CIA officer at centre of the leak case fills her life with twins and a desk job

Photo: Valerie Plame, left, is seated with her husband, former diplomat Joseph C. Wilson, in Washington in this Nov. 18, 2003, photograph for the opening spread of Vanity Fair.

WASHINGTON, DC- Joe Wilson says it was mutual love at first sight when he and Valerie Plame spotted each other at a crowded diplomatic reception eight years ago. Well, yes and no. For Plame, the stars in her eyes that night were quickly followed by a LexisNexis computer search the next day to make sure the guy with all the fantastic stories about his life as a globe-trotting diplomat was really legit. It is classic Valerie Plame....Full story

Reid says Rove should resign, Bush and Cheney should apologize for leak

Photo: In this photo provided by ABC News, Sen. Harry Reid appears for an interview on ABC's "This Week," in Washington, Sunday.

WASHINGTON, DC- The Senate Democratic leader said Sunday that presidential adviser Karl Rove should resign because of his role in exposing an undercover CIA officer, and a veteran Republican senator said President George W. Bush needs "new blood" in his White House. Rove has not been charged, but he continues to be investigated in the CIA leaks case that brought the indictment and resignation Friday of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, an adviser to Bush and the top aide to Vice-President Dick Cheney...Full story

Texas pastor electrocuted after grabbing microphone while performing baptism

WACO, Texas- A pastor performing a baptism was electrocuted inside his church Sunday morning after grabbing a microphone while partially submerged, a church employee said. Rev. Kyle Lake, 33, was standing in water up to his shoulder in a baptismal at University Baptist Church when he was electrocuted, said Jamie Dudley, a church business administrator and wife of another pastor there. Doctors in the congregation performed chest compressions for 40 minutes before Lake was taken to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, Dudley said. Police said they weren't called and the hospital referred calls to the church. The woman Lake was baptizing was not injured, Dudley said. Pastors at University Baptist Church routinely use a microphone during baptisms, Dudley said. "He was grabbing the microphone so everyone could hear," Dudley said. "It's the only way you can be loud enough." About 800 people attended the morning service, which was larger than normal because it was homecoming weekend at nearby Baylor University, Dudley said. Lake, who had a wife and three children, had been at the church for nine years, the last seven as pastor, Dudley said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. accelerated its campaign to polish its image

NEW YORK- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. accelerated its campaign to polish its image by proposing this week a lower-cost health care plan for its employees, promising an environmental initiative, and calling for a boost in the minimum wage. But the world's largest retailer is finding that by trying to please everyone - the public, politicians, shareholders and Wall Street - it may be pleasing no one. The company, which grew to be a $285 billion US giant by relentlessly focusing on offering goods at the lowest-possible cost, has come under a barrage of criticism in recent years for how it treats its workers, diversity in the workplace and its environmental record. Critics complain that the recent initiatives are merely publicity stunts. At the same time, the company seems to have lost some of its competitive edge to retailers like Target Corp., and a lacklustre economy and high gasoline prices have also hurt sales and profits. The 17 per cent drop in Wal-Mart's stock price this year reflects the company's woes. And now a scathing documentary to be released nationally next month, will put the retailer in its crosshairs. Wal-Mart's opponents call its new health care plan inadequate because workers would still have a $1,000 deductible. And they term the company's advocacy of a higher minimum wage as a self-serving attempt to boost the buying power of its low-income customers. "This is a desperate attempt to remake their faltering image," said Chris Kofinis, spokesman at Washington-based Wake Up Wal-Mart, one of Wal-Mart's harshest critics. Opponents argue Wal-Mart's pay and benefits drive down those at other companies trying to compete. Even some conservative allies aren't embracing Wal-Mart's fuzzy approach. "Wal-Mart had a pure position earlier" as a capitalist company, said Tim Kane, economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "Now they are muddying the waters by trying to offer a softer image. It leaves them vulnerable to charges that they are insincere." In fact, an internal memo - obtained by Washington-based Wal-Mart Watch and appearing in the New York Times - appeared to undercut Wal-Mart's charm offensive. (Wal-Mart provided a copy to The Associated Press after it learned the New York Times was planning a story.) The memo, written by a company benefits executive to the board, suggested ways to cut soaring medical costs by hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy job applicants by including physical activity in all jobs.

One longtime Wal-Mart associate, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, said the memo had left a lot of employees angry. He noted that there is a lot of unhappy talk among employees that Wal-Mart will stop paying for their health insurance. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams says the debate underscored that health coverage is "the number one problem facing our nation today." Burt Flickinger, managing director of consulting firm Strategic Marketing, estimates that Wal-Mart spends 70 per cent less per employee on all benefits, including health care and pension plans, than unionized retailers. Union shops, which include supermarkets and wholesale clubs, pay anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 in all benefits per full-time employee. Such a stark difference may not be surprising, given Wal-Mart's focus on cutting costs to maintain its edge as the low-price leader. But it certainly highlights its dilemma going forward. "Wal-Mart is continuing to mature as a company and this requires us to think about our business in a new way," Williams continued. "Many of the issues we have dealt with from a defensive posture are now seen as an opportunity to embrace proactively and become a more innovative and competitive company as a result." In fact, on Nov. 4, Wal-Mart is reaching out to critics by holding a conference in Washington to study its impact on the economy. The company hired Global Insight Inc., a global independent economic forecasting company, to conduct an independent study, giving its economists access to internal data on wages and benefits. But the strategy could backfire: The gathering will also feature presentations from a group of economists, some of which are not flattering. Wal-Mart says it has listened to critics, employees and shoppers over the past year. But how much it is willing to sacrifice to please its opponents remains to be seen. In the memo, Wal-Mart acknowledged that health care is one of the most pressing reputation issues it faces. But how will it keep escalating costs down while still being perceived as a good citizen?

Wal-Mart's benefits costs jumped to $4.2 billion this year, from $2.8 billion in 2002, and the company noted that its workers are getting sicker than the national average, particularly with obesity-related diseases. At the same time, the company acknowledged the current insurance plan is unaffordable to many people. In fact, less than half of Wal-Mart employees are on company insurance, compared with more than 80 per cent at Costco Wholesale Corp. -Anne Dinanzio & M. Kabell

Barrier on Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco could reduce suicides

SAN FRANCISCO, California- About 250 people marched Sunday in San Francisco to raise money for a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. "There's a lot of people walking here that want that barrier up," said Rachael Friedman, an organizer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention's Out of the Darkness walk that supports the erection of the barrier and other programs to prevent suicide. A suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge would deter suicides, leading many despondent people to seek help instead of plunging to their deaths, experts say. There have been 1,218 Golden Gate Bridge suicides reported between the time the bridge opened, on May 27, 1937, and this past Friday, according to a review of records reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday. Mental health experts believe the number could be higher because some suicides go unreported. And at least 87 per cent of people who have jumped to their deaths from the bridge are from the San Francisco Bay Area, dispelling the notion that people travel from around the world to die here, the newspaper reported. Golden Gate Bridge district directors voted in March to authorize a $2 million US feasibility study for a bridge suicide barrier, which has not yet been fully funded. Officials at the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building and other suicide landmarks recognized a crisis years ago and erected suicide barriers.

"When suicide becomes difficult, people do not switch to another method. They tend to get help," said Eve Meyer, executive director of San Francisco Suicide Prevention and an advocate for a suicide barrier. "This is what happened in England when the formula for gas ovens was changed . . . and it became harder for people to purchase certain over-the-counter drugs. The suicide rate went down. England has a suicide rate half the size of ours because they're so aggressive about it." Accessibility is partly what makes the Golden Gate Bridge such an attractive suicide spot, Meyer said. The railing is only 1.20 metres high, and the parking lot is a short distance from the bridge. "It's something you can accomplish relatively easily," she said, "and that's what makes it so dangerous." Suicide is "a function of what's available," added Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins University. "Some people already have the Golden Gate Bridge in their mind, in the same way others have a gun in the closet." A recent study by the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California that compiled the local coroner's reports from January 1995 to July 2005 found that most of the Golden Gate Bridge suicides - 75 per cent - were men. The age of the jumpers range from 14 to 85, with an approximate median age of 41. An estimated 26 jumpers have survived, according to San Francisco Suicide Prevention and the coroner. Despite the high numbers, the newspaper reported that research dating back almost three decades shows that many people prevented from killing themselves at the bridge did not go on to commit suicide. In 1978, Richard Seiden, a professor of behavioural science at the University of California, Berkeley, published a study of 515 people prevented from jumping off the bridge. He found that only six per cent went on to kill themselves.

Texas leads the United States in hunger

AUSTIN, Texas- A higher percentage of Texas households were at risk of going hungry over the last three years than in any other state, said data released Friday by the U.S. Agriculture Department. Between 2002 and 2004, more than 16 per cent of Texas households at some point had trouble providing enough food for all their family members, the USDA report said. In nearly five per cent of Texas households, at least one family member actually went hungry at least one time during that period because the household couldn't afford enough food. That's the fourth-highest rate in the country. Across the United States, 11.4 per cent of households were at risk of going hungry during that period and 3.6 per cent of U.S. households had at least one member go hungry, the USDA said. The latest national figures were higher than in the previous three-year period. Between 1999 and 2001, an average of 10.4 per cent of households were at risk for hunger and an average of 3.1 per cent of households experienced hunger.

 

 

 

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