Inventor of Instant Noodles Dies at 96

TOKYO - Momofuku Ando, the Japanese inventor of instant noodles — a dish that has sustained American college students for decades — has died. He was 96.



Nissin Food Products Co., the company Ando founded, said on its Web site that he died Friday after suffering a heart attack.

Born in Taiwan, Ando founded his company in 1948 from a humble family operation. Faced with food shortages in post-World War II Japan, Ando thought a quality, convenient noodle product would help feed the masses.

In 1958, his "Chicken Ramen" — the first instant noodle — was introduced after many trials. Following its success, the company added other products, such as the "Cup Noodle" in 1971.

"The Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum" opened in 1999 in Ikeda City in western Japan commemorating his inventions.

Ando gave a speech at the company's New Year ceremony and enjoyed Chicken Ramen for lunch with Nissin employees on Thursday before falling ill, Japan's largest daily Yomiuri reported.

He is survived by his wife, Masako.

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Good night and God Bless, Mr. Ando. Rest assured that your noodles will live long after you are gone. Ramen noodles are surely one of the "miracle foods" of the century. I know I would have starved to death many times over without these little fast life-savers. Rest in peace.

Bush Rhetoric Is Actually a Promise of Non-Cooperation

WASHINGTON - President Bush pushed his signature agenda in a newspaper opinion piece Wednesday while asking Democrats, in charge of the House and Senate for the first time in his presidency, to work with him on legislation over the next two years.

Bush repeated his long-held policies on the war in Iraq, tax cuts, entrepreneurship and changes in Social Security and other entitlement programs in a guest column published in The Wall Street Journal. However, the policies came wrapped in an appeal for bipartisanship the day before Republicans turn over control of Congress to wary Democrats.

And he included a warning: "If the Congress chooses to pass bills that are simply political statements, they will have chosen stalemate," Bush wrote. "If a different approach is taken, the next two years can be fruitful ones for our nation. We can show the American people that Republicans and Democrats can come together to find ways to help make America a more secure, prosperous and hopeful society."

Bush is expected to announce this month a new direction for U.S. policy on Iraq. In the column, he gave no hint of change but cited as a priority his frequently stated goal of helping Iraq gain full control over its affairs.

"We now have the opportunity to build a bipartisan consensus to fight and win the war," he wrote.

Bush said he would submit a budget in February that would make tax cuts permanent and lead to a balanced budget by 2012, which he contended would put the country in a better position to tackle the challenge of changing the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid programs. He also said he would offer his own plan for dealing with pork-barrel spending by Congress and would ask for a line-item veto.

"Together, we have a chance to serve the American people by solving the complex problems that many don't expect us to tackle, let alone solve, in the partisan environment of today's Washington," Bush wrote. "To do that, however, we can't play politics as usual. Democrats will control the House and Senate, and therefore we share the responsibility for what we achieve."

White House spokesman David Almacy said the president has used the forum of a newspaper guest column, or "op-ed," at least four other times: to commemorate the first anniversary of the 2001 terror attacks; to promote his re-election in 2004; to mark his second inaugural, in 2005; and again in 2005 to note the U.S. response to the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Bush planned to meet Wednesday with his Cabinet to discuss domestic priorities. He was expected to court key lawmakers at a social reception Wednesday evening. Although officials say he is still making decisions regarding Iraq policy and will not reveal any changes this week, he is expected to say he is sending additional U.S. troops there.

Democrats, eager for their turn at power when they take control of Congress, have complained that Bush has kept them at arm's length and has not consulted on key decisions. Even a senior Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana, said Sunday that Bush has been inclined "to not take Congress very seriously" on Iraq policy.

In recent weeks, Bush has signaled a willingness to go along with a Democratic priority for raising the minimum wage, if it is accompanied by tax and regulatory relief for small businesses.

He also has suggested that progress could be made on an immigration policy overhaul — stymied primarily by conservative Republicans who want a get-tough approach — that would include a way for some illegal workers to move toward citizenship.

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Bush amuses me greatly. First he tells the American public that he "hopes the democrats will cooperate in a show of bipartisanism" and then he stubbornly (and this is a charactersitic he has displayed throughout his presidency) warns the democratic congress that he will not compromise with them. That is tantamount to saying : "You must do as i tell you or I will veto everything you do". it's a threat. Unfortunately, the ones who will suffer are the American people. Impeach, impeach, impeach!

UFO Spotted Over Chicago's O'Hare Airport

CHICAGO - Federal officials say it was probably just some weird weather phenomenon, but a group of United Airlines employees swear they saw a mysterious, saucer-shaped craft hovering over O'Hare Airport last fall.

The workers, some of them pilots, said the object didn't have lights and hovered over an airport terminal before shooting up through the clouds, according to a report in Monday's Chicago Tribune.

The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged that a United supervisor had called the control tower at O'Hare, asking if anyone had spotted a spinning disc-shaped object. But the controllers didn't see anything, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

"Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon," Cory said. "That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things."

The FAA is not investigating, Cory said.

United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said company officials don't recall discussing any such incident from Nov. 7.

At least one O'Hare controller, union official Craig Burzych, was amused by it all.

"To fly 7 million light years to O'Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable," he said.

Full and Graphic Execution Video of Saddam Hussein

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He's dead. Can we all please move on, now? Can we please get our troops out of that god-forsaken place, now? Can we impeach the man who lied to get us in Iraq, now? Can Bush be tried as a war criminal as he should be? I doubt it. One war criminal has executed another war criminal. That's all.

Happy New Year

Happy New year to you all. Have a great year.

American Death Toll Reaches 3000

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S. military announced Sunday the deaths of two soldiers, pushing the number of Americans who have died in the Iraq war to the grim milestone of at least 3,000. On the final day of an exceedingly bloody year, Saddam Hussein was also buried in the town where he was born.

The White House said the president mourned each death but would not issue a statement in reaction to the 3,000th in a war now 46 months old.

Despite the momentous developments in a deeply troubled Iraq, bombers and assassins appeared to have taken the day off at the close of a brutal year when the country seemed near to unraveling along its sectarian seams.

Police reported finding 12 bodies dumped in Baghdad Sunday as well as 12 other violent deaths nationwide, both relatively low numbers by recent standards.

One day after Saddam was hanged, his body was interred in a special compound he built in Ouja and designed for use in mourning ceremonies by the people of the town where he was born 69 years and eight months before.

Those who saw the ceremony said the building was decorated in a Moroccan motif with teak wood walls. The domed burial chamber was about 20 feet tall and hung with a green chandelier. Incense perfumed the burial location where the raised grave covering was about 6 inches above floor level.

Ouja is a few miles south of Tikrit, the Tigris River city that is capital of Salahuddin province, 80 miles north of Baghdad. It was a major power base for the former leader who brutally ruled Iraq for nearly a quarter century.

Officials in Tikrit said the body was transferred by American helicopter to the U.S. military base at Tikrit from Baghdad, where Saddam dropped through the gallows floor and died shortly before dawn on Saturday.

At Saddam's funeral, dozens of relatives and other mourners, some of them crying and moaning, attended the interment shortly before dawn. A few knelt before his flag-draped grave. A large framed photograph of Saddam was propped up on a chair nearby.

"I condemn the way he was executed and I consider it a crime," said 45-year-old Salam Hassan al-Nasseri, one of Saddam's clansmen who attended the interment. Some 2,000 Iraqis traveled to the village as well.

Mohammed Natiq, a 24-year-old college student, said "the path of Arab nationalism must inevitably be paved with blood."

"God has decided that Saddam Hussein should have such an end, but his march and the course which he followed will not end," Natiq said.

Police on Saturday blocked the entrances to Tikrit and said nobody was allowed to leave or enter the city for four days. Despite the security precaution, gunmen took to the streets, carrying pictures of Saddam, shooting into the air and calling for vengeance.

Saddam was captured in an underground hide-out near Ouja on Dec. 13, 2003, eight months after he fled Baghdad ahead of advancing American troops. He was convicted and sentenced to death last month for crimes against humanity for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from Dujail after a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town.

His burial place is about two miles from the graves of his sons, Odai and Qusai, in the main town cemetery. The sons and a grandson were killed in a gunbattle with the American forces in Mosul in July 2003.

"We received the body of Saddam Hussein without any complications. There was cooperation by the prime minister and his office's director," clan chief Sheik al-Nidaa told state-run Al-Iraqiya television. "We opened the coffin of Saddam. He was cleaned and wrapped according to Islamic teachings. We didn't see any unnatural signs on his body."

The American death toll rose to at least 3,000 according to an Associated Press count with the announcement Sunday that a soldier was killed a day earlier in a roadside bombing in the capital. The soldier's name and unit were not given.

Shortly afterward, the Department of Defense said on its Web site that Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, had been killed. Donica, assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, died on Thursday. His death was not announced by U.S. military authorities in Baghdad.

Their deaths raised to at least 111 the number of U.S. service members reported killed in December, the bloodiest month of 2006.

At least 820 U.S. military personnel died in Iraq in 2006, according to the AP count.

While not responding to the 3,000th death, President Bush did issue New Year's greetings that noted the continuing turbulence in Iraq.

"Last year, America continued its mission to fight and win the war on terror and promote liberty as an alternative to tyranny and despair," Bush said in the statement wishing Americans a happy new year.

"In the New Year, we will remain on the offensive against the enemies of freedom, advance the security of our country, and work toward a free and unified Iraq. Defeating terrorists and extremists is the challenge of our time, and we will answer history's call with confidence and fight for liberty without wavering."
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George W, Bush, bring our children home. We hold you responsible for every single American and Iraqi death you caused by your lies. I, for one, want you impeached. Impeached and tried as a war criminal. Impeached, tried, convicted and executed on the same gallows they hanged Saddam Hussein upon. You are no less guilty of crimes against humanity than that creature was. You are a lame duck and deserve a trial, but I hope you are convicted and executed for your many, many crimes.