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Skip to comments.Iranian Alert -- June 4, 2004 [EST]-- IRAN LIVE THREAD -- "Americans for Regime Change in Iran"
Posted on 06/03/2004 9:02:12 PM PDT by DoctorZIn
The US media almost entirely 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. 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.
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.
US: Iran Nuclear Program Designed To Produce Weapons
June 03, 2004
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. State Department expressed concern Wednesday about Iran exploring the possibility of producing a centrifuge capable of making weapons-grade uranium.
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the only purpose of 18 years of covert nuclear activity by Iran could be to create weapons.
"There is no doubt," Boucher said, "that they have an extensive program of nuclear activity and that many of those activities are in no way peaceful."
Rather, Boucher said, they "are specifically intended to create weapons."
Earlier Wednesday in Tehran, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Hasan Rowhani, left open the option of producing a centrifuge capable of making weapons-grade uranium.
He spoke a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency credited Iran with being more open about its nuclear programs but expressed concern about years of secret activities.
Asked about the centrifuge, Boucher said "we certainly have talked about some of these reports before and said that we are quite concerned about this information itself, but also about the fact this information was not disclosed by Iran, despite its repeated commitments to do so."
Chretien and Kazemi
June 03, 2004
National Post
Stephan Hachemi
To former prime minister Jean Chretien:
Like many Canadians, I recently learned of your coming visit to Iran as a representative of a Calgary-based oil company. It is reported that the purpose of your trip is to conclude a deal with the Iranian government on behalf of this firm.
I write to congratulate you.
Your failure to ensure justice was served in the case of my mother, Zahra Kazemi -- who was murdered by the Iranian regime while you were prime minister -- has apparently paid off: You are now most welcome in Tehran.
Last June, my mother was arrested without cause by agents of the Iranian government, who then beat and tortured her to death. No doubt, you remember the case and so are well-informed of the systematic violations of human rights that take place in Iran, as well as the circumstances that surround the killing of my mother.
And yet, knowing this, you are off to shake hands with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the executioners who less than a year ago had my mother murdered.
I can only thank you for doing this now, Mr. Chretien -- for you are demonstrating clearly what a charade Canada's fervent defence of human rights is. Despite your speeches about human rights when you were at the head of our government, you are now conferring your personal prestige on Iran's regime, and by extension its crimes against humanity.
Bravo, Mr. Chretien. I knew I could count on you to take the veil off your government's hypocrisy. The politics that you practice now show how your government favours "business as usual" before human rights. Congratulations.
Stephan Hachemi, Montreal.
Iraq's Interim Government is US 'Lackey', says Iran Supreme Leader
VOA News
03 Jun 2004, 14:59 UTC
Iran's supreme leader has dismissed Iraq's new interim government as a "lackey" of the United States.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the remark to tens of thousands of Iranians gathered to mark the 15th anniversary of the death of the founder of the Islamic revolution in Iran - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Mr. Khamenei criticized the United States saying it has treated Iraqis inhumanely and installed a lackey government. He said this is the result of removing religion from politics.
The conservative ayatollah's comments are in sharp contrast to those of President Mohammed Khatami's administration. Reformist officials have welcomed Iraq's transitional government, calling it a "step forward" to full Iraqi sovereignty.
Iran Taking Aim?
By MEMRI
The Middle East Media Research Institute | June 3, 2004
The London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported that "an Iranian intelligence unit has established a center called The Brigades of the Shahids of the Global Islamic Awakening to replace the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Department of Liberation and Revolutionary Movements, which had been in charge of helping and training revolutionary forces across the world." [1] The article went on to report a speech given by an official of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, threatening the U.S. with suicide and missile attacks at already-selected sensitive targets, and threatening to "take over" Britain. The following is the report: [2]
Iran Stands Ready to Attack the West
"A source close to [Revolutionary Guards] intelligence confirmed that P.R. has been appointed secretary-general of a new office that has begun registering the names of suicide volunteers to be sent to Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon.
"[The newspaper reported that it had obtained] a tape with a speech by H.A., a [Revolutionary] Guards intelligence theoretician, who teaches at the Revolutionary Guards' Al-Hussein University. [In the tape, H.A.] spoke of Tehran's secret strategy aimed at taking over the Arab and Muslim countries by means of helping revolutionary forces and organizations. H.A. is regarded as one of the advisors of a branch in the organization, and has published a number of works on exporting the [Islamic] revolution and the method of the struggle against the world arrogance [i.e., the U.S.].
"In his speech at a secret conference attended by students who are members of the Ansar Hizbullah movement at Al-Hussein University, [H.A. said]: 'Iraqi oil constitutes 11% of the world oil reserves, and it has fallen into the hands of the U.S. and Britain. The value of the intelligence documents that the U.S. obtained because of its takeover of Iraqi intelligence is greater than $1000 billion. Whereas our [Iran's] Foreign Ministry was expressing willingness to reconstruct the statue of the Buddha [destroyed by the Taliban in 2001] in Afghanistan that is, to build an idol, which is an act that is against the principles of Islam the U.S. managed to force its rule on Afghanistan.
"'(President Muhammad) Khatami speaks of the dialogue between civilizations, and I have grave doubts about this. It is a dubious idea. We do not want to take over the British Embassy, since they (the British) have already cleared the embassy of documents; we must take over Britain [itself].'
"After [H.A.] harshly attacked Khatami and the reformists, he said in his speech: 'The West sees us as terrorists, and depicts our strategy as terrorism and repression. Had our youth agreed to Khatami's teachings and interpretations, it would never have fought the arrogance, and would never have defended the holy places because Khatami speaks always of being conciliatory, of patience, and of rejecting terrorism, while we defend [the line of] toughness and war against the enemies of revolutionary Islam. I take pride in my actions that cause anxiety and fear to the Americans.
"'Haven't the Jews and the Christians achieved their progress by means of toughness and repression? We have a strategy drawn up for the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilizationand for the uprooting of the Americans and the English.
"'Our missiles are now ready to strike at their civilization, and as soon as the instructions arrive from Leader ['Ali Khamenei], we will launch our missiles at their cities and installations. Our motto during the war (in Iraq) was: Karbala, we are coming, Jerusalem, we are coming. And because of Khatami's policies and dialogue between the civilizations, we have been compelled to freeze our plan to liberate the Islamic cities. And now we are [again] about to carry out the program.'
"In his speech, he added: 'The global infidel front is a front against Allah and the Muslims, and we must make use of everything we have at hand to strike at this front, by means of our suicide operations or by means of our missiles. There are 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and in the West. We have already spied on these sites and we know how we are going to attack them.'
"In another part of his speech, he emphasized, 'If Israel dares attack the [nuclear] installations at Bushehr, our losses will be very low, because [only] one structure will be destroyed while we [i.e., Iran] have means of attacking Israel's nuclear facilities and arsenals such that no trace of Israel will remain.'"
Other Reports: ' Many Young Muslims are Willing to Carry Out Martyrdom Operations Against the American Crusaders'
The previous day, Iranian sources had statements on the same issue. At a ceremony marking the four-year anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon, reformist MP and Secretary-General of the International Committee for the Support of the Palestinian Intifada Ali Akbar Makhatashemi-Pour called on Muslim countries to open their borders with Iraq to troops of Muslim martyrdom bombers. "We, the Muslim countries, must create a storm front against the U.S. and Israel. The half-million member organization that was created in Beirut [i.e., Hizbullah] is not sufficient. Many young Muslims are willing to carry out martyrdom operations against the American Crusaders." [3]
The Iranian reformist paper Sharq reported that the Persian-language Ruydad website stated that Hizbullah-Iran activist Forouz Rajaii-Far said that "martyrdom operations are the only option to expel the Americans and British from Iraq," and that a Basij activist from Elm Vasonaat University in Iran acknowledged that a group calling itself the "To Karbala Battalion" was sent on May 27, 2004 to Karbala to fight the coalition forces. [4]
Clearly Iran is a terrorist nation that is participating in open warfare against us.
So many targets, so little time...
"Clearly Iran is a terrorist nation that is participating in open warfare against us."
It has a terrorist-loving regime.
Iran's so-called supreme leader blasts Iraq's interim government
Persian Journal
Jun 3, 2004
The supreme leader of Iran is blasting the newly named interim government in Iraq -- calling it "America's lackey."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (hah-meh-neh-EE') charges that the Bush administration has failed to bring reform to post-Saddam Iraq. He pointed to the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison -- and said it's the result of "removing spirituality from politics."
However the Iranian government doesn't see it the same way. The reformist administration welcomes the new government as a "step forward" toward full Iraqi sovereignty.
The ayatollah spoke at a commemoration of the death of the late Ayatollah Khomeni (hoh-MAY'-nee) 15 years ago. Khomeni founded the Islamic revolution that toppled the U-S-backed Shah in 1979.
Mullahs' Reign Of Terror in Iran
June 03, 2004
The American Thinker
Roya Johnson
As a former political prisoner, I have been asked on many occasions what has kept the mullahs regime in power in Iran for twenty five years. After all, the overwhelming majority of Iranians loathe them; their oil-driven economy is in shambles, with a majority of the population below the poverty line or very close to it. Internationally they are condemned as the most active sponsor of terrorism and major proliferators of weapons of mass destruction. So, what is their secret?
There are several reasons for their longevity. Irans geography, its oil and natural gas resources, and the European Unions policy of engagement are among them. In this article, however, my focus is on the main factor: the unbridled, systematic, and highly organized suppression of Iranian citizens and dissidents. Irans democracy movement must bring this structure of terror down before genuine change can be realized.
As a young student activist, I spent three years in the womens ward of one of Irans prisons simply for engaging in political activity to promote democratic rights and encouraging others to get involved. It was in prison where I saw first-hand how the mullahs shield their tyrannical rule behind walls of suppression.
In Iran, a unique mixture of religious authority and demagoguery, combined with a bottomless coffer, and topped with unbounded capacity for savagery, has created the horrific machinery of terror and fear, which has served to preserve the ruling theocracy so far.
Similar to Europes age of inquisition, Irans apparatus of suppression legitimizes its barbarity under the cloak of religion. It has turned a sacred and compassionate religion into a tool to sanction killings, torture and destruction. Mosques and Friday prayer congregations have become instruments for spreading hate and vengeance.
Incapable of leading a nation of 35 million toward democracy, prosperity and progress, Khomeini-led clerics quickly realized after the 1979 revolution that they could hold-on to power only through a police state. They Set-up such organizations as the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Islamic Revolutionary Courts, the paramilitary Bassij force, and other agencies.
My time in prison was marked by unimaginable savagery of the prison officials and visiting mullahs towards prisoners who challenged the mullahs political and ideological legitimacy, and their claim to be Gods vice-regent on earth, by calling for popular sovereignty. They therefore were condemned for waging war on God. This legitimized their torture and execution.
Female prisoners like me were brutalized even more. The mullahs misogynous worldview goes through seismic jolts when they see women standing up to them. Many of my childhood friends ended up in the prison. Despite undergoing ceaseless physical and psychological torture, including rape, they remained defiant to the end. Many of them were snatched from our prison cells in the middle of the night and sent to the gallows. Some were buried in unmarked graves and at least two were pregnant when they were executed.
Relatives of political prisoners are denied access to universities, employment, traveling abroad and anything which requires government approval. Many relatives have been imprisoned just for sympathizing with their loved ones political views or with the democratic opposition. Some relatives are even executed. In my cell, two teenage sisters were detained simply because they had refused to appear on television and denounce their activist brother, who had already been executed. Both were executed a few years later.
Torture is also used for made-for-TV confessions about how the opposition organizations and activists are basically corrupt and worse than the regime. The mullahs seek to sow fear, confusion and doubt in the minds of people in order to undermine the quest for a regime change. This also explains why the mullahs continue to flog, amputate limbs, gouge out eyes, hang, and stone people to death in public.
Despite such pervasive, systematic all-around suppression and tens of thousands of political executions, Irans ruling mullahs have failed to silence Iranians. Iranians continue to challenge the regime through demonstrations, strikes, uprisings and other means. But as long as the mullahs machinery of suppression is in place, the regime will continue to crackdown, kill, arrest, and do whatever is needed to put down dissent.
On their own, the mullahs will never abandon the suppression of Iranians, close down their torture chambers, send away the firing squads, and dismantle the gallows. Therefore, Irans democracy movement, which rightly seeks the toppling of this regime as the necessary first step to establish a secular democracy in Iran, must be empowered to tear down this wall of suppression. When that happens, the world would see how fast the mullahs regime would crumble.
It is not enough just to applaud Iranians courage and their aspirations for a democratic government. Defending and safeguarding the human rights of Iranians and all Iranian dissidents must be the main component of any policy in support of Irans democracy movement. Thousands of political prisoners who have died in the hands of mullahs and hundreds of others who are in their dungeons right now deserve this recognition.
Roya Johnson is vice president of the US Alliance for Democratic Iran.
Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia
June 03, 2004
The Stratfor Weekly
George Friedman
The United States has clearly entered a new phase of the Iraq campaign in which its relationship with the Iraqi Shia has been de-emphasized while relationships with Sunnis have been elevated. This has an international effect as well. It obviously affects Iranian ambitions. It also helps strengthen the weakening hand of the Saudi government by reducing the threat of a Shiite rising in strategic parts of the kingdom that could threaten the flow of oil. The United States is creating a much more dynamic and fluid situation, but it is also enormously more complicated and difficult to manage.
The United States has fully entered the fourth phase of the Iraq campaign. The first phase consisted of the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Baghdad. The second was the phase in which the United States believed that it had a free hand in Iraq. It ended roughly July 1, 2003. The third phase was the period of commitment to control events in Iraq, intense combat with the Sunni guerrillas and collaboration with the Shia in Iraq and the Iranians. The fourth phase began in April with the negotiated settlement in Al Fallujah, and became official this week with the formation of the interim Iraqi government.
The new government represents the culmination of a process that began during the April uprising by Muqtada al-Sadr -- and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's unwillingness to intervene to stop the fighting and the kidnappings. Al-Sistani's behavior caused the Bush administration to reconsider a strategic principle that had governed U.S. strategy in Iraq since July 2003: the assumption that the United States could not afford to alienate al-Sistani and the Shiite community and remain in Iraq.
The problem was that the understanding the United States thought it had with the Shia was very different from the one the Shia thought they had with the United States. It would take a microscope to figure out how the disconnect occurred and how it widened into an abyss, but the basic outlines are obvious. Al-Sistani believed that by controlling the Shia during the Sunni Ramadan offensive of October-November 2003, the Shia had entered into an agreement with the United States that the sovereign government of Iraq would pass into Shiite hands as rapidly as possible.
Whether the United States had a different understanding -- or given its intelligence that the Sunni rebellion had been broken -- the fact was that by January, the United States was backing off the deal. In pressing for an interim government selected by the United States and containing heavy Sunni and Kurdish representation, and by putting off direct elections for at least a year, the United States let al-Sistani know that he was not getting what he wanted. Al- Sistani first transmitted his unhappiness through several channels, including Ahmed Chalabi. He then called for mass demonstrations. When that did not work, he maneuvered al-Sadr into rising against the Americans at the same time as the Sunnis launched an offensive west of Baghdad, particularly in Al Fallujah. Al-Sistani's goal was to demonstrate that the United States was utterly dependent on the Shia and that it had better change its thinking about the future Iraqi government.
Al-Sistani badly miscalculated. The United States did not conclude that it needed a deal with the Shia. It concluded instead that the Shia -- including Chalabi and al-Sistani -- were completely undependable allies. By striking at a moment of extreme vulnerability, the Shia crippled the U.S. Defense Department faction that had argued not only in favor of Chalabi but also in favor of alignment with the Shia. Instead, the CIA and State Department, which had argued that the Shiite alignment was a mistake, now argued -- convincingly -- that al-Sistani was maneuvering the United States into a position of complete dependency, and that the only outcome would be the surrender of power to the Shia, whose interests lay with Iran, not the United States. Following the al-Sadr rising, and al-Sistani's attempt to maneuver the United States into simultaneously protecting al-Sistani from al-Sadr and being condemned by al-Sistani for doing it, the defenders of the Shiite strategy were routed.
A fourth strategy emerged, in which the United States is trying to maintain balanced relationships with Sunnis and Shia, while currently tilting toward the Sunnis. Al Fallujah is the great symbol of this. The United States negotiated with its mortal enemy, the Sunnis, and conceded control of the city to them. What would have been utterly unthinkable during the third phase from July to March became logical and necessary in April and May. The United States is now speaking to virtually all Iraqi factions, save the foreign jihadists linked to al Qaeda. Al-Sistani has gone from being the pivot of U.S. policy in Iraq, to being a competitor for U.S. favor. It is no accident that Chalabi was publicly destroyed by the CIA over the past few weeks, or that the new Iraqi government gives no significant posts to al-Sistani supporters -- and that Shia are actually underrepresented.
The United States has recognized that it will not be able to defeat the Sunni insurgents in war without becoming utterly dependent on the Shia for stabilizing the south. Since the United States does not have sufficient force available in either place to suppress both a Sunni and a Shiite rising -- and since it has lost all confidence in the Shiite leadership -- logic has it that it needs to move toward ending the counterinsurgency. That is a political process requiring the United States to recognize the guerrillas linked to the Saddam Hussein military and intelligence service as a significant political force in Iraq, and to use that relationship as a lever with which to control the Shia. That is what happened in Al Fallujah; that is what is happening -- with much more subtlety -- in the interim government, and that is what will be playing out for the rest of the summer.
In essence, in order to gain control of the military situation, the United States has redefined the politics of Iraq. Rather than allowing the Shia to be the swing player in the three-man game, the United States is trying to maneuver itself into being the swingman. Suddenly, as the war becomes gridlocked, the politics have become extraordinarily fluid. Every ball is in the air -- and it is the United States that has become the wild card.
Changes and Consequences
The redefinition of the U.S. role in Iraq has major international consequences. The U.S. relationship with Iran reached its high point during the Bam earthquake in December 2003. The United States offered aid, and the Iranians accepted. The United States offered to send Elizabeth Dole (and a player to be named later), and this was rejected by Iran. Iran -- viewing the situation in Iraq and the U.S. relationship with the Shia, and realizing that the United States needed Iranian help against al Qaeda -- sought to rigorously define its relationship with the Americans on its own terms. It thought it had the whip hand and was using it. The United States struggled with its relationship with Iran from January until March, accepting its importance, but increasingly uneasy with the views being expressed by Tehran.
By April, the United States had another important consideration on its plate: the deteriorating situation in Saudi Arabia. The United States was the primary cause of that deterioration. It had forced the Saudi government to crack down on al Qaeda in the kingdom, and the radical Islamists were striking back at the regime. An incipient civil war was under way and intensifying. Contrary to myth, the United States did not intervene in Iraq over oil -- anyone looking at U.S. behavior over the past year can see the desultory efforts on behalf of the Iraqi oil industry -- but the United States had to be concerned about the security of oil shipments from Saudi Arabia. If those were disrupted, the global economy would go reeling. It was one thing to put pressure on the Saudis; it was another thing to accept a civil war as the price of that pressure. And it was yet another thing to think calmly about the fall of the House of Saud. But taking Saudi oil off the market was not acceptable.
The Saudis could not stop shipping oil voluntarily. They needed the income too badly. That was never a risk. However, for the first time since World War II, the disruption of Saudi oil supplies because of internal conflict or external force became conceivable. The fact was that Saudi Arabia had a large Shiite population that lived around the oil shipment points. If those shipment points were damaged or became inaccessible, all hell would break loose in the global economy.
The Iranians had a number of mutually supporting interests. First, they wanted a neutral or pro-Iranian Iraq in order to make another Iran-Iraq war impossible. For this, they needed a Shiite-dominated government. Second, they were interested in redressing the balance of power in the Islamic world between Sunnis and Shia, in particular with the Saudi Wahhabis. Finally, they wanted -- in the long run -- to become the dominant power in the Persian Gulf. Their relationship with the United States in Iraq was the linchpin for all of this.
The Saudis, having already felt the full force of American fury -- and now trapped between them and their own radicals -- faced another challenge. If the U.S. policy in Iraq remained on track, the power of Iran and the Shia would surge through the region. The Saudis had faced a challenge from the Shia right after the Khomeni revolution in Iran. They did not enjoy it, but they did have the full backing of the United States. Now they are in a position where they faced an even more intense challenge, and the United States might well stay neutral or, even worse, back the challenge. If the Shia in Saudi Arabia rose with the backing of Iran and a Shiite-dominated Iraq, the Saudi government would crumble.
From the Saudi point of view, they might be able to contain the radical Islamists using traditional tribal politics and payoffs, but facing the Wahhabis and the Shia at the same time would be impossible. The third-phase policy of entente between the United States and the Shiite-Iranian bloc seemed to guarantee a Shiite rising in Saudi Arabia in the not-too-distant future.
As U.S.-Iranian relations became increasingly strained during the winter, the Saudis increased their cooperation with the United States. They also made it clear to the Americans that they were in danger of losing their balance as the pressures on them mounted. The United States liked what it saw in the Saudi intensification of the war effort, even in the face of increased resistance. The United States did not like what it saw in Tehran, concerned that the relationship there was getting out of hand. Finally, in April, it became completely disenchanted with the Shiite leadership of Iraq.
There were therefore two layers to the U.S. policy shift. The first was internal to Iraq. The second had to do with increased concerns about the security of oil shipments from the kingdom if the Iranians encouraged a rising in Saudi Arabia. The United States did not lighten up at all on demanding full cooperation on al Qaeda. The Saudis supplied that. But the United States did not want oil shipments disrupted. In the end, the survival or demise of the House of Saud does not matter to the United States -- except to the degree that it affects the availability of oil.
The United States has to balance the pressure it puts on Saudi Arabia to fight al Qaeda against the threat of oil disruption. It cannot lighten up on either. From the American point of view, the right balance is a completely committed Saudi Arabia and freely flowing oil. The United States had moved much closer to the former, and it now needed to ensure the latter. Jerking the rug out from under the Iranians and the Shia was the U.S. answer.
Oil does not cost more than $40 a barrel because of China. It costs more than $40 a barrel because of fears that Saudi oil really could come off the market, and doubt that the complex U.S. maneuver can work. The obvious danger is an Iranian-underwritten rising in southern Iraq that spills over into Saudi Arabia. The United States has shut off its support for such an event, but the Iranians have an excellent intelligence organization with a strong covert capability. They are capable of answering in their own way.
The future at this moment is in the hands of Tehran and An Najaf. This is the point at which the degree of control the Iranians have over the Iraqi Shiite leadership will become clear. The Iranians obviously are not happy with the trends that have emerged over the past month. Their best lever is in Iraq. The Iraqi Shia are aware that the United States is increasingly limber and unpredictable -- and that it has more options than it had two months ago. The Iraqi Shia are in danger of being trapped between Washington and Tehran. It is extremely important to note that al-Sistani today tentatively endorsed the new government, clearly uneasy at the path events were taking. Therefore there are two questions: First, will the Iranians become more aggressive, abandoning their traditional caution? Second, can they get the Iraqi Shiite leaders to play their game, or will the old rift between Qom and An Najaf (the Iranian and Iraqi Shiite holy cities) emerge once again as the Shia scramble to get back into the American game.
The problem the Americans have is this: Wars are very complicated undertakings that require very simple politics. The more complicated the politics, the more difficult it is to prosecute a war. The politics of this war have become extraordinarily complicated. The complexity is almost mind-boggling. Fighting a war in this environment is tough at best -- and this is not the best. What the United States must achieve out of all of this maneuvering is a massive simplification of the war goals. This is getting way too complicated.
Sporadic clashes erupt at Tehran Azadi (Shahyad) Square
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Jun 4, 2004
Sporadic clashes erupted, in the early hours of today, the Tehran's Azadi square (former Shahyad) as hundreds of travelers took over the inter-cities Terminal and occupied tens of buses.
The travelers exasperated by the bad conditions and the excessive price of tickets, mainly available in black market, smashed several buses and security vehicles by shouting slogans against Tehran's new Mayor backed by the regime's Supreme leader.
Most members of the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) stayed afar while few plainclothes elements attacked those suspected to lead the protest action leading to popular retaliation and sporadic clashes.
Calm was back in the early hours of morning as several officials rushed to the area and distributed free passes for the travelers.
This just in from Banafsheh...
Subject: Iran/Terror: First International gathering of candidates for suicide bombers
As part of the anniversary ceremonies of Iman Khomeini's death, an international gathering of candidates for suicide bombing will take place in Tehran under the title " Suicide in Tehran." The "Center for the appreciation of the Shahid" of the world Islamic Movement, declared today that an international gathering of "Shahids" (martyr bombers) is to take place with the object of presenting suicide bombing as the most effective and influential method to compel occupying forces to flee from Muslim territories.
The ceremony will include participants in various Jihad movements and will take place on 02/06/04 in the AL-SHOHADAH HALL at 7th Batir square.
Among the speakers at the gathering will be ZAHRA Mustafai the great grand daughter of Iman Khomeini, Member of the Majles. Mehdi Kushk, Sardar Salamati head of operations at the H.Q of the Revolutionary Guards, Hassan Abbasi head of the Institute of the doctrine of "Defense without borders" and IRI's Television terrorism proponent a and finally Sardar Kazemi, a Veteran officer who participated in the Iran Iraq war.
Iran Has Not Received Requests for Crude by U.S. Companies
TEHRAN June 4 (MNA) -
The general director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) in international affairs announced that the company has not received any requests from American oil companies to buy Irans crude.
Hojatollah Ghanimifard denied here on Friday the recent news spread by some media regarding the sale of crude oil to American companies Chevron and Coastal.
He noted that the source of the rumors is the news reflected by Virginia Universitys site, which is merely a research and unrelated to crude oil purchase.
He went on to say that no request has yet been received from American companies to buy Irans crude, adding that there is no urge to sell oil to American companies until the Americans resolve the problems in this regard.
Commenting on the obstacles of oil deals, he said that the sanctions imposed by U.S. against some oil-producing companies in the 1990s and before that, resulted in the lack of sufficient investment in oil sectors of these countries and presumably the oil market face crisis due to oil shortfall in some periods of time.
As a new reader of your thread, I want to thank you for helping educate me and others as to what is actually occurring in Iran. My prayers go out for the suppressed and tortured Iranians whose only crime is desiring to live in freedom. And my prayers are also that President Bush will be re-elected....for the sake of us all.
France's Dangerous Partner
June 04, 2004
Intellectual Conservative
Hedayat Mostowfi
What is a matter of Euros and dollars for the French government is a matter of life and death for the Iranian people.
The French government is one of the strongest critics of the situation in Iraq. One might find this concern sincere at the first glance, but a closer look reveals that for the French government, lucrative deals take precedence over human rights.
Our historic memory is not that short to forget that the French government was Saddam Husseins major trade partner. With Saddams fall, French lost a major interlocutor in the Middle East. With its new partnership with Iran, it seems that the French government has chosen a new ally in the Middle East. A very dangerous partner indeed!
In 1985, France was ranked only 31st in trade with Iran. Since last year, it has moved up 28 places, to become Irans 3rd largest trading partner. With newly signed oil, automobile and cell phone deals it has now assumed the undisputed number one position.
Unfortunately the Iranian people have had to pay the price with their resources and with more pressure on their resistance.
The French government knows that to secure the mullahs friendship, one has to act against the Iranian people. This means ignoring the human rights abuses by the Islamic Republic of Iran and helping the mullahs suppress the Iranian resistance movement. The French government should feel disgraced by its actions.
On June 17th 2003, in an attack, coordinated with the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, 1,300 French policemen invaded the houses of Iranian dissidents in Auvers-sur-Oise, and elsewhere in Paris and arrested 165 Iranians, including the Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi. The French accused the Iranian resistance of intentions to plan terrorist attacks on Iranian embassies in Europe. That was a false accusation and the French police had to release all those arrested after major protests by Iranians and the French. One year after the attack, the French police have yet to offer any reason to justify the raids against the Iranian resistance. After the June 17 attacks, trade between the two countries increased by 30 percent.
A new game against the Iranian resistance started a couple of months ago, when the French government began to hear charges against the Iranian resistance for an attack against the Iranian government in February 2000 in Tehran. Normally, the French would have nothing to do with such cases, because the attack was carried out by Iranians, against Iranian regime's targets and on Iranian soil. There was no French involvement whatsoever.
If the French feel obligated to investigate such charges, why then do they not investigate claims by hundreds of thousands of Iranians who have been victims of torture in Iranian prisons. The French government has disregarded all of those claims in the past fifteen years on the grounds that they had not been carried out in France. This double standard is nothing but the result of an appalling deal with the terrorist mullahs of Iran.
What did the French actually get from the mullahs to pursue this charge?
In March 2004, a French telecommunications company ALCATEL got the largest communications deal in Iran. ALESTOM, again a French company, got a four hundred million dollar deal to produce locomotives in Iran. On April 21, 2004, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, was received by the senior French officials. On the same day, the French oil conglomerate TOTAL won a 1.2 billion dollar bid to extract Iranian gas in the southern Pars region of the Persian Gulf. Three days later, the automobile giant, RENAULT, sent a delegation to Iran to finalize a deal that allowed the production of 500,000 cars in Iran each year. It was no surprise that on April 27th, the French government began to press charges against the Iranian resistance.
In the new world order, the French government has chosen to side with terrorists who have taken the lives of at least 120,000 Iranians and hundreds of foreign nationals. The French are in cahoots with a government that is the major sponsor of international terrorism and on the verge of producing nuclear weapons.
What is a matter of Euros and dollars for the French government is a matter of life and death for the Iranian people. The mullahs have destroyed their lives, violated their basic human rights, taken away their future, executed or imprisoned tens of thousands of their children and plundered their resources. Daily protests by workers, teachers, nurses, university students and all other walks of life in Iran, show that the Iranian people have rejected the clerical regime in its entirety. The French government should know that there is no honor in helping the terrorist and murderous regime of mullahs in Iran. The days for the mullahs regime are numbered. What the French government will gain in economical deals today, they will lose in the future when Iran is free again.
Hedayat Mostowfi is the Executive Director for nationwide Committee in Support of Referendum in Iran.
Khatami: The Root of All Terrorist Activity is the Violence of the Superpowers
June 04, 2004
Middle East Media Research Institute
Recently, several high-ranking Iranian leaders, among them Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Muhammad Khatami, expressed views on the achievements of Iran's Islamic Revolution and the legacy of Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, and on the relationship between Islam and Western culture and values. Both men attacked the U.S. for its handling of affairs in Iraq. Along with stressing the need to instill Ayatollah Khomeini's legacy among the younger Iranians who never knew him, Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei stated that not only is Khomeini's political thought appropriate for all of humanity's needs, but that the source of human suffering is "liberal democracy." Khamenei attacked the U.S. and stated that the reason for the "disgrace" (that is, the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghureib prison) was that "liberal democracy is devoid of morality." In contrast, Iranian President Muhammad Khatami expressed his support for borrowing from Western values and blending them into Islamic culture. At the same time, however, Khatami stated that the root of all terrorism is superpower violence.
The following are statements by these high-ranking Iranian leaders, as well as by Iranian Culture and Guidance Minister Ahmad Masjid-Jama'i:
Khamenei: 'Liberal Democracy is Devoid of Morality'
In an address to the organizers of the annual ceremony commemorating the 1989 death of Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that "[Ayatollah Khomeini's] thought corresponded to the Islamic political thought, which he defined as the pure Islam of the Prophet Muhammad." Khamenei stressed the need for instilling Khomeini's doctrine in the coming generations, and said, "Loving the Imam Khomeini without understanding his political thought is inconceivable... Despite the propaganda [against Khomeini's thought by his opponents], his political thought is appropriate to humanity's primary needs, because the source of all human torment and suffering is the 'liberal democracy' promoted by the West as 'progressive political thought.'
"The torment of the Iraqis, of the Palestinians, and even of the Americans are the direct outcome of liberal Western democracy, and this must serve as an important lesson to the rest of the world, [which must] open its eyes and understand that those who call themselves advocates of human rights and democracy are in fact the main supporters of crimes against humanity... The reason for [this] disgrace [i.e. Abu Ghureib] is [the fact that] liberal democracy is devoid of morality, while the political thought of Imam Khomeini respected morality in addition to democracy, and at the same time pinned its hopes on God."(1)
Khatami: 'Islam Encourages Emulating Others Without Losing Islamic Identity... We Can Use the Concepts of the West'
At the International Conference on the Islamic Republic and Future Outlook, held in Tehran, Iranian President Muhammad Khatami said, "Islam encourages people to emulate others without losing their Islamic identity. Thus, we can make use of the achievements of the West, and overcome our shortcomings in various areas..." He added, "We must defend the principle of democracy, which is one of the goals of the Islamic Revolution. This is because defending Islam does not mean rejecting democracy and freedom."(2)
Unlike Khatami, who spoke in favor or borrowing Western values and integrating them into Islamic culture, Iranian Culture and Guidance Minister Ahmad Masjid-Jama'i said, also at the conference, that "the Islamic Republic regime is a great political phenomenon of the contemporary world, and a living example of the defeat of Western methods and ideas."
Masjid-Jama'i: 'Islamism is the Core of the Iranian Revolution'
Masjid-Jama'i added, "The [Islamic] Revolution took place at a time when it was thought that all the countries in the region were going through a similar phase and in line with the historic changes in the Western world. Based on such a vision, it was speculated that acceptance of modern Western values and abandonment of traditional beliefs would ultimately pave the ground for injecting modern Western methods into the East...
"Many researchers are of the opinion that Islamism is the core of the Iranian revolution, and not just a slogan, because it has a profound influence on the overall framework of the revolution... The Islamic Revolution is a front-runner for many other social and political movements in the world, an international current that aims to safeguard and preserve national identity and tradition based on culture. That is why today Islam is needed, because it is a well-built pillar that strongly safeguards and preserves the national identity and nobility."(3)
'One Day the U.S. Too Will Be History'
Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei said that the U.S. is contemptuous of Islam and the sensitivities of the Muslims "because the Americans are convinced that they will easily win the war in Iraq. But they will not see that day. As the Imam [Khomeini] said, 'One day the U.S. too will be history.' In light of what happened in Iraq, we can see now that he is right, because such events move the U.S. down the slope, and they will taste the bitterness of sure defeat."(4)
Khamenei condemned the "desecration being carried out by the Americans in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in Iraq," and said, "the Muslims will not continue to remain silent in the face of such aggression."(5)
Iranian President Muhammad Khatami said, "We condemn all forms of violence, but we must understand that the roots of all terrorist activity lie in the violence of the superpowers... It is regrettable that they accuse the [Islamic] religion, civilization, and culture of violence and narrow-mindedness. Nevertheless, I do not deny that there are radicals among the Muslims, or other people in other societies, who act only by violent means. But it must be understood that the spirit of Islam does not preach violence."(6)
(1) Aftab-e Yazd, Jomhour-e Eslami (Iran), May 20, 2004.
(2) Aftab-e Yazd, (Iran), May 19, 2004.
(3) Iran Daily (Iran), May 18, 2004.
(4) Aftab-e Yazd, Jomhour-e Eslami (Iran), May 20, 2004.
(5) Jomhour-e Eslami (Iran), May 17, 2004.
(6) Aftab-e Yazd, (Iran), May 19, 2004.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Terry Trafford remembered as 'a great friend, a great teammate'
The two of them grew up together, went to Hill Academy together, laughed together, played minor hockey together, shared their dreams of first playing in the OHL, then the NHL together.
The last place Cody Payne ever expected to find himself was standing, wearing a Saginaw Spirit jersey over a shirt and tie, in a chapel at the Ward Funeral Home, eulogizing his close friend and schoolmate, Terry Trafford.
They were born a month apart in 1994, two kids living the Canadian dream. Whenever anything happened to one or the other, they called each other. Their stalls were beside each other in the Spirit dressing room. On team buses, they sat opposite each other. They ate their team meals together. Whenever the lights went out and everybody else on the bus fell asleep, they stayed up talking. After curfew, their texts continued.
"We talked about anything and everything," he said in his eulogy. "We dreamed of playing together in the OHL. We dreamed of playing in the NHL. He really believed in me.
"This is rough. A lot of people told me to be strong (Tuesday). I'm struggling … struggling to find this reason."
He wasn't alone. For all those who spoke Tuesday, all those who painted wondrous picture with words of who Terry Trafford was and why his life was so important, no one could really explain what happened. No one could explain how this young man, so funny, so full of mischief and pranks, so blazingly fast on the ice, so beloved, so full of friends, so loved by many — and always, said Payne, "with a smile … he could make you laugh in a split second" would then take his own life.
The small room at the funeral home was not surprisingly jam packed. The hall outside the room, where almost as many people could look through the window and hear the words, was equally crowded. A few members of the Saginaw Spirit sat in the front row, wearing their bright blue uniforms. But not all the team was there. And the coach, Greg Gilbert, and the general manager, Jim Paliafito, were stunningly and inexcusably absent.
At the front of the chapel, the autographed jersey beside the casket was not from the Spirit, the team that sent him home and then told him not to come back. It was a Toronto Bulldogs jersey, a summer-league all-star team top, with autographs all over it. A memory of better times.
Commissioner David Branch was in attendance, representing the Ontario Hockey League. Former chairman of the board Sherry Bassin was there. Trafford's billet, the Spirit club president Craig Goslin, was there. And the minor hockey community of Toronto, some who knew Trafford, some who had played or coached against him, was well represented.
Another teammate, Justin Kea, the Buffalo draft pick, called Trafford "a great friend, a great teammate." Almost everybody called him Traff. He was the fastest skater most of them had ever seen. Everybody who talks about Terry Trafford mentions that. That and his smile.
"He never said no to anything," said Kea. "He just showed up. He will forever be in my heart."
Kea told a story of locking his keys in his car one night and the one person he knew he could depend on, to get him his keys, to get him home, was Trafford.
"I loved him like a brother," he said. "This is not about how a person died but how he lived."
Skye Cieszlak met Trafford in his first season playing for the Spirit. He was 16 at the time, she was 17. Almost immediately they became boyfriend and girlfriend. Trafford played almost four seasons in Saginaw: The relationship lasted 'til the end.
"He laughed more than anybody ever has," said Cieszlak. She said he "saved my life. And I'll regret everyday that I couldn't save his. I thank God for Terry every single day."
Terry Trafford, sent home from the Spirit for disciplinary reasons late in February, disappeared in the Saginaw area on March 3, his body found eight days later. His death was self-inflicted. But his friends chose to celebrate the best of his young life.
"When my days come," said Payne, the Boston Bruins' draft pick, "it won't be that bad because I'll know that Terry will be waiting for me when I get there."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
You're Adopted. Hahahahaha! (caution: sarcasm ahead)
I was innocently wasting time on my one of my favorite websites, Pinterest (an online pin board, where you can get all sorts of ideas for decorating, cooking, diy stuff...very cool) and I came across the babies to my left. And boy, did I laugh! I mean who wouldn't, right? This is side splitting humor. Who cares that they are babies and wouldn't know or care if they were adopted, some hilarious adult came up with that funny caption. Oh, too be so clever!
Being a woman who loves humor, I googled 'you're adopted' images. Jackpot! What a comfort to know that in a world where we can't openly make fun people based on things like race, religion or sexual orientation, we can still make fun of adoption and not worry about the feelings adoptees! Thank goodness that political correctness has it's limits.
I couldn't add all of the great images that I found, so I had to limit myself to my favorites. I just ordered the t-shirt to my left, in fact, I ordered them for my whole family. Prepare to laugh when we are all wearing them in next year's Christmas card photo.
I can't decide which is the funniest, but the black boy with the white parents, who just found out he was adopted is way up there. I know, I know, that may just be because I am a white woman with black sons. But still. I am roaring.
Oh and the girl telling her friend that she's adopted, cruel and funny (the perfect humor combination)! But...how would the friend (or should I say frienemy) know of her adoption? Who cares. Funny is funny and that's just funny.
A dad telling his kids they are adopted. That is the best.
A toddler, who can't read, crying at the cake telling her she's adopted. Extraordinarily funny, particularly when you add the cat. Seriously, I am crying from laughing so hard.
Tiger Woods yelling at his former wife with the caption, "You're adopted. No one loves you." Brilliant! It's obvious that an adopted person, who had parents that went out of their way to become parents, is an unloved person. Who cares that Elin wasn't adopted! Oh my. Just can't control this laughter. I just snorted!
The great thing is "You're adopted" is so funny that when you say the same thing and just change the photo it becomes funny all over again.
I could go on and on but surely, I don't need to. You probably need a break from all this hilarity!
I will admit, however, that the Robert Pattinson one. "Why not? Because you're adopted." I just don't get that one. But, he is cute and it must be funny so I really wanted to share it with you.
I sure hope you enjoyed these as much as I have. If I made milk come out of your nose or you bumped your head when you feel out of your chair laughing, I hope you'll forgive me.


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Cardinal cross country runners impress coach at Silverwood race
September 13, 2012
Medical Lake boys finish ahead of defending state champion Lakeside in Coaster Classic
By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
One part of Gene Blankenship hates the yearly trips his Medical Lake cross country team takes to Silverwood Theme Park.
His stomach.
That's because "of the pure terror," the park's churning thrill rides produce for the Cardinals' head coach.
But what his boys' team did last Saturday at the Coaster Classic race will be the perfect way to combat any nausea. Beating the defending state champions in your classification is the perfect elixir.
"It was a great day, especially on the boys' side," Blankenship said. "The exciting thing is we finished seventh overall, we beat Lakeside who finished ninth, and they won the state championship."
Capital High School of Boise won the championship with 82 points while the Cardinals scored 220 and Lakeside 236 in the 25-team field of varsity runners. To illustrate the progress his team has made going into his third year as head coach, in 2011 Medical Lake was 14th.
The Cardinals' No. 1 finisher was sophomore Micah Dingfield in a time of 16 minutes, 38 seconds on the 5,000 meter course. "Last year he ran 18:27," Blankenship said. Dingfield was 16th overall, finishing behind the 15:35 from Andrew Rafia of Timberline.
Senior Zeb Klemke (24th) continues to chase Dingfield, finishing No. 2 in a time of 16:47, compared to his 17:37 in 2011.
Domenic Rehm ran a 17:02 Saturday and 19:47 in 2011. Tim Chernishoff was fourth at 17:48, up from a 19:31 a year ago. Ryan Spangler was the fifth boys' finisher at 18:19 compared to a 20:55 in 2011.
Sixth was the newest member of the team, Mark Newberry, at 18:43.
"Actually one of our JV kids, Luke Alvarado, ran the seventh fastest time, 18:38," Blankenship added. "It's just so exciting to watch so far."
Senior Kelby Wegner was 24th overall and first for ML's girls with a 20:22 compared to a 22:04 in 2011. Emily Coleman from Boise's Centennial paced the 149-runner girls' field with a time of 19:07.
Timberlime emerged as the girls' team champs with 62 points. Medical Lake's scored 397 points to finish 16th. The preseason No. 2 freshman Sakaiya McCoy maintained that spot at Silverwood with a 22:02 followed by senior Brandi Wren's 23:29.
Sophomore Maleeka Wegner clocked a 23:30 after a 26-flat in 2011. "A big improvement," Blankenship said. Abigail Morrison was the fifth and the final girls' finisher for the Cards at 24:52.
Blankenship will guide his team to what he hopes in another team championship in Saturday's Seaport Invitational in Clarkston. "We had a pretty good race there last year," Blankenship said.
Blankenship has had regular success at the Seaport while both an assistant coach previously with West Valley and now carries that forward with Medical Lake.
Paul Delaney can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
WALL, N.J. - June 24, 2012 --Authorities say three people were injured after an alleged drunk driver crashed into their car on a Monmouth County, New Jersey highway this weekend.
Wall police tell the Asbury Park Press that 33-year-old Paul Hough of Lawrence faces various charges, including three counts of assault by auto.
Hough was driving a pickup truck eastbound on Route 138 when the crash occurred around 7:20 a.m. Saturday.
The driver of the other car, identified only as a 45-year-old Newark man, and two passengers in that vehicle had to be extricated and taken to a hospital with undisclosed injuries. Further details on their conditions were not disclosed.
A phone number listed for Hough's home had been disconnected Sunday, and it was not known if he had retained a lawyer.
Information from: Asbury Park Press


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Shia LaBeouf: Bieber Is Bomb!
Shia LaBeouf makes an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday (June 30) in Hollywood.
The 25-year-old actor promoted Transformers: Dark of the Moon but also chatted about his family members embarrassing him at the movie's NYC premiere and Justin Bieber.
When Jimmy joked that he needed to be careful after making Selena Gomez's wish come true, Shia said her boyfriend, Justin, was "cool."
"He rolls with like a huge squad. He has to, he has this presence like Buddha. He's like the young prince," Shia shared.
"I went up to him [at the MTV Movie Awards] to say hi and security was like, 'Whoa, whoa.' He was ready to take me down. Bieber just does this two finger wave, like, he's okay. So he's very cool. Bieber's bomb," he added.
Click inside to watch part two and three of Shia's interview…
Shia LaBeouf – Jimmy Kimmel Live Part 1
Shia LaBeouf – Jimmy Kimmel Live Part 2
Shia LaBeouf – Jimmy Kimmel Live Part 3


text:
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Dermatolepis inermis
|Scope: Global
Language: English
|Scientific Name:
|Dermatolepis inermis (Valenciennes, 1833)
|Regional Assessments:
Common Name(s):
Dermatolepis inermis (Valenciennes, 1833)
Serranus inermis Valenciennes, 1833
|Red List Category & Criteria:
|Near Threatened ver 3.1
|Year Published:
|Date Assessed:
|Rocha, L., Ferreira, B., Choat, J.H., Craig, M.T., Sadovy, Y., Bertoncini, A.A. & Sampaio, C.
|Craig, M., Sadovy, Y. & Bertoncini, A. (Grouper and Wrasse Red List Authority)
Dermatolepis inermis is listed as Near Threatened (NT) because although it is very widespread and has a large depth range it is a rare species, and apparently may only be found in part of that range now. It is subjected to fishing pressure including very probably on spawning aggregations. Given problems associated with aggregation fishing, and the rarity of the species and indications of past declines, for a species that is relatively rare in a group of fish considered to be good for eating, the species should be considered as NT.
|Previously published Red List assessments:
|Range Description:
|Dermatolepis inermis is a western Atlantic species ranging from North Carolina (USA) to Venezuela, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean. A separate range exists from northern Brazil to Rio de Janeiro, including the off-shore islands.
|Countries occurrence:
Native:Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Bermuda; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Saba, Sint Eustatius); Brazil (Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, São Paulo, Sergipe, Trindade); Cayman Islands; Colombia; Costa Rica; Cuba; Curaçao; Dominica; Dominican Republic; French Guiana; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Guatemala; Guyana; Haiti; Honduras; Jamaica; Martinique; Mexico (Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, Yucatán); Montserrat; Nicaragua; Panama; Puerto Rico; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Saint Martin (French part); Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Sint Maarten (Dutch part); Suriname; Trinidad and Tobago; Turks and Caicos Islands; United States (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas); Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of; Virgin Islands, British; Virgin Islands, U.S.
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Atlantic – western central; Atlantic – southeast
|Additional data:
|Range Map:
|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
Dermatolepis inermis is relatively rare throughout its range and rarely seen in markets.
There are very few studies for this Atlantic species. D. inermis is scarce in catches from US waters or apparently elsewhere (Heemstra and Randall 1993, Huntsman et al 1999).
Fishery-independent Data
The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) Research Team has conducted 187 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveys for a duration of 218 H 13 M between February 2001 and March 2007. The survey times ranged from 0.5 H to approximately 4 H at average depths of 68.5 m. Of these 187 surveys, 144 were conducted at the FGBNMS, located in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. The remaining 43 were conducted at other shelf edge and mid shelf banks in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, outside of the Sanctuary boundaries. During these surveys, 150 records of individual D. inermis were made. It is estimated, based on annotations and dive tracks that conservatively, 10% of these animals were repeat counts, leaving 135 records of individuals. The most animals seen in one location was nine individuals. Based on these observations and compared to other observations Caribbean wide, the reefs and banks of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico are hotspots for this species, although still at relatively low abundance levels. The majority of the observations are of adult-size animals (Table 1).
See the supplementary material for Table 1: records of D. inermis sighted on remotely operated vehicle (ROV) dives between February 2001 and March 2007.
This species was also sighted during manned submersible fish surveys in 2002. Six surveys were conducted between 19 and 90 meters depth for a duration of 28 H (Table 2).
See the supplementary material for Table 2: records from submersible dives targeting fishes in 2002.
During these submersible surveys, several juvenile D. inermis were filmed taking refuge in and around spines of sea urchin that were creating mounds on the sea floor.
In addition to these observations, unquantified sightings of D. inermis have been made by qualified SCUBA divers at Stetson Bank, East and West Flower Garden Banks and at Bright and Geyer Banks (source: Emma Hickerson, P.P. Schmahl, Flower Garden Banks NMS, Galveston, Texas).
The Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)'s Fish Survey Project (www.reef.org) allows volunteer SCUBA divers and snorkelers to collect and report information on marine fish populations in the USA from 1993 to present. Throughout the sampling period 1993 to 2005, it seems that the sighting frequency of D. inermis could be regarded as a rare species (<0.6% of all surveys) (Table 3).
See the supplementary material for Table 3: sighting frequency estimates collected by volunteer divers and snorkelers (1993-2005) by the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF).
A recreational fishing charter (head boat) operator, Captain Elliot's, out of Freeport, Texas, confirmed landing 67 D. inermis between August 23-25 2006. Due to the large number of fish, this could possibly represent the only known spawning aggregation. The location of the catch was not reported specifically, but as on the shelf edge banks off the coast of Louisiana. This corresponds to the shelf edge banks in the vicinity of the Flower Garden Banks NMS. (NOAA Fisheries, Pascagoula, MS SEAMAP Data; source: Christopher Gledhill and Kevin Rademacher, NOAA Fisheries, Pascagoula, MS).
In drop-camera surveys conducted in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico from 1992 to 1997, 2001, and 2004 to 2005, over a duration of 1,260 hours 44 minutes of video, a total minimum count of sixty six (66) D. inermis was documented. "Mincount" is the minimum count (see MAXNO in Ellis and DiMartini 1995), the largest number of fish observed in a single frame of video. Mincount was not available for 1992, however it can be estimated that a further three animals were present.
Chris Koenig (PhD. Reef Fish Ecology Group, Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory) gives the following expert personal assessment of the species: the species is "rare almost everywhere; the only place where we find them is in the western Gulf of Mexico Banks, and they are being systematically fished out. I spoke with fish collectors in the Fla Keys, including Billy Causey in his former life, and they say that they don't see them anymore, but did in the distant past. I consider this fish similar to the ivory-billed woodpecker, never abundant, but existing now only in small pockets".
Fishery-dependent Data
Dermatolepis inermis represented only 2.5 % of the total weight recorded during a survey using long-line in the shelf break in the Central coast of Brazil, with a maximum catch rate of 2.6 kg per 1,000 hooks in the 100 to 300 depth.
Gulf of Mexico region
According to NMFS annual landings of commercial catches in the USA from 1986 to 2004, the quantity caught ranged from 0.4 in 1987 to 19.7 metric tonnes in 1993. From 1999 to 2004, the average annual landings were less than 1.4 metric tonnes (www.st.nmfs.gov, accessed on 5th Jan 2006) (Table 4).
See the supplementary material for Table 4: commercial catch estimates from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) from 1986 to 2004.
According to NMFS's annual harvest estimates from 1981 to 2004, a total number of 7,891 fish (8,955+ lbs) were caught for recreational purpose. (Note: there are very large proportional standard errors associated with the annual estimates of landings by number, which suggest these are rare-event landings in the recreational fisheries of the Gulf of Mexico). (Tom Sminskey pers. comm., 10th Jan 06) (Table 5).
See the supplementary material for Table 5: recreational catches of D. inermis between 1981 and 2004.
Head boat landings collected by NOAA Fisheries, Beaufort, since 1986 report D. inermis landings from headboats originating from two areas in Texas (see Table 6).
See the supplementary material for Table 6: head boat landing statistics from Areas 25 (Sabine Pass to Freeport, TX) and Area 26 (Pt. Aransas, TX) between 1995 and 2006.
The increased level of landings in 2006 suggests extraction from a spawning aggregation.
|Current Population Trend:
|Additional data:
|Habitat and Ecology:
|Dermatolepis inermis is a reef-associated species usually found on deep ledges, at depths to 210 m and on reefs, usually in caves or deep crevices. Marbled grouper are solitary and secretive, but presumably form spawning aggregation like other species of the genus.
|Congregatory (and dispersive)
|Major Threat(s):
|Dermatolepis inermis is threatened by overfishing both as adults within the commercial and recreational fishery and as juveniles by the aquarium trade, including on spawning aggregations.
|Conservation Actions:
Dermatolepis inermis is present in marine protected areas in some parts of its range. More information is needed on potential spawning aggregation sites and, once located, protection should be afforded these areas.
D. inermis was included on the Red List of the IUCN in 1996. Marbled grouper were classified as vulnerable by the American Fisheries Society based on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)'s concept of District Population Segments (DPS) (Musick et al 2000).
Heemstra, P.C. and Randall, J.E. 1993. FAO species catalogue. Vol. 16. Groupers of the world (Family Serranidae, Subfamily Epinephelinae). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the grouper, rockcod, hind, coral grouper and lyretail species known to date. FAO, Rome.
Huntsman, G.R., Potts, J., Mays, R.W. and Vaughan, D. 1999. Groupers (Serranidae, Ephinephelinae): endangered apex predators of reef communities. In: Musick, J.A. (ed.), Life in the Slow lane: Ecology and Conservation of Long-Lived Marine Animals, pp. 231-271. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland.
IUCN. 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Available at: http://www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 5 October 2008).
Musick, J.A., Harbin, M.M., Berkeley, S.A., Burgess, G.H., Eklund, A.M., Findley, L., Gilmore, R.G., Golden, J.T., Ha, D.S., Huntsman, G.R., McGovern, J.C., Parker, S.J., Poss, S.G., Sala, E., Schmidt T.W., Sedberry, G.R., Weeks, H. and Wright, S.G. 2000. Marine, estuarine, and diadromous fish stocks at risk of extinction in North America (Exclusive of Pacific Salmonids). Fisheries 25(11): 6-30.
|Rocha, L., Ferreira, B., Choat, J.H., Craig, M.T., Sadovy, Y., Bertoncini, A.A. & Sampaio, C. 2008. Dermatolepis inermis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T39303A10186064. . Downloaded on 18 September 2018.
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SEC Baseball:
Rebels relishing first College World Series since '72
Mississippi infielder Austin Anderson throws out Louisiana Lafayette's Jace Conrad in the first inning of an NCAA college baseball tournament super regional game in Lafayette, La., Monday, June 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi's Mike Bianco spent his college playing days and early coaching career at LSU, a place where going to the College World Series seems like a birthright.
Getting the Rebels to Omaha, Nebraska, has been considerably more difficult.
But Ole Miss is finally part of college baseball's postseason showcase, preparing for its first CWS appearance since 1972 after beating host Louisiana-Lafayette on Monday in a super regional.
The 47-year-old Bianco has transformed the Rebels from a Southeastern Conference afterthought to a powerhouse during 14 seasons in Oxford, but super regional heartbreak — including losses in 2005, '06, 07 and '09 — had become a part of the program's tough-luck lore.
That's all changed now. Ole Miss (46-19) will face Virginia (49-14) Sunday in the CWS opening round.
"We've accomplished everything we've set our sights on," Ole Miss sophomore pitcher Christian Trent said. "Obviously, next is the national championship."
The breakthrough has come during an unlikely season. The Rebels weren't highly-regarded in preseason polls, with the SEC's coaches picking them to finish near the bottom of the Western Division.
But a lineup full of veterans — including catcher Will Allen, outfielder Auston Bousfield and third baseman Austin Anderson — has matured into one of the best in the nation.
The Rebels are hitting .303 as a team with seven regulars above .290. Junior Sikes Orvis has hit 14 homers, giving them some punch in the middle of the order.
The older players have mixed well with a good group of freshmen, including Colby Bortles, Errol Robinson and J.B. Woodman. Bortles is the younger brother of Jacksonville Jaguars' rookie quarterback Blake Bortles.
"This team's just really tough," Orvis said. "We do a lot of things well. We pitch well, we hit well, we play defense and we do a lot of little things that really count."
Ole Miss has also been consistent on the mound. Starters Chris Ellis (10-2, 2.45 ERA) and Trent (9-0, 2.21) have combined with relievers like Aaron Greenwood, Scott Weathersby and Josh Laxer to give the Rebels quality arms from innings one through nine.
The team's depth and talent was evident during the Major League Baseball draft last week, when nine players were selected.
"We're a talented team, but also a team that's played very well from start to finish," Bianco said. "We've handled adversity and what this game can deal you. I'm very proud of them."
Now Ole Miss is trying to combat the euphoria that came with finally breaking through to the College World Series. About 1,000 people were waiting for the Rebels when they came back to campus on Tuesday, giving the team a hero's welcome.
But Bianco said the mission isn't totally accomplished. Even though it's been awhile, the coach hopes his experience in Omaha can give the players an idea of what to expect.
Back when Bianco was at LSU, the Tigers went so often they had their travel plans perfected, staying at the same hotel and even in the same rooms.
"Embassy Suites," Bianco said with a grin. "Second floor."
That hotel isn't available this time around, but the coach said some new experiences might not be so bad.
"When you get a taste of the reality of how difficult it is just to get (to Omaha), you have a new appreciation for it," Bianco said.
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DETROIT (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden had a simple Labor Day message for unionized workers: Stick with President Barack Obama because the other guys are worse.
Biden told about 3,500 supporters Monday that the Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would roll back collective bargaining rights, denigrate their work and undermine the slow economic recovery under way.
One of Obama's top ambassadors to the working-class, Biden also sought with his remarks to keep a group of reliably Democratic voters motivated before an Election Day that is shaping up to be close.
"Romney and Ryan don't think that much about you guys," he said at the outdoor rally. "They view you, the working women and men of America as the problem. We view you as the solution. Look folks, we know who built this country and we know who is going to rebuild it. It's you. Instead of vilifying you, we should be thanking you. We owe you."
The Republican candidates supported measures to roll back collective bargaining rights for public union workers in Wisconsin and Ohio. Romney also has been critical of the National Labor Relations Board, accusing it of overstepping its role and suggesting it has become a proxy for Obama's union allies.
Separately, a review of Romney's economic proposals by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that wealthier workers would benefit at the expense of the middle class, including many unionized workers.
All that has given Democrats an opening to appeal to populist elements in the party and, perhaps, distract from stubbornly high unemployment nationwide and in North Carolina, where Democrats open their convention Tuesday.
In response, Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg argued that the middle class has been "crushed" by high joblessness, fallen incomes and rising gas prices under Obama.
"Americans aren't better off than they were four years ago, and they deserve a president who recognizes that," she said.
Biden also faulted Romney for opposing the federal bailout of the U.S. auto industry, and criticized Ryan for saying Obama promised to save a GM plant in Ryan's Janesville, Wis., hometown. The plant closed before Obama took office.
Biden said Romney's economic message doesn't add up.
"Folks, you can't say you're going to create jobs in the United States of America when you were willing to let 1 million jobs go under by the liquidation of the automobile plants he suggested," the vice president said.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you, organized labor, are one of the reasons why this country is coming back. Folks, let me make something clear and say it to the press: America is better off today than they left us when they left."
That line was a direct response to the argument the GOP will press during this Democratic convention week, that things are worse off now than they were four years ago when a Republican president left the White House.
"If it weren't so hot — if it weren't so hot — I'd go into detail but let me sum it up this way: You want to know whether we're better off? I've got a little bumper sticker for you," Biden said before chanting three times: "Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."


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| WMU News
KALAMAZOO—The Bronco women's soccer team turned a stellar defensive performance into a Mid-American Conference Tournament Championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament Sunday, Nov. 10, in Ypsilanti, Mich.
The team rode Ali Russo's 62nd-minute goal to a 1-0 victory over Ball State at Eastern Michigan University's Scicluna Field. Aubrey Sudomier connected with Russo, a native of Kalamazoo, down the right flank for the Bronco's lone goal. The sophomore fired from the far corner and into the net for her third goal of the season.
The Broncos held Ball State to just seven shots overall and allowed just two to reach WMU goaltender Michelle Watson. Watson made both saves and recorded her 27th career shutout.
"I am so proud of these players," says head coach Nate Norman. "They have worked so hard. I give a lot of credit to Ball State, as they are a very good team and it was a very difficult game. Ali scored a great goal for us today.
This marks the second MAC Championship for the program, coming 10 years after the first in 2003.
Russo, Rachel Chaney, Lindsey Lee and Kylie Nylen were named to the MAC All-Tournament team. Russo assisted on Chaney's game-tying goal in the quarterfinals against Kent State and also scored both of WMU's goals in a 2-1 win over Ball State earlier in the season.
WMU now waits to find out where they will head for the NCAA College Cup.


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Watch a Super Fun Stop Motion Video Explain the Science of Sound
Vi Hart, the soothing voice behind stop motion science-y explanations, is back at it again. In her latest video, she's showing you sound. Yup, she draws, annotates, illustrates, plays notes and visualizes every little nit and grit there is to know.


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17. In the Church's history every jubilee is prepared for by Divine Providence. This
is true also of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000. With this conviction, we look today
with a sense of gratitude and yet with a sense of responsibility at all that has happened
in human history since the Birth of Christ, particularly the events which have occurred
between the years 1000 and 2000. But in a very particular way, we look with the eyes of
faith to our own century, searching out whatever bears witness not only to man's history
but also to God's intervention in human affairs.
18. From this point of view we can affirm that the Second Vatican Council was a
providential event, whereby the Church began the more immediate preparation for the
Jubilee of the Second Millennium. It was a Council similar to earlier ones, yet very
different; it was a Council focused on the mystery of Christ and his Church and at the
same time open to the world. This openness was an evangelical response to recent
changes in the world, including the profoundly disturbing experiences of the Twentieth
Century, a century scarred by the First and Second World Wars, by the experience of
concentration camps and by horrendous massacres. All these events demonstrate most vividly
that the world needs purification; it needs to be converted.
The Second Vatican Council is often
considered as the beginning of a new era in the life of the Church. This is
true, but at the same time it is difficult to overlook the fact that the Council drew much from the experiences and reflections of the immediate
past, especially from the intellectual legacy left by Pius XII. In the
history of the Church, the "old" and the "new" are
always closely interwoven. The "new" grows out of the
"old", and the "old" finds a fuller expression in the
"new". Thus it was for the Second Vatican Council and for the
activity of the Popes connected with the Council, starting with John XXIII,
continuing with Paul VI and John Paul I, up to the present Pope.
What these Popes have accomplished during and
since the Council, in their Magisterium no less than in their pastoral
activity, has certainly made a significant contribution to the preparation of that new springtime of Christian life which
will be revealed by the Great Jubilee, if Christians are docile to the
action of the Holy Spirit.
19. The Council, while not imitating the
sternness of John the Baptist who called for repentance and conversion on
the banks of the Jordan (cf. Lk 3:1-7), did show something of the
Prophet of old, pointing out with fresh vigour to the men and women of today
that Jesus Christ is the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world" (Jn 1:29), the Redeemer of humanity and the Lord of
history. During the Council, precisely out of a desire to be fully faithful
to her Master, the Church questioned herself about her own identity, and
discovered anew the depth of her mystery as the Body and the Bride of
Christ. Humbly heeding the word of God, she reaffirmed the universal call to
holiness; she made provision for the reform of the liturgy, the "origin
and summit" of her life; she gave impetus to the renewal of many
aspects of her life at the universal level and in the local Churches; she
strove to promote the various Christian vocations, from those of the laity
to those of Religious, from the ministry of deacons to that of priests and
Bishops; and in a particular way she rediscovered episcopal collegiality,
that privileged expression of the pastoral service carried out by the
Bishops in communion with the Successor of Peter. On the basis of this
profound renewal, the Council opened itself to Christians of other
denominations, to the followers of other religions and to all the people of
our time. No Council had ever spoken so clearly about Christian unity, about
dialogue with non-Christian religions, about the specific meaning of the Old
Covenant and of Israel, about the dignity of each person's conscience, about
the principle of religious liberty, about the different cultural traditions
within which the Church carries out her missionary mandate, and about the
means of social communication.
20. The Council's enormously rich body of teaching and the striking new tone in
the way it presented this content constitute as it were a proclamation of new times. The
Council Fathers spoke in the language of the Gospel, the language of the Sermon on the
Mount and the Beatitudes. In the Council's message God is presented in his absolute
lordship over all things, but also as the One who ensures the authentic autonomy of
earthly realities.
The best preparation for the new millennium,
therefore, can only be expressed in a renewed commitment to apply, as
faithfully as possible, the teachings of Vatican
II to the life of every individual and of the whole Church. It was with
the Second Vatican Council that, in the broadest sense of the term, the
immediate preparations for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 were really
begun. If we look for an analogy in the liturgy, it could be said that the
yearly Advent liturgy is the season nearest to the spirit of the
Council. For Advent prepares us to meet the One who was, who is and who is
to come (cf. Rev 4:8).
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Wow. I learn at least one new thing every day on here. Never heard of the car seat test before -and it's not even 9 am here yet!
Super Yay for babies at home!
Wow. I learn at least one new thing every day on here. Never heard of the car seat test before -and it's not even 9 am here yet!
Super Yay for babies at home!
Thank you. I had just heard about car seat tests from other NICU moms in the past but I had no idea it would be hard to pass.
I met with my IBCLC yesterday. I am pumping when they wake up to eat during the night and every hour during the day just today and tomorrow to boost my supply. I am not nursing them as many times a day now because they are so poor at milk removal and it wears them out. She explained that they'd typically be inside of me now and not stressed about eating and it won't set us back with breastfeeding to not offer more than a couple times a day for now. Plus with all the pumping I feel badly even offering them a breast since I'm keeping myself so empty. I meet with her again Wed. Both boys are still gaining well and they'll get weighed again Monday at their first outpatient doctor appt (our family physician for their newborn check up).
Nursed my sweet daughter 3 years, 3 mos.
such great news!!! twins sleeping together
so how many times a day do you pump? does your dh bottle feed when you pump? just never knew how it worked with twins so this is very interesting to me.
The car seat test is so nerve wracking!! My NICU baby slept through hers entirely - and passed one the first try - but it's so tough to be thisclose to going home and then the baby doesn't pass. I had some of the same issues you did with one of my girls. She would get so tired breastfeeding and we really needed her to gain weight, so I pumped for her and breastfed my other little girl. I didn't pump every hour, I did it on their feeding schedule (Yes, we did a schedule with twins and yes, we needed to do it!) and that helped get my supply up. To be honest, my little NICU baby still doesn't really love breastfeeding. She got used to the bottle and she still gets tired breastfeeding so she doesn't do it that often. It's a bummer but to see her chubby cheeks and how healthy she is from my pumped milk, I just know it's the right decision, at least for us.
The best thing ever was putting my little girls together in the crib. It still makes me smile every day and they are four months old and still sleeping together.
Twins are so much fun. Enjoy!!!!
I think scheduling twins is more necessary than I had originally thought! I am just making sure they eat at least every 3 hrs but let them wake me up at night. I do feed the more awake one first and then the other one. DH can give one a bottle and usually I give the other one a bottle then I pump and one of us washes pump parts and bottles.
Saturday I pumped 15x Sunday 16x. I went from 28 oz Thurs to 30.5 Sat and Sunday but I need to keep making more. My bigger baby gained 14 oz in the last week and my smaller one 10 oz. They're pooping and peeing plenty and had their newborn well child check this morning. Right now they sleep next to each other on my bed (DH sleeps in a separate bed right now), on their backs. Pumping this much is really time consuming but if it's what I need to do to tell my body I have two growing boys than that's what I need to do.
Nursed my sweet daughter 3 years, 3 mos.
If you don't mind, I would like to make a suggestion...
Don't wash the pump parts and bottles overnight. If you have enough pump parts, leave one set clean and one set dirty and that way you can just go to sleep. I get up every night at 3:30am (ok, I guess every morning) to pump and leave the pump parts until I wake up again at 7am. Seriously, just go back to bed!!! You need sleep!
And I know pumping is SOOO time consuming, but SOOO worth it for the little ones. One of my girls still doesn't really like being breastfed but I am thrilled she is on all breast milk. Not exactly what I wanted, but I'm just glad she's not on formula. Small victories.
Take it easy. Rest. leave the dishes in the sink. ENJOY the babies. It really does go SO fast. Mine are 4 months and I can't even believe it!!
I'm pumping a couple of times during the night, though, so I don't know how I can leave them.
I know they grow up so fast! I have a 4 yr old and had to pump a ton for her and while there are always household chores babies don't stay babies very long. I didn't know we'd be able to have more living children after having miscarriages when DD was 2 and it was very, very hard. I am so thankful to have these little guys healthy and living in our home.
Nursed my sweet daughter 3 years, 3 mos.
Put the pump parts in a ziplock or other sterile storage container and pop in fridge between pumping.I'm pumping a couple of times during the night, though, so I don't know how I can leave them.
That is amazing gain-isn't it? Normal gain for a heatlhy term baby AFTER 2 weeks of age would be 5-7 ounces per week. Before that, it is typically less.My bigger baby gained 14 oz in the last week and my smaller one 10 oz.
OK, I wondered about sticking them in the fridge or if that would be uncomfortable to pump with cold parts.
Yeah they're growing like weeds! They're 38 weeks gestation tomorrow and my bigger baby is an inch taller than he was at birth and my smaller baby is a half inch taller/longer. I am eager for them to get big enough and strong enough to just be able to nurse.
I am going to start the more milk special blend this week to see if helps, on the suggestion of my IBCLC. I took it with my daughter.
Nursed my sweet daughter 3 years, 3 mos.
If I put the pump parts in the fridge how often would I have to wash them?
Nursed my sweet daughter 3 years, 3 mos.


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Anaxyrus baxteri
|Scope: Global
Language: English
|Scientific Name:
|Anaxyrus baxteri (Porter, 1964)
Common Name(s):
Bufo baxteri Porter, 1964
Bufo hemiophrys Cope, 1886
|Taxonomic Source(s):
|Frost, D.R. 2014. Amphibian Species of the World: an Online Reference. Version 6 (27 January 2014). New York, USA. Available at: http://research.amnh.org/herpetology/amphibia/index.html. (Accessed: 27 January 2014).
|Red List Category & Criteria:
|Extinct in the Wild ver 3.1
|Year Published:
|Date Assessed:
Needs updating
|Geoffrey Hammerson
|Global Amphibian Assessment Coordinating Team (Simon Stuart, Janice Chanson, Neil Cox and Bruce Young)
List as Extinct in the Wild because no self-sustaining population exists in the wild, but the species survives in captivity.
|Range Description:
|This species is restricted to the Laramie Basin, Wyoming, USA. The historical range extent was approximately 2,330km² (USFWS data). As of 2002, it was extant only at Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which encompasses four impoundments: Mortenson, Garber, Gibbs, and Soda lakes; the refuge is closed to the public (USFWS 2002e). The extant occurrence probably would be extirpated without recent annual releases of captive-reared toadlets. Populations at former re-introduction sites (Lake George on the Hutton Lake National Wildlife Refuge, and Rush Lake) have been lost due to drought (USFWS 2002e).
|Countries occurrence:
Regionally extinct:United States
|Additional data:
|Range Map:
|Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.
|This species was common in the 1950s, but underwent a large decline in the 1960s and 1970s; it was thought to be extinct in the wild in the mid-1980s, but was found again at Mortenson Lake in 1987 and captive propagation began in the mid-1990s using toads from Mortenson Lake (USFWS 2002e). At Mortenson Lake, there has been no natural reproduction by wild toads since 1991; the population is maintained through release of captive-reared young (Parker, Anderson and Lindzey 2000). In June 2002, a survey at Mortenson Lake NWR yielded 124 yearlings and 4 adults (USFWS 2002e). Limited natural reproduction and recruitment of a few metamorphosed juveniles occurred in 2002 (USFWS 2002e). Despite releases of captive-reared individuals, the population at Mortenson Lake NWR appears to be declining (USFWS 2002e).
|Current Population Trend:
|Additional data:
|Habitat and Ecology:
|Historically, it is associated with floodplain ponds along the Big and Little Laramie Rivers; use of lakes might have been limited due to saline conditions; irrigation might have flushed out the lakes and made them more suitable for toads (G. Baxter pers. comm.). Currently, it occurs in the vicinity of lakes and adjacent meadows. It uses rodent burrows for shelter. Eggs and larvae develop in shallow water.
|Terrestrial; Freshwater
|Major Threat(s):
|Mortenson Lake, site of the only known extant population, is infected with the amphibian chytrid fungus (USFWS 2002e). This fungus has been implicated in declines and extinctions of amphibian species worldwide. Retrospective analysis shows that the fungus has been present at Mortenson Lake since at least 1989. In addition, chytridiomycosis is the most commonly seen disease in the captive population. Predation, pesticide use, irrigation practices, and lack of genetic diversity might also limit the abundance of Wyoming Toads in the Laramie Basin. The cause of the original decline remains unknown but might be associated with the invasion of chytrid into the area (USFWS 2002e). Mortenson Lake recently has become more saline (and less suitable for toads) as a result of drought-related increases in evaporation (USFWS 2002e). Salt-cedar was found (and removed) at Hutton Lake NWR in 2002. This plant has the potential to reduce habitat suitability (USFWS 2002e). For the past several years, beginning in late summer, adults with bacterial and fungal infections have been found moribund or dead (Taylor et al. 1999). Predators, probably mustelids, killed several radio-tagged individuals in 1998 (Parker, Anderson and Lindzey 2000).
|Conservation Actions:
|It occurs in Mortenson Lake National Wildlife Refuge, where a recovery programme, using captive-bred animals and re-introductions, is being implemented. TNC recently acquired a 1,800-acre tract at Mortensen Lake and has arranged a conservation easement with an adjacent landowner. Lake George also is a toad refuge. The success of the recovery programme probably depends on finding some way to combat chytridiomycosis in the wild.
|Geoffrey Hammerson. 2004. Anaxyrus baxteri. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T54583A11155140. . Downloaded on 18 September 2018.
|To make use of this information, please check the <Terms of Use>.
|If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please provide us with feedback so that we can correct or extend the information provided