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viernes, 18 de julio de 2008

Great Live Performance - Santana - Woodstock 1969 Soul Sacrifice

Great Live Performance - Santana - Woodstock 1969 Soul Sacrifice




jueves, 17 de julio de 2008

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Please stop breaking into my car (photo)



miércoles, 9 de julio de 2008

Cheney wanted cuts in climate testimony

Some of the government's top scientists were forced by Vice President Cheney's office to downplay the health dangers of global warming when testifying before Congress, a former senior EPA official said Tuesday.

The White House denies any coverup and the agencies involved say they still got their message across.

Jason Burnett, 31, who resigned last month as the Environmental Protection Agency's associate deputy administrator, refused to name who forced the deletion of health concerns.

The testimony was part of an October Senate hearing on the impact of global warming.

Before the hearing, Cheney's office and the White House's Council on Environmental Quality wanted "any discussions of the human health consequences of climate change" deleted, said Burnett, a Democrat who supports Barack Obama, speaking at a news conference.

A White House spokeswoman explained in fall — when the changes were first revealed — that the edits were meant to make it consistent with a report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations-sponsored consortium of scientists who examined global warming.

But some of the passages deleted from the testimony of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Julie Gerberding included health risks — hazards of poor air quality, for instance — that are in the IPCC report, said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee.

Boxer called it "a coverup being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto called her claim "absurd" and said Cheney's office weighed in as a matter of routine amid "conflicting views of scientists."

CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said Gerberding conveyed her message to the committee in October despite the changes.

"Any edits that were made to the written testimony were made during the routine editing process," he said in an e-mail.

Cameron crackdown on MEPs' expenses

Conservative leader David Cameron has launched a "deep clean" of expense claims by his party's MEPs, which, he said, would bring new transparency and honesty to the system.And he warned that anyone refusing to sign up to a new code on allowances would not be permitted to stand as a Tory candidate in next year's elections to the European Parliament.

Mr Cameron's move came a few weeks after the former leader and chief whip of the Conservative group in Brussels lost their positions amid a row over payments to their families from the public purse.

Mr Cameron said that controls on expenses at the European Parliament were "inadequate" and that his own party would operate a more stringent code than that applying to other MEPs. He urged Labour and the Liberal Democrats to follow his lead.

Under the new rules, coming into effect on September 1, Conservative MEPs will be required to publish the names of any family members they employ and their approximate salary, as well as details of any other staff members paid from public funds.

Twice each year, Tory MEPs will be required to publish a breakdown of their expenditure under European Parliament allowances on the internet.

Unveiling the new code at a London press conference, Mr Cameron said the current system under which MEPs rarely have to account for the money they claim is "unacceptable".

Mr Cameron said he had agreed the new rules with the acting leader of the Tory group in Brussels, Philip Bushell-Matthews, who would be signing up to the code along with the "vast majority" of the party's MEPs.

But he acknowledged that negotiations with his sleaze-buster, Hugh Thomas, had been "robust" at times and some MEPs who plan to step down at next June's elections may choose not to sign up.

He said that current European Parliament investigations into the party's former leader in Brussels, Giles Chichester, and chief whip Den Dover should be allowed to take their course, although he indicated he was ready to take action if wrongdoing was uncovered.

Rogers caves on iPhone 3G plans, offers up 6GB for $30 a month

Those kind, gentle Canadians have been oh-so-politely demanding a few heads on sticks ever since Rogers' super-spendy iPhone 3G price plans were announced. Well, apparently their cries have been heard, and now Rogers is launching a promotional offer along with the iPhone of 6GB of data for $30 a month -- not quite unlimited data, but close enough -- which can be added on top of any regular voice plan.

The promo will be available for iPhone buyers who activate with a three year contract before August 31. Also, perhaps in a bid to dispel some nasty rumors about a major iPhone shortage, Rogers will be hosting 8AM launch day events at six Rogers Plus stores in major Canadian cities, complete with a free breakfast. Mmm, breakfast.

Atheist soldier sues Army for 'unconstitutional' discrimination

Like many Christians, he said grace before dinner and read the Bible before bed. Four years ago when he was deployed to Iraq, he packed his Bible so he would feel closer to God.

He served two tours of duty in Iraq and has a near perfect record. But somewhere between the tours, something changed. Hall, now 23, said he no longer believes in God, fate, luck or anything supernatural.

Hall said he met some atheists who suggested he read the Bible again. After doing so, he said he had so many unanswered questions that he decided to become an atheist.

His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety. Video Watch why Hall says his lack of faith almost got him killed »

In March, Hall filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, among others. In the suit, Hall claims his rights to religious freedom under the First Amendment were violated and suggests that the United States military has become a Christian organization.

"I think it's utterly and totally wrong. Unconstitutional," Hall said.

Hall said there is a pattern of discrimination against non-Christians in the military.

Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, after refusing to pray at his table, Hall said he was told to go sit somewhere else. In another incident, when he was nearly killed during an attack on his Humvee, he said another soldier asked him, "Do you believe in Jesus now?"

Hall isn't seeking compensation in his lawsuit -- just the guarantee of religious freedom in the military. Eventually, Hall was sent home early from Iraq and later returned to Fort Riley in Junction City, Kansas, to complete his tour of duty.

He also said he missed out on promotions because he is an atheist.

"I was told because I can't put my personal beliefs aside and pray with troops I wouldn't make a good leader," Hall said.

Michael Weinstein, a retired senior Air Force officer and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, is suing along with Hall. Weinstein said he's been contacted by more than 8,000 members of the military, almost all of them complaining of pressure to embrace evangelical Christianity.

"Our Pentagon, our Pentacostalgon, is refusing to realize that when you put the uniform on, there's only one religious faith: patriotism," Weinstein said.

Religious discrimination is a violation of the First Amendment and is also against military policy. The Pentagon refused to discuss specifics of Hall's case -- citing the litigation. But Deputy Undersecretary Bill Carr said complaints of evangelizing are "relatively rare." He also said the Pentagon is not pushing one faith among troops.

"If an atheist chose to follow their convictions, absolutely that's acceptable," said Carr. "And that's a point of religious accommodation in department policy, one may hold whatever faith, or may hold no faith."

Brown says Zimbabwe G8 statement strongest possible

TOYAKO, Japan (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday that a Group of Eight statement on Zimbabwe showed the international community was united against President Robert Mugabe's government.
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"This is the strongest possible statement. It shows the unanimity of the whole international community, reflecting the outrage people feel about the violence and the intimidation and the illegitimate holding of power by the Mugabe government," Brown told reporters.

PM's Promise On Knife Crime

Gordon Brown says the Government will take "any legislative measures necessary" to tackle knife crime, as Sky News reveals the extent of the problem.Speaking at the G8 summit in Japan, the Prime Minister said it should be "completely unacceptable" for young people to carry a knife on the streets.

It comes as a survey of police officers has found more than 80% believe knife crime has got worse in the last five years, in stark contrast to official statistics.

According to the British Crime Survey, the level of knife crime in the UK has remained stable over recent years.

But a new report published by the Policy Exchange has labelled those findings "misleading", saying they bear no relation to the reality experienced by communities and police forces across the UK.

Speaking to Sky News, one of the report's authors, Jonathan McClory, said: "We polled 1,200 police constables and they've all said that gun and knife crime is much worse than official statistics are saying.

"We need to look at the long-term trends not the year-on-year trends. It's quite easy to manipulate year-on-year shifts which is I think what the Home Office have done".

The report comes as knife crime is already under the media spotlight. So far this year, 15 people under the age of 20 have been stabbed to death in London.

That is just one short of the 16 killed with knives in the capital during the whole of last year.

Just last night Wiltshire Police attended a knife-related incident in which a 13-year-old suffered minor injuries and another 13-year-old was arrested.

Last week, the Metropolitan Police announced they had increased the number of officers working in their specialist anti-knife crime task force - Operation Blunt 2.

Sky News has become the first news organisation allowed out on patrol with these units.

Last night, a fleet of vans from the Met's Territorial Support Group launched a high-visibility stop-and-search operation in Thornton Heath, south London, where 16-year-old Shakilus Townsend was fatally stabbed last week.

Over several hours, the teams carried out numerous stops. In one incident, a group of young men were seen acting suspiciously in a doorway.

When officers searched them, they found 25 wraps of cannabis in a vehicle belonging to one of the men. He was arrested for possession of a controlled substance with intent to supply.

Sergeant Darren Birmingham told Sky that drugs were linked into a vicious cycle, which often ends in knife or gun violence.

A short distance away, the team stopped three 14-year-old boys. One was carrying the sharp metal shaft of a dismantled umbrella.

When questioned, the boy revealed he had been slashed in face by another youth a week earlier. The blade narrowly missed his eye.

He is one of hundreds of youngsters across Britain whose brush with knife crime is not recorded in official statistics.

It is one of the errors highlighted by the Policy Exchange in the way knife crime figures are collated.

Under 16s are not included in the British Crime Survey but the latest hospital admission figures show the number of children under the age of 16 being treated for knife wounds has increased by 62% in the last five years.

The Royal London Hospital has been collating its own figures on patients treated by their trauma unit for serious and potentially serious knife wounds.

Consultant trauma vascular surgeon Mike Walsh said: "Our experience here is that the number of people suffering knife injuries is increasing year-on-year.

"If we took the figures for 2007, we had a total of 185 injuries in the year, so far in the first half of this year we've had 140."