Tuesday, April 12, 2005

As Tom DeLay’s (Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas), alleged ethical lapses began to dominate American political news stories and the Sunday talk shows, have led some Republican members of the Majority Leader’s own party to question the reasoning for his refusal to account for his actions or resign.

Last year, in a glimpse of problems yet to surface, the Republican head of the U.S. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, or “House Ethics Committee”, presided over three admonitions that included offering to endorse the candidacy of a political lawmaker’s son in exchange for votes on legislation. The ethics complaints were originally filed by Democratic Rep. Chris Bell of Texas on June 15, 2004, and began to heat up in the months prior to last year’s elections.

A Texas grand jury is taking a hard look at Delay’s fund raising practices, and has already indicted three of his close associates. Last week the Washington Post reported that Mr. DeLay took a trip to Moscow in 1997, financed by lobbyists of the Russian Government.

Delay’s representative, Dan Allen, told reporters “Congressman DeLay’s effective leadership to build and strengthen the House majority is exactly the reason he is being targeted by liberal groups funded by George Soros.”

But Christopher Shays, a Republican from Connecticut, a Republican moderate, told the Associated Press that DeLay’s “conduct is hurting the Republican Party” and “hurting any Republican who is up for re-election [in 2006].”

The news agency reported that DeLay would look forward to meeting the charges with the ethics committee in a sit-down and blamed all of his problems on House Democrats.

Senator Chris Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, advised his Republican colleagues strongly to “Be careful about how closely you embrace Mr. DeLay, as long as he’s there, he’s going to become a pretty good target.” His remarks were nationally televised on ABC TV.

Those Republicans working with the Majority Leader said his ethics are only a problem to Democrats trying to regain power in the House. But the Ethics Committee’s membership is equally divided between Republicans and Democrats.

Other Republicans are starting to get jittery about their reelection hopes if DeLay is allowed to retain power.

“Tom’s conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election,” Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., told the Associated Press after making similar comments at community meetings in his home district this weekend.

He told reporters he thinks DeLay should step down.

The third-ranking Republican in the Senate, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, said DeLay needs to “clear the air.” But he thinks everything done by DeLay was “according to the law.”

“I think he has to come forward and lay out what he did and why he did it and let the people then judge for themselves,” he said on ABC’s This Week, a Sunday political talk program. “Now you may not like some of the things he’s done, that’s for the people of his district to decide, whether they want to approve that kind of behavior.”

Santorum faces reelection in 2006.

DeLay is under investigation by the Travis County (Texas) district attorney, Democrat Ronnie Earle, who has already indicted three members of DeLay’s organization, Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (TRMPAC), on charges of money laundering and accepting illegal campaign contributions.

DeLay and his associates are alleged to have created a front group to launder money obtained through this illegal method. The District attorney believes he is enforcing the law enacted by the Texas lawmakers.

DeLay and his supporters contended that this investigation and the indictments were politically motivated maneuvers by the Democratic Travis County, Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle. Earle has been characterized as a controversial and colorful political figure with a history of pursuing unconventional indictments against elected officials including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. However, his record shows that he has indicted more Democrats than Republicans.

Federal investigators are probing a lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, another DeLay associate, for bilking millions of dollars from Native American casino operators for promises of congressional action to support their businesses. Abramoff and others may have underwritten overseas travel for the Majority Leader, which is a violation of law.

DeLay has taken on the nation’s independent judiciary, particularly those who disagreed with him on the reinsertion of the feeding tube for Terri Schiavo, a brain damaged Florida woman who died on March 31. Reports that he pulled the life support from his own father, when he was fatally injured in the 1980’s, didn’t deter him.

“The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior,” DeLay said of the judges.

Asked what his associates think of DeLay’s latest slew of bad news, spokesman Dan Allen replied, “Members were very supportive through the week last week and going into the weekend.”

The Bush administration said that DeLay has not become the political liability that Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, became in 2002.

Both Chris Shays and Joel Hefley, a Republican from Colorado, the past chairman of the House ethics committee who sanctioned DeLay three times, have signed a resolution, crafted by Democrats, that would end some of the rules changes that their own party pushed through to help DeLay only three months ago. DeLay voted for the changes to cover his actions as well.

Hefley said “A lot of folks mention quietly that they are concerned about it. On the other hand, you have a lot of members standing up and pledging their undying support for Mr. DeLay,”

Eleven years after the Republicans swept power in the Congress from the Democrats, they seem more intent on protecting DeLay than keeping the “Contract with America,” according to critics. They say “that is the corrupting influence of power.”

DeWayne Wickham of USA Today asks, “How will voters respond to this breach of the Contract?” The next federal elections will take place in November of 2006.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

The contaminated pet food that was recalled after it was found to contain a harmful industrial chemical called melamine, has been used as pig feed at a hog farm in Ceres, California, located in the United States.

At least seven urine samples taken from pigs at the American Hog Farm, were tested and the results came back positive for the chemical melamine. At least three samples from the feed used to feed the pigs were tested and those results also came back positive for melamine.

Reports say that at least 100 pigs from the farm were slaughtered and sold from the “custom slaughterhouse” that is operated on the farms site. The meat is then sold to different places as “individual orders” and is not sold commercially for supermarkets. The affected meat goes as far back as April 3 and the company is asking anyone who bought it to return the product or throw it out.

Despite the sale, California State Veterinarian Dr. Richard Breitmeyer says that no evidence has turned up to suggest that the meat that was sold entered the human consumption chain.

“There is no evidence that any products from this farm have entered the food supply. The risk to people right now is minimal,” said Breitmeyer who also said that pet food from bags or boxes that have been torn or ripped, is sometimes reused as feed for small farms.

California’s Department of Food and Agriculture investigated the company and found that it had received the contaminated pet food from Diamond Pet Foods, which supplies retailers with the pet food Natural Balance, one of the over 100 recalled brands of pet food. Authorities then quarantined the farm to further investigate the situation.

At least 1,500 pigs are on the farm.

As of the moment, no other farms are being investigated, but officials say that other farms may also be affected.

“In the course of our investigation, we may find similar situations in other parts of the country,” said head of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Sundlof.

The FDA is continuing to investigate and Sundlof says that there is a possibility that the contamination of the pet food may be intentional.

“It would certainly lend credibility to the theory that it may be intentional. That will be one of the theories we will pursue when we get into the plants in China,” said Sundlof.

Last month, Menu Foods was the first to recall all of its 60 million products of dry and wet dog and cat food after pets began to fall ill and in some cases died of kidney failure. The FDA found melamine in samples of Menu Foods pet food and in samples of wheat gluten, imported from China, which was used as an ingredient.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A Scottish woman who set out before Christmas to purchase a turkey finally made it home on Monday, after being cut off by snow for a month. Kay Ure left the Lighthouse Keeper’s cottage on Cape Wrath, at the very northwest tip of Great Britain, in December. She was heading to Inverness on a shopping trip.

However on her return journey heavy snow and ice prevented her husband, John, from travelling the last 11 miles to pick her up. She was forced to wait a month in a friend’s caravan, before the weather improved and the couple could finally be reunited.

They were separated not just for Christmas and New Year, but also for Mr Ure’s 58th birthday. With no fresh supplies, he was reduced to celebrating with a tin of baked beans. He also ran out of coal, and had to feed the couple’s six springer spaniels on emergency army rations.

“It’s the first time we’ve been separated”, said Mr Ure in December. “We’ve been snowed in here for three weeks before, so we are well used to it and it’s quite nice to get a bit of peace and quiet.”

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

The Western Australian (WA) Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has advised against the massive Greater Gorgon liquefied natural gas project off WA’s Pilbara coast. Proponents of the projects say Gorgon is one of Australia’s biggest export ventures, scheduled to provide up to 6,000 jobs and exports of up to $1.2 billion.

EPA chairman Dr Wally Cox said the Gorgon project operators (Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell), had made an effort on flora and fauna issues but in its present state, the Gorgon proposal was “unacceptable.” Gorgon LNG general manager Colin Beckett said that Gorgon was a world-class gas field and that the joint venture partners were confident that the decision would be reversed.

Environment Minister Mark McGowan said there was a definite process to be followed. The Minister says he will make a final decision on the Gorgon proposal after considering the EPA report – and any subsequent report from the Appeals Convenor. The EPA recommendations on the Gorgon proposal are subject to a two-week appeals period.

The EPA’s Dr Cox said that joint venture had “not been able to demonstrate that impacts from dredging, the introduction of non-indigenous species and the potential loss of fauna could be reduced to acceptable levels.”

In September 2003 the WA government provided “in-principle agreement” to the Gorgon joint venturers subject to a number of conditions. Dr Cox said that the Environmental Review and Management Programme had further highlighted the terrestrial and marine conservation values of Barrow Island and the adjacent waters.

“Flatback turtles in particular would be put at risk from the proposal with two of the most important nesting beaches located adjacent to the proposed LNG processing plant site and the materials off-loading facility,” Dr Cox said. “There is very little science available on the life-cycle, behaviour and feeding habits of Flatback turtles and as a consequence it is not possible at this time to identify management measures that would ensure ongoing survival of this Pilbara Flatback turtle population.”

Dr Cox also said that the Proponent had not been able to demonstrate that risk could be reduced to satisfactory levels in the areas of: Impacts on the marine ecosystem from dredging; The introduction of non-indigenous species; Potential loss of subterranean and short range endemic invertebrate fauna species. “As a result, the proposal in its present form cannot meet the EPA’s environmental objectives and is considered environmentally unacceptable,” Dr Cox said.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

As many as 3,200 mine workers became trapped in the in Elandsrand mine, a gold mine in South Africa about 50 miles (80 km) west of Johannesburg in Carletonville, Gauteng, after an incident on October 3. All miners have been rescued, and none of them were injured. The mine is owned by Harmony Gold Mining Corporation.

The mining company says that a lift electrical cable broke on a basket that was carrying miners, trapping thousands at least 2,200 meters (1.3 miles) below the earth’s surface. Reports from MSNBC and the Guardian Unlimited say that the shaft may have collapsed when a water or air pipe burst. The rescue operation went well with no complications, with the rescue taking just under 24 hours to complete.

“They were underground when the accident happened and they were not able to surface because an electric feeder cable that is connected to the mine lift was severed,” said a spokeswoman for the mining company, Amelia Soares. The snap was caused by a “fatigued” air pipe which burst and fell down the shaft damaging the “steelwork and electrical feeder cords,” added Soares. “They are all in good condition.”

“They are all safe. There have been no injuries or deaths,” said CEO of Harmony mining, Graham Briggs who also said that the miners were previously contacted and were given “food and water.”

Earlier reports had stated that Lesiba Seshoka, a spokesman with the National Union of Mineworkers, said that the miners have not been heard from for hours and that they could have been enduring temperatures as high as 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).

“This is a terrible situation. The only exit is blocked, probably by a fall of ground,” said Seshoka.

Rescue workers used a mine shaft that is next to the damaged one in an attempt to reach the trapped miners, and lifted them out, 75 at a time. There was no emergency exit in the shaft which is reported to have “not been maintained for ages,” added Seshoka.

“An escape route is the most important thing and they have failed miserably. They need to ensure that the shaft is maintained. This is why we have this disaster. Our main worry is for more than 3,000 people who are underground,” said National Union of Mineworkers for S. Africa chairman, Deon Boqwana.

Current reports say that “negligence” was the initial cause for the pipe burst and that there has been a history of negligence from the mine. “We suspect negligence. Because of continuous operations there is no time to make adequate checks,” said the President of the Miners union, Senzeni Zokwana to reporters during a news conference.

The Elsrand mine is currently under development and has been since February 2001 when Harmony bought the mine. Officials state that the mine will remain closed for a minimum of six weeks, while an investigation is performed, and the mine is deemed safe for miners to continue working in it.

The mine is located in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa, which is said to be the location of the largest area of raw gold on the planet.