The Clarion Issue

IN MEMORY OF
Spc. Jonathon Haggin of Kingsland, GA
US Army National Guard
Killed in Iraq on 30 June 2005

PRAYER FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY
'Father in Heaven, watch over America's sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers, in their hour of peril. Bring them home safely to their loved ones. Wrap your loving arms around the wounded, and bring to your side the ones who have lost their lives. Let their loved ones know peace of mind from the pain of having lost those who were so dear to them. Let their children learn wisdom as they grow up without their mothers and fathers. Amen.'

On October 8, 2005, a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake rocked large swaths of Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. The epicenter of the earthquake was centered 60 miles northeast of Islamabad in the Pakistani controlled area of Kashmir, the fabled northern province of the subcontinent nestled in the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. The Pakistan Meteorological Department reported the earthquake as, “one of the strongest earthquakes ever felt in Islamabad.” Other major Pakistani cities of Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, and Rawalpindi also felt the effects of the quake. Residents in Kabul, Afghanistan, about 400 miles, away felt the temblors of the powerful earthquake.

The initial Pakistani response to the earthquake was hampered by the lack of adequate transportation. The area of Kashmir is remote and desolate. The earthquake had sent dirt, debris, and huge rocks into the roads, and the magnitude of the quake had destroyed many bridges in the area making it unreachable by truck or rail. To add to the rescue and supply problem, the Pakistani army and government had a limited supply of helicopters to send aid to the victims and carry the injured citizens to hospitals or emergency aid stations. It is interesting to note, however, that Pakistan has nuclear weapons.

As the disaster unfolded, the world, including the United States, sent major aid via airlift to the staging areas in Pakistan. The problem still remained of getting the supplies to the victims in the remote, mountainous areas. A few days after the quake, rain set in around Kashmir, hampering relief efforts. The United States sent helicopters over from the war in Afghanistan to help provide transportation for the relief aid. While the United States and the world did what it could, Pakistani citizens were forced to sleep in the rain, cold and hungry, with no protection from the winter elements. Of course, the Pakistani government has missiles to deliver the nuclear weapons.

After about a week, the rains had ceased and the world and US humanitarian efforts were beginning to reach into the remote areas with basic supplies. Many nations sent helicopters to aid in the delivery of the supplies, and the US sent cargo planes and more helicopters from Afghanistan. The Pakistani government, however, had very few tents, medical supplies, or food to send to the area. Malaria broke out in Muzaffarabad and other mosquito, waterborne, and disaster area diseases threatened. Injured Pakistanis died in make shift aid stations needing evacuation, doctors, and basic medications. On October 12, 2005, the Pakistani embassy staff made the rounds of the cable news networks and assured the American people that the Pakistani nuclear reactors, the reactors that had made the yellowcake for the nuclear weapons that sit atop the missiles, were fine and undamaged.

An estimated 40,000 people died in the Pakistani earthquake and many others still await basic food, medical attention, blankets, and shelter, as the Unites States and the world fly from dawn to dusk to deliver it.

Across the border in India, another poor nation and major adversary of Pakistan, the same scenario was and still is being played out in Indian Kashmir and other parts of northern India. Of course, India has nuclear weapons, missiles, and reactors too.

On August 29th Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast with a fury. This category four hurricane caused wide spread damage and devastation to Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, but especially New Orleans. The United States had been rocked by strong hurricanes before and always bounced back quickly to aid the victims, cities and states that were affected by the storms. Katrina was different. The state of Louisiana, the city of New Orleans and the Federal government were all ill-prepared for this storm. It seemed like for the first time in the last 100 years, the United States needed help to aid our victims.

The United States has had a history of aiding other countries in their time of need. We helped Europe during World Wars I and II. We helped Korea and Southeast Asia limit the spread of Communism. We helped African countries during devastating droughts. We helped our allies and enemies during earthquakes and tsunamis. It seems like every country in the world owes the United States in some way.

The news reports and pictures after the storm made New Orleans look like a third world country. Slow response and communication problems increased the suffering of the citizens of New Orleans. The world was ready to help. Two days after the storm, our neighbor and ally Canada, was ready to send rescue workers, Urban Search and Rescue vehicles and naval ships to aid the damaged Gulf coast. There was one problem, which was the Department of Homeland Security. The Canadian crews were grounded in Vancouver for days awaiting approval from Homeland Security to enter the US. Valuable time was lost and lives may have been lost because of the red tape. This was only one of many problems our government made trying to follow guidelines.

Our closest ally, Great Britain, was furious with the US government when they found out that 400,000 MRE’s (meals ready to eat) were being incinerated in Little Rock because the FDA deemed the food unfit for human consumption. These are the same MRE’s that British and US troops eat in Iraq. A top British official called it “sickening senselessness”. One of the rescue workers who organized bringing the MRE’s to the US was quoted as saying: “The world’s richest nation couldn’t organize piss in a brewery and lets fellow Americans starve while they arrogantly observe petty regulations.” Spain, Italy, and Israel have all publicly complained that the US was holding up important food shipments to the Gulf region.

Many other countries stated that important water purification plants were not being allowed into the US. Two countries that couldn’t understand the wait were Sweden and Germany. The plants they had planned to send to the US were delayed while the mayor of New Orleans and the governor of Louisiana were saying fresh water was needed in the city.

On September 8th the United States was invaded by Mexico for the first time since the Mexican-American War in 1846. A Mexican Army convoy of 45 trucks carrying doctors, engineers, and two mobile kitchens that could feed up to 14,000 people a day were brought in to help in Louisiana. The Mexican government was grateful to send the personnel and supplies and sent 12 more trucks a week later. For once Mexico was providing us aid and they were happy.

Many other countries were grateful in helping the US. Almost every country in the world offered to help the most powerful country in the World even though President Bush said we won’t ask for help or need it. The President did say we will accept cash from countries. Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries, offered $1,000,000. Hungary, a new member of NATO, offered $5,000. Qatar, one of the very rich Arabian Gulf countries offered $100,000,000. The United States was slow to accept some aid and even rejected aid from Venezuela because the Bush administration doesn’t like President Chavez.

Foreign aid wasn’t the only assistance that was hampered or delayed by government regulations. The New Mexico National Guard offered to send troops the day the hurricane hit to help in New Orleans, but red tape from Washington wouldn’t allow them to the leave the state because the application to send troops to Louisiana was filled out incorrectly. Also 200,000 tons of ice was ruined because truckers carrying the ice were rerouted numerous times and never delivered their loads in time.

Foreign aid for the victims of Hurricane Katrina is a welcome addition to help rebuild the cities and lives affected by the disaster. Many nations of the world were happy to assist the powerful nation that had helped them in the past. Even though President Bush brashly announced we didn’t need help and there have been many obstacles because of government agency regulations, most Asian and European countries were standing by to help us in our time of need. This development is important to the US because everyday there is a headline from a foreign newspaper bashing the United States and the Bush administration over our overbearing foreign policy and the quagmire in Iraq.

Now with the earthquake in the Kashmir province of Pakistan, the United States is back to its old self providing financial aid and sending materials and personnel to grief stricken areas of the world. America has proven we are better at giving aid than receiving. This lesson is not very comforting for the people who have suffered or died because of slow government response and mindless red tape that hindered relief efforts after Katrina hit.

Even a casual observer to the Senate Judicial Committee’s hearings on Judge Roberts’s nomination as Chief Justice could not miss the extreme partisan politics being played on Capital Hill. Democrats on the committee encouraged the nominee to answer all questions completely, while Republican Senators encouraged him not to answer. Then both parties flailed at Roberts in committee and outside the chambers for persistent evasiveness and elusiveness in his answers, all the while searching for just the right sound bite to make the network, CNN, or FOX newscast later in the evening. Many of the questions centered on the “right to privacy.”

The right to privacy has become a political “dog whistle” term. A “dog whistle” term is a word used by politicians to signal an issue to certain voters while going unnoticed by the vast majority of the people. To some voters the right to privacy signals abortion, just like the Dred Scott Decision signals Roe v Wade. To others, the right to privacy means much more. It refers to a right to privacy in our personal lives, the right against unreasonable government intrusion into our political and religious beliefs, our personal correspondence, privacy in our medical records, and many other sacred rights we all know we have as American citizens.

Judges and constitutional experts often say, “The right to privacy, or even the word privacy, is not listed or used in the US Constitution.” This is true. The Bill of Rights lists several freedoms including freedom of religion, speech, assembly, press, the right to a trial by jury, and freedom from unreasonable search of property. However, the founding fathers (or founding persons to be politically correct) included the Ninth Amendment in the Bill of Rights. The Ninth Amendment says, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” To put this in common English, “The free people of America have many rights, so many we cannot list them all.” Certainly the right to personal privacy is included in these unenumerated rights given in the Ninth Amendment.

Yet there are individuals and political leaders that insist the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights should be taken to mean exactly what they did when the documents were penned at the end of the 18th Century. If the so-called “originalists” really believed that, then the US would not have and Air Force since the Constitution only provides for an Army and Navy. There would be no NASA, no Federal Drug Administration, and there would be no Interstate Highway System. The concept of such agencies and services were as foreign to our founding persons as the telephone. The use of the necessary and proper clause, commonly called the ‘elastic clause,’ found at the end of Article I, section 8, helped America’s government expand to meet the times. The Judicial interpretation of the Bill of Rights has also grown as the technology and needs of the American people evolved.

In Katz v US (1967) the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment protected people as well as property. The court ruled that even, in a public phone booth, a person had a “reasonable expectation of privacy.” The right to privacy, while it is not so expressed, is apparent in the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

The questions in the Senate Judicial Committee have gone from a sincere search for the truth about a judges qualifications to an almost comical witch-hunt. New York Senator Charles E. Schumer’s asinine question about movies was a classic case in point. Schumer asked Roberts, “It's as if I asked you what kind of movies you like. Tell me two or three good movies and you say, I like movies with good acting. I like movies with good directing. I like movies with good cinema photography. And when I ask, give me an example of a good movie, you (...) tell me it's widely settled that Casablanca is one of the great movies.” Roberts’s reply to the question got the best of the Senator when he replied that he liked Dr. Zhivago and North by Northwest.

Schumer’s ‘tongue in cheek’ allusion to Casablanca is perhaps apocalyptical. The director filmed two endings to the movie. In one version Bogie got the girl, boarded the airplane with Ingrid Bergman, and flew away. In the other version, the one we know and love, Bogie is left behind and vows to join the fight against Nazi tyranny that has engulfed the world.

Roberts was approved by the Senate and sworn in as the 17th Chief Justice on Sept. 30, 2005. Yet one thing is certain since Pres. Bush has made his second judicial nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court vacancy. Miers was never a judge, and her views on major issues are largely unknown. We do know that Pres. Bush once described Miers as a ‘pit bulldog in size six shoes,’ and she administered the Texas Lottery while Bush governor of the Lone Star State. It looks like we’ll get a chance to Play It Again, Sam.

Medicare is projected to go bankrupt. The Republicans and Democrats are making proposals, counterproposals, and pointing fingers to save “The System” and blame the rivals. If you ask me it is like a bad marriage heading for a divorce: both are to blame and neither will save anything. I have a projection of my own to make: Americans will prevail. Here is one possible scenario.

Americans are aging. The aged Americans are the largest voting block and lobbying group in the nation. They are leaving the workforce due to age, early retirement, health problems, pursuit of leisure and hobbies. The Grey Majority lobbied for these benefits and received them.

Meanwhile, the workforce is shrinking. The tax base is dwindling. Industry slows, building slows, healthcare is overburdened, and a catastrophe is looming. There are industries and business that may close due to a labor shortage. There is a surplus of housing.

Someone has a bright idea. Open the country to immigrants. There is a great deal of skepticism but a desperate Nation thinks they will try it. America does away with the barriers to immigration. Growth begins.

Something else happens, too. These immigrants have ideas about escaping persecution, self-reliance, hard work, and opportunities for their children, and some “inalienable rights”. They fled dictatorships, heavily taxed socialist countries, inhospitable climates, revolutions and other upheaval. They find concepts like political correctness, bureaucracy, and litigious ness to be tantamount to despotism. They come seeking something they call the “American Dream.”
That would be a poetic justice. We have advanced to the point we have regressed. We have long since consumed the products of the world and now may need to import our own “Dream.” At the same time it could rescue Americans who have allowed the ship to become lost and flounder.

"BRING 'EM ON" A CLARION ISSUE WAR UPDATE
CASUALTIES AS OF OCTOBER 18, 2005
US SERVICE PERSONNEL KILLED IN IRAQ ………. 1,979
US SERVICE PERSONNEL WOUNDED IN IRAQ ……….. 15,000+

Upon arriving home, a husband was met at the door by his sobbing wife. Tearfully she explained, "It's the druggist. He insulted me terribly this morning on the phone. I had to call multiple times before he would even answer the phone."

Immediately, the husband drove downtown to confront the druggist and demand an apology. Before he could say more than a word or two, the druggist told him, "Now, just a minute, listen to my side of it. This morning the alarm failed to go off, so I was late getting up. I went without breakfast and hurried out to the car, just to realize that I had locked the house with both house and car keys inside. I had to break a window to get my keys. Then, driving a little too fast, I got a speeding ticket. Later, when I was about three blocks from the store, I had a flat tire. When I finally got to the store a bunch of people were waiting for me to open up. I got the store opened and started waiting on these people, and all the time the darn phone was ringing off the hook."

"Then I had to break a roll of nickels against the cash register drawer to make change, and they spilled all over the floor. I had to get down on my hands and knees to pick up the nickels and the phone was still ringing. When I came up I cracked my head on the open cash drawer, which made me stagger back against a showcase with a bunch of perfume bottles on it. Half of them hit the floor and broke. Meanwhile, the phone is still ringing with no let up, and I finally got back to answer it. It was your wife. She wanted to know how to use a rectal thermometer."

"And believe me mister, as God is my witness, all I did was tell her."

Question: How many members of the Bush administration does it take to change a light bulb?

1. One to deny that a light bulb needs to be changed.
2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the bulb needs to be changed.
3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the light bulb.
4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the light bulb or for eternal darkness.
5. One to give a billion-dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new light bulb.
6. One to arrange a photograph of Bush, dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner “Bulb accomplished.”
7. One administration insider to resign and in detail reveal how Bush was literally “in the dark” the whole time.
8. One to viciously smear no. 7.
9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong light-bulb-changing policy all along.
10. And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a light bulb and screwing the country.

Earl (oil): A lubricant that is put into the ingin. It should go into the 710 (oil) hole usually found on top of the ingin.

Throwed rod: What happens a ‘hole heap of times’ if you’s run out’a earl.

Tarr (tire): Them round rubber things a car rolls on, often referred to as recaps.

Blanker switch busted: What you tell the cops when you are “being arrest” for not using yo’ blanker.
USAGE:

Bubba: “Darn it Lester, that thar Charlene done let all the earl run out’a our 1989 Pon/te/ack (Pontiac). It throwed a rod and done rernt the rings.”

Lester: “ Well Bubba, a car ain’t gona go nowhere with a throwed rod and rernt rings. How did it happen?”

Bubba: Well I knows it burns earl, so I keep a few quarts in the trunk to put in if the earl light comes on. Charlene done said she stopped, but there was no place for earl, just a place for 710 fluid; what ever that is.”

Goober: “Darn Slim, you havin’ trouble with yo gam/bell/in’ again. You loosing money at that thar Choctaw kay/seen/oh (casino)?”

Slim: Shucks no Goob. Elvira keep me on a real tight ‘llowance. Its just that my Check ingin light keeps a comin’ on in my truck.”

A joke narry/aided (narrated) by Tommy Ray: Ya see, there was this here feller from East Alabama who had a flat. He pulled off on the side of the road, jumped out of his car, walked down the hillside and picked a bunch of wildflowers, and proceeded to put one bouquet of the flowers in front of the car and one behind it. Then he got back in the car to wait.

A passerby from the North studied the scene as he drove by and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the feller what the problem was.

The man responded, "When you break down they tell you to put flares in the front and flares in the back! I narry did understood it neither."

“I sometimes feel that Alfred E. Newman is in charge in Washington.”
Senator Hillary R. Clinton

On September 28, 2005, a Texas grand jury indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Republican from the Houston, Texas, area on a charge of criminally conspiring with two political associates to inject illegal corporate contributions into 2002 state elections. The Republican victory in the 2002 Texas election that helped the Republican Party totally Gerrymander the congressional map in Texas to create more Republican seats in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC. Texas Prosecutor Ronnie Earle announced the indictment.

The next week, on October 3, 2005, a separate Texas Grand Jury in the same county indicted DeLay on charges of conspiring to launder money and money laundering after the former majority leader attacked the Sept. 28th indictment on technical grounds. The latter charge of money laundering carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

DeLay denounced the charges as baseless and defiantly called the prosecutor “an unabashed partisan zealot” engaging in “personal revenge” because DeLay helped elect a Republican majority to the Texas House in 2002. “I have the facts, the law, and the truth on my side,” DeLay said, reading from a statement, before declining to answer questions.

The indictments allege that DeLay helped organize the Texas political committee called TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee), and that he and two co-conspirators, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, participated in a conspiracy to funnel corporate money into the 2002 state election with the intent that a felony be committed. Using corporate funds for state election purposes has long been illegal in Texas. Earle's probe of the contributions began after 17 Republicans who received the committee's funds were elected, giving the party control of the Texas House for the first time in 130 years. One year later, following a road map that DeLay and his political aides drafted from Washington, the Texas House approved a Gerrymandering Lone Star State's congressional district map designed to favor Republicans. In the 2004 elections five more Texas Republicans were elected to Congress, enlarging the Republican majority in the House and DeLay’s power.

Many political watchdogs feel that either Colyandro or Ellis, or both, have agreed to testify against DeLay in the matter. The facts of one of the central transactions at issue in the case have never been in dispute. The transfer in September 2002 to an arm of the Republican National Committee in Washington of $190,000 in corporate funds collected by TRMPAC in Texas and the subsequent donation by the Republican National Committee (RNC) arm of $190,000 to seven Texas House candidates on Oct. 4, 2002, is a proven fact. The question is whether DeLay was involved in the transaction.

Delay has been under fire for his work in TRMPAC for a while. Readers will recall that as a sign of loyalty to DeLay after the grand jury returned indictments against his associates last November the House Republicans voted to repealed a rule requiring any of their leaders to step aside if indicted. The rule was reinstituted in January after lawmakers returned to Washington from the holidays fearing the repeal might create a backlash from voters. DeLay, known as the ‘Hammer,’ also is the center of an ethics swirl in Washington. The Texas congressman was admonished last year by the House ethics committee on three separate issues and is the center of a political storm this year over lobbyist Jack Abramoff paying his and other lawmakers' tabs for expensive travel and golf trips abroad. His favorite lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, has been indicted for illegal gambling boat activities in the Gulf states, and in under investigation for ripping off Native Americans in the ‘Gimme five’ scam.

DeLay is most remembered by Americans for Gerrymandeing Texas, his unpopular stand in the Terry Schiavo case, and his association with Abramoff in the Scottish golf trip. Additionally, he is also remembered for threatening interest groups that do not support Republicans, stacking the House Ethics committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund, accepting trips from corporations and later helping to kill legislation they opposed, accepting trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules, crippling the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him, pushing for rule changes in the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel in his favor, seeking rule changes that would have no longer “required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted,” and for paying family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions.

The indictments forced DeLay, one of the Republicans’ most powerful leaders and fundraisers, to step aside under the reinstated House rules barring leadership posts to those accused of criminal conduct. House Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the third-ranking leader, was elected by Republican House members to fill the spot temporarily. Many House Republicans feel that DeLay has skated on the edge of the law and brought dishonor to the party. Many moderate Republicans feel they have let down the American people with a leadership more interested in power than ideas. Many may also wish to bail on several unpopular Bush proposals, and with the ‘Hammer’ gone feel that they are freer to vote for what is right for America rather that the party line.

In a semi-related matter, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted David H. Safavian, the former chief of staff for the Bush Administration’s General Services Administration (GSA), on charges of obstructing a GSA proceeding, obstructing a U.S. Senate proceeding, and making false statements. Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced the indictment on October 5th. The indictment links the top Bush official in charge of procurement, who resigned in disgrace on September 16, 2005, with ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay’s favorite lobbyist. The indictment includes several counts including the participation in an illegal golf trip to Scotland, and the ripping off of Indian tribes in the ‘Gimme Five’ scam.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina William Jefferson, a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives from New Orleans, La., used National Guard troops and vehicles to check on his property and rescue his personal belongings. Jefferson is an eight-term congressman who represents the 2nd Lousaina District. He is a senior member of the powerful Ways and Means Commettee and the House Budget Committee. The incident took place on Friday, Sept. 2, five days after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, while New Orleans residents were trying to get rescued from rooftops and while people languashed from lack of food and water at the Superdome, Convention Center, and along the roads around the Cresent City.

Military sources indicated that the Congressman asked the National Guard to take him on a tour of the flooded portions of his congressional district. A 5-ton military trucks and a half dozen military police were dispatched. Lt. Col. Pete Schneider of the Louisiana National Guard said that during the tour, Jefferson asked that the truck take him to his home on Marengo Street, in the affluent uptown neighborhood in his congressional district. Jefferson found the water had reached to the third step of his home. The vehicle then pulled up onto Jefferson's front lawn so he wouldn't have to walk in the water. Jefferson went into the house alone while the soldiers waited on the porch for about an hour. Jefferson came out of the house about an hour later with two laptop computers, several suitcases, and a box about the size of a small refrigerator, which the enlisted men loaded up into the truck. According to Schneider, the visit to his home and property was not part of Jefferson's initial request.

The Louisiana National Guard reported that the truck carrying Jefferson and his military escort became stuck as it waited for Jefferson to retrieve his belongings. The soldiers then signaled to helicopters in the air for aid. Military sources say a Coast Guard helicopter pilot saw the signal and flew to Jefferson's home. The chopper was already carrying four rescued New Orleans residents at the time. A rescue diver descended from the helicopter, but the congressman decided against going up in the helicopter. After spending approximately 45 precious minutes with Jefferson, the helicopter went on to rescue three additional New Orleans residents before it ran low on fuel and was forced to end its mission. The Louisiana National Guard then sent a second 5-ton truck to rescue the first truck, and Jefferson and his personal items were returned to the Superdome.

Jefferson defended the expedition, saying he needed to see how residents were coping at the Superdome and in his neighborhood. He also insisted that he did not ask the National Guard to transport him saying, "I did not seek the use of military assets to help me get around my city. There was shooting going on. There was sniping going on. They thought I should be escorted by some military guards, both to the convention center the Superdome and uptown."Jefferson said the trip was entirely appropriate. It took only a few minutes to retrieve his belongings, he said, and the truck stayed at his house for an hour in part to assist neighbors.

In an unrelated matter, authorities have recently searched Jefferson's property as part of a federal investigation into the finances of a high-tech firm. Last month FBI officials searched Jefferson's house in New Orleans as well as his home in Washington, D.C., his car, and his accountant's house. The raids concerned allegations about his financial dealings with a high-tech startup company. A company executive said he thought Jefferson was squeezing him for money and called the FBI. FBI Agents reportedly found cash in a freezer at one of the congressman's homes.

The Clarion Issue contends that the Congresssman’s excursion into New Orleans to pick up personal items is a total abuse of power. The two trucks and a dozen of National Guardsmen used to retrieve the presonal items could have been used to deliver badly needed food and water to the desperate people, many of them his constituants, in dire need within the city. Let’s hope the people of the Lousaina’s 2nd Congerssional district remember every leader and politician who let them down during Katrina and its aftermath.

Hundreds of thousands pounds of desperately needed ice bound for the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast waits undelivered and unloaded in the trucks that shipped it in from as far away as New York and California. Truckers indicate that FEMA officials keep shipping the ice from place to place or simply holding it in central locations, using precious fuel in the process.

The ice is badly needed in the hardest hit areas to preserve food and medications for hurricane victims. As late as the end of September, the ice was waiting FEMA and federal bureaucracy to clear it to be processed and delivered to parts of Alabama and Mississippi.

Many frustrated and tired truck drivers indicated that due to the long delays, that included many nights spent sleeping in the cabs of their trucks, they would not make another ice run to the area.

A conservative estimate indicates that each one-dollar bag of ice will cost the US taxpayer between eight and ten dollars. All this from an administration that promised to streamline government and curb spending.

On Sept. 8, 2005, President Bush suspended application of the federal law governing workers' pay on federal contracts in the Hurricane Katrina-damaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The action infuriated labor leaders and many members of congress who indicated that the action will create lower wages and make it harder for union contractors to win bids.

The Davis-Bacon Act was passed in 1931 during the Great Depression and sets a minimum pay scale for workers on federal contracts by requiring contractors to pay the prevailing or average pay in the region. Suspension of the act will allow contractors to pay lower wages. Many Republicans have opposed Davis-Bacon, charging that it amounts to a taxpayer subsidy to unions. However, most workers in the area struck by Katrina, and later Rita, are not members of Unions and have been subject to low wages creating the massive poverty witnesses in the aftermath of the massive storms.

The suspension Davis Bacon also flies in the face of the Republican ‘trickle down’ theory. The idea of the theory is that if taxes are cut on the wealthy, the wealthy will invest in business, create jobs, and the benefits will trickle down to workers in the from of better jobs, wages, and benefits. However by allowing the big contractors to pay lower than average wages, the benefits of the contracts will remain in the hands of the contractors and not trickle down to the workers.

Many members of Congress have also expressed concern over the ‘no bid’ contracts that were issued after the storm. These no bid contracts, involving many millions of federal dollars, have gone to such companies as Halliburton, the Shaw Group Inc., and Bechtel National Inc., a unit of San Francisco-based Bechtel Corp. It is well known that many of these big contractors have ties to the Bush Administration. Many of these contractors also received bids to rebuild Iraq and many Iraqi people do not have simple services like water, sewer, and electricity two years after receiving the contracts and millions of federal dollars.

Officials, contractors, and businessmen in the stricken area are pointing to these federal contracts as a necessary starting point for local businesses to rebuild the economies in the devastated area.

Local workers also see that the large companies are companies are hiring cheap foreign laborers, who will work for much less, to clean up and rebuild the area. American contractors need the contracts and American workers need a fair and adequate wage to reestablish the economies along the Gulf Coast. So far the American taxpayer’s money is only trickling, or maybe rushing out, but certainly not down.

The Nile monitor lizard (Varanus niloticus) is a carnivorous, sharp-toothed, dagger-clawed, invasive reptile that could move into many areas of south and central Florida within the next few years if its progress is not stopped. The original invasion occurred around Cape Coral about 10 years ago quickly flourished in and along the city's 400-odd miles of canals. Officials suspect they were first loosed by ill-intentioned reptile traders or by unsuspecting pet owners, startled that their hand-size hatchling had grown into a 30-pound, seven-foot-long adult. The lizards' current population in Cape Coral is estimated at more than 1,000, and when they nest, they lay around 60 eggs.

''Basically, anything they can catch, they eat,'' said Gregg Klowden, a University of Florida doctoral student of wildlife biology. Cape Coral locals have reported a decline in the number of feral cats, and fear for their pets' safety. At least one lizard has been spotted dining on a tiny, endangered burrowing owl. The African monitor lizard knows no Florida predators except speeding cars for the monitors that venture onto the highways. Now these aggressive and fast lizards are running amok in a fragile ecological system filled with nestlings and delectable bird and turtle eggs.

The Nile monitor lizard is cousin to the voracious Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) the world's heaviest living lizards. The Komodo lizard is native to volcanic islands of the Pacific area. The Nile monitor lizards can hold their breath under water for upwards of an hour, swim, burrow deep tunnels, dart up trees in seconds, and have been clocked at an on-land speed of 15 mph. The Nile monitor lizard's arsenal includes speed, a powerful bite, and a pungent "squiddy smell" they emit when threatened.

Cape Coral established a Nile-monitor-lizard extermination program that has already gone through its $47,000 in grant funding. While new funding is being sought more complaints and sightings have come in. Some residents have joined the hunt. A veteran alligator trapper lassoed a 6-foot-long Nile monitor lizard with an electric cord and tied it to his dock before calling authorities in the area. Authorities also reported that a lady who shot and killed a foot long monitor lizard with the BB gun she'd just gotten her son for Christmas last year. She wanted the authorities to come and pick the lizard up before her son got home. It seems she'd told him that people should never “shoot what they weren't going to eat.”

There is also fear that the lizards will threaten the massive 1,300 waterfowl nests on Pine Island and Sanibel. Wildlife biologists are fearful of the big lizards establishing a breeding population in the area and go on to discover the rookeries as a food source.

The Clarion Issue suggests that the good folks of Florida look for and locate the infamous Mississippi River Merrimack lizard (Varanus confederate-ironcladious) to counter the invasion of the Nile monitor lizard. After all, how better to counter a Monitor than with a Merrimack?

On August 22, 2005, television evangelist Rev. Patrick Robertson’s called for a ‘fundamentalist fatwah’ against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a national broadcast of his TV show, “The 700 Club.” Robertson believes that Venezuela is becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism" under Chavez. Robertson indicated that, "We have the ability to take him (Chavez) out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with. I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it."

Chavez, who was concluding a three-day visit to Cuba, indicated that he didn't care about Robertson saying, "I don't even know who this person is."

The nation awoke on August 23 to a storm of controversy over the ‘fundamentalist fatwah’ issued by Robertson the night before. The remarks were condemned by both the media and eventually by top Bush Administration officials. Spokespersons for Robertson and Robertson himself denied that the reverend had said that Chavez should be assassinated. On August 22, Robertson said, "I didn't say 'assassination," and blamed the misquote on The Associated Press and other media outlets during "The 700 Club." Robertson indicated that, "I said our special forces should take him out. Take him out could be a number of things including kidnapping. There are a number of ways of taking out a dictator from power besides killing him. I was misinterpreted by the AP (the Associated Press), but that happens all the time."

However, video of the August 22 telecast shows that Robertson's exact words were: "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he (Chavez) thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop." Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter and is a major supplier of oil to the United States. The CIA estimates that U.S. markets absorb almost 59% of Venezuela's total exports.

The Clarion Issue reminds the reader that the Sixth Commandment (or Fifth for Catholics) forbids killing and the Ninth Commandment (Eighth for Catholics) forbids lying. Maybe the leader of the Christian Coalition should check out the basic Biblical admonitions before he issues his ‘fundamentalist fatwas’ in the future.

Robertson’s August assassination fatwah was not his first fax pas in the arena of public opinion. Robertson made headlines earlier this year when he announced that liberal judges were a bigger threat to America than the 9/11 terrorists. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device to end its hidden agendas, mixed allegiances, and outright anti-Americanism that has infected it. Robertson sharply criticized the Israeli government’s decision to withdraw from Gaza, saying that, "God says I am going to judge the nations who have parted my land. He said I am going to bring judgment against them." Robertson has also gone on record condemning feminism because it encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians."

Robertson has recently fallen out of favor in Bush administration circles, especially for the revelation of his visit with President Bush in March 2003 shortly before the invasion of Iraq. Robertson asked President Bush to prepare the nation for heavy casualties. President Bush then dismissed his warning that the United States would suffer heavy casualties in Iraq and told the television evangelist "we're not going to have any casualties." While Robertson said Bush's response was a mistake, he reassured the faithful that, "God has blessed the president anyhow." The Clarion Issue reminds its readers that the United States has lost over 1,950 killed and over 15,000 wounded in the Iraqi war to date.

The Rev. Pat Robertson has been described as "a garden-variety crackpot with friends in high places." The televangelist, who hates to be described as such, that ran for president and founded the Christian Coalition is now 75 years old. His statements seem to get more addled and unbelievable as the years go by. Here at the Clarion Issue we suggest that Rev. Roberts add a good brain stimulant to his ‘Age-Defying Protein Pancakes’ regimen.

A major causality in the wake of Hurricane Katrina was the Bush administration and its incompetent Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) director, Michael Brown. The agency’s impotent, chaotic, and often uninformed response to the human disaster, especially in New Orleans, shed even more light on the Bush administrations failure in leadership and the inefficacy of the political hacks selected to lead major agencies.

Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast just east of New Orleans on August 29, 2005. As she left the area on August 30, the costal areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, were totally devastated by the storm, but it appeared that New Orleans had been spared the worst of the storm. However, the levees that held the water back from the Crescent City, which is mostly below sea level, gave way on August 31, causing many poor and infirmed residents to seek shelter in the downtown areas of the city. It was here that the human catastrophe played out in front of television network cameras and was fed into the homes of millions of Americans.

Michael Brown received laurels and accolades from President Bush during the initial FEMA efforts. On an early visit to a FEMA distribution center after the storm Bush singled the director out saying, “Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job. The head of FEMA is working 24/7.” However, Brown was already coming under fire for FEMA’s slow response to the catastrophe. Many Americans were appalled on Sept. 2 when Brown admitted, “The federal government did not even know about the convention center people until today.” CNN had been reporting about the horrors of the Convention Center all day on Sept. 1. Basically Brown just seemed slow to recognize the magnitude of the Katrina catastrophe, slow to marshal federal resources, unable to coordinate with outside resources in the area, and unaware of widely reported aspects of the tragedy around him.

Leo Bosner a long-term professional FEMA employee indicated that Micheal Brown and even Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff did little or nothing as Katrina approached. On the Saturday morning two days before the hurricane struck, FEMA’s watch commanders issued a warning at 5:30 a.m. saying a catastrophic hurricane is headed straight, dead-center for New Orleans. Both Brown and Chertoff were apprised of the situation by memos, briefings and e-mails. Bosner has worked at FEMA since the agency was founded in 1979. He says both Chertoff, who came to Homeland Security from the Attorney General's office, and Brown were out of their depth with Hurricane Katrina, especally when the flood waters rose and the New Orleans levees broke.

On Sept. 9, Chertoff abruptly removed Brown as overseer of the hurricane response and replaced him with Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thad Allen. Later that day FEMA announced that the much-touted $2000 debit cards for the displaced victims of Katrina was being discontinued. Brown was sent home, into exile, in disgrace. Finally on Sept. 12 Michael Brown resigned as the director of FEMA saying he resigned “in the best interest of the agency and best interest of the president.” His statement said nothing about the best interest of the victims of Katrina or the American people.

As Browns inability to cope with the Katrina emerged, reports of Brown’s “inflated resume” began to appear. Brown claimed to have served as "an assistant city manager with emergency services oversight" in Edmond, Oklahoma, while he was a college student. In reality, he was an assistant to the city manager, with no oversight responsibilities at all. Brown spent much of the 1990s in Colorado as commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association. As IAHA’s commissioner he enforced strict rules governing the association's lucrative horse show circuit. His decisions often resulted in investigations and contentious lawsuits by people protesting sanctions against them.

At the end of 2000, Brown became executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors in Denver. But he was on the job only several weeks before he was tapped to join a college friend, Joe Allbaugh, in a big, new job at FEMA. Allbaugh had helped run President Bush's first election campaign. After he became Bush's first FEMA director, he brought on Brown to be the agency's top lawyer. Brown shifted from FEMA lawyer to deputy director. He replaced Allbaugh in 2003 when Allbaugh left for the private sector. Administration and Brown's defenders point to that as a natural evolution, but the process has come under scrutiny due to FEMA’s failures in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It is important to note that the Democratic opposition is also to blame. Michael Brown’s confirmation hearing as an Assistant Director of FEMA in 2001 lasted less than an hour and was attended by only four of the 17 Senators on the committee. In 2003 the Senate, Democrats included, gave him a free pass to the Directorship of FEMA without a hearing, despite the changes in the complexity of the job.

With the resignation of Brown, Americans have to wonder how many other incompetent political and party hacks are in important government offices all over the nation, from both parties, and at every governmental level. What will the next emergency demonstrate? Who will be left stranded on a rooftop or trapped by a flood? Who will run out a gas in a long line of cars moving 3 mph in an evacuation? Will your shelter be stocked and supplied with water, food, insulin, asthma inhalers, and baby food? As Shirley Carignan, a retiree and a political independent from Weymouth, Massachusetts, said, “Bush puts people in jobs who don't know what they're doing. I think he's picking friends for these jobs. My girlfriend raises Arabians. You know horses, so what? Horses and people are different things.”

Pres Bush named R. David Paulison to be the interim director of FEMA. From 2003-2004, Paulison was the top official with FEMA's preparedness force and before that he led the US Fire Administration. Paulson is best remembered for his suggestion that Americans stock up on plastic and duct tape to prepare for a biological attack. The Clarion Issue speculates that the nation may be asked to add those items to their hurricane supplies.

Nine-year-old Johnny Wilson of Hillsborough, California, swam to San Francisco from Alcatraz Island on October 10th becoming the youngest person to complete the 1.4-mile swim in San Francisco Bay. He raised about $30,000 for the victims of Hurricane Katrina with his grueling swim. While he had trained for it in San Francisco Bay's chilly waters, he faced rough winds and choppy waters on Monday. Wilson said, it was a lot harder and it was a lot wavier than he had expected in an interview after the swim.

Alcatraz Island in San Francisco harbor was once the home to one of the most notorious U.S. prisons. The prison was built on the island because the sharks, strong currents, and cold waters made escapes risky. Two prisoners drowned in escape attempts and five other escapees were unaccounted for before the facility was closed in 1963.

Alcatraz comes from the Spanish word alcatraces, which means strange bird. It is usually applied to albatrosses, cormorants, pelicans, or other sea birds. The name Alcatraz refers to the pelicans living on the island before 1853 when the U.S. Army began construction of a military fort on the island to protect the San Francisco Bay. By the start of the Civil war the fortress had 111 smoothbore cannons. Alcatraz was used to house prisoners beginning in 1859. The fort confined military convicts, the crew of a confederate ship, and Hopi, Apache, and Modoc Indians captured during the Indian wars. In 1933 Alcatraz was transferred from the U.S. Army to the Department of Justice, which used it as a federal penitentiary until it was closed. In 1969, a group of Native Americans affiliated with the American Indian Movement attempted to reclaim the land under the auspices of an 1868 federal treaty that allowed Native Americans to use all federal territory that the government was not actively using. The occupation lasted nearly two years.

The prison has starred in many movies. It was featured in the Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) starring Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden and Telly Savalas, the Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry movie Magnum Force (1973), and the Clint Eastwood film Escape from Alcatraz in 1979. Its most recent cameo was The Rock, starring Sean Connery, in 1996.

Don Adams, the wry-voiced comedian who starred as the inept secret agent Maxwell Smart in the 1960s TV show Get Smart, died on September 25 at the age of 82. Get Smart was a spoof of the popular James Bond movies and was directed by Mel Brooks.

The cause of death was a lung infection according to his friend and former agent, Bruce Tufeld. Tufeld indicated that Adams broke his hip a year ago and had been in poor health.

In his most popular role as CONTROL Agent Maxwell Smart, or 86, Adams portrayed a bumbling secret agent spy in a constant battle with evil agents from the KAOS network Smart would usually get in trouble with his boss, the ‘Chief’ (played by Edward Platt), or captured by KAOS. When his explanations failed to convince the villains or his boss, he tried another tack, saying, “Would you believe... ?” or “Sorry about that, Chief.” Both phrases became national catchphrases of the late 60s.

The show also spoofed the gadgets, code names, and plots that populated spy movies at the time. It introduced America to the concept of portable phones, Smart’s was in his shoe. Smart’s code name was ‘Agent 86’ a bartender’s code for cutting off service to a drunk. During the series, Smart and his partner, ‘Agent 99’ played by Barbra Feldon, often faced comic semi-spy movie type challenges and villains parried from spy movies of the day.

Get Smart twice won the Emmy for best comedy series, and Adams won three Emmys for best actor. Get Smart ran on NBC from 1965 to 1969 and on CBS from 1969 to 1970.

After Get Smart Adams pursued many things including a very successful voice-over career. Adams was the voice of Inspector Gadget as well as the voice of Tennessee Tuxedo. He directed and appeared in commercials, and made many guest appearances on shows like The Love Boat.

Adams was born Donald James Yarmy April 13, 1923, in Manhattan. He later changed his last name to that of his first wife, Adelaide Adams, because acting auditions were often done in alphabetical order. Adams joined the Marines at 16 during World War II, lying about his age. On Guadalcanal, he was shot and contracted blackwater fever, fatal 90 percent of the time. He survived the wound and illness and returned home serving as a drill instructor for the rest of the war.

Don Adams was married and divorced three times and had seven children. His daughter Cecily Adams, an actress and casting director, died in 2004. He is survived by six children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. His brother, Dick Yarmy, also an actor, died in 1992. The Clarion Issue extends condolences to all his family, friends, and fans.

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR AWARDED CONGRESSIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR 50 YEARS AFTER KOREAN WAR

Tibor Rubin was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor on September 23, 2005, almost fifty years after his actions during the Korean War saved many members of his unit. Army Corporal Rubin’s heroism occurred on the battlefield and as a POW during the ‘Forgotten War.’ “By repeatedly risking his own life to save others, Cpl. Rubin exemplified the highest ideals of military service,” President Bush said as he presented the 76-year-old with the nation's highest military honor.

Rubin's wife, Yvonne, and his children, Frank and Rosalyn, were present at the ceremony. After the ceremony, Rubin was inducted at the Pentagon into the Hall of Heroes and was given a Medal of Honor flag.

Rubin said, "I waited for this for 55 years, and finally the dream came true." Rubin's fellow soldiers and commanding officers recommended that he receive the Medal of Honor four times. They recommended him for the Silver Star and twice for the Distinguished Service Cross. He had two Purple Hearts when he left the Army after being released from a Korean POW camp after almost three years.

Rubin, a Hungarian born Jew, was in Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria when he was liberated by US forces during World War II. He lost his parents and two sisters in the Holocaust. He pledged to himself that one day he would join that country's Army as a measure of thanks. He did that, and then he volunteered to fight in Korea.

Soldiers who served with Rubin have said he might have been honored five decades ago if not for a sergeant in their unit they described as an anti-Semite. The sergeant refused to forward recommendations that Rubin, who is Jewish, receive an award.

The World

ANCIENT PHALLUS FOUND IN HOHLE FELS CAVE IN GERMANY

Archeologists report the discovery of a 20cm-long, 3cm-wide sculpted and polished phallus buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm, Germany. The stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, is among the earliest representations of male sexuality ever uncovered.

The prehistoric object was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone. Its life-like size suggests its Ice Age makers may well have used it as a type of a sex aid. “It’s highly polished; it's clearly recognizable,” according to Nicholas Conard, a Professor from the department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology at Tübingen University. Researchers believe the object's distinctive form and etched rings around one end mean there can be little doubt as to its symbolic nature. Conard noted that the object was also used as a tool for knapping flints. He indicated “There are some areas where it has some very typical scars from that.”

The Tübingen team working Hohle Fels had discovered 13 fractured parts of the phallus, and the discovery of a 14th fragment in 2004, allowed them to piece together the object and announce the find. The 14 stone sections were all recovered from a well-dated ash layer in the cave complex. Hohle Fels Cave is associated with the activities of modern humans and not their pre-historic “cousins,” the Neanderthals.

Current evidence points to the area of southwestern Germany as one of the central regions of cultural innovations after the arrival of modern humans in Europe some 40,000 years ago and Hohle Fels Cave has been one of the most productive sites. Hohle Fels stands more than 500m above sea level in the Ach River Valley and has produced thousands of Upper Paleolithic artifacts. Some have been truly exquisite in their sophistication and detail, such as a 30,000-year-old bird-like figurine crafted from mammoth ivory. It is believed to be one of the earliest representations of a bird in the archaeological record. Fertility female forms, such as the famous 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf are common in the caves.

The Hohle Fels phallus (batteries not included) will be displayed at Blaubeuren Prehistoric Museum in an exhibition called Ice Art - Clearly Male.

FRANCE TERRIFIED BY RAMPANT FROGS

The aggressive and voracious California bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana) that was introduced illegally into France almost 40 years ago has become a major nuisance to the French countryside. The amphibian can grow to more than 4lbs in weight and almost 2ft long. It consumes other frogs, fish, lizards and even small birds within its ecosystem.

Hunters working for the French government’s wildlife agency have begun stalking ponds in southwestern France armed with flash-lights, rifles, silencers, and night-vision sights. The hunters have been mobilized for the most intensive effort so far to terminate the plague of giant Californian bullfrogs that is threatening the areas of Gironde, Dordogne and several other provenances.

The frogs were first released, as a joke, on a private pond near Libourne in 1968, and they have colonized ponds, lakes, marshes, and gravel pits all over the area from the Landes area to the south and in Loir-et-Cher further north. For years French ecological groups have been warning French officials that the offensive frogs must be eliminated to prevent the destruction of indigenous species. Had the frogs been a delicacy for humans the American interlopers might have been tolerated. Unfortunately for them, they are inedible (even their enormous legs).

However, destroying the frogs is not easy, however. The Gironde fisheries protection association attacked a pond full of bullfrogs with electricity a few years ago. The frogs fought back. The hunters battled with the frogs for several hours and managed to kill just one frog before they gave up. Assaults on the frogs have also been made with nets and by draining ponds, to little effect.

Gamekeepers and volunteers working for the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (National Hunting and Wild-life Agency) have now developed night-fighting techniques. The frogs are easier to locate at night because their eyes reflect torchlight.

“Shooting them with rifles is the most effective method we have found,” said an environmental campaigner, Luc Gueugneau. “It seemed like a rather mean-spirited approach at first but we found that it was the best way of killing all the adults.”

Yet experimental attacks on ponds and lakes over the past 11 months have killed only 120 frogs. A much bigger offensive that began in late August hopes to exterminate all the bullfrogs in France within five to 10 years.

French President Jacques Chirac has not indicated whether or not he has issued any capture orders for any frogs. The Clarion Issue feels that he may soon do so in order to enter the Calaveras County Jumping Frog contest in California next spring.

BATS KEEP LOVE ALL IN THE FAMILY

A recent study of Greater Horseshoe bats suggests that female bats like to keep sex and reproduction all in the family. The study, led by Stephen Rossiter of the Queen Mary, University of London, was part of one of the world’s longest-running wild animal population studies. The researchers used genetic analysis techniques to draw up the family trees for over 450 bats in the attics of Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire, England. The research was published in the September 15th issue of the journal Nature.

The study indicated that female horseshoe bats share mates with their mothers and even their grandmothers but somehow avoid incest. A female will not mate with her father; however, she will mate with her mother’s partner, but only after her mother has switched partners. Rossiter suggests that this behavior evolved to tighten relationships within the colony. “One possibility is that by increasing kinship, sharing sexual partners strengthens social ties and promotes greater levels of cooperation within the colony,” Rossiter said.

The researchers found that in some cases a female and her maternal half-aunt were also half-sisters on their father’s side. While this may sound like a riddle or a bad joke about Tennessee, it can be confusing, but think of it like this: Female 1 mates with male 1, producing female 2. Later on, female 1 ditches male 1 and mates with male 2, producing female 3. Meanwhile, female 2 gets in on the action and also mates with male 2, producing female 3a. This means females 3 and 3a are in related two ways now – female 3 is 3a’s half aunt on their maternal side, but they’re sisters on their dad’s side. And, since horseshoe bats have a life span of about 30 years, it only gets more complicated down the road.

Female horseshoe bats live in a colony separate from the males for most of the year. The females raise the young together in a large group, presumably to keep warm and for safety reasons. Once a year the females and males all get together for a wild mating season during which one male may be shared by several generations of females.

Yet somehow in all the confusion of the bat orgy with hundreds of bats all trying to find a mate, the females manage to avoid mating with their fathers. “We don’t actually know how, but we have some suspicions,” Rossiter said. “Presumably it’s through some sort of olfactory sense — they smell out who their relatives are.”

Animals in the wild generally tend to avoid inbreeding, although researchers aren’t entirely sure they know how this works. One thing they do know is that incest can cause the _expression of harmful genetic information.

STINKING BISHOP CHEESE EXPECTING RUSH WITH NEW MOVIE

The new animated Wallace & Gromit movie has brought unwanted attention to a cheese maker in England. Wallace is a well-known lover of cheese and in the newest movie, Curse of the Were-Rabbit, features a rare cheese called Stinking Bishop, made by Charles Martell on a farm in Gloucestershire, England. Martell says the notoriety received from the movie’s cheesy cameo is already creating too much demand on his small business.

Charles Martell, a 59-year old cheese maker and self-confessed ageing hippy, is worried that the movie will make Stinking Bishop world famous and that Wallace & Gromit fans will clamor for his product like they did when Wensleydale cheese was featured in an earlier film.

"I won't be able to cope," Martell said. "I don't know what's going to happen. We're a small farm, a microbusiness really, and we simply can't produce more cheese. I'm quite happy with what I've got at the moment. I don't need more money. I can only wear one suit at a time, or drive one car. And I certainly don't want fame."

The cheese, produced in Dymock, 15 miles northwest of Gloucester, is bathed in perry, a pear cider made from a fruit called Stinking Bishop. This produces a bacterium that flavors the cheese. Martell employs two cheese makers who produce about 100 rounds a day.

Charles Martell is a patron of the Gloucester Cattle Society and one of only two people in the area making cheese from Gloucester milk. When he first moved to his farm in the Forest of Dean in 1972, there were only sixty-eight Gloucester cattle in the world. Since then, the total of females has risen to about 700 and his own herd, which he has been patiently building up over the years, now numbers nearly thirty (including bulls). He won a Bronze Medal at the British Cheese Awards in 2004.

ELBARADEI AWARDED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Mohamed ElBaradei, its Egyptian director general, were awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize for their work against nuclear weapons proliferation. The award was given "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way," according to the citation.

The IAEA and ElBaradei have been instrumental in the negotiations with Iran and North Korea over the past year that have brought the dangers of nuclear proliferation to the forefront of international consciousness. The agency helped push forth a six-party North Korean nuclear agreement in September 2005, which was described as "a first step towards the goal of the verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula in a peaceful manner."

The IAEA’s recognition is also a condemnation of the Bush administration’s policies that led up to the War in Iraq. Prior to the US invasion of Iraq, the IAEA had insisted that Iraq had no nuclear weapons, a claim that turned out to be true.

A. Winston Churchill
B. Harry Truman
C. Clement Attlee
D. Joe Stalin
E. Joseph Goebbels
F. Gen. George Patton
G. Edvard Beneš
H. Gen. Geo. Marshall

German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels first coined the term “The Iron Curtain” in February 1945 during an anti-Soviet speech. The phrase was later used by Chancellor Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk in the last days of World War II. However, its use was popularized by the former British leader Winston Churchill, who used it in his “Sinews of Peace” address on March 5, 1946.

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