Original classic "On the Road" to be published Thu Jul 27, 2006 NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jack Kerouac's classic work "On the Road" will be published in its unedited original scroll version next year, New York publisher Viking Press said on Thursday. The original manuscript -- a 120-foot-long (36-metre), single-spaced typed scroll -- was bought in 2001 by Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts professional football team. The manuscript is currently on a U.S. national tour of museums and libraries. The story of Kerouac's alter-ego Sal Paradise travelling across America will be published in September next year -- 50 years after it was originally printed by Viking -- said Viking Publisher Paul Slovak. "It was an important part of American literary history," Slovak said. "This is really one of the first sustained expressions of new experimentation of American arts in the post-war period." Slovak said the upcoming version will be in hardcover. The scroll version includes real names of the characters, "rougher language", and a more "sexually frantic tone", he said. Kerouac's classic helped give rise to the Beat movement, a general term describing the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering in New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Kerouac died in 1969 at the age of 47. Kerouac wrote an initial version of "On the Road" in 1948, after he and friend Neal Cassady took a series of road trips across the United States, but it took him until September 5, 1957, to get the novel published, because its experimental, free form style did not generate much enthusiasm from publishers. ***** Thanks to Jaye Beldo for the following... mbryan@slonet.org Mon, 24 Jul 2006 Mark Bryan at Steynberg Gallery Hello Everyone, I will be presenting a new show at Steynberg Gallery. This will be a mix of about 1/2 political work and the other 1/2 my more fanciful work of wacky disturbing social comment. The work includes new portraits of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Uncle Sam. Also by popular demand, I will be bringing back "The Mad Tea Party" for those who missed it last year. For the proletariat we are making posters and t-shirts of "The Mad Tea party","Uncle Sam" and "Dick". "The Screaming Bunny" will be there as a gallery piece too. The Bunny is a video electronic stuffed toy sculpture which I made a few years back. (he's cute) My friend, musician/composer Garry Eister will be performing a theater piece that he wrote for the Bunny. A dark comedy of science and betrayal. (very funny) "The Screaming Bunny" Performances will be august 12th and 19th at 8:00pm (it's free but there will be a "feed the Bunny hat" for the sympathetic) http://artofmarkbryan.com/index.html http://artofmarkbryan.com/newwork.html The show opens Tuesday August 1st. and runs thru August 27th. The reception will be Saturday, August 5th from 6:00 to 9:00pm. Steynberg Gallery is located at 1531 Monterey st., San Luis Obispo, CA. (805) 547-0278 Please forward this to anyone you think might enjoy coming, thanks... ***** Foremost 9/11 Whistleblower Discusses Possibility Attack Was Inside Job Edmonds agrees weight of evidence leans towards criminal complicity Prison Planet.com | July 24 2006 Sibel Edmonds, a 32-year-old Turkish-American, was hired as a translator by the FBI shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 because of her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages. She was fired less than a year later in March 2002 for reporting shoddy work and security breaches to her supervisors that could have prevented those attacks. Edmonds appeared as a guest on the Alex Jones Show to give an update on her organization's progress and indicated that the preponderance of evidence, plus the outright cover-up surrounding 9/11 - suggests that criminal elements at the very apex of the US military-industrial complex had a direct hand in carrying out the attack. A partial transcript appears below. ---------------------------------------------------------- Alex Jones: Sibel Edmonds-- 9/11. I mean, you personally-- I mean, I've heard you on other shows, I've talked to you here. All these prominent people have come out. I mean, clearly you've said that elements of the government had the motive for 9/11. Arabs wouldn't bring down the greatest military in the world upon them. The majority of Arabs in major polls-- what 90% in foreign polls-- believe it was an inside job. What I'm ask-- now half of Americans do in Zogby polls. I'm asking you-- I mean, clearly, where does the evidence point on 9/11? Sibel Edmonds: Well, that is the whole point, Alex. They are not letting out all the evidence. And since we don't have it to this date. It is as I was telling you, the [unintelligible] Force has been all classified. They also had 35 pages-- and this is according to Senator Graham-- the most important evidence and information on 9/11 by the Senate and House Joint Inquiry that happened in 2002 classified and 5 years later everything about it is classified. And again, you are still having people who are gagged. So this already points out that they don't want the evidence out. And they are keeping the evidence out of the public-- Alex Jones: But even if they cut evidence out of reports, we have the clear evidence of Thermite in the buildings, we have clear evidence of C.I.A. insider trading, N.O.R.A.D. standing down, U.S. troops already massed in central Asia, Bush having the launch order two days before to attack Afghanistan. I mean, Sibel, when you put all that together-- I'm asking you personally-- where does all the evidence point? Sibel Edmonds: The evidence points to a massive government cover-up. And that raises the question of why. Now we can answer that in so many different ways and we can speculate, but as I said, the most important thing is to stay with the facts. Not the facts that the government claims to be the facts, but the facts that are absolutely undisputed. Alex Jones: Sibel, what I'm asking you is, in your gut, do you think 9/11 to some extent is an inside job? Sibel Edmonds: Well, again, as I am telling you, I'm trying to tell you is, I have all the evidence of cover-up. Now, who were the people behind this? And why? And how? We don't have a definite answer. As I said, we can come up with theories, we can come up with speculation, but they do not--I mean, in my opinion, they are not facts. But also what government has been giving us, again, I don't consider those a total--you know-- total truth or fact either. Alex Jones: Would you be surprised? Sibel Edmonds: No. I wouldn't. Alex Jones: You wouldn't be surprised if elements or criminal elements or private contractors were involved in 9/11? Sibel Edmonds: No, I wouldn't be surprised. Alex Jones: So you wouldn't be surprised like many others, because of the evidence and the cover-up you've seen, if 9/11 was an inside job? Sibel Edmonds: At this point, I'd have to say no, I wouldn't be surprised. Alex Jones: Do you think the evidence is leaning towards that? Sibel Edmonds: Well, again, considering the level of cover-up and the length at which they have gone to gag people and prevent information-- this information from coming out, I would say yes. ***** Putin plan to shut out US oil giants Kremlin will favour Norwegian firms to develop Barents Sea field after differences with Bush scupper Russia's bid to join WTO Conal Walsh Sunday July 23, 2006 The Observer President Vladimir Putin is set to keep US oil companies out of a lucrative gas field in the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between Moscow and Washington. The Russian leader is expected to favour Norwegian companies and reject bids by America's Chevron and ConocoPhillips after failing to secure backing from the United States for his country's attempt to join the World Trade Organisation. The tit-for-tat snub will be a blow to US companies scrambling for access to Russia's huge gas reserves at a time of high energy prices. It comes after Putin failed to resolve differences with US President George Bush over trade and human rights at the G8 conference in St Petersburg last week. The two leaders were barbed about each other's democratic records at a tense G8 press conference. Putin later publicly praised Norsk Hydro and Statoil, the Norwegian firms that are competing with US companies for a role in developing the highly prized Shtokman gas field. 'There is very little chance the American majors will win that tender now,' a Russian oil analyst said yesterday. 'Putin was hoping WTO membership would be wrapped up in time for St Petersburg. The failure to do that is a blow to his prestige.' A final decision on awarding the contracts - which involves extracting and transporting gas from Shtokman in partnership with Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled company - was also originally expected before the G8 summit but has been postponed until next month at the earliest. As well as the US and Norwegian companies, Total of France is also on the shortlist to develop the 3.7 trillion cubic metre gas field, which is located in the Barents Sea, near the Arctic Circle. Igor Shuvalov, a Putin aide, warned in April that the US firms' chances of participating in the undersea drilling project were tied to US support for Russia's WTO bid, although this has since been denied by the Kremlin. Last week, however, Putin singled out the Norwegian bidders for praise when asked by reporters about energy deposits in the Barents Sea. 'You have probably heard that we are holding talks with several countries on the development of different fields, but companies from Norway are among the first on this list,' he said. He added: 'They don't go around with their noses in the air. They work objectively, very professionally.' Viktor Khristenko, the Russian energy minister, also praised the Norwegian firms' record on protecting the environment last week. Analysts have tipped the Kremlin to pick the Norwegian contractors following the recent resolution of a Barents Sea territorial dispute between Oslo and Moscow. But the Shtokman project is also important to Russia's long-term relations with the US, since most gas from the field is to be shipped to north America in the form of liquefied natural gas. Participation by Chevron or ConocoPhillips could help ease access to the US market. Russia has been very reluctant to allow foreign oil groups access to its energy reserves other than as junior partners on joint ventures with Gazprom. Russia supplies 25 per cent of the European Union's gas but has also resisted EU demands that it loosen Gazprom's control over the country's pipeline network. A dispute over gas prices earlier this year between Russia and Ukraine led to temporary disruptions in the flow of gas to western Europe and prompted Dick Cheney, the US vice president, to accuse Moscow of using energy as a tool of 'intimidation and blackmail'. But these diplomatic ructions have not extinguished the appetite of western investors for Russian energy stocks. Last week the oil group Rosneft successfully floated in London and Moscow with a $10.4bn placing. Despite its size, the IPO represents only a small fraction of Rosneft's total equity, and the company remains majority-controlled by the Russian state. ***** Lance Bass of 'N Sync reveals he's gay 7-26-6 AP Lance Bass, band member of 'N Sync, says he's gay and in a "very stable" relationship with a reality show star. Bass, who formed 'N Sync with Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick, tells People magazine that he didn't earlier disclose his sexuality because he didn't want to affect the group's popularity. "I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," he tells the magazine. 'N Sync is known for a string of hits including "Bye Bye Bye" and "It's Gonna Be Me." The band went on hiatus in 2002. Bass has also found headlines for undertaking astronaut training and failing to raise money for a trip into space. Bass says he wondered if his coming out could prompt "the end of 'N Sync." He explains, "So I had that weight on me of like, `Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never did." The singer says he's in a "very stable" relationship with 32-year-old actor Reichen Lehmkuhl, winner of season four of CBS' "Amazing Race." Bass and Fatone, 29, are developing a sitcom pilot inspired by the screwball comedy "The Odd Couple," in which his character will be gay. "The thing is, I'm not ashamed — that's the one thing I went to say," Bass says. "I don't think it's wrong, I'm not devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I've been my whole life. I'm just happy." ___ On the Net: http://www.people.com ***** Wednesday, July 26, 2006 by Reuters US Gasoline at $3 Drives People Onto Buses, Trains by Carolyn Koo Gasoline prices at near-record highs are fueling a big increase in the number of riders on buses and trains, prompting cities around the country to improve their public transport systems, transportation agencies said on Tuesday. The Energy Information Administration, the U.S. government's top energy forecasting agency, on Monday said the average U.S. retail gasoline price increased 71 cents over a year ago to $3 a gallon, the second highest pump price ever. The highest price, $3.057 a gallon, came in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last summer. If that experience is any indication, it showed Americans can indeed be forced from their cars at the right price. "Around the time Katrina hit and the gas prices started approaching $3, we began to hear from our members that they were seeing large spikes in ridership," William Millar, president of the American Public Transport Association, said. "There were literally dozens of cities that were seeing double-digit increases." It's estimated that U.S. riders of public transport save 855 million gallons of gasoline a year, or $2.56 billion at current average prices for a gallon of regular gasoline, according to the APTA. The APTA and transportation agencies around the country are optimistic they'll continue enjoying increased ridership as gasoline prices go up. In the first quarter, as gas prices started to surge again, public transportation ridership rose 4.25 percent nationwide, representing almost 2.5 billion trips, the APTA said. The increase "seems to relate very largely to gas prices," Millar said. "Hearing anecdotally from our members about their second quarter numbers, it would appear that trend is continuing." Local Taxes To Fund Improvements Websites are helping to make a difference, with several transit systems around the nation, including Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Dallas, enjoying increased hits on their sites. "You might look at that as an indication of future business," said Millar. Traffic on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) website has "gone up and actually spiked with the rises in gas prices," said DART spokesman Morgan Lyons. The boost in ridership has many of the country's transit systems looking to make improvements, with ballot initiatives asking voters for permission to raise local taxes for public transit or to continue taxes that were scheduled to end. For instance, Salt Lake City, where ridership is up 43 percent versus a year ago, is asking the public this fall for $900 million to add 30 miles of tracks to the city's light rail system in a project that is expected to cost $1.2 billion. Polling indicates 93 percent of voters in the area want a chance to vote on the initiative, with 65 percent of them saying they would approve the plan, according to Utah Transit Authority spokesman Justin Jones. "You have to have the demand in order to justify doing that," said Joan Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. "I think now the interest for the first time in years is really high." ***** Calif. Coroners Overwhelmed by Heat Deaths Jul 27, 2006 By JULIANA BARBASSA Associated Press Writer SAN FRANCISCO There have been so many deaths from California's lingering heat wave that authorities in one county began stacking bodies two to a gurney. Twenty people have died in Fresno County alone, about a quarter of the statewide toll of 81 deaths attributed to the heat. Coroner Loralee Cervantes said Wednesday that decomposition was making the causes of death difficult to determine and the office was running out of space. Outside, the temperature on Wednesday approached 110 degrees. Forecasters say a slow cooling trend is under way in the region, with highs expected to drop a few more degrees by the weekend. "We're seeing some relief coming, if you can call 105 relief," said National Weather Service forecaster Jim Dudley. "We're inching away from this superhot air mass we've had over us, though it's tricky. ... It's hard to get those things to move." But across the state, the damage has been done, from fruit and nuts scorched on the vine to a power grid battered by the constant demand for electricity. Record electricity usage on Monday and Tuesday prompted officials to declare an emergency and warn of possible involuntary rolling blackouts. While the power supply remained adequate Wednesday, the hot weather, coupled with increased usage, has blown out transformers around the state. The St. Louis area and the New York City borough of Queens, also troubled by long-running blackouts, were slowly returning to normal Thursday after more than a week after weather-related power outages. About 46,000 homes and businesses in the St. Louis area remained without power Thursday morning, down from more than half a million after storms knocked out power last week, according to Ameren Corp. Missouri officials said nine deaths had been blamed on the heat and storms. A utility worker was also killed after touching downed power lines, and a man died Wednesday from burns while he tried to fix a generator at home that lost power. In Queens, the last the homes affected by a 10-day outage finally had power, but 60,000 residents in the borough of Staten Island were left in the dark for up to six hours Wednesday. Consolidated Edison blamed that problem on downed overhead cables. Other states also attributed more deaths to heat. Oklahoma officials said two people whose homes lacked air conditioners were the latest victims there, bringing to 10 the number of heat-related deaths since July 13. California's inland valleys have registered some of the highest temperatures during the heat wave, with highs of around 115 and lows of about 90 degrees. Actress Lindsay Lohan, 20, was overcome by the heat while filming a movie in 105-degree weather on Tuesday and treated at a hospital for overheating and dehydration, publicist Leslie Sloan Zelnick told "The Insider" entertainment show. Farmers, meanwhile, have been rushing workers to their sun-baked crops well before dawn so they don't have to work through afternoon heat. Even with fans and misting to keep cattle cool, experts estimate as much as 2 percent of the state's dairy herd may die. The surviving cattle are producing less _ dairy production in the state _ No. 1 in the nation _ was down as much as 15 percent in the past few days, according to the California Farm Bureau. It's too early to say what percentage of California crops may be lost. Tomatoes being grown for salsa, ketchup and pasta sauces were found split in the fields, which will make them hard to sell. The heat might also mean a slightly smaller harvest of wine grapes, said Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. When temperatures rise, vines stop growing to conserve water. "They're just like people," she said. "They kind of shut down when it gets this hot." ***** Landis tests positive Phonak: Tour winner had high levels of testosterone Thursday July 27, 2006 LONDON (AP) -- Tour de France champion Floyd Landis tested positive for high levels of testosterone during the race, his Phonak team said Thursday on its Web site, raising questions about his victory. The team suspended Landis, pending results of the backup "B" sample of his drug test, just four days after Landis stood on the victory podium on the Champs-Elysees, succeeding seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as an American winner in Paris. The Swiss-based Phonak team said it was notified by the UCI on Wednesday that Landis' sample showed "an unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when he was tested after stage 17 of the race last Thursday. "The team management and the rider were both totally surprised of this physiological result," the Phonak statement said. Landis made a remarkable comeback in that Alpine stage, racing far ahead of the field for a solo win that moved him from 11th to third in the overall standings. He regained the leader's yellow jersey two days later. Landis rode the Tour with a degenerative hip condition that he has said will require surgery in the coming weeks or months. Arlene Landis, his mother, said Thursday that she wouldn't blame her son if he was taking medication to treat the pain in his injured hip, but "if it's something worse than that, then he doesn't deserve to win." "I didn't talk to him since that hit the fan, but I'm keeping things even keel until I know what the facts are," she told The Associated Press in a phone interview from her home in Farmersville, Pennsylvania. "I know that this is a temptation to every rider but I'm not going to jump to conclusions ... It disappoints me." The Phonak statement came a day after the UCI, cycling's world governing body, said an unidentified rider had failed a drug test during the Tour. Phonak said Landis would ask for an analysis of his backup sample "to prove either that this result is coming from a natural process or that this is resulting from a mistake." Landis has been suspended by his team pending the results. If the second sample confirms the initial finding, he will be fired, Phonak said. USA Cycling spokesman Andy Lee said that organization could not comment on Landis. "Because it's an anti-doping matter, it's USA Cycling's policy not to comment on that subject out of respect for the process and Floyd's rights," Lee said. "Right now, we have to let the process proceed and we can't comment on it." Carla O'Connell, publications and communications director for the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, said: "I'll make this very brief: No comment." Under World Anti-Doping Agency regulations, a ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone greater than 4:1 is considered a positive result and subject to investigation. The threshold was recently lowered from 6:1. The most likely natural ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone in humans is 1:1. Testosterone is included as an anabolic steroid on WADA's list of banned substances, and its use can be punished by a two-year ban. Landis wrapped up his Tour de France win on Sunday, keeping the title in U.S. hands for the eighth straight year. Armstrong, long dogged by doping whispers and allegations, won the previous seven. Armstrong never has tested positive for drugs and vehemently has denied doping. Speculation that Landis had tested positive spread earlier Thursday after he failed to show up for a one-day race in Denmark on Thursday. A day earlier, he missed a scheduled event in the Netherlands. On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders -- including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso -- were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation. The names of Ullrich and Basso turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who's at the center of the Spanish doping probe.