restroom until security escorted him off hotel grounds. The Beverly Hilton meeting between Edwards and Rielle was pulled off with the help of Rielle’s longtime California friend Bob McGovern, who drove Rielle to the hotel from Santa Barbara, and booked two rooms under his name. Rielle and Edwards met in one of those rooms.

Edwards has refused to comment on The ENQUIRER’s account of that evening and has avoided reporters’ questions.

McCain Surges to 4-Point Lead

Obama's Trip Backfires; McCain Surges to 4-Point Lead in USA Today/Gallup Poll
Monday, July 28, 2008 9:35 PM

A surprising poll released Monday confirms Sen. Barack Obama's worst nightmare: he actually lost ground to Sen. John McCain after a global trip meant to buck up his sagging credentials in foreign and military policy.
The USA Today/Gallup poll has McCain leading Obama by four points, 49 percent to Obama's 45 percent, among likely voters.
Just last month, the same poll had McCain trailing by six points to the neophyte U.S. senator.
Among registered voters, McCain was just three points behind Obama -- a statistical dead heat.
The USA Today/Gallup poll is consistent with the Rasmussen tracking poll, which also shows Obama ahead by just three percentage points -- again a statistical tie.
The polls suggest that Obama's efforts to act like a president abroad -- even though he has yet to be elected -- may have backfired among American voters.
In Berlin, Obama spoke to 200,000 cheering Germans. The Democratic candidate used the foreign platform to express the view that he was a "fellow citizen of the world" and apologized for America's imperfections.
Later, he decided not to visit wounded American soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southern Germany. When the Pentagon informed Obama's campaign that the hospital would be closed to the press and campaign staff -- only the senator and his official staff would be allowed in -- Obama decided to cancel the event.
McCain has been quick to seize on Obama's ill-advised decision to cancel the humanitarian visit to the hospital.
A McCain television commercial released on the Internet this past weekend chided Obama for his callous act.
"And now, he made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops,” the ad says. “Seems the Pentagon wouldn’t allow him to bring cameras. John McCain is always there for our troops.”

Democratic Convention Brings Challenges to Denver

July 29, 2008
Ed Andrieski / Associated Press, and

Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Los Angeles Time staff writer Mark Z. Barabak contributed to this report

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, front center, tours the arena where the convention will be held. Fundraising for next month’s event is off by $10 million.
Democratic convention brings challenges to Denver

Fundraising for next month's event is off by $10 million, Obama's stadium speech is a logistical migraine and the catering menu is a laughingstock. Don't even start with the flowers.
By Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer July 28, 2008
DENVER -- For nearly a decade, city leaders here have wooed the Democrats, hoping to lure their national convention to this often-overlooked town and showcase its new public transit system, bustling downtown and sweeping views of the Rocky Mountains.Municipal leaders were jubilant when they won the right to hold this year's event. But the convention is raising questions about whether this perennial booster town has bitten off more than it can chew.
The host committee is as much as $10 million short in fundraising, and financial difficulties have forced it to cancel two dozen parties for delegates. Denver officials are scrambling to deal with the logistical challenges of Barack Obama's acceptance speech being held at an outdoor stadium instead of in the arena where the rest of the convention will take place. Even special daisies that the city bred partly to show off for the convention are failing to sprout.Criticism has been so harsh that this month the host committee felt compelled to issue a news release defending its much-mocked catering guidelines, which recommend organic produce and color-coordinated meals and discourage fried food."It's an embarrassment, particularly for the political class," said Floyd Ciruli, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party who is now an independent pollster unaffiliated with the convention effort. "At this point, everybody's thinking about the burdens rather than the benefits."Local political leaders and the host committee insist everything is fine, and that any bumps along the way will be overshadowed by the attention showered on the city next month."That's a little bit of white noise around the perimeter," said Mayor John Hickenlooper. "Did we ever dream we'd have a candidate of this historic magnitude? Did we ever dream we'd have a candidate who'd make his acceptance speech in front of 80,000 people and have to turn away another 80,000?"Nonetheless, at a conference on Western issues last week, Hickenlooper referred to the event as the "blasted convention" and compared it to a summer he spent painting a house for which he was never paid. "If we'd known back then what we know now, we'd never have done it," he said, before quickly adding, "and what an incredible shame that would have been."Last month the host committee said it was $10 million short of its $40-million target, but it now refuses to discuss fundraising totals.Officials blame several factors: The drawn-out primary battle sapped would-be donors. The economic downturn has hit Denver hard because the city's relatively modest corporate base includes struggling companies such as Frontier Airlines, which is reorganizing under bankruptcy law protection. And business leaders say attention and money are being diverted by union-led ballot initiatives that they are fighting, measures they insist could destroy their livelihoods.Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, said his organization was going to donate $250,000 to the convention but had to hold back $150,000 to fight the initiatives. "There's a lot of calls on the money right now," he said.Denver leaders say they are determined to meet their goals. "We will find the money and get it done," Clark said. "When you're an aspirational city, you don't walk away from your place on the world stage."Since it raised money to lure the transcontinental railroad away from Cheyenne in the 1860s, Denver has tried to will its way to greatness. A hundred years ago it held its last Democratic National Convention to showcase its then-mayor's attempt to build a European-style "city beautiful" with grand boulevards and Beaux-Arts statues.In the last decade, Denver has built an immense airport, now the world's 11th busiest. It revived its faded downtown, now speckled with clubs, restaurants and condos, with a new wing on its art museum designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind. It has invested in a $6-billion project to build 119 miles of light rail.Denver competed unsuccessfully for the 2000 Democratic National Convention, which was held in Los Angeles. The city was the sentimental favorite this year for a Democratic Party eager to highlight its new reach in the West. Hickenlooper vowed the convention would be the most environmentally friendly one yet.Problems swiftly surfaced, starting with fundraising. The host committee told caterers they should make "every effort" to ensure that each plate consisted of 70% organic food and 50% fruits and vegetables; include nothing fried; and contain at least three of these five colors: red, green, yellow, purple/blue and white.After caterers complained and the policy was mocked in the media, the host committee put out a defensive news release saying the guidelines were voluntary and fried food would still be available."That was not a good start, creating the food police," said Councilman Charlie Brown.To add insult to injury, special "Denver daisies," bred for the city's 150th anniversary in November and designed to bloom during the convention, are having a hard time growing. Only about a third have blossomed -- an issue so serious that the City Council heard a report on it this month.For their part, many Denver residents, apparently fearful that security measures will paralyze the compact downtown, say they plan to skip town the week of the convention.Steve Farber, co-chairman of the host committee, denied that the city was in over its head. He said fundraising had picked up since Obama clinched the delegates needed for the nomination last month."We had confidence in the city, and I really believe the companies within the city and Colorado have stepped up," he said.Ciruli said the convention would probably be a success, especially for Democrats eager to expand out of their base on the coasts."The backdrop is still working very well for them," he said of the national party. "I'm just not sure it's working very well for Denver contributed to this report.

Giant Chunks Break off Canadian Ice Shelf

By David Ljunggren

Edited by Peter Galloway

July 29, 2008

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Giant sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on Tuesday.
Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming.
The ice broke away from the shelf on Ward Hunt Island, an small island just off giant Ellesmere Island in one of the northernmost parts of Canada.
It was the largest fracture of its kind since the nearby Ayles ice shelf -- which measured 25 square miles -- broke away in 2005.
Scientists had already identified deep cracks in the Ward Hunt shelf, which measures around 155 square miles. The shelf is one of five along Ellesmere Island in the northern Arctic.
"Because the break-off occurred between two large parallel cracks they're thinking more could go this summer before the freeze sets in," said Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Service.
Asked to be more specific, she told Reuters: "More could be a piece as large as the Ayles ice shelf."
Ellesmere Island was once home to a single enormous ice shelf totaling around 3,500 square miles. All that is left of that shelf today are five much smaller shelves that together cover just under 400 square miles.
"The break-off is consistent with other changes we've seen in the area, such as the reduction in the amount of sea ice, the retreat of the glaciers and the break-up of other ice shelves," Wohlleben said.
She said a likely reason for the shelf breaking away was a strong wind from the south.
Warwick Vincent, director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec, said much of the remaining Ward Hunt ice shelf is now in a vulnerable state.
"It underscores the fact that each year we're now crossing new thresholds in environmental change in the High Arctic, and of course our concern in the longer term is that these may signal the onset of serious change at all latitudes, much further to the south, for example," he told Reuters.
Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, said he was concerned by the rapidity of changes in the High Arctic over the last few years.
"It's a bit of a wake-up call for those people who aren't yet affected by climate change that there are places on earth that are, and the same could be true for them (these people) if you fast-forward a decade or two or three," he said.
Mueller initially estimated that 1.5 square miles of ice had broken off the shelf but increased that figure to eight square miles after studying the data more closely.
"Whatever has kept this ice shelf in balance for 3,000 years is no longer keeping it in balance," he told Reuters, saying he too would not be surprised to see more ice breaking away from the Ward Hunt shelf this year.
Wohlleben said the ice shelves, which contained unique ecosystems that had yet to be studied, would not be replaced because they took so long to form.
"Once they've broken off they're gone," she said.

Russian Scientists Head for Bottom of the Abyss

Jul 28 02:25 PM US/Eastern

Russian scientists will on Tuesday attempt to reach the bottom of the world's deepest freshwater abyss in a bid to find unknown life forms as well as claim a new record.
"We want to study, observe Lake Baikal" in order to "preserve it," said expedition leader Artur Chilingarov, a pro-Kremlin member of parliament who led a team of scientists that planted a Russian flag at the bottom of the North Pole in August last year.
Chilingarov, who boasts of enjoying the "full support" of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, spent Monday inspecting the mission's ship, anchored at Tourka and carrying the Mir-1 and Mir-2 submarine pods which, weather permitting, will head for the 1,637-metre (5,402 feet) bed of the lake, near Siberia's southern borders with Mongolia and China.
On Sunday and on Monday morning, what locals affectionately call "the sea" actually looked more like a raging ocean, such were the high winds.
Three men in each pod will try to "reach the lowest point" of the giant lake, a UN world heritage site which contains around a fifth of the world's freshwater reserves.
There are suggestions that it might be even deeper than previously thought. Intense water pressure means that previous expeditions have never gone below a quarter of its presumed depth. Chilingarov's deputy Anatoly Sagalevich said the lake has "perhaps not been properly studied" given past measurements had to rely on pure mathematics alone.
But Sagalevich says tests have gone well, even if the weather made Sunday's preparations "quite complicated." The main obstacle they have to overcome is that the water's density at depth is "much more feeble" than seawater, he said, impacting on pressure.
"We will drop at a rate of 30 metres per minute," Sagalevich said. "Practically vertical. It will take in total between one hour and an hour and a quarter to complete the mission.
"The most important aspect will be visual observation," he said, highlighting three special windows located at the front of the craft and a series of video and stills cameras attached to the pods.
They may not match the find of the crew in the fictional movie "The Abyss," but Sagalevich expects the mission to uncover previously unidentified species.
Aside from some of the world's most unusual freshwater flora and fauna, samples taken in previous dives also suggest deposits of gases, notably methane, and even oil, which may be explored in follow-up experiments in the coming months.
"It will be a success if we can find something new for scientific research," Sagalevich said.
However, he dismissed environment campaigners' fears that the operation is intended to sniff out fresh energy reserves. "We have enough gas and oil," he said, pointing to the vast Siberian deposits all around.
In May 2006, Russian environmentalists heaved a collective sigh of relief when then president Putin ordered a change in the route of a new oil pipeline to reduce the danger of it polluting one of the great ecological wonders of the world.
Of course, the political dimension of Tuesday's dive should not be overlooked either. For not only is Putin personally backing the bid to pierce one of Earth's final frontiers, but the flag of his ruling United Russia party will also fly proudly from the roof of the ship's quarters.

John Edwards Affair - Criminal Complaint Filed

National Enquirer

July 27, 2008

John Edwards' secret meeting with his mistress at the Beverly Hilton hotel has now become part of a criminal complaint. NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporters Alan Butterfield and Alexander Hitchen filed a criminal complaint with the Beverly Hills Police Department on Thursday, July 24, charging that hotel security acted unlawfully while the reporters were trying to question the former senator. Edwards now could be contacted by police to give an eyewitness account of what occurred.Hotel security tried to stop the reporters from questioning Edwards in the basement of the hotel at approximately 2:40 a.m. Tuesday, July 22 after Edwards came off an elevator and appeared to be attempting to leave the hotel unseen. His secret mistress Rielle Hunter and her baby were upstairs, and Edwards had just spent hours with them in a secret rendezvous.As Butterfield and Hitchen tried to question Edwards, he ran down a hallway and ducked into a men's public bathroom. The reporters attempted to follow him in and Edwards pushed the door shut from inside. Hotel security showed up and intervened. The reporters charge that not only did one security guard threaten to break their camera but that security also violated several statutes of the California Penal Code, including false imprisonment and preventing a guest from entering land.The ENQUIRER reporters were registered guests at the hotel, while Edwards was not.Police recorded the criminal complaint and will turn it over to detectives.

Whistleblower Magazine - The Real McCain - What Americans need to know about the GOP candidate

May 29, 20081:00 am Eastern© 200 8

WorldNetDaily
America's future will be determined this November by how voters size up one of the most perplexing and hard-to-pigeonhole political leaders in modern times: Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
With so much at stake, the June edition of Whistleblower magazine is devoted to an extraordinary, eye-opening investigation called "THE REAL McCAIN."
On one hand, John McCain is a genuine war hero – a Navy pilot imprisoned and tortured for five years by the North Vietnamese communists, and who refused an offer of early release because of his father's status as an admiral, instead demonstrating courage and leadership during his POW captivity.
On the other hand, during his 21 years in the United States Senate, McCain has sometimes advocated policies, sponsored legislation, forged alliances and uttered statements that have caused fellow Republicans to recoil in horror.
For example, he spearheaded the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill, which included amnesty for illegal aliens. Even more controversial was McCain-Feingold, a disastrously wrongheaded attempt at correcting so-called campaign finance abuses which ended up threatening core First Amendment free-speech rights of many organizations and individuals. And he is a true believer in human-caused climate change, announcing recently that, as president, "I will make global warming a priority."


And yet on certain bedrock issues, McCain has been consistently strong – for example, he has a long and reliably pro-life voting record. He's a fiscal conservative, shunning earmarks like few others in Congress. And he is strong on national defense, committed to defeating, not retreating from, the gathering forces of Islamo-fascism.
As a result of this perplexing mixed record, some Republicans, independents, conservatives and Christians – including several represented in this Whistleblower issue, like Joseph Farah, James Dobson and Dennis Prager – regard McCain's flaws as so egregious that they will not vote for him as a matter of conscience, even if that ultimately helps elect his opponent.
Others – including several in this issue like Michael Reagan, Gov. Mark Sanford and Sen. Rick Santorum – argue that despite his many obvious flaws, John McCain is far better for America than his Democratic challenger and thus should be supported.
Issue highlights include:

"How bad is McCain?" by Joseph Farah, who recounts the reasons he does not support the Arizona senator
"What would McCain do?" – an in-depth interview between the Arizona senator and Sean Hannity, covering all the hottest issues confronting the next president
"The conservative case for McCain" by South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who explains why electing the wrong president now means Americans' savings may be wiped out in five to 10 years
"Author: George Soros brains behind McCain-Feingold" by Jerome Corsi, documenting how the leftist billionaire wanted to limit TV political advertising after the defeat of Hillarycare
"How McCain can woo conservatives and independents" by Jane Chastain, on the one and only issue that will unite the country
"Leading pro-life group supports McCain" by Steven Ertelt, highlighting the "significant" difference between McCain and his Democrat opponent on the abortion issue
"Dobson: I won't vote for McCain" – in which the evangelical leader explains why, as a matter of personal conscience, he can't support the GOP candidate
"Dispelling Internet rumors about John McCain" by James H. Warner, a Democrat and fellow "Hanoi Hilton" POW who remembers McCain as a courageous leader
"The private world of John McCain" – in which Karl Rove explains why little-known stories about McCain are "deeply moving and politically troubling"
"Why John McCain is disqualified" by Dennis Prager, who condemns McCain's notorious "campaign finance reform" as both "foolish" and "destructive to society"
"Ronald Reagan would back John McCain" by Michael Reagan, who says backing any other alternative in November would be "political suicide"
"3 candidates for global governance" by Henry Lamb, showing how McCain's NAFTA and global warming positions align him with U.N.
"Making the case for McCain" by Burt Prelutsky, who argues that simply by keeping Obama or Hillary out of the White House, Americans will "all owe [McCain] an enormous debt of gratitude"
"Sitting out election is height of idiocy" by Ben Shapiro, who argues that a conservative boycott "demonstrates massive misunderstanding of the GOP's role"
"John McCain on trade: Ahistorical nonsense" by Patrick Buchanan, who argues the GOP candidate is clueless on the trade issue
"The burning building" by Janet Folger, who offers a metaphor for simplifying November's election choices
"Why conservatives should support McCain" by Sen. Rick Santorum, in which one of McCain's most outspoken critics concludes he must be elected president in November.

Iran Hangs 29 Convicts

FoxNews
Sunday, July 27, 2008

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran hanged 29 people at dawn on Sunday after they had been convicted of murder, drug trafficking and other crimes, state run television reported.
All were hanged inside Evin prison, north of the capital. The hangings were carried out after the death sentences were ratified by Iran's Supreme Court, the television report said.
A separate report on the television station's web site quoted Tehran Chief Prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi as saying the men had records of repeated crimes, including rape, armed robbery and murder. The Web site also said some of the convicts had "smuggled thousands of kilograms of various kinds of narcotics" in and out of Iran.
The hangings brought to about 150 the number of people executed in Iran so far this year.
International human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty, but Iranian officials say capital punishment is an effective deterrent carried out only after all judicial proceedings are exhausted.
The Rome-based Hands Off Cain, which campaigns to stop the death penalty, said last week that at least 355 people were put to death in Iran last year, compared with 215 in 2006. The group said the actual figure may be even higher because Iran does not publish official statistics on the number of executions.
The 355 executions placed Iran second only to China as the world's biggest executioner.
The group said China alone accounted for at least 5,000 executions based on reports by the media and other human rights groups.
Iranian rights activists said earlier this month that authorities have sentenced eight women and one man convicted of adultery to death by stoning.

FDIC Takes Over 2 More Banks, Closing 28 Branches

By Brendan Riley
Jul 26, 6:41 AM (ET)



(AP) A bank employee posts a notice that 1st National Bank of Nevada is in FDIC receivership on Friday,...

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.
The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors - including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits - will switch to Mutual of Omaha with "the full amount of their deposits."
The FDIC also said accountholders can access their funds during the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.

(AP) Carson City Sheriff's detective David LeGros locks the door at 1st National Bank of Nevada on...Full ImageAs of June 30, the closed banks had total assets of $3.6 billion. That's down from $4.1 billion six months earlier. Most of the assets are in 1st National while First Heritage accounts for $254 million.
Calls to 1st National were referred by a receptionist to Joe Martony, an executive vice president in Scottsdale, Ariz. Martony didn't return repeated calls to his office.
In Nevada, 1st National has 10 branches and employs about 350 people. Five of its branches are in Las Vegas, three are in the Reno-Sparks area, one is in Carson City and one is in Laughlin. Notices of the closure were being posted late Friday.
Fifteen 1st National branches are in Arizona, while Newport Beach-based First Heritage has three branches in Southern California.
Bill Uffelman of the Nevada Bankers Association said Friday the FDIC action "is a reflection of the times for the banks. It's a poor economy."
Uffelman cautioned against the sort of consumer concern that prompted many customers of IndyMac Bank branches to wait for hours in line to withdraw funds across Southern California last week after that bank was seized by federal regulators. All FDIC-insured bank deposits are guaranteed by the FDIC up to $100,000, he noted.
Gov. Jim Gibbons said the bank takeover will be closely monitored in Nevada "to ensure there's minimal disruption to business and that employees' jobs are protected as much as possible."
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano spokeswoman Shilo Mitchell said in a statement that the FDIC's takeover of 1st National is not indicative of the overall banking climate in Arizona.
"It's very important that Arizonans know that their deposits are secure," said Felecia Rotellini, superintendent of Arizona Department of Financial Institutions. "They are well-managed and the 1st National Bank of Arizona issues should not cause any panic in Arizona."

Five Lasting Impacts of Obama's Grand Voyage

Carrie Budoff Brown

Sun Jul 27, 9:07 AM ET
LONDON — If Barack Obama wanted to present the aura of a president during his overseas tour, the visuals alone seemed to accomplish part of the task.
He flew in a helicopter over Iraq with the chief American military commander in the region. Heads of state at his side, he gripped and grinned his way through two continents. And he placed himself against grand and gritty backdrops, from royal palaces and towering monuments to military base gymnasiums and dusty Middle Eastern landscapes.
The question now is: Given the unprecedented scope of the trip for a presidential candidate, how will it play at home?
Obama, as a first-term senator, needed to complete the immediate task of showing he could operate deftly on the international stage. He emerged almost incident-free, winning grudging respect even from Republican operatives.
But his opponents see areas to exploit, including what some viewed as his occasionally presumptuous posture and the juxtaposition between his scuttled visit to wounded troops in Germany and his attention to the adoring European masses. John McCain's campaign on Saturday launched a tough new ad accusing Obama of making “time to go to the gym” but not to visit wounded U.S. soldiers.
Here are five developments from Obama’s trip that may well have a lasting impact beyond the Saturday conclusion of his eight-day tour through eight countries.
Navigating the political bazaar of the Middle East
1. It was viewed as the most perilous stretch of his trip: convincing skeptical Israelis — and by extension, American Jewish voters — that he would protect Israel’s interests while not undercutting his pledge to bring a balanced approach to the peace process.
Obama seemed to emerge without incident, and perhaps generated a bit of goodwill and a few enduring images.
He spent most of his time with Israeli leaders, giving only an hour in a jam-packed day to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But Obama traveled to his turf in Ramallah, drawing a contrast with McCain, who did not meet with Abbas during a March trip to the region.
But Obama was careful to not exacerbate concerns among some U.S. Jewish leaders that he is too sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. He dedicated most of his 36 hours in the country to reiterating his commitment to the defense of Israel. He donned a yarmulke twice, first for a wreath-laying ceremony at the country’s chief Holocaust memorial and again during a dawn visit to the Western Wall.
A dose of Beltway politics — in Germany
Obama was almost gaffe-free when he scuttled a visit to Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility, momentarily pushing the campaign off its footing and injecting a dose of Washington politics into the overseas trip.
Republican operatives immediately saw mileage in the perceived flub: Obama met heads of state, dazzled swooning foreign crowds and found an hour to chat with reporters over drinks — but he canceled a visit with wounded troops.
The incident emerged as a full-blown row between the two campaigns on Saturday. Team McCain crafted a 30-second ad called “Troops” in which an announcer says: "Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan. He hadn't been to Iraq in years. He voted against funding our troops. And now, he made time to go to the gym, but canceled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras. John McCain is always there for our troops. McCain. Country first."
Obama aides immediately returned fire. Spokesman Tommy Vietor said McCain "is an honorable man who is running an increasingly dishonorable campaign."
Obama had planned to spend Friday morning at Landstuhl in a visit similar to the one he made several weeks ago at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, leaving the press and his campaign staff outside.
The Pentagon had agreed to the Landstuhl visit, and even gave clearance for the campaign plane to land at Ramstein Air Force Base, Obama aides said. But at some point last week, the military raised concerns about Obama creating the appearance of a political event because he planned to bring along a campaign adviser, retired Air Force Gen. Scott Gration.
Obama then decided to scrub the visit, saying he didn’t want to create controversy — even though he still did.
Obama told Fox News on Saturday that it was not a mistake to cancel the visit.
“It was scheduled, we intended to go and we got wind that there was some concern that this might be perceived as political, because we were using campaign resources,” Obama said before leaving London to return to Chicago. “I didn’t want it to be a distraction.”
It’s not just the French who are called arrogant .
Even Republicans gave Obama props for transferring an American-style campaign to Europe and the Middle East, and delivering a near-flawless performance. Operatives watching from their televisions in United States marveled at such intricate stagecraft as distributing American flags — not Obama signs — around the Berlin speech.
But the sheer scope of the trip itself offered a fresh round of ammunition for those who consider Obama a swaggering upstart. From the verbiage on the press credentials to the number of advisers who made the trip, the tour could have been mistaken as an official state visit.
2. Obama held a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at Elysee Palace, standing behind a podium usually reserved for sitting leaders. He spoke at a huge gathering in Berlin, following in the footsteps of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. He gave a speech that sometimes sounded as if he was running a global campaign — while the folks at home continued to suffer from a market implosion and $4-per-gallon gas.
3. Of course, the goal of the trip was to make Obama appear presidential, and advisers feel confident that he made strides.
“The last 10 days helped illustrate for the American people that Barack Obama can operate at the highest levels of the international stage,” senior strategist Robert Gibbs said.
Obama said he wasn’t unique in traveling abroad.
“John McCain has visited every one of these countries post-primary that I have,” he said Saturday in London. “He has given speeches in Canada. In Columbia, Mexico, he made visits. And so it doesn’t strike me that we’ve done anything different than McCain has done, which is to recognize that part of the job of the next president and commander in chief is to forge effective relationships with our allies.”
But if Obama fails to win the White House because he couldn’t close the sale in Poughkeepsie rather than Paris, a trip that Republicans have described as an extended photo opportunity could appear silly in retrospect.
The stars align on Iraq.
Critics were no doubt shaking their heads: How did Obama get so lucky with his timing?
Just as the presumptive Democratic nominee was arriving for his first tour of Afghanistan and Iraq since 2006, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was beginning to express support for a troop withdrawal deadline quite similar to the one that Obama has advocated — and President Bush and McCain have rejected.
Former Bush White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett called it significant.
“Time will tell, but the al-Maliki comments about a timetable is very close to a game-changing event,” Bartlett told Politico last week. “That was incredibly damaging [to McCain] because it neutralized one of [Obama’s] biggest liabilities.”
By Friday, McCain said the 16-month deadline for removing troops after the presidential inauguration was “a pretty good timetable,” but only if conditions on the ground permitted it.
4. Still, the fact that McCain acknowledged the merits of a timetable gave Obama a decent rebuttal the next time he faces criticism — and gave Democrats a new sense of confidence that they won’t see yet another presidential candidate shredded on national security.
Europe swooned — but will Main Street USA fume?
5. After Obama addressed a crowd of 200,000 in Berlin, a staffer showed up in the hotel lobby well past midnight in a T-shirt that read “Team Berlin” on the front and showed the senator’s face next to the Victory Column on the back. When a journalist tried taking a photo, the staffer stripped off the shirt too quickly for the image to be captured.
The heightened sensitivity underlined the balance that the campaign attempted to strike: Embrace Europe — and allow it to hug back — but don’t get too carried away.
A recent Pew Research survey found for the first time that a majority of voters believe the loss of international respect for the U.S. is a major problem. But the country is not that far beyond the period when many Americans cheered when prominent members of Congress vowed to eat only “freedom fries.” And the impact of Obama’s reception abroad remains an open question.
His political opponents repeatedly sought to draw the contrast last week.
The Republican National Committee placed anti-Obama ads in American towns that corresponded with the European cities on Obama’s itinerary. And as Obama told the Berlin crowd that he was a “citizen of the world,” McCain was eating bratwurst at Schmidt’s Restaurant Und Sausage Haus in Columbus, Ohio.
“Well, I’d love to give a speech in Germany to — a political speech — or a speech that maybe the German people would be interested in,” McCain said at the restaurant. “But I would much prefer to do that as president of the United States rather than as a candidate for the office of the presidency.”
Obama dismissed potential parallels to John F. Kerry's experience in 2004, when the GOP cast him as more identifiable with Europeans than Americans. After the Bush administration’s go-it-alone foreign policy, the country is in a different place now, Obama said.
Still, he suggested Saturday that at least in the short term, his poll numbers might dip. “We have been out of the country for a week,” Obama said at a press conference in London. “People are worried about gas and home foreclosures.”
And that is why Obama, following a quick visit to Capitol Hill early this week, will head to Ohio for a bus tour, where advisers say their attention will return to the economy.

Ahmadinejad Says Iran Has 6,000 Centrifuges

July 26, 2008

AP
TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that Iran now possesses 6,000 centrifuges, a significant increase in the number of uranium-enriching machines in its nuclear program, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
The new figure is double the 3,000 centrifuges Iran had previously said it was operating in its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.
"Islamic Iran today possesses 6,000 centrifuges," Ahmadinejad told university professors in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
In April, Ahmadinejad said Iran had begun installing 6,000 centrifuges at Natanz. His reported comments Saturday provided the first public assertion that Iran has reached that goal.
The announcement is another act of defiance in the face of demands by the United States and other world powers for Iran to halt its enrichment work, which Washington and its allies fear Iran is intent on using to develop weapons.
Ahmadinejad said those nations — the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany — have tempered their demands, asking Iran not to freeze enrichment but rather not to expand its current program beyond 6,000 centrifuges, state-run radio reported.
"Today, they have consented that the existing 5,000 or 6,000 centrifuges not be increased and that operation of this number of centrifuges is not a problem," Ahmadinejad said.
In its negotiation with Iran, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany have offered a package of technological, economic and political incentives in return for Iran's cooperation.
A report by the U.N.'s nuclear monitoring agency delivered to the Security Council in May said Iran had 3,500 centrifuges, although a senior U.N. official said at the time that Iran's goal of 6,000 machines running by the summer was "pretty much plausible."
Uranium can be used as nuclear reactor fuel or as the core for atomic warheads, depending on the degree of enrichment. Iran says it is interested in enrichment only for its nuclear power program.
The workhorse of Iran's enrichment program is the P-1 centrifuge, which is run in cascades of 164 machines. But Iranian officials confirmed in February that they had started using the IR-2 centrifuge that can churn out enriched uranium at more than double the rate.
A total of 3,000 centrifuges is the commonly accepted figure for a nuclear enrichment program that surpasses the experimental stage and can be used as a platform for a full industrial-scale program that could churn out enough material for dozens of nuclear weapons.
Iran says it plans to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment that ultimately will involve 54,000 centrifuges.

Michael's Savage's Homo Hippie Past

July 26, 2008

History, michael savage, allen ginsberg, the gays

Michael Savage, the fag-hating radio host who thinks autism is the parents' fault, may seem like your typical blustery foaming-at-the-mouth neocon bigoted piece of shit. But Radar suggests that that's not necessarily so. I mean, yes, he's a neocon bigoted piece of shit, but one with a hippie past. Well, enough of a hippie/beatnik past to have been friends with Howl scribe and confirmed sodomite Allen Ginsberg. They wrote letters, long ago in the animal soup of time when Savage was Michael Weiner:
Dear Allen:
After speaking to you on the phone about how nice the black-white thing is in mountain villages in Fiji, I walked downstairs to the school courtyard, where a little-known black brother looks at me, takes my hand gently, we do some old-world Lower East Side finger tricks, and he peacefully kisses the back of my hand—I do the same for his hand. I told him about our brief talk, and he says, "I must have felt the vibes."
Michael Weiner
That's from 1970. Radar also mentions a rumored-about photo of Ginsberg and Savage swimming naked together in the balmy waters off of Fiji. Oh hoooooo. Were he alive today, I wonder what Ginsberg would say about this batshit zealot who was once his friend, long ago. Probably something about the best minds of his generation being destroyed by madness. I'm with you in Rockland, Allen.

Judge tosses Savage's Suit Against Islamic Group

July 26, 6:08 AM (ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage against an Islamic civil rights group over its use of a portion of his show in which he called the Quran a "book of hate."
Savage sued the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, for copyright infringement and racketeering lawsuit late last year, claiming the group violated his rights by using a segment of his "Savage Nation" show in a letter-writing campaign to get advertisers to boycott the program. In the broadcast used by CAIR, Savage also called the Muslim holy book "a throwback document."
In her ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said people who listen to a public broadcast are entitled to use excerpts for purposes of comment and criticism. She also said no evidence was presented to show that advertising on the show's broadcast was affected by CAIR's actions.
The racketeering element of the lawsuit alleged that CAIR was not a civil rights group, but a political organization with ties to terrorist groups. CAIR denies those claims, saying it opposes terrorism and religious extremism.
In an interview with The Associated Press after he filed the lawsuit in December, Savage said he was referring to Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his violent brand of Islamic extremism in the broadcast, not about the religion in general.
Savage's attorney, Daniel Horowitz, told the San Francisco Chronicle he plans to file a new racketeering suit.

Microphone Picks Up Private Conversation Between Obama and British Leader on Need for Vacations and 'Thinking' Time

July 26, 2008 8:40 AM

Jennifer Parker
At British Parliament today, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, met with Tory Leader David Cameron.Seemingly unaware of an enormous fuzzy boom mike held by ABC News' Eric Kerchner, the two chatted casually -- and privately."You should be on the beach," Cameron told Obama. "You need a break. Well, you need to be able to keep your head together.""You've got to refresh yourself," agreed Obama."Do you have a break at all?" asked Cameron."I have not," said Obama. "I am going to take a week in August. But I agree with you that somebody, somebody who had worked in the White House who -- not Clinton himself, but somebody who had been close to the process -- said that, should we be successful, that actually the most important thing you need to do is to have big chunks of time during the day when all you're doing is thinking. And the biggest mistake that a lot of these folks make is just feeling as if you have to be -- ""These guys just chalk your diary up," said Cameron, referring to a packed schedule."Right," Obama said. "In 15 minute increments …""We call it the dentist's waiting room," Cameron said. "You have to scrap that because you've got to have time.""And, well, and you start making mistakes," Obama said, "or you lose the big picture. Or you lose a sense of, I think you lose a feel-- ""Your feeling," interrupted Cameron. "And that is exactly what politics is all about. The judgment you bring to make decisions.""That's exactly right," Obama said. "And the truth is that we've got a bunch of smart people, I think, who know ten times more than we do about the specifics of the topics. And so if what you're trying to do is micromanage and solve everything then you end up being a dilettante but you have to have enough knowledge to make good judgments about the choices that are presented to you."-- Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller

Moon-walker Claims Alien Contact Cover-up

July 24, 2008 12:01am

FORMER NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens exist.And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades. Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.' He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head.

Chillingly, he claimed our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now". Dr Mitchell, along with with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, holds the record for the longest ever moon walk, at nine hours and 17 minutes following their 1971 mission. "I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real," Dr Mitchell said. "It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it. "I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit."

Dr Mitchell, who has a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering and a Doctor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics claimed Roswell was real and similar alien visits continue to be investigated. He told the astonished Kerrang! radio host Nick Margerrison: "This is really starting to open up. I think we're headed for real disclosure and some serious organisations are moving in that direction." Mr Margerrison said: "I thought I'd stumbled on some sort of astronaut humour but he was absolutely serious that aliens are definitely out there and there's no debating it." Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down. In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. 'Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.'

California State Controller Says He Won't Cut Workers' Wages

Matthew Yi, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Friday, July 25, 2008

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's bombshell plan to slash the pay of state workers and lay off thousands of other employees to ease a looming cash shortage brought on by the state's budget impasse faces the same obstacle that arose five years ago during a state fiscal crisis: a state controller unwilling to cooperate.

While the governor is poised to order the cuts on Monday, state Controller John Chiang, who is responsible for disbursing state workers' paychecks, said Thursday that he will refuse to go along with the governor, setting up a political standoff and a possible legal fight.

"The authority to issue people's paychecks is mine. I have both constitutional and statutory authority," said Chiang, a Democrat. "Frankly, (the governor) is just trying to make me do something that's improper and illegal."

But the Republican administration maintained that Schwarzenegger has the legal right to invoke such a controversial plan, under which the pay of about 200,000 state workers would be reduced to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour. Once a new budget is passed, the workers' pay would be restored along with back wages.

"We are on firm legal standing," said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the governor. "But if (the controller) wants to challenge the state Constitution and a state Supreme Court decision, he has the right to do that."

The dispute over state employee wages is a replay of 2003, when the state Supreme Court issued a precedent-setting ruling during a budget impasse on the watch of Gov. Gray Davis that left some questions unanswered.

In a unanimous decision stemming from a 1998 lawsuit by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the court said state workers who are paid by the hour and don't work overtime in a particular pay period are legally entitled only to the federal minimum wage if the state enters a new fiscal year without a budget.

But the 2003 court decision didn't resolve the argument raised by the state controller at the time, Steve Westly - reiterated Thursday by Chiang - that the controller's office has the authority to continue paying all state employees in full even without a budget because of a series of obstacles to temporarily reducing their wages.

Westly continued paying the employees in full until Davis signed the new budget on Aug. 2 of that year.

Besides cutting workers' pay, Schwarzenegger's proposal would lay off nearly 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers. He also wants to stop all overtime pay and impose a hiring freeze.
Lisa Paige, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger, said agency secretaries are reviewing how their workers would be affected, adding that the governor's plan won't jeopardize critical areas of state government.

At the heart of the governor's proposal is the ongoing budget impasse, which has resulted in California beginning a new fiscal year on July 1 without a spending plan in place. Schwarzenegger and lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled Legislature have not agreed on how to close a $17.2 billion budget gap, which would include $2 billion in cash reserves.

To make matters worse, the state may face a cash shortage by September if a budget is not in place, which is one of the reasons Schwarzenegger wants to push legislative leaders into quickly finding a budget compromise.

But the governor's order also underscores his desire to push the Legislature to approve his budget reform ideas - and his plan to borrow against future lottery revenue to help solve California's budget woes - for the November ballot.

In a letter to Schwarzenegger on Wednesday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen said the deadline for new measures to be placed on the supplemental ballot for the November general election is Aug. 16.

Schwarzenegger's budget proposal includes borrowing against future state lottery sales and reforms such as a large rainy-day fund, a spending cap based on previous decades' revenues and automatic mid-year spending cuts that the governor could invoke by declaring a fiscal crisis.
All four plans would require voter approval.

Republicans have demanded budget reforms of their own that include a rainy-day fund and limits on spending. Democrats, meanwhile, have been less enthused about such ideas and have proposed a nearly $10 billion tax package to help solve the budget deficit.

"I understand what the governor wants and why he wants it in terms of the rainy-day fund, and I'm not opposed to that," said state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, who has scheduled a Senate floor session on Tuesday to vote on the budget. "But we're not going to give away the responsibilities of the Legislature to make appropriations."

While there is no deal in sight, Perata said Thursday that the budget he will put up for a vote will include a rainy-day fund, taxes and cuts in spending.

But Perata also criticized the governor for his plans for state worker pay cuts and layoffs, adding that such proposals don't help during tough budget negotiations.

"I find it perplexing. It's gratuitous," he said. "If you're trying to bring people together, this is not the way to do it."

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), called Schwarzenegger's plans draconian and vowed to work with Chiang in his decision not to reduce state workers' pay.
But Republicans argued that the governor's proposals are unfortunate realities for a state whose spending has been out of control.

"The state is running out of money. That is no bluff. That is mathematical fact," said state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks (Ventura County). "I wish (the governor) sounded this alarm a year or two years ago. If we had addressed this earlier, we wouldn't be in this mess."
Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, agreed.

"We've run out of options. This is clearly inevitable. It's the unfortunate consequence of all these years of overspending and the system is finally grinding to a halt because it's unsustainable."
Potential impact on state workers.

Affected

200,000 workers would see their pay cut to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour.
7,923 permanent intermittent employees, including some Caltrans maintenance workers, would be laid off.
8,270 seasonal workers, such as state park employees and student assistants, would be laid off.
5,662 retired state workers who have been called back to work on specific projects would be laid off.

Excluded*

120 state legislators
565 political appointees, from executive staff to commissioners
2,164 legislative staff
*These employees haven't been paid since July 1, but can receive no-interest bank loans until a budget is passed and they receive back pay.
Source: Governor's office, Chronicle research
Chronicle staff writer Bob Egelko contributed to this report. E-mail Matthew Yi at myi@sfchronicle.com.

Fox News Confirms National Enquirer Report of Senator Edwards Affair

July 25, 2008

Fox News has independently confirmed the NATIONAL ENQUIRER'S exclusive report about John Edwards' late-night visit to the Beverly Hilton hotel earlier this week.The ENQUIRER reported that Edwards arrived late Monday and was confronted by our reporters while trying to leave via the basement at 2:40 a.m. Tuesday. His mistress Rielle Hunter and her baby had checked into the hotel and Edwards was secretly visiting them.Now Fox News has confirmed with a hotel security guard that Edwards was at the hotel and confronted by our reporters. Fox says that Edwards asked the guard what our reporters were saying about him. The guard told them that Edwards' "face just went totally white" when the guard told him our reporters were asking questions about Rielle Hunter.Fox also confirmed our information that Edwards was not a registered guest at the hotel and that security escorted him out after our reporters' attempt to question him.