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Skip to comments.Iranian Alert - October 27, 2004 [EST]- IRAN LIVE THREAD - "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"
Posted on 10/26/2004 9:02:50 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
The US media still largely ignores news regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. As Tony Snow of the Fox News Network has put it, this is probably the most under-reported news story of the year. As a result, most Americans are unaware that the Islamic Republic of Iran is NOT supported by the masses of Iranians today. Modern Iranians are among the most pro-American in the Middle East. In fact they were one of the first countries to have spontaneous candlelight vigils after the 911 tragedy (see photo).
There is a popular revolt against the Iranian regime brewing in Iran today. I began these daily threads June 10th 2003. On that date Iranians once again began taking to the streets to express their desire for a regime change. Today in Iran, most want to replace the regime with a secular democracy.
The regime is working hard to keep the news about the protest movement in Iran from being reported. Unfortunately, the regime has successfully prohibited western news reporters from covering the demonstrations. The voices of discontent within Iran are sometime murdered, more often imprisoned. Still the people continue to take to the streets to demonstrate against the regime.
In support of this revolt, Iranians in America have been broadcasting news stories by satellite into Iran. This 21st century news link has greatly encouraged these protests. The regime has been attempting to jam the signals, and locate the satellite dishes. Still the people violate the law and listen to these broadcasts. Iranians also use the Internet and the regime attempts to block their access to news against the regime. In spite of this, many Iranians inside of Iran read these posts daily to keep informed of the events in their own country.
This daily thread contains nearly all of the English news reports on Iran. It is thorough. If you follow this thread you will witness, I believe, the transformation of a nation. This daily thread provides a central place where those interested in the events in Iran can find the best news and commentary. The news stories and commentary will from time to time include material from the regime itself. But if you read the post you will discover for yourself, the real story of what is occurring in Iran and its effects on the war on terror.
I am not of Iranian heritage. I am an American committed to supporting the efforts of those in Iran seeking to replace their government with a secular democracy. I am in contact with leaders of the Iranian community here in the United States and in Iran itself.
If you read the daily posts you will gain a better understanding of the US war on terrorism, the Middle East and why we need to support a change of regime in Iran. Feel free to ask your questions and post news stories you discover in the weeks to come.
If all goes well Iran will be free soon and I am convinced become a major ally in the war on terrorism. The regime will fall. Iran will be free. It is just a matter of time.
Commentary > John Hughes
from the October 27, 2004 edition
Intelligence sources say this is reason why conservatives have closed ranks in support of developing nuclear weapons and increasing aid to terrorists.
The reactionary conservatives currently ruling in Teheran have decided to go into laager, and rally around their most extreme hard-liners headed by Ayatollah Ahmed Jannati.
Jannati, who heads the Guardians Council, the shadowy body that ensures all parliamentary legislation conforms to the regimes Islamic values, is the most reactionary and hard line figure among the band of Ayatollahs ruling Iran. He was the driving force behind the wholesale disqualification of reformist candidates that ensured the conservatives would win the last parliamentary elections by default, paving the way for them to assume total control of the country.
Since then however there have been growing mummers of dissent, especially after the newly empowered and emboldened conservatives launched a crackdown against immodest dress and other issues of morality.
According to intelligence sources the conservatives are aware that their tactics have cost them their legitimacy, and that they rule Iran solely by virtue of brute force. As a result, they fear that if the US decides to up the ante in its efforts to overthrow the regime, it cannot bank on the loyalty of Iranian youth, who make up over 50% of the population and are the most disaffected segment of the population.
At a recently held meeting between Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Expediency Council Chief Akbar Hashmi Rafsanjani and Guardians Council Chief Ahmed Jannati, it was decided to press ahead in developing nuclear weapons despite the risk. The most forceful advocate of this policy was Jannati, who argued that only possession of a nuclear bomb can ensure Uncle Sam does not cross the Iraqi border to pay a less than friendly visit.
Rafsanjani, the former president who is considered the regimes diplomatic point man agreed, saying the risk of a US invasion was greater than the risk of US-EU coordinated international action against Teheran over the nuclear issue.
The conservatives also hope to use the nuclear issue to encourage nationalism, in order to regain public legitimacy, and consolidate their somewhat tenuous power over the country.
The conservatives regained control of the Iranian parliament in the February elections, after Jannati masterminded the campaign to disqualify most leading reformists as un-Islamic.
They are now eyeing the presidency, as reform-minded Mohammed Khatami's second term runs out next year. They fear a reformist candidate might win next years presidential elections, and believe that having a nuclear weapon by then could generate enough nationalistic pride to enable their candidate to win.
They also decided to increase aid and support for Hezbollah, and Sunni terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Posted Tuesday, October 26, 2004
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PARIS, 26 Oct. (IPS) Sharply divided, the ruling Iranian hard liners are blowing cold and hot on the country's position concerning the controversial nuclear programs, the debate centering on whether to continue cooperation with International community or ending it.
As the ultras are pushing hard, through the press and particularly the Majles, or parliament, for Iran to get out of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) an put an end to dialogue with the European so-called "Big 3", the moderates are suggesting a softer attitude, including talks with Britain, France and Germany.
"In order to prove the world that the Americans are lying in their allegations that Iran has secret plans to develop atomic weapons, we are voluntarily cooperating with IAEA", Hojjatoleslam Hasan Rohani, Tehran's top negotiator on nuclear issues with both the Vienna-based international nuclear watchdog and the European Trio said on Monday.
Talking to reporters after a Majles session Monday, Mr. Rohani said that Iran's cooperation with IAEA was not because of Europe but is aimed at proving that all US accusations against the Islamic Republic were "baseless and unfounded".
"The problem is that the US and some of its supporters are against Iran and the country should move its case ahead despite all obstacles being created by them", Mr. Rohani said, adding however that Iran has succeeded in making many progress regarding its nuclear case despite the fact that Washington has been demanding in all meetings that Iran's case should be referred to the United Nations Security Council for economic sanctions.
Asked what Iran would do in the event its nuclear case is sent to the Security Council, Mr. Rohani, who is also the Secretary of Iran's Supreme Council on National Security said emphatically that such a move, if taken, would be considered a "politically-motivated one", according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
"All activities of Iran concerning its nuclear projects have been transparent and legal, therefore, taking our case to the UN Security Council would be useless for those who are after it", he explained asking: "What the council is going to do now that Iran is to continue its cooperation within the framework of the international regulations?"
Observers and analysts told Iran Press service that Tehran is confident that if the issue is referred to the Security Council, Russia or China would veto any resolution that come hard on Iran, as Moscow is building Iran's first 1.000 megawats nuclear electricity plant and Peking has helpd the country's missile projects.
According to official plans, Iran needs to construct at least six more nuclear-powered electricity stations to satisfy its needs of electricity in the future.
However, the policy adopted by the Iranian negotiating team is bitterly criticized by the hard line wing of the ruling conservatives. Mrs. Raf'at Bayat, a lawmaker for the north-eastern province of Zanjan last week sharply attacked Mr. Rohani, pointing out that while the European Trio is all the time increasing its pressures on Iran, Mr. Rohani and his collaborators retreats in defeat, insisting on the continuation of dialogue.
She was referring to both the latest resolution of the IAEA's Board of Directors that called on the Islamic Republic to stop all its uranium enriching activities and a "package" presented latter offering Tehran fuel for its nuclear-powered electricity plants and possible investment by western major nuclear reactors manufacturers in future Iranian atomic projects for civilian use.
This last proposal, sponsored by the Big 3, received the lukewarm backing of the G 7, or the group of seven major industrial powers, namely Japan, Canada, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy plus Russia.
The Majles, now the flag bearer of the opponents of nuclear cooperation, has menaced with the prospect of not ratifying the Additional Protocol to the NPT if the IAEA and Europe does not recognise the right of Iran to enriching uranium, a step that it is not forbidden under the NPT regulations.
Members of Majles signed a petition on Tuesday condemning the European proposal to suspending uranium enrichment and calling on the government not to heed such "an illegitimate demand".
Some 93 MMs said in their petition that the Europeans have ignored all the steps Iran has taken to build confidence over its nuclear program and attempted to strip Iran of the rights stipulated in the NPT.
"Ignoring all the measures Iran has taken to allay the concerns about national nuclear program, the European states have put forward illegitimate demands of halting uranium enrichment", lawmakers said in their petition, calling on the government not to accept the European proposal adding that since the Europeans did not appreciate the steps Iran took as confidence-building measures, the additional protocol should no longer take effect.
Hard line newspapers controlled by the conservatives have joined the chorus, urging the government of the embattled President Mohammad Khatami to take the country out of the NPT, as did Communist North Korea before.
On Sunday, the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry that has also its hands in the nuclear negotiations rejected the latest "package" saying it was not "balanced" and did not answer Iranian demands.
According to Mr. Rohani, what Tehran wanted from both IAEA and the Europeans is to close Iran's nuclear case on the basis of legal documents in order to prove to the world that its nuclear programs are only for peaceful purposes.
"Our red line is that we can not accept double standards. We are a signatory of the Non Proliferation Treaty and we want our rights of access to advanced nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes to be officially and publicly accepted by the IAEA. We want the European three major powers to announce it openly", he stressed.
As for the latest report of the IAEA inspectors on Iran's nuclear case, IRNA quoted trhe cleric as having said that based on what has been announced by the UN nuclear watchdog, only two more issues have been left to be explained which were related to the P2s and contamination of Iran's nuclear equipment.
According to Mr. Rohani, the two issues are related to "third countries", which although he did not name, but was clear that it was Pakistan.
"It is possible that part of Iran's nuclear case has not been completed yet because a third state has not extended proper cooperation with the IAEA", Rohani said, adding, "that is the problem of the IAEA and the third country and it has nothing to do with the Islamic Republic".
As further talks between Iran and the EU 3 are expected to be held in Vienna on Wednesday 28 October, ahead of the next meeting of the IAEA'a directors scheduled for 25 November 2004, a meeting that the Americans wants it to be a final call for Iran to stop all its uranium enriching activities before sending the whole issue to the United Nations, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday that that there was still scope for negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
"We do need the Iranians to understand the international community does not find it acceptable that they develop nuclear weapons", Mr. Blair said in response to questions by journalists about the amount of pressures the world could put on Iran, one of the world's largest exporter of crude oil.
Asked whether Britain would join the US in launching military action against Iran over the disputes on its nuclear program, the Prime Minister said, "I don't know anyone who is talking about military action in Iran".
On Sunday, the UN's former chief arms inspector Hans Blix criticized the demands being put on Iran to permanently suspend the enrichment of uranium, even though it was entitled to do so under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In an interview with German broadcaster ARD, he urged Western nations to offer Iran concessions, He also warned against air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, saying that no nuclear weapons were being developed at such sites.
BRUSSELS - A leading energy agency on Tuesday (26 October) warned that Europe, and the rest of the World, will become increasingly dependent on Middle Eastern oil in the next 25 years.
According to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) - an intergovernmental body - "more and more oil will come from fewer and fewer countries, primarily the Middle East members of OPEC".
The group's "World Energy Outlook" presented today in London, shows that World energy demands are likely to rise by 59% up to 2030, with 89% of that amount coming from fossil fuels.
The projections point to serious political and geostrategic challenges ahead for the EU with many of the World's proven reserves lying beneath volatile Middle Eastern countries.
According to a report published earlier this year by oil-giant BP, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia held more than 44% of the World's proven reserves at the end of 2003.
In a statement on Tuesday, the IEA said most of this increased trade will have to come through "vital chokepoints, sharply increasing the possibilities of supply disruption".
Gas use is also expected to double by 2030.
The European Commission estimates Algeria and Russia will make up 59% of European gas imports by 2020 - although down from 97% in 2000, given that increased imports from Libya, Azerbaijan, and Iran, still represent a substantial amount.
The report also highlights the need for vigorous action to "steer the global energy system onto a more sustainable path", according to IEA Director Claude Mandil.
VIENNA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - French, British and German officials are due to meet Iranian negotiators on Wednesday to discuss a European proposal that Tehran scrap its uranium enrichment programme in exchange for nuclear technology.
The two sides met to discuss the offer last week, but that meeting ended only with an agreement to continue talks.
If Iran rejects the European Union offer, diplomats say most European nations will back U.S. demands that Tehran be reported to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions when the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) governing board meets in November.
Iran's top security official, Hassan Rohani, indicated on Monday that Tehran may agree to the first part of the EU trio's deal -- an indefinite freeze on uranium enrichment activities.
Once that suspension is in place, the EU trio has pledged to negotiate a full solution, which could include help with Iran's civilian nuclear technology and a trade deal in return for scrapping nuclear fuel cycle activities for good.
But Hossein Mousavian, one of Iran's top nuclear negotiators, said on Tuesday: "We will not have any new offer at Wednesday's meeting but ... we will discuss the European proposal's ambiguities."
One European diplomat said there was concern Iran may agree to freeze enrichment and then drag out talks to buy time and ease political pressure as it did in a similar 2003 deal.
Iran last year agreed to temporarily halt all activities linked to uranium enrichment, a process that can produce bomb-grade material, and signed up to snap inspections of its nuclear facilities in a bid to counter U.S.-led charges that it has a covert nuclear arms programme.
Tehran says its nuclear programme is aimed at generating electricity to meet booming demand.
Tehran's suspension of enrichment itself has remained in place but it has resumed making and assembling centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. It has also said it plans to convert 37 tonnes of raw uranium into the feed material for centrifuges.
The IAEA, at its last board meeting in September, called on Iran to halt all such activities.
Hardline Iranian lawmakers, who control a majority in Iran's parliament, on Tuesday introduced a bill that would oblige the government to resume enrichment and halt snap inspections.
Government officials have said they would have no choice but to obey such a bill if enacted but diplomats said Iran was using it as a bargaining tool ahead of Wednesday's talks.
Meanwhile, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) -- the political wing of the exiled group known as the People's Mujahideen Organisation (MKO) -- was angered by a section of the document outlining the EU trio's offer which said the EU would "continue to regard the MKO as a terrorist organisation" if Iran complied with the terms of the offer.
The NCRI said the issue of whether or not the MKO was a terrorist organisation had nothing to do with Iran's willingness to accept the offer and should be left out of the deal.
An NCRI spokesman said the group was planning a protest demonstration in Vienna on Wednesday.
The NCRI sparked the investigation of Iran's nuclear programme when it said in August 2002 that Iran was hiding a massive underground uranium enrichment site at Natanz and a heavy-water production plant at Arak.
Since then, an IAEA investigation has uncovered many previously hidden activities but no "smoking gun". (Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Paul Hughes in Tehran)
Iran may lodge complain against EU big three: MP
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN (MNA) -- Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chairman Mohammad Nabi Rudaki said here on Tuesday that Iran has developed nuclear technology meant for peaceful purposes within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and would make use of it in civilian industries.
If Germany, France, and Britain continue their current policies, Iran will certainly lodge an international complaint against them, he added.
Due to the United States pressure, international organizations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the IAEA Board of Governors, refuse to admit the truth, despite the IAEA inspectors 1030-page report documenting the peaceful nature of Irans nuclear activities, Rudaki observed.
We address the United Nations, the IAEA, the United States, and the European Union, and call on them to make efforts to prevent the hostile nuclear activities of the Zionist regime and prevent the brutal massacre of innocent women and children in Palestine and Falluja, Iraq, Rudaki said.
Meanwhlie, MP Hamid Reza Hajbabayi of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee said on Tuesday that the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Hassan Rowhani, had not described Irans proposal, which is scheduled to be submitted to the EU on Wednesday, but apparently it guarantees Irans right to enrich uranium.
Hajbabayi told the Mehr News Agency that Iran should declare that its uranium enrichment and nuclear fuel cycle activities are red lines and reject all calls for the permanent suspension of such activities.
Under the current circumstances, the best proposal would be a quid pro quo deal in which the IAEA Board would agree to close Irans nuclear dossier in exchange for Iran temporarily suspending certain nuclear activities, he added.
Noting that any other plan would lead to a deadlock, Hajbabayi said that since the ambiguous points in Irans nuclear dossier have been cleared up, the Islamic Republic of Iran can now clarify its position for the Europeans.
He also stated that it is unlikely that Iranian and European Union officials will be able to reach a consensus on a specific plan at the Wednesday meeting.
Today, negotiators from France, Germany and the United Kingdom are set to resume talks with Iran over that country's nuclear ambitions. If top Iranian officials' remarks over the weekend indicate anything, it is that these talks, like the ones that preceded it, are likely to fail. The good news is that the Europeans are starting to notice.
It shouldn't have surprised anyone, but on Sunday, Hossein Mousavian, Iran's foreign policy chief, all but pre-emptively scratched the centerpiece of European negotiating efforts: a proposal to trade light-water reactors and uranium enriched outside Iran for a promise to suspend all domestic uranium enrichment activities. One of Mr. Mousavian's deputies rejected the proposal in its preliminary form, calling it "unbalanced" and promising to negotiate with unspecified "other countries." Meanwhile, Mr. Mousavian issued threats over the Europeans' vow that they will support sending Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions if matters can't be resolved. If the nuclear question is not answered within a month, they say the date of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meeting in Vienna to determine Iran's compliance then considering sanctions will be the required step.
The European vow to refer matters to the Security Council is the new element here. For months, the United States has been urging the IAEA to take such a route. But the Europeans have resisted, holding onto the notion that negotiations and concession-making could still work on Iran. The Iranian position this week proves that the game is up, and the Europeans are starting to acknowledge it, too.
As we've pointed out many times, Iran's track record on compliance is abysmal. A year ago, the IAEA itself issued a 30-page report detailing nearly 20 years of deception on the part of Tehran. But the IAEA and the Europeans have been slow to condem. Meanwhile, the mullahcrats use each moment to their advantage in their covert acquisition and development of nuclear technologies. Even the overt activities are moving forward. Agence France Presse reported Monday that a hardline faction of Iranian MPs are pushing legislation that would force the government to enrich uranium despite the international entreaties against so doing.
We're not expecting this week to be the last for concession-making when it comes to Iran. Nor are we holding our breath for a strong Security Council response to Iran's provocations. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has yet to weigh in, and we presume that China and Russia both of which maintain cordial relations with Iran and are heavily dependent on Iran for petroleum will play obstructionist roles if the Security Council were to consider sanctions. But it is heartening to see that the Europeans are beginning to realize that they have been had. Now, with the clock ticking on the Iranian bomb, we urge them to double their efforts to show Tehran its nuclear ambitions won't be tolerated by the international community.
By Richard Miniter
Part three: Bin Laden's Iran alliance.
Osama Bin Laden fled Afghanistan following the battle of Tora Bora in December 2001. He briefly retreated into the Pakistan-controlled portion of Kashmir in January 2002.
By June 2002, bin Laden had reportedly moved south into Baluchistan, a mountainous, autonomous tribal region in western Pakistan. It was a sensible place for him to hide. The Baluch are a nation without a country; their ancestral homeland straddles Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. It is likely that his confederates have family and friends among the Baluch. A number of high-ranking al Qaeda operatives are ethnic Baluch, including Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Yousef's uncle, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the operational planner of the September 11 attacks.
The Baluch have a long history of harboring terrorists. Saddam Hussein financed Baluch terrorists against Pakistan as far back as 1969, Iraq expert Laurie Mylroie told me.
In July 2002, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf announced that he was sending commandos into the tribal areas of Pakistan to flush out bin Laden. If Pakistani troops were quick and thorough, bin Laden would find himself surroundedand perhaps even betrayed for the $25 million price on his head. Relying on the goodwill of Baluch cutthroats, he must have known, was not a viable long-term strategy.
Seemingly desperate, bin Laden recorded an extraordinary audiotape and sent it via courier to Ali Khomenei, the grand ayatollah of Iran's Supreme Council. On that tape, according to a former Iranian intelligence officer I interviewed in Europe, bin Laden asked for Iran's help. In exchange for safe harbor and funding, he pledged to put al Qaeda at the service of Iran to combat American forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, where al Qaeda leaders believed American intervention was inevitable. Bin Laden reportedly pledged, "If I die, my followers will be told to follow you [Khomenei]."
Apparently the taped appeal worked. Murtaza Rezai, the director for Ayatollah Khomenei's personal intelligence directorate, began secret negotiations with bin Laden. Under the agreement between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and al Qaeda, several convoys transported bin Laden's four wives, as well as his eldest son and heir apparent, Saad bin Laden, into Iran. Saad reportedly remains there today.
Then, on July 26, 2002, bin Laden himself crossed into Iran from the Afghanistan border near Zabol, traveling north to the Iranian city of Mashad.
Over the next year, bin Laden holed up in a series of safe houses controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard between Qazvin and Karaj, two cities along a highway west of Teheran. He moved frequently to avoid detection or betrayal. He was not alone. Two intelligence sources told me bin Laden was "guarded by the Revo-lu-tionary Guard."
Bin Laden also traveled with al Qaeda's number two man, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was wounded and required medical treatment, my sources said. For a time, bin Laden moved freely with and crossed into Afghanistan at will, usually through an Iranian border checkpoint near Zabol?.
Why would Iran, a predominantly Shi'ite Muslim land, work with a predominantly Sunni Muslim terror organization like bin Laden's? The short answer is personal connections, shared goals, and a common enemy. Ayman al-Zawahiri, a bona fide Sunni extremist, has received financial support from Iran since 1988. Bin Laden himself is believed to have met with Iranian intelligence officials at Islamic conferences in Khartoum, Sudan, in the early 1990s. Both bin Laden and the mullahs share an Islamist worldview that calls for the armed overthrow of Arab dictatorships and the restoration of a single caliph who will rule according to Shari'a law.
Finally, they share enemies, including many Arab leaders, the United States, and the rest of the Western world.
Whether the Sunni-Shi'ite divide is as wide among radical Islamists as some analysts say, few can dispute that Iran's increasing isolation and the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq has provided Teheran with a strong incentive to seek out new allies.
Bin Laden is not the only senior al Qaeda member who has reportedly sought sanctuary. Saad bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the western city of Kermanshah, hard on the Iraq border. Saif al-Adel, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed's successor as commander of al Qaeda's military wing, is also said to be there...
Administration officials expect bin Laden will most likely be captured in Pakistan. Yet policymakers would be wise to turn their attention to Iran's documented links to global terrorist networks, including bin Laden's. With vast oil revenues, a long history of supporting terrorists, and a fathomless desire to achieve its ideological aims at the expense of American lives, it certainly deserves its place on President Bush's "Axis of Evil."
Part I: U.S. help from Yemen
Part II: Yielding successes
Richard Miniter is also the author of "Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror."
G-8 meets to discuss Iran strategy
By Valerie Lincy
Updated October 15, 2004
In an apparent policy reversal, the Bush administration sat down with senior officials from all G-8 countries in Washington on October 15 to discuss how to get Iran to renounce its nuclear ambitions. The discussions focused on convincing Iran to suspend its effort to enrich uranium.
Britain, France and Germany have reportedly fashioned a new set of inducements, including the promise to resume talks on trade, to allow Iran to import nuclear fuel, and to lift certain economic penalties on Iran that would allow it to import much-needed civilian airline parts. The willingness of the Bush administration to even consider incentives for Iran appears to mark a shift in policy, as U.S. officials had previously demanded that Iran should first renounce its nuclear ambitions before being rewarded. To avoid giving the impression that policy had changed, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher was careful to label all incentives as part of a package proposed by the Europeans, and he reiterated the U.S. position that Iran should still be referred to the U.N. Security Council based on past violations of its international obligations.
Alongside these diplomatic developments, Iran appears to have moved forward with plans to convert 37 metric tons of uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), a gas that can then be passed through centrifuge machines to make nuclear weapon fuel. On Octobert 6, Iran announced that it had processed a few tons of yellowcake into UF6, with the IAEA looking on. If all 37 tons of yellowcake are processed, the resulting material could produce enough fuel for several nuclear weapons. This move flies in the face of demands made by a unanimous IAEA in a strongly worded resolution on Irans nuclear activities passed on September 18.
After contentious back-room negotiation, the governing board of the IAEA called on Iran to suspend all enrichment related activities, to renounce its plans to build a heavy water research reactor, and to provide the IAEA with access to and information on nuclear equipment and sites. Given Irans incomplete adherence to past pledges to freeze uranium enrichment activities, the resolution has specifically defined such activities as including the manufacture or import of centrifuge components, the assembly and testing of centrifuges, and the production of feed material, including through tests or production at the UCF. The UCF is Irans commercial-scale uranium conversion facility at Isfahan, where Iran produced some 35 kg of UF6 earlier this year. UF6 can be enriched in centrifuges to a form suitable for either reactor fuel or nuclear weapons.
Should Iran fail to fulfill the requirements of the resolution by the governing boards next meeting on November 25, the IAEA will decide whether further steps are appropriate, which could mean sending Irans nuclear file to the U.N. Security Council. The resolution also calls on IAEA Director-General Mohamed Elbardei to report on both the implementation of the most recent resolution and on the IAEAs findings in Iran since September 2002, including Irans adherence to past resolutions, its cooperation with the Agency, and the timeliness and accuracy of its declarations to the Agency. Both reports will be prepared in advance of the November board meeting.
The United States, Europe and the non-aligned movement agreed on the wording of the resolution after struggling to find common ground on how best to contain Irans nuclear program. Still hoping for a negotiated solution, Britain, France and Germany supported censuring Iran but hoped to avoid involving the U.N. Security Council. The United States pushed for more immediate action, calling for the inclusion of a clear trigger mechanism that would automatically send Irans file to the U.N. Security Council should Iran fail to suspend work on nuclear technology that would enable it to produce fuel for nuclear weapons. Members of the non-aligned movement insisted on including language that supported Irans right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful use.
Despite the compromise forged over the resolution, the United States firmly believes that Irans civilian nuclear program masks a bomb effort. On September 2, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the United States still believes that the Iranians are not fessing up to everything. They still have a program that, in our judgment, is a nuclear program designed to develop, ultimately, a nuclear weapon. Europe has been hesitant to embrace the U.S. strategyfearful that this might convince Iran to stop all cooperation with the IAEA. However, Irans actions in recent months have failed to provide much assurance of peaceful intentions. In a letter to the IAEA in late June, Iran announced that it would resume manufacturing, assembling and testing centrifuges as of June 29. This move came after Irans October 2003 agreement with Britain, France and Germany to suspend uranium enrichment activities, and its further promise to suspend most manufacturing and assembling of centrifuges as of April 2004. Also in June, Iran informed the IAEA that it had already produced some 35 kg of UF6 at its conversion facility and that it would convert a further 37 metric tons of uranium concentrate into UF6 at the facility in August or September, a threat Iran now appears to be carrying out. As a result of these actions, and the damning evidence amassed by the IAEA since it began its investigation in Iran in February 2003, the Europeans appear to have edged closer to the U.S. position.
Nevertheless, the most recent IAEA report on Iran, circulated on September 1, fails to provide the smoking gun that would automatically send Irans nuclear file to the U.N. Security Council. Instead, the report reiterates a number of unanswered questions that the Agency continues to investigatefrom the timeframe of plutonium separation experiments, to the history of Irans centrifuge programs, to the origin of enriched uranium contamination found at several sites in Iran. And the report concludes that on a number of other key issues, including Irans laser enrichment effort and its past uranium conversion experiments, Irans stories have largely checked out.
European carrots and American sticks
Much of the diplomatic maneuvering at the IAEA over the past year and a half has been guided by hard-line pressure from the United States on the one hand, and by a commitment to constructive engagement with Iran by Britain, France and Germany on the other. Following the first disclosures by the IAEA that Iran had concealed nuclear work, U.S. President George W. Bush announced, in June 2003, that the international community must come together to make it very clear to Iran that we will not tolerate the construction of a nuclear weapon in Iran. And the international community did come together in October 2003, when foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany traveled to Tehran and successfully extracted a series of concessions. Under the deal, Iran agreed to sign the IAEAs Additional Protocol and to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities in exchange for future access to technology. Despite some skepticism, the Bush administration endorsed the agreement.
Iran, however, did not entirely keep its word. Though it allowed the IAEA to seal centrifuges and material at Natanz, its main enrichment site, it continued to manufacture and assemble centrifuges at a series of workshops. When this activity was criticized, Iran waited until February 2004, just before the release of the IAEAs latest quarterly report, to concede a halt to these activities. But the manufacturing and assembling of centrifuges was only partially suspended in April, and in the same month Iran announced its intention to begin testing the UF6 production line at its conversion plant. This move came despite the IAEAs request that Iran reconsider its decision to test UF6 production, which the Agency said would technically amount to the production of feed material for enrichment processes.
In addition, Irans recent attitude towards its negotiating partners has not been encouraging. During a meeting with officials from Britain, France and Germany in early August, Iran reportedly issued a series of demands as a condition for continuing to cooperate. The demands apparently included access to nuclear technology, the removal of sales restrictions on Iran imposed by the nuclear supplier nations, assurances that the Europeans would support Iran in the U.N. Security Council, sales of conventional weapons, a commitment to push for a non-nuclear Middle East and a commitment to provide Iran with security assurances against a nuclear attack. The breadth of Irans requests, along with its apparent unwillingness to continue confidence-building measures like the enrichment freeze, have made the Europeans more skeptical of Irans intentions.
Grounds for suspicion
Iran has long been suspected of maintaining a covert nuclear weapon effort. Doubts about the peaceful nature of its program became more widespread in August 2002, when an exiled Iranian opposition group revealed the existence of two nuclear sites in Iran: a centrifuge enrichment plant at Natanz and a heavy water production plant at Arak. And suspicions about Irans intentions came to a head in November 2003, when the IAEA reported that Iran had successfully produced both enriched uranium and plutoniumfissile materials that can be used to fuel a nuclear weapon. An accumulation of circumstantial evidence that Iran could be trying to make a nuclear device has only added to concerns about Irans intentions.
The Director-General of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei traveled to Iran in February 2003 to investigate allegations that Iran had a bomb program. The IAEA has since published six reports that document the history of Irans secret nuclear work. The revelations in these reports have fueled arguments made by the United States and others that Iran is using its nuclear energy program as a smokescreen behind which to make a bomb.
One of the IAEAs most worrisome findings has been the traces of enriched uranium discovered at several locations in Iran. In its August 2003 report, the agency first revealed that it had found highly enriched uranium particles on chemical traps at the pilot enrichment plant at Natanz. According to later reports, these particles were enriched to about 54% U-235. Iran claimed that the contamination came from centrifuge components purchased from foreign intermediaries. Then, results from testing in August 2003 at the Kalaye Electric Company, a centrifuge workshop in Tehran, revealed traces of uranium enriched to 36% U-235. According to the IAEAs February 2004 report, environmental samples showing uranium enriched to 36% U-235 have come almost entirely from one room in the Kalaye Electric Company workshop, which seems to be predominantly contaminated with that material. The concentration of the contamination in one location, and in more than trace amounts has led the IAEA to question Irans story that the high enriched uranium particles came in on imported equipment. Nevertheless, Iran has stuck by its story and has insisted that it only enriched uranium up to 1.2% U-235 using centrifuges. And in its September 2004 report, the IAEA termed Irans claim plausible, though the agency has promised to continue looking into the matter. According to a report in Janes Defense Weekly quoting sources close to the IAEA, the 54% enriched uranium probably came from equipment Iran imported through the nuclear smuggling network run by A.Q. Khan and the 36% enriched uranium was from Russian equipment that had been supplied to China, then passed on to Pakistan, after which Khan sold the equipment to Iran.
Beyond deducing the origin of the enriched uranium contamination, the IAEA has had a difficult time understanding Irans past laser and centrifuge enrichment activities. In its November 2003 report, the most comprehensive and damning exposition of Irans secret nuclear work, the IAEA revealed that Iran had run a centrifuge enrichment program for 18 years and a laser enrichment program for 12 yearsall without telling the agency. The November report also revealed that Iran received 50kg of uranium metal from a foreign supplier, along with relevant equipment, and had enriched some 30kg of the material in secret laser experiments. Though Iran initially claimed not to have enriched uranium using lasers at all, and then not to have done so much beyond 3%, inspectors eventually discovered that, in fact, the average level of enrichment achieved in these laser experiments was between 8-9% and as high as 15%.
Yet another concern for the IAEA has been unraveling Irans uranium conversion experiments and the nuclear material it secretly imported in order to conduct them. In 1991, Iran illicitly imported from China nearly 2,000kg of uranium compounds, including 1,000kg of UF6. The agencys November 2003 report catalogued the history of Irans extensive conversion experiments, in which Iran used uranium that had been either exempted from IAEA safeguards, illicitly imported, or previously declared as process loss. Beginning in 1981, Iran successfully produced a variety of uranium compounds in these laboratory-scale experiments, including UF6, uranium tetrafluoride (UF4), uranium dioxide (UO2) and uranium metal. These experiments allowed Iran to refine its expertise, and to apply what it learned towards work in larger facilities, especially the uranium conversion plant it has begun operating at Isfahan.
So like Iraq before it, Iran has used evasion and deception techniques in order to delay or inhibit inspectors work. For instance, when IAEA inspectors were allowed to take environmental samples from the workshop at Kalaye in August 2003after asking to do so for several monthsthey reported that there had been considerable modification of the premises since their visit earlier that year. And after receiving what was considered by the IAEA to be a full accounting of Irans nuclear program in October 2003, the agency discovered that Iran had failed to include any information about its work with the more advanced P-2 centrifuge. In early 2004, Iran admitted to a small-scale P-2 program. However, in its June 2004 report the IAEA concluded that based on Irans procurement attempts, its P-2 program was far more extensive than Iran admitted. In addition, Iran postponed a visit by the IAEA aimed at verifying Irans pledge not manufacture or assemble centrifuges. The visitinitially planned for mid-Marchdid not take place until mid-April, and even then inspectors were either delayed or prevented from visiting several centrifuge workshops.
Suspicion of Irans intentions has been further fueled by speculation that it has a secret weaponization program aimed at developing a workable nuclear device. The IAEA has documented Irans past production of Polonium-210, which could be used as a neutron initiator in a bomb. Then there are the reports that Iran has been shopping for deuterium gas (which can boost the power of a nuclear explosion), for equipment used in nuclear testing, for dual-use machine tools, and for high voltage switches that can be used to trigger a nuclear explosion. More recently, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), Iran may be using the Parchin military complex, about 30 km southeast of Tehran, for nuclear weapon testing. The site is officially dedicated to research, development and production of ammunition, rockets and high explosives. Iraq too had used high explosive testing sites, at both Al Atheer and Al Qaqaa, to work on nuclear weaponization.
Every IAEA report has also criticized Irans cooperation with the Agency. The August 2003 report concluded that while Iran had shown an increased degree of cooperation information and access were at times slow in coming and incremental. And in its November 2003 report, the IAEA said that Iran had failed in a number of instances over an extended period of time to meet its obligations under its Safeguards Agreement. Despite the critical conclusions of every report, the IAEAs resolutions have merely criticized Irans bad behavior. Each of the four resolutions on Iran so far has been the subject of much diplomatic wrangling, which has resulted in watered down language and a clear reluctance to censure Iran for violating its international obligations.
Foreign assistance
Imports of nuclear-, chemical- and missile-related equipment have been indispensable to Irans suspected weapon programs. China, Russia, North Korea and Pakistan have been Irans main suppliers recently, but help has come from other countries as well. Although the United States has adopted an embargo on high-technology exports to Iran, other major exporting countries have not. Iran is still seeking, and in many cases finding, what it needs from foreign suppliers.
The nuclear smuggling network run by Pakistani scientists A. Q. Khan is believed to be the main supplier to Irans centrifuge enrichment program. Speculation as to exactly what equipment and material Iran received has been the subject of numerous media reports since Libya renounced mass destruction weapons and the Khan network was revealed as Libyas primary supplier. The IAEA has already confirmed that the enrichment and conversion programs in Iran and Libya relied on the same technology obtained from the same foreign sources. And Irans P-2 centrifuge design is the same as the one found by the Agency in Libya. The P-1 centrifuges Iran has installed at Natanz are of an early European design, similar to the machines that have been under the control of the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in Pakistan. Finally, if Iran indeed received the same package of nuclear goods as did Libya, then it is possible that Iran might have the same Chinese-origin bomb design.
China has also provided key assistance to Irans nuclear program. Chinese entities have helped Iran prospect for uranium, have sold UF6 ready for enrichment and have provided Iran with blueprints, equipment test reports and equipment design information for its uranium conversion plant at Isfahan.
For at least the last decade, Chinese organizations have also sold Iran the ingredients and equipment needed to make poison gas. According to a CIA report covering the first half of 2003, Iran has continued to seek production technology, training, and expertise from Chinese entities. In 1996, the press reported that China was sending entire factories for making poison gas to Iran, including special glass-lined vessels for mixing precursor chemicals and hundreds of tons of chemicals useful for making nerve agents. In 1997, a Chinese company was caught sending Iran special alloy piping useful for chemical weapon manufacture through Hong Kong. During approximately the same period, Iran was also getting dual-use chemical imports from firms in India.
These transfers have made China the greatest contributor to Irans chemical weapon capability. In response to Chinas sales, the U.S. government has levied sanctions against at least 19 Chinese firms during the past decade some of the firms being sanctioned more than once.
Russias main contribution to Irans nuclear program is the 1,000 MW light-water power reactor it has been building at Bushehr. The reactor, which was originally scheduled to come on stream in 2003, has experienced repeated delays. Russian and Iranian officials have recently projected that the reactor will now begin full operation in October 2006. In addition to the reactor, Russian entities have provided training in reactor operation and are alleged to have supplied laser equipment for uranium enrichment, know-how for heavy water reactors, and help with heavy water and nuclear-grade graphite production. According to the CIA, Russian entities have also sold Iran dual-use biological and chemical items.
China, Russia and North Korea have also supplied Irans missile program. Irans 1,300 kilometer Shahab-3 missile is essentially an imported North Korean Nodong missile enhanced by Russian technology. And it is widely assumed that if Iran fields the Shahab-4 missile, it will be a copy of Russias SS-4 missile. Both the Nodong and the SS-4 can carry a nuclear warhead.
North Korea, in addition to selling the Nodong missile, has furnished Iran a fleet of SCUD-B and SCUD-C short-range missiles, plus the factories to make them. Both the SCUD-B and SCUD-C have a diameter sufficient to accommodate a compact nuclear warhead.
From China, Iran has imported the 150 kilometer CSS-8 ballistic missile and a series of land-, sea-, and air-launched short-range cruise missiles. Many of these latter are anti-ship weapons. In May 2003, the United States imposed sanctions on the North China Industries Corporation for helping Irans Shahid Hemmat Industrial group acquire missiles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
The people's hand was wounded
The people's foot
The people's back was wounded
So their sky would rain stars.
When their sky rained stars
The people's body was wounded
The earth filled with bloodied stars
Cows ploughed the star-filled earth
The people's heart became a star
The people's star-heart broke.
There are two Iraqs.
The one we more often see and read about is a dangerous place, full of exploding cars, kidnapped foreigners and deadly ambushes. There, reconstruction is proceeding at a snail's pace, frustration boils over, and tensions--political, ethnic, religious--crackle in the air like static electricity before a storm.
The other Iraq is a once prosperous and promising country of 24 million, slowly recovering from the physical and moral devastation of totalitarianism. It's a country whose people are slowly beginning to stand on their own feet, grasp the opportunities undreamed of only two years ago, and dream of catching up on three decades of lost time. Recently, Annie Sweeney of the Chicago Sun-Times had a chance to travel off the beaten media track and visit this exotic country. Her impressions bear quoting at length:
On a Saturday afternoon in Iraq, between Baghdad and Camp Anaconda, the countryside looks a little like Wisconsin. There are farmers tilling fields and women walking on roads. Freight trains and major highways.In truth, of course, there is only one Iraq. Even if we don't often see it reflected in the news coverage, that Iraq of violence and Iraq of recovery coexist within the same borders. We know that there is nothing mutually exclusive about tragedy and hope, horror and promise, frustration and exuberance. This is true in our own lives, and so it is true in lives of whole nations. ...
This wasn't exactly what I expected when I left for the war-ravaged country the first week of September. And initially, it made me feel lousy.
Here in Chicago I tend to cover breaking crime stories where the action is intense--grieving victims, burned-out buildings, angry neighbors.
I expected this type of human drama in Iraq, and apparently others did, too. When I came back after three weeks, all everybody wanted to know was how scared I was.
Iraq was hot and smelly. It was dirty and dusty. Mortars sometimes boomed in the distance.
But I can't describe it as scary. I didn't see the hard-core stuff, and a lot of soldiers who live and work there don't, either.
That's not to say the kidnappings, bombings and airstrikes from U.S. planes aren't wreaking havoc on both Iraqis and American troops.
It's just there's another side--a side where the ebb and flow of the day-to-day is so normal, it's almost jarring.
To read the entire article click here or here.
Can you please source your article?
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian officials like to portray U.S. presidential elections as a choice between bad and worse but there is little doubt they would prefer Democratic challenger John Kerry to win next week.
Since President Bush took office the Islamic state has been dubbed an "axis of evil" member, seen U.S. forces mass on its borders in Iraq and Afghanistan and faced concerted U.S. accusations that it has a covert atomic arms program.
Kerry is unlikely to ease the pressure on Iran, which will remain a key U.S. foreign policy challenge whoever wins the Nov. 2 vote.
But the Massachusetts senator's emphasis on a multilateral foreign policy approach and hints he would negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program appeal to the country's bazaar-rooted instincts to bargain its way out of a crisis.
"Logically speaking, everything points to Iran supporting Kerry," said Tehran-based political analyst Mahmoud Alinejad.
"If Bush is re-elected it will be on a platform of a radical strategy to democratize the Middle East, if necessary by force. At least what Kerry has hinted at provides the possibility for Iran to get out of this deadlock, to buy some more time."
Conservative strategist Amir Mohebian, who advises some of Iran's top policymakers, agreed.
"We prefer Kerry because he favors diplomatic methods rather than pressure. Iran is better off if he wins," he told Reuters.
Washington broke ties with Iran in 1980 after an angry mob seized the U.S. embassy and held 52 hostages for 444 days.
Iran has tended in the past to favor the pragmatic, business-oriented style of Republicans over Democrats who were perceived as more pro-Israel and tougher on human rights.
Sorry about that www.iranwatch.org/updates/status-report-082704.htm
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text:
National Guard Unit Deploys to Afghanistan
LITCHFIELD (AP) - A Minnesota National Guard unit is headed to Afghanistan where members will be tasked with clearing improvised explosive devices.
A deployment ceremony was held in the packed Civic Arena in Litchfield Sunday for nearly 100 members of the 849th Mobility Augmentation Co. The soldiers will train for several months at Fort Bliss in Texas before traveling to Afghanistan.
The soldiers come from 28 communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. Many of the soldiers in the unit will be deployed overseas for the first time.
Company commander Capt. Matt Jukkala says the "number one goal is to bring everyone home in the exact condition" as when they left.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
After he decided to give up his right to potentially become an unrestricted free agent nine months early last fall, Patrice Bergeron knew he was going to have to live up to his new $5 million-per-year contract, even if it wasn't scheduled to start until the 2011-12 season.
For some that meant regaining his 70-plus-point form of earlier in his career.
While Bergeron didn't reach that plateau, it didn't matter. The Bruins center showed he was worth every penny spent on him throughout the regular season by putting up 57 points and a plus-20 rating despite going head-to-head with some of the league's top lines nearly every night.
In the playoffs, Bergeron continued his heroics and as the longest-tenured Bruins player understood more than anyone on the ice how much it would mean for the city and the franchise to bring the Stanley Cup back to Boston. With Bergeron serving as one of their "glue guys" through thick and thin, the Bruins did it and Bergeron will now be a cornerstone of the organization as it tries to add to its trophy collection.
Regular season: 80 GP, 22-35-57, plus-20
Playoffs: 23 GP, 6-14-20, plus-15
Contract status: Signed through 2013-14 at a cap hit of $5 million
Best regular-season moment: The Ottawa Senators had no answer for Bergeron Jan. 11 at TD Garden, as the center recorded his first career NHL hat trick on just four shots on goal in a 6-0 rout. Bergeron also won 12 of 18 faceoffs during Boston's dominant performance.
Best playoff moment: It doesn't get any bigger than Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final, but Bergeron didn't let the magnitude of the moment get to him. All he did was score two goals on four shots and post a plus-4 rating in the biggest game the Bruins had played in decades.
Worst moment: In the midst of a point-less streak that would eventually reach seven games, Bergeron endured a rough night on Long Island March 11. He was minus-2 with a giveaway that led directly to one Islanders power-play goal. With the Bruins pushing for the equalizer, Bergeron took a hooking penalty on P.A. Parenteau, who was credited with an empty-net goal because of the game-sealing penalty.
Regular-season grade: B-plus
Playoff grade: A. Even a two-game absence with his third NHL concussion couldn't sidetrack Bergeron in his pursuit of the championship.
Carnac predicts … Bergeron and winger Brad Marchand will find a replacement for Mark Recchi from a stable of potential fill-ins and continue to form one of the league's best two-way lines.


text: OL Donnell Stanley of Latta, who also wants to play baseball in college, attended the USC-Clemson game Sunday afternoon in Columbia. Stanley plays first base for the Vikings. He was at USC's junior day last month and plans to return for the junior day later this month. He also went recently to a junior day at North Carolina. Stanley plans to get up to Clemson for a baseball game this season as well. Mississippi State offered Stanley Monday. Some of his other offers are Clemson, Florida State, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio State and Southern Cal. He has not narrowed his list.


text:
In a best-case scenario, Roy Oswalt will be back at full strength by late August, his troublesome back successfully treated by a series of injections over a three-to-five week period followed by a throwing program that gets his arm ready to pitch in the stretch run and beyond. In a worst-case scenario, the second opinion he is currently seeking convinces him that the risks of postponing surgery and continuing to pitch outweight the potential rewards.
In between those two extremes lay a variety of potential outcomes.
At the earliest, we won't be able to fairly evaluate last July's acquisition of Oswalt until the end of the season. In all likelihood, we will have to wait until J.A. Happ, Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar progress further into their careers.
Until then, the questions will linger.
- Would the Phillies have made the playoffs if they had stood pat at last year's trade deadline?
- Even if they did stand pat, would they have beaten the Reds in the NLDS?
- Would the Phillies have made the playoffs if they had dealt for a hitter and/or reliever instead of Oswalt?
- Did they have the ability to deal for a hitter and/or reliever?
- If they dealt for a hitter and/or reliever, would they have beaten the Reds in the NLDS?
- If they dealt for a hitter and/or reliever, would they have beaten the Giants in the NLCS?
- If they did not acquire Oswalt, would they have been able to upgrade their offense or bullpen this offseason?
- If they upgraded their bullpen/offense this offseason, would they be a better team right now?
- If they did not acquire Oswalt, would they have a greater ability to upgrade their offense or bullpen before the trade deadline?
For now, here is what we know:
1) After factoring in the $11 million they received from Houston as part of the trade, the Phillies took on $13.5 million in salary.
2) The Phillies won 10 of the 11 games Oswalt started for them before they clinched the NL East title.
3) The Phillies won the NL East by six games.
4) Oswalt won four games in which the Phillies scored three or fewer runs.
5) In the 55 games between the Oswalt trade and the NL East clincher, the Phillies scored three or fewer runs 26 times and went 38-17.
6) In the 55 games leading up to the Oswalt trade, the Phillies scored three or fewer runs 26 times and went 29-26.
7) The Phillies won two of Oswalt's three postseason starts.
8) The Phillies scored 13 runs in Oswalt's two postseason victories.
9) Oswalt lost one NLCS game in relief.
10) The Phillies lost Game 6 of the NLCS despite the fact that Oswalt allowed one earned run in six innings.
11) The Phillies are 5-8 in Oswalt's starts this season. He has logged seven innings twice, and fewer than six innings four times.
12) The Phillies have scored three or fewer runs in eight of Oswalt's 13 starts this season.
That's a lot to process. As we noted earlier, there are too many variables still in play to render any fair judgment on the deal.
Even if the Phillies had $13.5 million more to spend this offseason, they probably would not have been able to upgrade the offense. Lance Berkman is the only player who signed this offseason who thus far would have significantly improved their offense. But there were no indications the Phillies thought he could play right field, certainly none that they were willing to gamble a one-year, $8 million deal like the one the 35-year-old signed with the Cardinals.
With or without $13.5 million, the Phillies weren't going to sign Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth to monster deals. Elsewehre, Magglio Ordonez has been a bust since signing a one-year, $10 million contract with the Tigers. The other outfielders who signed guaranteed contracts have been a giant collection of yuck, save for Melky Cabrera, whom they could have signed for $1.25 million if they thought he was a fit (he probably wasn't).
The bullpen market is where they could have set themselves up to be in far better shape. Hisanori Takahashi is having an excellent season for the Angels after signing a two-year, $8 million deal. His starting experience and left-handedness certainly would look good right now. Jason Frasor, Kyle Farnsworth, Koji Uehara, Randy Choate, Chad Qualls, George Sherrill...all signed reasonable deals that are paying dividends. J.J. Putz signed a two-year, $10 million deal with the Diamondbacks and is pitching very well. Of course, there are a slew of other relievers who have not lived up to their pricetags.
As for this year's trade deadline, the Phillies would be able to take on more payroll, which would make somebody like a Michael Cuddyer or Josh Willingham or Heath Bell more feasible. Although we don't know for sure that they aren't feasible right now (Willingham, as you well know, is hurt at the moment).
But they also would not have had Oswalt for 13 starts, and they wouldn't have the potential of getting him back for the stretch run.
A lot of what-ifs...
Here is some stuff we wrote in the days leading up to the Oswalt trade:
July 23: Every expenditure, however great or small, comes at the cost of a future spending opportunity. The concept might be simple, but the ramifications are complex. Nobody can argue a pitcher like Haren or Oswalt would upgrade the Phillies' rotation both now and in the future. What is unclear is how the acquisition of either would impact the club's ability to address the numerous other positions that have emerged as concerns. The Phillies already have an estimated $130.35 million committed to 15 players for next season, which is only $6 million less than their entire Opening Day payroll in 2010. Oswalt is due $16 million next season. Haren is due $12.75 million. True, the price fits the production that both pitchers have established as their baselines. While Haren's overall numbers are not great this season - 7-8 with a 4.60 ERA - he went 73-52 with a 3.48 ERA from 2005-09 and at 29 is still thought to have a lot of mileage left. Oswalt, meanwhile, is a veteran horse who is pitching even better than his sparkling 3.22 career ERA. You can never have too much pitching, the dictum goes, and a rotation with three Cy Young-potential starters would do little to disprove it. Add Haren or Oswalt to Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels and the Phillies just might give themselves a fighting chance of overcoming their seven-game deficit in the National League East or earning a wild-card spot.
But while an organization can't have too much pitching, it can have too little of everything else. For all of the hullabaloo that surrounded the acquisition of Lee last July, the Phillies actually won a lower percentage of the 62 games that followed his arrival (57 percent) than the 100 that preceded it (58). They reached base less often (.321/.343), scored fewer runs per game (4.5/5.4) and hit fewer home runs per game (1.3/1.4). His presence had a noticeable impact on their chances every fifth game, and perhaps a subtle one on their bullpen on the other four. At the plate, however, the Phillies were who they were. This year, the status quo won't be enough. Their postseason hopes start with an offensive resurgence. Only then will a big pitching piece matter.
July 26: A lack of organizational pitching depth is one of the reasons they find themselves in their current situation. Regardless of how they feel about Happ's upside or his ability to bolster them down the stretch, the fact that he has minor league options and is still a year away from arbitration helps them in that department. Plus, with $130.35 million committed to 15 players for next season, it would be interesting to see how the Phillies accommodate Oswalt's $16 million while also addressing the rest of their roster needs. (Happ is likely to receive only slightly more than his current $470,000 salary.)
Werth, meanwhile, is their only true righthanded power hitter, having accounted for 13 of their 38 home runs and 32 of their 93 doubles from the right side (Brown is lefthanded, and will be just 23 on Sept. 3).
"He's important to our lineup," Manuel said. "The fact that we're lefthanded heavy . . . he definitely balances us out."
July 30: There are risks. The first, Oswalt's future health, is the type of unpredictable factor that comes associated with any deal. Oswalt has proven plenty durable in his 10 seasons in the majors. He has made at least 30 starts in each of the last six seasons, and is on pace to surpass the 200-inning mark for the seventh time in 9 years. Although he has spent stints on the disabled list in three of the last five seasons, only once in that stretch did he spend more than the minimum 15 days there. That was last season, when he made 30 starts and pitched 181 1/3 innings despite battling a back injury that ended his season on Sept. 16. Oswalt missed a short stretch in 2006 with a back injury, and has had cortisone injections to combat inflammation.
"The two doctors and the two trainers had extensive discussions," Amaro said. "We did talk to our back specialist . . . we did our due diligence and we felt like there were no structural issues that we should be concerned about. He has had injections. We knew about them, we know about them, but we feel confident that at the very least this player will be able to play at his accustomed level at least through the end of the 2011 season."
Oswalt's agent, Bob Garber, vouched for his health, saying, "He's in great shape. He's healthy. He feels good. A pitcher like Roy, you can pitch for a long time."
The other big unknown is actually more of a certainty. With Oswalt, the Phillies have between $135.35 million and $146.35 million guaranteed to 16 players next season, depending on how much of the $11 million from the Astros they put toward their payroll this season. They entered 2010 with a payroll around $137 million. While Amaro's budget is likely to increase next season, he acknowledged that the Phillies will be counting on cheaper, homegrown players to fill their remaining nine roster spots. The only traditional high-dollar positions unfilled are rightfield, where Jayson Werth will be a free agent, and a No. 5 starter, where Kyle Kendrick could be arbitration-eligible. Top prospect Domonic Brown, called up on Wednesday, is penciled into rightfield, but it remains to be seen how much money the Phillies can spend on fortifying their bullpen and bench. Amaro said yesterday that the Phillies are almost certainly done adding for this season.
"At some point, these young men are going to have to pitch for us," Amaro said. "We're going to have low-cost, low-salary, low-major league service players. I think if we have enough good quality players who are making the bulk of the payroll, then I think that if we keep doing our job on the development side and the scouting side . . . we're going to have to have those kids step up and play."
So it boils down to this: The Phillies wagered that Oswalt will perform significantly better than Happ through next season, that the $10.25 million they will pay him over that stretch will not cause a glaring deficiency in other areas of the roster, and that the collective return they enjoy will outweigh the long-term potential of Happ, Gose and Villar.
Gose, 19, is a promising outfielder at Class A Clearwater, batting .263; Villar, a 19-year-old infielder, is less highly regarded, and his hitting .272. Between the two of them, however, they have stolen 74 bases and scored 128 runs this season.
There is risk, and there is potential reward. The Phillies have acknowledged both.
Here are how the players involved in the Oswalt trade have fared thus far:
-J.A. Happ, 28, MAJ Astros: 3-9, 5.33 ERA, 15 GS, 82 2/3 IP, 7.5 K/9, 4.4 BB/9, 1.1 HR/9
UPDATE: It's been a strange season for Happ, who was the major-league-ready starting pitcher the Astros desired in the trade. In his first 12 starts in Houston last season he went 5-3 with a 3.00 ERA. This year, he had a tough April (6.35 ERA in five starts), then a solid May (3.31 ERA in six starts) and now is wrapping up a brutal June in which he's averaged less than five innings in four starts while posting a 7.58 ERA. His strikeouts numbers are up, but so are his walks, and he has been throwing a ton of pitches (seven starts of 100+ pitches in six or fewer innings). Happ hasn't been the same pitcher since he was shut down with a forearm/elbow injury in April of last season, although he is making $2 million less than Kyle Kendrick and is under team control through the 2014 season.
-Anthony Gose, 20, AA New Hampshire: .241/.341/.364, 5 HR, 8 2B, 4 3B, 5 HR, 33/40 SB, 68 SO, 34 BB, 293 PA, 253 PA
UPDATE: In his first season at Double-A, Gose has made some strides in two departments that will be necessary to fulfill the potential both the Phillies and Blue Jays believe he has as a marquee leadoff hitter. The left-handed speedster has already drawn 34 walks this season, just 11 shy of the career-high total he posted last season and one shy of the 35 he drew in 2009 as an 18-year-old at low-A Lakewood. In fact, in 96 games since joining the Blue Jays, Gose has drawn 47 walks, which is more than he drew in 103 games for high-A Clearwater before he was dealt to Houston and then flipped to Toronto for first baseman Brett Wallace last July. After the Phillies selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft, Gose's highest on base percentage was the .325 he posted last season for Clearwater. This year, he has a solid .341 OBP. Gose has also drastically improved his conversion rate on stolen base attempts. In his first two full seasons of pro ball, he converted 121 of his 153 attempts for a success rate of 69.9 percent. This season, he has been caught stealing just seven times in 40 attempts for a success rate of 82.5 percent. That puts him on pace for 64 steals in a 574 plate appearance season (that's how many PAs he logged last year).
Two of the biggest areas Gose needs to improve are his contact-hitting and his maturity. He is striking out once every 3.7 at-bats, which is worse than the 1/4.0 ratio he posted at Clearwater last year. Last season at Clearwater, he hit .262/.332/.393, so he has not made great strides with his bat-handling, at least not according to the numbers. As for the maturity, Gose had a reputation as a brash, cocky kid when he was in the Phillies organization, and he was recently suspended three games for jawing at and then pushing a catcher during a mid-June game at Double-A New Hampshire.
-Jonathan Villar, 20, A+ Lancaster/AA Corpus Christi: .243/.326/.384, 5 HR, 11 2B, 5 3B, 23/32 SB, 82 SO, 31 BB, 296 PA, 255 AB
UPDATE: Trading Villar further thinned the Phillies' middle infield depth. He was the lesser-known prospect included in the Oswalt trade, but he turned in a solid performance in 47 games at High-A Lancaster this season, prompting the Astros to promote him to Double-A. At High-A, he posted a .259/.353/.414 line with four home runs, four triples and seven doubles in 174 at-bats. Like Gose, his ability to make consistent contact is his biggest hurdle. Since his promotion to Double-A, Villar has hit just .210/.264/.321 with 26 strikeouts and six walks in 81 at-bats. Defense also remains a question. Villar doesn't have the defensive polish of a guy like Freddy Galvis, but he has an excellent arm and excellent speed.
-Brett Wallace, 24, MAJ Astros: .292/.381/.416, 4 HR, 18 2B, 61 SO, 34 BB, 281 PA, 243 AB
UPDATE: We're including him just as a point of reference, since Toronto dealt Wallace for Gose straight up (coincidentally, six months after Toronto acquired Wallace by flipping Michael Taylor to Oakland in the Halladay trade). The Phillies obviously would not have had the need for a player like Wallace, who bats left-handed and plays first base (he started his minor league career at third base, but defensive concerns moved him across the diamond). But six months before the Oswalt trade, Wallace was rated by Baseball America as the No. 27 prospect in the game, and all he has done in his rookie season is hit .292/.381/.416 with four home runs, 61 strikeouts and 34 walks in 281 plate appearances for the Astros. So Gose was clearly valued highly.
A lot to process. Too early to render any judgments.
But at the very least, it gives us something Phillies-related to ponder on the eve of a huge litmus test against the Red Sox.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for easy access to all of our Phillies coverage, plus app-exclusive videos and analysis. Get it here.


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The It's certainly one among earth's most well-known destinations for tourists, also for business travelers also. The quantity of trade which experiences London is shocking, using a financial center second only to nyc, and service businesses that cater to UK, European and global markets. As the planet's most populous town – you can find more than 300 languages spoken with a people of more than million people (a dozen million in the event that you are the metropolitan area) – that the chances for business are evident.
With the United Kingdom strategically positioned for Your Company Founded on the western border of Europe, London can be a international hub for aviation, providing quick access to southern Europe, and also a steppingstone into america. However, with the exclusion of London City Airport – cheapest of those five and also located in East London, near the business district of Canary Wharf along with another 4 airports are equally dispersed round the metropolis. Typically the very widely used, Heathrow, is found to the west of London; Gatwick can be found southwest; Stansted into the north west coast; and Luton into the northwest. Knowing that until making your trip plans might be of good use. Since the metropolitan region of London covers over 1000 square miles, the last business destination might well not be right at the center. Assessing which airport is nearest to your own destination can help save time, work and income.
But, Other aspects, such as for example the preferred time of traveling, budget and accessibility may even get a distinction. By way of instance, if you should be travelling with a significant global carrier in the significant metropolis, such as New York, then the odds are you are going to arrive in Heathrow or Gatwick (Stansted additionally receives flights out of ny but is still the smallest of those three). If you should be travelling indoors from within the UK having a funding carrier you are more inclined to get there in Stansted or Luton (though perhaps not entirely). Of course if you should be travelling out of a big European metropolis, specially a financial funding, such as Frankfurt, London City Airport can be a more probable coming point (the airport was made especially to cater to short haul business travelers, especially between financial centers).
Each airport has been served with comprehensive railroad and street Infrastructure, supplying business travelers with an assortment of alternatives to input London. Each of five airports provide direct railroad travel in to the heart of Central London, trainer traveling into the main Victoria terminus, also hire car, mini bus, licensed black taxi and cab services from road. In the event you are a VIP business traveller, chauffeur solutions can also be available, as well as the exclusion of London City Airport, each additionally offer you direct helicopter transport in to the core of the metropolis.
London Heathrow Airport
The Busiest of those five airports will be London Heathrow. Located less than twenty five miles from central London, Heathrow can be found to the west of this city over the M25 motorway metropolitan border. If your flight arrives in terminal 5 or 4 it's really a additional four plus six minutes traveling time , and you will need to move on into the major London-bound service in terminals 1, 3 and 2.
The support is exceptional, Offering relaxation and advantage, but doesn't necessarily package everybody's traveling funding. The knowledge resembles that of aviation. All passengers across the pricing arrangements like usage of electric sockets, USB interfaces and totally free wi fi. The total quality of passenger and service experience creates a 'wow' factor, also when your budget can afford it, is most unquestionably the easiest, fastest and easiest means to travel to London from Heathrow.
You will find just two additional rail Possibilities to industry travelers, both much less High priced, though that really is reflected in the degree of service. That is Not to mention isn't just a fantastic resolution for business travelers, just This there's a noticeable gap in convenience and relaxation.


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The Tructor T-4000 combines a tractor and a truck into one utility vehicle. After five years of being tested in the U.S., the revamped Tructor offers a unique design that provides power, flexibility and convenience.
The Tructor T-4000 model is powered by a Kubota 4-cyl. diesel engine with hydrostatic drive. The dump box holds 1 ton, and the vehicle will pull 3,000 lbs. It features a front or rear transferable 3-pt. hitch and PTO. A front-end loader may be purchased for the Tructor.
Three people can sit in the vehicle as it travels down the road at 25 mph. The 50-hp vehicle also will till a field at 0 to 6 mph.
List price of a T-4000 fully loaded, and with an Allied 2,000-lb. loader, is $36,500. Contact Tructor Vehicles, Dept. FIN, Box 647, Columbus, IN 47202-0647, 812/343-2370, www.tructor.com.


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University of Missouri
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Continuing education Seminars Courses
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The MU Extension 4-H LIFE is a positive youth development program created to address the needs of children with incarcerated parents. The program is a partnership between land grant university extension agents, corrections and 4-H volunteer mentors who guide youth and their families in education, fun activities held during monthly 4-H Family Club meetings in the prison visiting room. Community volunteer mentors also provide important support as the 4-H LIFE youth engage in ongoing 4-H programs that emphasize responsibility.
View 4-H LIFE videos
by proudly displaying the official Children's Trust Fund (CTF) license plate on your vehicle.
The 4-H LIFE program is supported by University of Missouri Extension, the Children, Youth and Families at Risk (CYFAR) Initiative, the Missouri Children's Trust Fund, the National 4-H Council and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Program.
Missouri Contact: Robert C. Wilkerson email@example.com
National Contact: Lynna Lawson firstname.lastname@example.com
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For faculty and staff | For researchers | Giving | Ask an expert | Contact
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University of Missouri Extension is an equal opportunity/access/affirmative action/pro-disabled and veteran employer.
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text: Research Skyview Ranch real estate information directory of community real estate reviews, Skyview Ranch luxury homes, condos for sale, maps, condominiums, townhomes and Agents. Find today's Skyview Ranch real estate statistics, public schools explore community information parks and daily breaking news. The Skyview Ranch real estate market is changing you need experienced real estate agents who know current market trends. In a few minutes you can Compare golf courses, streetview, Skyview Ranch real estate maps , wonderful restaurants, shops, off leash dog parks and of course the people! Home buyers find Skyview Ranch appealing because of the terrific location and great value.


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Earth Day and garden event calendar
Be green – help keep the earth healthy.
Oversized Items Disposal
City homeowners can schedule a free home pickup of items such as mattresses, furniture or appliances. Call Allied Waste, 522-7797. Residents limited to one free pickup of up to three large items per 12-month period. Other options (fees involved): Sangamon Valley Landfill, 2565 Sandhill Rd., 528-9256. F & W Resources, 3327 Terminal Ave., 525-1206. Waste Management of Illinois transfer station, 3000 E. Ash St. and Mervis Iron, 1100 S. Ninth St.
Electronics Recycling
Registered IL-EPA residential e-waste collection sites: Computer Banc, 1023 E. Washington Street, 528-9606; Mervis Industries, 1100 S. Ninth Street, 477-9233; Land of Lincoln Goodwill Industries, Inc. 2001 Wabash Avenue, 816 N. 11th Street, 2531 N. Dirksen Parkway, 789-0400; Vintage Tech Recyclers, 211 N. 11th Street, 630-305-0922; BLH Computers, 1832 Stevenson, 585-1580. More info at www.epa.state.il.us.
Branch Collection
May through November, Springfield residents can place fallen branches curbside in front of their homes. No need to phone. Residents can also drop off branches free of cost at the Public Works facility, Martin Luther King and Clearlake.
Gardening Items
Dirt, rock and sand are not accepted by waste haulers in residential trash. Call any area Township Road Commissioner to see if they have an area of erosion or construction to use this clean fill material. Landscape timbers, railroad ties should be disposed of at a household hazardous water collection event.
Hazardous materials
Used motor oil, paints, paint thinners, unwanted medications, insecticides, pool chemicals, cleaning products, household batteries, antifreeze, hobby chemicals and fluorescent lamp bulbs are recycled in the spring and fall. See www.epa.state.il.us.
Tire Recycling
Old tires can be brought to several service stations, including Johnson & Johnson Auto Service Center, 1325 Stevenson Drive and Midtown Tire and Auto Service, 2110 Clear Lake Ave. Each store charges between $2 and $5 to get rid of one standard-sized tire. 789-2327. Call for details and requirements.
Springfield Curbside Recycling
Springfield residents can sign up by calling their private waste haulers as recycling is included in your garbage pickup fee. Accepted are: clean and dry newspapers, junk mail and chip board; all plastic containers except for No. 6; food cans, aluminum beverage cans, pie tins, clean aluminum foil; glass bottles and jars that food and drink came in. Twenty-four hour drop-off recycling facility is Lake Area Recycling Services, 2742 S. Sixth Street. They do not accept glass, but do accept corrugated cardboard.
Join Project BudBurst
Register to become a Citizen Scientist and collect important climate change data on the timing of leafing and flowering where you live, targeting native tree and flower species. For info visit www.neoninc.org/budburst.
The Great Sunflower Project/The Backyard Bee Count
Watch and record bees at sunflowers in your garden. No knowledge of bees required and they provide the seeds. For info visit greatsunflower.org.
Springfield Residential Tree Program
Residents can share cost of up to two trees to be planted by Public Works in a public right of way or parkway area of a property. Requirements apply. For more info, phone 789-2428. Also, if you're thinking of planting a tree on your property, see a recommended tree list by the City Arborist on the city's website under the link, neighborhoods.
Springfield in Bloom
Community-wide beautification effort April through July to encourage street-side landscape improvements to residential, business, neighborhood associations or nonprofit organization property. Projects involve existing gardens, new gardens or makeover projects. www.springfieldinbloom.org.
Illinois Products Farmers Market
May 10-Oct 18, 4-7pm, Every Thursday (except during the IL State Fair), Fresh local food and entertainment. Commodity Pavilion. 217-785-4873. Illinois State Fairgrounds, 801 Sangamon Ave.
Old Capitol Farmers Market
May 16-Oct 27, 8am-12:30pm Wednesdays and Saturdays, Fresh fruits, vegetables and more. (Chef demonstrations, artisans, live music on Saturdays.) Adams St. at Fifth and Second. 217-544-1723.
Jacksonville Earth Day Celebration
Apr 20, 8am-2pm, Bring your recyclables to Lincoln Square, Salvation Army on hand to take reusables. Plants and trees available for sale. 245-6121. Jacksonville.
Wildflower Weekends
Apr 20, various times, Also, Walks are Sat. Apr. 14 and 21, 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Reservations, elkharthistoricalsociety.org. Elkhart.
Celebrate Spring - Plant Sale
Apr 21, 10am-4pm, Celebrate the season. Vegetable seedlings for purchase. Jubilee Farm, 6760 Old Jacksonville Rd, 787-6927.
Beginning Bonsai Presentation
Apr 21, 10am-3pm, Bring brown bag lunch. $50, tree, pot and materials included. 243-9390. David Strawn Art Gallery, 331 W. College Ave, Jacksonville.
Community Shred Event
Apr 21, 10am-12pm, Case of non-perishable food or money donations for five boxes shredded free. localfirstspringfield.com. Salvation Army Parking Lot, Ninth and Washington.
Earth Day
Apr 22, 12-5pm, Changes: Dynamic Illinois Environments exhibit. Pick up your search activities at front desk. Illinois State Museum, 502 S. Spring St, 782-5993.
Blossom Time Hikes
Apr 22, 29, 2pm, Three Sundays through Apr. 29, join one of garden's naturalists and discover spring wildflowers. Free. Lincoln Memorial Garden, 2301 E. Lake Shore Dr.
Start Your Own School Garden Workshop
Apr 24, 4-6pm, Lincoln land Community College's Green Center offers a free seminar for K-12 teachers, administrators or any individuals involved with local school who wish to start a school garden. LLCC Workforce Careers Center, 5250 Shepherd Road. 786-2434. llcc.edu/greencenter.
ECCE Speakers Series
Apr 25, 7pm, "Off Oil: Pioneering a Sustainable Business Model." John Bradford, innovations director for Interface America. UIS Brookens Auditorium, One University Plaza, 217-206-6073.
Land of Lincoln Water Gardening Society
Apr 26, 6:30pm, "Birds at the Pond," Wade Kammin of Wild Birds Unlimited. www.llwgs.org. Douglas United Methodist Church, 501 S. Douglas Avenue.
RSVP Recycling Bin Wheels
Apr 27, Free service available for seniors by appointment. RSVP. Springfield Senior Center, 701 W. Mason St, 528-4035.
Save the Frogs Day
Apr 28, 9:30am-5pm, Learn about Illinois amphibians as you search for froggy facts and earn a Save the Frogs sticker. Free. Illinois State Museum, 502 S. Spring St, 782-5993.
Earth Awareness Fair
Apr 28, 10am-2pm, Free all-ages event includes activities, information and music. 789-2327. Erin's Pavilion, Southwind Park, 4965 S. Second St, 217-753-0702.
Celebrate Spring - Plant Sale
Apr 28, 10am-4pm, Celebrate the season. Vegetable seedlings for purchase. Jubilee Farm, 6760 Old Jacksonville Rd, 787-6927.
IL Native Plant Society Plant Sale
Apr 28, 9am-2pm, Diverse selection of native plants, trees and shrubs. Commodity Pavilion. 243-6055. Illinois State Fairgrounds, 801 Sangamon Ave, 782-8886.
Celebrate Spring - Plant Sale
May 05, 10am-4pm, Celebrate the season. Vegetable seedlings for purchase. Jubilee Farm, 6760 Old Jacksonville Rd, 787-6927.
High Tunnel Workshop Series
May 12 and June 11, 9am-4:30pm, LLCC Green Center seminar for local food producers and others interested in building high tunnels, or hoophouses, unheated greenhouses that help market gardeners extend their growing season so they can improve the profitability of their farms. $30, $50 both. LLCC Workforce Careers Center, 5250 Shepherd Road. 786-2434. llcc.edu/greencenter.
Sangamon Valley Iris Society Iris Show
May 12, 12-4pm, View different varieties of iris. Washington Park Botanical Garden Exhibit Hall, Fayette Ave. For more information, phone 753-6228.
Super Saturdays at the Museum
May 12, 11am-3pm, "Hummingbirds: Tiny Travelers." Recommended for ages 4-8. Illinois State Museum, 502 S. Spring St, 782-6044.
Curb Your Car During Bike to Work Week
May 14-18, Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission, Springfield Bicycle Advisory Council, area organizations and businesses are sponsoring an employer challenge to get employees to bike, walk, run or take the bus to work. Register to participate by May 11. sscrpc.com or 535-3110.
Pond Spring Sale
May 19, 10am-12:30pm, Water and landscaping plants, pond decorations, supplies and more. Benefits community projects such as Dana-Thomas House water feature. Washington Park Botanical Garden, 1740 W. Fayette Ave, 217-546-4116.
Prairie Wildflower Sale
May 19-20, 9am-4pm Sat, 1-4pm Sun, Over two dozen varieties of your favorite garden wildflowers. Lincoln Memorial Garden, 2301 E. Lake Shore Dr.
Illinois Herb Association SummerFest 2012
Jun 09, 9am-3:30pm, Come to a fun-filled day devoted to herbs. Washington Park Botanical Garden Exhibit Hall and Roman Cultural Garden. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Admission. For more information, phone 546-4116.
World Ocean Day
Jun 11, 10am-3pm, Learn all about the ocean and how what we do in the Midwest effects it, and vice-a-versa. Zoo admission. Henson Robinson Zoo. 1100 E. Lake Dr., 585-1821.
Bob Steffan Summer Film Fest
Jun 12-13, 10-10:30am and 2-2:30pm, "Life Cycle of the Honey Bee." Free and open to public. Recommended for ages 3-8. 782-5993. Illinois State Museum, 502 S. Spring St, 217-782-5993.
Insects After Dark
Jun 22, 8:30-11pm, Visit and compare several insect habitats on the grounds of the Sanctuary. Local entomologists attract and identify the insects with you. Free. Adams Wildlife Sanctuary, 2315 East Clear Lake Ave, 217-544-2473.
Parade of Ponds
Jul 14, 9am-3pm, Land of Lincoln Water Gardening Society invites you on self-guided tour of eight residents' pond and water features. $15. llwgs.org. Various locations.


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Max Biaggi's longtime girlfriend and former Miss Italy, Eleonora Pedron, is expecting to have the couple's first child later this September. The couple revealed the news to Italian weekly magazine "A"during an interview:
"As soon as we knew that Ele was pregnant we told her mother, her brother Nicola, my father, my sister and my nephew. We don't like to exploit our private lives to attract attention to our jobs, infact after this interview we won't give any others. It doesn't matter, boy or girl, as long as it's healthy. Because it's going to have a brother or sister later on."
The Roman Emperor doesn't seem to concerned about getting married anytime soon. When asked about it, he responded, "Marriage? It's not a priority, I'd like things to go on as they are even if it's not out of the question. Five or six years ago I never thought of a kid and now…"


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Senator Quits for Think Tank
GOP Conservative DeMint, Who Helped Bring Tea Party to Prominence, Will Run Heritage Foundation
South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who helped bring the tea party to national prominence, shocked colleagues Thursday by announcing he will trade his Senate seat for a post running one of Washington's most influential think tanks early next year.
Mr. DeMint's decision to take the top job at the Heritage Foundation deprives congressional conservatives of an outspoken voice just as Washington locks horns over the size and scope of the federal government. Among his achievements, Mr. DeMint contributed to the ferment...


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U.S. corn supplies, the world's biggest, are dropping at the fastest pace in 17 years as drought damage exceeds government forecasts and five months of declining prices spur demand from livestock producers.
Inventories on Dec. 1 were 15 percent lower than a year earlier at 8.22 billion bushels (208.8 million metric tons), the smallest post-harvest stockpile since 2003, according to the average of 26 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Group Ltd. expect prices to rebound at least 17 percent to $8.14 a bushel in 2013.
While futures surged to a record $8.49 in August as the drought spread, they then tumbled 18 percent as U.S. exports slowed and buyers sought cheaper supply from Brazil and Ukraine. Prices will rebound because the government overestimated the harvest and probably will lower the figure when it reports tomorrow, the analysts said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture already expects global stockpiles on Oct. 1 to be the smallest relative to consumption since 1974.
"Consumers have become too complacent waiting for lower prices," said Christopher Gadd, an analyst at Macquarie in London who expects prices to reach $8.50 this year. "The story going forward will be an improvement in U.S. exports. Buyers have nowhere else to turn."
Corn rose as much as 68 percent from June 15 to mid-August on the Chicago Board of Trade before retreating. It ended the year up 8 percent, compared with a 0.3 percent gain in the Standard & Poor's GSCI gauge of 24 commodities. The MSCI All- Country World Index of equities jumped 13 percent. A Bank of America Corp. index shows Treasuries returned 2.2 percent.
Exceptional Drought
About 55 percent of the nine-state Midwest region where most of the nation's crop is grown had moderate to exceptional drought on Jan. 1, compared with 13 percent a year earlier, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. In Nebraska, the third- largest producer, extreme to exceptional conditions covered 96 percent of the state, compared with none a year earlier.
The worst U.S. crop conditions since at least 1988 probably reduced the area harvested to 89.6 percent of what was planted, according to the average of 31 analyst estimates. Farmers reaped 10.65 billion bushels, a 14 percent decline that exceeds the 13 percent drop forecast by the USDA on Dec. 11. Domestic supply before the 2013 harvest will retreat to the lowest since 1996, the survey showed.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.