Docudharma Times Saturday September 13

They Are Not Distortions

They Were Not Misspoken

They Are Lies

And, Those Telling Them Are Liars

Devastating Ike roars ashore in Galveston



By JUAN A. LOZANO and CHRIS DUNCAN

The Associated Press

Saturday, September 13, 2008; 4:15 AM    

GALVESTON, Texas — A massive Hurricane Ike ravaged southeast Texas early Saturday, battering the coast with driving rain and ferocious wind gusts as residents who decided too late they should have heeded calls to evacuate made futile calls for rescue.

Though it would be daybreak before the storm’s toll was clear, already, the damage was extensive. Thousands of homes had flooded, roads were washed out and several fires burned unabated as crews could not reach them. But the biggest fear was that thousands of people had defied orders to flee would need rescue from submerged homes and neighborhoods.

‘Total destruction’: At least 15 die in head-on Metrolink crash

Commuter train with 225 aboard slams into freight train on winding route in Chatsworth. More than 135 are injured.

 By Joel Rubin, Ann M. Simmons and Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

September 13, 2008    

Rescue teams worked frantically into the night Friday after a Metrolink passenger train carrying 225 people collided head-on with a Union Pacific freight train on a sharp curve in Chatsworth, killing at least 15 people and leaving more than 135 injured. It was one of the worst train crashes in Southern California history and Metrolink officials said they could not explain why warning systems failed to prevent such a catastrophic collision.

Los Angeles City Fire Capt. John Virant, his face glistening with sweat hours after the crash, described the scene as “total destruction . . . chaos.” “They are in there removing dead bodies that are lying on top of survivors,” Virant said. In the front train carriage, he said, “it was as if somebody had just taken all the seats and thrown them in there.

USA

Groundhog Day election forces rival teams to alter strategy



Ewen MacAskill in Washington

The Guardian,

Saturday September 13 2008  

After almost two years of campaigning, the US election is arriving with a rush. Although there are 52 days left until the November 4 poll, the first of the ballot booths will open next Friday in Virginia for early voting.

Other states will follow soon after; 36 of the 50 are offering the opportunity to vote early, either in person or by post.

The expansion of early voting is posing a dilemma for the campaign teams, with decisions having to be made about whether to time ads and rallies to coincide with them or whether to delay drives until nearer November 4.

With 30% or more of the electorate predicted to vote early, the Barack Obama and John McCain campaigns are in overdrive.

McCain Barbs Stirring Outcry as Distortions  

?

By MICHAEL COOPER and JIM RUTENBERG

Published: September 12, 2008    

Harsh advertisements and negative attacks are a staple of presidential campaigns, but Senator John McCain has drawn an avalanche of criticism this week from Democrats, independent groups and even some Republicans for regularly stretching the truth in attacking Senator Barack Obama’s record and positions.

Mr. Obama has also been accused of distortions, but this week Mr. McCain has found himself under particularly heavy fire for a pair of headline-grabbing attacks. First the McCain campaign twisted Mr. Obama’s words to suggest that he had compared Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, to a pig after Mr. Obama said, in questioning Mr. McCain’s claim to be the change agent in the race, “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig.” (Mr. McCain once used the same expression to describe Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health plan.)

Europe

Medvedev describes Georgia attack as Russia’s 9/11  

· President says US backed assault on South Ossetia

· Nato membership ‘would destabilise region’

Jonathan Steele in Moscow

The Guardian,

Saturday September 13 2008

Georgia’s attack on the breakaway region of South Ossetia was unnecessary and unprovoked and was encouraged by the United States, Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, said in an interview yesterday.

“For Russia, August 8 was like September 11 for the United States,” he told a group of foreign journalists and academics. “I would like to see major lessons from it for the world.”

He made clear that the lessons, as Russia sees them, are that the post-cold war “illusion” that a world with one super power is a safe and predictable place is now over.

Pope backs Sarkozy’s bid for religious values



By John Lichfield in Paris

Saturday, 13 September 2008  

Pope Benedict and President Nicolas Sarkozy urged France yesterday to reconsider its strict separation of church and state and to allow religious “values” to influence public life.

M. Sarkozy and Pope Benedict XVI, at the start of his first visit to France, made speeches which were intended to calm – but may inflame – debate over the French “secular” tradition.

Pope Benedict called for a more “open” approach to secular government, which would accept the Christian “roots” of French society

Africa

The most fragile of deals: Mugabe finally cedes power



 By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent

Saturday, 13 September 2008  

For 28 years, Robert Mugabe has reigned like an absolute monarch. The power-sharing deal to be signed on Monday in theory closes that chapter in Zimbabwe’s troubled history. It whittles down his powers in key respects. But some analysts are unsure whether the complex arrangement brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki will hold together long enough to produce effective government.

The octogenarian President will now have to contend with a cabinet dominated by the combined factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Jacob Zuma, ANC leader, cleared of all corruption charges

 

From The Times

September 13, 2008

Jonathan Clayton in Pietermaritzburg

Jacob Zuma, the controversial leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), yesterday received a huge boost in his attempt to become the country’s next president, when a High Court Judge threw out corruption and fraud charges against him.

Judge Chris Nicholson told a court in Pietermaritzburg that the decision to charge Mr Zuma, 66, in relation to a multimillion-pound arms scandal was “invalid and set aside”.

In a two-hour indictment of state prosecutors and the Government of President Mbeki, Mr Zuma’s bitter rival, the judge effectively accepted that Mr Zuma had been the victim of a political conspiracy. He lamented what he called “baleful political influence” and said to cheers and ululations:

Asia

New dissent arrests in Malaysia    

An opposition member of parliament and a journalist have been arrested in Malaysia amid growing fears of a crackdown by the government  

By Robin Brant

BBC News, Kuala Lumpur

Police detained the two women late on Friday, who are are being held under Malaysia’s internal security act.

The stringent measure means they can be detained indefinitely, without trial.

The arrests follow the detention of a prominent online anti-government campaigner and continuing opposition efforts to destabilise the government.

Thai ruling coalition begins search for new PM >

 

By Ploy Chitsomboon

BANGKOK (Reuters)

Key officials in Thailand’s ruling coalition huddled behind closed doors on Saturday to agree a replacement for Samak Sundaravej, who withdrew his bid for a new term as prime minister in face of an internal party revolt.

Samak’s People Power Party (PPP), the biggest in the six-member coalition, vowed to nominate one of its own for the premiership, resuming a collision course with anti-government protesters who pledge to oppose any PPP candidate.

Middle East

Bombing Near Police Station Kills 23 in Iraq



 By Ernesto Londoño

Washington Post Foreign Service

Saturday, September 13, 2008; Page A13

BAGHDAD, Sept. 12 — A truck bombing near a police station killed at least 23 people north of Baghdad on Friday evening, the U.S. military and Iraqi officials said.

Mass casualty bombings have become infrequent in recent months as insurgent groups have lost support and Iraqi security forces have become more proficient. But al-Qaeda in Iraq and other groups continue to carry out attacks, frequently against Iraqi security forces.

Latin America

Bolivia imposes martial law on eastern province

President Evo Morales moves after a day of clashes in which at least nine people are killed and warns that ‘patience has a limit.’

By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

September 13, 2008  

BUENOS AIRES — Bolivia declared martial law Friday in the isolated northern state of Pando, site of violent clashes a day earlier that left at least nine dead and dozens injured.

The move was the government’s most dramatic action yet against a wave of violence this week in provinces opposed to the leftist leadership of President Evo Morales. The violence had prompted widespread speculation that the government would declare a national state of siege.

But Friday’s announcement was limited to Pando, where the order limits public gatherings, bans protests and imposes a midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew.

Morales warned Thursday that “patience has a limit,” as his nation endured its third day of clashes and attempted sabotage of natural gas pipelines. On Friday, amid relative calm, officials signaled that a harder line was likely.