"It's a violation of my First Amendment rights that I cannot advertise my movie. It's a movie," said Moore. "I have not publicly endorsed John Kerry. I am an independent; I am not a member of the Democratic Party."

New York City Board of Elections records show that Moore, 50, registered to vote in Gotham in 1992, checking off "Democratic" as his party affiliation (below you'll find a copy of his original registration form). He listed his address as the swanky Upper West Side building where he owns a multimillion dollar condominium (Moore's office is on West 57th Street). The filmmaker's New York registration remains active, though he has not voted since an October 2001 Democratic runoff election.

Now here's the good part: Moore is simultaneously registered to vote in Michigan, where registrants aren't even given the option of party affiliation (so he's not an Independent there either). According to Antrim County records, Moore registered last April from his lakefront spread in northern Michigan, where he reportedly splits his time, but has yet to vote in Michigan. He transferred his drivers license to Michigan from New York around the same time, though Moore has a Volkswagen Beetle registered from his Manhattan home.

The United States bowed to broad opposition on the Security Council on Wednesday and announced it was dropping its effort to gain immunity for its troops from prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

"The United States has decided not to proceed further with consideration and action on the draft at this time in order to avoid a prolonged and divisive debate," James Cunningham, the deputy American ambassador, said on emerging from the council chamber.

A resolution granting a year's exemption had passed the council the past two years, but this year the attempt to renew it ran into difficulties because of the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq and strong opposition from Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The outcome, while a political defeat for the United States, will have no effect on the vulnerability to prosecution of American soldiers in Iraq. Neither the United States nor Iraq is a participant in the tribunal, and its jurisdiction is limited to countries that do not themselves prosecute crimes by their military.

- prohibition on US participation in UN peacekeeping operations, unless the President certifies, in this case, that the country involved has agreed to prevent the ICC from acting against American servicemembers in that country (the certification for Iraq is here)

- allows the President to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of [any American servicemember] who is being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court."

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson asked a state court Thursday to remove a Creek County judge from the bench for allegedly using a sexual device during court proceedings.

Judge [] violated these Canons [1, 2, 3 of the Canons of Judicial Ethics] by his repeated use of a device known as a penis pump during non-jury and jury trials in his courtroom and in the presence of court employees while serving in his capacity as district judge. He also violated these Canons by placing himself in a position where his court reporter viewed his penis on an number of occasions while he was serving in his capacity as district judge.

Democrat John Kerry criticized Republicans on Wednesday for denying him a chance to cast a Senate vote, blaming a partisan culture created by President Bush and calling his rival "the greatest divider as a president in the modern history of this country."

An Iraqi militant group has beheaded its South Korean hostage, Al-Jazeera television reported Tuesday. The South Korean foreign ministry issued a statement confirming the report.

Kim's body was found by the U.S. military between Baghdad and Fallujah, west of the capital, at 5:20 p.m. Iraq time, said South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil.

[ . . . ]

One of the masked men [in the videotape showing Kim] said the message was intended for the Korean people. "This is what your hands have committed. Your army has not come here for the sake of Iraqis, but for cursed America."

The videotape of Kim, apparently made shortly before his death, showed him kneeling, blindfolded and wearing an orange jumpsuit similar to those issued to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

[emphasis added]

The Institute for Aging Studies (IAS) of Korea and the Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York (KCS) of the United States jointly conducted a survey to get a glimpse of the lives of elderly Koreans at home and abroad.

[ . . . ]

In the survey, 26 percent of gray-haired citizens [early 60s] here said that they often felt sad, while 15 percent of the respondents in New York said so. As for loneliness, 50 percent of the Korean group professed that they felt lonely, higher than 33 percent in the New York group.

[ . . . ]

Ironically, however, 21 percent of elderly Koreans were satisfied with their sexual life, twice as many as the figure in the Big Apple.

When they came down with a disease, a staggering 57 percent of the local Koreans expected their children to take care of them but only seven percent of the overseas Koreans relied on their offspring.

Establishing a U.S.-style law schools instead of a judicial examination to train legal professionals is being seriously considered. Also, allowing the people to participate in trials through a U.S.-style jury system or German-style participation system is being considered.

[ . . . ]

Major universities including Seoul National University are greatly in favor of the introduction of law schools. Also, the Korean Bar Association is also in favor of it.


The Supreme Court said, “Most of the people agree that the present judicial system needs to be revised. Although aftermaths are predicted, introducing law schools sounds persuasive as the alternative to the judicial examination.”

"Unlike previous administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, the Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the policy-making that is so important to our collective welfare," their letter stated.

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said the president's budget raises federal research and development to $132 billion in 2005, a 44 percent increase since taking office.

"Only John Kerry would declare the country to be in scientific decline on a day when the country's first privately funded space trip is successfully completed," Schmidt said, referring to the flight of a privately financed rocket over California.

An al-Qaida cell beheaded American engineer Paul M. Johnson Jr., and in a swift retaliation Saudi security forces tracked down and killed the leader of the terrorist group in a shoot-out Friday.


Johnson, who was kidnapped last weekend, was the latest victim of an escalating campaign of violence against Westerners that aims to drive foreign workers from the kingdom and undermine the ruling royal family, hated by al-Qaida.

The death hours later of Abdulaziz al-Moqrin, the reputed leader of al-Qaida in the kingdom, was a coup for the Saudi government, which has been under intense pressure to halt a wave of attacks against Westerners. In a video posted on the Internet Tuesday, a hooded al-Moqrin held an assault rifle and shouted demands for the release of al-Qaida prisoners as a blindfolded Johnson sat in a chair.

[ . . . ]

Shortly after discovering Johnson's body, Saudi police swooped down on the al-Malz neighborhood in central Riyadh and exchanged fire with al-Qaida suspects.

[emphasis added]

Three of four attackers who killed 22 people in the Saudi oil city of Khobar were allowed to escape [after three attacks over 25 hours] because they were threatening to kill 242 people being held as human shields, a senior Saudi Interior Ministry official says.

[ . . . ]

The official said Monday the attackers told Saudi commanders they were wearing explosive belts and would set off blasts killing the people they were holding.

At that point, the official said, the Saudi commanders decided to let them go.

The three men fled in a car belonging to a resident of a residential complex they had penetrated. They changed cars several times and eluded Saudi security forces, the official said.

For years, many governments played down the threats of Islamic revolution, turned a blind eye to international terrorism, and accepted the development of weaponry of mass destruction by dictators. Indeed, some politicians were happy to go further, collaborating with the self-proclaimed enemies of the West for their own short-term gain – but enough about the French!

On Tuesday, the KFDA announced that it cleared Dongil Frozen Foods and Geumheung Foods as possible suppliers of inedible dumplings, reportedly on the grounds of a flimsy investigation process.

The nation's whole dumpling industry, including frozen foods in general, has been marred since news of the so-called "garbage dumplings" began to surface last Monday. Those in the dumpling and frozen food business can only hope that the issue will wane and replenish consumers' trust in the food industry as soon as possible so business can return to normal.

This is what matters most even for the two companies now off the KFDA's blacklist, because they say the whole dumpling issue has ballooned into a case of deception and betrayal, while food companies have become "criminals."

"This is not an issue of profit loss or being off or on the KFDA's blacklist; it's much more serious," said Kim Cheong-sun, CEO of Geumheung Foods, in a telephone interview. "We worry about what's up ahead for the mandu business with the consumers' loss of trust in food companies," he added, emphasizing that the whole case has been over-exaggerated.

In a suicide note, [owner of dumpling manufacturer Vision Foods] Shin [Young-moon] indicated that he had been suffering from emotional distress and extreme financial pressure after the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) named Vision Foods as one of the firms which used the spoiled ingredients last week. A total of 18 firms were confirmed to have manufactured and circulated the low-quality dumplings, called mandu in Korean, from 1999 to February of this year.

While repeatedly apologizing to the nation for making substandard food, he pleaded with the public to sustain their anger so there would not be any innocent victims.

"Mandu companies and their families can only survive if the public continues to eat mandu products,’’ Shin said in his three-page suicide note.

Demands to pay off company debts along with the plummeting dumpling sales after the food scandal appear to have pushed Shin over the edge.

The Banpo Bridge is emerging as a frequent suicide area. On June 13, Vision Food president Shin Young-moon jumped to his death from the bridge over a "garbage dumpling" scandal. Politicians have also jumped from the bridge, including South Jeolla Province Gov. Park Tae-young and Paju Mayor Lee Joon-won.

[ . . . ]

Yongsan Police Station's watch on the bridge is now on high alert, allocating four policemen to each bridge - Banpo, Hannam, Hangang - from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to midnight, the hours when most suicide attempts occur.

These preventive methods are viewed as last-resort plans to patrol and discourage jumpers. So far they have not helped Korea emerge from its fourth place ranking in suicide rates among OECD countries and the highest growth rate recently.

On the evening of May 30, 2004, [Private Imad Abid Zeid] Jassim and his fellow members of 4th Platoon, India Company, Iraqi Civil Defense Corps (ICDC) were jointly patrolling the streets of Al Karmah, near Fallujah, with leathernecks from 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. All at once, the patrol was ambushed from the rear by enemy insurgents. A U.S. Marine was instantly struck down with a gunshot wound to the leg.

Reacting as they had been trained to do by their U.S. counterparts, the Iraqis swung into action.

Jassim, who was standing closest to the Marine when the latter was hit, immediately returned fire.

Sergeant Abdullah Sadoon Isa, Corporal Eiub Muhamad Hussane, and Private Ahmad Lazim Garib raced toward-and-beyond the downed American. Constantly under fire and simultaneously returning fire, Sgt. Isa quickly positioned other members of his platoon between the wounded man and the enemy.

Jassim and another private, Kather Nazar Abbas, stopped shooting long enough to begin dragging the American to a position of relative safety. Bullets and at least one rocket-propelled grenade zinged past their heads as they managed to pull the Marine behind a wall. A U.S. Navy medical corpsman rushed forward to render first aid. The Iraqis and the Americans continued battling the enemy force.

The response to the ambush was textbook. "The ICDC ultimately assaulted through the enemy's position and pushed them out," said 2nd Lt. Charles Anklin III, of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines.

On Friday, Maj. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, and Col. John A. Toolan, commanding officer of Regimental Combat Team 1; decorated the five aforementioned Iraqi soldiers for their "heroic achievement" during an awards ceremony at Camp India in Nassar Wa Salaam. The awards included two Navy-Marine Corps Commendation Medals and three Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medals. Each of the medals included combat "V"s for valor.

As originally envisioned, the 9/11 plot involved even more extensive attacks than those carried out on September 11. KSM [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed] maintains that his initial proposal involved hijacking ten planes to attack targets on both the East and West coasts of the United States. He claims that, in addition to the targets actually hit on 9/11, these hijacked planes were to be crashed into CIA and FBI headquarters, unidentified nuclear power plants, and the tallest buildings in California and Washington State. The centerpiece of his original proposal was the tenth plane, which he would have piloted himself. Rather than crashing the plane into a target, he would have killed every adult male passenger, contacted the media from the air, and landed the aircraft at a U.S. airport. He says he then would have made a speech denouncing U.S. policies in the Middle East before releasing all of the women and children passengers.

The textbooks of Korean elementary schools that used to emphasize adversity and dread against their enemy are now inserting photographs of the North Korean women who purchase goods in stores. Even in teaching materials used in a fourth-year class of an elementary school in Seoul, the story that describes Romeo and Juliet as lovers who cannot marry due to the interruption of an evil dragon over a river is mentioned. The river refers to the de-militarized zone, and the evil dragon refers to the United States.

They are typical of the hundreds of soldiers who rotate in and out of the division each year. Up here, it makes no difference if you are in armor, artillery or infantry, or are a driver, medic or scout. Here the mission is simple: to be ready to fight tonight.

[ . . . ]

With mottos like "ready to fight tonight" and "second to none," serving in the 2ID carries a lot of responsibility and commitment _ not only to the division, but also to the mission. As such, soldiers in the division do not enjoy the same freedoms that soldiers in other units on the peninsula might enjoy, especially when it comes to the stringent military life.

"That’s the reasoning behind a lot of the restrictions that we have to live with here, like a stricter curfew than other units are," Howard said. "Wearing civilian clothes here when we’re off-duty is also more restrictive in terms of what we can and can’t wear. It’s a lot of these little things, which build up, to more of a difference when it comes to serving here.

[emphasis added]

According to US Federal Bureau of Investigation wiretaps, Robert Kim and his brother Kim Yung-gon [another brother, Kim Song-gon, is a member of the Korean National Assembly in the ruling Uri Party] devised a plan to "acquire", reverse engineer and sell a secret US military computer system to the South Korean government, a plan that if successful would likely have ensured the two brothers a huge windfall for their efforts. Robert Kim acquired export permits and licenses that would have allowed the Kim brothers to export stolen, sensitive technology to South Korea under the guise of normal technology trade. These licenses were ultimately revoked by the US Department of Commerce in June 2000. [emphasis added]

[ . . . ]

That Robert Kim is guilty of sedition is incontrovertible. He was not tried and found guilty, but rather pleaded guilty to "conspiring to gather national defense information" when confronted with the mountain of evidence investigators had compiled. He pleaded guilty and cut a deal on sentencing; a deal that in 1997 reflected the strong desire of the US government to maintain the perception of a strong US-South Korea alliance, vital to maintaining the deterrence component of the 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea.

The intentional exclusion of relevant facts related to his case by South Korea's media and government is an example of a national tendency to bifurcation, a bipolar approach to the world that portrays issues as starkly "good or bad", with any act committed in defense of Korea's "pride" being good. Reality and logic take a back seat to a system of institutionalized myth-making that makes a hero of someone like Robert Kim, a national myth that bears little resemblance to the truth, and casts the "alliance formed in blood" with the United States in doubt.

The government of South Korea does not seem at all embarrassed about the celebration of Kim's "espionage in the name of Korea". Indeed, sitting lawmakers, the press and various civic groups have been very vocal in demanding that Kim be allowed to return "home", regardless of his US nationality or the fact that he's spent the past 30 years living in the United States.

[ . . . ]

The chairman of President Roh Moo-hyun's Our Open Party pledged his party's support for Robert Kim and his family - Robert's brother Kim Song-gon is now a sitting member of the party. Robert Kim "Aid Associations" have been sponsoring "white envelope" meetings, hoping to collect more than $4 million for South Korea's spy - a retroactive salary of more than $500,000 a year for the seven-plus years Kim spent in prison. The National Assembly is hosting a public exhibition of his pictures, while newspaper editorials express hope that Kim will "come home" and tour South Korea's schools giving lessons on how to be a patriotic Korean - a guide to duplicity and advice on how to use a position of trust for personal gain, all while wrapping the whole vile exercise in the flag of patriotism. [emphasis added]

Robert Kim is not a patriot of any country. He is a deeply corrupted American of Korean ethnicity who used his position of trust within the United States government to further his own agenda. He made it known to his South Korean handlers that he would be more than happy to violate both laws and any remaining ethics or morals he may have had in order to build trust and buy him the credibility necessary to broker even larger, more lucrative illegal transactions in the future.

Ammiano's resolution cites "widespread controversy and debate over the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of biotechnology" and "the potentially devastating repercussions of biotechnology on human health and the environment that remain unanswered." And it praises Reclaim the Commons for its "concern for the health, safety and well-being of the public and environment," as well as for its upholding of the city's resolution against genetically engineered foods in San Francisco's precautionary principal ordinance.

"Arrest them, shoot them," protesters shouted when police helped attendees cross the otherwise barricaded street in front of the center.

[ . . . ]

BIO officials have said they support the right of protesters to peacefully demonstrate, but wondered how anyone could be against fighting disease, which they say is the main focus of most of the industry.

Actress Brooke Shields told an audience Wednesday that she became a mother because of advances in biotechnology.

[ . . . ]

Shields said she was puzzled by the anti-biotechnology protesters who had targeted the convention, saying they must not realize how biotechnology can help people.

"Some of these people need to get a life," Shields said.

Hasan Akbar, 32, a combat engineer with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, was charged March 25 with two counts of premeditated murder, 17 counts of attempted murder, one count of aggravated arson of an inhabited dwelling and one count of misbehavior as a sentinel, according to a statement from Fort Campbell, where the 101st Airborne is based.

The attack occurred at Camp Pennsylvania -- the Kuwaiti headquarters of the division's 1st Brigade -- on March 23, four days after the start of the war in Iraq.

Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27, was killed in the attack. Air National Guard Maj. Gregory Stone, 40, died a few days later of wounds he received during the attack. Fourteen other soldiers were wounded.

On Sunday, several food subcontractors were found to have supplied 25 food companies with massive amounts of dumpling filling containing scraps of spoiled pickled radish, which were supposed to be thrown away.

Big-name companies such as Shany, Sam Lip General Foods, Chewyoungroo and Chunil Foods are reportedly included among the 25.

[ . . . ]

Civic groups and experts pointed out that the relatively light punishments of violators of food safety regulations are the main problem.

[ . . . ]

But manufacturers [punished by the Korean Food and Drug Adminstration] were easily able to reopen their businesses after a few months, with some being able to continue operations by paying light fines instead.

Attacks on ships by sea pirates in Southeast Asia are resembling military operations - growing bolder, more violent and fuelling fears of an attack that would cripple world trade, Singapore said.

As the United States considers plans for a Regional Maritime Security Initiative to tighten surveillance of Southeast Asia's busy Malacca Strait, through which a third of world trade passes, Singapore said the risk of a devastating attack was growing [and noting that recent pirate attacks were reminiscent of terrorist attacks in terms of methodology].

[ . . . ]

The International Maritime Bureau says one-third of the 445 cases of recorded pirate attacks last year happened in Indonesian waters, including the Malacca Strait linking trading and oil centres in the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

More than 50,000 commercial vessels travel the 805-km channel between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula to Singapore each year.

Malaysia, which rejected the proposal for the US policing of the Malacca Straits as an infringement of national sovereignty, said it would still hold talks with the US on intelligence sharing and continued joint military exercises.

In Baghdad, the top U.S. general in Iraq -- Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez -- said suspects "involved in the kidnapping" were detained in the operation.

Sanchez gave few details on the raid but said the three Italians and the Pole -- who were kidnapped in different locations more than a month apart -- were all found in the same location.

They "are in good health," he said, adding that there were no reports of any exchange of fire during the operation.

The commander of the Polish-led multinational force, Gen. Miecyzslaw Bienek, said U.S. special forces carried out the raid. The construction company that employed the Polish hostage, Jerzy Kos, said special forces -- including Polish troops -- had located the hide-out earlier.

About 20 foreigners are still being held hostage in Iraq, but winning their release is difficult because some may have been sold by their captors to Islamic militants, said Canon Andrew White, an Anglican cleric who has been trying to win hostages' release.

[ . . . ]

"Things are looking very bad for the hostages," White said. "The groups that kidnap them are selling them off to militant groups who sell them off again. It is very hard to track them down."

Bitter South Koreans Rally Behind Spy Convicted in U.S.


It was a case of a little friendly spying among allies.

In 1996, U.S. naval intelligence analyst Robert Kim was arrested for handing over classified documents to South Korea, the country of his birth. After serving seven years of a nine-year prison term for espionage, he was released last week to confinement in his home in Ashburn, Va. But considerable bitterness about the case remains for many South Koreans, who believe that the United States and their own government treated Kim unfairly.

[ . . . ]

"Many Koreans, myself included, believe that America is our closest ally, but there are times that the United States has shown arrogance and hurt Korean pride," said Lee Woong Jin, a 38-year-old businessman who heads a support group for Kim.

"Behind the scenes, I think they tried to help … but compared to the Israeli government, the Korean government was relatively passive," said Kim's younger brother, Kim Song Gon. The younger Kim is an assemblyman with South Korea's ruling party. Their late father also served in the National Assembly.

Robert Kim, a naturalized U.S. citizen who moved to the United States in 1967 to attend graduate school, was working as a civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy in 1996 when the FBI arrested him. It charged he had photocopied more than 30 classified military documents and given them to a military attache with the South Korean Embassy. Many of the documents dealt with the threat posed by communist North Korea.

Faced with overwhelming evidence of his guilt — the FBI had installed a hidden camera in his office three months before his arrest — Kim pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to gather national defense information. But he was apparently stunned by the severity of the sentence imposed by a federal judge.

In a telephone interview from his home in Ashburn, Kim said he believed he had received an especially harsh sentence because he was foreign born.

"I knew that I violated the rules as a government worker, but no, I did not think it was espionage," Kim said. "I love my adopted country."

But in another interview, published last week in a South Korean newspaper, Kim said that he considered himself a Korean above all.

"When the FBI agent asked me why I did such a thing for Korea, I said I would definitely cheer for Korea when Korea goes against the United States in a soccer match…. I do not feel sorry for what I did," Kim was quoted as saying in Thursday's editions of Chosun Ilbo.

I do not feel sorry for what I did. When the FBI agent asked me why I did such a thing for Korea, I said I would definitely cheer for Korea when Korea goes against the United States in a soccer match. After all this, I truly became a Korean. Although I am an American according to documentation, I am Korean at heart.

For many South Koreans, it is easy to identify with the personal history of somebody who immigrated to the U.S. but never shed loyalty to his homeland.

Mr. [Stephen] Harper has many obsessions, but his main one is taxes. He says they should be cut to U.S. levels, even though we would pay cheese-paring corporations the same money to see a doctor.

To him, taxes are tapeworms -- "double, double, toil and taxes," as Shakespeare's witches didn't put it -- sneaking into your home to steal all that is good. If you didn't pay Canadian-style taxes, you could have Porthault sheets instead of Yves Delorme, is his message to the rich. The middle classes could have Cuddledown sheets instead of Martex. The working poor could have sheets. The poor could have a mattress on the floor and the homeless could have nicer cardboard.

This is absurd. I pay taxes. I love taxes. When you work, the government yanks them off your paycheque. When you write, as I do, you take your receipts to Joan, my accountant, and give her a blank cheque made out to the Receiver-General. The government uses it to do all the stuff I'd rather not think about.

Tax. A short word, but as punctuation queen Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, says of the apostrophe, it is an abused little shrimp-shaped thing, brutally misunderstood.

Yet truly, the word "tax" trails clouds of glory.

[ . . . ]

Taxes ease our daily lives in ways we take for granted. They pay for traffic lights, sewers, garbage pickup, nicely dressed diplomats so we don't show up at the G8 in golfing shorts, ferries, fish in general, nuclear power plant inspection, protecting the provincial flower ("Leave that wild rose alone, ma'am), libraries, white-coated people who spring into action when you contract flesh-eating disease, building codes, schools, dangerous-toy advisories, keeping cable companies in line, clean air, truck inspections for airborne wheels, loan forgiveness, autopsies, campgrounds, divorce, licence plates so you can track the guy on the cellphone in his Humvee who hit you, fluoridation, teacher training, privacy, universities, fair elections, fire trucks, child guardianship, hazardous-waste control, name changes, hostels, museums, protocol (see golfing shorts), trees, zoning, high-tech passports, standards in general, notaries public, noise control, organ donation, human rights, disability, drainage, bingo permits, boating safety, French-language services, neighbour encroachment, aboriginal business aid, art galleries, adoption, jury duty, cemeteries, soil quality, spills response, tattoo parlour inspection, bank deposit insurance, street lighting, commercial ship registry, victim assistance ("there, there"), social insurance numbers, joint rescue (water and land, nothing to do with knees), aerial mapping, pesticide disapproval and savings bonds.
[ . . . ]

Whenever you get upset by taxation, egged on by HelmetHead, think of an ill-considered purchase. Then figure out what that cash could have contributed to, had it been in government hands. A gleaming new hip for my mother? An extra season of Da Vinci's Inquest? An ice rink for kids on the reserve?

The United States told South Korea that it would withdraw 12,500 soldiers out of the 37,000-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) by the end of next year, officials said on Monday.

"The U.S. proposed pulling out 12,500 soldiers, including a brigade of 3,600 to be shifted to Iraq in August, by the end of 2005," Kim Sook, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s North American affairs bureau, said in a press briefing. "This will bring down the number of U.S. troops here to 25,000."

The remainder [34,000 of 37,000 military positions] are unaccompanied tours, also known as "noncommand-sponsored, hardship, or remote" tours.

Because Korea is a potential combat zone, the number of family members in country has been restricted for security and evacuation purposes. To enforce this, the U.S. Congress has severely limited the military benefits normally available to families.

[ . . . ]

If you bring your family members to Korea at your own expense, you will face several hardships, including financial. Noncommand-sponsored families are not authorized government quarters or financial assistance in paying off-post rent. Depending on your job and where you are stationed, you may be required to live in the barracks, dormitory or BEQ/BOQ. This is especially true of soldiers assigned to 2nd Infantry Division or other units located north of Seoul. This area is considered a potential combat area and unsuitable for family members.

Seven years before the Berlin Wall fell, Reagan told the House of Commons, "It may not be easy to see, but I believe we live now at a turning point." A crisis was building, he said, "but the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West, but in the home of Marxism-Leninism, the Soviet Union. It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history by denying human freedom and dignity to its citizens. It also is in deep economic difficulty."

When Reagan "began to say those things in the early '80s, he was absolutely ridiculed -- ridiculed -- by the elites," [former budget chief Jim] Miller recalled. "This didn't faze him. It didn't bother him. And he won. He was the one who was proven correct."

Focus on killing the enemy. With fires. With maneuver. With sticks and stones and polyunsaturated fats.

I felt like Hilary Clinton, except without a cock. And a daughter.

His wife and children underwent enormous psychological and financial strain while he was serving his time. The Korean government, which has been under heavy criticism by the public for its inactive role in helping Kim, may now assist his supporters planning to request the U.S. Justice Department to allow him to come to Korea to finish his parole doing social service here.

Kim says he does not wish to think about the charges. "(I even) appealed to the court of law, but it was never heard. I feel like a victim, but there`s nothing I can do now."

Glenn Taylor Helzer, the self-described prophet from Concord who masterminded five slayings in 2000, planned to go quite a bit further, turning Brazilian orphans into "private assassins" who would, as teenagers, kill 15 leaders of the Mormon Church in Utah, according to testimony.

The bizarre plan, dubbed "Brazil," was detailed in a Contra Costa County courtroom Tuesday by Helzer's former roommate and accomplice, Dawn Godman.

Godman said survivors of the Salt Lake City slaughter would blame the killings on the "government behind the government." They would then declare Helzer -- who was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints in 1998 -- the new prophet for the world's 12 million Mormons.

"He believed that by doing that, he was fulfilling a prophecy from the Book of Mormon," she said.

After a long fight to get recognition for their son's actions in Iraq, the family of Sgt. Donald Walters has now learned some shocking news from the military - that their son was taken as a prisoner of war and later shot in the back.

Major Arnold Strong with the Oregon National Guard made the announcement this afternoon, saying a Defense Department representative visited with the Walters earlier this week to tell them the news.

Walters' wife was also notified this week.

Walters' status has now been changed from 'Killed in Action' to 'Captured,' and his death is now listed as a homicide.

According to Strong, Walters was killed by Fedayeen rebels who held him for a couple of hours before pulling him into a room separate from his fellow soldiers and shooting him twice in the back.

Interviewer: But there are people who say it's [Iraq] not our business.

Edelman: And whose business is it? Every war with fascism is our business. In 1939 there were also many people who said that the war in Poland was not their war, and what happened? Great nations fell because politicians listened to those who were saying that it's not worth dying for Gdansk [Danzig]. If only we'd intervened militarily after Hitler re-entered Rhineland we probably would not have had the war and the Holocaust.

Interviewer: Many people do understand that, but they don't understand why the Americans have to go to the other side of the world and fight over Iraq now.

Edelman: And why did they go to Europe then? Who defeated Hitler and saved Europe from fascism? The French? No, the Americans did. We thanked them then because they saved us. Today we criticise them because they're saving somebody else.

Fatos Segmen, Miss Turkey 2004
(via Yahoo!/Reuters)

Amelia Vega, Miss Universe 2003
(via Yahoo!/AFP)

Gal Godot (Israel) and Shandi Finnessey (USA)
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