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Quick jump to below stories: U.S. blocked hurricane report - by The Associated Press Venezuela Summons U.S. Envoy - by IOL.co.za U.S. HAS LOST ITS SPOT AS MOST COMPETITIVE ECONOMY - by The BBC US troops in Iraq are Tehran's 'hostages' - By Gareth Porter, Inter Press Services Drillers see strong activity despite lower prices - by BRIAN BASKIN Russia hits back at US in plan to direct gas to Europe: press - AFP DEMOCRATS CAVE IN ON CHAVEZ'S SPEECH - by CNN.com Ecuador President Candidate Correa Favors Regional Currency - by Easy Bourse
[This comes right as NASA releases a report that the earth may be “within a whisker” of the hottest climate in a million years. – MK] # U.S. blocked hurricane report, journal says Nature: Commerce official withheld panel finding on global warming Sept 27, 2006 The Associated Press http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15019350/ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. WASHINGTON - A government agency blocked release of a report that suggests global warming is contributing to the frequency and strength of hurricanes, the journal Nature reported Tuesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration disputed the Nature article, saying there was not a report but a two-page fact sheet about the topic. The information was to be included in a press kit to be distributed in May as the annual hurricane season approached but wasn’t ready. “The document wasn’t done in time for the rollout,” NOAA spokesman Jordan St. John said in responding to the Nature article. “The White House never saw it, so they didn’t block it.” The possibility that warming conditions may cause storms to become stronger has generated debate among climate and weather experts, particularly in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. In its own reporting for the journal, Nature said weather experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — part of the Commerce Department — in February set up a seven-member panel to prepare a consensus report on the views of agency scientists about global warming and hurricanes. According to Nature, a draft of the statement said that warming may be having an effect. Commerce Dept. cited In May, when the report was expected to be released, panel chair Ants Leetmaa received an e-mail from a Commerce official saying the report needed to be made less technical and was not to be released, Nature reported. Leetmaa, head of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in New Jersey, did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment. NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher is currently out of the country, but Nature quoted him as saying the report was merely an internal document and could not be released because the agency could not take an official position on the issue. However, the journal said in its online report that the study was merely a discussion of the current state of hurricane science and did not contain any policy or position statements. The report drew a prompt response from Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., who charged that “the administration has effectively declared war on science and truth to advance its anti-environment agenda ... the Bush administration continues to censor scientists who have documented the current impacts of global warming.” Some of the science A series of studies over the past year or so have shown an increase in the power of hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a strengthening that many storm experts say is tied to rising sea-surface temperatures. Just two weeks ago, researchers said that most of the increase in ocean temperature that feeds more intense hurricanes is a result of human-induced global warming, a study one researcher said “closes the loop” between climate change and powerful storms like Katrina. Not all agree, however, with opponents arguing that many other factors affect storms, which can increase and decrease in cycles. The possibility of global warming affecting hurricanes is politically sensitive because the administration has resisted proposals to restrict release of gases that can cause warming conditions. In February, a NASA political appointee who worked in the space agency’s public relations department resigned after reportedly trying to restrict access to Jim Hansen, a NASA climate scientist who has been active in global warming research. Hansen was the lead author of another research paper published this week that concluded that human-caused global warming was nearing "dangerous" levels. © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. [Venezuela will not take the mistreatment of its Foreign Minister at JFK Airport on Sunday, September 24, lying down. Chavez certainly does not want to break diplomatic relations with the U.S. (at least not yet), but his government is standing firm in refusing to accept harassment. – CB] ## Venezuela Summons U.S. Envoy Tuesday September 27 IOL.co.za http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=22&art_id=qw11593152018B215 In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Caracas, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said Venezuela summoned the US ambassador to the South American nation on Tuesday to protest against the detention of its foreign minister at a New York airport over the weekend. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro was detained for a short time at John F. Kennedy airport on his way home after attending the UN General Assembly, where Chavez called US President George Bush "the devil". While US Ambassador to Venezuela William Brownfield has apologised repeatedly for the incident, America's UN envoy, John Bolton, dismissed the foreign minister's complaints of his treatment as "street theatre". Despite increasingly strained relations this year between Venezuela and the United States, its largest oil customer, Brownfield had not received such a summons before. A formal summons records the host government's objection to an action by the ambassador's country. Chavez, who also told reporters Venezuela would send a protest note to the United States, said the fact that his top diplomat was pushed by authorities at the airport confirmed his belief the superpower should not be a UN member. Still, the president also said the summons meant the controversy was over for him. "I have turned the page," he said. The US Embassy said Venezuela's foreign ministry did not cast the meeting on Tuesday, between Maduro and Brownfield, as a summons the way Chavez had. Instead, the ambassador was invited to hold a meeting on several issues that he had requested last week, according to the embassy. It will be their first talks since Maduro became foreign minister in August. Opposing US policies ranging from trade to oil prices to democracy, Chavez has frequent spats with the United States. In the last few months, he has been campaigning over US objections for a temporary seat on the UN Security Council in a vote next month. Venezuela's lobbying has irked Washington and caused controversy in Latin America. Chavez also said he was recalling his ambassador to Chile after ruling party members complained the envoy meddled in the country's politics by criticizing their position opposing Venezuela's UN bid. While Chavez praised his ambassador, recalling him was an apparent nod to Chile that Venezuela acknowledged he had riled his hosts. Chile, which is a US ally and a friendly neighbor to Venezuela, has not said how it will vote. [The Iraq War and a multi-trillion-dollar deficit are rotting the Empire's feet of clay. Increasingly, the U.S. will fall behind in the global economic arena. – CB] U.S. HAS LOST ITS SPOT AS MOST COMPETITIVE ECONOMY The US has lost its status as the world's most competitive economy, according to the World Economic Forum. September 26, 2006 BBC http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/ pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5381428.stm In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The US now ranks only sixth in the body's league table of global competitiveness, behind Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Singapore. Risks attached to the large US trade and fiscal deficits prompted its fall. The UK has retained its place among the world's 10 most competitive economies but China, Russia and Brazil have all fallen down the rankings. Imbalances Countries were judged on how conducive their business climates are to sustaining economic growth. Publishing its Global Competitiveness Index, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said the best performing countries were distinguished by their competent economic stewardship, investment in higher education and a emphasis on technological development and innovation. Although the US remained the global engine of technology, WEF said its business environment was being endangered by the fragile state of its public finances. GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS INDEX RANKINGS 2006 (2005) 1: Switzerland (4) 2: Finland: (2) 3: Sweden (7) 4: Denmark (3) 5: Singapore (5) 6: United States (1) 7: Japan (10) 8: Germany (6) 9: Netherlands (11) 10: United Kingdom (9) Source: WEF The US has seen its budget and trade deficits spiral in the past few years as a result of heavy government spending and rising trade imbalances with countries such as China and Japan. The US trade deficit is expected to top last year's record level of $717bn (£378bn; 565bn euros) in 2006, while the budget shortfall, although expected to be significantly lower than last year, is still forecast to be close to $300bn. "US competitiveness is threatened by large macroeconomic imbalances, particularly rising levels of public indebtedness associated with repeated fiscal deficits," the report said. "Its relative ranking remains vulnerable to a possible disorderly adjustment of such imbalances." Swiss peak Switzerland is now regarded as the world's most competitive economy, with Nordic countries holding three of the five top rankings. The WEF praised the UK for its flexible labour markets and low unemployment rate compared to the rest of continental Europe. But it said the UK, in common with Germany and Italy, was afflicted by public sector deficits and rising levels of public indebtedness. China, Russia and Brazil, among the world's fastest growing economies, all suffered a decline in their relative competitiveness. China fell from 48 to 54 in the ranking, its rapid economic growth and low inflation offset by an over-regulated banking sector and low penetration of mobile and internet technology outside urban areas. Russia slipped from 53 to 62, with concerns over the independence of the country's legal system and safeguarding of property rights singled out as key concerns, the WEF. "The private sector in Russia has serious misgivings about the independence of the judiciary and the administration of justice," it said. [If Muqtada and his followers are already preparing for a showdown with the US occupation forces, the only factor that appears to be restraining the Mehdi Army now is Iran. After all, Tehran's interest lies not in forcing an immediate withdrawal of US forces, but in keeping them in Iraq as virtual hostages. The potential threat to US forces in Iraq in retaliation for an attack on Iran is probably Tehran's most effective deterrent to such an attack. [emphasis added] – Do you still believe the U.S. can afford to invade Iran? – FTW] US troops in Iraq are Tehran's 'hostages' By Gareth Porter Inter Press Services September 22, 2006 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HI22Ak01.html In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. WASHINGTON - For many months, the administration of US George W Bush has been complaining that Iranian meddling in Iraq is a threat to the country's stability and to US troops. The irony of this publicity campaign over Tehran's alleged bid to undermine the occupation is that Iran may well be the main factor holding up a showdown between militant Shi'ites and US forces. The underlying reality in Iraq, which the Bush administration does not appear to grasp fully, is that the United States is now dependent on the sufferance of Iran and its Iraqi Shi'ite political-military allies to continue the occupation. Three and a half years after the occupation began, the US military is no longer the real power in Iraq. As the chief of intelligence for the US Marine Corps revealed in a recent report, US troops have been unable to shake the hold that Sunni insurgents have on the vast western province of al-Anbar. But the main threat to the occupation comes not from the Sunni insurgents but from the militant Iraqi Shi'ite forces aligned with Iran, led by Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army. The armed Shi'ite militias are now powerful enough to make it impossible for the US occupation to continue. Gone are the days when the US military could be so cavalier about Muqtada's forces that it deliberately provoked a major confrontation with him in Najaf in April 2004. That was when he was believed to have 10,000 poorly trained troops. Since then, US officials have avoided giving any estimate of the Mehdi Army's strength. But according to a report published last month by London's Chatham House, which undoubtedly reflected the views of British intelligence in Iraq, the Mehdi Army may now be "several hundred thousand strong". Even if that estimate vastly overstates his troop strength, it reflects the sense that Muqtada has the strongest political-military force in the country - because of the loyalty that so many Shi'ites have to him. The Mehdi Army controls Sadr City, the massive Shi'ite slum in eastern Baghdad that holds half the capital's population. But even more important, perhaps, it holds sway in the heavily Shi'ite southern provinces, and as Muqtada knows well, that gives him a strategic position from which to bring the US military to a standstill. Patrick Lang, former head of human-intelligence collection and Middle East intelligence at the Defense Intelligence Agency, explained why in an important analysis in the Christian Science Monitor of July 21: US troops must be supplied by convoys of trucks that go across hundreds of kilometers of roads through this Shi'ite heartland, and the Mehdi Army and its allies in the south could turn those supply routes into a "shooting gallery". Lang noted that the supply trucks are driven by South Asian or Turkish civilians who would immediately quit. And even if the US military used its own troops to protect the routes, they would be vulnerable to ambushes. "A long, linear target such as a convoy of trucks is very hard to defend against irregulars operating in and around their own towns," Lang wrote. It would not require a complete cutoff of supplies to make the US position untenable. A significant reduction in those supplies would begin a "downward spiral", according to Lang. US officials and the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki realize that Muqtada is too powerful to be dealt with by force. When Iraqi forces raided Sadr City last month accompanied by US advisers, Maliki denounced the operation on television and promised "this won't happen again". Last week, a "senior coalition official" admitted to the Washington Post that "there's not a military solution" to the Mehdi Army. But the Bush administration and the military in Iraq still appear to believe that there is some way to contain Muqtada's power. They have not yet accepted that Muqtada has both the intention and the capability to bring down the US occupation. Yet Muqtada has made no secret of his intentions. In an interview with the Washington Post published on August 11, his top deputy, Mustafa Yaqoubi, said, "If we leave the decision to [the Americans], they will not leave. They'll stay. To get the occupiers to leave, they need [to make] some sacrifice." The Shi'ites have never forgiven the US for its "betrayal" in calling for an uprising against Saddam Hussein after the 1991 Gulf War and then standing by as Saddam slaughtered thousands of Shi'ite militants who took up arms. Most of them never supported the current occupation in the first place. Wayne White, principal Iraq analyst for the US State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, recalls that polling done by the department soon after the US occupation began but never made public showed that a clear majority of Shi'ites were already opposed to it. Growing anger at US military atrocities, combined with a rising sense of power in the Shi'ite community, have made Muqtada's readiness for a showdown with the US occupation forces enormously popular. By last spring, the political atmosphere in the Shi'ite community was seething with hatred of the US and support for war against the occupation forces. In a May 6 story, Borzou Daraghi of the Los Angeles Times quoted a spokesman for the Ayatollah Mohammed Taqi Moderessi in Karbala, known in the past as a moderate, as saying the slogan at Friday prayers is "Death to America." The ayatollah reported that people were preparing for a military showdown with the US, saying, "The Americans won't leave except by the funerals of their sons." If Muqtada and his followers are already preparing for a showdown with the US occupation forces, the only factor that appears to be restraining the Mehdi Army now is Iran. After all, Tehran's interest lies not in forcing an immediate withdrawal of US forces, but in keeping them in Iraq as virtual hostages. The potential threat to US forces in Iraq in retaliation for an attack on Iran is probably Tehran's most effective deterrent to such an attack. Meeting with Maliki last week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "We hope that one day the Iraqi nation will regain its rightful place and take the financial and human capital of the country into their own hands with the withdrawal of the foreigners." At the University of Virginia a week earlier, former president Mohammad Khatami answered a question on Iraq by saying the immediate departure of US troops would create instability. It would be surprising if Iran were not urging Muqtada to hold off on attacking the occupation forces until after the Bush administration had either reached a broad political agreement with Tehran or had been replaced in two years by an administration that would do so. Only Iran's ability to persuade Muqtada to hold off on his effort to end the occupation can prevent a violent confrontation between Shi'ite militants and the occupation forces. But Bush's advisers may still not understand how fundamentally the power equation in Iraq has shifted. "They don't think like that," Patrick Lang said. "They think they are still in charge." Gareth Porter is an historian and national security policy analyst. His latest book, Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam, was published in June 2005. [The below report states: “The oil companies "are not so much focused on the month-to-month gas price," John Lindsay, executive vice president for Helmerich & Payne Inc., a leading land driller, said on the sidelines of the conference. Helmerich & Payne has seen no tapering off of activity due to recent commodity price declines, he said.” That’s because the long-term trend is upward, and the industry know this. Add in the fact that dry holes are commonplace in the 21st Century game of drilling contracts and the prospect of striking black gold becomes all the more valuable. – MK] Drillers see strong activity despite lower prices BRIAN BASKIN September 22, 2006 Dow Jones Newswires http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/business/15585273.htm In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. SAN ANTONIO - Against a backdrop of tanking oil and natural gas prices, drilling contractors Friday struck a contrarian tone at an annual gathering here: business is almost too good. The recent weakening in commodity prices has raised investor skittishness toward energy in some cases. But oil and gas drillers, gathered here for the annual meeting of the International Association of Drilling Contractors, continue to revise projected rig activity upward, even in the United States, where gas storage is at near-record levels, said IADC Chairman Claus Chur. That optimism has bled into projections for 2007, with rig operators brushing aside worries that energy companies will cut back on drilling should oil or gas prices retreat further. Near-record storage levels in the United States have raised concerns that a mild winter or slowing economy could fill available storage, causing prices to crash. The oil companies "are not so much focused on the month-to-month gas price," John Lindsay, executive vice president for Helmerich & Payne Inc., a leading land driller, said on the sidelines of the conference. Helmerich & Payne has seen no tapering off of activity due to recent commodity price declines, he said. October natural gas futures were off 14 cents to $4.64 per million British thermal units Friday morning New York Mercantile Exchange. Natural gas futures traded above $8 this summer out of anticipation of hurricane-related outages in Gulf of Mexico that haven't materialized. Lindsay acknowledged that robust storage could push gas prices to a point where that wouldn't support the current level of drilling. But for now, Lindsay still expects activity to continue to grow through 2007, due to a combination of increased demand and declining returns from existing wells. If the price of gas stays below $5.50 for three months, or below $7 on the 12-month futures strip, energy companies would likely cut back on drilling, said Kurt Hallead, an oil-field services analyst with RBC Capital Markets. But no magic number spells doom for the industry, he said. "$7 is much more of a psychological marker," Hallead said in the final presentation of the two-day conference. Addressing the offshore market, Lee Ahlstrom, director of investor relations at Noble Corp., pointed out that most deepwater drilling projects remain profitable even when oil hits $30 or $40 a barrel, let alone Friday's midday price of $60.48 in NYMEX futures. But even sustained success comes with its own costs for the industry, several speakers pointed out. They focused on soaring injury rates that have more than kept pace with increased drilling activity. The trend has spawned a series of industry gatherings over the last year to explore best-practices to avoid accidents. In the United States, deaths related to land drilling doubled in the first half of 2006 over the same period last year, and offshore drillers recorded two deaths, compared with zero last year, said Kevin Lacy, head of discipline-drilling and completions for BP PLC. Lacy described the higher risks associated with drilling as a "mess" that "took 20 years to create." His speech was based on industrywide conditions and did not focus on BP. The BP executive called for a stronger focus on retaining personnel, to avoid putting inexperienced workers into the field. Rig operators are planning on recruiting a virtual army of newcomers in the next few years. Drillers will need to hire 30,000 new workers to staff the 500 rigs in the planning stages or under construction, Chur said. The influx of new workers comes amid the expected retirement of some 50 percent of the work force over the next 10 years. The industry has survived predictions of work force shortages before, said David Trice, chief executive of Newfield Exploration Co. "You're getting crews" to staff new rigs today, Trice said in an interview. "A lot of people didn't think we could get that many." But he cautioned against dismissing the issue entirely. "You worry about the quality of service when you bring in 300 new crews," Trice said. [Tensions just won’t stop rising between Washington and Moscow. – MK] Russia hits back at US in plan to direct gas to Europe: press September 25, 2006 AFP http://tinyurl.com/fdgnc In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. A plan to give Europe access to a substantial amount of natural gas from a huge new field originally earmarked for the US market is a direct consequence of US policy toward Russia on WTO membership and sanctions on Russian defense exports, newspapers have said. The apparent change of thinking on the Shtokman field in the Barents Sea is linked specifically to recently introduced US sanctions on arms export agency Rosoboronexport and on aircraft maker Sukhoi, as well as US refusal to support Russia's entry into the World Trade Organization, the daily Vedomosti said Monday. "The States could not have expected that Moscow would not notice the Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi issues," the paper quoted an unnamed source close to the administration of President Vladimir Putin as saying, referring to discussion of reorienting future gas exports. The United States announced in early August that it was targeting Rosoboronexport and Sukhoi for sanction, alleging that the two Russian firms had been involved in sale to Iran of equipment that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction. Russia, which has been helping Iran build its first nuclear power station, has angrily denied this assertion and has warned that the sanctions were a threat to Russian cooperation with US companies. "Now it can be said that delivery to Europe and the United States from this source will probably occur on a basis of parity," Vedomosti quoted another source in the Kremlin administration as saying. The paper said top Gazprom managers had been taken by surprise by Putin's announcement and quoted one as saying planned use of the Shtokman gas reserves was now in the realm of "big politics". Speaking at a press conference after talks Saturday with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin said that the proposal to ship some of the gas from the Shtokman field to Europe had originated with the German leader. "At present, Gazprom is reviewing this possibility," Putin said, referring to Russia's state-run gas monopoly Gazprom. "Such a decision might be made in the very near future," Putin said. If confirmed, it would be a dramatic shift in orientation of future exports from the Shtokman field, one of the most coveted energy sources in the world with estimated reserves of around 3.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Gazprom said on September 6 that it had informed each of the five short-listed foreign companies who are in fierce competition for rights to help develop the Shtokman field that their proposals were still under consideration. Those firms are: France's Total, Statoil and Hydro of Norway, and ConocoPhillips and ChevronTexaco of the United States. The daily Kommersant also said that the "reorientation" of the Shtokman project floated by Putin was directly linked to worsening relations between Moscow and Washington. The 40-year Shtokman project is scheduled to come onstream in 2010 and Kommersant said the plan to divide exports from the field between Europe and the United States "will be the main topic in world energy policy for the next six months, and a point of political conflict with the US." Kommersant stressed however that it was the German leader who first proposed that Europe receive a share of Shtokman gas exports and that the initiative was "not purely Russian" in origin. [Perhaps nothing validates the reality of a one-party system in the U.S. as much as the Democrats' reaction to Chavez's speech at the U.N. In lip service, they will appear to bash Bush, yet they will not admit that they live in an empire that is hell bent on devouring the globe. Thinking Americans and FTW readers should not be deceived by silver-tongued liberal rhetoric which professes opposition to the regime – until the subject turns to the demise of the global capitalist system itself when Democrats begin clinging to all the privileges and wealth that empire provides them and vigorously defend "Diablo." – CB] # DEMOCRATS CAVE IN ON CHAVEZ'S SPEECH September 22, 2006 CNN.com http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/21/chavez.ny/index.html In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two of President Bush's staunchest domestic critics leapt to his defense Thursday, a day after one of his fiercest foreign foes called him "the devil" in a scorching speech before the United Nations. "You don't come into my country; you don't come into my congressional district and you don't condemn my president," Rep. Charles Rangel, D-New York, scolded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, was blunt in her criticism of the Venezuelan leader. "He is an everyday thug," she said. (Watch Rangel rip Chavez -- 1:28 ) Chavez kept up his criticism of Bush during a visit to Harlem on Thursday, calling the U.S. president "a sick man" who is unqualified for the job. Chavez also said he is expanding his heating-oil program to help low-income Americans. During his speech before the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, Chavez launched into a caustic verbal attack of Bush that shocked diplomats and observers accustomed to the staid verbiage of international diplomacy. (Full story) "The devil came here yesterday," Chavez said, referring to Bush, who addressed the world body during its annual meeting Tuesday. "And it smells of sulfur still today." Chavez accused Bush of having spoken "as if he owned the world" when the U.S. president addressed the world body on Tuesday. (Watch Chavez headline a devil of a week at the U.N. -- 2:11) "As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world. An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: 'The Devil's Recipe.' " Bush's domestic foes fumed Thursday. "If there's any criticism of President Bush, it should be restricted to Americans, whether they voted for him or not," Rangel said at a Washington news conference. "I just want to make it abundantly clear to Hugo Chavez or any other president: Don't come to the United States and think, because we have problems with our president, that any foreigner can come to our country and not think that Americans do not feel offended when you offend our chief of state," Rangel said. "Hugo Chavez abused the privilege that he had speaking at the United Nations," Pelosi said. "In doing so, in the manner which he characterized the president, he demeaned himself and demeaned Venezuela." Bush administration officials dismissed the Chavez tirade. "We're not going to address that sort of comic-strip approach to international affairs," John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said shortly after Chavez spoke Wednesday. Chavez's tirades against Bush have become common. In May, he accused Bush of committing genocide and said the U.S. president should be imprisoned by an international criminal court. Chavez also alleged during the U.N. speech that the United States is planning, financing and setting in motion a coup to overthrow him. The U.S. has denied such accusations in the past. As he was exiting the U.N. building in New York, Chavez told reporters that Bush is not a legitimate president because he "stole the elections." "He is, therefore, a dictator," Chavez said.(Watch Chavez's bellicose comments -- :57) During a stop in Harlem on Thursday, Chavez said he has no quarrel with the American people. "We are friends of yours, and you are our friends," he said. Underscoring his point, he announced he is expanding his heating-oil program to help impoverished Americans from 40 million gallons last year to 100 million gallons this year, and from 180,000 families to 459,000 families. But in the heart of Rangel's congressional district, he blasted away at Bush for a second day. "He walks like this cowboy John Wayne," said Chavez. "He doesn't have the slightest idea of politics. He got where he is because he is the son of his father. He was an alcoholic, an ex-alcoholic. He's a sick man, full of complexes, but very dangerous now because he has a lot of power." Chavez, clad in a fire-engine-red shirt, called Bush a "menace" and a "threat against life on the planet." In the United States, rich people are getting richer, and poor people are getting poorer, he said. "That's not a democracy; that's a tyranny." After his address, a Chavez spokesman said the Secret Service and New York Police Department had barred the Venezuelan president from granting media interviews and cut his delegation's satellite feed -- claims the New York police and State Department denied. NYPD Assistant Chief Michael Collins called the allegations "absolutely false" and said the Venezuelan delegation refused to comply with requirements on where to place their satellite dish. "What they were doing was dangerous and illegal," he said. "We made every accommodation not to interfere with what was going on."State Department spokesman Gonzo Gallegos, in New York with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said: "As a matter of policy, there are no restrictions on President Chavez or anyone else wanting to speak their mind in the United States." Ecuador President Candidate Correa Favors Regional Currency September 25th, 2006 Easy Bourse http://www.easybourse.com/Website/dynamic/ News.php?NewsID=61902&lang=fra&NewsRubrique=2 In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. QUITO -(Dow Jones)- Left-leaning presidential candidate Rafael Correa said Monday that he would be in favor of Ecuador using an Andean or South American currency in the medium to long term, as opposed to the U.S. dollar, which has been Ecuador's currency since 2000. Correa, according to the most recent polls, is in first place ahead of Oct. 15 elections. He is 2-7 points ahead of center-left candidate Leon Roldos, according to the three leading polls. "It was foolish to begin the dollarization, and it would be foolish to leave it in the current conditions," Correa said in a meeting with foreign media. "The dollarization is bankrupting us. It is part of the problem and not the solution." According to Correa, the nation's constitution maintains the sucre as the national currency. The presidential candidate reiterated that if elected, he plans to convene a Constituent Assembly with absolute powers to draft a new constitution, and that body would decide the national currency. He said he would be totally opposed to establishing the dollar as the currency in the constitution. "Dollarization has always been unconstitutional," he said. "To think of a national currency will be difficult, and it would be difficult for a national currency in small countries like ours to survive in the midst of globalization, which is where important alternatives come in, like regional currencies at an Andean and South American level," he said. Regarding the dollar, Correa said he is in favor of a flexible constitution that establishes the use of foreign currencies "to later adopt a regional or national currency." Citing Argentina as an example, Correa said he would seek to renegotiate Ecuador's foreign debt to reflect the country's ability to pay, lowering the level of debt to around 3% of gross domestic product from the current 7%. He said that if creditors - both multilateral and commercial - don't agree to renegotiate foreign debt or if service payments go beyond what the country can pay,he doesn't "exclude a unilateral moratorium." "For us, lives and national commitments come before the pockets of creditors," Correa said. -By Mercedes Alvaro, Dow Jones Newswires; 5939-9728-653; mercedes.alvaro@dowjones.com