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A rare sight - Yosemite National Park This park was gazetted as a national park in 1890. It is world famous for its rugged terrain, waterfalls, and century-old pine trees. It covers 1200 sq km and the "fire" waterfall of El Capitan is one of the most spectacular of all scenery. The spectacular view of the waterfall is created by the reflection of sunlight hitting the falling water at a specific angle. This rare sight can only be seen during a 2-week period towards the end of February. To photograph this rare event, photographers would often have to wait and...

The Medford man whose firearms were seized by police for safekeeping Monday when he was taken into protective custody has asked for their return. David J. Pyles has asked police to return the items taken from him when a SWAT team and negotiators descended on his Effie Street home early Monday. He sent an e-mailed request today, forwarding copies to legislators and media outlets. Medford police said they were watching the Effie Street home starting Sunday night in response to law enforcement concerns about the man after he was placed on administrative leave from his job on Thursday. A Medford...

<p>Concerns about an Oregon Department of Transportation employee who purchased several guns after being placed on leave prompted law enforcement across Southern Oregon to step in.</p> <p>Negotiators and a SWAT team from Medford police safely took a man — whose name wasn't released — into protective custody Monday morning in the 500 block of Effie Street, Medford police said in a news release.</p>

Houston school workers hope to get $250 gas money By ANA LEY Associated Press Writer HOUSTON - These days, everyone's feeling the pain at the pump, but for Houston's lowest-paid school district employees - who make as little as $15,000 a year - some relief may be on the way. On Thursday, the Houston school district is scheduled to vote on a plan that could give employees who make less than $30,000 per year a one-time $250 bonus for gasoline. The $2.85 million budget proposal would cover costs for 10,000 employees. "We've got bus drivers that can barely afford gas...

PoliticsNY.Net: Breaking News First: Update: Sources: "Bush will travel to Nashville, TN. Wednesday." ### I have an incredible story that I will publish because my military sources are 100%: "VP Cheney is stepping down for health reasons. He will be replaced by Senator Frist." I am attempting to get further confirmation. Sources: "The announcement will be tomorrow or very soon in TN." Stay tuned ###

Ballots submitted by the following 1,555 King County voters weren't counted during the initial vote count and the machine recount because of apparent signature problems. In some cases, voters failed to sign envelopes enclosing absentee or provisional ballots, those signatures didn't match their signatures on file or — in the case of 573 (formerly 561) voters — their signatures hadn't been entered into the election computer system. This list includes the 573 ballots that were improperly rejected. For a specific list of those voters . . . .

<p>I just wanted to tell you that you are like all americans : you are an ignorant BIG ASS, no smarter than the dumbest APE. I piss on your FLAG, on your bigoted COUNTRY and on your stuuuupid RepubliKKKan PREZ who is the shame of this entire planet, not only of your country. Oh and by the way, if you dind't notice yet, the USA is not the center of the universe.</p>

Email from a friend. Hi Folks, This past Tuesday I was flying from Columbia SC back to Seattle and had a short lay over in Atlanta. As I walked toward my gate I saw several young folks in Army fatigues and then during a routine stop in the men's room one of the young men (Sgt. John Schwebel from Houston, TX) was grooming himself at the sink. I asked of his presence and he laid down his razor, sat on the counter and proceeded in a lengthy conversation with me. Undoubtedly he was anxious to talk to folks about his...

Boeing: What Really Happened Flawed strategy. Lax controls. A weak board. Personal shortcomings. CEO Phil Condit lasted longer than he should have The really surprising thing about Philip M. Condit's resignation as chairman and chief executive officer of Boeing Co. (BA ) was not that his seven-year tenure ended so abruptly on Dec. 1, but that it lasted so long. Recent allegations of questionable conduct by a Boeing executive involved in negotiating an $18 billion deal with the Pentagon was only the latest mishap in a series of ethical lapses and managerial blunders that marred Condit's tumultuous reign from the...

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s right-wing government on Friday published a plan to curb the activities of radical religious leaders, which politicians said was aimed at Islamic clerics. The proposal is part of a package of strict new immigration laws the government announced on Thursday. It has the support of the government’s far-right ally, the Danish People’s Party (DPP), and the opposition Social Democrats and is therefore expected to sail through parliament in October. The rules oblige religious leaders to be financially self-sufficient, speak Danish and respect “Western values” or risk being declared persona non grata. They are apparently designed to deter radical...

Friday, December 13, 2002 Immigrants Swamp Border Hospitals By Lynn Brezosky The Associated Press BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Ambulances regularly race across the bridges of the Rio Grande, bringing some of Mexico's most ill to the nearest U.S. emergency room. Obligated by federal law, the hospitals provide the care and worry later about whether the billing addresses patients give them are accurate. Often the addresses are false — and the hospitals get stuck with the bill. Immigrant patients have inflated medical expenses for insurance companies, Medicaid and paying customers, officials say, and are overwhelming already busy hospitals in one of the...

Al-Qaida trail tracked to NW 09/13/02 LES ZAITZ The year was 1997, and one of Osama bin Laden's trusted aides, Wadih El-Hage, had just returned to Kenya from a meeting with bin Laden, who was known as "the contractor." His instructions were to "militarize" the Kenyan network of al-Qaida operatives, the men who would carry out the suicide bombing of the America Embassy in downtown Nairobi.

Who’s Keeping Track? Foreign Students Often Remain After Their Visas Expire Nov. 14 — When Bangladeshi student Omar flunked out of the U.S. college he was attending, his student visa became invalid.

Below is a portion of the text of an email that has gone out to Microsoft employees from their management In the days and weeks ahead, it’s important for Microsoft and for each of us individually to think about how we can help. As a company, Microsoft is today making a $10 million contribution to assist those who have been impacted by the tragedy. We are contributing $5 million in cash to the September 11 Fund, created by the United Way of New York City and The New York Community Trust. In addition to cash, we are also contributing people ...

The USS Greeneville left dry dock yesterday after $2 million worth of repairs as the crew prepares for refresher training on how to run its submarine.The Greeneville, which collided with a Japanese training ship off Diamond Head, has a new interim skipper, Capt. Tony Cortese from the Greeneville's submarine squadron. The boat's previous captain, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, was relieved of command the day after the Feb. 9 crash that left nine Japanese men and boys dead. But the Greeneville's executive officer and officer of the deck are scheduled to rejoin their boat. Like Waddle, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer and Lt. ...

TOKYO –– Japan's foreign minister demanded an explanation Tuesday for a U.S. nuclear-powered submarine's entry into a southwestern port without advance notice, and suggested that further port calls should be put on hold. See above link to article.

The mother of a sailor who died aboard the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and who was seen on television being injected as she shouted at officials after the catastrophe says the jab rendered her instantly speechless. Mrs Nazdezhda Tylik also reversed her earlier statement that the medicine was for a heart condition and had been requested by her husband, who was at her side when she became agitated. Television footage of Mrs Tylik's outburst on August 18, which ended when a woman with a large syringe came up behind her, raised allegations by critics that Russia was reverting to Soviet-era ...

Notice blue cover over prop for security purposes.

This article confirms my earlier posts regarding the flagrant abuse of authority by the skipper of the Greeneville causing this incident during a Hawaiian "Joy ride" with one of our billion dollar weapons systems.It confirms that the powered ascent speed of the Greeneville would have been at a speed of 35 mph (51.3 feet/second. A graphic of the deck plan of the Ehime Maru is here. I assume that the width of the Ehime Maru is less than 50 feet. My assumption is that the death blow to the Ehime Maru by the Greeneville was less than 1 second! Below ...

Just an image test using Yahoo! Groups as as an image repository:President "W"