The OFFICAL News Thread

[krazy]

Funny, but also tragic. I was speaking with a friend about how you can actually feel his pain in his voice. I am glad Fox showed this side of the debate. It allows us to see both sides of this argument. The other News organizations are not showing both sides, and they seem to be siding with the ones who want these commandments removed. I thank Fox News for providing a look at both sides..

[bafromkc]

Fox is covering this story right now.

At Least 75 Killed in Iraq Mosque Blast

Friday, August 29, 2003



NAJAF,Iraq — A Friday morning prayer service was rocked by a deadly car bomb that reportedly killed at least 75 people in the Iraqi city of Najaf, among them Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim (search), one of the region's most respected Shiite (search) clerics.

Al-Hakim, 64, and scores of others were attending services at the Imam Ali mosque in the town of Najaf (search) when the bomb exploded, leaving a hole in front of the mosque of about 3 feet wide and continuing a trend of escalating violence in the town, a holy city 110 miles southwest of Baghdad.

• Video: Shiite Leader Killed in Attack

"The bombing today shows again that the enemies of the new Iraq will stop at nothing," said L. Paul Bremer, the top U.S. civil administrator in Iraq. "Again, they have violated one of Islam's most sacred places."

The blast came one week after a bomb exploded outside the house of another of Iraq's most important Shiite clerics, killing three guards and injuring 10 others, including family members.

The gas cylinder was placed along the outside wall of the home of Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim in Najaf. It exploded just after noon prayers Aug. 24. Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim is related to the ayatollah who may have been the target of Friday's attack.

Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, a Governing Council member, was leader of the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, headquartered in Iran before the war. Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, his brother, was the leader of the organization and had been dividing his time between Tehran and Najaf.

The Al-Hakims are one of the most influential families in the Shiite community in Iraq.

Iraqi newspapers reported two weeks ago that the Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim had received threats against his life. He also is one of three top Shiite leaders threatened with death by a rival Shiite cleric shortly after Saddam Hussein was toppled April 9.

A day after Saddam's ouster, a mob in Najaf hacked to death a Shiite cleric who had returned from exile. Abdul Majid al-Khoei was killed when a meeting called to reconcile rival Shiite groups erupted into a melee.

Shiites make up some 60 percent of Iraq's 24 million people.

"I saw al-Hakim walk out of the shrine after his sermon and moments later, there was a massive explosion. There were many dead bodies," said Abdul Amir Jassem, a 40-year-old merchant who was in the mosque and said the cleric had prayed for Iraqi unity.

Ayatollah al-Hakim was the spiritual leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and had divided his time since the end of the war between Tehran and Najaf, the holiest Shiite Muslim city in Iraq.

Mohsen Hakim, another of the cleric's nephews and a spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution of Iraq, said in Tehran that Saddam loyalists were the prime suspects behind the killing, and he called on the U.S. occupation forces to identify the murderers.

Ahmad Chalabi (search), the head of the Iraqi National Congress and a Governing Council member, blamed U.S. forces for not keeping the region secure. Speaking on Al-Jazeera, he also said Saddam supporters were behind it and they were trying to create sectarian discord in the country.

No coalition troops were in the area of the mosque out of respect for the holy site, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jim Cassella said in Washington.

Also on Friday, attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades at two U.S. convoys in separate ambushes, killing one American soldier and wounding six, the U.S. military said.

Insurgents fired three rocket-propelled grenades at a supply convoy on a main road northeast of Baqouba, 40 miles northeast of Baghdad, said Capt. Jay Miller from the 67th Armor Regiment's 3rd Battalion.

The soldiers were also hit by small arms fire. One of the wounded soldiers would have to have a leg amputated, said Capt. David Nelson from the 4th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade.

The death raised the number of American soldiers killed in Iraq to 282. Of those, 67 have died in combat since May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

Another U.S. Army convoy was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade near a mosque in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, said Spc. Margo Doers, a spokeswoman at coalition command in Baghdad. She said two were wounded in the attack, according to early reports.

In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, 120 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S.-backed police chief narrowly escaped an assassination attempt Thursday.

Attackers sprayed bullets at police chief Talab Shamel Ahmed's convoy as it traveled on the main highway linking the city to Samara, said Lt. Rosco Woods, a U.S. military police officer supervising the Tikrit police force.

Ahmed escaped unhurt, but his driver was in critical condition in the Tikrit hospital, Woods said. The police chief was clearly targeted in the attack, which left the rear of his car riddled with bullets.

Ahmed is the fourth police chief in Saddam's hometown since U.S. troops occupied it in April. The U.S. military fired the other three for incompetence, Woods said.

There have been several attacks or attempted assassinations of police chiefs working with U.S. military authorities in Iraq. The police chief of Baiji, a town north of Tikrit, was also a target of one such attempt earlier this month, the military said.

Meanwhile at the United Nations, key Security Council members said U.S. talk of relinquishing some military authority in Iraq was a first step in trying to deal with the postwar turmoil. But they said a real solution will require more power for Iraqis and the United Nations.

The Bush administration is sounding out nations on a possible new U.N. resolution that would transform the U.S.-led force in Iraq into a multinational force authorized by the United Nations with an American commander.

The United States is trying to assess whether the proposal — which was floated last week by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan — would prompt more countries to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq, thereby enabling some of the 138,000 U.S. troops in the country to return home.

The 4th Infantry Division troops carried out three raids across north central Iraq over a 24-hour period and detained 25 people, two of whom were targeted as Saddam loyalists suspected of planning attacks on U.S.-led coalition forces, said Lt. Col. William MacDonald, spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.

Earlier Friday, the United Nations released a list naming 22 victims killed in the Aug. 19 suicide bombing of its Baghdad headquarters.

Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil, the secretary-general's special representative to Iraq, died in the attack. The other victims included nine Iraqis, three Americans, two Canadians, and two Egyptians. One person died from each of the following countries: Spain, Iran, Jordan, Scotland, and the Philippines.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,95987,00.html

[bafromkc]

This is going to be a great chance to see where the candidates stand on the issues. I'm not sure if any other station has this.

Democrat Presidential Candidates Debate

Tuesday, September 09, 2003



Tuesday, Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. ET

Nine candidates, one position. They debate. You decide.

The Congressional Black Caucus Institute (search) and FOX News Channel have teamed up to bring you a live Democrat Presidential Candidates Debate.

Airing live on FNC at 8:00 p.m. EDT, the 90-minute debate is taking place at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.

Tuesday's meeting will be the first major debate of the campaign season in which all nine candidates will attend. Eight of the nine candidates met last week in New Mexico, but civil rights activist Al Sharpton was unable to catch his flight from New York and missed the forum.

"This is an opportunity to excite the electorate and remind them the election is just around the corner," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Tuesday's debate is the first of two that are being co-sponsored by the CBC and Fox News. A second debate that all nine candidates have promised to attend, will take place Oct. 26 in Detroit.

The CBC Institute, which comprises members of the Congressional Black Caucus and private-sector professionals from academia, policy groups, labor and business, focuses on educating African-Americans and others on key issues of national policy. The group analyzes redistricting and African-American voting representation, and provides political campaign training, and leadership conferences and symposia.

"No debate is likely to be more important [for the Democrats] than the one in front of the Congressional Black Caucus Institute," said Fox News' chief political correspondent Carl Cameron. "For decades there has been no more loyal group of voters to the Democratic Party than African-Americans, and that's why this debate is so critical."

So, from the tough topics to the burning questions, find out where the candidates stand on the issues that matter, so that you can make informed decisions.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,96477,00.html

[ZTAngel]

This has everyone talking in Orlando. The accident blocked off I-4 (main road in Orlando) from the morning until 5pm yesterday.

Father's despair leads to death and mayhem

By Mark Schlueb- Orlando Sentinel 9/16/03

Even after Bryan Christopher Randall snapped, he knew what people would ask.

" 'Why?' must be the question on your minds," he began his suicide note.

That's the very question family and authorities struggled to answer Monday. Why would a man dump his 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son in a pond to die? And as police scrambled to learn the identities of those tiny children, why would that same man load his two older sons into the back seat of his SUV and turn into the path of a tractor-trailer?

There is no satisfaction in the answers: a failed marriage, a lost job, time with his children dictated by court order.

There are only the horrific consequences: the private disintegration of one man's mind and the public destruction of his family in just two days -- beginning with the mysterious drowning of one child and the near-death of another on Sunday, and culminating in the gruesome Monday morning crash on Interstate 4 that seriously injured two more sons.

"Why? Because she chooses to keep me out of their lives despite their crying for their father. (Not even a phone call!)," 37-year-old Randall wrote on a legal pad. "I had to take them with me. Again, I apologize. Please cremate us & combine our ashes."

Not so long ago, Bryan and Lisa Randall of Altamonte Springs seemed as though they had an idyllic family. Neighbors described them as "absolutely nice, normal people." An administrator at the child-care center that watched their four children described Lisa as a "concerned mom" who always wanted to know more about the kids' activities.

Now, Bryan Randall and his youngest child, a daughter, are dead. And late Monday, the couple's three boys lay in hospital beds with serious injuries.

Randall, a former star point guard for the Dartmouth College basketball team, met his future bride while both worked for AT&T.

In 2001, the Randalls moved to a quiet street in Altamonte Springs so Bryan could take a job with WorldCom, according to his father, the Rev. Bill Randall of Jacksonville.

Neighbors in the Forest Edge subdivision described them as quiet.

Bryan occasionally could be seen working on the well-kept two-story house. The boys played outside with their baby sister.

Lisa usually had a smile on her face.

"She always seemed in a good mood," neighbor Gardner Hussey said.

But things began to go bad when WorldCom collapsed and Bryan lost his job as a sales representative.

"He never did recover from that," said the elder Randall, the pastor of St. Simon's Baptist Church in Orange Park and a 1998 congressional candidate. "The financial troubles, I think, put the strain on the marriage."

Lisa went to work for Spherion, a company that operates a call center for the American Automobile Association.

Bryan Randall eventually went to work as a customer-service manager for Albors & Associates in Winter Park. He resigned a couple of weeks ago after working there for two months. , the couple never found their footing after the WorldCom scandal, the Rev. Randall said. First came marriage counseling, then a separation.

On Aug. 15, Lisa asked a judge in Sanford for a court order to protect her from her husband, according to Seminole County records.

She accused him of forcing her to perform sex acts. If she didn't agree, Lisa Randall wrote, he threatened to send out a newsletter -- with pictures -- to family members and friends, detailing her sexual history.

In her petition for the injunction, Lisa Randall wrote that her husband threatened to kill himself in a phone conversation around July 26. He said, " 'I should get a gun and blow my brains out! Don't you think I've gotten a gun by now?' That makes me fear for my life," she wrote.

A temporary protective order was granted, but Lisa didn't accuse her husband of harming or threatening their children. She spelled out a tentative visitation schedule: He would get them every other weekend and a night in the middle of each week.

But the courts couldn't take away the anger.

Two weeks ago, Bryan alleged that his estranged wife had failed to drop off the kids for his regular Thursday night visitation. He tried to have her prosecuted, but the State Attorney's Office considered it a matter for the civil court, according to Chris White, the state attorney's chief of operations in Sanford.

On Aug. 26, the day a judge made the temporary injunction permanent, police escorted Bryan to the house to pick up his belongings, and he left behind an insulting note, White said. It said Lisa was a horrible mother and that she was making a big mistake, but authorities didn't consider it life-threatening.

Lisa Randall asked the State Attorney's Office to prosecute her husband, saying the note violated the judge's no-contact order. No charges were shown to be pending Monday.

Neighbor Jenee Masterson said Lisa met Bryan at an area Burger King on Friday night so he could take the children for their weekend visit. She went back there on Sunday night to pick them up, but they never showed up, Masterson said.

By then, police already were trying to figure out what had happened to two of the Randall children, although they didn't know their identities at the time.

Sunday morning, Jason G. Toll was fishing at a pond near Maitland's Lake Destiny when he found 4-year-old Regal Randall, who was barely clinging to life. The body of his 2-year-old sister, Yana, was found a short time later.

Sunday evening, investigators released a hospital photo of Regal and appealed to the public for help identifying him. Lisa Randall apparently didn't see the extensive media coverage until Monday morning; she went to Maitland police shortly after 7 a.m. and told them she thought the children were hers.

As police interviewed her and prepared to issue an Amber Alert to be on the lookout for Bryan Randall and the couple's two older sons, a report came in that stunned authorities.

Bryan Randall had pulled his Dodge Durango into the eastbound Interstate 4 emergency lane about a mile east of Lake Mary Boulevard, within sight of the headquarters of AAA, where his estranged wife worked. With a suicide note next to him, Bryan then swerved sharply into the path of a semitrailer hauling a full load of cars.

The Randalls' two oldest children -- Bryan Jr., 8, and Julian, 6 -- were in the SUV with their father.

The truck, whose driver was unharmed, slammed broadside into the SUV and cleaved it nearly in two.

Bryan was taken by ambulance to the trauma center at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he died. Bryan Jr. was in critical condition and Julian was stable at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers learned soon after they arrived that the SUV matched the description of the vehicle being sought in the Maitland incident. When authorities realized that were was more to it than just a serious accident, the mood around the crash scene quickly changed. Crime-scene tape soon encircled the scene, and the crash investigation turned into a criminal investigation.

Police could do nothing to find meaning in the twisted events of Sunday and Monday: "It's a domestic situation that's gone bad," Maitland Police Deputy Chief Gary Calhoun said.

How exactly did Yana and Regal end up in the pond? Calhoun said Regal had no injuries or wounds, but Yana's body had a mark and injury that investigators would not reveal.

What did Bryan and his other two sons do after the incident at the lake? Where did they spend Sunday night?

How long had Bryan planned this? His father said Bryan visited him two weeks ago and brought him photographs of the children to keep.

"This is a puzzle that we're still trying to piece together," said Special Agent Wayne Ivey, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement supervisor.

Family members, too, have trouble reconciling the man they knew with the man who did such horrible things.

"I love my son. I would say he was a good man. But what he did, there is no excuse, and I offer none. We did not see this coming," the Rev. Randall said. "I have to bury my son. I have to bury my granddaughter. I have to pray the others hang on and we don't have to bury another grandchild."

Jim Kwitchoff was a childhood best friend who was co-captain with Bryan on his high school's state championship basketball team.

"That wasn't like him," said Kwitchoff, an assistant basketball coach at the University of Buffalo. "His voice mail even says, 'I will call you back within 24 hours.' And the closing says, 'Remember, anything's possible.' The message was symbolic of Bryan. You could feel the optimism in his message."

Police are still trying to reconstruct the family's final hours. They hope to learn more from Regal. The 4-year-old, found with only his nose and lips breaking the surface of the water, was upgraded from critical to serious condition Monday afternoon.

"I thought he was decent guy, you know," Lisa's brother, who asked that his name not be used, said of Bryan Randall. "One day he's fine and the next day, you don't know."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...orl-home-promo

[bafromkc]

Court Reinstates Oct. 7 California Recall Election

Tuesday, September 23, 2003



LOS ANGELES — The California recall election (search) will go on Oct. 7 as scheduled, a full panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously Tuesday.

The American Civil Liberties Union (search) said later Tuesday that it would not appeal the court's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ACLU argued that holding the election next month will disenfranchise 40,000 voters, many of them minorities.

The two-part vote on whether to oust Gov. Gray Davis (search) and who should replace him now appears clear to proceed.

In its ruling, the judges concluded that halting the recall election already in progress would do more harm than good.

"If the recall election scheduled for Oct. 7, 2003, is enjoined, it is certain that the state of California and its citizens will suffer material hardship by virtue of the enormous resources already invested in reliance on the election's proceedings on the announced date," read the opinion issued by the court.

The judges wrote they based their decision not on merits of the argument, but on whether the district judge who first ruled to allow the election on whether to oust Davis had correctly adjudicated the case.

"The district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that plaintiffs will suffer no hardship that outweighs the stake of the state of California and its citizens in having this election go forward as planned and as required by the California Constitution," the opinion concluded.

The decision was a per curiam opinion, meaning the justices did not sign their names to it, and no dissenting opinions were recorded.

• Raw Data: Decision to Allow Oct. 7 Recall (pdf)

On Monday, opponents of the recall said punch card ballot machines cause error rates so high that they would disenfranchise voters in six counties -- Los Angeles, Mendocino, Sacramento, San Diego, Santa Clara and Solano -- that won't have new voting machines in place until January 2004.

The court heard the full review just 15 days before the scheduled election, after three of its justices ruled Sept. 15 to put it off.

The 11-judge panel, which is the largest bench the 26-judge court permits to hear a case, took considerable interest in Monday's claims, interjecting within moments of opening arguments by the ACLU, which alleges that holding the election next month would disenfranchise voters.

The ACLU said these voters would not have equal protection under the law because one in every 25 minority votes would be thrown out. Attorneys argued the case relying on Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court decision that ruled the Florida 2000 presidential recount had no uniformity and therefore its results could not be guaranteed.

The secretary of state's office and organizers of the recall election defended the Oct. 7 date, saying 600,000 voters would be disenfranchised if the absentee ballots they already sent in were thrown out.

They added that the district judge who first heard the case made the correct decision when he ruled that a compelling public interest requires the vote be held as scheduled. To delay the recall would violate the state constitution that orders an election to be held within 80 days of a recall petition's certification.

Judge Alex Kozinski, appointed to the court in 1985 by former President Reagan, asked a stable of questions of both sides, leaving his perspective inscrutable. Kozinski questioned whether anyone would be disenfranchised by faulty equipment when the state could hold off certifying the election until ballots were properly counted.

"The right to vote has never been dependent on the existence of a recount," replied ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum.

Kozinski also asked ACLU attorney Laurence Tribe whether the punch-card ballot is any more or less prone to errors than other machines.

"Although it's not an impossibility, the experience is such that getting the people of California to believe that this is not a second-class technology now that it has been deemed deficient because it is outmoded, it would be quite a task," Tribe said.

Kozinski and Judge Johnnie B. Rawlinson, appointed by former President Clinton in 2000, challenged attorneys supporting the recall to explain what the threshold for voting errors can be before it violates the state constitution.

"We cannot value one person's vote over another," Rawlinson said.

If one out of every 10 votes doesn't count, Kozinski said, is that "close enough for government work?"

"If it was 50 percent I think we'd want to take a searching look," attorney Chuck Diamond conceded. Still, he stressed, "You don't stop everybody from voting if some of the people who do vote may have their votes counted erroneously."

In the end, the judges agreed that the ACLU has a legitimate concern about the use of the punch card system, suggesting that an opening exists for post-election litigation. But the court ruled: "At this time it is merely a speculative possibility, however, that any such denial will influence the result of the election."

The judges also ruled to keep the two initiatives scheduled to be on the ballot in place. Propositions 53 and 54 relate to the state budget and racial privacy respectively.

On Monday, the justices took the unusual step of allowing cameras in the courtroom to televise the hearing. Each side was given 30 minutes to make its case.

Eight of the 11 judges hearing the case were appointed by Democrats, the other three by Republicans, but overall the group is considered fairly conservative.

Candidates have continued to operate as though the election were to be held on Oct. 7, and have fund-raised steadily.

On Tuesday, Davis met with Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, one of the 10 Democratic presidential candidates, to discuss homeland security.

With poll numbers closing on whether to recall the governor, Davis has said he wants to get it over with, even though some Democrats believed that delaying the election until March, when the presidential primary occurs, would allow voters to cool off and would bring more Democrats to the polls.

"We are ready to beat the recall on Oct. 7," Davis campaign spokesman Peter Ragone said Tuesday. "This recall has already cost enough in terms of public funds and time away from the public's business. It is time to move forward."

On Monday, Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger released two new statewide 30-second television ads, one criticizing Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock -- without mentioning them by name -- for taking tribal donations. The second ad criticizes Davis and supports the recall.

On Monday, Bustamante, the only viable Democrat running to replace Davis, was ordered to pay back about $4 million in donations from Indian tribes that were illegally put into an old campaign account that was not subject to new campaign financing rules.

Bustamante and Schwarzenegger are running very closely in polls, but McClintock has considerable backing by Republicans. Schwarzenegger advisers and others have called on McClintock to drop out to make sure Schwarzenegger gets the votes to beat Bustamante.

Rep. Darrell Issa said Monday that if either McClintock or Schwarzenegger didn't drop out, he would urge voters to vote no on recalling the governor because a yes vote would assure a victory for Bustamante.

"As someone who some people call 'the godfather of the recall,' nobody should be more determined to remove Gray Davis from office," said Issa, who spent $1.7 million to get the recall on the ballot.

About 90 of the 135 candidates appeared Monday night as audience members of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," the venue Schwarzenegger used to launch his candidacy.

Fox News

[moe.ron]

Blaine backers get bill for policing

Hugh Muir
Friday September 26, 2003
The Guardian

Scotland Yard has told the organisers of David Blaine's troubled display of public starvation above Tower Bridge that they must pay for policing the stunt themselves.
In a move that heralds a review of the policing of all private events in London, the Met has announced that it will claim back the cost of keeping demonstrators away from the American performer. The charges, which have not yet been quantified, began on Monday.

Amid growing concern about the performance, the Met commissioner, Sir John Stevens, told The Guardian that the public order implications of the performance are being reviewed every day and the show could be halted if it becomes a catalyst for regular disorder.

There have been chaotic scenes as members of the public have thrown eggs and missiles at Blaine, who is enclosed within a clear box. There have also been clashes as members of his entourage have tried to stop demonstrators ridiculing him. One sought to cut off his water supply.

Last week an aide of Sir Paul McCartney was involved in a fracas with a photographer as the musician visited the site.

There have been three arrests so far. Blaine will remain in his box without food for a further 25 days.

Sir John said: "It is costing the Met a lot of money. We have asked the people organising the event to pay for policing. It has got to the stage where it is requiring a considerable police presence."

He added: "If it got to the extent that it is too rowdy, we will have to look at that because my responsibility is to keep the public peace."

The police stance reflects new thinking on finance and concern that major events in central London are stretching the Met's resources. The commissioner and members of the Metropolitan police authority were shocked by the arrangements which had to be made as demonstrators besieged the arms fair in London Docklands two weeks ago. The Met made 150 arrests.

The costs of policing the Notting Hill carnival, New Year celebrations and professional football matches are also causing concern.

Sir John said up to 2,672 officers were needed to police the arms fair, adding: "We need to consider that it was a private enterprise."

While conceding that the Met must police some events from its own funds in the public interest, the commissioner said there will be increasing demands on his officers and finances.

"This is an area which is going to expand if we are not careful and it is going to cost the Met, the police authority and Londoners a lot of money. I think from my point of view we have got to be quite tough on this."

MPA member Peter Herbert said the arms fair offered no benefit to Londoners.

"There are many people who will not enter the Guinness Book of Records who will starve to death while David Blaine is up there, and it is very sad that we have had to waste money on policing the event in this way."

Blaine is protected by 12 security guards hired by Sky television, but two Met officers patrol at peak hours.

The organisers were contributing to the costs incurred between 8pm and 6am on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but will now pick up the entire costs.

[CatStarESP4]

This story is very hard to believe, but it is true

Monday October 13, 05:31 PM

Crow nabbed after one schnapps too many

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police have apprehended a vicious crow which was attacking passers-by by getting it drunk on bait laced with alcohol, authorities say.


The bird eluded its captors after attacking a woman and a young girl at the weekend until cat food soaked in high-alcohol fruit schnapps proved too tempting to resist.


"The crow was completely smashed," said a spokesman for police in the western city of Dortmund.


Police said the crow was sleeping off its hangover in a local animal home.

[bafromkc]

U.S. Issues New Warning on Terror Attacks

Tuesday, October 14, 2003



WASHINGTON — Federal authorities are warning that terrorists may be poised for attacks in the United States, according to a bulletin released Friday and obtained by Fox News.

The bulletin states that there is "continued Al Qaeda interest in conducting attacks against the homeland.'' However, federal officials are not raising the nation's alert status, which is now at elevated or yellow.

"Recent multiple reports indicate terrorists may be poised to conduct simultaneous attacks in the near term against U.S. interests in a number of venues overseas and possibly in the United States,'' the special edition bulletin states.

"The exact timing, targets and locations of the possible attacks are unknown. Some reports indicate that a large attack could follow a series of smaller operations in the Middle East and South Asia."

The bulletin also states that Al Qaeda continues to develop plans for using aircraft against targets in the U.S.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, a top intelligence official suggested that Al Qaeda was planning another big attack.

"We have received a lot of good information from these detainees over the past several weeks and corroborated the fact there were active plans, ongoing, to conduct another attack in the United States," William H. Parrish, a top intelligence official with the Homeland Security Department (search), told the AP.

"This attack as they indicated was probably going to be multiple attacks, simultaneous," he said.

The Al Qaeda members include some lieutenants operating in Saudi Arabia. Their leader, Abu Bakr al-Azdi (search), turned himself in in June; his deputy was killed in a recent shootout with Saudi forces.

"We also know there were also other members involved with this planning that are still loose," Parrish said.

Parrish, the acting assistant secretary for information analysis at Homeland Security, said the threat posed by this group remains one of the top domestic terrorism concerns.

On Sept. 4, the department issued a warning to security personnel suggesting an Al Qaeda attack was in the works. It offered a number of potential threats; atop the list were concerns terrorists would again hijack airplanes and use them as weapons.

But the precise nature of the threat remains unclear. Enter Parrish, whose charge is to turn vague, uncertain intelligence into coherent, useful warnings for police, emergency workers and corporate security officials.

He now has about 60 intelligence analysts working for him — a tiny shop compared with operations at the CIA and FBI. His group also must find a role distinct from the Terrorist Threat Integration Center (search), the new operation designed to share information between the FBI, CIA and other agencies on terrorist plots.

All that would seem to leave little room for Parrish's operation, which is part of the larger Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Office at Homeland Security. Indeed, many initially believed that Homeland Security would perform the function eventually given to the threat center.

While working with state, local and corporate security personnel, Parrish also has some authority to direct intelligence-gathering by the CIA and other agencies to suit his needs.

For example, Homeland Security officials are pushing for U.S. interrogators to press Al Qaeda prisoners to find out if the organization has the know-how to pull off the scenarios that members describe, he said.

If the prisoner talks of a plot to blow up a major suspension bridge, for example, Parrish wants to find out if Usama bin Laden's training camps held classes on the finer points of such bridge design.

"How many mechanical engineers does he have sitting on his bench?" Parrish said. "How many people does he have that know and understand where the structural weaknesses are in a bridge to be able to affect them? What were those skill sets that he taught in the training camps?"

Parrish also has customs and immigration officers work directly with intelligence analysts to advise them on what sort of information would be useful to their colleagues in the field.

Other intelligence agencies are providing Parrish's department with all the information it asks for, he said. Critics castigated the CIA and FBI for failing to share terrorism information before the Sept. 11 attacks.

But Parrish said he worries that complacency is setting in, particularly among state and local authorities who have spent millions on security efforts and overtime but seen no real effect, except for an absence of terrorism, which may or may not be because of their efforts.

Like others, Parrish says he wonders why Al Qaeda has not attacked inside the United States yet.

"Al Qaeda has always been focused and committed to the spectacular attacks," Parrish said. "The individual suicide bomber, although certainly within (bin Laden's) grasp to be able to execute, may not fit into that strategy."

But that could change, he warned.

"I think at some point, in time, like any organization, you go back and review that strategy," he said.

Fox News

[smiley21]

Oscar-Winning Actor De Niro Diagnosed with Cancer



NEW YORK (Reuters) - Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro (news), 60, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer (news - web sites), but his prospects for a full recovery are good, his publicist said on Monday.



"Doctors say the condition was detected at an early stage because of regular checkups," publicist Stan Rosenfield said in a statement. "Because of the early detection and his excellent physical condition, doctors project a full recovery."


Rosenfield declined to give further details about the actor's condition or course of treatment, but said De Niro planned to fulfill his commitment to start shooting his next film, "Hide and Seek" for 20th Century Fox early next year.


De Niro won an Oscar as best actor in 1981 for his role as the emotionally self-destructive boxing champion Jake La Motta in "Raging Bull." He was named best supporting actor in 1975 for playing the young Mafia patriarch Vito Corleone in "The Godfather: Part II."


The native New Yorker, who shot to prominence in Martin Scorsese (news)'s 1973 film "Mean Streets," has received four other Oscar nominations as best actor in "Cape Fear" (1991), "Awakenings" (1990), "The Deer Hunter" (1978) and "Taxi Driver" (1976).


Best known for his tough-guy roles, De Niro was last seen in movie theaters reprising his comic turn as mobster Paul Vitti in the film "Analyze That" with Billy Crystal (news).

[bafromkc]

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A police officer who interviewed accused sniper John Allen Muhammad (search) just 30 minutes after one of last year's fatal shootings said he believed the story Muhammad told him and let him go.

Prince William County, Va., police officer Steven Bailey testified Tuesday that Muhammad was "very polite and very courteous," and he let him go after some brief questioning so Bailey could deal with the mayhem that had ensued after the Oct. 9, 2002, shooting.

Muhammad spoke to the officer as he drove his Chevy Caprice out of a restaurant parking lot from which police believe the snipers fired the shot that killed Dean Meyers.

Bailey said Muhammad told him that police had directed him into the parking lot as they secured the crime scene. Only later that night did Bailey find out that was untrue.

Bailey told Muhammad on cross-examination that he "didn't catch on," but said he wished he had. The officer interviewed every driver leaving the parking lot, preventing people from leaving who were scared to be at the scene, while the focus was on finding a white van.

Muhammad is representing himself during the trial, which began with opening statements Monday. On Tuesday, the prosecution objected to the way in which Muhammad was representing himself at trial.

At issue was the extensive consulting he was doing with standby counsel. Circuit Judge LeRoy F. Millette Jr. (search) seemed to side with the prosecution, telling Muhammad that he could either be represented by counsel or represent himself.

"That's not what's happening here," Millette said. "It seems to me that you are acting as co-counsel with the three of them, but you're the one doing the talking."

The judge decided to call a recess, after which he would require that there be more distance between Muhammad and the standby attorneys.

Earlier Tuesday, Muhammad withdrew a request that might have allowed him to introduce mental health evidence at his trial.

"I've changed my mind on that," Muhammad told the judge at the beginning of the second day of testimony.

Muhammad has been barred from presenting any mental health evidence because he refused to meet with prosecutors' mental health expert. On Monday, he had asked Millette to reconsider that ruling.

'I Had Nothing to Do With These Crimes'

Muhammad's decision to defend himself against capital murder charges in last year's Washington-area sniper attacks surprised legal experts, raising the possibility that he could cross-examine shooting survivors and his alleged accomplice.

In a rambling but adamant 20-minute opening statement Monday, Muhammad, wearing a suit and tie, told the jury the evidence "will all show I had nothing to do with these crimes."

He asked jurors to pay close attention to the facts because "my life and my son's life is on the line," a reference to 18-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo (search), who is to go on trial next month in the shootings. The two are not related, but have referred to each other as father and son.

Malvo was brought into the courtroom for about two minutes Monday so a witness could identify him. Malvo exchanged the briefest of glances with 42-year-old Muhammad but did not take the stand.

The witness, bank employee Linda Thompson, testified she saw the two men outside her bank on Oct. 9, 2002, shortly before a man was gunned down while pumping gasoline nearby.

Asked by a prosecutor whether Malvo was the man she saw getting into a car in the northern Virginia bank parking lot, Thompson said: "He had more hair, but yes."

She also said Muhammad walked across the lot and told her, "Good evening."

Muhammad refused to cross-examine Thompson in Malvo's presence but later asked the woman: "Was it because we was black that you remember us?"

She denied their race was an issue, saying instead that their out-of-state license plates caught her eye.

• Raw Data: Muhammad's Indictment (pdf)

• Raw Data: Notice of Intent to Seek Death Penalty (pdf)

Larry Meyers, brother of shooting victim Dean Meyers (search), also testified Monday, speaking briefly about his brother's life, including military service in Vietnam.

Muhammad is accused of shooting Myers, the seventh victim in a three-week shooting spree last October that left 10 people dead in the Washington, D.C. area.

Larry Meyers identified his 53-year-old brother from a snapshot, with prosecutor Paul Ebert asking, "Does this represent your brother in life?" and then from a bloody crime-scene photo, with the prosecutor asking, "Does this show your brother in death?"

Muhammad did not cross-examine Larry Meyers.

Legal experts agreed that Muhammad, in choosing to defend himself, now has little chance of an acquittal. But he may be seeking a different kind of vindication, University of Virginia law professor Anne Coughlin (search) said.

"He doesn't want to be perceived as voiceless and helpless man, the pawn of lawyers," Coughlin said. "Maybe he wants to stand on his own two feet. Maybe he'd rather be presented as ruthless and cold-blooded than insane."

Judge Millette granted Muhammad's request to represent himself after directly questioning Muhammad during a bench conference.

It was not clear why Muhammad decided to fire his court-appointed lawyers, who declined to comment and are serving as standby counsel and would assist Muhammad if he asks.

Fox News

[decadence]

Jocks raise their game in class.
The Times Higher Education Supplement. (UK)

US universities have significantly improved the academic performance of their athletes after years of criticism that they were using student athletes merely to help them profit from intercollegiate sports, then discarding them without an education, writes Jon Marcus in Boston.
Athletes at the most competitive universities now have a higher graduation rate than non-athletes - 62 per cent compared with 59 per cent - according to the National Collegiate Athletic Association . The figure indicates the proportion of students who graduate within six years of enrolment.
NCAA president Myles Brand said the report was "great news". "This illustrates that changes in NCAA minimum standards can have a positive impact on cademic performance of student athletes in college", he said.
The changes followed years of abysmally low graduation rates of student athletes, even while universities reaped millions of dollars from television rights to intercollegiate games and tournaments. Many athletes left school when their eligibility to compete expired.
Black athletes continue to graduate at a significantly lower rate than whites. Only 48 per cent of black athletes leave with a degree - that figure has risen 5 percentage points in the last year but is still below average overall graduation rates. Only 38 per cent of black male basketball players graduate.
Stricter academic requirements also appear to be having an impact on the number of black male athletes admitted to universities since 1996. The proportion of basketball and American football players who are black has declined.
Mr Brand said the rising graduation rates of black athletes was "encouraging". however, he also added: "There is still work to be done."
Fifty-two per cent of white male basketball players graduate and 66 per cent of white female basketball players graduate.

[The1calledTKE]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/middle_east/3221079.stm

An organisation in Israel has gained rabbinical approval to train pigs to guard Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Until now, Jewish settlements have been guarded by men with guns and also by guard dogs.

But a new idea - guard pigs - has been thought up by an organisation called The Hebrew Battalion.

The man in charge, Kuti Ben-Yaakov, insists it is a serious proposal.

"Pigs' sense of smell is far more developed than that of dogs," he said.

"The pigs will also be able to identify weapons from huge distances, and walk in the direction of the terrorist, thereby pointing him out.

"Moreover, this animal is considered to be dangerous by Islam and, according to the Muslim faith, a terrorist who touches a pig is not eligible for the 70 virgins in heaven."

'Nonsense'

Under Jewish law, the pig is seen as an unclean animal, so Mr Ben-Yaakov has had to seek special approval from rabbis in order to begin training his hoped-for legion of guard pigs.

"It's clear that in a case like this, the ban that was imposed on raising pigs in the Land of Israel doesn't apply," said Daniel Shilo of the Yesha Rabbinical Council.

BBC Middle East correspondent James Reynolds says that some settlers have dismissed the idea.

"Spare us from this nonsense," one settler spokesman told the BBC. "It will never happen."

[GinaD79]

Critical Study Minus Criticism of Justice Dept.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...mofjusticedept

By DAVID JOHNSTON and ERIC LICHTBLAU The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 An internal report that harshly criticized the Justice Department (news - web sites)'s diversity efforts was edited so heavily when it was posted on the department's Web site two weeks ago that half of its 186 pages, including the summary, were blacked out.


Some Justice Department lawyers said the editing of the report had overshadowed the purpose of the study. Stacey Plaskett Duffy, a senior counsel to the deputy attorney general, said the study, a self-evaluation, was part of a program to improve the department's diversity programs.

"This was a study that we commissioned of our own volition to get a look at what our work force looked like," Ms. Duffy said. "We didn't have to let people know we were doing this."

She said the department had undertaken a number of significant steps to improve the work environment for minority members. Department officials have begun a pilot $300,000 program to help new lawyers pay off student loans, she said, and have also started a mentoring program, begun posting all job openings and are assessing how to more fairly assign cases within each unit.


The deleted passages, electronically recovered by a self-described "information archaeologist" in Tucson, portrayed the department's record on diversity as seriously flawed, specifically in the hiring, promotion and retention of minority lawyers.


The unedited report, completed in June 2002 by the consulting firm KPMG, found that minority employees at the department, which is responsible for enforcing the country's civil rights laws, perceive their own workplace as biased and unfair.


"The department does face significant diversity issues," the report said. "Whites and minorities as well as men and women perceive differences in many aspects of the work climate. For example, minorities are significantly more likely than whites to cite stereotyping, harassment and racial tension as characteristics of the work climate. Many of these differences are also present between men and women, although to a lesser extent."


Another deleted part said efforts to promote diversity "will take extraordinarily strong leadership" from the attorney general's office and other Justice Department offices.


Even complimentary conclusions were deleted, like one that said "attorneys across demographic groups believe that the Department is a good place to work" and another that said "private industry cites DOJ as a trend-setter for diversity." Beyond that, a recommendation that the department should "increase public visibility of diversity issues," was kept out of the public report.


The edited version gave a much narrower view of the department's diversity problems.


Private lawyers who have sued federal agencies for racial discrimination expressed dismay at the heavy editing of the report and at its conclusions that discrimination was perceived by the minority lawyers who make up about 15 percent of the Justice Department's 9,200 lawyers.


"The Justice Department has sought to hide from the public statistically significant findings of discrimination against minorities within its ranks," said David J. Shaffer, a lawyer who has represented agents from federal agencies in class-action discrimination lawsuits. "These cases challenge the same type of discriminatory practices found to exist at the Justice Department."


After the unedited document began circulating in computer circles, and articles began appearing earlier this month in publications like Computer World and newspapers like Newsday, the Justice Department pulled the edited report from its Web site, later posting a different version thought to be more resistant to electronic manipulation.


The complaints about the Justice Department come as it has shifted many resources to fighting terrorism and critics have said it has allowed the enforcement of civil rights to languish and failed to aggressively pursue some accusations of discrimination in housing, the workplace and other critical areas.


Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the department's handling of the report called into question its commitment to diversity in its own workplace.


At a Senate hearing this week, Mr. Kennedy told James B. Comey, nominated by President Bush (news - web sites) to succeed Larry Thompson as deputy attorney general, that the episode "gives the distinct impression that the department commissioned the report, then left it on the shelf, ignoring the recommendations."


Mr. Comey, however, said the report and the policy that grew out of it were "a point of pride" for the Justice Department.


Mark Corallo, a Justice Department spokesman, said that portions of the report, and even its conclusions, were "deliberative and predecisional" and so could be excluded from the public report under provisions in the Freedom of Information Act. Mr. Corallo said some of the consultants' findings were inaccurate, but he said he could not discuss deleted passages.


Mr. Corallo said career lawyers who routinely decide how to censor material before public release made the recommendations about what to delete from the diversity report. He said their recommendations were sent to the office of the deputy attorney general, where it was reviewed by political appointees who made no further changes.


By the time the department posted the theoretically more secure version of the report on its Web site, it was too late. Russ Kick, a writer and editor in Tucson, who operates a Web site, thememoryhole.org, had had already electronically stripped the edited version of the black lines that hid the full text. Mr. Kick then posted the unedited version of the report on his Web site, where it has been copied more than 32,000 times, a near record for the site. Justice Department officials said it was unlikely that any action would be taken against Mr. Kick.



Link to the The Justice Dept's Uncensored Attorney Workforce Diversity Study http://www.thememoryhole.org/feds/do...-diversity.htm

[moe.ron]

U.S. loses WTO steel appeal

November 11, 2003

BY DAVID ROEDER Business Reporter

The World Trade Organization handed President Bush a stinging defeat Monday, ruling that steel tariffs he ordered 20 months ago are illegal and setting the stage for retaliation by the European Union and Japan.

The decision means Bush faces the prospect of an election-year trade war that could close off overseas markets to U.S. products, especially crops. Analysts said that to increase pressure on Bush, the EU and Japan could slap duties on goods emanating from the Midwest, an important political battleground.

Such retaliation could hurt the U.S. economy just as it is showing signs of recovery, said David Mirza, an economics professor at Loyola University Chicago. He guessed that the votes in steel-producing states from West Virginia to Illinois will lead Bush to stand firm on the tariffs.

"I think it's the politics more than the economics that will drive this decision,'' Mirza said.

The ruling by a WTO appeals panel affirms a decision the Geneva-based arbiter of trade disputes reached in July. The panel said the United States has been unable to prove economic hardship from cheaper foreign steel.

Representatives of the EU and Japan said they would impose up to $2.3 billion in sanctions on U.S. products including tobacco, fruit juices and frozen peas as soon as next month, unless Bush relents.

A statement from the EU and seven other nations said the president has "no other choice'' but to remove the tariffs immediately.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan declined to say when Bush will decide the issue. ''We believe [the duties] are fully consistent with WTO rules and we will carefully review those decisions,'' McClellan said.

The three-year tariffs on imported steel range up to 30 percent. Bush acted to protect domestic steel producers, giving the industry time to restructure and shrink. But the duties also gave the producers cover for price increases, thus increasing costs for a range of steel consuming industries, such as the appliance and auto industries.

Timothy Gleason, president of Olson International Ltd., said the tariffs have increased costs he's had to pay on the spot market by 40 percent to 60 percent. With 160 employees, his Lombard company produces parts for seat belts and air bags.

"I'm hoping that the president will lift the tariffs. I think the WTO will give him an out for doing that,'' Gleason said. He said steel producers have gone through consolidation and no longer need special help.

Another company executive, Michael Holewinski, president of Ace Industries Inc., said Bush acted to protect a single industry while neglecting America's overall plight in manufacturing. The broader problem is competition from cheaper goods overseas, especially from China, he said.

"I'm sensitive to the fact that the steel industry [in the U.S.] is being driven out of business, but frankly they're no different from any other industry,'' said Holewinski, whose metal plating and spinning operation has cut its work force to 50 workers from 85 in the last year. He said he suspects Washington has little sense of how severely the U.S. manufacturing base has eroded.

A coalition that includes big steel companies and the United Steelworkers of America union called on Bush to keep the duties in place for their scheduled three-year run. It said the WTO decision "is based on bias, not facts. It is one more striking example of the broken WTO dispute settlement system, which has never ruled in favor of a safeguard on any product by any country.''

Federal reports show the domestic manufacturing base has contracted by about 10 percent, or more than 2 million jobs, in the last two years, with Illinois reporting a loss of 77,000 jobs.

The American Iron and Steel Institute said prices for hot-rolled sheets of steel nearly doubled to $400 a ton in the immediate aftermath of Bush's tariffs, but the price has since declined to $295 a ton.

Contributing: Bloomberg News

[Peaches-n-Cream]

HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 11 — _Art Carney, who played Jackie Gleason’s sewer worker pal Ed Norton in the TV classic “The Honeymooners” and went on to win the 1974 Oscar for best actor in “Harry and Tonto,” has died at 85.

_CARNEY DIED IN Chester, Conn., on Sunday and was buried on Tuesday after a small, private funeral. He had been ill for some time.
_ _ _ _The comic actor would be forever identified as Norton, Ralph Kramden’s bowling buddy and not-too-bright upstairs neighbor on “The Honeymooners.” The sitcom appeared in various forms from 1951 to 1956 and was revived briefly in 1971. The shows can still be seen on cable.
_ _ _ _With his turned-up porkpie hat and unbuttoned vest over a white T-shirt, Carney’s Ed Norton with his exuberant “Hey, Ralphie boy!” became an ideal foil for Gleason’s blustery, bullying Kramden. Carney won three Emmys for his role and his first taste of fame.
_ _ _ _“The first time I saw the guy act,” Gleason once said, “I knew I would have to work twice as hard for my laughs. He was funny as hell.”
_ _ _ _In one episode, Norton and Ralph learn to golf from an instruction book. Told to “address the ball,” Norton gives a wave of the hand and says, “Hellooooo, ball!” In another episode, Norton inadvertently wins the award for best costume at a Raccoon Lodge party by showing up in his sewer worker’s gear. Another time, the loose-limbed Norton teaches Ralph a finger-popping new dance called the Hucklebuck.
_ _ _ _Carney told a Saturday Evening Post interviewer in 1961 that strangers were always asking him how he liked it down in the sewer. “I have seasonal answers,” he said. “In the summer: ‘I like it down there because it’s cool.’ In the winter: ‘I like it down there because it’s warm.’ Then I’ve got one that isn’t seasonal: ‘Go to hell.”’
_ _ _ _After “The Honeymooners,” Carney battled a drinking problem for several years. His behavior became erratic while co-starring with Walter Matthau in the Broadway run of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” in the 1960s. He dropped out of the show and spent nearly half a year in a sanitarium.
_ _ _ _His career resumed, and in 1974 he was cast in Paul Mazurksy’s “Harry and Tonto” as a 72-year-old widower who travels from New York to Chicago with his pet cat. He stopped drinking during the making of the film.
_ _ _ _When it won him his Oscar, Carney wisecracked: “You’re looking at an actor whose price has just doubled.”
_ _ _ _“Art was, and is one of the most endearing men I have ever met,” the late actress Audrey Meadows (the caustic Alice Kramden on “The Honeymooners”) wrote in her 1994 memoir “Love, Alice.” She called him a “witty and delightful companion who went out of his way to help each new actor find his niche” on the show.
_ _ _ _Carney was born into an Irish-Catholic family in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on Nov. 4, 1918, and baptized Arthur William Matthew Carney. His father was a newspaperman and publicist.
_ _ _ _
MAN OF MANY VOICES
_ _ _ _After appearing in amateur theatricals and imitating radio personalities, Carney won a job in 1937 traveling with Horace Heidt’s dance band, doing his impressions and singing novelty songs.
_ _ _ _“There I was, an 18-year-old mimic rooming with a blind whistler,” he told People magazine in 1974. “He would order gin and grapefruit juice for us in the morning, and it was great. ... No responsibilities, no remorse. I was an alcoholic, even then.”
_ _ _ _Later he won a job at $225 a week imitating Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and other world leaders on a radio show, “Report to the Nation.”
_ _ _ _He was drafted into the Army in 1944 and took part in the D-Day landing at Normandy. A piece of shrapnel shattered his right leg. He was left with a leg three-quarters of an inch shorter than the other and a lifelong limp.
_ _ _ _Carney returned to radio as second banana on comedy shows, then ventured into television on “The Morey Amsterdam Show” in 1948. That brought him to the attention of Gleason.
_ _ _ _Among his movie credits: “W.W. and the Dixie Dance Kings,” “The Late Show,” “House Calls,” “Movie Movie,” “Sunburn,” “Going in Style,” “Roadie,” “Firestarter,” “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and “Last Action Hero.”
_ _ _ _Around Westbrook, where he and his wife had a waterfront home, Carney was known around town as “Mr. C.”
_ _ _ _Family friend Janice Buglini remembered how Carney came to cheer up her 11-year-old daughter, who had leukemia. “He would bring ice cream over for her, and a lobster — anything she wanted,” Buglini said.
_ _ _ _Carney married his high school sweetheart, Jean Myers, in 1940. After the marriage broke up, Carney married Barbara Isaac in 1966. They divorced 10 years later, and in 1980 he and his first wife remarried.
_ _ _ _“We always kept in touch because of our three children,” he said in a 1980 AP interview. “After our second divorces, it was sort of like the puppy coming home: ‘Oh, it’s you, come on in.’ We decided to give it a go again.”
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _© 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.